365 days of Pixie Dust! -- complete

[brandihead2012]

Never at at Sci-Fi before, so cool in there! Thanks for the pics, makes me want to try it!

 

[PrincessBB]

Never at at Sci-Fi before, so cool in there! Thanks for the pics, makes me want to try it!

Try it! It's a place that you go to for the atmosphere and the food isn't the best food in all of WDW, but those potato skins came close!! It's decently priced too- always a plus in Disney!

 

[SoNotAPrincess]

Hello! I found your TR link thanks to Jess' and Kristin's latest Frump report, and I'm glad I clicked it! What a great idea to chronicle a year of AP visits!

The Princess rooms at POR are too wonderful! We're staying in one for our upcoming Christmas trip, and I think I'm more excited than my nine-year old niece!

I love your "Breakfast of Champions" cupcake and couldn't agree more...calories definitely don't count at Disney. Sci-Fi is such a fun place to eat...good choice!!

I'm really enjoying your TR so far and can't wait to hear more!

 

[PrincessBB]

Hello! I found your TR link thanks to Jess' and Kristin's latest Frump report, and I'm glad I clicked it! What a great idea to chronicle a year of AP visits!

The Princess rooms at POR are too wonderful! We're staying in one for our upcoming Christmas trip, and I think I'm more excited than my nine-year old niece!

I love your "Breakfast of Champions" cupcake and couldn't agree more...calories definitely don't count at Disney. Sci-Fi is such a fun place to eat...good choice!!

I'm really enjoying your TR so far and can't wait to hear more!

Yayy! I'm glad you found it!

The Princess rooms really are amazing. You'll love it! Pictures don't even do them justice; there are so many adorable details that we kept discovering over the two days. Now, I'm spoiled, and I don't know how I'll be able to stay in other moderates and values!

It's a good thing that Disney calories don't count because I'd be in trouble if they did!!

Thanks for reading! I'm close to wrapping up this trip, but we leave for another weekend trip in less than a week, so I won't keep you waiting too long for more. Enjoy!

 

[PrincessBB]

After our delicious Sci-Fi dinner, we had just enough time to use our Tower of Terror fast passes, probably just because they took us early for our ADR.

Walking over to Tower of Terror, I started to get nervous. Again. The paramedics we passed in line who were assisting a man who thought he was having a heart attack did not exactly calm my fears.

But we did it, and I wasn’t scared!!! But I also wouldn’t call the ride fun either! Maybe we’ll ride again in a few more years…

After our ride, we headed over to the animations building where we took the adorable little quizzes that tell you what Disney character you are.

I happened to be Cinderella, my favorite princess!

And Ally happened to be Belle, her fave!

How exciting!

After that, we went to meet sorcerer Mickey. My only 2 complaints were the family in front of us and the family behind us. They were both ridiculously large and rude and conveniently didn’t speak English (which is probably a good thing considering what I was saying about them by the end of the wait). These parents were so ignorant to the fact that their children were using Ally and me as human jungle gyms. I love kids. I work with kids at my job now, and I’m majoring in Elementary education. But I could only take being groped by small children for so long. It was clear that these people could not even take care of a dog, let alone their 4-6 small children.

Sorry, rant over! One of my biggest pet peeves...

Anyway, back to Mickey Mouse! He was as precious as ever, and meeting Mickey is a must-do every trip so I’m glad we squeezed it in!

Since Fantasmic was now getting ready to start, we figured it would be a perfect opportunity to ride Toy Story Mania. The wait time said 80 minutes, but we thought that it wouldn’t be quite that. And we don’t mind waiting.
So we hopped in line and stood in one place for 20 minutes. As much as I don’t mind waiting, I cannot stand in one place long. So we waited 10 more minutes, then hopped outta line and headed out of the park. I was sad we were leaving the last park of the trip, but we would still manage to squeeze in quite a bit of Disney before we officially left.

Once back at the hotel, we grabbed our drink mugs from the room and went to refill them and have a snack. I chose this yummy and adorable sugar cookie with mickey sprinkles. Soooo good, but a little over priced!

We sat at a nice quiet table in the mill and enjoyed our snack. We also stopped by the gift shop to pick up a Class of 2012 mickey magnet/picture frame that I had my eye on from the day before and we got our parents Happy Anniversary pins since they had just celebrated their 30th anniversary a few days before.
We went back to "our castle" and went to sleep. We had a pretty early morning the next day.

 

[PrincessBB]

Woohoo! It's finally hitting me that our trip is only a few days away!

I was sad to learn that the "Highland Games," the Brave-inspired games in Epcot, have closed already. I was hoping to visit it on this trip since we skipped it last time!

I also learned that there are some new Dooney and Bourke designs being unveiled at DTD while we're there! I love the new chain design, and I'm excited that they are bringing back the classic sketch design in new styles. Unfortunately, a new bag is not really in the budget right now. My sister is kicking herself for buying one a few weeks ago when she could've bought one of these beauties! I will do my best to resist buying one, but no promises!

http://www.disunplugged.com/2012/06/18/dooney-and-bourke-release-for-disney-world-fans/

On a different note, we booked an ADR for Kona Cafe for a late lunch on Saturday. We prefer the sandwiches and lighter options on their lunch menu, so we figured we could do a late lunch followed by a snack in the parks in place of dinner. I hope they have the bread because I'm dying to try it, but I've heard it's not always available at lunch! We're still trying to figure out the rest of our dining plans if anyone has suggestions!

Our DTD update is coming soon! I will try to get it posted by Wednesday!

 

[wdwtwins]

Awesome update! And I totally agree! I LOVE the new Dooney & Bourke styles! I hope we can go to WDW so I can get one.. haha

 

[PrincessBB]

Awesome update! And I totally agree! I LOVE the new Dooney & Bourke styles! I hope we can go to WDW so I can get one.. haha

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

And haha, the purses are so tempting already! How am I going to resist once I am actually in Disney?!?

On a different subject, does anyone have any suggestions for a sweet snack at the confectionery or in the WS? I am having trouble deciding where to go and what to get!

 

[Blissikins]

I am loving your TR so far! Being from the UK I can only dream of having an annual pass for WDW...Until I have a private jet, that is!

 

[PrincessBB]

I am loving your TR so far! Being from the UK I can only dream of having an annual pass for WDW...Until I have a private jet, that is!

aww Thanks for reading!! I can't even imagine!! It's killing me knowing that I'll be an extra hour away from mickey next year, but Disney is right on my way home Disney. How convenient?!

 

[PrincessBB]

We woke up around 8:45 (whoooo, that’s sleeping in on Disney-time) to pouring rain. Ughhh! I guess if it was gonna rain, today was a better day for it than the park days. It was the first band of Tropical Storm Debby that we would have the pleasure of driving home in later.

We threw everything in our suitcase and headed out. It was Downtown Disney day AKA blow-large-amounts-of-money-and-eat-Earl-of-sandwich- day!!

We got on an empty (and of course freezing) bus. It was weird having a bus completely to ourselves until someone joined us at POFQ. The bus driver made his obligatory stop at Typhoon Lagoon before we arrived at a shopaholic’s heaven. We grabbed a diet coke at Earl of Sandwich, and walked over to Tren-D just as the doors were opening.

We surprisingly escaped before buying anything, but headed to the ESPN store where I used my first annual pass discount to buy the new Florida State Mickey shirt. It’s about time they came out with a new one!! And if I have any fellow NOLES reading along, get excited – It’s V-neck! YAAAY!

FSU and Disney…my two favorite things!

Then we went to the most overwhelming store in the world: World of Disney. I was tempted to buy everything but I only ended up with some chocolate (a gift), a new stuffed Eeyore for my puppy (who is such an Eeyore inside and out), a precious new Minnie bow ring, and a picture frame for my dorm. Ally bought nothing yet! But don’t worry… we’d both spend quite a bit more before we left!

The cast member ringing me up saw my mickey shirt and Disney Dooney and said “And you’re buying more?!” I thought it was pretty snarky and very un-CM like behavior.

My Minnie ring!

We wandered around in the pouring rain some more before we both realized that we could not leave without buying the things that we had been wanting to buy.

We high-tailed it back to Tren-D as fast as we could to check out their Dooney and Bourke selection. My sister had seen a brown wristlet in here earlier that had caught her attention. We looked and the wristlet and the 40th anniversary styles. Ally really wanted another cross-body bag, but Tren-D didn’t have either of the prints she liked in that style, and unfortunately, the woman behind the counter was not being very friendly or helpful.

So, once again, we were back in the pouring rain, headed back to the World of Disney. This is where I decided to buy a watch that I had had my eye on for a while. Actually, I had been trying to convince Ally to buy it, so I didn’t feel the need to (I’ve had a bit of a watch obsession since I bought my first one at Tren-D back in February.) They sized it there for me, and I got to pick out a cute Disney-themed case to keep it in. I picked the Mickey case, of course!

I’m obsessed!

In the meantime, Ally was at the Dooney and Bourke counter. She took a closer look at the all-brown wristlet, but she decided that it was too small. The very friendly CM chatted with her about their mutual love of Disney Dooneys. The CM let her know that they would be coming out with new styles for the all-brown print very soon. So exciting! But Ally decided to get the 40th Anniversary cross-body bag. After going through their entire selection, she found the exact print she liked best. My sister is normally very frugal, so she was feeling a little guilty, but I helped her justify the purchase by reminding her of our AP discount!

So pretty!

We had finally done enough damage to our bank accounts, and we were starving! We had not had breakfast that morning in anticipation of Earl of Sandwich, and shopping had helped us work up an appetite. At this point, it was nearly 11, an acceptable time for an early lunch.

We were meeting up with our parents, who had loaded up the car and driven over. Ally and I found a table on the covered patio at EOS; it was still pretty empty at this point. It wasn’t long before we saw our parents. They were both wearing their Anniversary pins, and they looked so cute! 30 years <3

By this point we were starving! Ally got the veggie (with no oil and dressing on the side…ugh, so healthy!); I got the Hawaiian (which was really good, but I still prefer the Earl’s Club); my mom got the Earl’s Club, and my dad got the Full Montague (he wasn’t a fan of the mustard on it.) We also got some chips to share. It was a delicious lunch, which is to be expected at EOS. Plus, it gave us another chance to use our AP discount!

Unfortunately, it was time to hit the road. It was still raining as we made our way to the car. I was sad to go, but Ally and I were already planning our next trip. Knowing that we would be back in our favorite place in the world in less than a month made leaving this time around a lot easier.

The ride home was pretty uneventful. The combination of the rain and EOS promptly put both my sister and I to sleep. We dozed, read, and talked about our favorite parts of this trip, and our hopes for the next one. The rain did get pretty scary though. There were times we couldn’t see the car in front of us! Thankfully, we made it home safely!

Up Next: Some PTR details!

 

[PrincessBB]

I guess I finished my last trip just in time! Because tomorrow we leave for a weekend at CSR - Girls only! We're treating my momma before we leave for college!

So look for a new update on a whole new trip early next week

 

[Blissikins]

Your Minnie ring is adorable! I love that watch too.

I have to say, we found our only un-Disney-like cast member at DTD too (snarky woman in Art of Disney). Everyone at the actual park was a dream, but the woman at AOD was just plain confrontational and rude.

 

[aras4007]

Love this!! Can't wait to hear about your upcoming trips!!

 

[PrincessBB]

We're home! We had an amazing trip! The weather was perfect (Hot! and no rain!!); the Brazilian tour groups were out of control, and I managed not to destroy my bank account!

I'll be back with an update after I recoup!

Your Minnie ring is adorable! I love that watch too.

I have to say, we found our only un-Disney-like cast member at DTD too (snarky woman in Art of Disney). Everyone at the actual park was a dream, but the woman at AOD was just plain confrontational and rude.

Thank You! We encountered a few more rude CMs on this trip, and not just at DTD But we also encountered some particularly friendly CMs on this trip! Can't wait to tell you more...

 

[PrincessBB]

Love this!! Can't wait to hear about your upcoming trips!!

Aww, Thanks for joining in! I'm glad you're enjoying it! I'll be back with the first installment of our most recent trip in the next few days

 

[PrincessBB]

The alarm woke us up bright and
early Friday morning. But somehow waking up for Disney at
3:45 is waaaay easier then waking up 6 for work or school
on any other day. We were on the road by 4 and pulling
into Coronado springs by 7:30.

Love this lobby!!

We checked in, got my moms ticket, and headed to the busses.
Our room wasn't ready yet, but we were ready to go anyway!
There were extra magic hours at Epcot, and we were on a mission! Unfortunately the bus system was not cooperating. We waited, and
waited, and waited. This would be a recurring theme with CSR
busses! They're seriously the worst busses on Disney property.

Finally, a bus showed up and we were on our way. Our bus driver
was good! He talked the entire way instead of using the automated
system which helped make the ride go super fast. We got into the
parks and were on our way to the Land with every other person in
the entire park. We grabbed fastpasses and hopped in line (there was
already a 25 minute wait!). It was my momma's first flight on Soarin'
and she loooooved it. But who doesn't?!

We only had about 20 minutes until our fast passes were good so we
headed to Living with the Land. I know I'm probably the only one,
but I love this ride! It brings back fond memories of my AP
environmental class, and the greenhouse is so warm! And there was a
0 minute wait... Yay!!

Biggest cantelope ever!

By the time we finished, it was fast pass time. Our second flight on
soarin' was even better. We got first row!

We were coming back to Epcot later that night so we headed out to our
next destination. But not before a quick photo shoot in front of the "golf ball"

 

[mike the canuck]

Following along

 

[Bee2u]

I love the Minnie Ring!

 

[MickeyisBeast]

Joining in the minnie ring is so cute!