Music, Magic, and Mayhem! (Not the Fireworks...) Feb. '07 Trip Report with PICS!!

[wswhorselover]

Hi, everyone! I've had such fun reading everyone else's trip reports that I thought I'd write one of my own. I hadn't been to Disney since I was almost 3...I'm almost 17 now. In August 2006, we got the letter telling us we were going to Disney from February 15th-19th 2007. We being the Wind Ensmeble, Marching Band, Jazz Band, String Ensemble, Orchestra, and Bel Canto of our school. I convinved my mom to chaperone (a decision she would later come to regret!) As an added bonus, most of my friends are in the groups that were going. So 9 of my best friends and I, my mom, and about 150 other kids were going to Disney! How many teenagers get to say that? The next few months were a whirlwind (but the slowest whirlwind ever) of planning, meetings, and fundraising. Finally, the day was almost here! I'll introduce the cast of charcters:

Me(16)isney addict. I'm talking crazy obsessed here. If I could I'd move to Disney! Had been planning a trip for years. I fell in love with WDW around age...8? So excited for this trip!

My mom(Won't post her age...)Likes Disney, but doesn't share my crazy enthusiasm. Also had not been to Disney in about 13 years.

Although I said 9 of my best friends were going, there's one I spent most of my time with. She is:

MJ:Same age as me. Has been to Disney several times, but never flown, she's always driven with her family. She was in my room for the trip.

So there we are, ready to escape our snowy, cold New York weather..

 

[wswhorselover]

So about 50 of us (including all my friends) were on the first flight out. We were leaving school around 11 am. Our flight had a stopover in Baltimore. The second group would leave that night with a direct flight. I went to leave biology and a classmate said "So right now you're leaving to go to Disney?" I said yes and she said she would be so excited if she were me. Trust me...I was escited We stopped at Wendy's and then left for the airport. I left my winter jacket with my dad, an item I would definitely want later in the trip. We made it through luggage weighing (nothing overweight ) and through security. Then we waited. FINALLY we got on the plane. Now, MJ was terrified and wanted the aisle seat.I took the middle and our other friend took the window. Around this time Mary took a picture of the "if the plane crashes in water, use seat cushion as a flotation device" sign and sent it to her sister with a message saying "We're going to die!" Well the ride was fairly uneventful (there was one time where we thought it was lightening but it was really just the strobes on the plane). We landed at MCO , took the fake monorail to get our luggage and then made our way to ME. We watched the video, but because it was dark outside so we didn't really see many sights. We got to All Star Music, and waited while our band director checked us in. We were in Country Fair 5.

An hour or so later ,we made our way to our rooms, settled in and then went to the food court for a very late dinner. I think I had a hotdog. Around midnight, we went to sleep, in preparation for our big performance at MK tomorrow.



Up next: Will we do well at our performance? Is backstage all it's cracked up to be?

 

[heaven2dc]

This sounds like a fun trip! Hope you had a blast - wish my kids were as enthused about Disney as you. My oldest is but am trying to convince my DS14 and DS21 to go with me sometime. My DS21 says he will if there are cute girls involved lol.

Can't wait to read how your first day went!

 

[wswhorselover]

So we woke up around 7 and went to eat.I love me some Mickey Waffles!! Then we got in line to wait for the bus. When we got to the Magic Kingdom, we went to Tomorrowland. We grabbed FASTPASSes for Space Mountain, because the line was 2 hours long. Then we went and rode Buzz Lightyear, 25 minute wait. That ride was so fun! Even though I didn't score very high... By then it was time to Ride Space Mountain. We walked right through...why is it that more people don't use fastpass? We screamed the whole way, more out of fear that we were going to hit our heads then actual fear of the ride. Then we headed toward Fantasyland. Who do we see? Tigger!

Then we were hungry, so we stopped at Cosmic Ray's for lunch. I got a grilled chicken sandwich. It was dry and I didn't like it very much. We went through the castle and looked in the shops. It was time for our afternoon checkin. We took these pictures around then.
That's me and my mom:

My friends and I.

We still joke that we are wearing about 3 sweatshirts and sunglasses. The "shorts club" was quickly turning into the "pants club". Stupid New Yorkers!
Then we went backstage to prepare for our performance. Backstage was boring. Our changing rooms were just a room with a curtain. Our instruments and clothes had been trucked down earlier in the week. Then we took a bus to the Galaxy Palace Theater. Our performance went great! When it was done, we went backstage again. Then MJ and I wandered over to Frontierland. We got FASTPASSes for Big Thunder Mountain RR. We were already cold and didn't have our ponchos, so we didn't go on Splash Mountain that day. We wandered over to Liberty Square and went on the Haunted Mansion. We got super scared in the Stretch Room whe nthe lights went out. But the ride itself was adorable. Then we went on IASW. We were in a boat with three other kids who were on the trip also, but not our friends. They sang along, mockingly, the whole way. It was hysterical! Sorry to the people who were on the boat with us. Then we heard Dream Along with Mickey, so we started running around the castle. Shout out to the two boys who told us we couldn't run, we needed permits to do that at WDW! The show was cute. I took lots of pics, but since we had not yet discovered the joy of digital, they didn't turn out very well. We went to buy MJ and my mom pants, because it was getting cold. And being from New York, we know cold! I wished I had my jacket...Then we headed over to Pirates, and the ride was temporarily closed. So we went to Pecos Bill's for dinner. I got a cheeseburger, which was yummy. Then we went back to Pirates, and waited about 25 minutes. I have to say, for being there over President's Day weekend, we didn't encounter many super long lines. That scene in the ocean with the cannons and fighting is a little too realistic for me! We were headed over to see PhilharMagic, but got stuck by SpectroMagic. It happened to be a great location, barely anyone there. Again, the pictures weren't really good. Somewhere in that evening we rode BTMRR using our FASTPASSes. I remember the queue being very long, and wondering which line was FASTPASS and witch was regular. I remember the ride being fast and COLD! It was also dark, so we didn't really see much!Then we saw PhilharMagic. It was adorable, but I decided I don't like things flying at my face. Then we started heading back towards Main Street. We stopped at the bakery for cappuccino, which was gross! No sugar maybe? Even after we added some, it still wasn't very good!
Then we headed back to the resort for the night.

Tomorrow: EPCOT. Will we survive Test Track? Will we walk World Showcase?

 

[wswhorselover]

Again, we woke up and had breakfast-Disney has the best fruit cups! We hopped on a bus to Epcot. I decided to spend the morning with my mom. We rented a locker and then decided to ride Spaceship Earth, since the line wasn't too long. That was a cool ride. Then we attempted to go ride The Universe of Energy...we got a little lost because we didn't know you had to go through the Inoventions buildings to get there! When we were done there, we grabbed FASTPASSes for Test Track and headed to find some lunch. We found Sunshine Seasons and had the best sandwiches I've EVER had...the turkey and cheese on focaccia with chipotle mayo and some delicious Butterfinger cheesecake. The line for Soarin' was VERY long and my mom wasn't sure if she wanted to ride. So we didn't get FASTPASSes. Then we went in MouseGears to browse before check-in time. I got my favorite sweatshirt there...A blue hoddie with the 2007 logo on it. After everyone met up again, I spent some time with MJ. We stopped in Mexico so she could eat and we looked in the shops. Unfortunately, the boat ride was closed for refurbishment. We went to Norway and looked around, but Maelstrom had a line that wasn't too bad, but more than we wanted to wait. So we headed to China where we saw...Mushu!

Around this time I decided it was easier to snap pictures of the characters from afar than to wait in line for them. Then we got stuck before the bridge leading to Germany while the Illuminations barges went through. We got to Germany and looked around and saw Snow White!

Then we headed back to Test Track as she conincidentally gotten a FASTPASS for the same time as mom and I. Here's mom and I afterwards.

Then MJ and I headed in the opposite side of WS. She had seen Canada earlier so we went to the UK. We looked in the shops and sat on the curb to watch what I guess were the World Showcase players. We also saw Mary Poppins and one of her penguins:

Then we moved to France and Morocco where we looked briefly and saw the huge drums at Japan. Then we headed to Italy so MJ could meet up with the rest of the Marching Band. They would be performing tonight. Mom and I grabbed a bite to eat at Liberty Inn and then saw The American Adventure. What a great show! Then we headed back to the Showcase Plaza area to watch the Marching Band. Then we headed over to Cantina de San Angel and got some churros. We would have stayed there but mom was in charge of First Aid forms that night and MJ hadn't returned yet, so we watched from back by the Odyssey building. After that it was almost time to go. I wanted to ride Nemo but there wasn't time. So off we went. Imade these cards when we got home, telling what we did and where we ate at each park. Here's the Epcot one:

Tomorrow:Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. And an unexpected surprise...not a good one!

 

[wswhorselover]

We arrived at AK around 10 and of course MJ, SG and I power walked to EE. The line was probably about 3 hours long, so we grabbed FASTPASSes that were luckily for a little before we had to leave. Then we went over to Dinosaur and rode, since the weight was only about 1/2 hour. That ride was TERRIFYING! About 30 minutes in I covered my ears and closed my eyes...and stayed like that for the rest of the ride. (Our other friends got a great picture though-they all look terrified!) Then we went on Primeval Whirl, which was a lot of fun. The seats were a bit uncomfortable though. MJ almost choked on her gum from all the spinning though! Then I decided I wanted to ride the Safari. MJ didn't want to...she thought the lions were going to eat her! The wait was about an hour (one of two of the longest waits we encountered). I really liked it and wish we could have done it again. Then we headed back over to Everest.

I think that ties with Splash Mountain as my favorite ride! Unfortunatley, after that I felt really sick. Pounding head, enough to ruin the vacation sick. We headed to the buses to the TTC and got on the monorail. Unfortunately, I was feeling too yucky to enjoy it By some miracle, one of the chaperones got her daughter, another chaperone, and my mom and I into lunch at Crystal Palace. The line was LOOOONg, but she got us in! I definitely liked the spoon bread and the potatoes...I don't remember much else.

You can see how sick I look in these pictures:

After that we got FASTPASSes for Jungle Cruise. Then I met up with MJ and we headed over to Splah Mountain. It said the wait was an hour, but we really wanted to ride. We walked through the queue and I wondered where the people were. Turns out we literally walked on the ride. It was awesome and here's our pic :

We went right back on line again. It was great the second time around too!
Then we met back up with mom and her chaperone buddies for Jungle Cruise. I didn't really like it. Then we wandered around some more. We went on Stitch, which was a dumb ride. I started to feel really yucky again...and basically had a slight breakdown on Main Street. So MJ and I went to chill at the Exposition Hall until my mom could come get me.

Tomorrow: MGM (which it still was at the time!)Will I be able to go?

P.S.

Does anyone know where this picture was taken? My mom thinks it was in MK but she can't remember!

 

[wswhorselover]

So this was our last full day at the parks. I was still sick and took a lot of cold medicine because I really wanted to go! So we headed over to the Studios. We headed for ToT and waited for probably about an hour. It was completely worth it. I can't wait to go back sometime and do it again! We got FASTPASSes for RnR and then saw Beauty and the Beast...a little disjointed but AMAZING! Then we went to the Great Movie Ride. We had a 45 minute wait for that. That was a great ride as well. After that we went to the Backlot Tour to meet my mom as we wanted to try 50s PT Cafe. Unfortunately as it was President's day they weren't even taking walkups. So we ate at ABC Commissary which I don't think was as bad as many people say it is. Then we headed over to RnR. I don't remember much of it as my eyes were closed. I can't decide if I want to do it again or not. We also went shopping and MJ got a turkey leg. Then we went to see Fantasmic! That show was awesome! After that it was EMH so my mom and I went to Muppets and the Great Movie Ride (again) Both were good. Then it was time to go.

Tomorrow: The Last Day

 

[wswhorselover]

So it was finally our day to go home. We were leaving on the first flight again, so we had to leave around 10. We ate breakfast and got our bags. Of course this was the only warm day we were there, so the second group got to go swimming. We had an uneventful ME trip to the airport. At the airport we had lunch at McDonald's (most expensive McDonald's I've ever eaten) and some Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Then we flew home...it was snowing when we got home

Overall we had a great trip and I can only remember the good stuff now. My favorite park is MK and my mom's is the Studios. I wish we had more time to explore AK. My favorite rides were ToT, Splash Mountain and EE.Right now we are planning on going when I graduate from college in..oh...5 years so we have lots of time to plan! We want to stay at a mod. My mom wants POR and I want POFQ or CB, but I might give in. Though I'll be paying for most of it! We want to go for two weeks and go to all the parks, including BB, TL, and DTD. We even know where we want to eat! I know, I should join Disneyholics Anonymous. I had a lot of fun writing this and I hope you enjoy reading it!