"Excuse me, your child can NOT go on stage with Mickey":Jan 2013 TR! updates x 3! 6/5

[lvcourtneyy]

That little owl is just precious. What a nice way to relax.

EE 2Xs!!!! Awesome! You were smart to go back for the yeti. I always want to buy it, decide to pass it up and regret it when I get home. Guess who's going home with me next time?

Conservation Station is a nice change from the parks. I love your pics of the petting zoo. That spotted pig is so unusual. It is a pig, right?

Looks like you had a great day!

He was so cute and it was so relaxing!

Totally understand the dilemma! There's so many cute souvenirs to buy that I want to try to control myself but the yet is a must. I fully support getting him!

Yes he was an adorable pig! It was so nice and quiet over there- it was great!

We went to Conservation Station for the first time this past trip and just loved it. We won't miss it ever again! Gotta love those furry animals (NOT the snakes...those are not for me!) and the non-existent Rafiki line! It's so calm there.

I know what you mean about scrubbing your hands forever after the petting zoo--I made the kids scrub forever AND use the sanitizing gel!

We are so excited to see you guys soon!

Yay! We love it too! It is so calm and quiet compared to everything else! Such a great place.

Yup I love petting the animals but once I'm done and thinking about the germs and disgustingness I've just touched--

YES!! AH It's the 30 day mark for us today and we are so excited! So glad we'll get a chance to meet!!

 

[blabbermouth]

I missed this update a few days ago!

You totally just cemented the fact that I want to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch now! That owl was sooooo cute and who can resist a petting zoo?

Haha, I love that your DBF got into the ride photo poses.

I don't have the super cute yeti, but the small fridge magnet one

 

[lvcourtneyy]

I missed this update a few days ago!

You totally just cemented the fact that I want to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch now! That owl was sooooo cute and who can resist a petting zoo?

Haha, I love that your DBF got into the ride photo poses.

I don't have the super cute yeti, but the small fridge magnet one

Totally understandable!

It is an awesome place! I agree, petting zoos are a lot of fun!

Aw I didn't know there was a fridge magnet yeti! That's adorable!

 

[katt789]

How have I fallen so far behind on all these trs?!? I’m dying here!

Aw man, totally going out there this trip, I also really want to go to the petting zoo! Pigs and goats are the BEST!
I have never closed down AK at this point, and I would really like to, but that won’t happen next trip as we’ve got things planned afterwards for both days, hmm, January it is!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

How have I fallen so far behind on all these trs?!? I’m dying here!

Aw man, totally going out there this trip, I also really want to go to the petting zoo! Pigs and goats are the BEST!
I have never closed down AK at this point, and I would really like to, but that won’t happen next trip as we’ve got things planned afterwards for both days, hmm, January it is!

Totally understandable! It's hard to keep up and do the whole real-life thing too

Definitely do it! So much fun!

When are you going in January??

 

[MagicalMerida]

How come i only just found this? I'm in the process of catching up but it's really good so far! Your trip sounds like it was so exciting!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

How come i only just found this? I'm in the process of catching up but it's really good so far! Your trip sounds like it was so exciting!

Welcome! Thank you for reading! It was so exciting! I just jumped over to your TR and I'm pretty sure I've stumbled upon your Instagram at some point lol.

 

[katt789]

Totally understandable! It's hard to keep up and do the whole real-life thing too

Definitely do it! So much fun!

When are you going in January??

From what the plans are now it's the 26th to Feb 1st!! If we get four people total to split the hotel it's something like 980 total for tix, hotel and flight! I'm totally unsure about who's confirmed at this point as I haven't gotten money from anyone, but we're set on going and an ADR or two are already made baha!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

From what the plans are now it's the 26th to Feb 1st!! If we get four people total to split the hotel it's something like 980 total for tix, hotel and flight! I'm totally unsure about who's confirmed at this point as I haven't gotten money from anyone, but we're set on going and an ADR or two are already made baha!

That's awesome! We've been throwing around the idea of going down for a long weekend in February for my birthday but we have no idea if we can actually make it happen!

 

[ILGoofy]

Courtney, I requested to follow you on Instagram. I just started using it and don't post pictures or anything yet, so I didn't want you to think it was some random creeper. It's a Dis creeper!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Courtney, I requested to follow you on Instagram. I just started using it and don't post pictures or anything yet, so I didn't want you to think it was some random creeper. It's a Dis creeper!

Ah awesome! I'm following you back now!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Our next day we were headed to Universal! Originally we weren't planning on going to Universal at all this trip because we had just been the year before but Jen and Rick really wanted to go. The nice thing was, Chris and Jen's parents have a friend who lives in Orlando and works at Universal so he was able to get us 1 day/park-to-park tickets so we could do both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure in one day! It was really so nice of him because we all know one day tickets are SO expensive!

There's a serious lack of pictures from this day so I apologize!

We headed left first and went on the Hulk coaster which I think is the best! Then we all(including Presley!) went on the Storm Force Accelatron. Basically, they're fancy teacups which I hate so I wasn't that amused but everyone else seemed to like it ok.

Next, we went to Dr. Doom's Fearfall and Spiderman. The technology on Spiderman is pretty great!

We wandered around the Toon Lagoon area for a while looking at all the great theming. I wanted to go on the water rides but no one else did so we skipped them.

I don't remember if we ate breakfast or not but we were already getting hungry so we hung around the Thunder Falls Terrace until it opened to get an early lunch.

After we ate, we took turns going on the Jurassic Park River Adventure. We probably could've used a child swap or something but the lines were basically non-existant so it didn't make a huge difference.


DSCN0951 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


DSCN0952 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


DSCN0953 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

We got a little wet on the ride!


DSCN0954 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

Next we headed into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! I think we waited only like 20 minutes to go on the Forbidden Journey (a far cry from the 2 hours we waited last year!) Then, Jen, Chris and I went on the Dragon Challenge coaster. I was impressed with how little we waited in Harry Potter world. January 2012 it was PACKED but today it was fairly empty.

Afterwards, we looked around some of the stores.


IMG_20130108_121356 by RN Courtney, on Flickr
Presley LOVED the store windows because they had sound effects that went on randomly. She literally could've stayed all day waiting for the windows to make noise again.


IMG_20130108_121626 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

Next, we decided to watch the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad Stunt Show.


DSCN0955 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


DSCN0956 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

It was cute enough but a little silly. Presley was afraid because there was a lot of fire and loud noises so she was just happy when it was over!

Next, we did Poseidon's Fury. Chris' brother said we HAD to see this before our trip andddd I'm really not sure why. The Universal website calls it a "special effects spectacular". I mean, it was kinda cool but there was a lot of standing around and waiting for things to happen I thought.

Next, we headed to Seussville! I love how well themed it is here!


DSCN0957 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


DSCN0958 by RN Courtney, on Flickr
Finally some rides for her to enjoy!


DSCN0959 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


DSCN0960 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

Chris decided to take a bathroom break while we took Presley on the train ride.

DSCN0961 by RN Courtney, on Flickr
Presley was sitting next to me and was fine until the lap bars came down. They freaked her out. The ride operator started freaking out and was all like "Well, if she tries to stand up during the ride, we're going to have to stop the whole thing and leave you stuck there for like a half-hour!" Even though she wasn't trying to stand up, we decided to put her next to Rick just in case (and to make the ride guy leave us alone!)


DSCN0962 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


DSCN0963 by RN Courtney, on Flickr
Does this picture remind anyone of a Disney ride? It's the One Fish, Two Fish , Red Fish, Blue Fish ride at Universal! It's cute and it sings a song at you while you're riding. If you listen to the song, you don't get wet!


DSCN0969 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


While on the ride, we spotted characters from afar!

DSCN0968 by RN Courtney, on Flickr
After the ride, they were doing some kinda show with them so Jen and Rick took Presley over there and she met some characters and Chris and I went to the candy store!

Next, we went on the Cat in the Hat ride which basically takes you through the story (kinda like Winnie the Pooh). It was pretty cute!


DSCN0970 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


DSCN0971 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

 

[lvcourtneyy]

After Seussland, we started heading out of the park so I took some last castle pictures from afar.


DSCN0972 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


DSCN0973 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

Someone was getting a little tired and cranky!


DSCN0974 by RN Courtney, on Flickr


DSCN0975 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

It was still pretty early in the afternoon and we crammed so much into the morning that we were exhausted. We decided to take some time to rest in CitiWalk before heading to Universal Studios. Jen and Rick went to Burger King and Chris and I took Presley to the frozen yogurt place. But literally, by the time we got there, she was out.


IMG_20130108_151137 by RN Courtney, on Flickr

We relaxed for a good long time before heading over to the next park!

And I literally have NO MORE pictures for the day I don't know what was wrong with me.

The first thing we did when we got in the park was Shrek 4-D. Presley loves Shrek so she was excited. It was cute but honestly, I kept nodding off! I was tired!

Next, we did 2 rides on the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. It's a great coaster and I love the concept that you pick a song to play while you're riding!

When we were done, the parade was going by so we watched with Presley for a few minutes. She saw Spongebob (I think?) and was in heaven.

Then we did the Twister attraction. Jen and Chris said it hasn't changed since they were little but I don't remember doing it when we were little!

I'm pretty sure we did child swap for Revenge of the Mummy next! Such a great ride. I was watching something on the travel channel where they were ranking the top 10 coasters around the world and this one was on the list!

I'm pretty sure the park closed at 7 so the last thing we had time for after that was child swap on the Men in Black ride.

We watched the Cinematic Spectacular at the end of the night and it was really cool! They do a whole water show and there are clips of SO MANY great movies! I never even knew about the show but Jen really wanted to see it and I'm glad she did because it was great!

We had reservations at the Latin Quarter afterwards. In January 2012, Chris and I ate at the churrascaria (Brazilian steakhouse) here and LOVED it. We literally couldn't stop talking about it. It's like an all-you-can-eat steakhouse and it was amazing. So when we were coming back, we decided to make reservations again. This time however was TERRIBLE.

We were literally the only ones in the restaurant other than one other table of like 12-15 people. However, I think they ran out of food! They came around 2-3 times and then there were no servers to be found. Finally one came out and served us meat that was so rare. It was basically purple. I like my meat rare and this was just inedible. After that, they came around with pineapple on a stick which was when I started realizing that they just didn't seem to have enough food. We were seriously disappointed!

After dinner, we headed back to the parking lot and took a cab back to the hotel!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Universal looks like a lot of fun-I love the colorful suess area and of course Harry potter looks awesome. We haven't been there in years. Can't wait until we can go again!

 

[katt789]

It's all you today!! Yay!!

Universal is still something I want to do, but we're skipping it til next Sept when I'm assuming the HP additions will all be done!! Can't wait!

You guys really did well with the lines that day, that's insanely awesome!!!

Didn't know there was even a show over there...bahah, I just dont research when I'm not going I guess!

Boourns on the food front, that doesn't sound like a great experience!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Universal looks like a lot of fun-I love the colorful suess area and of course Harry potter looks awesome. We haven't been there in years. Can't wait until we can go again!

It is a lot of fun! My only complaint would be that there's really very little for kids to do outside of the kiddie areas. I can't wait until the Harry Potter expansion is done!

It's all you today!! Yay!!

Universal is still something I want to do, but we're skipping it til next Sept when I'm assuming the HP additions will all be done!! Can't wait!

You guys really did well with the lines that day, that's insanely awesome!!!

Didn't know there was even a show over there...bahah, I just dont research when I'm not going I guess!

Boourns on the food front, that doesn't sound like a great experience!

Haha yay!

Yeah I'm so excited for the Harry Potter expansion to be done.

Yeah there was like no one in the park that day! The show was pretty cool. I mean, we're not huge movie people so it probably would've been cooler if we were.

Yeah it was very depressing!

 

[TXPyroMom]

Just finished reading your entire TR.... it's been a slow day at work

Loved seeing all the pictures of the Osborne Lights... My family has a December trip coming up and this is one of the things I am most looking forward to.

I am impressed with how many characters y'all met too. I love it when big strapping guys can let their macho-ness go and have a good time... just like a little kid.

Thanks for taking the time to write... it really kept me entertained this morning.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Just finished reading your entire TR.... it's been a slow day at work

Loved seeing all the pictures of the Osborne Lights... My family has a December trip coming up and this is one of the things I am most looking forward to.

I am impressed with how many characters y'all met too. I love it when big strapping guys can let their macho-ness go and have a good time... just like a little kid.

Thanks for taking the time to write... it really kept me entertained this morning.

Welcome!! Glad you enjoyed!

The Osborne Lights are beyond amazing. Literally, I think they alone are worth planning a Christmas trip to see. The pictures don't even do them justice. You're going to love it!

Meeting characters is one of my favorite things to do and Chris has learned to love it by default! But it really is totally great to see his inner kid come out.

Thank you so much for reading!

 

[courtneybelle]

Okay I'm not caught up yet but I had to stop and tell you how much I love the picture of you, Chris, and Ariel!!! It's so adorable! I like to think that's how my boyfriend would be if we ever go to Disney together

I love Pop so much. We're going back in July and I can't wait.

Presley is SO cute in her princess dresses!

I am so excited to see the Osborne Lights too!!! Your pictures are fantastic!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Okay I'm not caught up yet but I had to stop and tell you how much I love the picture of you, Chris, and Ariel!!! It's so adorable! I like to think that's how my boyfriend would be if we ever go to Disney together

I love Pop so much. We're going back in July and I can't wait.

Presley is SO cute in her princess dresses!

I am so excited to see the Osborne Lights too!!! Your pictures are fantastic!

Aw thank you! We were both excited before our first trip together but I honestly never though he'd get into the magic as much as he has! I hope the same happens for you two when you get to go!