1671 photos, 14 drinks, and 5 giraffes later... A Feb 2010 TR

[wsdl1085]

So we've been back from Florida for a few days now, and I finally decided to get off my butt and get this thing started. Actually, it's more like I thought my cousin might come beat me up if I did not. Love ya J!!

For those of you who care, here is where you can find my PTR:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34481963
And if you don't care, I don't blame you. Not much going on there.

On to the introductions in case you do care about the people who went...

First off, me!

I love all things Disney. I own more than my fair share of Disney movies, watch anything Disney that is on TV, and am totally willing to stand in line for an hour to see my favorite character. I am originally from southern California and spent two years working at Disneyland after I graduated from high school.

Jen

I met her when I worked at Disneyland 6 years ago. Somehow we have managed to stay in touch over the last 5 years since she moved back to Jersey where she is originally from. She has been to WDW a bazillion times before with her family. But her first time with us!

Johnny and Falena

Falena: I also met her when working for Disney back in the day. Oddly enough, while we did hang out when I lived in California, but we did not become as close as we are now until after I moved out of state. This was her first trip to WDW.

Johnny: Falena's boyfriend. Another first timer. Other than a few meltdowns, had a lot of fun being stuck with three girls for a week.

We arrived Wed, Feb 3rd at the Animal Kingdom Villas Kidani Village (studio – savanna view) and headed back home Tues, Feb 9th. This trip was a reunion of sorts for us. It was the first time the three of us had all been together at the same time since Jen moved back to Jersey. There was the drama, the laughs, the drinks, the fun. It was definitely an interesting ride to say the least.

I did take 1671 photos. Only 11 of them have me, less than 30 have any of us. So I will be waiting to get the photos from Falena and Jen to do much as I want to see what they have. One day I will learn to include myself in pictures. Apparently, that day has still not arrived.

 

[DisneyDaddio]

PTR got me hooked. Sign me up.

 

[*Seanaci*]

I'm in.

 

[honeydiane1953]

when does this start and where r the pix.

 

[wsdl1085]

PTR got me hooked. Sign me up.

Welcome and thank you for joining!!

I'm in.

Yay!! I love having readers who post. Now I just hope I can keep up with this thing.

when does this start and where r the pix.

It starts when I have a chance to get my next segment typed up. And I was able to get photobucket to work for me, so I got a couple of photos up now

 

[Queenofallthings]

We were there Jan 30 - Feb 7 so I can't wait to read about your trip!!!

 

[TnkrBoo]

Let's get this report rolling!

 

[wsdl1085]

We were there Jan 30 - Feb 7 so I can't wait to read about your trip!!!

Awesome!! It'll be interesting to see if you guys are in any of my pictures. Or at least the top of your heads anyways.

Let's get this report rolling!

Shouldn't you have been at work this morning instead of on here causing problems? I haven't even been back a week yet. So the fact I've done anything here... You should be proud.

 

[wsdl1085]

When we originally all started looking at airfare, it was decided that we would try to arrive all around the same time that way we could all ride the ME together to Kidani. Good idea, right? Well, me being me, had to have a direct flight. I don't fly. Planes terrify me. Which is odd as I used to fly all the time when I was young. Well, once we figured out the dates, I looked up flights and found I had two options. Leave at 8:45 am or 6-something pm. Of course my vote was the morning one, meant more time with my friends. So I told Falena and Jen this, and it was up to them to work around me. I'm really not that difficult normally. I swear. It ended up working out though. Falena and Johnny got a flight that was to arrive about half an hour before mine. Jen's was originally scheduled in 30 minutes after mine, though she was alerted about a month out that it was pushed back another 30 minutes. We decided that would be no big deal. None of us really wanted to ride the ME without the others anyways.
On to the actual departure day. I'm really good at going the long way around the point. I will apologize for this now. I was up at the buttcrack of dawn. Got to the airport at 7. Took forever to get through security, and made it to my gate about 15 minutes before boarding. Except that they started boarding 10 minutes early. So by the time we should have been boarding at 8:15, the flight was ready to go. Score!
The flight itself was pretty uneventful. I dozed on and off, but probably did not get more than an hour of sleep total. I was kept entertained by the boy sitting next to me whose family was also headed to WDW. He was very excited and kept telling me all about what he wanted to do and who he wanted to see. I meant to ask his mom if she belonged to the dis, but ultimately forgot.
We ended up only arriving in Florida about 15 minutes early or so. We had to take a detour due to weather in the midwest somewhere. I really was not paying attention when our pilot talked about it.
We landed, I texted Falena who said she and Johnny were waiting at my gate. We hugged. I ran to the bathroom (I hate plane bathrooms, and it had been a six hour flight), and we went to go see where Jen's flight was coming in at. Turns out she was landing in the same terminal as we did, so we just hung out there. Well, maybe 20 minutes later she texts me to say they just landed. Seriously? So we went to her gate and more hugs happened, and squealing. We were only a little excited to see each other.
The ME counter was a short monorail ride away, and when we got to the main part of the airport we saw just how deserted the airport was. Apparently arriving around 5-5:30pm on a Wed is the time to go. We were immediately sat on a bus, and took off about 15 minutes later.

You want to know the real reasons for me having no pictures of us? Because every time I went to take one, this was the reaction I got. (She was in the process of trying to hide behind Johnny)

I understand this one, it had been a long day, and we all felt yucky from the planes. But even during the rest of the trip, people freaked out on me when I tried to take their photo. Fail.
This was the worst ride of the trip by far. Our driver kept hitting the breaks and we would all go flying forwards. Jen and I were feeling very nauseous by the time we reached the resort. I was never so happy to be on steady ground again.
We worked our way into the resort, and it is so pretty. I was too busy looking at everything I did not even take my camera out of my bag again till we got in the room. But I'm jumping ahead of myself. We went to the check in desk, and Fort was there waiting to check us in. Yes, his name was Fort. He was funny. And if I had known then just how obsessed Jen would become with him and his name, I would have taken a picture of him. Sadly, we never saw him again after that night. Sorry Jen!!
He handed us our packet, circled our room on the map, and we went off. Have you ever been to Kidani? I think you should go visit. Go through the lobby, past the check in desk and DVC counter, turn left, get on the elevators off to your right, go up one floor and walk all the way to the end of the hall. Yup, that's where we were. I have no clue exactly how many steps it was, but it was a lot. I did try counting once, but lost count at 370-something, and did not bother trying again.
Did we do anything that night? Did Jen go back to her new friend Fort and demand a closer room? Did any of us end up being fed to the animals?
I'm sorry this post was so boring, but my camera was left in my purse most of the first night. There are more pictures, I promise! I also don't want to get to far ahead because I haven't gotten Jen or Falena's pictures yet. Anywho, thanks for tuning in!!

 

[DisneyDaddio]

Great start. Sorry to hear the ride was not so good but at least it sounded like the flight went well.

 

[Queenofallthings]

I feel your pain about the bus ride. We had a few Disney driver's like that...at one point I thought for sure we wouldn't make it back to the hotel without me being sick. I'm happy to say I did!!

 

[wsdl1085]

Great start. Sorry to hear the ride was not so good but at least it sounded like the flight went well.

The flight was great. Taking stuff so I would not have a complete panic attack definitely helped a lot

I feel your pain about the bus ride. We had a few Disney driver's like that...at one point I thought for sure we wouldn't make it back to the hotel without me being sick. I'm happy to say I did!!

That was how we felt, and I'm happy I did also. And you too of course. Though I have to admit, I was close to jumping off at other resorts a few times.

 

[*Seanaci*]

So far so good!

It's a bummer when the people with you shy away from the camera.

Can't wait to read more!!