Dramamine: The Story of 4, no wait 5? Wait no, 6! Friends in Disney -- Updated 12/13!

[beckyx3]

Dramamine: The Story of 4, no wait 5? Wait no, 6! Friends in Disney

Good evening, and welcome.
We've gathered here tonight, around the fire,
as people of all lands have gathered for thousands and thousands
of years before us,
to share the light and to share a story
an amazing story, as old as time itself
but still being written.
And though each of us have our own individual stories to tell
a true adventure emerges when we bring them all together as one.
I hope you enjoy our story tonight...

Welcome to a trip to remember! It was a glorious 9 days in Disney World. We had all kinds of fun. It was magical. There was dancing. We Laughed. Some sang in the shower. And we ate LOTS of food!

Check out our awesome trip video here: Can we go back??

But who are we?

Becca

That's me! I am your teller of tales.
Lifelong Disney fan. Lover of all things Marvel.
Person who can barely take a normal picture unless it's Photopass.

Ricky

We've known each other for 6 years.
My PIC. The Chip to my Dale. The Woody to my Buzz.
Lifelong Disney fan and an aficionado of looking over construction walls.
He consumes Disney food like it's going out of style.

Anne

We've known each other for 20 years.
Lifelong Disney fan.
Enjoys long rides on the TTA and the Carousel of Progress.
Also a lover of all things Aladdin and Jasmine.

Nora

We've also known each other for 20 years!
Former CPer and yet another Lifelong Disney fan.
Has a soft spot in her heart for Animal Kingdom and AKL.
She's also a heck of a dancer.

Kerri

Known each other for 20 years and we're basically family.
New lover of Walt Disney World. Old lover of Star Wars.
Hasn't seen Mulan or Hocus Pocus until about a week ago.
Originally wanted to go to OBX for vacation next summer, but now wants another Disney vacation.

And last, we have Steve

We've known each other for less than 20 years, more like 13 or 14.
Singer. Talker. Makes friends with everyone he meets.
Loves Disney, but I don't know if it's lifelong.
Reason for part of the trip report title.

The When & Where

September 19-21: Art of Animation :6 of us
September 21-22: Polynesian :4 of us
September 22-27: Beach Club :2 of us

If you're interested in the planning you can always go back and check out my Pre-Trip Report:
Revenge of the Animal Kingdom Duck: A September Pre-Trip Report

We planned for so long and it ended too soon. We're all itching to go back. But what better way to combat that Post Disney Depression than to relive our memories? So come along on this adventure of a lifetime, won't you?

​

 

[beckyx3]

Saved for Links!​

 

[chillitsanne]

followin'

 

[nilla]

I'm in!

 

[chillitsanne]

also there were 5 of us at poly lol still cant get it right

 

[jane2073]

Sounds fun so far! Can't wait to read more!!

 

[TruLovesKiss]

Following along

 

[1Grumpy9]

Following along. Can't wait to hear about your adventures

 

[Dinohood]

i'm in, most of the time i just read trips for the photos and this this many people lots of photos

 

[beckyx3]

followin'

also there were 5 of us at poly lol still cant get it right

I know! I figured after the Star Tours incident I should probably just stop trying.

I'm in!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sounds fun so far! Can't wait to read more!!

It was a blast! I'm really excited to be able to share all of the good times!

Following along

Happy to have you here!!

Following along. Can't wait to hear about your adventures

This trip was a great ride. Hopefully you'll enjoy it!

i'm in, most of the time i just read trips for the photos and this this many people lots of photos

Unfortunately the first update is extremely lacking in pictures. But please stick around! Between 2 of us alone there was over 1,000 pictures and we also paid for Photopass!

 

[beckyx3]

_ Days Until Disney!

(AKA 1 Photo, More Talking)


The weeks leading up to the trip were a little crazy. I had tried to keep a “_ Days Until Disney!” countdown on my Instagram, and failed. We had waited so long for this trip and it had seemed like it just popped up so fast. I had to finish up my summer semester at school and take a few tests that I was really stressed out about the week before. Ricky had to drive up right from work so packing for him was a nightmare. Anne waited until the night before and Kerri and Steve had gone shopping that friday for stuff because they were both off. Nora had her suitcase out that Wednesday but I think it took a little longer to pack than she would have liked. Some of it ended up well, some of it was a little crazy.


I worked through lunch the Friday before we left and I left work around 4. The plan was to head to the nail salon for a relaxing trip because the week had been so nuts, then pick up a few extra things at Walmart and head home to celebrate my Dad’s birthday. Well, as you can imagine, things didn’t go as planned. For some reason I decided to head to Walmart first, which sort of ended up being a good idea. I picked up what I needed, headed to the nail salon, and had to wait. 45…minutes. It was Friday afternoon?? What on earth was everyone doing there?? So I ended up back home for family dinner later than everyone would have liked, but I had some stuff crossed off my list.


Ricky got to my house from work around 7. He ate some pizza and we headed upstairs to finish getting everything ready. I had been up at 6 that morning to check us in for our flight and I hadn’t been sleeping well that week so the plan was bed at 10 to be up early.


Yeah right!


I had to pack all of my toiletries and chargers and then shower. I realized Ricky’s hat for his costume wasn’t done. I didn’t have any glue for a quick fix so I had to do the worst sewing job imaginable with 5 different colors of thread. I got really frustrated with it around 11 and Ricky tried to take over. It didn’t look too pretty. So I finally went to bed and woke up at 3:15.


We got all of our stuff together, put our tags on our luggage, and then my bag fell and broke my mirror. This couldn’t be happening! I’m not really superstitious person but I was not happy when that happened!


So we headed downstairs, I grabbed our Brita water bottles and a cliff bar, set the alarm for the house and headed outside to wait for Anne to pick us up. After everything was locked up, Kerri called me looking for a knife. They had stopped at Wawa and she forgot to get one for her bagel. It was a pretty chaotic phone call, but we headed back to Anne’s to get her dad and Ker got her knife. Crisis averted.


Annes dad got in the car saying “I’ll be your driver for the African Safari”. He’s really funny and he made us all that more excited to get on our way around 4:10.


We drove down 95 and talked about all of the signs welcoming Pope Francis and how we wondered if the city would actually be as crazy as they were predicting it to be. Ricky and I were flying in the day he was flying out so we were really worried about the airport shutting down or hitting traffic on 95.


We got to the airport a little after 4:30. Anne’s dad was trying to find somewhere to drop us off as he was talking about buses blocking people in. Low and behold, we get our stuff out of the van and he gets blocked in by a bus! We could hear him from the curb saying “you’ve got to be kidding me!” We got a pretty good laugh out of it.


We headed in to check our bags and head through security, of course Anne and I got put in the long line while Kerri, Ricky, and Steve got routed to a shorter line. (Nora was flying in from another airport). Kerri and Steve had both had sunscreen in their bags and forgot to pack them away so they ended up being thrown out by TSA. We made our way down to our gate and noticed how many people were there for it being so early. Turns out a lot of area schools got time off for the Pope’s visit so they pretty much all decided to head to Disney.


Kerri and I headed to Guava Java (or is it Java Guava?) to get some breakfast and drinks while Anne headed to McDonalds. I’ll never understand why nothing is ever open in that airport. There were so many people, but so little to choose from. ABP is never opened until like 6:30/7 and there isn’t a Starbucks or anything (which is definitely way better than ABP in my opinion). It’s really frustrating. But alas. We got our food and joked around until we all got bored and just relaxed while we waited.

What a bunch of cool kids.

This is probably a good time to introduce the “Dramamine” part of our story. Anne and Steve had gone to Disney and Universal a few years ago and Steve got a little sick on some of the rides so we suggested he get some dramamine to take so maybe he wouldn’t feel as sick. WELL. Turns out he loved the idea so much that he didn’t stop talking about it! He kept saying the word dramamine over and over again that Anne and Ker started to count how many times he said it! Before we boarded we were already in the teens!


We had pretty good boarding numbers but family boarding after A from Southwest pretty much made us some of the last people on the plane. We did have an interesting chat with a lady who started out with a good conversation and then turned it into something religious, calling people out saying they may not be believers. Don’t get me wrong, she wasn’t nasty or anything, but we were all tired and waiting to board and we didn’t really want to talk to her. So to start talking about such personal things made us a little uncomfortable.


It was already an interesting trip and we hadn’t even left the airport!


We finally got to board and we sat in the back. Me, Ricky, and Ker. Then Steve with a father and a daughter (who he made friends with, he’ll talk to anyone) and Anne behind him. I tried to sleep but I was too excited, Anne and Steve passed out. Kerri tried for like 45 minutes to try and go to the bathroom, but every time she got up someone would swoop in before her. And Ricky watched some free TV on his iPad and some promotional Disney material.


We landed around 9 and tried to find Nora. I gave her a call while everyone stopped for a potty break. Turns out she was in another terminal so we said to meet her on side B.


We headed to the fake monorail and then stopped in a news store to see what the cost of sunscreen was for Ker. And I needed to find some AAA batteries for my video camera. The batteries were the first casualty of my inability to be well prepared.


I don’t think she actually got sunscreen, but she got some snacks instead. Steve found some dramamine (time number 20? Already?!) and I headed to the bathroom after texting Nora to meet us at the steps by the store. By the time I returned she was already on the B side so we headed down to meet her.


We saw her, hugs ensued, and we were finally off to our first Disney ride…the Magical Express!!


Sorry for the longwinded update. I couldn’t believe how much had happened that morning and only one single picture was taken! But not to worry, there will be PLENTY of pictures to come and even a video! So stink around and join in on our wonderful adventure!​

 

[1Grumpy9]

Usually on my travel day(s), I forget to take pictures, so I completely understand about being "wordy". Sounds like you had an interesting night before flying and flying out.

 

[Dinohood]

wow sounds like what happens with my family trying to get ready and things just don't go smooth, can't wait for more so true i hate airports in the morning.

 

[nilla]

Wow, crazy start to the trip! We prefer flying out of Newark to Philly, since both are about the same distance from us. Newark's easier to get to, and the shops and restaurants are actually open. Usually.

Hoping the rest of the trip wasn't this chaotic. Or am I? That certainly would make for an interesting trip report

 

[beckyx3]

Usually on my travel day(s), I forget to take pictures, so I completely understand about being "wordy". Sounds like you had an interesting night before flying and flying out.

It was very interesting. My nights before always seem to be hectic, no matter how prepared I think I am!

wow sounds like what happens with my family trying to get ready and things just don't go smooth, can't wait for more so true i hate airports in the morning.

I'm glad we're not alone in our craziness! I always feel like others are so much more put together. And airports in the morning are almost always the worst. I can never understand how you can have people in the airport without having things open!

Wow, crazy start to the trip! We prefer flying out of Newark to Philly, since both are about the same distance from us. Newark's easier to get to, and the shops and restaurants are actually open. Usually.

Hoping the rest of the trip wasn't this chaotic. Or am I? That certainly would make for an interesting trip report

It was extremely crazy! And we're pretty far from Newark, but it's still close enough to be an option. Last time I flew out of Newark was the same morning as the crazy Tracey Morgan crash on the Turnpike. Half of it was shut down and we had to get off before getting back on right before the airport. It was stressful and we got to the gate as soon as they were calling our boarding group

And I don't know about chaotic, but it sure was fun!!

 

[beckyx3]

“Your Metabolism is Adorable”
Or How My Love Affair with FastPass+ Continued


When we last left off, we were hugging our long, lost friend Nora.


We made our way to our first Mickey head of the trip and one by one we got green Mickeys and were headed into the line for AOA. I was so preoccupied with talking that apparently I missed the family who was behind us before cutting in front of us to get to the bus. It turned out fine though, they all had luggage with them so we got on the bus before they did.


Kerri and Nora sat together, Steve and Ricky, and I sat with Anne. While we waited for the bus to leave, Nora gave us all presents…crab claw pens! I don’t know why, but those things entertained us really well. We pretty much all sat there and pinched each other with our pens.

By 9:45 we were off and headed to the most magical place on earth!!


When we got to AOA we were stopped by a nice cast member whom I don’t remember his name. But he was so funny and nice. I gave him my name and he checked to see if our room was ready (it wasn’t), but he did notice that it was noted that it was Anne’s birthday and he gave her a birthday button, yay!

We headed into the lobby and decided to stop for bathroom breaks, getting changed, and condensing bags.

We stopped by bell services and dropped off some bags to be delivered to our room and headed to the bus for our first park.

Around 10:40 it was time to go to…

Yay!! We were making pretty good time! At some point before we got on the bus though, I realized I had forgotten something extremely crucial: the memory card for my DSLR. I was livid with myself. I hadn’t used that camera since January when I was in London so there was absolutely no reason the memory card shouldn’t have been in there. Ricky suggested we take a look in the camera shop when we got to the studios.


We got to the park and we were all so excited. First thing, first, Ricky and I needed to upgrade to our first ever APs. We told everyone they could go ahead, but they decided to wait for us. Those are true friends. We had a great CP cast member help us out. We had a ton of gift cards that we forgot to combine and even though she tried to get them all to go through, she was unable to do so. So we split it up with 2 gift cards and a credit card. No matter. She told us where we could get the Tables in Wonderland card and we thanked her and went to find everyone else.


As we headed into the park I made a beeline for the camera shop and everyone trickled in behind me. Unfortunately, their SD card was SUPER overpriced and I just bought a pack of AAA batteries for my video camera.

What a ragtag gang.

So we were finally here. After months of waiting. And what did we decide to do?


Well eat of course!​

They don’t call it free dining for nothing! We decided to try out the backlot since we knew it’d have something we’d all want. None of us knew how the free dining thing worked so we spoke with yet another lovely castmember, this one I believe was from NJ. He was joking around with us and let us know what to do. For some reason we split up in line and got our orders. Steve and Anne went back to find us a seat and we sat at a cool high table near the horse statue.

Yup, that's the one!


I didn’t remember any food pictures this trip, but I know the general consensus was nuggets, buffalo nuggets, and probably the caesar salad for Anne. I tried the peanut butter and jelly cupcake. The peanut butter icing was incredible. I’m not a huge fan of jelly so the center wasn’t great, but the icing alone was worth it. I there was also a strawberry/raspberry/some type of berry cupcake and someone got it, but by the time we all got to dessert we were full. We couldn’t believe how much food it was just for lunch.

I don't know what's happening here.


While most of us pretty much tapped out before dessert was finished, Ricky kept on going (a reoccurring theme throughout the trip). He finished my food, then Kerri asked if she wanted some of hers, then I think Nora offered the rest of hers. Kerri just looked at him in shock and said “your metabolism is adorable”.


After Ricky’s superhuman feat of eating like 4 meals, we discussed what we wanted to do. There was an Indiana Jones show soon. Kerri and Steve have never seen it and Ker is a Harrison Ford super fan so we decided that would be a good idea. As we were deciding on a plan I got a text from the resort saying to come to the front desk to check in. I was a little annoyed because I thought I did online check in so I didn’t have to go to the desk.


While we cleaned up we heard the music for the Jedi Training Academy and rushed out so Kerri could watch the show.


I always really enjoy this show. I think it’s super adorable and it makes me want to watch Star Wars. Ricky has no time for it, but he stops because he knows I really like it.


While the show was going on Anne was getting a little uncomfortable and decided to make the journey to sit in the AC at One Man’s Dream, a bonus because it’s one of her favorite attractions and she’s been reading a Walt Disney biography. The rest of us decided to line up for Indiana Jones while I called to see if I could have the problem fixed without having to go to the resort. I knew some people would want to go back to the room to hangout and Nora asked if we could try and make a quick stop at Animal Kingdom before our dinner reservation, so I hoped it wasn’t a HUGE problem. Well it turned out that some of our bands were shown as not working and they needed us there before they could give us the room information. No bueno. We decided to play "Who's Band is the One That Doesn't Work"


I always lose that game.


While we waited for the show to start, Anne texted me and said she was heading back because she still wasn’t feeling great. I told her she can try and check in, I can’t remember if she tried and they didn’t let her or she decided to wait for me. At that point I thought it might be a good idea to push back our Star Tours FastPass. People were tired and I didn’t want to run around like a chicken with my head cut off for the afternoon. And it worked seamlessly. I changed all of our reservations at once to a time after dinner. It was perfect. I used that function MANY times during the trip

Pre-show blurry selfie!

The show let in early and started early which I was surprised about. Kerri and Steve loved it. Indy was awesome. The scene with the big villain guy and the plane was a little drawn out. They were trying to put the stopper underneath the planes wheel and it wouldn’t stay so the poor guy had to stand there like he was trying to land the plane for a solid 5 minutes.


We headed out of the theater and decided to head back to the resort so we could get everything sorted out.

First I decided to pull the Indy rope!


And it wasn’t working


I think it was around this time that Kerri started mentioning the details, the cleanliness of the park, and the cast members. I was happy she was having a good time. It wasn’t until later that I had an epiphany from her observations…


We made our way out of the park and back to the resort to meet Anne.


Would our bands work when we got there? Was our room actually ready? And would we finally get on a ride?? And will I ever have more pictures??? (The answer to that is yes!!)​

 

[Dinohood]

great update to bad about your sd card.

 

[chillitsanne]

i had nugs

 

[beckyx3]

Sorry for the lack of updates! Our Internet has been awful and I haven't really been able to do anything online other than school work. I promise 2 whole updates before Friday!

great update to bad about your sd card.

Thank you! Yeah it was awful. Turns out I left it in the weirdest spot too.

i had nugs

Nugs. Yum.

 

[beckyx3]

The Tale of My Never Working Magic Band
(SPOILER ALERT: LESS PICTURES BECAUSE STILL NO SD CARD)


When we last left our crew we were heading out of the park and over to the Art of Animation to see what was going on with our Magic Bands.


We walked in to the lobby and Anne was there waiting for us. We got in line and a great CM asked us what was happening. I explained the situation to him and he requested our bands. He checked and said that absolutely nothing was wrong. Oh well.


We decided to head to our room. We were in the lion king section. The first building on the right. 4th floor with a nice view of the lake. The location was great. We could take the secret door or take the outside stairs. It was really convenient.


We got to the room and we checked to make sure all of our bands worked. One by one…they didn’t. Except for Anne. The one person who wanted to go back to the room and she could’ve.


I’ve never had a band that’s worked on a door before. Ever. Usually Ricky and I ignore it because we never really split up, but this was a problem.


We loved the room. All of our bags were there and we oohed and ahed over how much we loved the theme and figured out who would sleep where. While we relaxed a little I tried to figure out the best way to get a memory card. Prime wasn’t an option because for some reason they couldn’t do overnight to the resort. We thought about getting an Uber later that night or the next morning and going to Target, but neither Ricky nor I decided that would be a good idea.


I gave up looking because I started getting frustrated. We decided to head down to get our mugs while Steve slept.


The food court was pretty crazy. I really wanted a purple mug but we couldn’t find any. Ricky found a CM who was getting ready to stock them and we pretty much cleaned her out. People kept asking us where we got our purple mugs.


Anne and Ker decided to check the gift shop and I headed to the front desk to get our bands fixed. This time we got a manager and we explained what happened. She was another great CM and she helped us out and fixed us up. It didn’t take long at all.


We headed back to the room and woke Steve up.


We headed to the bus and saw that there was a Studios bus waiting so we decided to run. BIG mistake. We lost Steve in the process and we were off without him.

So we took Photopass pictures.

Ricky wasn't into the Anna and Elsa topiaries.

I think there was something on me or the photographer said something to me? I don't know. It's not a very surprising picture though.

After that we went inside.

Our FP+ for Midway Mania was getting set to expire so we booked it to the back of the park and called Steve.

But it was time for a Prom Pic first!

After the picture we decided to get in line for the ride. Had to show off mah shoes:

This was Kerri’s first time and Anne offered to ride alone.

It was a blast as usual. And, of course, I beat Ricky. I’m undefeated against that guy.

We got off the ride and the green army men were out meeting. We wanted a pic but they seemed to be wrapping up. The one guy told us to wait a second by gesturing with his hands. We waited a few minutes, but ultimately we decided to head to our next FP+.​