"A for effort, C for execution." A September 2014 TR **07/04 THE END!*

[tinkerjlee]

I am back from WDW! I had a great time with my family despite a few hiccups along the way.
Reading your update makes me wish I was back there, I mean it was like just last week I was in the Disney Bubble.

I went on Splash MTN for the first time this trip. Ended up in the front row. OMG! I thought I seriously lost my contact lenses when that huge wave of water drenched me!!! I never laughed so hard!!!

Your picture recreation is beyond AWESOME!!!!!!!

 

[amberg93]

certainly sounds like you made efficient use of your time getting on so many "mountains" that quickly.



That picture is tremendous. Also, not only are the Thumpers laughing .... they are pointing and laughing!



Wow - that is really cool! Great job

Looks like a fun Gaston meet! How thoughtful of him not to speak in french for all the other little people!

Great pictures of the two of you out front of Beast's castle

Triple Mountain mornings are the best mornings!

I missed the pointing! Extra rude, Thumper!

Thank you I'm pretty proud of the end result.

Well you know Gaston, always thinking of the people

Thanks, I'm glad we stopped.

I swear I took a photo from that exact same spot. Different people of course, but still.

Yesserie!!

HAHAHA, that is an awesome ride photo. So much... love?

OH... MY... GAWD!!!!!! That is the coolest thing EVER!!!!! I am freaking out right now.


Medevil Torture Chamber.


That is very cool, but I'm a little surprised the guest's outfit met Disney's approval. It seems pretty close to the real thing. Oh wait... was this a MNSSHP day?

Great minds think alike?

Oh that's definitely love that I'm showing.

I'm glad there's such a great reaction. The CMs were really amused too.

Well, it makes for a good ride in its spare time.

She was a girl so I guess that's why? It wasn't a party night. So I'm not sure why she was able to go. Possibly because of the gender thing, that's the only thing I can think of. Technically she was only DisneyBounding? It's interesting to see where lines are drawn though.

I am back from WDW! I had a great time with my family despite a few hiccups along the way.
Reading your update makes me wish I was back there, I mean it was like just last week I was in the Disney Bubble.

I went on Splash MTN for the first time this trip. Ended up in the front row. OMG! I thought I seriously lost my contact lenses when that huge wave of water drenched me!!! I never laughed so hard!!!

Your picture recreation is beyond AWESOME!!!!!!!

Welcome back! I'm glad that you had such an awesome time! I wish we could all be at Disney all the time. Silly lack of Disney Bubble in real life.

Yay for Splash! Yeah that huge wave can catch you by surprise but it's such a fun ride and sitting in the front is a great experience.

Thank you! I'm glad I decided to do it. Something special to let my friends know that I wished they were there.

 

[amberg93]

So despite just getting home on Sunday, Marie has a long weekend and we're deciding to take it to visit my family in Michigan. Meaning that tomorrow we leave and will be States side until Wednesday. We'd been hoping to do this trip later in the summer but I start full time French classes on July 2nd instead of in August so it's really now or never. I'll probably try and get this TR wrapped up before those classes start so that I don't drop off the face of the planet when they do.

Day 9, Part 3: "I'm ready for dessert!"

Our lunch reservation was something that we were both really looking forward to.

Liberty Tree Tavern!

It was a new lunch location for the both of us, but Marie was really interested in trying it after reading the reviews of the Ooey-Gooey Toffee Cake. With the limited eats in Magic Kingdom and our Tables in Wonderland card still good, we decided that we'd make ourselves a good meal on our last day.

Our reservation was really early, just after the restaurant opened even so when we got let in they were still getting things ready. They told us to have a seat and we'd be called when they were ready.

I love the inside of this restaurant.

As usual, Disney's themeing is top notch and you really feel like you're in an old house.

Being well versed DISers we knew to look up.

It wasn't long until our family name (Marie's family name, which was butchered as it always is in its Frenchness) was being called and we were escorted to our table.

Each room in the restaurant is named and themed after someone in American history. Our room was the John Paul Jones room.

He was a sailor so the room was filled to that theme.

It was quite nice inside, actually.

Our table for two was seated right next to the window, which gave a warped view into Liberty Square.

There were crayons on the table to keep children occupied, but luckily Marie had her trusty notepad so that we could doodle a bit ourselves.

Can you tell whose side is whose? (And that one of us is much more talented than the other)

I really love the mugs here.

While we were waiting Marie and I had a picture taking war of each other. Except I mostly took video and she took pictures.

Which had me like this. (Goodness my hair was so short)

Our waitress, whose name I don't remember at the moment, was on top of everything and our food came out very quickly.

I got the Pilgrims' Feast which was delicious. My only complaint was that there was not enough gravy. This is America, things should be drowning in gravy.

Marie got the Angus Chuck Cheeseburger with bacon. She says it was good.

We both finished almost all of our food before it was time for the real reason we came.

This goodness right here. Let me tell you guys, it was worth the whole reservation. If you haven't eaten this cake yet, you need to rearrange your plans so that you'll be able to.

With our bellies full, we made our way happily out of the tavern, with plans to return again someday. For then, our immediate plans were to head back to the resort for some resting and relaxation. I know it was our last day, but that meant our last day to love on the French Quarter too and we couldn't pass that up.

We stopped in front of the Christmas store to look at all the fun nutcrackers and long for Christmas decorations in the parks (only four months until we see them again).

The sky wasn't looking too friendly right then anyway. So it seemed like as good a time as any to call it quits for the morning.

We didn't have to wait long for a bus to come along and as usual, we had a quick ride back to the French Quarter, during which it gave a quick shower.

Oh layout of the French Quarter, I love you.

Walking picture with our building in the background.

Our tree for the trip.

This is the view I want every day I walk out my door.

We found a tiny lizard hanging out over our door but he ran away quickly afterward so we said goodbye and headed inside so we could start relaxing.

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[amberg93]

Day 9, Part 4: "Wait, we hate people."

We had some very important plans for the evening because it just so happened that the last night of our trip was an important day in the internet community.

Dapper Day!

If you've never heard of Dapper Day it's an unofficial event where basically everyone mingles together while dressed in their best. It's got a big vintage vibe because a lot of people pick to look from the fifties when Disneyland opened, but really you can pick any decade you want as long as you're dressed your best. Marie and I did go for the 50s vibe and got on our Sunday best.

She went with a slight heel that she ended up regretting.

While I decided against my heels at the last minute and went with more sensible flats.

Dapper Day meet ups in the fall are at Hollywood Studios, so we headed to the buses and got on one quickly. During our getting ready process it had rained some more but it seemed to have cleared up right before we headed out.

Ready for Dapper Day!

Thanks to the convenient location of the French Quarter, in no time flat we were seeing this:

Our first order of business was to stop for some pictures.

Once again, a smiling person in the background is outshining me. Stop it, smiling people! (Also, obligatory crying over the hat being gone. Why does it have to hurt like this?)

Closer in so people can stop stealing my glory.

I actually kinda hate this pose but am always afraid to say so.

Pictures taken we quickly realized that getting onto anything would be a joke. The place was packed, for several reasons.

1) Dapper Day. Crowds of well dressed people were all over the park.
2) Last day of the Backlot Tour. People were paying their respects to the now closed ride (we were not amongst them due to the crazy wait times)
3) Last night of the Frozen Summer Fun fireworks.

As we all know, HS is terrible at absorbing crowds so it felt all the busier inside the park and Marie and I knew that we needed somewhere we could escape the crowds.

I feel bad that this is the solution but it is.

One Man's Dream seems like a good way to start off Dapper Day

We slowly wandered around, taking our time to look through everything inside until it was time for the film to start and for the first time we went ahead and watched it. Guys, I cried. I mean, that's not saying much because I cry over everything, but I cried watching the film.

Once we'd finished crying and watching, we decided that more pictures were in order.

When you look this fab, you've got to own it.

At about that time it was getting close to the Disneybound Dapper Day meet up. The plan was for people to all ride the Great Movie Ride together afterward but Marie and I knew we weren't going to be a part of that because the wait times were crazy and plus we wanted to be able to get to the Magical Ribbons meet up. Still, we figured that we could go to the meet up portion.

This is when we discovered a fatal flaw in our plan: Marie and I hate people. I mean, we hate large groups of people. We hate pushing ourselves into conversations with strangers and neither one of us is very good at mingling.

So, we stood awkwardly and I took pictures of the hoards of people being better at meeting up then we were.

It's pretty cool to see people int heir Dapper gear. Very aesthetically pleasing.

When it came time for the large group picture though, we decided to hop in because we wanted to prove we were there. It was so large a group that they had to take the picture in parts.

Here's our part.

The girl next to me in the green was actually at the Magical Ribbons meet up later on, though I took no pictures of that much smaller group for some reason.

Satisfied that we were part of something group related as people hopped in the already hour long wait line for the Great Movie Ride, Marie and I moved down Sunset Boulevard.

More crowds.

Marie requested that we stop inside some stores to try and find a bag that would be big enough for her to put her shoes because there was no way she'd be able to keep them on for any longer. So we did stop to buy the bag before deciding that what we really needed was more pictures.

Gotta make the most of that Memory Maker share.

Our need for pictures satisfied, we needed to get some food in us. So we grabbed a table by Catalina Eddie's and Marie went to go get us some food from Fairefax Fare.

Our table. We were lucky to get one with an umbrella.

Marie got the mac and cheese hotdog and I got a chili dog. Both were good though a bit more. Definitely a fork and knife affair on my end because that chili was way to messy. We were actually very lucky we didn't spill all over ourselves.

About the time of the meet we headed over to Tower of Terror where it was supposed to take place.

Hayley wasn't there because she got caught up at the Beach Club where she'd been dining at Beaches and Cream, so she gave Marie the job of gathering the group that was supposed to be there and keeping them up to date. We eventually got about five girls together who were very nice and interesting to talk with while waiting.

The plan had been to ride Tower of Terror together but...

Yeah, that wasn't going to happen. Only four of the elevators were running according to one of the girls who was friends with a CM in the ride and had talked to her earlier.

So while waiting for Hayley to get there we learned a lot about the girls who had shown up. Almost all of them were Disney CMs, including a girl who worked guest services, one who worked costuming at HS, and one who worked front gate at AK.

We're in the middle of chatting when all of a sudden I hear, "Amber!"

Out of habit, I turn because it's my name and it sounds like it's being shouted at me but then I realize that it's ridiculous that I'd turn. I don't live around here, no one really knows me, it's probably for someone else.

But nope, a girl comes marching over to me and gives me a hug before I realize who it is: Lexi! The girl that had sat with us in the line to meet Jack and Sally a few nights prior.

She didn't see Marie at first and asked where my other half was. I gestured to her standing next to me and she apologized, chatting with us for a few moments and showing off her Dapper Disneybound as Captain America.

Again, for whatever reason I decided to take zero pictures of this exchange. So, you're just going to have to believe it happened.

When Hayley was to the point of being 30 minutes late we headed over to grab a table near Fairefax Fare and keep chatting. Finally she showed up but at that point, Marie and I really needed to get going if we were going to catch our fastpass for Wishes. We stayed just long enough to give Hayley a hug, check out her Tangled lantern necklaces that weren't yet for sale, and say goodbye.

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[amberg93]

Day 9, Part 5: "Well you look very dapper."

We had counted on leaving before the Frozen fireworks so that we could get back to the Magic Kingdom without a rush of other people doing the same once Hollywood Studios was closed.

We were not the only ones with that idea and our bus ended up almost full.

However, we got to the Magic Kingdom with time to spare.

And look, off in the distance, it's a Frozen firework.

Our first order of business was to see what the wait time looked like for one of our favorite characters. The wait read twenty minutes, but we were in in about ten.

Look at this adorable little fairy.

I forget what we talked about, but she was pretty cranky about it.

Luckily, we made up quickly.

And then we made our way down Main Street and to the rose garden area which is now gone I think but is where the fast pass viewing for Wishes used to be. One of the CMs that was working the line was CP from the college that my grandma used to teach at in Michigan, so I started talking to him about it and about his program. He was really nice and halfway through, so it was interesting to hear about. In the end he gave me a sticker because apparently no one knows where his college is.

Not to long after I got the sticker we were allowed into the sitting area.

The girl who scanned our bands to check our fastpasses assured us that we looked very dapper and it made each of us smile before we went to take our seat. Given that we had on nice dresses, we spread our ponchos on the ground so that we wouldn't get dirty and sat back to enjoy the show.

One of my favorite parts of Celebrate the Magic is when the primary colors take over the Castle.

But we all know the real reason to get this fastpass is to sit and have a great view of the classic firework show.

Star light, star bright...

This is my favorite part of Wishes.

What can I say. I love the Castle and I love the music and I love the red fireworks.

The finale is pretty great too though.

When the whole sky to just lights up in magic and color.

Marie and I both cried, as we always do on the last night and then needed to compose ourselves, so we headed up to the Tomorrowland Terrace so that we could sit for a moment and figure out a game plan for the rest of our evening. Plus, Marie wanted to undapper herself to enjoy the rest of the evening.

Marie with her new bag.

I really wanted to ride Pirates, so Marie agreed to head with me to Adventureland.

But I did stop for the fountain picture

We were each pretty tired and Marie did not want to do the 20 minute wait time. I argued intially but then I felt bad about it, so I declared that we weren't going to wait the 20 minutes. Marie then argued that we should wait it because I wanted to ride it all trip and we hadn't gotten around to it, but I told her that we'd get back to it another time.

See, the two of us are so bad at making decisions for this reason.

Instead, I insisted we go on something I knew would have no wait time and was something that we'd never done before.

That's right, we finally saw the Country Bear Jamboree for the first time.

I was... amazed? I guess that's the word I'll go with. Marie was unimpressed. It was certainly interesting though and it didn't have a wait time.

The crowds from Dapper Day had moved at that point and we were both just so exhausted after a long week that we knew we wouldn't last through the extra magic hours.

I insisted we do one more ride and then we could leave.

This ride had next to no wait time as well and I hadn't gotten to ride it in May so I figured it was as good a time as any...

That's right, we ended our last ride as It's a Small World and I have zero regrets. (Well maybe one regret that it wasn't Winnie the Pooh but Marie doesn't want that to be a tradition so she put an axe in that idea).

At just 11:40 we were making our way out of the park with dragging feet.

See ya real soon Magic Kingdom.

Our bus didn't take long to arrive and then we headed back to the room, finished packing and went to sleep because we'd have an early wake up call the next day.

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[1Grumpy9]

You two looked great in your Dapper Day wear. I would be right there with Marie that the little heels would be regrettable after about 2 hrs for me. If I would ever do a Dapper Day event, the only thing in my outfit that wouldn't be Dapper is my shoes. My feet cannot handle some shoes.

The 20 mins I would have waited for Pirates...that isn't a "long" wait time.

Glad you got to see the Country Bears...it is one of my favorite memories as a kid. We would always go in that attraction.

 

[DisneyCoasters]

You looked adorable in your dapper gear! Amber, I loved your fascinator. And I'm kind of obsessed with Marie's dress...I love the collar. (I've been reading your reports for a while now but as a lurker usually don't comment on anything...but I had to speak up to appreciate your dapper-ness!) I love the dapper day concept but I am strongly committed to wearing sneakers in the parks, so I very rarely get fancy at Disney myself.

After reading this installment I'm now singing the Wishes song which is a serious improvement to my work day. For all the complaining people do about IaSW, I think it's a great and classic choice for final ride of the trip.

 

[amberg93]

You two looked great in your Dapper Day wear. I would be right there with Marie that the little heels would be regrettable after about 2 hrs for me. If I would ever do a Dapper Day event, the only thing in my outfit that wouldn't be Dapper is my shoes. My feet cannot handle some shoes.

The 20 mins I would have waited for Pirates...that isn't a "long" wait time.

Glad you got to see the Country Bears...it is one of my favorite memories as a kid. We would always go in that attraction.

Thank you! And she was definitely regretting the footwear early on. I've got mad respect for people who can do all of Dapper Day in heels, they're warrirors.

It wasn't a long time, but I think we've been spoiled. We've never waited longer than 5 minutes for Pirates and we were so tired. We'll go in November and it'll be okay.

I'm glad we saw it too. I don't know that it'll be an every time thing, but it's definitely a classic Disney experience.

You looked adorable in your dapper gear! Amber, I loved your fascinator. And I'm kind of obsessed with Marie's dress...I love the collar. (I've been reading your reports for a while now but as a lurker usually don't comment on anything...but I had to speak up to appreciate your dapper-ness!) I love the dapper day concept but I am strongly committed to wearing sneakers in the parks, so I very rarely get fancy at Disney myself.

After reading this installment I'm now singing the Wishes song which is a serious improvement to my work day. For all the complaining people do about IaSW, I think it's a great and classic choice for final ride of the trip.

Thank you! I'm glad you spoke up and that you've been following along. We got both of our dresses on ModCloth during a sale and it was money well spent. I think you could definitely do dapper and still sneak in the heels, comfort should be priority over shoes. Even I wouldn't wear my flats again after that experience.

Yay! Wishes can brighten any day, especially a work one!

I jokingly complain about IaSW but it is classic Disney and I'm glad that we finished up with it too. It's one of those rides where you say it and everyone automatically thinks of Disney and that's what's great about it.

 

[amberg93]

Day 10: The Tragical Express

The dreaded departure day had finally arrived and for us, it arrived early. Our tragical express departure time was supposed to be at 6 AM, so that meant we were up around 5:40 to get ourselves dressed and bring our stuff down to the stop.

We set out the last mousekeeping envelope of the trip.

I snapped one last picture of our beloved room.

And then we headed out into the dark, so that we could make our way over to the lobby.

It was silent outside, just us and our suitcases rolling in sadness toward the exit of a wonderful vacation.

We got to the stop with the other people waiting to leave and wished that we had a later flight.

As you can see, it wasn't a windy day.

Looking toward the lobby was remarkably bright and slightly off putting.

Sad selfie because we're waiting for the Tragical Express

Our sad faces could have used some work but we were so tired that that's the best we could do.

Also, the only comment posted on this picture on Instagram was from a complete stranger and it says 'cool'. Like, okay stranger, please find joy in our sadness. So rude.

As usual, the ride to the airport passed without much happening, unless you count the sun coming up.

We checked in at the counter because Air Canada is not a company that allows you to check in at the hotel and then headed onto the fake-o-rail.

Never as fun leaving as it is going.

We got our sad, sad Burger King food and ate it.

And then we waited at the gate until it was time to board. The flight home was on time and fine, I slept the most of it because going back to real life isn't nearly as fun as I want it to be.

Thus ended our trip. Don't worry though, I've got some wrap up and final thoughts coming in the next couple of posts so it's not done quite yet.

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[amberg93]

Overview

As usual, this trip had a lot of things happening for it so to refresh your memory I'll break the numbers down for you.

Days spent in each park
Magic Kingdom: 4.5
Epcot: 1.5
Hollywood Studios: 1
Animal Kingdom: 1

Number of times seeing night time shows:
Wishes: 2
HalloWishes: 2
IllunmiNations: 1
Fantasmic: 1

First Ride Ridden:
Splash Mountain

Last Ride Ridden:
It's a Small World

New Ride/Attraction Experiences:
Seven Dwarves Mine Train - A little overhyped in our opinion but still enjoyable nonetheless. A great coaster for kids with some really great effects, but it needs larger seats.
Frozen Sing-a-Long - Originally I was none to pleased by the idea of experiencing this attraction but it turned out to be amazing. The narrators make the show hilarious for adults, go ahead and see it even if you're on the fence.
Frozen Funland - Not much to do there and not all that fun. The themeing seemed kind of bland and it was freezing inside, which I know is fitting but I was not a fan of.[/I][/I]
Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular - Fun show to watch and interesting as well. A good way to sit down and fill some time in what could be an otherwise bland HS days. A bit outdated but not terribly so.
Lights, Motor, Action - I enjoyed it more than Marie, seeing all the stunts was really cool in my opinion and I think it's a nice show. I'd watch it again, Marie likely would not.
Country Bear Jamboree - A uniquely Disney attraction that I'm glad we saw. Not a must do by any means but lots of fun nonetheless.

New Food Experiences:
Contempo Cafe - Quick service at the Contemporary is delicious. Marie scored better than I did with her flatbread but my pasta was decent. The real star was the dirt cupcake though. 7/10
Trail's End - We did lunch which is the only a la carte option they have there but I recommend it highly. The food is delicious, the atmosphere is good and relaxing, plus the boat ride over to Fort Wilderness is so enjoyable. 10/10
Food and Wine Festival - We technically got one thing each last time we were in Epcot during F&W but this was our first time devoting time to it. There were tons of great food options and it was interesting to get to sample so many one after the other.
Liberty Tree Tavern - Lunch was amazing there and the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake is everything that it has been hyped up to be. Do not skip the Oooey Gooey Toffee Cake because you will be sad and you will regret it deeply. 10/10
Beignets at POFQ - Heaven in a little cardboard boat. If you have the opportunity to get over there do it and you will never look back, I promise.
Wolfgang Puck Cafe - Disappointing in comparison to WPE. Save your money at go the express route instead, it's cheaper and the food is better comparing our two experiences. 5/10
1900 Park Fare - A buffet style breakfast is always a bit too expensive for my tastes but I found enough to eat, which is always the real test. The fur characters were quick to come around and very interactive. It took much longer to see Alice and Mary, though they were good as well. 8/10
Fairfax Fare - Typical quick service eatery. The food came quick enough and was decent but it's nothing special. 6/10
Hollywood Hills Amphitheater Refreshments - Very limited options. Do not count on being able to get much more than nachos and hot dogs here, but if you go in expecting it, you'll be fine. 5/10

Dismeets
This trip we got to meet the lovely Lindsey and of course Rob. They were both great to meet and we had an awesome time getting to spend the evening with Rob. For our first experiences of meets they were more than we could have asked for, completely sweet and lovely humans that anyone would be happy to spend time with.

Character meets (including repeats) 38
The Tremaines, The Fairy Godmother, Tiana and Naveen, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Jack and Sally, Queen of Hearts, 7 Dwarves, Halloween Pooh Gang (Tigger, Eeyore, Pooh, and Piglet), Mickey, Goofy, Minnie, Tigger, Pooh, Tigger again, Pooh again, Mary Poppins, Alice, Halloween Mickey and Daisy, Max, Mary Poppin's Penguin, Cowboy Chip and Dale, Gaston, Tinker Bell

New characters met 15
The Fairy Godmother - Such a sweetie. She sounds just like your grandmother and is just the cutest. Meet her if you get the chance.
Jack and Sally - We waited two hours to meet them and I hadn't seen their movie in years. Marie thought it was worth it and once I'd re-watched the movie, I agreed. They were very interesting and rare.
Queen of Hearts - Not much interesting about her, but it was nice to meet a special character.
7 Dwarves - They don't do anything except sit there and Marie almost broke her toe tripping over the props but hey, we got to meet them!
Witch Minnie and Princess Daisy - Worth the wait! They were adorable and interactive, they didn't rush us through and they were just the cutest when they were interacting together.
Cowboy Chip and Dale - Basically regular Chip and Dale but now they're super spiffy in cowboy gear. They make for a unique photo opportunity and they're lovely.

Other New Experiences:
Villain Dance Party at MNSSHP - Really bizarre experience to see some of the villains dancing. Felt kind of like a weird episode of the Twilight Zone, very little organization and trying to get pictures was difficult. Certainly unique.
Keys to the Kingdom Tour - Amazing, amazing, amazing. I cannot recommend it enough. A whole lot of information, plus you get to see the Utiladors! Lots of walking, lots of time in the sun, be in shape and be prepared to be on your feet.
Campfire at POFQ - They give you free marshmallows for roasting and you get to eat them?? I don't see how I could say anything negative about this experience. Take advantage of the free marshmallows.
Watching Guitar Dan - He's out at Planet Watch but if you can get him to sing a song about you or even listen to the other songs that you make up on the spot it's pretty hilarious and fun. Worth going to see him.
New Festival of the Lion King theater - So much better than the old one and it's so beautifully done and decorated in a beautiful part of the park. Do yourself a favor and see it next time you're in Animal Kingdom.
Memory Maker Share - We were so fortunate to find a group to share our Memory Maker with. There are groups on Facebook to do so but we found ours in the September 2014 group, by splitting the cost with other people we spent only $25 and got all the benefits of the MM. There is risk involved to doing so with strangers, but for us it played out awesomely!
Dapper Day - It was cool to be a part of something that's so unique and only happens twice a year, but be ready for crowds if you do attend. Also, it helps if you're willing to chat with strangers. Wear comfortable shoes above stylish shoes.

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[amberg93]

Final Thoughts​

Marie holds that this was my TR and she was a guest narrator so I'm wrapping these thoughts up just by myself. This trip was a lot different from every other trip that we've taken and I think that's the point. Every Disney trip that we've taken has been so vastly different and has been defined by such different things, our first trip, my post-chemo trip, our friend's trip, and then this trip. I jokingly refer to it at the rain trip because for whatever reason that's what sticks in my mind the most. In fact, I was surprised when I went back and saw how many new things we'd accomplished when it was just the two of us, yet what I remember most is the rain. That's not a bad thing, but it definitely will keep us out of September again most likely.

Going from a trip where we were showing everyone the ropes and trying to fit in as much as possible to a trip for the two of us was a bit of a jarring experience. We missed the girls this time around but it was also very, very nice to just have me and Marie be able to do what we wanted without fear of judgement or worrying about keeping everyone else from being bored. We did what we loved, we got to try things we weren't sure we'd love, and we overall just managed to have a great time making new memories and meeting some awesome people along the way.

Accommodation wise, I wasn't too impressed with the All Star Movies. The All Star Sports is my second Disney home and I'm glad that we're going back in just a few short months, I think the Sports will really always have a special place in my heart after our May girl's trip. However, this trip we got to go back to my first Disney home the French Quarter and it was every bit as beautiful and wonderful as I remember. When the weather was cruddy, when we were exhausted, when the bus was full, every bad thing was made a million times better by being able to go back to our beautiful room. I can't say it enough: stay at the French Quarter and you will fall in love.

Our next trip is going to be another big adjustment with a huge group. Marie has fallen a bit behind on the PTR, but there's a link in my signature if you want to follow along as we make all of our plans for our next big adventure.

As always, thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to read and tons of pixie dust to those who comment, you're all incredible humans.

See ya real soon!

THE END​

 

[sunflowerfields]

I just finished reading your trip report and thank you for taking the time to do it. I really enjoyed reading it, and it is so nice to get an idea of Disney before we get there.

I loved the mousekeeping envelopes! What an awesome way to do them!

My families trip is set for May 21-26 of 2016 and I am getting so excited about going.