A Photo Heavy, Pixie Dust Infused Reunion-NEW TR LINK IN LAST POST 6/14!!!!

[katt789]

Our bus ride was pretty quick, and nice to be inside the A/C. The little tickle in my throat I'd been feeling was evolving today, and I knew I SHOULD have been buying medicine, but also knew I had some at home (like, in Canada) and needed to make sure I had enough cash to get through the trip, medicine could wait, right? I'd also gone to pick up my phone that morning, and the cord snapped right off at the piece that goes inside the phone to charge it, and obviously I needed to have a working phone…which meant I had to BUY A NEW CHARGER AT DISNEY PRICES UGH.
The three of us pulled up to the Boardwalk with a slight plan of what we wanted to do. I'd had the idea of buying one of those big lollipops to shoot with to fit the theme, so we started in the gift shop picking an appropriate prop, and I headed over to find a phone charger. I seriously wanted to cry looking at them, the cheapest I could get was $25….like…I KNOW you can get them for $7 at Walgreens, but we didn't have access to Walgreens….and $25 would be enough for MULTIPLE meals since we were eating kids meals. Ugh. I had to suck it up and just get it. I HATED that it had happened that morning, if it happened just the NEXT day, I would've been able to get Gene or Amanda pick one up on their way in to meet us and it would've been 1/4 of the price. Wallets a bit lighter, we headed out onto the Boardwalk.

IMG_1153 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1157 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1175 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1177 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1183 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

We were having fun, that's for sure.
IMG_1188 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1196 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1209 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1226 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1236 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

Kinda clear by how little photos I'm actually in that I wasn't really feelin it to have my picture taken at that point lol! Good thing the other two were being great sports! I told Kara to go over to the Dance Hall and "do something dancey"….

IMG_1243 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

Lawl. We did get some actual dancey ones though!
IMG_1247 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1257 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1265 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

We decided we were bored of the boardwalk and started to head over to the Yacht & Beach Club area! It's probably also worth noting that our original plan for today had definitely involved drinking our way through the resort bars as well as photo shooting. Obviously, that was too expensive, so Tasha & I 100% were rebelling and had bottles of wine in water bottles in our bags….I mean…no rules broken, we weren't going into any parks or anything, or being obnoxious lol. Kara & I were sharing, but we didn't drink too much of it early on since warm red wine just doesn't go down too great bahahah!

 

[missangelalexis]

What a bummer about your charger

Beautiful Boardwalk pics!

 

[katt789]

The three of us enjoyed our little walk over to the Yacht/Beach Club area, commenting on how beautiful it would be to have a wedding there, and found our next photo shoot place, the little gazebo on the way in!

IMG_1276 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
Sometimes you can't resist a chance to be a wayfinder
IMG_1281 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1285 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1293 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
Kara couldn't resist a chance to derp around a bit either lol
IMG_1295 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

But then she got behind the camera to get creative with the flowers

We spent a little bit more time in the area than it seems like in writing lol, there were PLENTY more pictures taken, and lots of just lying in the sunshine enjoying life. When we got bored of that, we walked through the rest of the resort, not really finding any backdrops that were grabbing our attention, so we hopped on a bus to our next destination!

The bus took us over to Magic Kingdom, but that's not where we were headed, waaaahhh! But it's okay! It was time to join the monorail and venture over to the Contemporary, where we had a VERY important date with a fishbowl at the Wave!

YUM!

The drink is the "Seven Seas Lagoon" it's $22 (which isn't bad at all when shared) and 24oz of skyy vodka, parrot bay coconut rum, lime & pineapple juice, soda water & agave. (this is off disneyfoodblog's description, I'm 99% sure there was blue curacao in there too, cause why/how else would it be so blue?!) It's also surprising that we liked it considering Kara hates coconut, and I hate all things blue flavored lol. Our favorite part of the drink was all the candy garnishes, the peach rings & Swedish fish! Made it super fun! We ordered a bread basket while we were there too, I mean, we were drinking this GIANT drink, and had been sipping on wine all day, probably a good idea lol, also, we love bread…and cheese…and charcuteries…so winning all around! The bartender was super friendly and the service was great, and it was a nice way to spend some time out of the sun after a fun day of photos.

Eventually, it was time to move on, we split the bill, and mosey'd on up to the monorail platform. This is where we experienced the worst of the monorail problems of our trip! We were waiting for a WHILE up there, the monorail that was in front of ours was STUCK, like, FULLY STUCK, I've heard from other trip report's that people were stuck ON it for a good long while. The one that was waiting at the Contemp (which we had JUST missed getting on) was sitting for a while, and then there was a screaming baby inside, so we were actually thankful we'd missed it. We eventually boarded the next one, and out of security for not getting stuck (since we did stop a few times) we chose to get off at the TTC and walk over to the Poly!

Kara & I had plans to watch Wishes from Trader Sam's tonight, so we basically skipped past the resort, but the mermaid in me (and the wayfinder in Kara) can't resist a good beach….

There were more cheese plates calling our names though, so it was time to venture on.

Though it wasn't long before we got distracted by the wedding pavilion

It was also AMAZING to see, as we were approaching, someone walked either past/up to us ,and mentioned that there was a rehearsal going on, since it wasn't a legit wedding, we wandered down the pathway, and we could actually see INSIDE the pavilion! Guys it's legit beautiful, like, I've seen photos before, but never in real life and NOTHING compares to looking down that aisle to see the lagoon and the castle, it was gorgeous!

**continued in next post**

 

[katt789]

We decided that the wedding was probably best left with us not in attendance, and our walk finally brought us over to the back of the Grand Floridian

Tasha had requested pictures in a specific spot back there, so we made sure to get those in before the sun was gone!

IMG_1304 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
And then someone MAY have intruded on the photoshoot a bit…

Bahahaha.IMG_1311 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

Inside the resort, we marveled at the gorgeousness, and headed upstairs to the Citrico's lounge, where we grabbed some Balla Rose sparkling, ordered a cheese plate, and headed out to our favorite couches.

The next couple of hours were spent there, sitting on the comfy couches, enjoying the piano/band music, people watching, and playing some never have I ever with our drinks, bahaha. The cheese plate was delicious (as always), and we took some sunset pictures out on the balcony.

Not long after the sun went down, it was time for Tasha to leave, she was headed out with some local friends for dinner and then out to Cowboy's that night. Kara & I said our goodnight's to her, and walked back over to Trader Sam's, where we were easily able to grab a seat on the terrace. Becky soon joined us, she'd spent the day resting and out with her family, but managed to make it for fireworks! We ordered a drink each, and some appies and enjoyed Wishes.

Somewhere in our Trader Sam's evening, I'd decided to check, just for the heck of it, if something had opened up at Hoop Dee Doo for the following night. See, our friend Gene was going to hangout with us tomorrow, and being a cast member, he had tried to get us the CM rate for Hoop (since the full price was too expensive for us this trip) but it had been booked solid. There was availability other nights, but he couldn't come those nights, so we thought we were going to be without Hoop! WAH! Somehow, those Pioneer Hall GODS were looking down on us, AS THERE WAS SPACE FOR 5 AT THE 8:30PM SHOW! I frantically messaged Gene, and he said he'd call in the morning since he was at a concert at Universal, then promptly corrected himself and said he'd call right away, and WE WERE BOOKED! YAY!!

Wishes finished, we paid our bills, and then began to realize just how exhausted we were, AND the mess that we were about to have to jump in to. I don't think we'd realized/remembered that we had to monorail BACK to Mk, to hop in the HOARDS of people trying to get back to Pop. We decided to Uber, the app briefly stopped working for me, so I restarted it, and naturally there was a note about a surcharge, I just DIDN'T CARE, and booked the Uber anyways. We waited a while for it, but managed to get back to Pop easier and quicker than if we'd taken Disney transport. We were quick to bed that night as I was not feeling great at ALL, Becky was sick, and Kara had a 1/2 marathon to run in the morning. After about an hour of sleep, I actually woke up and got super sick, it was very clear I hadn't had enough water to drink today (downside of not being in the parks and not wanting to pay for a water bottle) I'd had a glass or two everywhere we'd had food/drinks, and definitely wasn't a "drunk sick" it was exhaustion/sick/dehydrated, and it sucked. Not the best way to end a day, but we still had fun, and still had 2 days of vacation left!

 

[missangelalexis]

That drink at the Wave looks fantastic! As usual, loving all your photoshoot pics. What a beautiful sunset!

Sorry to hear you got sick though

 

[katt789]

That drink at the Wave looks fantastic! As usual, loving all your photoshoot pics. What a beautiful sunset!

Sorry to hear you got sick though

It was awesome! I can't wait to try it again in a few weeks! We have a similar day planned out, lol, but with MORE WATER! Bahaha.

 

[katt789]

Good morning!!!!! Well…for Kara it wasn't exactly morning, but it was after a 1/2 night of sleep, so that counts right? She was up at who knows what ungodly hour of the morning to get ready for the Princess 1/2 Marathon. While Becky & I slept, Kara was off meeting princesses;

And was at the starting line at 5:30 AM! YEEK! Chances are she was running through MK before we were even awake!

HOW she looks so cute while running I'll never know, I'm a complete tomato, so I don't get it bahaha! Before we knew it, she was finished and getting her medal!

The time stamp on comments from Becky & I on that last photo are at 6:26 am, but with the time difference I'm thinking it was 8:30? I'm not really sure, Kara said it wasn't her best time, but wasn't her worst, and obviously she enjoyed it! Meanwhile, Becky & I were up and getting ready for the day, we were both headed off to Animal Kingdom, but once there, we split up, she was headed off to see her family for one last day, and I was super excited to have a nice solo photoshooting morning. Despite the fact that I WAS FREAKING DYING. Yeah, that sickness, 100000% hit me on Sunday, I was tired, super big headache, super stuffed up, suuuuper sore throat, like, full on everything, and naturally, was still sucking it up without buying medicine!

My first stop of the day was Starbucks, if I was sick, I at least needed to be awake, right?
IMG_1318 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
And then I moved through Harambe Marketplace, which was just super peaceful and quiet that morning as everyone else raced off to ride attractions.

IMG_1321 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1325 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1334 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1336 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1340 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

I absolutely LOVE Animal Kingdom, it's almost neck & neck with MK for my favorite park, there's just SO much detail to it, and it's SO underappreciated (though I'm sure that could change with Avatar opening so soon). It really was a great subject for my photos that morning!

IMG_1344 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1351 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1353 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1345 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1359 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
I had been messaging with a friend who was over at FOLK that morning, and told him I'd be at the first show, so I knew I didn't have a WHOLE lot of time before I had to head over there if I wanted a good seat.
IMG_1361 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
My plan had been to be in the front of the Giraffe section, since that's normally how they load the theater, but they were doing it completely differently today, and loaded in the first big set of doors you come across in the line instead of the far one that loads straight into the Giraffe section. It threw me off majorly, but worked out better to be closer to Brandon's section anyways! While I was waiting for the show to begin, I got a text from one of our other Canadian friends who was down there for the week asking if I was at FOLK, I'd been SPOTTED! Lol, she quickly moved over from where she was from to come sit with me, and we enjoyed the show together! Obviously, it was absolutely stunning and beautiful and I held back tears. I will NEVER have enough good things to say about this show, it's just my absolute favorite thing.

We made a quick bathroom break, I made sure my water bottle was full, and Cassidy asked what I was going to do next. I said I wasn't sure, that maybe food was in order. We meandered a bit, but there was really nothing open, and nothing that I wanted. I was getting pretty grumpy at this point, just from being sick, and hating the fact that I wasn't really enjoying my time at Disney because of it. I think I was kinda also "people'd out", sometimes vacation is tough when you're an introvert. I like to have time alone, and when there's 4 of you sharing a hotel room and you're together 24/7, it can take a toll lol. Add in the CROWDED parks that weekend, and it just kinda makes everything less enjoyable. I decided I was going to go to the front of the park and just wait for Kara to get there.

We didn't have to wait long at all, that girl is speedy, let me tell you! When she got there, I'm sure we grabbed some coffee, and what we did after that I honestly couldn't tell you. This day's kind of a blur guys, I'm sorry for my lack of detail.

I KNOW we had a Everest fast pass that we met up with Becky for, and I'm 99% sure that Tasha was there by that point (although she didn't ride) I'm not sure if she had come with Kara or not…Cassidy had lucked out and had an EE fp at the same time as us, so we all rode together. Next we had Dinosaur fast pass! Cassidy split with us at this point, meeting up with another friend, while we jumped in the queue. I hate this ride with a passion, but still went on it, somehow, Tasha claimed that she liked it, but completely changed her mind afterwards, saying she understood why I didn't like it at all, bahaha.

Gene met up with us after we grabbed the Dino, and after some introductions to Tasha & Becky, it was time for our next adventure!

 

[katt789]

One of my favorite parts of DAK is Rafiki's Planet Watch! The 5 of us boarded the train back to the station, and enjoyed some time with the goats & sheep, and exploring inside. They had a snake out for guests to see/touch, and while Tasha wouldn't go NEAR it, the rest of the group had some quality snake time.

Tasha'd had enough of the reptile, so we jumped back on the train headed back to Harambe, where we decided to go see the Gorillas!

The Gorilla's were getting some snacks at the time, which was pretty cool to watch, the keepers were standing in the guest area, throwing bits of corn, or fruit or other snacks into the enclosure. It was a cue for the animals that it was time to go in for the night too, neat system!

The gorillas soon all headed inside, and it was time for us to spend some more time in the Pridelands! I'd told Brandon before the trip when we were coming, and he said he'd TRY to get us some magic, the internet had crapped out on me, and I hadn't heard back from him if he had or not, so we double checked at the fp entrance. The CM said she had a group without a name, and then asked if we'd ran the marathon, since that info was written down. I'd told Brandon that we'd need a later time in the day since Kara was running, so we figured that must be us, and she was lovely enough to let us in lol!

IMG_1434 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

I seriously cannot. Mahji (the bird) from the moment I first saw this show back in 2011 was GOALS, like, DREAM JOB, it was all the motivation I needed to work my butt off. Today we were SUPER excited to see a familiar face flying up there, and she danced just ABSOLUTELY stunningly. Like, perfection, it was just all so amazing.

IMG_1495 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_1518 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1531 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

It's just always such an incredible blessing to get to watch this show, and see all the love & passion that the performers have for their roles. I mean, they just absolutely LOVE what they're doing and it truly shines through. There isn't one part of this show that I don't like, it's all amazing.

On the way out of the theater, we basically all SQUEALED, because we saw these two little girls dressed up like the tumble monkeys and THAT was just TOO adorable! We later found out that one of them was the adorable Trolley Girl from earlier in the week! SO CUTE!

Kara had chosen our fast passes for today, and booked us a Safari one for later on, attempting to get a sunset safari, the sun wasn't quite setting yet, BUT, we still had a really awesome safari!

IMG_1556 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1564 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1568 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1582 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1586 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

One HUGE downside though was that we DIDN'T SEE A SINGLE DANG ELEPHANT, which I was SUPER bummed about. They're my favorites, and I was really hoping to see Baby Stella, but I guess the odds were not in my favor this time!

The 5 of us had ventured through the Pridelands, ventured through a safari, and now it was time to venture out of the park. We stopped briefly in front of the Tree of Life for Kara & I to take our heart picture (which we conveniently forgot to take in ALL of the other parks…)

IMG_1592 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

Tasha then bid us goodbye, heading back to the busses, she was wiped, and was going to pass on Hoop for the night! We'd invited another local friend of ours to come with us, and she was meeting us over there. Since Gene had driven to DAK, he was lovely enough to drive us over to Fort Wilderness too!

Lindsey met up with us right after we'd checked in, and we were all super excited to see each other again! The next day was her birthday, so I'd grabbed her an "I'm celebrating" from the gift shop because they didn't have any BDAY ones, lol. It was kinda funny, Kara's birthday was the next month, and when we had celebrated her bday at Hoop, it wasn't the greatest night, she had wanted to do a "do over" tonight, but felt bad because Lindsey's birthday was legit the next day. However when Lindsey ran to the ATM to get cash for Gene, she picked up birthday stickers for the two of them, how cute!

Despite booking at the last minute, we ended up at one of our favorite tables, right at the back of the theater, but with higher chairs so we could see over the crowds to the stage. Our server was ABSOLUTELY amazing, Lindsey had been served by her a few weeks earlier, and said she would be, which was a nice change for us! Lol. She was super fast with drinks, and wouldn't let them go empty, and brought us all the food we needed!

IMG_1623 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1631 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

During the very first bit of the show, there's a line that goes
Jim: "I'd guess we even have guests here from overseas!"
Claire: "yeah! Like Canada!"
To which we obviously cheer super obnoxiously. Well, tonight, Claire said her line, and DIRECTLY looked over to where our table was, which BLEW our minds ,because we knew her, but had NO clue that she knew we were there! I'm sure someone had posted on facebook about us being there, but the fact that she'd found our table in the like, 2 minutes she'd been in the room was just hilarious. #disneymagic

When they did birthdays, we celebrated Kara & Lindsey's, and Claire came over to say hi, along with some of the other Pioneer Hall Players throughout the night! And at the end, we gave the washboard to the birthday friends!

Which Kara was clearly pumped about.

The night was obviously good. Hoop is hands down one of my favorite things Disney does, and especially with the CM price, it's SO worth it. I just DID NOT get the level out of it that I could have. I was just feeling SO sick as the night wore on, I only had 1.5 sangrias, and BARELY ate any food, mostly the mac & cheese. When we first got in, I was absolutely boiling, and then would be freezing, and back to overheated, it was the WORST. I even considered leaving when they were serving dessert, the only reason I didn't was because I knew Lindsey & Gene had BOTH offered to drive us home, and if I stuck it out, I'd get back faster than if I'd left then & transit-ed back lol.

Post show we all took some bathroom breaks and found a pleasant surprise when some of the cast had ducked out so say hi before they went home for the night. We always enjoy seeing them, and it had been a YEAR so it was extra special to chat for a bit before we hopped on the bus.

At the front of the resort, Lindsey said she'd see us tomorrow as she'd be at MK again, and Gene took us back to Pop for the night!

I attempted to clean up my stuff and try and pack a little bit, getting organized would help things out for the next day, before I CRASHED into bed, hoping I'd be able to sleep most of this off!

 

[missangelalexis]

Kara's marathon pics are so cute!

I love all your AK pics! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the day or Hoop as much as you wanted, being sick on vacation really sucks!

 

[katt789]

Kara's marathon pics are so cute!

I love all your AK pics! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the day or Hoop as much as you wanted, being sick on vacation really sucks!

Right?! How do you look so cute when you're running 13 miles?!!?
Thank you!!! It really was crappy, I've been kinda sick (or hungover bahaha) in the parks but not having any medicine was the literal death of me!)

Also SHOUT OUT to you to being my loyal reader/reply-er...bahahha! I appreciate it! <3

 

[katt789]

Good morning! Good morning! It's a great day to BE SO FREAKING LATE!

Yup…it was one of THOSE mornings.

Obviously we were all super tired, I was still super sick, and there was some grumpiness in the air. We spent some time getting ready, and if I'd been thinking properly, I would've CALLED down to the front desk while waiting for the others, so I could book our DME for the next morning (at like 3am, thanks 6am flights) but I wasn't, and Kara said we'd stop on the way down to the bus, so my brain was all "yeah, that makes the most sense lol"

Tasha stayed behind to sleep in a bit, Becky booked the bus with us, and then opted to have some breakfast at Pop. The line for concierge took FOREVER, not cool. At this point, we'd missed rope drop, and welcome show, and I'd BURNT my hand on the super hot coffee in the food court. (which was 100% karma for asking for a cup for hot water for my instant coffee and then saying screw it I'll borrow some coffee from Disney lol). I was a grumpy grumpy grinch.

THEN came the next bad thing…the bus line for MK…it was ALL the way through the queue line (with 3 sections, like, 2 bends in the line) and ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF THE HOTEL. GUYS! The ONLY time I'd seen it this bad was the morning of the 24hr event a few years back! UGH! We were missing out on so much early morning park time, AND on our last day?! #worst. We thought about Uber-ing but the WiFi wouldn't work enough to download the app (I'd deleted for space the other day). Ugh. Luckily, 2 accordion busses pulled up and we PILED on to face horrible lines at security and the turnstiles when we finally got to Magic Kingdom.

Amanda was meeting us that day, and was having similar struggles, traffic was horrible, TTC was a mess, it just wasn't the greatest start for any of us lol.

Since we'd missed Trolley, we headed back into Fantasyland for a chat with a wildflower.

She was perfect, and so happy to see us, we chatted about all the adventures we'd been on that week, and that we were sad to have to go home!

There's a chance that we stopped through Fairytale Hall after that, but I'm LACKING on photos from anything but entertainment today…

Now…guys.. I am SO SORRY for my lack of details & facts for this last day. Imma pretend for most of it. It makes sense that we headed back over to Main Street to catch the second (or third?) Trolley show of the day to get our last fix in!

IMG_1638 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1674 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1697 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1704 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

It was so crowded that day that Kara & I skipped right from stop 2 to stop 4, we didn't want to deal with fighting the crowds. Amanda & her husband Michael met us at stop 4, and imagine my LOVE because she'd brought me MEDICINE! BLESS HER HEART! Seriously. I die. We chatted with the Trolley kids a bit, gave them some love & hugs, and said our goodbyes to them.

I'm GUESSING it was the 12 o'clock show that we watched, because the next pictures I have are of Fof, I'm SURE that we rode the peoplemover, or had some fast passes somewhere in there. Michael did say his goodbyes to us pretty quick after he'd shown up considering he had to go to work, he just wanted to see us, so that was nice! Somewhere around here is also when Tasha & Becky met up with us.

We ate lunch over at Peco's, which I'm very happy to state, was the best. Kara ordered the fajita plate, I was about to go somewhere else to get a kids meal that wasn't an Uncrustable, when she said it'd be WAY too much food for her, and we could share. Again, I have the BEST friends. With the toppings bar, we LOADED up like, 3 little dishes with toppings and searched for a table to devour our food.

Before we knew it, it was time for our last Festival of Fantasy! WAAAAHH!
IMG_1733 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1741 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

Super happy to see Belle looking as gorgeous as ever today!
IMG_1745 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1747 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1750 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1763 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1770 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
Punz was looking rather perfectly adorable today too, there was lots of excitement when she passed by!
IMG_1794 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_1802 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_2135 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

The final float was coming by, and we were sad, like, boo, it was the last time we'd see the parade for a while, and there'd been some people we'd hoped to see that we hadn't. Well, the pegasus girls came spinning around, and there was some mutual FREAKING THE HECK OUT from all of us!

Seriously just the most infections smile & positivity from these guys, I just can't. It was the perfect surprise ending to Fof, with just all the love!

I'm like 99% sure that we skipped out on doing double Fof today, partially the crowds, and the amount of AP's/Instagrammers on the weekends means that barbershop gets pretty full. Plus, we had some fast passes to use! I know it was Ariel, but I can't remember if it was the greet or the ride. I THINK it was the meet & greet because I feel like Amanda & I would've skipped out on the ride….but again, apparently no one was handing over a phone or camera by this point in the trip, lol.

After a trip Under the Sea, we had a bit of a split up coming…Amanda & I were off on a little adventure! Stay tuned to find out what!

 

[katt789]

Amanda & I said "see ya real soon" (literally) to the others, and exited Magic Kingdom, to hop onto a boat! You see, if you've read any of the previous TR's, or follow along on Insta, or know me at all, you'll know that I have a SERIOUS LOVE for Lady Tremaine. Originally, we had Park Fair booked for tonight, knowing that it'd be the right night to see her, but when it came time for the trip, we had to make some budget cuts, and this one was just too pricey. When we'd been talking to the FOLK girls at the beginning of the week, they said to just go over and talk to the captain and see if we could see Lady T anyways, chances were pretty high. We also figured if Lady T knew it was us, there'd be an even higher chance.

Amanda & I approached the Park Fair entrance, and I talked to the hostess about talking to the character captain. Now, I'm 99% sure that who we got, was not the actual captain, she was dressed in business casual, and had an "earning my ears" badge on. We chatted with her a bit, I explained the situation, and she went back into the restaurant to figure some stuff out. She had said that she'd come back out, and probably take us over to the back of the restaurant where Lady T would have to come out since she wasn't in the restaurant yet. When she came back out, she was NOT the bearer of good news….she said that Lady Tremaine wasn't out in the dining room yet (duh…we knew this…ressos didn't start til like, 4:30, and their rotation wouldn't start til after that) so we couldn't see her. I asked if we could come back later, if there was ANY way we could work something out. I'd figured that if we had come right away, there'd be a higher chance of her quickly popping out to say Hi BEFORE she started her loop in the dining room rather than us showing up while she was already half through the room, right? I tried to get my point across or at least kind of take a stand to it, but I was so tired & sick & mentally exhausted to even try at this point. The CM said there was no way she could make anything happen today, no matter what time we were there, and said good bye to us. It was seriously upsetting, especially since they've pulled Lady Tremaine from the park, and since we'd had to cancel the resso, AND, I knew that there was no way she had gone back to say anything to Lady Tremaine, because I'm sure she would've worked something out if she knew it was us. I had asked the CM to pass along a message to her, but I was pretty sure even that wasn't going to reach her either. UGH.

Defeated, we headed back to the boat dock, where while we waited, I was slightly over my defeat and more angry, and half wanted to go back to talk to the girl again, but also was in that angry place where I cry when I'm angry, and just didn't really want to deal with anything anymore. UGH.



BACK at Magic Kingdom, the others were having a much more fun time, they'd met up with Pearl (another CRP from the same time as us) and were having a purple wall photoshoot! (they also rode Buzz lightyear and perhaps something else…)

We met them coming up Main Street (well, Pearl had disappeared at this point lol) to take some balloon pictures!

IMG_2142 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_2148 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_2155 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
If you guessed it was photoshoot time again, you guessed right.

IMG_2150 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_2161 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

Having the best of friends can cheer you up no matter what? Right?

I realized around this point that I HAD YET TO HAVE ANYTHING MICKEY SHAPED THIS TRIP, which is obviously a serious problem, which needed to be fixed PROMPTLY!

I got the classic Mickey Bar, though I do like the sandwiches better, I dunno, I was just feeling more classic. While we were getting our treats, we ran into Lindsey again, her & our friend Kate were in the park celebrating and it was SO awesome to see them! It'd been AGES since we'd seen Kate and it was quite exciting!

They said their good byes, and we made our separate ways, enjoying our snacks as we went.

Somewhere around 6:00, we headed back into Frontierland to indulge in some dancing with our favorite friends and Hoedown!

And we stopped over at Pirates to see Tyler & say good bye to him!

 

[katt789]

Guys…if you know ANYTHING about us from this trip report so far, it's that we love photos, and we love being basic.

Any guesses on where we might be headed next?

(as if the title didn't give it away)

IMG_2169 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_2170 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

Disney was offering a special magic shot over the last few months (not sure if it's still there or not) with a lantern from Tangled, and it was on the MUST do for us. So, like, go figure we left it until the last night (though this was the first evening we were spending at mk…). Naturally, we got there and the line was SUPER long, and they were still doing test shots with the photopass cm's to make sure everything was set up right. In total, I'm pretty sure we waited over half an hour to get these pictures….didn't help that everyone was going up & getting a group shot, single shots, couple shots, all that jazz. Kara, Becky & Tasha all got individual shots when we finally got to the front of the line;

Meanwhile, WISHES HAD STARTED!

There was NO way we were going to get a spot in front of the castle any longer, which was bumming us out a bit, I mean, it was the LAST time we'd ever be seeing them, and I'd kinda hoped to try out some in front of the castle photography, Amanda & I quickly jumped into our lantern photo together;

And the group, BOLTED off to our second favorite Fireworks spot, also conveniently the place that Kara & I watched Wishes on the night after our Traditions class, and also the place where we watched Wishes and cried our faces off at the end of our program; the Be Our Guest Bridge. (well, we were more over to the side near the Mine Train wall, but it was still in front of Be Our Guest).

While we were running over, the show had clearly already started, and the part that KILLS me the most is when Ariel says "oh I wish, I wish I could be part of that world" because it applies so much to me wanting to be part of the Disney family, making magic and all that fun stuff. When it was about to come on, I looked back at Amanda and made a cry funny face at her, and she grabbed my hand for the rest of the race over to BOG, it was an emotional night to say the least.

I did try my hand at some photography, which honestly, did take a lot away from the emotion of the show, trying to figure out settings instead of just watching. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, lol.

IMG_2205 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_2219 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_2242 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

It was funny at one point Tasha turned around and attempted to move out of "the way" but I wanted her there lol. I've got one more amazing shot, but I'm saving it for the end since I'm pretty picture-less the rest of the night!

Wishes will definitely be missed for us, I'm sure the new show will be great, but it will always hold a special place in my heart.

Post Fireworks, we used our FP for Rapunzel & Tiana, and then went to Enchanted Tales with Belle, which was a grand old time. Becky, Tasha & Kara wanted to get some shopping done, so they headed to Main Street while Amanda & I chose to hop BACK through Fairytale Hall again to see Blondie.

MAN OH MAN I AM SO GLAD WE DID! We walked into the room and Rapunzel freaked out, she was so glad to see us, especially since she'd seen us in parade and wasn't sure if she'd get another chance today! We talked all about our adventures and smouldering and it was just such an incredible way to end the night for us!

We met up with the others on Main Street, and slowly made our way to the Train Station, where I said my goodbyes to the Kingdom I call home, and thank you to Walt for making it all become a reality. We also said good bye to Amanda, who was there til Kiss Goodnight (we'd wanted to stay as late as we could, but between sick/exhausted we weren't up for it) Michael drives the ferries, so Amanda had to wait for him to be off work. I knew I'd see Amanda again in a few months, so the good bye wasn't too bad, and we headed back to Pop to try and sleep a couple of hours.



Disney is always magical, and will always be. This trip was a bit weird, and honestly, I think every trip will be that little bit weird for us now. After working/living down there for an entire year, everytime we set foot in the Kingdom, it's just like we've never left. It doesn't feel like a limited time vacation, it just feels like we've got a few extra days off work to spend playing. It was also weird to be back in an American park after venturing off to Asia in the fall. It may have been a bit weird feeling, but it's home. A home where we have so many wonderful and amazing friends that we're so glad have come into our lives. A home where we soar in pirate ships over London, step into story books, twirl with royalty, and travel the world all in one day. A place where dreams come true, where wishes are made, where friends come together, and the love and smiles are non stop.

A place we call home.

It's not good bye, it's See Ya Real Soon.

IMG_2247 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr



*******

THANK YOU to everyone who has read along on this journey with us, and who has commented to say Hi! I will be starting my May trip report shortly (maybe? Hopefully lol) and will link it here so y'all can find it easily. I hope you enjoyed our adventures, and I can assure you the next TR will have MUCH more detail as I'm definitely going to remember to take notes this go around!

I hope you have the most wonderful day!

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm sorry this final day had so many bumps for you, between being sick, the crowds, and the Lady T disappointment But the end of your day sounds like it was really magical. I love all the photoshoot pics and the special Tangled photo op!! That final picture is also so stunning!

I look forward to your May TR

 

[heatherrrrz]

Kat, first of all OMG your photos are gorgeous. Second of all, I'm so happy to see that you got to see many of your friends from Disney. I remember reading your CRP report and seeing all the pictures you posted then. Your photography skills have gotten soo good and I'm so beyond jealous.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip with all of us. Leaving Disney is never fun, and being sick well that kind of makes it 10 times worse. I seem to get depressed on my last day instead of fully enjoying that I'm still there. Something I need to work on.

I'm still reading your Asia trip report and looking forward to you next one too.

 

[KathyM2]

I'm glad I found your TR. I love your pictures. My fave I think is the one of the monorail at the GF lol...love the monorail!! But so many great ones and what you do with the lighting and focus is really amazing. I'm sorry you weren't feeling well for some of this trip, but seems like you still managed to have a pretty awesome time.

 

[camper06]

Loved your trip report! You always look like you're having the best time (even when you're sick!). Cant wait to read about your next adventure!!

 

[Texans_loyal]

love the last shot! you are talented!

 

[katt789]

Kat, first of all OMG your photos are gorgeous. Second of all, I'm so happy to see that you got to see many of your friends from Disney. I remember reading your CRP report and seeing all the pictures you posted then. Your photography skills have gotten soo good and I'm so beyond jealous.

'

Thank you!!! It was amazing! I'm so glad to have so many good friends in so many places!! Hahah, thank you so much!! It's a lot of work, a different camera, and the beautiful help of lightroom!!

I'm sorry this final day had so many bumps for you, between being sick, the crowds, and the Lady T disappointment But the end of your day sounds like it was really magical. I love all the photoshoot pics and the special Tangled photo op!! That final picture is also so stunning!

I look forward to your May TR

It was a bummer but it was a good day too, we made the best of what we had and rolled with it! Thank you so much!!
Yay!! Hopefully I'll get it going soon after we get back!