"But WHY did you do it?" Our Annual Disney Christmas trip PTR/TR Completed 10-17-11!!

[disneydusted]

Oh my goodness Jess! I just found you and I loved catching up on your new TR!!!! What exciting news! Congratulations on your engagement! I was tearing up watching the videos! What an amazing memory you will have of your special day! I am very happy for both of you!
We were just down in Disney in August and as you can see DS is much bigger! He is in high school now and will be going on a school biology trip to Baja to work onsite with marine biologists down there. You will laugh but I thought of you when he decided he wanted to go. I wonder if he will find his life's interest there???
Anyway, congratulations again! I've subbed to your TR so I will be following along......

 

[Roxychica7]

Ah, I love the reasoning behind Blake's choice of where to propose! I must say he looks so relaxed and happy in these later pictures!

Thank you! And yes he does! I think all of our next pictures definitely look much happier, I'm so glad he decided to do it early so that we could have the entire vacation together

You got some great Illuminations shots! Gorgeous!

Blake's location choice for the proposal was perfect. I'm the same way in terms of being shy. In fact the worst thing I can imagine is all eyes on me so hopefully if/when it happens for me we are in a relatively low-key setting.

Have you told us when the wedding is yet? Not to rush you...

Well I know you loved it C, it is your area afterall! I'll definitely be thinking about you on that one, and will cross my fingers for you when the day comes!

Oh my goodness Jess! I just found you and I loved catching up on your new TR!!!! What exciting news! Congratulations on your engagement! I was tearing up watching the videos! What an amazing memory you will have of your special day! I am very happy for both of you!
We were just down in Disney in August and as you can see DS is much bigger! He is in high school now and will be going on a school biology trip to Baja to work onsite with marine biologists down there. You will laugh but I thought of you when he decided he wanted to go. I wonder if he will find his life's interest there???
Anyway, congratulations again! I've subbed to your TR so I will be following along......

HI HI!!! Thank you! I was just thinking about whatever happened to you the other day! So glad you're still on the boards! As you can see, I am way behind on the updates, but promise I will be getting to it soon! DS HAS definitely grown, WOW! I hope he has a great time in Baja. I'm pretty sure that the lead for our Honduras study abroad trip in Roatan was originally an marine biologist in Baja, so you never know where he's going to end up! I hope he has a blast!!!

 

[Roxychica7]

Welcome back everyone! This morning was our 1st full day at WDW! Today was Friday, December 17th.

We were up at 8:40am, I jumped in the shower, and checked out the weather. 78 today, shorts for sure..heck yeah! So I grabbed a comfy tshirt and my adidas and we headed out the door. Today, since we had 2 TS meals, we decided to go light for breakfast and just split 1 CS meal. I definitely had a thing for the Pop waffles with strawberry topping (the hot kind), so Blake agreed to share that. I think he likes my decision, what do you think?

We spent $11.00, and opted for an OJ and a water to take to the park with us, instead of a dessert.

Before we turned for the bus, we went to the front desk and explained to them that we got our Anniversary pins last night, but that we got engaged and asked if we could have Just Engaged Pins instead. The CM said no problem! So I strategically attached my pin to the front of my purse!
We got on the bus at 10:20am, here’s proof of where we were headed!

And arrived at DHS at 10:30am. Blake took a quick bee-line for the water, gotta love my fishin' man!

And the beautiful DHS tree!

We stood in line for a minute through the bag check and ticket counter and of course headed to TSM.

Notice the pin

Check this out. We got to TSM at10:35am…see what the Fastpass return time is?

Ridiculous. 7-8pm and the park has only been open for an hour and a half! We squeezed in and grabbed the precious passes! While we were close, we went toward the Great Movie Ride.

I tried my aquarium setting to take the flash off the inside ride pics and some of them actually turned out this time!

The favorites.

Mary Poppins

And we actually got the gangster side this time! Of all the times we've rode, I never noticed until this very ride, that we have always had the cowboy! I knew something seemed different!

And somewhere over the rainbow!

Blake pointed out this munchkin, he lsaid he looked rather odd.

Once the ride ended...I LOVE the movie real at the end of the ride. This is where I was starting to feel like I was really here.

And already, we were within 10 minutes of our ADR for…..

 

[Roxychica7]

continued from last post...




50’s prime time café!

We were heading there in a hurry, except I got turned around because I am so used to going to Sci-Fi, I know that one like the back of my hand, and we ended up by Star Tours, so we had to ask for directions for this one

We made it to 50’s right at our ADR time of 11:15am

BUT, their computer system was down, so we had to sign in the old fashion way. It took about 10-15 minutes to get everyone through,

and we chilled in the living room until then!

We were seated for only about 5 minutes, if that and got the menus.

Now I knew we wouldn’t get a tv, which was fine, there were only 2 of us. We were seated by Cousin Laura, who was in character, but not to the point where she should have been. She announced to the family next to us, that “their cousins got engaged yesterday” so they clapped for us.

Immiately Blake got scolded at for not setting the table.
Here’s Blake in action.

I ordered a vanilla coke (I LOVE them), and Blake got a chocolate milkshake, not knowing how large it was.
Here’s me with my coke.

And Blake’s face when he realizes, there is literally enough for 3 of them!!

Then cousin Laura came back and took our orders for food.

I, who does not like pot roast or anything cooked in a crock pot, decided against my better judgment and order the pot roast because it looked good and everyone says it’s one of the best things on the menu. Blake ordered the fried chicken with green beans (choice of corn or greens as if green beans weren’t your thing)

Cousin Laura was fine at first, but then she got too into talking about her own wedding plans and dropped out of character and kinda disappeared. A different waiter brought out our meals.

Pot roast for me!

Chicken for Blake. Here he’s realizing he got a breast, thigh, wing AND leg! He was already getting full from the milkshake.

The pot roast was great! Loved the gravy and potatoes, and the meat was tender, only thing I didn’t like was that there was celery mixed in the jillian mix with the carrots and onions and they jillian'ed it too, so it was terribly stringy, so I just pulled them off. No biggie.

Blake obviously didn’t want dessert, but I asked for the cobbler. I was hoping the seasonal cobbler was cherry or a berry, but it was apple and I asked for it without ice cream (for obvious reasons). It took a good 10-15 minutes for the cobbler to get to me, and it had ice cream on top.

Shame shame cousin Laura.

It was good, more oat-y granola than cobbler per say, but I liked it that way personally.

Speaking of shame shame, here’s witness to a lady being punished for her elbows on the table.

She was CRACKING up with her face against the wall, and the waiter announced that we all had to say “Shame Shame!” to her for bad behavior. She returned to her seat VERY quickly!

I have always loved the Ninja Turtles and Blake knows that when I recite the line from the movie where he says…”Clock’s ticking dude….Wise man say forgiveness is divine but never pay full price for late pizza” that the waitress is taking a decline in her tip.

Here was the bill, after another 10-15 minute wait. $51.82 and we gave her $5 tip

So what was the verdict? It was nice to try something different…the food was definitely good, and I think we would try it again, just it would be nice with a waitress/waiter that was more in character. Like I wasn't bothered by her, she wasn't overly "bad", just was expecting a little more fun I guess? Plus, I think the computer being down may have thrown off some of them, but our cousin didn’t even give us a viewmaster to look at for dessert, so I think we missed out on that part. But we liked it, although I think we’re gonna hit up Sci-Fi again next year. No biggie!

Up next….Backlot Tour, would we ever get to ride the Voyage of the Little Mermaid!

 

[oOJulieOo]

Your strawberry topped waffle looks deeelicious!

I can't believe the fast pass return time was SO SO late!

Bummer about your server at 50s Primetime. The server definitely makes the experience there. That pic of the woman standing in the corner is hilarious, though!

How fun to be spending the day after your engagement in Disney World!

 

[disneydusted]

I love that you got the "Just Engaged" button! I hope lots of people commented on it! What was the best comment you got?
I had to laugh when you described your 50's lunch. I thought it would be a fun thing to do the last time we were there.... oh boy, the kids did NOT like it! I was surprised! Our waitress was an older lady that sort of stayed in character but she was really gruff, not sure if that was part of her act??? So I am with you... I think we'll stick with Sci-fi, 50's was fine, glad we tried it but.......
I can't believe the FP return time! Wow!

 

[Roxychica7]

Your strawberry topped waffle looks deeelicious!

I can't believe the fast pass return time was SO SO late!

Bummer about your server at 50s Primetime. The server definitely makes the experience there. That pic of the woman standing in the corner is hilarious, though!

How fun to be spending the day after your engagement in Disney World!

Oh it was fun, I think that was Blake's plan all along, even though he wanted the engagment in Magic Kingdom, I think once it happened, he relaxed and we were able to enjoy the entire vacation newly engaged!

I love that you got the "Just Engaged" button! I hope lots of people commented on it! What was the best comment you got?
I had to laugh when you described your 50's lunch. I thought it would be a fun thing to do the last time we were there.... oh boy, the kids did NOT like it! I was surprised! Our waitress was an older lady that sort of stayed in character but she was really gruff, not sure if that was part of her act??? So I am with you... I think we'll stick with Sci-fi, 50's was fine, glad we tried it but.......
I can't believe the FP return time! Wow!

All of the comments were great, especially from the CM's because it just made you smile every single time, but I really liked when the characters caught a glimpse of it. My favorite quote was on our last day in AK when Goofy pointed at my pin, then looked at Blake and grabbed me and started walking away! It was awesome
But I totally agree, I think Blake and I are definite Sci-Fi'ers, glad that we tried it though so we could scratch it off the list!

 

[Roxychica7]

Hi all, I apologize for the delay, not really sure what’s going on. I think the idea of having to move out of state sent me into a job application frenzy and I just haven’t had the focus to update. Our lease ends here in July and we’re both looking to head south, just even the thought of not knowing where we’re going to be is making me crazy! Wooo…deep breath, ok, let’s get an update in!

So when we last left off, we had dined on large milkshakes, pot roast, fried chicken and a not so “cobbler” apple cobbler. When we left, Blake took a potty spot and I glanced around the Muppet area,

noticing the serious haze on the camera. Must have been from sitting inside so long..oh well, welcome to Florida!

We were going to do Muppet’s, but still had a few must do’s to do, so we headed toward Backlot.
Sneek peek of the lights in the daytime!

I really really think they need to change this up and I do completely miss the houses that used to be in the lot before Lights Motor was built.
I've done this before, mine looked very similar to this poor girl's experience

But, we still like it. It’s fun to see the props and if you hit it right, you really never have to wait in a line.

Love this!

Love that there's seashells under their feet

We left the ride about 1:45pm, and headed toward the other end of the park to see what the wait time was for Rock and Rollercoaster.

I will not ride this, but I thought it looked so weird with all the scaffolding on it

Blake got a fastpass for RRC, excuse me, 2 fastpasses (with my ticket) knowing he would ride twice. Yes I have been on this ride before, no I’m not sure I’d do it again. I like the coaster part, but do NOT like the jet propulsion start up in the beginning.

We were going to head back to the Little Mermaid, but we walked past Beauty and the Beast, saw the next show was at 2 and it had JUST started, you could hear the music from the witch going on and we RAN up the stairs into the theatre. I absolutely LOVE this one, next to the Lion King at Animal Kingdom. The costumes are so bright and pretty and the actors are great, especially when they’re singing. So glad we didn’t miss this, this year.

It was 2:30 by the time it was over and he walked back to the Animation and Little Mermaid.

We were having issues with these today. We have never been to the Animation Studio and we hit the Little Mermaid every year, but for some reason, every time we went to do both of these today, we were always at 25-30 min wait for both and with dinner quickly approaching, there was no time to waste! So what to do? We stopped into One Man’s Dream.

Trying out my aquarium setting to help with the glass reflection

 

[Roxychica7]

Continued from last entry

Last year we went in, killing time until our fastpasses for TTM started, but this year we really paid attention, plus we tried the movie. It was awesome, even Blake loved it! It gives you such an appreciation for Disney, like Blake said, he never gave up, just tried something else if something failed. Speaking of that, has anyone seen the Biography that was just on tv the other day? Best thing ever!
So after this ended, we decided…what to do? We had about an hour before our dinner reservation started. The sun felt SO good today and since the weather was only supposed to get colder while we were here, we plopped on a bench in front of the Dino at the Lake and soaked up some sunshine. I don’t think we have ever just SAT before, we’re always so busy to try and pack everything in. It was wonderful.

We even chatted it up with a local

Have NEVER noticed this before...love Roger Rabbit!

Before we went in, we browsed the gift shop and ended up getting a coffee mug for us and a princess figurines set for one of our stocking stuffers gifts for Blake’s step-brothers gf’s daughter named Brielle. I know she would like it because kids around 5-7 love little figurines whether they’re dolls or pets or polly pockets, I know I did! And the coffee mug, Blake had to get it, he’s been eyeing this mug we got his mom 3 years ago, it has ALL of the characters on it. We snatched that thing up quick!

Up next…dinner for 2? Recommendation from one of your favorite board members...Lady Lallie!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Hurray for an update, Jess!!! Love all the pictures from your DHS day! It has been years since we watched Beauty and the Beast -- I remember loving it, though!

Good luck with the job hunting!

 

[disneydusted]

I don't know how I missed this update... Strange to see ToT covered in scaffolding, were they painting? And you won't ride ToT or RnR??? We need to fix that! Our DS refuses to ride ToT, yet he will do all of the other thrill rides! He even did the Dragon Challenge at IOA...just something about the dropping that gets him. It's really not bad but it's not for everyone...

 

[Roxychica7]

Hurray for an update, Jess!!! Love all the pictures from your DHS day! It has been years since we watched Beauty and the Beast -- I remember loving it, though!

Good luck with the job hunting!

Thanks CP! Oh how I love Beauty and the Beast..that one and Festival of the Lion King never gets old for either one of us! They just put us in such a good mood!

I don't know how I missed this update... Strange to see ToT covered in scaffolding, were they painting? And you won't ride ToT or RnR??? We need to fix that! Our DS refuses to ride ToT, yet he will do all of the other thrill rides! He even did the Dragon Challenge at IOA...just something about the dropping that gets him. It's really not bad but it's not for everyone...

I know, I'm terrible! I've been ON RnR before, just not sure if I'll ever do it again..I am definitely without a doubt not doing Soarin' again, but maybe a little sweet talk from Blake, I will possibly get on RnR again. I'm just a big wimp all around

 

[Roxychica7]

After our stop by the Lake to rest and take in the sunshine, we were off to our 4:15 ADR at Brown Derby. I was a little hesitant at first about having 2 ADR’s today, but let me tell you, Blake and I had no snacks in between 50’s and now and we were ready to EAT!

This ADR was suggested by our good friend LL (Lady Lallie), she absolutely swears by Brown Derby and I figured we had to give it a try. We checked in a little early since we were literally sitting a few steps away. We grabbed a seat and took in the character drawings and of course, the Christmas tree!

It was a little bit of a wait, as I’m pretty sure they were switching from lunch to dinner, so we got seated at 4:30, so by this point, we are really really ready to eat.

We got a booth though without even asking! Blake ordered a Coke and I a water. After having 3 different waiters, I guess they couldn’t decide who was going to serve us! We ended up with Ryan..well at first, he comes up and says “hello, I’m Melanie I’ll be taking care of you” because that was the waitress we had before he came over, so then we were all confused.

But we definitely needed some help with the menu. Here is it:

I have never had Duck or Lamb before and wanted to get something I knew I was familiar with, and I had had such bad luck when I ordered a steak at Coral Reef in 2009 that I was apprehensive about ordering steak. I finally decided on the steak, I said it a little sadly I guess and Ryan said, “come on you’re ordering filet!” I kinda laughed and Blake went with the grouper.

While we waited, we enjoyed some yummy sourdough rolls and butter, oh they were great.

Views from our booth

Quickly, our orders came…I took one bite of this beauty

And fell in LOVE!!! Best and I mean BEST Steak of my LIFE. Not only was it tender, not overseasoned, but the truffle mashed potatoes and red wine sauce that accompanied it were to DIE FOR!!! Heaven…seriously Heaven..I think I even said outloud after my first few bites “THANK YOU LL!!”

Blake’s was really good too. The grouper was firm and the sauce was like lobster bisque soup! The only thing he didn’t really like were the veggies, a little hard for him, but the flavor was outstanding. He definitely stole a few bites of mine, wishes that he had ordered it, but enjoyed his dish.

And you better believe I ate the entire steak!

Next for dessert, with some help from Ryan, because we noticed the Grand Mariner Strawberry Cheesecake wasn’t on the menu:

I went with the Banana Toffee Tower and Ryan said that the best one for Blake to get was the Chocolate 3 ways. Now I was looking forward to my toffee tower

It was delicious, but it could not top the Chocolate 3 Ways.

It was the best dessert of our lives!!! I ate almost ¾ of it myself, and when you mixed it with the Toffee Tower, it tasted like a Banana Split. But the different textures of chocolate, the flavors of chocolate and the flood of Chambord Raspberry sauce in the middle was just plain amazing!!!

We couldn’t believe the luck we had with all of our choices. When we thought we were done…Ryan comes back with our complimentary Champagne Toast! I forgot that I had put our names down as an “Anniversary Celebration” and we were treated to Strawberry and Champagne! What a way to end the dinner!
Blake thought of this pose and it is pretty nice isn’t it?

And we asked Ryan to take our picture.

My only slight regret is that I didn’t dress up more for this dinner! We had plans to possibly go back to Pop to change, but neither of us felt like it, and were enjoying the sun to much.

Our total came to $97.65 and since we were on the DDP, and Ryan was so awesome, he got a $20 tip.

So, if you haven’t realized it enough, we loved loved LOVED Brown Derby. I thank you LL for the recommendation, and we still to this day talk about how we wish we were in DHS all the time having a filet.

Until next time Brown Derby..we shall miss thee!

Next up..the Little Mermaid, TSM and The Osbourne Festival of Lights! Don’t miss it!

 

[MegansMom]

Oh sweetie....that update made my mouth water and my stomach grumble!!!! I am feeling EVER so tempted to go add a Brown Derby ressie to our plans.....that steak looked AMAZING, and even though I have never tasted it, I am going to be dreaming about that Chocolate dessert in my sleep!!!

GREAT update, and I SO loved the champagne toast picture!!! SO cute!!! HOW appropriate too! Your ring is SO pretty!!! Congrats again my dear!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Isn't Brown Derby just wonderful??? I am so glad LL got us all into going there!

Love that you had champagne and strawberries!

 

[Roxychica7]

Oh sweetie....that update made my mouth water and my stomach grumble!!!! I am feeling EVER so tempted to go add a Brown Derby ressie to our plans.....that steak looked AMAZING, and even though I have never tasted it, I am going to be dreaming about that Chocolate dessert in my sleep!!!

GREAT update, and I SO loved the champagne toast picture!!! SO cute!!! HOW appropriate too! Your ring is SO pretty!!! Congrats again my dear!!!

Thank you thank you Jen!! The picture was all Blake's idea, although the first shot we took all you could see was Blake's school ring, and we knew something wasn't right!
But oh my gosh, let me tell you, it's so hard sometimes to think that a dessert by looking at the description is going to taste amazing, but his dessert was seriously the absolute best dessert I have ever had!! I hope it's still on the menu and that you get a chance to eat there!!

 

[Roxychica7]

Isn't Brown Derby just wonderful??? I am so glad LL got us all into going there!

Love that you had champagne and strawberries!

You have no idea! We talk about Brown Derby ALLLLL the time now! Totally a must do! Although I wish it wasn't 2 credits, but totally worth it nonetheless, thanks again to LL!! Woop woop!

 

[disneydusted]

Hi Jess! I wanted to tell you that DS had an incredible time down in Baja for spring break. He really enjoyed working with the marine biologists and is thinking that he might like to go in this direction for college (we have 3 years still to figure it out ) He was amazed at the different aspects of the job. His favorite part of the trip was swimming with sea lions at their rookery.

 

[Roxychica7]

Hi Jess! I wanted to tell you that DS had an incredible time down in Baja for spring break. He really enjoyed working with the marine biologists and is thinking that he might like to go in this direction for college (we have 3 years still to figure it out ) He was amazed at the different aspects of the job. His favorite part of the trip was swimming with sea lions at their rookery.

Hey! Wow I am behind! Bear with me though, lots of life changes and the TR totally got abandoned! I am SO glad that DS had a great time on his Baha trup though! Marine biology is definitely different from the other marine fields. I got my bachelors in biology and marine science and my master's in environmental biology. It is GREAT to hear that he has taken a definite liking to biology, I hope he stays with it!

 

[Roxychica7]

Hi all! Bear with me, I can't believe I had left my TR abandoned for this long! You know how life gets away from you sometimes! Well, let's see, in the past 4 months since I last posted. Blake and I applied for a new job, at the same company that a few friends of mine from college work at. They were hiring multiple positions for biologists. Blake's dilemma was that as being contractual, they couldn't hold onto him much longer with budget cuts and my boss essentially gave me a raise and then cut my hours back from 80+ a week to around 55-60 a week. It wasn't cutting it. So, after weeks of searching, I get a facebook message from my friend from college saying her company is hiring. We took a stab for it in April and 6 weeks later, we hear back that we BOTH got the job!!!

So a better pay for both of us and benefits, we gave our 2 week notice at work and our lease break notice for our townhouse. Mine and Blake's last day of work was April 30th, with plans to take the next 2 weeks off. The 1st week to pack up our old place in Virginia Beach, VA, move on May 7th to the Eastern Shore of MD, then take the 2nd week off in our new place to unpack and get settled, thus starting our 1st day of work on May 16th.

On May 25th, I FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY graduated with my Master's degree. Thank the lord, it was a long time coming! Since then, we have been at our job for 2 months now and have finally settled in and are hanging out with people after work now. Something that we are both not used to doing.

So as I said, forgive me, as I will try and get this TR done in a timely manner from here on out!