1st Trip (of many!) as Mr. & Mrs.--the TR-- UPDATE 9/9: Life Update--We're Moving!!

[princess_momma]

Hey Jess! I'm glad you found it! I'm about to start on the first real installment Haha--we make TONS of goofy faces! It's what makes them interesting

Goofy faces in pictures are the best! This reminds me of high school...I was a teacher aide with my best friends for one period and we pretty did NOTHING but take pictures of ourselves and in all of them we just have different faces. I'm pretty sure we did every facial expression imagineable! It is what makes pics interesting! I can't wait to see yours!

 

[stacikristine]

You need to update. I need a distraction...

I'm posting it right after this! I've been praying a ton!

Goofy faces in pictures are the best! This reminds me of high school...I was a teacher aide with my best friends for one period and we pretty did NOTHING but take pictures of ourselves and in all of them we just have different faces. I'm pretty sure we did every facial expression imagineable! It is what makes pics interesting! I can't wait to see yours!

Haha--yep! That is hilarious! I'm sure Landon will get a kick out of those someday!!!

 

[stacikristine]

On Friday Night, we set our alarm for 9:00 the next morning.

Around 5:30, we both woke up. We were sooo excited! I guess it was just the pre-vacation jitters (this isn’t the first you’ll see of these!) Mine wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t have “Kill the Beast” in my head! Try falling asleep when all you can think about is “Kill the Beast! BOOM! Kill the Beast! BOOM! Kill the Beast!” We chatted for a little while and then finally went back to sleep around 6:15.

We were both wide awake by 8:15, but we tried to go back to sleep until our alarm played *“Kiss the Girl” at 9:00 and reminded us it was time to get up because we were going to Dallas! *Note: we woke up to a different Disney song every day of our trip! This was the first…

We got ready, made some Cinnamon Rolls, and watched the new Office episode we’d missed earlier in the week. We also did all of our last minute packing (toiletries, etc).

My dad was next door working on remodeling one of their rental apartments, so he stopped in to see if we were all ready for our trip. My mom and sister were staying about 20 minutes away, and no one could get ahold of them. We were afraid that if they didn’t come soon, we wouldn’t be able to say bye!

Our plan was to leave our town around 10:30. We were pretty much on schedule, but then my mom and sister showed up. You see, my sister had been begging and begging to be able to go with us. She’s 12, and absolutely loves Disney World. We’d told her no a million times, but 12 year olds can be very persistent.

We said bye to my parents, loaded up, and headed off! It was 11:00 on the dot when we pulled out of our driveway. Everything was going smoothly until we took this picture and saw this:

What?! What’s SHE doing in the car?? She’ll never make it through baggage!!!





Just kidding! Earlier that morning, my dad asked us if we could meet my uncle on the highway (they live in Dallas and were coming up to OK) to pass Emily off so she could go to the OU game with them. So we met up, gave “hi” hugs all around, told everyone bye, and hopped back on the route to Dallas.


We called my cousin (not related to the OU game uncle or the aunt we’re staying with…I have family ALL over the DFW metroplex) to give her our ETA for lunch. We’d said we’d probably be meeting between 1:30 and 2:00 since we didn’t leave on time.


On our drive down, we saw this awesome car:

Isn’t that gorgeous?!


I also got a cool shot of the sun through the top-tinted front window:

Sorry—here’s the only luggage picture I remembered to take… Our big bag was in the trunk:

We made REALLY great time, and pulled into the Cheddar’s parking lot at 1:30. My cousin thought we were going to be later than that, so she didn’t come until about 1:55.

Oh my goodness, we LOVE Cheddar’s! We really miss having one in our town. I didn’t take pictures, but my cousin and I both had the grilled chicken salad (grilled chicken, glazed roasted pecans, cheese, etc.), and Michael had a cheeseburger. It was all DELISH! We all split an Apple Pie a la Mode for dessert. Holy Cow. This thing was GOOD!


After our scrumptious lunch and saying bye to my cousin (for those of you who read my PTR, she was one of my maids of honor), we headed off to my Aunt Laura’s house.

We left Cheddar’s at 3:15, and pulled into Aunt Laura’s driveway at 3:45.


My cousin’s little girl, A, was sleeping when we arrived (she’s 3). Aunt L said she’d been planning all day how she was going to hide and surprise us when we got there. So we waited in the living room, and Aunt L woke her up and told her we were there. She covered her face as A.L. carried her into the kitchen so we couldn’t see her. I just love it how kids do this! When we went outside “to get our bags”, she found her hiding spot—burying her face in a pillow on the couch!! We “looked” for her and then came and tickled the “lump on the couch”. She’s just adorable.


Continued in next post

 

[stacikristine]

Continued from previous



After she showed us everything from her bedroom to her brush, we decided to take a drive to:

I’d never been here before, but it’s AWESOME! What an incredible idea! You go in and pick whatever size of cup you want. Then you fill it up with whatever types of frozen yogurt you’d like. You can choose one flavor, or all of the flavors (there were about 10 or 12). Since Michael and I had never been there before, we were given tiny little cups to try the different flavors. I ended up getting Strawberry, Vanilla, and Original Tart (I think that was the name). I think Michael got Cheesecake, Vanilla, and Strawberry. Then, you go over to the toppings bar. They have everything from fresh fruit to candy to cakes—almost anything you could think of! The greatest thing is that you can put as many toppings as you’d like! Michael stuck to Sprinkles. I put mini Gummy Bears on the Tart, Strawberries on the Vanilla, and Cheesecake bites on the Strawberry. After you’ve completed your yogurt-y creation, they weigh your cup, and you pay by the ounce. Brilliant!

Here’s mine and Michael’s:

And here’s A and me:

She had Cookies & Cream with Oreo pieces, Chocolate Chips, and some other toppings. Isn’t she adorable?!


Oh my goodness! This was SOOO yummy!


After we ate our frozen yogurt and visited for a while, we went to Target. I can’t tell you how much I miss having a Target in my town! We found one of our funny Dirty Santa Exchange gifts (don’t worry…it’s completely clean. My mom’s family just does a silly gift swap every Christmas). We found all of these little monster things in the dollar section, and made a goofy gift out of it. We also found some Office pens, pencils, and notepads that we just had to buy. We walked around and visited the Halloween costumes section, the game section, and the toys section. I got really excited when A started pressing buttons on a princess Barbie display—we were going to be at those princesses’ home in one day!!!


By the time we left Target, we were ready to eat. Again, I don’t have any pictures, but I can assure you it was fantastic! We went to a little place called Joe’s Pizza & Pasta. Michael and I both had half orders of spaghetti with ½ marinara, ½ alfredo sauce. YUM! Aunt L had spaghetti and meatballs. A had spaghetti. Let’s just say our tummies were very satisfied when we left there!


We went back to A.L.’s house and played with A some more. She showed us her kitchen and all of her sticker books.

Then, she showed us her pig named Richard. We just HAD to take a picture with Richard, because that’s Michael’s brother’s name!

We decided to play Cooties! I hadn’t played this in forever. I must say, this game is much cooler now than when I had it. All of our pieces looked the same. Now, each cootie looks completely different!

I’m proud to announce that my cootie was the first to be completed!!

Michael’s was having a little bit of an issue.

After we played Cooties, A decided she wanted us to play “Pretty, Pretty Disney Princess”. I’d played the original game, but not this one. I didn’t really understand what some of the squares stood for…oh well.

It was also at this point that I realized my camera does some cool stuff. I don’t know why I’d never thought to check it out before. So sorry about the weird colors and things on these pictures…I was playing!

Oh, Aunt Laura, you’re looking fabulous!

I don’t know why I took this…Probably to check out the color. But I think it looks pretty neat.

Michael had been doing something else, and when he walked up and asked what we were doing, A said, “We’re playing princess! We’re playing princess! Here…you can be the witch!” Thanks, A.

After we finished playing Princesses and Witch, we got ready for bed. It’d been such a fun day! I’m so glad we were able to meet up with my cousin and spend the day with my aunt and A. She’s just the sweetest little girl.

We ended up going to sleep around 9:45—had to go to bed early for our Flight to Disney!!!!




Up next:
Where the heck is our flight check-in desk?!
GORGEOUS Animal Kingdom Lodge
Jason from Zimbabwe
Shopping

 

[annnewjerz]

Hi there!

I think I stopped in a few times on your PTR to help you get pics off of a memory card (right?) and just saw you had your TR started, so I thought I should say hello and that I'm in!!

I also wanted to tell you, that idea about waking up to a different Disney song each day of your trip is SO FREAKIN CUTE. I love it and may have to steal it for our upcoming trips.

Love the picture of the little tot in your backseat while you are starting your drive. You had me convinced that she hid in the back to tag along with you to WDW. And Pretty Pretty Princess used to be a game I loved when I was younger (although still probably too old to be playing it but that's neither here nor there).

Looking forward to more!

Ann

 

[BippityBoo]

Woohoo! The first part of your trip!! Little A is adorable. LOVE her pig (and so funny that your DH has a brother that name). What a great way to start off your trip...with family

That frozen yogurt place looks awesome!! What a great idea!

Is it bad that I want you to write the entire TR in one night so I can see what happens?

Also, did you ever get some beignets? I had some on Sunday (kind of a tradition here) and thought of you!

 

[princess_momma]

I literally LAUGHED OUT LOUD so many times already!! A is SO CUTE. I LOVE the pig named Richard. And I want to play Pretty Pretty DISNEY Princess. I only played the original as well! And I want to try Tutti Frutti. I think I need to go to Texas.

I just can't believe you don't have a TARGET!! Thats so crazy!! I would die and I don't even go there that much!!

And by the way, what type of camera do you have? You had some cool effects with it!! I'm looking into getting a new one in the next year or so!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Hey Girl! I saw you over on Kimmy's trip report (princess_momma) and had to join along! You & Michael are such an adorable couple and OH MY GOSH! That Tutti Frutti yogurt place looks DELICIOUS! Yummmmm!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[stacikristine]

Hi there!

I think I stopped in a few times on your PTR to help you get pics off of a memory card (right?) and just saw you had your TR started, so I thought I should say hello and that I'm in!!

I also wanted to tell you, that idea about waking up to a different Disney song each day of your trip is SO FREAKIN CUTE. I love it and may have to steal it for our upcoming trips.

Love the picture of the little tot in your backseat while you are starting your drive. You had me convinced that she hid in the back to tag along with you to WDW. And Pretty Pretty Princess used to be a game I loved when I was younger (although still probably too old to be playing it but that's neither here nor there).

Looking forward to more!

Ann

Hi Ann! Yes--you saved my pictures! Thanks again! And thanks for reading. The Disney Songs thing just happened. I picked one for our trip to Dallas morning, and then every day at Disney, Michael picked a different one. I LOVED waking up to different favorite Disney songs of ours Yeah...she REALLY wanted to come along! Too bad little sis I never owned Pretty Pretty Princess, but I'd love it when I babysat little girls that had it!

Woohoo! The first part of your trip!! Little A is adorable. LOVE her pig (and so funny that your DH has a brother that name). What a great way to start off your trip...with family

That frozen yogurt place looks awesome!! What a great idea!

Is it bad that I want you to write the entire TR in one night so I can see what happens?

Also, did you ever get some beignets? I had some on Sunday (kind of a tradition here) and thought of you!

It was awesome to get to spend time with them! I love my family Oh my goodness, the frozen yogurt place was amazing!! I'd never heard of anything like it! I want one in our town... Haha--I wish I could write it all in one night... And no, I didn't. I SO wish we could have, but it just didn't work out. I think I might have to buy that mix. What was the website again? I'm so jealous you get them so often!!!

I literally LAUGHED OUT LOUD so many times already!! A is SO CUTE. I LOVE the pig named Richard. And I want to play Pretty Pretty DISNEY Princess. I only played the original as well! And I want to try Tutti Frutti. I think I need to go to Texas.

I just can't believe you don't have a TARGET!! Thats so crazy!! I would die and I don't even go there that much!!

And by the way, what type of camera do you have? You had some cool effects with it!! I'm looking into getting a new one in the next year or so!

Yay! I'm glad you liked it! Isn't she adorable?! I hope my kids are that cute. We laughed so hard when she said his name was Richard. Nice leotard, Richard! Yeah, I agree--you should just move to Texas!! I really do love it there, and hope we can move back someday. The DFW area is awesome! I know...I've only had a Target 7 years of my life But those 7 years spoiled me. I have a little Cannon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph. I love it. In my opinion, it's the best little compact camera out there. The color is really great. I've had this one for almost 2 years.

Hey Girl! I saw you over on Kimmy's trip report (princess_momma) and had to join along! You & Michael are such an adorable couple and OH MY GOSH! That Tutti Frutti yogurt place looks DELICIOUS! Yummmmm!

Can't wait to read more!

Hi Lauren! Thanks for reading! Thanks! It was absolutely incredible!! I SO wish we had one here! Hopefully I'll get another installment up today.

 

[SparKeLLy]

Love your report so far and glad to know I'm not the only one that plans their outfits lol.
I also have to agree the Canon Digital Elphs are the best!

 

[jenny105]

Great start! I'll be reading along. So cool we got to meet at DHS!!

 

[princess_momma]

Yay! I'm glad you liked it! Isn't she adorable?! I hope my kids are that cute. We laughed so hard when she said his name was Richard. Nice leotard, Richard! Yeah, I agree--you should just move to Texas!! I really do love it there, and hope we can move back someday. The DFW area is awesome! I know...I've only had a Target 7 years of my life But those 7 years spoiled me. I have a little Cannon PowerShot SD1000 Digital Elph. I love it. In my opinion, it's the best little compact camera out there. The color is really great. I've had this one for almost 2 years.

I have been thinking about Texas for YEARS!! Everyone thinks I've been there and love it because I have it tattooed on my back! But I've never been! Brandt is the one who first put it in my mind. His nickname here was "Tex" lol. And I even have a best friend living down there now and I just really want to!!

You need to quickly move back to another Target! Its so great. I love it there. We have a Target and Walmart side by side and it just works out. We have it all at that little area!

I'll have to look into that camera! How does it do with taking video? The one I have now doesn't record sound with the video which is terrible when I want to get a video of Landon laughing. I actually have a digital camcorder too but it won't charge and I can't get the videos I have off of it and on to my computer! Its sad!

 

[ariel1025]

YAY!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad you started your TR

A is the cutest little girl and I am sooo jealous that they didn't have the Disney Pretty Princess when I was a kid

Can't wait to read more and see what your thoughts on AKL are since we just stayed there as well.

 

[pinkpixie0920]

I can't wait to write all about it!! I know--I looked for you too, but I guess our paths just never crossed. If you're not going to write a TR, what was your highlight? Your favorite meal? Something everyone should do next time?

Oh boy I don't even know where to start. We had so many highlights. I would say watching Wishes from our table at Ohana's. We lucked out and got a table right by the window. Also, staying at the beach clubs was just wonderful. The pool was awesome and I loved how it was just a short walk to Epcot and boat ride/walk to DHS. And also getting to go to MNSSHP! That was so fun! We didn't dress up but we had so much fun. It was a last minute thing. My favorite meal was probably at Tutto Italia. The atmosphere in their alone was wonderful and the food was delicious. HMM, for something everyone should do next time...I would say if you go during fall go to MNSSHP! I can't wait to hear about your tour you took. We might do that next time. After this trip are you planning any future trips?

 

[stacikristine]

Love your report so far and glad to know I'm not the only one that plans their outfits lol.
I also have to agree the Canon Digital Elphs are the best!

Hi! Thanks for reading!! I don't know if I could make it without planning my outfits--I even plan them out for 2 day trips! It's by far my favorite compact camera!

Great start! I'll be reading along. So cool we got to meet at DHS!!

Hi Jenny! Thanks for reading! Have you started yours yet? I'll have to go look to see if you've updated... I KNOW!!! It was so cool to run into you and Joe

I have been thinking about Texas for YEARS!! Everyone thinks I've been there and love it because I have it tattooed on my back! But I've never been! Brandt is the one who first put it in my mind. His nickname here was "Tex" lol. And I even have a best friend living down there now and I just really want to!!

You need to quickly move back to another Target! Its so great. I love it there. We have a Target and Walmart side by side and it just works out. We have it all at that little area!

I'll have to look into that camera! How does it do with taking video? The one I have now doesn't record sound with the video which is terrible when I want to get a video of Landon laughing. I actually have a digital camcorder too but it won't charge and I can't get the videos I have off of it and on to my computer! Its sad!

Texas is awesome--you really should look into it! Or Oklahoma I know--I miss Target a lot!!! I think it's funny that a lot of Targets and Wal-Marts are right by each other... The camera is awesome!! The video has sound. It's not the absolute greatest quality of videos, but it's the best (in my opinion) for videos on a camera (instead of a video camera). I'll post some video from it on here, so you can see what it's like. Does your digital camcorder have a memory card? Because you could just stick that in your computer But definitely look into the Cannon. I love it!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad you started your TR

A is the cutest little girl and I am sooo jealous that they didn't have the Disney Pretty Princess when I was a kid

Can't wait to read more and see what your thoughts on AKL are since we just stayed there as well.

Hi!!! Thanks for reading! I'm glad I finally started it too--I'm excited to talk about everything and re-live the trip! Haha--me too! I would have loved Pretty Pretty Disney Princess I can tell you now that we absolutely LOVED it! We want to move back!!

Oh boy I don't even know where to start. We had so many highlights. I would say watching Wishes from our table at Ohana's. We lucked out and got a table right by the window. Also, staying at the beach clubs was just wonderful. The pool was awesome and I loved how it was just a short walk to Epcot and boat ride/walk to DHS. And also getting to go to MNSSHP! That was so fun! We didn't dress up but we had so much fun. It was a last minute thing. My favorite meal was probably at Tutto Italia. The atmosphere in their alone was wonderful and the food was delicious. HMM, for something everyone should do next time...I would say if you go during fall go to MNSSHP! I can't wait to hear about your tour you took. We might do that next time. After this trip are you planning any future trips?

Aw! It sounds like you had a great trip! That is so awesome that you had such a good view of Wishes! I really want to visit the Beach Club...It looks so pretty in pictures. Isn't MNSSHP so cute?! I did it in 06 and loved it. But I knew it wouldn't be a big deal for Michael, so we'll wait til we have kids. Did you get to meet any of the villains? Ooh--I haven't heard much about Tutto Italia--we might have to try it next time. What did you get? I can't wait to tell all about the tour!!!! And YES we're planning more trips! Are you?

 

[jenny105]

Hi Jenny! Thanks for reading! Have you started yours yet? I'll have to go look to see if you've updated... I KNOW!!! It was so cool to run into you and Joe

I haven't started my TR yet. I actually just ordered a new computer so I'm waiting for that to come in until I start it. It'll be a couple weeks.

 

[LilAnn]

awww great post! I am so jealous about that frozen yogurt place! Although, maybe it's a good thing there isn't one of those near us. It looks like your vacation was off to a great start! I can't wait for my DD to get a little older so i can start playing all of those games with her!

 

[stacikristine]

I haven't started my TR yet. I actually just ordered a new computer so I'm waiting for that to come in until I start it. It'll be a couple weeks.

Well, I'll be checking your PTR for when you do start! Good luck with getting your computer in

awww great post! I am so jealous about that frozen yogurt place! Although, maybe it's a good thing there isn't one of those near us. It looks like your vacation was off to a great start! I can't wait for my DD to get a little older so i can start playing all of those games with her!

Thanks! I'm upset that we don't have one here!! Yeah, they say frozen yogurt isn't bad for you, but if I ate it every day, I'm sure it wouldn't be GOOD It was a great start!! I bet! I can't wait until we have a little girl so I can play all those games too!

 

[stacikristine]

“Woo-Hoo!!! Today’s the day we’re going to Disney!!!”


This thought running through our heads was probably the reason we woke up at 3:50 and couldn’t go back to sleep. We were just too stinking excited!!

We finally got up at 5:00 right before our alarm went off (so we didn’t wake everyone up for no reason). We got ready really quickly and made sure all of our liquids were in quart-sized ziplocks before we headed out the door at 5:45. Oh—and let me say here that my aunt is a saint for getting up and driving us to the airport this early in the morning!


We arrived at the airport at 6:10 for our 7:45 flight.

It was so funny walking into the airport just the two of us. I don’t know why, but we really got a kick out of this… I don’t know if it felt like we were breaking rules or that we were little kids traveling without Mommy and Daddy, but we laughed a lot! What made it even more funny was the fact that we had NO CLUE where we were going.

After walking around and looking for the Airtran check-in desk, we finally had to ask someone where to go. We felt like little 12 year olds: “Excuse me, sir. Where is the Airtran check-in?” After he told us, and we headed back out the door, we kept joking around and saying things like, “Excuse me, sir. Where is the potty?” and “Excuse me, sir. Is this the airport?” and “Excuse me, sir. Where is my airplane?”

I know. We’re weird. But it was really early…and this was our first flight together…and we were just way too excited about Disney World…


We finally found the Airtran check-in desk. At this point, it was around 6:20. We didn’t know which line to get in (online check-in or full service) so we got in the shorter one—online check-in. While we were in line, they called out for 7:00 flights to Orlando. About half of the people raised their hands. I couldn’t believe it!! It was 6:30, and people still didn’t have their boarding passes!

We got to the front of the online check-in line, and they told us they couldn’t help us yet because they had to handle all of the 7:00 people first. I asked if we were even in the right line, and she told me that this was for people who checked in online earlier and only needed to check a bag. Oops. Not us.

It didn’t bother us that we had to go get in the longer line because we couldn’t be helped until the 7:00 people were anyway. When I got into the full service line, I noticed a lady with my same VB Hipster. Then I looked and saw that they had DME tags for AKL!! What a coincidence! I pointed this out and we visited for a little while in line. It turns out that she and her husband had both been to Disney as kids, but their kids (a baby girl, a little girl around 6 years old, and a little boy around 7 years old) had never been. **Remember these people—it’s not the last time we’ll run into them**

Let me also point out that at this point it was after 6:30. And there were still a TON of people who had 7:00 flights in line. They finally called for the last call to Orlando and these people were still in line. Stinks to be them. But honestly, I really didn’t feel sorry for them. I mean, everyone should know that you have to get to the airport early. You can’t show up 45 minutes early anymore!

Oh—and our bag was only 48 lbs! We didn’t have to pay extra!


We finally made it through check-in and security by 7:10. We found our gate, and I sat down for a little bit while Michael went to find us some breakfast. When he came back, they had just called our section for boarding.

We boarded the plane (with bacon, egg, and cheese croissants in hand) and buckled up for take-off.

We ate our breakfast while we waited for everyone else to board, and at 7:45 (right on time) we took off!!

Check out this gorgeous sunrise:

I think it’s safe to say we were just a little excited!

Goodbye, Dallas!

Don’t you just love it when you start to fly higher than the clouds?! These were pretty little cotton clouds:

We planned on sleeping on the plane, but we were way too excited! We played cards (I beat Michael in Old Maid—woo-hoo!), Soliare (on the computer), and listened to XM radio (courtesy of Airtran). In no time at all, we were instructed to fasten our safety belts and prepare for the landing.

Hello, Orlando!

Continued

 

[stacikristine]

Continued from Previous



It was an excellent flight! We were very, very impressed with Airtran. For those of you that didn’t know/remember, I was pretty nervous about flying with them since I’d never even heard of them before. But if they have the lowest fares again, we’ll fly Airtran in a heartbeat!

We landed a little ahead of schedule. We were supposed to land at 11:13, and we landed a little before 11:00 instead.

Yay!! We’re pulling into the gate! I’m happy to see you, MCO!

As much as we would have loved to push everyone over so we could run off the plane and get to Disney’s Magical Express, we waited for almost everyone to get off.

Here we are all excited to be exiting the plane:

We found the “monorail” with no problem,

and look what greeted us when we got on:

Our first Mickey of the trip!!!


Pretty soon, we headed down the escalators and saw this:

And this:

I’m so thankful we had our vouchers with us so we didn’t have to wait in yet another line.

YAY!!! This is where we’re going!

We got in line and we were two families away from getting on the first bus. Oh well, this way we knew we’d get good seats! Our bus came at 11:45, and we got the very front seats on the passenger side!!

Our driver was Richard, and he was excellent.

Before long, we saw this:

Oh my goodness, we’re actually here!!!!


We went to Coronado Springs first, and then we saw the road sign for our resort!

Michael, what is it?

YAY!!! The welcome gate!!

And FINALLY, we saw this:

Yay! Yay! Yay!!!!!!! Our Disney Vacation has officially started!




Up Next:
Oh. My. Goodness. We get to stay here?!