Dancing through Disney!! UPDATE:9/9 COMPLETE!

[Princess Olivia]

This...Is American Idol!​

*Ryan Seacrest voice*-

This……………………………..Is American Idol

*Cool music*

Woohoo!

This whole experience was so fun for everyone. Since we had been with Bri from the beginning, we were given “VIP passes” which allowed us to go in beforehand and watch the three contestants practice before they sang for the live audience.

We got in there and were given our seats next to Kathy. Kathy was saying how nervous Bri was which kind of surprised me because Bri is never nervous about anything, especially performing. She was singing Battlefield.

The doors opened to let everyone in at 3:30. Before the show began they had a guy named Cameron come out and dance with people and just get everyone super excited for the show. It was really fun! Not long after the three contestants themselves came out!

Bri was second to go. The first girl was really good. She sang Bubbly and had a mini interview with the host before she sang. Next was our very own Bri!! They played her tape which was so fun to watch all put together. She was nervous at first but loosened up towards the middle and sounded fantastic! She killed it! We were so proud!

The last girl to go was amazing!!! She really was so talented. She was there for her second wedding anniversary. It came down to the results and the last girl won. It wasn’t really a surprise because she was so good.

We met our American Idol outside. She said she was excited to not have to worry about it anymore and she was really glad she did it because she had so much fun! She said one of her favorite parts was getting her makeup done. Obvious girl answer.

Someone even stopped Bri and asked if he could have a picture! He told her that she was incredible and he really thought she was going to go far. It was awesome!

Bri and the winner became quick friends throughout the experience!

It was around 5:00 when we finally started to leave. DHS seemed empty! We were very excited for our night to begin!! Our best friend Jenna was arriving today and was going out to dinner with Bri since she didn’t have tickets into the park. We made our way out and were stopped again by people telling Bri how they voted for her and how good her voice was. It was like she was a celebrity!

Goodbye DHS, see ya real soon!​

 

[Princess Olivia]

Everything is better at night!​

We got back to POR and started to get ready for our last night with our friends. The package that was included was a stay a POR from Tuesday to Friday so most were leaving Saturday.

We got to MK which is really like a whole different place at night. It’s a whole new level of energy and fun. I still love all the glow-up accessories that they have when you first enter.

Since we had time before the MSEP started, we needed to take an obligatory picture with Mickey!!!

They’re the best!!

We got out just in time to find a spot on the sidewalk (and get the oh-so delicious cinnamon roll!!) for the MSEP. Even though they dim the Castle, I love to take a picture in front of it during this time. Most people are lined up on the sidewalk so you don’t get any photo bombers.

We had our glow bracelets and were ready!!

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the Magic Kingdom proudly presents-The Main Street Electrical Parade!”

Once it had ended everyone started to gather in the Hub for Wishes. I would have loved to stop and watch it again but there was so much to do and not enough time to do it all, so we stopped for a quick picture and were off to find our friends.

Right as we were leaving the Hub I got a text from Bri saying that Jenna took Kathy’s room key so she could come to EMH. They were stuck on Small World so we told them we would meet them at The Haunted Mansion.

We got to The Haunted Mansion and went to go get our room keys since they were checking them once you got in line. I always kept mine in my lanyard but of course the first time this whole trip, when I needed it, it wasn’t there. I emptied my whole back pack and there was still no room key. Just my luck! A cast member saw that me and my mom were frantically looking through my back pack trying to find it and started to talk to us. He was awesome. He was so funny and was just really cool. He gave me a fast pass and told me to use that instead. We talked to him a bit more while we were waiting for Bri but eventually just got in line since they were taking so long. Sorry guys!
Me and Madi went ahead and I got a text from my mom saying that Jenna and Bri were right behind them. Go figure.

I love going on Haunted Mansion at night. It’s extra spooky!!

We waited outside for our friends who came out shortly. It was so good to see Jenna!! I had missed her!!

Unfortunately we didn’t get to show Jenna around since she had to leave. It took about 45 minutes to get to their hotel and Jenna’s mom (also a Kathy) didn’t want to drive in an area that they were not familiar with so late at night.

We walked Jenna out and told her we would see her tomorrow. Jenna has a special talent where she can make friends with practically everyone. She made friends with a family who was taking the ferry back to the parking lot and followed them.

We were sad Jenna had to leave but we knew we would be seeing her soon.

We still had so much to do and our time was running out!

Practically every ride was a walk-on. We rode our favorites multiple times!
I have a weird obsession with riding Splash Mountain in the dark. I think it is the most fun thing! I love when you turn the corner and can see the Contemporary and Bay Lake and of course before the drop when you can see everything all lit up. It’s so pretty!

Our last ride of the night was Space Mountain. We met up with mom and Colleen who were also on their way over there. This was the longest line that we had to wait in but we made some friends. They were boys who liked my hand lotion….it was funny.

We waited in the store for our moms who came off the ride giggling like children. I think they too were overtired! The Castle looked extra beautiful tonight…..

We made our way to the busses and luckily did not have to wait long. Just as we thought we were ready to go, the bus opened their doors to let some more people in, as if it could fit more people! It just happened to be Chris, Caseley, KathyJo, Kaylee, Emily, KJ’s husband Geoff and Kay and Em’s Nana. We made room for our friends who we hadn’t gotten to see this whole trip! Emily practically fell asleep on my mom and Kaylee rested her head against my arm. It was a fun bus ride with lots of laughs. During our competition season, one of the competitions we go to has this thing called PowerPak. The completion picks dancers to train with them for a week with guest teachers and perform in their opening number for their nationals. Kaylee, Bri and I were asked to join. Me and Bri really wanted to do it but we would have had to stay in Florida another week which we couldn’t do because of my dad and brothers and the 4th of July coming up. Bri had the same problem but Kaylee was able to do it so they were all staying another week.

This was the first time we had taken the bus so we didn’t know where or when to get off. We wished Kaylee luck and hugged everyone goodbye. We got off at some random stop and of course got lost. It was 3:00 A.M., we were beyond tired and we were lost. We finally managed to find our room and quickly went to bed.

We were not too excited about the thought of waking up early to get our bags ready to switch hotels. We were going to Typhoon Lagoon the next day which would be new for all of us. Plus we had the concert to look forward to that night.​

 

[1Grumpy9]

We made our way to the busses and luckily did not have to wait long. Just as we thought we were ready to go, the bus opened their doors to let some more people in, as if it could fit more people! It just happened to be Chris, Caseley, KathyJo, Kaylee, Emily, KJ’s husband Geoff and Kay and Em’s Nana. We made room for our friends who we hadn’t gotten to see this whole trip! Emily practically fell asleep on my mom and Kaylee rested her head against my arm. It was a fun bus ride with lots of laughs. During our competition season, one of the competitions we go to has this thing called PowerPak. The completion picks dancers to train with them for a week with guest teachers and perform in their opening number for their nationals. Kaylee, Bri and I were asked to join. Me and Bri really wanted to do it but we would have had to stay in Florida another week which we couldn’t do because of my dad and brothers and the 4th of July coming up. Bri had the same problem but Kaylee was able to do it so they were all staying another week.​

My studio would go to conventions every summer and the one we used to go to was Dance Caravan and they would audition for kids to join them for the summer as Caravan Kids. I auditioned once, but didn't get picked past the 3rd round of the audition process. We also had to worry about the cost for the whole thing, which was extremely expensive (at that time) and I had college costs to worry about. So I know what you are saying about having to choose between two things.

 

[Princess Olivia]

Hang Loose Dude!​

We did not end up going to bed the night before until around 3:30 A.M. It was Saturday which meant most of our friends were leaving us and we were leaving POR. Since we were also checking out we had to be up by at least 8:00. We were exhausted but there was no way that being tired was going to slow us down. Once we started to get up and get ready we were fine.

Today’s plan was to check out and head over to Typhoon Lagoon. Usually we are at parks right when they open and at first this was not going to be an exception but it ended up being one. We got up and made sure everything was packed and ready to go then put on our bathing suits. We wanted to go say goodbye to our friends so me and Madi went down to the food court while mom and Colleen waited for someone to come get our luggage.

We met Bri and sat with her. They were leaving that afternoon. We saw a few other people and wished them a safe flight home. Our moms came soon after and we hugged Bri goodbye telling her we would see soon.

Our luggage was all set which meant we were ready to head to Typhoon Lagoon.

Mom was stressing out since we were getting there later than we had originally planned. We had to calm her down and remind her that it was okay if we were not always on schedule.

We were very lucky to get there and see that it wasn’t as crowded as we had anticipated. We were even able to still rent a chair in one of those private-type of areas. It’s like a mini beach and you get two lounge chairs and a little table and an umbrella. It helped a lot to have a little area to ourselves.

Madi and I quickly went to go check out some of the slides. I liked the wave pool. I love water slides but everyone agreed that these seemed really short. They were still fun and refreshing which is all that matters.

After we went on a few slides we went back to the area where our moms were and they had gotten these mini donuts with frosting to dip them in….ummm…….THEY WERE DELICIOUS! They were warm mini donuts that came with a warm chocolate sauce that you could dip them in or a white chocolate sauce that you could dip them in.

We decided to take a break and soak up the warm Florida sun for a bit. I think I started to fall asleep but was woken up by my phone. I had been waiting for Jenna to text me since today was her big day! She was going to meet One Direction! Her texts made me smile because you could tell how excited she was. I couldn’t wait to hear all about her night!

There was one thing while we were here that I absolutely needed to try. Yes, it was none other than the Sand Pail from Happy Landings. Oh my… In case you don’t know, this is chocolate and vanilla soft serve in a sand bucket filled with practically every topping possible. It’s similar to the Kitchen Sink but not nearly as big and not nearly as severe.

Now get ready for the obnoxious amount of ice cream pictures:

We seemed to be enjoying it….

First bite…

Delicious!

It made us laugh just looking at it.

It was so worth it....

The water park was starting to get more crowded and I think the amount of sun we got during our week would be enough for quite a while. We packed up our things, excited to be going to Old Key West.

We looked in the stores to see if they had any cute cover-ups or bathing suits since summer was really just starting and finding cute bathing suits seems so hard. Madi got a few things while me and mom went outside to wait for them.

I don’t really even know what Madison got? Anyway, on our way out we spotted one of our favorite girls. Lilo! Lilo and Stitch is such a good movie and the location just makes it even better. I’m trying to get my parents to book Aulani…it’s a slow process but I’m not giving up!

We had a really fun time at Typhoon Lagoon and thankfully (for the 4th day in a row) the weather was perfect!

We were now on our way to OKW where we would be staying that night. We were checking in earlier than 3:00 so almost expected that we would have to wait for our room. We were very surprised to be told our room was ready!

In the first hour that we were in Old Key West, I fell completely in love. The people were SO friendly and it was so laid back, just like the actual Key West. It’s also so beautiful. The colors and just the layout of everything is incredible. I don’t have enough good things to say about this hotel. As much as I love Bay Lake, this is a completely different place that I would love to stay at again.

Okay I’m starting to get off topic but this was one of those days where I could tell you everything that happened, every minute of the day.
After we got in our room (which we loved) we had almost three hours before the car was coming to pick us up for the concert. We hadn’t had lunch so why not go to Olivia’s!

We weren’t sure if we were dressed right (we were still in our bathing suits) or if we were even going to be able to get in. I really believe that some of the nicest people in all of Disney work at OKW. The restaurant was empty and the people laughed at us when we asked if we could wear what we had on. They told us that this restaurant is completely laid back and that the dress code is shorts and tee-shirts.

Since there was only one other couple there, we were seated and got our orders in right away.

They gave us coloring pages to keep us occupied…..we didn’t mind………

Our lunch came out before we could even finish our pictures!

I remember everything being really yummy. Again, it became one of my favorite places.

I don’t think Madi once ordered off of the regular menu.

She’s a gem……

We finished our lunch and sat there for a bit laughing about our vacation. Me and Madi left before the check came to go and start getting ready for the concert.

We got a few pictures of our room:

(Excuse the semi-mess starting to form; we were starting to rush)

After dancing around the room (we are never not dancing) and getting ready, we were finally done.

We were out the door and were greeted by our wonderful driver that drove us to Universal earlier in the week, Sam! Sam was great. He loved to talk which saved us from awkward silent car rides. We drove into the city and the Amway Center was right there.

I had been texting Jenna and by the time we got there she was just going in to meet the boys.

The Amway Center is HUGE! It is so big but it’s beautiful. It’s still so clean and feels still so new. We walked to our door when Jenna called. She said how cool the boys were and how they acted so nice and seemed really down to earth. I told her that we were going in and that we would see her in a few minutes.

I couldn’t believe how close we were. It was unreal.

We called Jenna who was in the fourth row on the other side. She told us everything that happened and showed us the book they signed. I was so happy for Jenna. She deserved something like this.

Jenna went back to her seat with her mom and they went out to the bar-like area with my mom and Colleen to get something to drink before the concert started.

People were in their seats and before we knew it, the first act was coming on!​

 

[Princess Olivia]

"I Wanna Stay Up All Night And Jump Around Until We See The Sun...."​

Hi all!! Sorry for not updating lately. Today was my first day of school and I have just been really busy. Luckily we have a long weekend so hopefully I will be able to finish this trip report. Thanks again to everyone that has been reading along; you are all so awesome!




I love at concerts when the lights go down and you get that adrenaline rush because you know that someone is coming out. It’s even better right before the person (or people) you have been waiting to see come onstage and the crowd goes crazy. Everything about concerts is fun.

In this concert there was an opening act for the opening act which I have never seen done before. Her name was Manika. She was cool and I loved the skirt she had on. It was a pettiskirt with a million different layers and they were each a different color. She didn’t have many songs of her own to sing. I think she only sang two of her own songs and two songs by other artists. She was only on the stage for about thirty minutes. She was fun though and got the crowd excited for the next opening act.

The lights turned on and about fifteen minutes later they went back down and Mr. Olly Murs came out! Olly is also British. He is so fun! He plays with the crowd which I love. I have never been so close to notice before but the interaction with fans is so neat. They really connect.

I’m going to say it again but Olly was so fun. He sang a few of his songs and his audition song for when he auditioned for the X Factor. He was so good. I love his voice and wished he had been out longer but we knew that when he left the boys would be coming out shortly after.

I wish I was patient but at exciting times like this I get extra impatient. We watched the crew get the drums and the rest of the stage set up and texted Jenna who was two rows behind us but on the other side of the stage. About 10 minutes before the boys took the stage there was screaming from the first row. They were screaming to the boys head security which I thought was funny. Sure enough 10 minutes later the arena went completely black and the backdrop lit up with a countdown. Madi pointed out the boys walking backstage; you could see their feet and the outline of their clothes.

From where we were standing we could see the boys waiting backstage to come on. Once the countdown ended the boys came running out. It was kind of a simple entrance which I loved. It was crazy to be so close and really see them and for them to be able to see you.

Now I’m going to bombard you with pictures…….

Zayn was in front of us at the beginning….

Then Harry and Niall came over to our side a lot. I didn’t really get many pictures because I wanted to see the concert and not see it through my camera. I know if I kept it out I could have gotten really awesome pictures but I’m happy that I put it away because it let me actually get to see everything.

The pictures of Niall came out the best….

The boys put on an incredible show. They're very talented. I’m very lucky that I had the opportunity to go and see them. Now there is next year’s concert to look forward to…….​

 

[Princess Olivia]

Our last day.....​

We woke Sunday morning feeling pretty sad. By this time everyone was sick and the last place we wanted to be was on a plane going home. We slept in and mom even tried to make a few phone calls seeing if we could delay our flight one more day but it ended up being way too much of a hassle. The nice part about our flight was that it wasn’t leaving until nine that night so we had all day to do what we wanted.

We got up and got breakfast at Olivia’s. I love this place. Me and my dad planned a lunch date for when we go back in April with my family. He really wants to see OKW and why I love it so much.

Cheers to our last breakfast…

Again our waitress was exceptionally friendly. She talked to us for a while about OKW and told us how she also works at Universal in the Harry Potter part! We told her about our experience and she said that she too was fashionably sporting a poncho that day.

After breakfast we made our way to Magic Kingdom. We all agreed that this was the park that we wanted to visit before we left.

My mom’s friend was also in Magic Kingdom so we went to go see her and her family before their reservations at Crystal Palace. We took a Disney Cruise with them a few years ago and my mom and dad went on the 2-day Disney Dream cruise out of New York with them a week prior. It was so good to see them!

We said goodbye and went to go find Colleen and Madi who were in the glass shop. I love this store. I ended up getting a lot for my room in here. The things they sell are so incredible!

Next up was visiting the real princesses since Madi had not when we were there on Tuesday. I like to think we’re princesses though…..doesn’t every girl?

Right after meeting Cinderella Madi voiced that she doesn’t like when the characters talk to her because she never knows what to say. It was pretty perfect when she went to say hello to Belle and Belle had a five minute conversation with her. She asked Madi if she liked to read and Miss Madison hates to read. Belle asked if I would help her to see that reading is fun. It’s a bit of a stretch but I was more than happy to take the challenge….

Next was Rapunzel!! She was the best Rapunzel yet! I told her right away that she was my favorite and she was so excited! It was awesome.

After our visit we went to go do the Laugh Floor which was so funny! I have actually never done that before because my brothers are too little to sit through it but that wasn’t a problem this time since they weren’t around. It was a perfect way to end our day at Magic Kingdom.

On our way out we needed to make one final pin trade with the ultimate pin trader…Scoop! He was so great and even gave mom and Colleen their own pins for being polite.

He was singing my name which made us laugh. “Olivia Oliviaaaaaaaaa”

By this time it was around 1:00 so our plan was to go to DTD for a bit to do some last minute shopping.

Good bye Magic Kingdom. See ya real soon!

 

[Princess Olivia]

Shop till we drop!​

We got dropped off at DTD at the same place we were when we were performing. It brought back memories……

We went in a few stores. We love The Basin. There was this moisturizer that Madi and I were begging to get but by this time we were broke. I’m most certainly coming back in April for it though and bringing Madi home a jar. It made your skin so soft.

We even made T-Shirts! This was so fun!! Madi had done it before when she went and really wanted to do it again for this trip so we went and made some. She got Animal from The Muppets and wrote on it “You say Animal like it’s a bad thing.” I got Rapunzel and wrote “So Flynn…Where ya from?” I got mine as long-sleeve T-Shirt because I have a weird obsession with them.

We had an hour before our T-Shirts were done so we went into two of my most favorite stores….Little Miss Matched and Tren-D.

Our moms are such CoverGirls….

In Little Miss Matched I ended up getting a headband that had a giant pink bow on it. In Tren-D I got another awesome picture frame and a Mickey Mouse shirt. And I think it is unheard of to go to DTD and not go into the World of Disney so that was another stop. I got a sweatshirt and mom got some things for my brothers and dad.

We had not had lunch and surprisingly we still had a while before we needed to be back at OKW. There was Earl of Sandwich but us being the ice cream junkies decided on Ghirardelli.

Madi,mom and Colleen all got peanut butter sundaes and I got a cookie sundae. All the tables inside were full. No one wanted to chance their ice cream melting in the heat. We were lucky to find a shaded spot.

Our ice creams came out shortly and they looked almost as delicious as they tasted!

It was hands down the best sundae I have ever had. It was SO good! Mine had a warm chocolate chip cookie on the bottom which made the sundae ten times better.

As big as they were, we had no trouble finishing them……

Our last order of business was to pick up our shirts (which came out prefect!) and go back to OKW to wait for our car to pick us up.

We got back to OKW, made sure our luggage was taken care of and went to go get a drink. There is this little area next to the bar that you can sit at. We sat there and talked about the entire trip and how much fun it was. Obviously no one wanted to go home. We sat there for almost forty-five minutes before we went to see if the car was there yet.

Once we saw the car the reality hit us that we were really leaving.
The only nice part was that we didn’t have to worry about anything any time soon because our summer was just starting.

The ride back to MCO seemed so short. Way shorter than when we were leaving it to go to Disney.

We got past security, got something to eat and went to wait in our terminal.

We barely waited any time before we were being boarded onto the plane. Just like that our perfect trip was over.

There was some turbulence on the way back but it wasn’t too bad. We landed a little past midnight. After getting our luggage and finding the car, we didn’t get home until about 2:30 A.M. Weren’t we used to it yet?

Once we got home we had a few weeks before dance started up again. It was so good to see everyone! It was non-stop Disney memories the whole week.

At least it didn’t take too long to get back into the swing of things!

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who read this trip report. Sorry that I almost abandoned you towards the end….I didn’t want for it to end!

It really was so much fun to write and to almost relive it all again.

I hoped you all enjoyed it!

Here is a fun re-cap of our crazy trip!

http://animoto.com/play/x5r6TKIgX9jAk1V2UC8Xjg

​

 

[jane2073]

I really enjoyed your trip report. It was a lot of fun to read!

 

[Princess Olivia]

I really enjoyed your trip report. It was a lot of fun to read!

Thank you so much! I'm really excited you enjoyed it! It was a lot of fun to write ​