A TR..Surprises galore!MNSSHP,WishesDessertParty,Wishes Cruise -- Final Thoughts :(

I forgot to include these pictures from SSE:

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After shopping at Mouse Gear we picked up our free picture from the Disney Visa visit and then headed back to CSR for a break. We had ressies at Biergarten and we knew it would be a long night since we planned to stay for Illuminations that night.
 
I'm a new Diser and figured I would come out of lurkdom to say that I am loving your trip report. We have so much in common. Belle is my favorite princess, whose gown also happens to be my favorite color, and I love the movie Beauty and the Beast. Favorite show at Animal Kingdom is the Festival of the Lion King. I've seen it several times, it never gets old. Sorry you didn't get to see the Jungle Jammin' parade. It's one of my fav's, maybe next time. Can't wait to read about the surprise!!
 
I'm a new Diser and figured I would come out of lurkdom to say that I am loving your trip report. We have so much in common. Belle is my favorite princess, whose gown also happens to be my favorite color, and I love the movie Beauty and the Beast. Favorite show at Animal Kingdom is the Festival of the Lion King. I've seen it several times, it never gets old. Sorry you didn't get to see the Jungle Jammin' parade. It's one of my fav's, maybe next time. Can't wait to read about the surprise!!

Hi :wave2: and welcome to my TR! Yay, another new reader! :woohoo:

You're right, Festival of the Lion King never does get old, does it? Neither does Beauty and the Beast if you ask me! I hope to get to see the Jammin' Jungle parade next year.

There are a few surprises coming up here soon!
 

That stinks some of the princesses were not very princess-like. :confused3

I love all your Disney jibbitz in your crocs! Very cute.

That is cool you saw Marie. We have never seen her at all.

Ugh, a few times I've seen the groups of new Disney CMs and get jealous. I am still kicking myself for not doing the College Program! Especially with my cousin doing one of the internships now...she's having such a blast.
 
Loving your trip report, great pics! :thumbsup2 I wear socks with my Crocs too, it's just so comfy!

Hi! I at least wore Croc socks this time. :lmao:

Thanks for reading!!

That stinks some of the princesses were not very princess-like. :confused3

I love all your Disney jibbitz in your crocs! Very cute.

That is cool you saw Marie. We have never seen her at all.

Ugh, a few times I've seen the groups of new Disney CMs and get jealous. I am still kicking myself for not doing the College Program! Especially with my cousin doing one of the internships now...she's having such a blast.

I was surprised that we ran into some snooty princesses this time. :snooty: It wasn't very princess-like at times.

I went jibbitz crazy last year. I have some here that I just couldn't fit on my Crocs but as luck would have it, I have ...um, .... well....this is embarrassing, but about 10 pair of Crocs so I certainly have enough to store my jibbits. That's the excuse I give Joe when I buy more of them anyhow. :rolleyes1:rotfl2:

This was the first time I had seen Marie. She was actually all alone by the fountains at Epcot. I was surprised to see that no one was in line.

I'd give anything to be a CM. I'm a Human Resources Consultant and oh, how I wish I were doing it for Disney. I'd be here if I were...... :cloud9:
 
I also love MouseGears! Sorry about your princess experience. I saw some of the pics on Jenn's TR and I was surprised how they don't even look like the "real" princesses. Snow White was pretty though! Did you get your copy of Snow White on DVD?
 
I guess I can hang on to the surprise for another day (wink, wink). It's just you and Stefy reading (pity party for myself here) and I don't want to keep her waiting too long............... popcorn::


I agree that Akersus is a hit or miss. It was much better the first time that we were there but that was years ago so I really don't have much of a comparison.

You may like CRT. We loved the breakfast but do not like dinner there at all. We tried it more than once but the last time decided that the food isn't all that great. You see Cindy downstairs but no princesses at dinner from what I can remember. Just the Fairy Godmother. I could be wrong though. I'd do breakfast there again in a heartbeat though.

I'm sure Jack will be tall enough next year. He just barely made it this year.

Jenn wants me to hold the surprise :rolleyes1 however it shouldn't be too long.

Thanks for reading Stefy!

I am loving reading your TR, is v fun to read :hug:

I have gone over the menu for CRT and the only meal that appeals to me is the dinner. I have heard that the breakfast is not all that and is family style. Whereas Akershus is buffet right. Tbh I am not all that fussed about character interaction at CRT, think its more about eating in the castle.

More more more please, am dying to know what this surprise is popcorn::
 
I also love MouseGears! Sorry about your princess experience. I saw some of the pics on Jenn's TR and I was surprised how they don't even look like the "real" princesses. Snow White was pretty though! Did you get your copy of Snow White on DVD?

I ordered Snow White. Just have to go to Great Nothing and pick it up. On Jury Duty this week so I will probably go this weekend. Mouse Gear! My favorite store..... :lovestruc

I am loving reading your TR, is v fun to read :hug:

I have gone over the menu for CRT and the only meal that appeals to me is the dinner. I have heard that the breakfast is not all that and is family style. Whereas Akershus is buffet right. Tbh I am not all that fussed about character interaction at CRT, think its more about eating in the castle.

More more more please, am dying to know what this surprise is popcorn::


Breakfast at CRT is family style, but the food is pretty good. We were disappointed with dinner the last 2 times we tried it. :confused3 It is though a nice experience to eat inside the castle. I think everyone should do it at least once. Akershus is also family style although they have a buffet table that has fruit and other goodies that you can go to as well. I can tell you this much though. The portions that they bring to your table were very small. We all took our food sparingly so that everyone got a taste.:confused3
 
Thanx for the info, will bear all of it in mind :)
 
Ok, here it is.........the next surprise!!!

So, I left off with us going back to Epcot to meet Jenn, Kelly and their families at Biergarten. We didn't leave as early as I had hoped but ended up taking the boat over to Germany. Our captain looked really young and I remember my mom asking if he was my nephew's age....that would be 13! ha ha! Every trip I get a plush Mickey representing one of the countries of Epcot. In may I got the UK Mickey (Aloha...I thought of Eddie when I was buying it...lol). I had hoped to have time to brows the international gateway shop but no such luck. I'd have to do that when we came back later in the week.

We got there first and I was getting a tad bit nervous because we were the only ones there.


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I took a few pictures while we were waiting. I never before had been there when the cuckoo clock was going off so that was neat to be able to see.

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Once everyone got there, we checked in...a bit late but that was okay. At the last minute, Kelly's mom wasn't feeling well so we changed the number in our party. They were very accommodating...but we waited FOREVER to get seated!

I was all nervous all day because I was actually in on this surprise! Yay, me. Remember how I said that we never got to eat together at any of our ADR's when we were all there? Bingo, it happened again! I was so mad, especially tonight. I did get to sit with these two though, which was a first so I was happy.

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I love the atmosphere of Biergarten and Joe really digs the place so we do go there a lot. The food was pretty good but I get picky when we dine here. I don't remember what I had and I have no clue whose plate I took this picture of!

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I didn't take many pictures because I was too excited for the big moment...which did NOT come during dinner as planned! I had asked and they said that they did have a table for 12 so we were hoping to be able to sit together which would have been great for the planned surprise.


I did get to take a picture though of Joe's beer.

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We hit the buffet and watched the oom-pah band, as Joe calls them. It was very busy and quite loud in there, if I remember correctly. All in all, not a bad meal.

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And so the waiting begins..................

Jenn decided to go and get us School Bread as a little snack while we found a spot for Illuminations. Man, I love that stuff! I was fiddling with my camera, mom found a bench and the guys were watching the kids.....or so I thought.

Next thing you know we all say "where's Jack?" at just about the same time. All I could think about was Jenn coming back and no Jack! How would I possibly explain that???? Well, lucky us, someone brought him back but really, Jack wasn't lost because he knew exactly where we were at. In fact, he replied "here I am" when he heard us asking where he was. Freaked me out.

There was this nice couple sitting on the bench with us. They were there first and they shared the rest of the bench with mom and Joe. I think I sat for a bit as well. Jenn decided to sit on the ground. Not sure if it was because the bench was full, or if she was tired or what. John asked Jenn to get up to talk to him, or walk with him, or something...I can't remember exactly what it was. She was tired and didn't want to get up. Well, Joe and I knew why he wanted her to get up. Hee hee.... She still didn't budge until we started to badger her to no end. Here she is with the kids.

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I tried to pass the time by taking a couple of pictures


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FINALLY, FINALLY, FINALLY.........she stood up..................

And then THIS HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The people sitting with us on the bench were so cute. The lady cried... or it looked like she was going to. Too dark to tell but she kept saying "ooohhh, look honey, look." Too cute! We all started to clap and holler! Woo Hoo!

You see, I KNEW about this since they pulled into the parking lot at CSR! Yeah, on day one. Joe said that he needed to talk to me in private about something and I was sitting there thinking...what the he**......

John gave him the ring (big mistake, John) and told him to hold on to it and that he'd let us know when he wanted us to give it to him. Well, I was busting at the seams...for DAYS!!!!!!!!!! At first I carried it with me EVERYWHERE because I was freaked out to leave it in the safe. On the second day I put it in the safe and every time we took a break I made sure it was still there...yeah, I had the key on me. No clue where I thought it would go but still.

Secretly, I was hoping that he'd propose on my anniversary. Another surprised for that day and I thought the setting would be perfect. But you know what, he did a great job! I do remember Jenn telling me that MK was her favorite park but now maybe Epcot needed to be...or something like that. I can't remember exactly. It was so dang cute though! One of the highlights of our trip!

We all watched Illuminations together. Stupid me was in the moment and I did not set my camera to the proper settings so please forgive my craptastic pictures.

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What an awesome day! The next day was my wedding anniversary. We had a TON planned for the day. Tune in to see how it all went!
After Illuminations we made our way back to CSR. The park was packed but it was amazing how fast we were able to get out of there and back to our cars!
 
Today was our 9th wedding anniversary! I was so looking forward to this day!

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We started off our day with breakfast at Kona with mom, Jenn, John, Kayla and Jack. I love breakfast at Kona. I think it is my favorite non-buffet breakfast on property. It has become an anniversary tradition for Joe and I.

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I think most everyone had the Big Kahuna. I didn't write it down though. I know that mom and I had the 2 egg breakfast.

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Our server was really nice. Our meal was great, as usual. I think I could eat breakfast there every day and not get bored with it. lol

They brought us this too.

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I was anxious to use my tip envelope because it was my favorite. I know....lame....but it was so dang cute! Wish I would have taken a picture of it. I had little Hawaiian flip flops on it, palm trees, etc.

We had a 10 a.m. photo shoot appointment at the Poly after breakfast. We did this last year and it was awesome. I was looking forward to doing it again. Our photographer wasn't the nicest guy at first and actually, we were a bit worried about how it would turn out. He ended up being a really nice guy and we had a lot of fun. Honestly, this photo session made me realize exactly how overweight I am. It was sort of depressing and I actually cried after seeing the pictures. It did however give me the incentive I need to diet because next year....the pictures will NOT look like this.


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Those of you that read my PTR know that my sister and nephew were unable to join us this year. Yeah, I made "flat Shelly" and "flat Matt" for our photo shoot.

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I was so happy that Jenn, John and the kids were joining us for the photo shoot. We tried to think of matching shirts to wear and we never did decide on anything. Next year for sure though!!!!!!!!!!!

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Check this out! I LOVE this picture of Kayla and Jack!!!!!!!


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After breakfast we headed over to MK. We took the boat from the GF, which we have never done before. It was really nice. I enjoyed it a lot.

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Once we got to the MK, Joe and I went and got anniversary buttons. I think it's nice how you can get them from the cart and not have to go inside City Hall anymore. We always spend our anniversary at MK.

We ended up going off on our own with mom for some reason. Not sure why though. We did some shopping at the Emporium first, which seems to be what we do. I really wanted to go to the Hall of Presidents as I had not seen it since it had been redone. We were there in May, but it was closed.

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I could tell that the real pain was setting in for Joe here:

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I really enjoy the Hall of Presidents. I know that some people think it's lame, but I like it.

Continued on next post................
 
From there we moved to the Haunted Mansion, or the smelly ride, as mom calls it. Mom and I rode together and I remember that we walked right in. There was no waiting which was nice since it was HOT that day.


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After HM was iaswaa. I LOVE this ride and don't care if the song gets stuck in my head for days. I never get sick of it!

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The little Greek dude was missing in May so I was glad to see him back.

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Being Greek myself, I had to take a picture of this although, no Greek I know says this! LOL

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Next was Philharmagic. I think this is at the top of my list of favorites. It makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up every single time. I love, love, love it!!!!!!!!!

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From there we went to Snow White. I was hoping for Dopey, but we got Doc

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We were getting a bit hungry by then so we stopped at Cosmic Ray's. I think I had yogurt and an apple. Mom had soup which I didn't understand since it was like 1000 degrees outside. Joe had a burger. It was super noisy in there and very hard to find a table. I don't remember it ever being that hard to find somewhere to sit. We found a table though which was nice.

After lunch we went over to Buzz. Of freaking course, my mother kicked my a**. Why, oh why, does this happen nearly every freaking time I ride with her??????????

next up.......how did we spend our afternoon?
 
Next was a spin on the TTA. Mom insisted on going forward and not backwards. Last year we ripped on her for weeks about the lovely hairdo she had when she rode backwards. Yeah, she'll never do that again!

I love to sit on the TTA and just soak it all in.

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After the TTA we did a bit more shopping. I took a few pictures along the way too


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We were thinking about taking our break before dinner and just as we were making our way out....the parade started! Woo hoo! I have a thing for parades and it drives my family insane. Ha ha!! I win!!!!!!!!!!

Mom and Joe played checkers. It was funny because he was creaming her big time and some lady standing next to mom asked if she could help her. lol.

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While they played checkers, I did this:

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We decided it was break time since we had dinner ressies later. We took the boat back to the Poly to get our car. It was really strange though. We were sitting in the boat and we heard sirens going off like mad, which is not something that I have ever heard before while on Disney property. Apparently there was a bus scare or something. I heard later that it was on CNN News.

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We got back to CSR and had a message on our phone apologizing about the buses. Honestly, we never take Disney bus transportation. We always, always, always, rent a car. I think I'd go nuts waiting for the buses. It would make me feel like I am losing valuable park time. :confused3

We took a little break and then got ready for dinner. I had a HUGE surprise for Joe after dinner so I was getting really excited and nervous by this time.
 
Love your trip report so far!:thumbsup2 I can't wait to see your pictures and thoughts about the dessert party and fireworks voyage. We are leaving in 22 days for my DS's 7th b-day.:banana: Our other DS is 4 and I'm glad to see that Jack enjoyed T-Rex. Can't wait to hear more!:woohoo:
 
Love your trip report so far!:thumbsup2 I can't wait to see your pictures and thoughts about the dessert party and fireworks voyage. We are leaving in 22 days for my DS's 7th b-day.:banana: Our other DS is 4 and I'm glad to see that Jack enjoyed T-Rex. Can't wait to hear more!:woohoo:

Thanks for reading!

I don't have a lot of food pictures from the dessert party but you will be able to see the view for Wishes from where we were -- unbelievable!

Jenn's son Jack is the sweetest dude you'll ever meet! My mother just loves him to death! Kayla is awesome too...quite a talented girl too! Joe and I don't have kids so we get to spoil my niece, nephew and Jenn's two! :thumbsup2

Yay for 22 days! The time will fly by! Please let me know if you do a TR!!
 
You guys were so sweet to be in on that surprise! although after your goofy grin, I will know when something is up in the future! lol Ahhh.. what a night to remember <3

Great fireworks shots! not craptastic AT ALL! Kayla really enjoyed your pics actually! Also you will have to send me pics on a cd or email, cause you have ones with me and john!! more than I do anyway lol!!

Omg that one cake thingy on the Germany plate was to die for! I totally forget what it is though..droooool!

Boo, we miss you guys :(
 
Great update! I liked the anniversary photos....my sister is a photographer so if you ever want to do photos at home let me know!

That is such a cute little proposal story! Jenn is so cute. I can't believe you kept the surprise so long!!! I would be going nuts!
 
Awesome update! Happy Anniversary. Congratulations on keeping the secret and LOVE your pictures.
 












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