"You Can't Make Disney Your Permanent Residence." COMPLETE! 10/21 x 2

[dawnmichele]

Disney World Voice! I think I would recognize that.

It's the sound of pure happiness.

It's too bad that the lady on the bus said that very few people were kind. I feel I have found lots of lovely people in Disney. But I probably am very good at blocking out most unpleasantness on vacation. It is a useful skill.

It is a crucial skill!

I hope you didn't hang on to that ill feeling for any more of your Disney Days. I have read about people who were sick and spent the whole trip in bed in their room. Not getting to go to parks when they are RIGHT THERE would just about kill me!

It cleared up before long. It would take a lot to make me stay in the hotel I have to say, but I was feeling mostly better by the next morning.

You have another trip soon! That is fantastic. Having about two trips to Disney a year (or more) would keep me fairly happy! That is an excellent way to get away from the real world and every day stress. I'm pretty sure this smiley is discovering the math involved in going to Disney multiple times and the joy that will bring.

2 weeks from today! It's getting to the part where I'm just super excited all the time. It still seems so crazy that I'm going 3 times in one year. I might not get to go for a while after that, but I feel like this AP year plan was a great idea.

Can't wait for more of the report!!

Thanks!

Great trip report! Looking forward t reading more

Thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying it!

sorry to here you felt bad when we go in May, I plan to have everyone take tons of vitamins and emergen c, even before we get there. Disney is a once every 4-5 years trip for us, so I would hate to be sick

That's a great idea. I feel like I often struggle with feeling badly, either in my head or my stomach, while I'm on vacation. I think I'm going to start pushing the Vitamin C now!

 

[sue_88]

2 weeks from today! It's getting to the part where I'm just super excited all the time. It still seems so crazy that I'm going 3 times in one year. I might not get to go for a while after that, but I feel like this AP year plan was a great idea.



Well I am just SUPER jealous!!! But I am also happy for you. If I can't be having a magical time myself, I am glad to know that someone who will appreciate it, is getting to enjoy one of my favorite places. So have a super magical time!!!

 

[dawnmichele]

Well I am just SUPER jealous!!! But I am also happy for you. If I can't be having a magical time myself, I am glad to know that someone who will appreciate it, is getting to enjoy one of my favorite places. So have a super magical time!!!

Thanks Sue!
Just this morning I woke up so excited I can barely stand it!!
There's a lot going on the week we're there - press day for the Mine Train, Hollywood Studios 25th anniversary, new ride cameras on BTMRR and PoTC, the new parade, Anna and Elsa (just made my FP for that this morning!).

The countdown is on. The suitcases are out. And in my mind, it's all Disney all the time - ie, just how I like it!

 

[dawnmichele]

I haven't updated this trip report in a long time, I know. But I have a fairly good excuse - we were back at Disney World April 27 - May 3rd! Which means I have a lot of trip reporting to do, I know, but I am back on it and excited to share all the stories!

So let's get back to December...


I did not sleep well our first night. I think it was a combo of my stomach and the very loud snores in the room. I had meant to sleep in on our first morning there, but it was not happening. I was up way too early. Eventually everyone was up, and Danny and Hannah volunteered to ride his scooter to the Landscape of Flavors and bring it back to the room. They both got big breakfasts, but I just ate their biscuits.

I did take pictures of their breakfasts, but almost all the photos from this day didn’t make it (if you forgot, my sd card failed ). Sad, but true.

I loved passing Triton every time we went to or left our room.

Around 8 we hopped a bus for Hollywood Studios where we spent the day. As we got off the bus and headed for the bag check line, H an I both said “Oh my god…” at the same time. It looked horrible, but it went pretty quickly, as the bag check always seems to do. I went ahead to validate of PhotoPass+ in the camera store. D & H met me while I was still getting the pass.

Of course we headed straight for TSMM. FP+ had started, but paper passes were still available. We got a fastpass for the middle of the morning and then hopped in the stand by line.

I was in love with Vine for this trip. Here’s a link to one I made in the TSMM queue.

I love that ride so much. It’s not worth the wait it usually has, but I see why it’s popular. I love the excitement of trying to hit all the targets, and the the quick rest you get before you to for it again. I love the spinning, and of course I love the Toy Story.

Danny always beats me on this ride. My accuracy is always higher, but when it comes to the score, he always beats me. This time through I got really close and was quite proud of myself.

After the ride, H wanted to ride RockNRollercoaster, and Danny wanted to take some Star Tours. But I wanted to meet Buzz and Woody. Ok, really I wanted to meet Buzz. I had on my Buzz shirt and everything. So even though the line seemed kinda long, I got in it.

Just rode this awesome ride. Now im waiting to meet Buzz and Woody! #disdecember #disneyvacation…

Woody and Buzz took a break while I was in line, so I was there a *really* long time. I tried to just make the best of it with a long phone call to my boyfriend back home. And I made FP+ plans for my last day.

When I finally got my turn to meet them, it was fantastic.

Their Charater Attendant loved my shirt and asked where I got it (Threadless.com). She told Buzz “She got it off the internet!” He loved it of course, but Woody? He was kinda offended. Or hurt. I’m not sure but he threw up his hands and walked out of the room out through their private door! Poor Woody. Their attendant convinced him to come back and tried to make him feel better by telling him “She loves you too, Woody. She just loves the spaceman more.”

I had so much fun I can't even tell you. Granted I am a serious character dork when it comes to Disney, but this was one of my favorite character interactions of all time.

After I was finally done with that (my family was impatient and texted me a million times while I was waiting), I met up with D & H at Star Tours where they had already ridden a few times. I think that’s Danny’s favorite ride in all of Disney World.

We wandered around a bit until it was close enough to our ADR at Sci Fi Dine In. We have a habit of checking in early for meals and it’s hardly ever a problem. We asked for the less popular table style cars (they’re much easier for Danny) and were seated quickly.

We had the *best* waiter of ever at Disney for that lunch. His name was Jeff. He was friendly and helpful and funny. We liked him so much we stopped by Guest Relations on the way out to give him a thank you.

I made a couple vines of the great movies we watched while we were there. Here's one, and here's another.

We had appetizers of fried pickles and onion rings. Danny and I shared an All American Picnic Burger. Hannah had a burger of her own, and she and I tried a shake with our meal. It was all tasty and we left very happy.

Even though Jeff told us no Tower of Terror for an hour after we ate, that’s exactly where we were headed after our meal.

On the street near Fairfax Fare, we saw a crowd of people with a smaller crowd of impossibly tall guys in the middle. They were the LSU basketball team, being lead around by a Disney guide and followed by a group of fans. I don’t know if you follow college basketball, but not only am I am alumn of the University of Kansas, I also still live just down the street from campus. So I am a Jayhawk fan. Trust me when I tell you it was very hard to not shout “Rock Chalk Jayhawk” as we passed. But I didn’t. I kept my eye on the prize of my favorite ride and kept walking.

Our ToT ride photo.

Danny never rides that ride, so he met us at the bottom of the hill, and we headed to the Great Movie Ride. None of us had been on that ride for years and we kind of assumed it would be really lame. We liked it a lot more than we thought - and we got the cowboy scene!! Of course the day my camera failed! But it was so much better. There was even an explosion with lots of fire. I mean really, so so much better than the gangster scene that we’ve seen several times since.

There are no photos of the cowboy scene, but I did get a couple seconds on this vine!

After that Hannah and I headed for our room, and Danny followed soon after (he had to ride Star Tours several more times).

There were still no groceries. I called and left a message with wegoshop, and then we headed out to the Magic Kingdom.

When we were in the bus line, wegoshop called back. Turned out she delivered our groceries to Pop Century and some other family’s groceries to our resort. I was not happy, but what are you going to do? I thought they might give me a discount or give back the tip I had already paid - but nope. She said she was sorry a lot, but I was not happy about the situation.

I was happy to be at Disney World though, so I didn't let myself get too upset about it. We got on a bus to the Magic Kingdom and I left my cares behind at the bus stop.

Up next: A Magical Dinner.

 

[dawnmichele]

By the time we made it to the Magic Kingdom, the crowds had thinned and there were a lot of rides with tiny wait times, which i just how I like it! Especially when it’s after dark. The Magic Kingdom is my favorite park when it’s after dark.

Again I apologize that this post isn’t going to have many photos because of the SD card failure.

We headed down Main Street and into Tomorrowland. There wasn’t a line for Buzz Lightyear so we hopped on it.
As usual on these things, Danny beat me.

Here are our ride photos:

After that (according to my trip notes) we enjoyed a relaxing ride on the People Mover and did a little shopping. My notes also mention that Hannah was too cranky, but not why. My guess is people were being rude or just not thinking and getting in her way.

We were on our way to a late, but very special dinner! We headed through Storybook Circus and the new part of Fantasyland, where we stopped a photographer for a picture in front of Eric’s castle.

And then we checked in at Be Our Guest! We hadn’t eaten there on our 2012 trip and we were EXCITED! No one was very hungry, and I was still feeling really badly, but we were still excited just to be there. The CM I checked in with had a name tag with a college in Kansas where Danny has family, so I mentioned it to her. She didn’t seem very impressed, but she did give us a buzzer and told us to head down through the gate which was the most important thing. We sat on the stones while we waited for them to call our name.

It didn’t take long. The CM who called us, handed Hannah the candles and lead us to our seat in the ballroom, which is just where I was hoping to sit! We were very close to the Christmas Tree and had a great view of the snow through the magic windows.

You guys, it was so beautiful in there. We were all in love and in awe. I took a trillion pictures that were ruined, and thankfully a few more on my phone that I shared with my friends. Here they are.

These were taken from my seat:

Our waiter was Frankie, and although he seemed initially annoyed that I wasn’t having an entree, he ended up being pretty great.

After we ordered, Hannah and I walked through the rest of the restaurant to check things out:

Hannah wanted to see the Beast’s picture change so we had to hang out in the West Wing for a while.

I Loved! the walls in the Rose Gallery.

We walked up to the tree to get a better look.

Danny and Hannah both had the steak, and I shared some bites from them both. Everyone loved it.

H also had the french onion soup. She shared with me and it was delicious!

I also had this side salad, which was really tasty, even though you can barely tell what it looks like in this photo.

It was getting so late, that they made an announcement the Beast was accepting his last visitors before he retired for the night, so before we ordered dessert we got in line to thank our host.

Of course we all ordered dessert! I was torn between the chocolate cupcake and the gray stuff.

D and H both got the chocolate cupcake. I didn’t get a photo but they both gave it a big thumbs up.

Here’s a vine link to the vine of my walk around the restaurant.

And here's a vine of the snow falling outside of the windos.

I guess I had more pictures than I thought! I’m about at my limit so the rest of the evening will have wait for the next update (coming much sooner than this one did)!

Up next: The Princesses!

 

[dawnmichele]

After such a magical experience, I was in the mood to meet some princesses. Of course D & H were not really interested, so they headed to the Haunted Mansion and I headed back towards the castle.

By that time of night there was almost no line to meet the ladies. I headed in to see Cinderella and Snow White first.

Cinderella was lots of fun and wanted to make sure I wasn’t wandering about by myself when it was dark out. I let her know I was there with my family but they decided to go see some house with a bunch of ghosts, but personally I’d never see ghosts when I could hang out with Princesses!

Somehow her photographer managed to catch my eyes half closed in every picture he took. Still, how often do you get your photo taken with a Princess?

Next was Snow White, who was awesome. She talked to me about twirling, how much she liked my bow because it was like hers, and then offered to fix it because it was a little crooked. When I thanked her she told me it was no problem, she was used to tidying up after the dwarfs. Apparently they were very messy.

I headed out of that side of the building and around for the line to see Rapunzel and Aurora.

Rapunzel was super fun as always. I was wearing my Mickey head earrings with shiny fake gems in them and she loved them. She said she was trying to decide what to buy for Pascal for Christmas and was wondering if he might like something like them. Apparently he’s very hard to shop for. We talked about Christmas gifts for a while, and then I asked if he liked living in the Tower or the Palace better. He was adjusting she said, but added that it was often hard to find him because he blends in so well.

Aurora was fun as well, but sadly I don’t remember anything we talked about. If I hadn’t waited so long to write this, I probably would have a fun story to add right here.

The family and I planned to meet up at Rapunzel’s Potty Station, and while I waited for them (they rode HM twice), I took a lot of photos to entertain myself. I really love that place (once again) especially after dark.

Up Next: You never can tell with bees.

 

[dawnmichele]

We met up and decided the next stop should be the Pooh ride, so that’s where we headed. It was also a walk on.

You never can tell with bees.

Hannah wanted to ride Space Mountain next. Danny and I passed. It’s just kinda rough these days, and I guess we are old. I wondered if my boyfriend Buzz might be out and maybe I could meet him twice in one day, so Danny and I decided to head for his meeting area to check it out.

While we were walking, Hannah asked why Buzz was my boyfriend. I had to think for a second,

Me: “Well, because he’s goofy and funny and kind of arrogant.”

Hannah: “Yeah, that sounds like your boyfriends.”

Next Up: Closing down the park.

 

[dawnmichele]

Buzz wasn’t out though, so D and I waited around the Coke boxes while H rode her ride. It was quite late that by that point, so we decided to take the slow way out of the park and back home.

I wish this photo would have turned out better, but I love this thing over the bridge to Tomorrowland, especially at night.

As we passed this photographer, I didn’t even ask Hannah to get in the photo because I know she hates it so much. Danny is always up for one though, he’s fun sometimes.

And then I took way too many pictures of the castle. I couldn’t help it! Look how gorgeous it is!

By the time we reached the castle, they were about to start the kiss goodnight! I was hoping I could see it on this long trip, and I did on our second night there. Disney win.

I did manage to convince H to pose in front of the castle before we headed out!

Goodbye for now Magic Kingdom!

It was late by the time we loaded onto our bus -

No one was complaining though!

We made it back to our room around 2am that night. I love this vine I made of walking home through the Little Mermaid section of AoA.

Up Next: Late start morning and lunch at Epcot.

 

[sue_88]

Hi!
I hope you are doing great this summer. And LOOK, you have a new countdown going on, I see!!
Nice updates on your report. I met Rapunzel and Snow last fall but missed out on the other princesses. And now I hear it is Elsa and Anna at that location. Anyway, your photos with Snow are very sweet!
The castle IS really beautiful all lit up and sparkly. I love being at MK at night. Some of my favorite photos are the photopass ones in front of the parks. Both MK at Epcot ones are always special.
Your daughter is so pretty. But I guess a lot of people are camera shy.
Off topic, I have been watching a lot of Dr. Who lately. Some episodes are sooo good. I love dr's 9, 10, and 11. But I am just crushing on Matt Smith so much. Adorable! I knew you would understand.
I hope you continue to report. I can always use some Disney daydreaming. Hugs! /COLOR]

 

[dawnmichele]

Hi!

Hello Sue!!

I hope you are doing great this summer. And LOOK, you have a new countdown going on, I see!! [/QUOTE=sue_88;51746429]

Thanks! I am having a great summer! I just got back from a giant road trip to Las Vegas and Colorado. I had an awesome time. I hope you're also enjoying your summer.

And yes! to the new countdown. We're headed back for ten days at the end of October. I'm so excited to check out Food and Wine - and even more excited for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! I've never done either of those before.

The castle IS really beautiful all lit up and sparkly. I love being at MK at night. Some of my favorite photos are the photopass ones in front of the parks. Both MK at Epcot ones are always special.[/QUOTE=sue_88;51746429]

When people ask my favorite park I always say the Magic Kingdom at night. All the parks are fun in the dark, but the MK just seems a little more magic at night. I wish it stayed open later during the times I visit. For our next trip it's only open past 10 one night! (well, plus the party night.

Your daughter is so pretty. But I guess a lot of people are camera shy.[/QUOTE=sue_88;51746429]

Thank you so much! And I well tell her you said that. You know how I love to take pictures so it makes me crazy! And I think she'll regret it when she's older. But she rarely listens to me, of course....

Off topic, I have been watching a lot of Dr. Who lately. Some episodes are sooo good. I love dr's 9, 10, and 11. But I am just crushing on Matt Smith so much. Adorable! I knew you would understand.
I hope you continue to report. I can always use some Disney daydreaming. Hugs!

Doctor Who is never off topic in anything I write . I miss watching it. When I first discovered it and had to catch up, I was watching it all the time and that was great. And then after I caught up I only had to wait a week between episodes. Now all this time without any new shows is making me crazy! Give us the Doctor Who!

I spent most of June either out of town helping out with family issues, or out of town on vacation. Now that I'm back I'm definitely planning on knocking out this trip report - so that I can finish the report from our April trip before we leave on our October trip. This AP year we planned is one of the most fun things we've ever done!

Hope you're enjoying yourself, and as always, thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it so much!

 

[dawnmichele]

Hi!

Hello Sue!!

I hope you are doing great this summer. And LOOK, you have a new countdown going on, I see!!

Thanks! I am having a great summer! I just got back from a giant road trip to Las Vegas and Colorado. I had an awesome time. I hope you're also enjoying your summer.

And yes! to the new countdown. We're headed back for ten days at the end of October. I'm so excited to check out Food and Wine - and even more excited for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! I've never done either of those before.

The castle IS really beautiful all lit up and sparkly. I love being at MK at night. Some of my favorite photos are the photopass ones in front of the parks. Both MK at Epcot ones are always special.

When people ask my favorite park I always say the Magic Kingdom at night. All the parks are fun in the dark, but the MK just seems a little more magic at night. I wish it stayed open later during the times I visit. For our next trip it's only open past 10 one night! (well, plus the party night.

Your daughter is so pretty. But I guess a lot of people are camera shy.

Thank you so much! And I well tell her you said that. You know how I love to take pictures so it makes me crazy! And I think she'll regret it when she's older. But she rarely listens to me, of course....

Off topic, I have been watching a lot of Dr. Who lately. Some episodes are sooo good. I love dr's 9, 10, and 11. But I am just crushing on Matt Smith so much. Adorable! I knew you would understand.
I hope you continue to report. I can always use some Disney daydreaming. Hugs!

Doctor Who is never off topic in anything I write . I miss watching it. When I first discovered it and had to catch up, I was watching it all the time and that was great. And then after I caught up I only had to wait a week between episodes. Now all this time without any new shows is making me crazy! Give us the Doctor Who!

I spent most of June either out of town helping out with family issues, or out of town on vacation. Now that I'm back I'm definitely planning on knocking out this trip report - so that I can finish the report from our April trip before we leave on our October trip. This AP year we planned is one of the most fun things we've ever done!

Hope you're enjoying yourself, and as always, thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it so much!

 

[dawnmichele]

This was Sunday, our third day. My notes say “Woke up at 8 or Android” so I guess that’s some auto correct right there. I’m guess it’s 8 or 9. We really slept in a lot on this trip, and took way too long to get ready. It was late (imho) by the time we made it to Epcot.

At the elevator, the sign for the 3rd floor was a little wonky. I decided to take a picture for as proof for all those people who think Disney is going downhill.

This was back in the olden days, right before they stopped giving out paper fast passes. So once we made it into the park I went ahead to the Land and got us fast passes for later that night. We were really just happy they had any left by that time of morning.

Of course by this point Hannah was sure she needed a snack, so she and Danny went to Sunshine Seasons while I got the passes. It was crazy crowded in there and took me a while to find them, even looking down from the balcony. By the time Hannah finished her Strawberry Shortcake:

I was antsy to do something.

So we went to Mouse Gear.
Which was fine, because last time we put any souvenir buying off until the last minute and it was a bad idea. We didn’t buy anything, but we got some ideas.

We were off to wander some countries after that.

Although the World Showcase Mayan temple doesn’t really look much like the ones we actually saw in Mexico, it’s still fun to look at.

I liked this little Christmas display a lot better.

We walked on through Mexico

and into Norway. We were hoping there wasn’t much of a line at the Maelstrom.

I love this Norway guy

It was like a 10 minute standby, so we got ourselves in line. Hannah was thrilled to have gotten a red card.

We looked around ancient Norway until the trolls kicked us out.
Nice Norwegian fake waterfall, but having just returned from Colorado I have to say no fake waterfall can ever look as amazing as a real one.

After that it was about time for our lunch reservation at San Angel Inn. So far we’ve eaten there every single trip.

It was crowded when we checked in, and the CM who was trying to check us in was really confused. She couldn’t find our reservation. I asked if it would help to have our reservation number and handed her my phone so she could get a good look at it. But when she saw that the calendar icon said “31” (because it always says 31), she tried to tell us our reservation was for the 31st. Even though there is no 31st of November. Eventually another CM came over and found it right away.

We waited about ten minutes before we were led to a table in about the center of the restaurant. It was a good table, but our server wasn’t super friendly. The food was as good as we remembered it.

I had this delicious Wild Passion Fruit margarita again. I love it.

Hannah and I both chose the Pollo a las Rajas

and Danny had the Tacos de Carne

We liked it as much as ever before. That chicken is just delicious, and even though it's dark in there, watching the river and the scenery is always fun. We were glad we ate there.

Up next: Meeting Belle in my Tardis tshirt.

 

[dawnmichele]

We had a FP+ for Test Track after lunch. It was my first time riding it, but I’m not sure about D & H. I’m sad to say I wasn’t impressed. Probably because I don’t like cars, so any of the themeing or cool car parts that make the ride fun for a lot of people weren’t really my thing. D & H loved it though.

Hannah designed our car.

Next up? Our FP+s at Soarin’.

You know, I do love that ride - but I might be getting tired of it. It’s so hard to get on that it ends up being such a priority that we ride it too many times. And even with a FP there’s still such a line. I think next trip I just need to take a little break on it. I’ll still ride it, but maybe just once.

Somehow after that, we were all a little dragging, even though we had late started the day. So when I saw the Starbucks I thought some caffeine might pick us up a bit.

This is D & H trying to look tired and miserable.

We headed over to France after that. I was wearing my Belle/Doctor Who crossover shirt by Karen Hallion and I was excited to meet Belle while I was wearing it. There was just a bit of a line by the time we made it there and I happily joined up. She arrived soon after that, and I wasn’t too far back in the line.

This is me, talking to her about The Doctor. She tried to play along some, but not as much as I wanted. She said she liked to read tales of adventure, so maybe she’d read about him some day. I look like a total dork in these pictures, but since I am a total dork I guess I can’t complain.

After that priority mission was accomplished, we headed a little further into France.

There were several snacks I wanted to try in the World Showcase, and one of them was anything from Boulangerie Patisserie. Danny wasn’t hungry, but Hannah and I went up to check it out.

She ended up with this Bacon and Cheese roll which she loved a lot.

I had a creme brulee which was marvelous.

Danny wanted to go to Canada to see the Canada movie, but Hannah and I wanted to stroll through the worlds and meet some characters if we found any. We decided to split up and find each other in Canada later.

We did run into Alice, who is a big fan of twirling.

She asked me about my ears, and if they helped me hear better. She thought it would just be silly to have 4 ears if they didn’t at least help you hear better.

We thought about visiting Christopher Robin’s room, but the line was long so we just headed to Canada. We thought there was a chance our timing would work out and we’d get there before his movie started. And we did! We all went in and watched that show together. Nice show.

We took our time heading to the Land to use our our paper FP for Soarin’. It was pretty much the same as when we’d seen it earlier that day, as well as the many times we've seen it before. I'm really looking forward to an update.

Up Next: FP+ for Illuminations

 

[dawnmichele]

On the way out I suddenly remembered the Visa meet and greet! Hannah didn’t want to be a part of that, of course. And in fact she was feeling a little poorly. She wanted to head back to the room so we said goodbye and headed into Innoventions.

We got pictures taken and came out right by Spaceship Earth. Since we love that ride, we got in line.

We went to the picture spot to get our Visa picture print out, but they couldn’t find it on our account. I blamed the Magic Band. Eventually they just offered to give us a print out of any other photo we had taken that day, so I picked one of my Belle photos.

When I got home though, the photos were right there in my PhotoPass files. Here’s my favorite.

We had FP+s for Illuminations that night, so we decided to head back that way. Of course I made us stop for the PhotoPass photographers!

Hannah called about our neighbors. She had left earlier because she felt “seizurey” (she has epilepsy) and seriously needed to sleep, but they were having a party next door. Not just being regular noisy but they had their door open, many people coming and going, and some loud music coming out the door. She wasn’t sure what to do so I told her to call the front desk.

We found the Illuminations FP+ spot, and the CM there was probably trying to be funny and tease us by telling us the spot was all full and we couldn’t go in. But we weren’t finding it funny. At all. Eventually he caught on that we weren’t laughing and let us in. It was a little early, but there were already enough people there that we couldn’t get a front row seat. It wasn’t a bad spot though and I was very happy just to be sitting down, even on the ground.

H called back while we were waiting. She had called the front desk, but the neighbors didn’t get any quieter so she went down to the front desk. The manager of the AoA was super awesome to her. She said they had other calls about that room and had called up and asked them to be quiet a while ago. She sent H back to the room with a security guard. Luckily by then everyone in the next door room had cleared out. It was dark and empty and H was finally able to get some sleep.

I was quite relieved and very soon after Illuminations started. Here are some of my photos.

Would I use a FP+ on Illuminations in the future? Probably not. It wasn’t a bad spot, but there are plenty of good spots around World Showcase to get a great view and even better photos. Plus even though we showed up early there were people in front of us. I didn’t regret it, but I wouldn’t do it again.

We decided we’d be clever and take our time leaving the park. We’d enjoy looking around, and figured by the time we eventually made it to the bus stop, it would be cleared out and we’d get right on. We even sat outside the restrooms outside of the park for a while and chatted with a woman who was complaining about how much money she spent on her family vacation. She said the spent about 500 dollars every day (outside of park tickets). That’s a lot, isn’t it? It seems like a lot to me.

The bus stop was super crowded when we got there, so we split up in the line. Danny went to the scooter spot and I got in the regular line. We ended up on the same bus which was great, and got back to our room around 11:15 (after a 9:25 Illuminations!).

Next Up: Morning Safari

 

[dawnmichele]

We woke up at 8 on our fourth morning, and made it to the Animal Kingdom before too late. It seemed super crowded, but we made our way to catch a morning safari.

Here we go, on a 2 week safari.

The hippos are always so easy to miss.

Can you find the cow in this picture? He’s trickier than the hippos.

I still always feel badly for the poor boy elephant who has to hang out all alone.

The girl and baby elephants always seem to enjoy hanging out together.

Two animals for the price of one.

Up Next: Animals, Brunch and the Magic Tree

 

[dawnmichele]

This ostrich was busy checking us out.

I was busy taking the ostrich’s picture and kind of missed this great view of a lioness.

As we turned the corner her sleeping face was right there through the grass. Luckily I can see it in my head, even though I can’t show it to you.

After the safari, we were in the perfect spot for our brunch ADR at Tusker House. We ate there for the first time on our last trip and loved it. Would we love it so much this time?

Yum! This must have been my plate. Looking at it makes me hungry.

Daisy came around while I was getting my food. I wasn’t too sad.

Was this plate mine? I don’t even remember, but somebody ate it and I bet they liked it.

It’s The Mouse, himself!

Daisy came back and I caught her the second time around.

We enjoyed our brunch, but liked where we sat in a little room to the left a lot more than the giant room to the right we ate in that morning. I think we decided we’ve had it enough though and won’t try it again for a couple trips. We skipped it last April and so far don’t have reservations there for this October, but we’ll see.

Danny had never really checked out the Tree of Life, so we stopped at the little viewing area on the way to Asia. I took pictures while Hannah pointed out different animals.

Love the fog coming off the waterfall!

Up next: The magic of Camp Minnie Mickey

 

[dawnmichele]

We wandered over to get some paper FPs for Dino for 1:15 - 2:15.

Danny wanted me to take a picture of these birds, so I did.

We shopped a bit. Danny decided to not get this hat, but I thought it was a perfect fit.

Then we headed back to catch the 1 o’clock show of Flights of Wonder. We love that show! One day I will be picked to go up and take the picture of the bird in flight! I want to get that shot!

I am always impressed by the eagle.

After the show we walked back to Dino to use our FPs, but man that place was crazy! The elevator was broken, so they had us just stand over to the side while we waited. Waiting is fine, but they had us pushed up by the doorway while big crowds of people swarmed past us to use the stairs. I don’t know if the AK was super crowded that day, but Dino was and we were all a little frustrated with feeling rushed and trampled by crowds, so we decided to bail. We found a door and headed out. I, especially, was happy to get out in the open.

Our FP+ for Expedition Everst was active so we headed over. I love that ride! The beginning is such a nice lovely ride through the mountains, and the rest is super thrill ride.

I really love the prayer flags throughout Asia. The theming guys! It’s what makes the AK great.

It was about time for our favorite treat at that point, the amazing Mickey Premium Bar! It is easily my favorite Disney snack. Hannah and I shared, as usual. The more you share, the more things you can try!

I have a weird thing about shoe self portraits. It’s H on the left, me on the right.

Oh and this!
Danny is a tech genius and did some thing to port the ME app onto his tablet. It was as wonky there as it is everywhere else, and we all got a huge kick out of it when his tablet gave us this:

Disney World has stopped!

We were smart enough to not believe it though, and kept on with our day.

Our time for our FP+ for Dino was happening so we went back, hoping it would be better. And it was. The lines were still pretty long, but the elevator was fixed so we didn’t have to crowd to the side.

While we were in line, I got a call from Disney! It was a lady calling about my pre-trip magic band survey (since this trip was a split stay, they didn’t realize I was already there). She was asking if I was aware of any Dinsney related internet forums or blogs, and if I ever shared my opinion about things on any of them. Do I! But, they were looking for people who also had waterparks and more tickets, so I didn’t get to do the survey. I appologized for the noise and told her I was in line at Dino - she laughed and told me she was in a building just behind the ride! Talk about small world.

Eventually we got our chance to travel back in time and help bring back a dinosaur. Hannah posed for the picture just for me.

Hannah decided to head back to the room for a little bit after that, and Danny let me convince him to head to Camp Minnie Mickey. We all had crappy timing though and had to try to get past the parade to make it to our destinations.

 

[dawnmichele]

After we said goodbye to Hannah, I showed Danny the way down into Camp Minnie Mickey.

Magical Beasts. This is a leftover from when they planned to make a magical beast “land” at Animal Kingdom. I love it and it always make me daydream of how great that might have been.

I really, deeply and truly love/loved Camp Minnie Mickey. A whole area for meeting characters? Yes, please. And it was down in Camp Minnie Mickey that I first realized how fun it was meeting characters! It’s about my favorite part now.

It was 2010, and I hadn’t been to Disney since Hannah was a baby. Back then you just ran into characters randomly or had a character meal. We met a lot of them, but I was focused on Hannah back then and never really thought about meeting them myself.

That time iin CMM wasn’t the first time I’d met characters on that trip, either. But there was something about meeting Thumper that made me years old again and it was The Best Thing! I knew it was just a person in a big costume but I couldn’t help the way it made me feel. I surprised myself, but I’ve been a fan ever since.

Here’s a photo of the moment:

But back to this trip -
Chip and Dale didn’t have any wait, so we went for their line first.
They walked out to meet Danny at his scooter right away.

They were a riot. And I started to notice that Danny was having as much meeting characters as I was!

Next we got in line to see King Louie and Baloo. I really love Baloo.

But they were on break so I decided to take a minute to go to the bathroom. It was a dirty mess! It wasn’t disgusting or anything crazy like that, but for Disney it was noticeably bad.

We started to get in line for Pocahontas until we realized that she was also on a break. For as much as I love characters and seek them out, I seem to have really bad luck with their breaks. But by then Baloo and Louie were out, so we headed to see them.

Look! My hair was the same color as Louie'w!

But then! The best part happened!!
After Baloo hugged us, he headed out to Danny’s scooter - and climbed on.

Louie decided he’d check it out as well.

They were hardcore hilarious.

Up next: In which I did not defend anything.


​

 

[dawnmichele]

We headed back to the resort to grab our jackets and fetch Hannah.
I loved the view from our room.

While we had been at the AK, H had gone back to the room, told the manager at AoA how great the assistant manager had been the night before, picked up our purchases at the gift shop and called Turner Drugs to get a knee brace (they delivered it the next day). Way to go Hannah.

We got ourselves together and took off for our favorite after dark park, the Magic Kingdom.

We had perfect timing again and headed in to the park when Main Street was an insane mess of people. There was no way we were going to get through that. Thankfully the back way was open again so that's how we went. Hannah hadn't seen it before and was happy to see something new. We came out around Tomorrowland Terrace and headed through Tomorrowland.

After that, I have no idea what we did. I have no notes, and I don’t have any pictures unitl almost midnight. I’m sure we ate somewhere, and I think it was Pinocchio’s Village Haus again. I have a memory of us eating inside, but we definitely shouldn't rely on that as proof. We probably rode the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, and checked out the city of Corona's best potty station.

I do know Danny and I sat on the Coke boxes while Hannah rode Space Mountain. And for some reason we canceled our reservations at Via Napoli the next day - I have no idea why. When Hannah was done, we headed to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin to help defend the world from the evil Zurg.

The ride was pretty empty, so we all got our own cars. I decided the world was pretty safe, so I skipped the shooting and did a different kind of shooting with my camera. I had so much fun!

I loved our ride photos, especially mine!

Up next: No kiss goodnight.

 

[dawnmichele]

It was too early for the kiss goodnight (the part where the park closing announcement comes on and the castle changes colors like the horse in Wizard of Oz) but we were tired and decided we had had a sufficient amount of fun for the day. You can’t go to bed too early at Disney. It might be worse than sleeping in. I took too many pictures on our way out.

Up next: The bad part.