Escape from Reality to My Happy Place!

[ortholablady]

Okay so thought I’d give this TR thing a try.
Here’s the basics
When Sunday Jan. 29 – Sat Feb. 4th
Where Sunday – Wed. night ASMusic Thursday and Fri. night Beach Club
Who

Me, Cathy. I started taking regular trips to Disney in 2004 when my brother moved there. I had taken 3 trips before that. The first being in 1980. Most of my trips from 2004 on were with my DS 19. But he’s in college now and hasn’t made the last few. So I was joined by my brother Tim and nephew Brady. Here they are from Oct. 2011

These guys live in FL a little over an hour from Disney so Tim was my chauffer for the week and to and from the airport.

I had a nice early flight Sunday morning at 6:30am. Left the house around 4:15 and got to Purchase college by 5 where they have parking for $10 a day and a free shuttle to Westchester airport about 10 minutes away. The airport was very quiet at that hour on a Sunday morning so bag check and security were a breeze. Here’s the view out my window just before my flight took off right on time.

It wasn’t long before I was on this all by myself! People don’t you know if you walk down to the front car you get into the airport firtst!?

Tim and Brady were waiting in the cell phone lot and were there to get me when I walked out with my luggage. We headed directly to

So that's a start but I could use some advice. My computer skills aren't as good as I would like. I had to keep going into photobucket and back here to post photos one by one. There has to be a better way. I took over 600 photos.

 

[15isto2]

Yay a virgin report, im in!!

 

[Mrs. Sojourner]

You're doing great! I'm in. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[quigs3]

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!!!

 

[Luvmepluto]

I am sure you will do GREAT! I can't wait to hear more!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Native NYer]

Joining in! And great start!
My brother went to Purchase College. I had no idea they had parking and a shuttle to the airport.

 

[ortholablady]

Thanks everyone for following along! And to NativeNYer they haven't been doing the shuttle thing for too long. Maybe a year? It's called PurchasePark2Fly and the proceeds benefit the school.

 

[ortholablady]

Okay so it's been a while. Life has been a bit hectic. Anyway I left off as we were driving under the Disney sign. Next stop was All Star Music to check in. When I got to the desk I asked if we could be put in the rock section as Brady is a budding rock star. He's been taking guitar lessons for a while now and is getting quite good. Not only did we get a room in the rock section but our room was ready! I think it was only about 10:45 at that point.

Some room pics and pics around the grounds

So a quick change into some shorts and we were off to MK. We decided this was where we wanted to go while we were in the car from the airport. Yup, except for one ADR absolutely nothing was planned for the week. I really don't plan much anymore since I've been lucky enough to have made so many trips. So after parking in the new Heroes lot

I was on a mission to the TTC to get one of these!!!

WooHoo!!! I'm officially an Annual Passholder again! It's been a few years since I've had one. I'm hoping to make another trip in October so it will be worth it to have the pass. And who knows I may have to make a quick end of summer trip. Gotta get my money's worth out of that AP right?

So into MK where I see more construction. It seems over the past year things have been covered up all over the place for refurbishment. I do think it's cool though the way things get covered with a picture of what's underneath.

So at this point poor Brady is "starving". Seems he only had 6 pancakes for breakfast! Haha! I think he's having a growth spurt. He's hungry all the time now. We decide on Caseys where Brady and I had hot dogs. I think Tim had nachos. Didn't get a pic of the nachos.

A few castle shots (darn crane!) before heading back down Main St.
I sent Brady Orlando Attractions Magazine and Celebrations Magazine for Christmas so we both had read about the new Sorcerer's card game and we were heading to the firehouse where you start to see if we could try it since we heard in was in testing mode at this point.

Back at the firehouse I saw a familiar face. I was pretty sure of who she was. So I went up to ask. I think some of you will recognize her.

It was Deb Wills from allears. I'm sure lots of you are familiar with her website.

She was very nice. We chatted for a couple of minutes. She lives in FL now. She gave me some allears trading cards that you can only get from someone from allears.

If you haven't heard of it it's allears.net. Check it out. Tons of info on Disney parks, resorts, restaurants...
Up next...the new MK game.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Joining in !

Great job so far .. looking forward to reading more !

 

[ortholablady]

Thanks! Going to hit the treadmill. Trying to stick to this exercise thing. Hope to get an update up later.

 

[ortholablady]

So we checked in for the Sorcerers game. Brady had the cards and I forgot to get a picture. They give you one key card that unlocks the game at each location and a few other cards that are spell cards for casting spells during the game.

The box to the left of the hay bale has what looks like a lock. It's a little dark but you can see it. You wave the key card in front of it to start a video.

During the video it will tell you to cast a spell and then you wave one of the spell cards to stop the villain in the video. At the end it tells you where to go next. You're also given a map to help find the next location.

Next stop was in the train station.

Brady enjoyed the game and I think kids will like collecting the cards. You do keep them and I think they can be used over and over. It's similar to KimPossible at Epcot. Personally I liked KimPossible better. We kept playing for awhile stopping to see some of the castle show in between missions.

Donald's looking a bit cross eyed here

It's funny with the moving faces now you never know what you'll get in photos. Three out of four blinking in that last one!

After some more of the card game I was in need of a break. I'd been up since 3:45. We had our one and only ADR this night at LeCellier. I've tried almost every trip to get a reservation there and finally got one. After resting up for a bit back at the hotel we got to Epcot in time to see, my favorite, Off Kilter with all the original members. Love these guys. Tim actually got to see them play outside of Disney one St. Patrick's Day a few years back and said they were awesome. I don't know if they do anything outside Disney anymore.

We also had time for one set of the British Revolution before dinner. Love these guys too. I think they're a great replacement for the British Invasion. There's much more variety not just Beatles.

It's kind of funny though, the guys in front with the long hair have air blowing their hair the whole time and every once in awhile they all flip their hair around in a circle at the same time. Kind of cheesy but they really are a good band.

Looking forward to some steak we headed for

Dinner was excellent. Had the famous pretzel bread which of course we asked for more of and regretted later when we had no room for dessert. I had wine Tim had beer. We both had the cheddar cheese soup and filet mignon. Brady had the kids pasta. I was a little concerned about how they serve the steak on top of risotto with sauce on top. Not usually how I eat steak. I thought about asking for the steak on the side instead of on top but decided not to and didn't regret it. It was very good. The pics are a little dark but you get the idea.

We wanted to try to catch Illuminations on the way out but it started before we got outside. But hey that's ok. Remember no plans! It's only our first night. We'll catch it another night. I did get some shots of it on our way out of the park.

That's the end of day one. Be back soon!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Great pics !! The Sorcerer game looks kind of fun .. we tried Kimpossible and didn't really like it though. But I think we'll try this one out.

 

[dara00]

oh, I think I just realized that I saw some people doing the sorcerer game in adventureland! I wasn't sure what they'd been looking at!

 

[ortholablady]

The morning of day 2 we just grabbed a quick breakfast at the food court. Just a muffin for me and I didn't take a picture. We ate at a sunny table by the pool. It was a little chilly at the shady tables.

Then I think the conversation went something like..(Tim) so Animal Kingdom this morning and maybe back to MK later today? (Me) Sounds good to me! That's how it goes in the non planned Disney Trip!

Had to take tree pics on the way in of course!

Ran into this guy on our way to do something Tim and Brady like but I had never done before.

My first time on Primeval Whirl. It was ok. I don't mind the spinning as much as the height and being able to see over the edge how high you are. I won't be rushing back for that one. Tim and Brady did though. There was no line so they rode two more times while I wondered around the gift shop.

Next up Dinosaur. A couple shots along the way.

 

[Moodyzblu]

I love doing Disney on the "fly" with no plans ! That's our style. I DO have a tentative plan this time ... But our trip this time is different with Universal days in there and switching resorts.

Looking forward to the next update !

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Joining in!!

So cool about meeting Deb and getting the exclusive All Ears cards. I use that site ALL THE TIME!!

Just out of curiosity, what are those dates on your AP? I'm assuming they are not the dates it's valid because it's not a year!

Tom and I went on Primeval Whirl once and never had a desire to do it again. Maybe if we were in a cart by ourselves but we were with another couple and it was VERY uncomfortable being thrown around with strangers. Maybe if we ever have our own party of 4, we'll do it again.

Excited to hear more!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I love the pool at ASMU, so festive looking.

Looking forward to reading along.

 

[ortholablady]

Joining in!!

So cool about meeting Deb and getting the exclusive All Ears cards. I use that site ALL THE TIME!!

Just out of curiosity, what are those dates on your AP? I'm assuming they are not the dates it's valid because it's not a year!

Tom and I went on Primeval Whirl once and never had a desire to do it again. Maybe if we were in a cart by ourselves but we were with another couple and it was VERY uncomfortable being thrown around with strangers. Maybe if we ever have our own party of 4, we'll do it again.

Excited to hear more!

The dates are on the folder that holds the AP. I meant to find out what that was about. I didn't notice the dates until I was taking the pic. I'm thinking maybe the pass holder benefits listed in that folder are changing. But I really don't know. My AP has a year expiration date.

 

[ortholablady]

I love the pool at ASMU, so festive looking.

Looking forward to reading along.

Thanks and the pool was nice. I spent a couple of hours there.
I'm planning to do an update over the weekend. It's been a long week!

 

[ortholablady]

I love the pool at ASMU, so festive looking.

Looking forward to reading along.

Thanks and the pool was nice. I spent a couple of hours there.
I'm planning to do an update over the weekend. It's been a long week!