3 Caballeros, 11 nights, 4 parks, 1 world & lots of PICS!!!!

[seobaina]

After breakfast we headed for the Magic Kingdom - the others were very excited!

It was really busy - far busier than I'm used too at this time of year. I spoke to a cast member about it and they said there has been no real downturn in attendance since the beginning of the year.

First thing we see as we head round on to main street is DAISY DUCK! Andy was very excited but they'd closed the line was really long and we had a breakfast booked with her, so we decided not to wait. Instead we headed into the Emporium - shops and shopping became a big thing. In fact, we had the saying "I'm in the shop" if any one of us wandered off or didn't wanna do a ride.

With a bit of retail therapy under our belts we headed....across the street for more LOL. A cm in the sweet shop gave us each a marshmallow stick and after throwing out the 'it's too early' we went for 'it's a holiday' and ate them. Andy insisted that he needed a hat, so we went into the store to chose one. He wanted a MM Club one and I went for the same. We left them to be engraved (which they did for us free) and wandered around Main street for a bit.

They said the ears would be forty minutes (big queue) and Andy didn't want to move on to the rest of the park without his ears. So we stayed in the stores. We'd actually been in the park an hour before we even got this shot:

I started to get arty with my photos while I waited

We had purchased a photopass package before we went so we decided to make the most of it. By the end of the holiday the photographers recognised us LOL.

Having collected our ears we finally made it to the hub, where Jenni did her signature 'Japanese' pose

And Andy auditioned for the Mickey Mouse Club

The we took some more photopass pics.

 

[seobaina]

I love the update. Yay you made it! Andy looks just like a kid in bed! How long was your flights? I know that would be so hard on a person. the new refurb looks great.

I knew some of the answers to your quiz, but with pressure, it would be hard to get them very fast.

Yeah, finally started. Altogether think we travelled for about 18 hours - 12hrs of flying. LOL Andy was like a kid. The refurb was really nice...you can actually get a lot in the new draws, even though there aren't as many.

Yeah, when you're trying to do them quickly it gets kinda hard...especially the one about 'one word titles'. I can list all the classics by year of release...and all the pixar ones, but when you're doing it in your head quickly it's easy to forget things. Hoping I did well enough to get through.

 

[seobaina]

We had a couple of hours before the parade, so we decided to head into Adventureland.

Of all the choices available, Jenni said she really wanted to go in the Swiss Family Treehouse, so we joined the line working it's way through it.

She's not pouting, she was deep in thought

Next we headed onto Jungle Cruise (don't have pics cause I filmed it) then in to one of my faves...Pirates of the Caribbean. This is Jenni being a

It was getting late, so we headed round to Frontierland to find a spot for the Parade.

The palest Aladdin I've ever seen:

Not the best Eric I've ever seen...

 

[seobaina]

With the parade over we moved back into Frontierland where we bumped into a friend :

He was fantastic! He asked which kingdom we were from and Andy said the 'United Kingdom' without hesitating. He laughed a lot and answered questions about where Abu and Jasmine were. Andy is pretending to be Abu in the picture.

After riding the Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square, we headed through the castle towards Fantasyland. On the way we caught part of the celebration show, which was cute but we didn't want to watch all of it.

As we walked into Fantasyland I saw a cast member blowing bubbles with some kids. On doing a doubletake I said "Sarah?" and she looked up. I'd lived in the USA in 1995 and Sarah was one of the kids in the family I lived with (she was 6 back then) - so she's my little USA sister.

I knew she was on the college program there but didn't think I'd get to see her after the Volcano delay cause she was flying home for a week the next day.

We chatted for a bit, then she had to go back to work so we continued into Fantasyland. The others both tried but neither of them proved to be Wart (Even if they look it )

Philharmagic was about to start, so we dashed in...stopping only to take a photo of our poster

By this point it was getting very stormy out. We grabbed ponchos (You gotta get them!) and then we went onto Snow White's Adventure. It rained whilst we were on there but had stopped when we came out, so we were feeling pretty smug about that.

I wanted to take some photos of the fountain

And we started the first of what would become 'ghost finger' pictures. In this case it was a whole ghost Jenni

The storm was brewing again but the castle looked lovely.

We had about an hour before we needed to get to the Contemporary for dinner so we wandered back through the castle and over to Tomorrowland.

I love the castle at night

 

[seobaina]

We could do one more ride, so we went on the teacups. We squished into one cup and as the ride started the heavens opened again. We thought it was hilarious as we wizzed round and the wind blew the rain in, occassionally catching us.

What we hadn't considered, however, was that when the ride ended we had to exit into the open. As we got soaked straight away we decided to head back towards the exit and dinner.

The streets were like rivers and the thunder was lighting up the sky. Most people were taking shelter but a few of us 'swam' or way out.

By the time we got to the hotel we were drenched, even with the ponchos on. Walking into the Contemporary Jenni said, in a silly voice, "My shoes..." and this little girl (about 7 or 8) turned around and said (in an exact mimic of her tone, etc) "are soaking". It was so funny...what a cool kid!

We had about twenty minutes so we dashed into the bathrooms to change. Jenni somehow managed to pin her hair up so it looked lovely and not wet at all. Mine? Frizzed out all over and was a straggly mess, even pulled back into a pony LOL.

Heading up to the California Grill we asked for a window seat but really didn't expect to get one. Well, not only did we get one, we got what is apparently the 'best table in the house'. It was fantastic. By the window, on the fireworks side, not far from the exit to the balcony. We were very lucky.

The thunderstorm was still going on so Wishes was delayed and wasn't looking likely. We kept our fingers crossed and ordered. Food porn time:

The sushi

The Chicken

Our server asked what we were celebrating and when we said birthdays, he brought us this:

It's sooooooooooo yummy!

We decided to have a coffee before leaving (it was really late and 40 mins after Wishes should have started) and they finally announced it was going to be on. We had thought they'd cancel so we were thrilled. This was the view from our table of Wishes and the Electric Water Parade.

After the meal we caught the bus from Magic Kingdom back to the hotel. We were wet and very tired but happy. Andy was sleepy so he put the poncho over his head on the bus.

 

[jenseib]

Wow! You were a posting fool today!
Love all the pictures. You all look like you are having so much fun. I wish I could go with crazy friends like that. I went 1 day to MK with my friend and her brother years ago. It was hot, and they weren't as adventurous as me! Plus that was long before I knew much about disney, and no photopass back in those days

 

[starann]

WOWsa...that is one heck of an update!!!

 

[seobaina]

Wow! You were a posting fool today!
Love all the pictures. You all look like you are having so much fun. I wish I could go with crazy friends like that. I went 1 day to MK with my friend and her brother years ago. It was hot, and they weren't as adventurous as me! Plus that was long before I knew much about disney, and no photopass back in those days

I like going with friends...but I bet it's magic going with kids. If I ever have kids I'm taking them!!!

WOWsa...that is one heck of an update!!!

LOL Yeah, I was a bit excited yesterday cause I had booked flights for next year Going back 29th April with 2 or 3 friends (including my best friend who came in 2008) for 18 whole nights!

 

[seobaina]

Monday 26th April

Our first trip to EPCOT. Again we headed out about mid-morning (I'm a get up early girl at Disney but the others...not so much. And we'd had a late night).

It was the Flower and Garden Festival whilest we were there so everything was extra pretty. Getting into the photopass thing, we headed straight away for the entrance and a photo opportunity.

This is what it looked like without us in it

Next we headed towards The Seas area because I wanted to get us on some of the popular rides and shows there. On route we stopped in the Disney collectibles store - I used to be the animation art expert in store so I LOOOOOVVVEEE looking at cels, etc.

Jenni loves giraffes so she was thrilled to see this on the path.

Finally reaching the Seas we checked on the showtimes for Turtle Talk and the line for Nemo...after pausing for more pictures of course.

I personally love the 'mine, mine, mine' birds!

There was only a short queue for Nemo and we had time before turtle talk, so we figured we'd go. Andy, I should point out, does not like the movie of Nemo, so he was dragged on.

These were taken on the ride:

After Turtle Talk we went to get fastpass tickets for Test Track before heading back to the land via the cool club. Yep, i got them both to try the Beverly...faces are great! Wish I'd had my camera but I think it would have tipped them off too much.

On our way over to Test Track we saw a short line for Chip and Dale. I'm sooooo glad we joined it cause they were hilarious!

First of all Andy asked where Gadget was. Well for five minutes Chip kept pointing his finger up in the air. We all (including the cast member) tried desperately to work out what he was saying. We were suggesting everything from 'space' to 'at home' to 'in the sky'. When Jenni in desperation said "In your finger?" he literally put his head in his hands, bent over and shook his head in a mix of despair and amusement. The rest of us, including some people waiting, couldn't stop laughing. It took us a while but apparently he was trying to say that she was off fixing spaceships.

After that it became a free-for-all. While the cast member tried to take a photo the chipmunks played. Dale pushed Chip over from behind, then blamed me, so Chip came to tell me off. Meanwhile, the both starting raiding Andy's bag to look for peanuts. The whole experience was so funny and put us in a great mood.

 

[disneyshakeygirl]

YAY UPDATE! I love it so far Your meal at California Grills looks so, so, so good.

 

[seobaina]

YAY UPDATE! I love it so far Your meal at California Grills looks so, so, so good.

Thanks It was sooo good!!!

I'll post some more tomorrow...just prepping for a wedding I'm filming tomorrow but had to come on to say - I won the district trivia quiz!!!! Country final in 2 weeks

 

[jenseib]

Yay! Do you win a prize then?

 

[seobaina]

Yay! Do you win a prize then?

A little one yep We get a ltd edition pin for winning store and a ltd edition Merlin plush for district (at least that's what I got last year). There's a country prize and then a big European winners one.

 

[seobaina]

With our fastpasses in hand and the taste of Beverly in our mouths, we moved back to the other side of the park.

Oh, I totally forgot by the way, we had an ice lolly each while we were by the seas. This was Andy's first ever Mickey bar.

And we went on the Journey into Imagination ride before we headed to Test Track. I love the backwards waterfall in this area.

Anyway, back in the Land area, we went on Soarin. This is one of my fave rides and the others loved it. Jenni particularly loved it because of Patrick Warburton's introduction. She LOVES Kronk and had continually said she wanted to meet him (as a joke cause we knew he wasn't in the parks) so this was the closest we could get .

Next we found a great food court (inside the pavillion) which I'd somehow missed on previous trips. I had a very yummy roast chicken lunch while Andy and Jenni hit the chinese.

Jen's dad is really into his gardening so we took the boat ride through the greenhouses.

Having completed everything but 'Honey I shrunk the audience' on this side, we moved back to the Test Track area. Jenni found a stitch, much to her joy!

We still had a little time left and there was only a ten minute wait for Mission Space, so the other two went on that while I shopped the shop!

 

[seobaina]

With the shop thoroughly shopped, we headed over to Test Track. I love this ride...we all loved it...but you can't tell from the photo. Could we look any more bored? LOL

The lines for everything were pretty good now (most about ten minutes) so we went over to Spaceship Earth. On the way, as part of the Flower and Garden Festival, there was a Princess and the Frog garden.

Hidden in amongst the garden we found a mother duck with two ducklings. She'd found a nice safe place with water for her babies.

And we found more Lion King toparies.

I love the fairly new edition to Spaceship Earth - the 'what is your future' game at the end. Last time I went on this ride I was on my own (Karen didn't want to go) and they gave me a random friend in my future LOL. This time I was with Andy. The pictures were so funny.

It was late-afternoon by now and we knew we wanted to stop early to have dinner and find a good spot for Illuminations. We didn't want to start World Showcase as we were going to do this next time. So we made our way instead, at a casual pace, towards the Universe of Energy.

On route Jenni found this plant/tree/bush? It meant something to her and her dad and she couldn't believe how huge it was so she took a photo.

I grabbed a much needed iced coffee near the Universe of Energy only to be told we had two minutes and couldn't take the drinks in. Not particularly a problem by itself but annoying when we got in and had nearly fifteen minutes before the doors actually opened. Oh well. The ride/show was quite fun but it's sooo long, I'd forgotten.

By now it was pretty late, so we slowly wandered back towards the Lagoon area. The butterfly garden this year was Tinkerbell so we decided to have a look at that on route too. There was a topary for each fairy.

I love the Flower and Garden Festival. It's been on the last three times I've been and I think I'd find the place a little empty without it.

 

[seobaina]

Having completed most of Future World, we found a great location to watch Illuminations. Right in the middle, opposite the US Pavillion. We took it in turns to go and get some food from the takeaway stalls. We weren't particularly hungry but it gave us something to do while waiting. Anyway, here are some pictures of illuminations - unlike the previous night, there was no rain!

With the show over, we headed out of the park (a head of most of the public traffic but not all) and back to the hotel.

We did stop for one last photopass.

This was my last photo for the day - Andy filling out the badness level charts!

 

[seobaina]

Hollywood Studios Day!

We headed out at a reasonable time and got to Hollywood Studios mid-morning. Well trained by this point, Andy spotted a photopass photographer so we posed.

I'd heard that we could meet the UP characters so we wandered straight over to Animation building. When we got there a show of 'One Man's Dream' was about to start so we headed in to that instead.

I LOVE this show/film and the others did too, except for the fact that we managed to find ourselves sat in front of a little Japanese couple who talked THROUGHOUT the film *rolls eyes*. We made a promise to do it again another day - we'd had to rush through the exhibits anyway - so we headed into the Magic of Animation story.

Again, this really amuses me, especially as it talks about the sidekicks in Pocahontas (my fave film). On the way out we saw some posters for the new Winnie the Pooh movie (2011), for Toy Story 3 (which of course wasn't out yet) and for Tangled - which I think looks fab.

Then we joined the line for the UP characters. It was about a twenty minute wait and as we got to the front the characters went for a water break. We didn't mind the break, we were just hoping that everyone would come back out...and they did!

They were all lovely and as we left them we figured we'd have a play on the machines. Normally they are packed but at this point a couple were empty. Jenni was instantly thrilled because she finally found Kronk (sort of):

She was so excited by this that she decided to play at making technicolour fish LOL.

Having discovered that I was apparently like Tink *shrug* we noticed some Incredibles characters up on the ramp, so we ran up to meet them. Helen (Elastigirl) had just left and Frozone came out instead.

They were so funny because Mr Incridble and Frozone basically said that if Andy was here with two women then he much be a superhero and they challenged him to push ups. Frozone stood with us while Mr Incredible dropped to the floor. Andy knelt down but point blank refused to do push-ups LOL. They finally took pity on him and let him get up.

We wandered through the rest of the exhibits here. As a film maker I LOVE the Oscars.

Then we spent some time in the store, where Jenni got in touch with her Japanese routes.

 

[seobaina]

Next we headed over to the Little Mermaid show but the line was CRAZY so we went round to Beauty and the Beast instead. I've always been a fan of this show - I know it doesn't compare to the Broadway one but for a shortened version I always think it's really sweet. This one was just as good as normal and Gaston was fantastic. I do miss 'Four for a Dollar' though. Not sure why they got rid of them cause they were such fun :-(

Anyway, here's a few pics of the show:

On the way out I sent the other two to get Rock 'n' Rollercoaster fastpass tickets. The Tower of Terror wait time was really short so they went on to the ride. I, who has done this in the past but chickened out now, treated myself instead to a big chocolatey ice-cream. It was very yum but was melting as quickly as I could eat. I took this picture while I waited and ate

We had just enough time to catch the Little Mermaid show before the fastpass time slot, so we headed back around to the theatre. naturally, we found enough time to also take a photopass photo.

I liked the show but the others weren't keen on Ariel's voice. Again, here's a few pics of the show - sorry they're not great but I didn't want to use flash:

 

[jenseib]

Awesome days. Looks like loads of fun. I want a Mickey bar right now

 

[seobaina]

Argh, ok, apologies for the ridiculously long pause in the rep. I was revising for the finals in the Disney challenge and since then I've just had a ton of work with teaching, filming and the mouse! If anyone is still onboard, I'm gonna try to get some more of this done now. Off to write, be back later!

Oh and if anyone is interested...here's the Merlin Plush we won for district. They have the year embroided on to their coats.

My two

And my one for this year with Buzz (I was team Buzz) and my mascot Pluto.