Adventure is Out There! A Year of Disney Update 2/2

[ElsasMom]

One last shot of the Rain Forrest! Anyone else think of Alice and Wonderland when they look at this?



Later baby elephant! Time to go see some real elephants.


Safari time!





And we're off





First Animal sighting/animal crossing



Nigel!


Alligators


Real Elephants!



Flamingo (Hidden Mickey) Island



The lion sleeeeeeeeeeps toooooooday!



I love how he's cuddled up to his little rock pillow.



And last but not least...Pumba!

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[ElsasMom]

We decided after our safari we'd head over to see Baloo and Louie!

Check out these pictures we took in line







They were silly and we got some good hugs.

Next we decided to take advantage of not having kids or husbands in tow to object and we went to flights of wonder!


I'd never seen it before and I was really enjoying it!





Not to be low brow, but the highlight of the show for me was when he was talking about a conversation success story and out comes the beautiful bald eagle and he gestures toward it just as it lifted it's tail and took a rather lengthy poo.

Everyone cracked up. Way to make an entrance.






We were supposed to see Nemo, but we decided to switch our FP to Lion King. I'm pretty sure this happened next.



Then we had a little snack and hopped in the FP line for The Festival of the Lion King.



Yay! Here we are roaring like lions.



Showtime

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Fantastic show! I highly recommend it. ​

 

[KathyM2]

Fantastic show! I highly recommend it.

I think this was my fave thing at AK after the safaris. Love your pics!

 

[ElsasMom]

I think this was my fave thing at AK after the safaris. Love your pics!

I completely agree! Thanks!

 

[ElsasMom]

Wrapping Up Our Trip!

We went to see Russell & Dug next. Before we got up there Dug dropped the pen he was signing with and the CM picked it up and pretended to throw it and Dug tried to fetch it. It was cute!




And then is was FP time! It was my first time back in time on the Primeval Whirl



Our seat was mysteriously wet?!? So we sat close together to avoid the wet spot. It's a fun, quick ride.

Then we stopped for some last pictures before we headed out.




The Everest pictures are pretty, but N refuses to ever ride it. I on other hand was dying to ride it. We went over to the single rider line and it was like 65min and we had to head home.

Tree of Life? Sure!



Out we went, but not without one last attempt to find N her coveted Disney sun hat. No dice though. But trying on hats is a super fun why to end a Disney weekend. Feel free to picture us trying on hats and laughing movie montage style.

And then we hit the road Bye Mickey

Up Next: Nerd Day at MK
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[ElsasMom]

Nerd Day at Magic Kingdom

Now that I'd been Disneybounding a while I'd started noticing how many cool meet ups were happening at Disney Land. Someone had just posted such an event and a fellow East Coaster remarked how there don't ever seem to be meet ups at WDW and the event poster said "Start your own, that's what I did."

So we posted a Facebook event and crossed our fingers.



I even posted a little list of Disney nerds:

Randall Boggs: Monsters University
Fungus (Randall's Assistant): Monster's Inc
Roger & Anita: 101 Dalmations
Tadashi, Hiro, Honey Lemon, Wasabi, Go Go: Big Hero 6
Lewis: Meet the Robinsons
Milo: Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Chicken Little, Abby Mallard: Chicken Little
Dewey (librarian fairy): Secret of the Wings
Gretchen: Recess
Princess Mia Thermopolis: Princess Diaries
John: Peter Pan
Dr. Hopper: Once Upon a Time
Wayne Szalinski: Honey I Shrunk the Kids
Prof Philip Brainard: Flubber/Absent Minded Professor
Professor & Jane Porter: Tarzan
Maurice: Beauty & the Beast
Gadget: Rescue Rangers
Gyro Gearloose: Duck Tales
Caractacus Potts: Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang
Phineas & Ferb: Phineas & Ferb
Ludwig Von Drake: Classic Disney Cartoons
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew & Beaker: Muppets
Linguini: Ratatouille

Next I needed to plan my outfit!

I have a super comfy brown and green striped dress from Old Navy so I decided on this little guy.



And first accessory I ordered was these babies!


And then I scoured the internet for a Chicken Little bow. Even with all the shops that exclusively sell Disney character bows I came up empty. So I messaged a shop on Etsy ( Dumbow Shoppe) about a custom bow. She was thrilled to make something for me! This is what I ended up with.

Pretty amazing, right? I was sure she'd add it to her shop as a regular item because it came out so nice, but I guess I'm the only one who bounds this little guy.

The outfit was pretty much together, but I had an idea for one last touch.



Ok, so here is my baby alien pin tutorial:

Supplies:
Orange craft feather (or white feather and orange Sharpie)
3 Googly Eyes
Hot Glue Gun
Small Safety Pin

1) Glue eyes to orange feather and add safety pin.

Super Easy! Be warned, if you color a white feather and sweat the orange may bleed. Here's a picture of me wearing it.



Adorable, right?

So we were getting a fair number of accepts on the FB event and then I had car drama. So, we decided I'd take a rental to Orlando and requested one. We used Enterprise and it was a red, but that's about all I remember about that.

With my car in the shop I enlisted my Mom to chauffeur my DH and Kiddos to their weekend plans. I got up at 6am (half hour before my alarm) and woke everyone else up about 6:45am. We took a few quick pictures of my bound and then I swung through McDonalds to grab the kids breakfast and a GINORMOUS french vanilla ice coffee for me. Then I dropped my family at 7:30am at my mom's and hit the road.


(apologies for the poor lighting)





Better pictures will be coming shortly, but the last one is my favorite of the ones I took before I left.

So, I jumped on the highway all excited! I drove for a bit and then just as I'd started down I4 I came to a complete stop! See the red line on my GPS? They were not joking. However, it did NOT end up being a 13min delay.



So I texted my mom that I'd been sitting since 8:50 because I4 was a parking lot and sent her that picture. She was all confused and thought I was sitting in the Disney parking lot! LOL, she asked me random questions about why I couldn't just go in. (Sigh!) Shortly after DH explained it to her though. What's a girl to do while sitting on the highway not moving? Drink coffee and take selfies!


LOL! Ask me how I feel about the stand still?

Oh and there were Disney people right behind me! See the antennae ball? Am I the only one who gets REALLY excited to see Disney people on the way to and from the parks?



At 10:00 (yes an hour and ten minutes later) we were moving! Unfortunately, I didn't get far because I had drained my huge coffee and now I was busting ! I hopped off at the first exit claiming to have a McDonalds while chanting "Adults don't wet their pants, adults don't wet their pants" in my head. I never found the flipping McDonalds either! I passed up the gas stations because I thought they'd be a McD's any second. Eventually, I pulled into a little shopping center and walked into a little dinner and straight into the restroom without a word to anyone.

After the crisis had been averted I jumped back on I4 and arrived at Disney at 11am! Phew!




The CM who waved me into the parking lot gestured like he was throwing salt over his shoulder, it was vague and hilarious to me at the moment. I parked (not a terrible spot for arriving so much later than planned) and the dad from the family who parked next to me unloaded my wheelchair for me. I Disney people.



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[ElsasMom]

Oops
posted in the wrong thread...​

 

[ElsasMom]

I Made it!!

I made my way into the TTC and decided to take the monorail. Have I mentioned this was my first ever solo trip to WDW? I'd never made the drive without a co-pilot/passenger and likewise I'd had never made the journey into MK without someone to give me a push I started my way up the long ramp completely undaunted because at this point I was just so happy to be out of the car! By the time I found the end of the line (about midway up) I ended up behind a nice lady whose DD was in a power chair. We chatted while we waited and then she offered a push the rest of the way up. They were lovely people and it was nice to chat on our ride.


On the Monorail!

It's all downhill on the other side so WHEEE!

I was only behind one person at bag check and then I was in!

I stopped for a picture of what I thought at the time was a poster for my favorite ride BTMMRR and stopped someone to take a picture, but as it turns out...



Me SO EXCITED under a poster for Disney RR, OOPS!

My first FP was the Buzz ride and my second had been Peter Pan, but I missed them.

The only FP window left was Barnstormer which I had never ridden before. So I was off to Pete's Sideshow.



Yay!!

My view of SM from the line


The other fun thing I saw during my short wait was an awesome Peter Pan Disneybound and it turned out I'd be seeing that guy all day! The ride was fun, very fast and short, but I was glad I did it.

Now I texted J (my co-organizer who was still fighting traffic). The best thing about having your friend run late to meet you at WDW is that you're at WDW!!!

I decided I wanted to see Donald & Goofy next!

There was a CM at the entrance to each set of characters beckoning to people to come on in. When I paused briefly to figure out which way I needed to go. When I told them I was going to see the boys the CM at my entrance was excited and the one on the got all bummed out. It reminded me of the door knockers from Labyrinth!

Donald!





Goofy!








I don't have any notes about meeting the boys. I thought they were both sweet and their lines moved really fast.

After I'd seen them I went out the exit and came right back in the other side (like a Sneech!) to get in line for Minnie & Daisy the same CMs were still there and cheered when I went back in.

The line for the ladies had to be at least twice as long. I didn't mind one bit, but it did make me sad for the boys. The lady behind me kept complaining LOUDLY to her children about the length of the line.

Then a CM come out and said Daisy would need to go powder her nose (beak?) in about 15min or so. That got the lady behind me all upset again. "I hope we don't MISS Daisy!" "Daisy is the ONLY autograph we're missing" "Maybe I should have let you see Daisy yesterday. If I would have KNOWN" "The line is moving so SLOW" and on and on and on for TEN MINUTES!

Repeat after me lady: Happiest. Place. On. Earth.

Her last few comments though were directed at me, yup me! Like I have anything to do with the Meet & Greet schedules?!?

"There are SOME people in line withOUT kids!" "That's not fair IS IT?!?" "People withOUT kids shouldn't meet the characters" "I hope we don't MISS Dasiy because of ALL THESE adults in line!"

Good Grief Lady!

Then when I didn't hang my head in abject shame and leave the line she spoke directly to me: "There sure are a lot of adults in line without kids today."

To which I turned and smiled and said "Isn't it great"

She was stunned into silence briefly before she continued her original complaining. Those poor kids!

We both made it to the front before Daisy's break by the way.

(continued in next post)​

 

[ElsasMom]

Minnie & Daisy !

Leave it my girls to notice my outfit! First the CM at the front of the line said "Oh! look at your bow. Daisy will love it"
To which I replied (as it had JUST occurred to me) "OH! That's right, I bet Chicken Little and Daisy totally know each other! Disney birds, ha!" (and the CM assured me that they do know each other).

Sure enough Daisy complimented my whole outfit, but particularly liked my bow!













Daisy never disappoints! She always notices my cute outfits and makes me feel pretty and special. Even though I knew she was going to be dashing off soon she still made me feel like she'd waited all day to see me.

Minnie liked my bow too, but not as much as Daisy. The PP must have thought I was rocking my bound because he took this one







I went out through the giftshop and discovered J had arrived! YAY! So, I found a spot to people watch and waited. J and I had been in the same FB group for a few months, but this would be the first time we were meeting in person. She'd chosen Frannie from Meet the Robinsons for Nerd Day so obviously we were best friends in the making!



We hugged, complimented each others outfit and took a selfie.





We discussed whether anyone else would turn out and again if they don't we're still at Disney! We ate a snack and chatted. J's friend C (not a Disneybounder) was also on his way to meet us. He was fresh off a big break up and needed some Disney magic and the more the merrier.

Once we were all together we headed over to Tomorrow land.





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[ElsasMom]

Tomorrow land

We decided to hop on the people mover, another first for me. I know right? How can I have made it this far into life and not done this? It was a beautiful day!

The CM was like, you have to leave your wheelchair down here and walk up. Well that ladies and gentlemen is why I'd never done it. The CM was hugely apologetic like annoyingly so...

"Um no offense, but can you transfer" "Oh, sorry but you have to leave your wheelchair here, no offense" etc





It wasn't quite time for our Nerd Day group photo yet so we went over to Stitch's Great Escape because it said it had a 10min wait. It ended up being longer than 10min almost long enough to give up. By the time we came out of Stitch (It a lot less fun with out my sweet little DD to be delighted my Stitch's naughtyness) we were late!! It was 2:19.

We rushed over to the metal palm trees. There was a PP taking pictures in front of SM so I give you our official Nerd Day photo:


Yup it's just us. No one came

But there was a fun surprise when I got home!


Baymax came to Nerd Day!

Overall I am not complaining I was at WDW with my new friend. No mesages on the event page...no nerdy looking bounders in the area...oh well.

So, I asked if we could head to BTMRR but I had bad timing and we were fighting the parade.
We got over to BTMRR to get a return pass and BAM! My tire blew out. Sigh.

Saw the Peter Pan again! With Snow White and Ariel and a guy in a blue shirt I couldn't identify. Yay Disneybounders!

Next we went to the Tiki Room!



I liked the Tiki Room a lot I hadn't been in there since I was a kid. I want to do a Clyde Bound and a Totem Pole bound. "Hi ho, hi ho it's out the door you go!"

We headed back to BTMRR. I guess they had shuffled some things around because for the first time ever there was interactive stuff by the wheelchair entrance! I so wish I had a picture of "Frannie" blowing the dynamite! So perfect.



Big Thunder Selfie! We got the back row!


Ok, so a couple days before I left my cat came in to the room meowing like crazy. She had something in her mouth. We assumed it was a mouse she snagged in the garden. Nope, it was a baby opossum! After I had multiple heart attacks I realized we had no way of knowing whether the baby critter was still alive.

We wrapped it in a thick towel and put it in an old bird cage to see if it was playing opossum. It was, it woke up. So now we had a baby opossum climbing around in a bird cage on our patio. We asked around and most people were like "EW, kill it"

Nope sorry, Disney Princess here. I do not harm baby animals. I didn't really want it at my house either though. So, we called our friend who rescues squirrels and she put us in took we the opossum lady.

In the end she said the little critter was in great shape, but too little to be away from his mama. She took him with her.


There he is.

Anyway, the opossums on BTMRR had us in stitches because of my recent experience. ​

 

[KathyM2]

Love your pics and outfit!! Especially the shoes!! Even they match...so awesome! Too bad about the no - shows but looks like it was still fun! I find it's really hard to get people to commit to doing anything...they love to say it sounds like fun but...you know how it is.

 

[ElsasMom]

Up Next? Splash Mountain? Ok!
"I never get wet" J complains (which to me was pretty much a guarantee we were gonna get soaked!)

Somehow we ended up getting on the Railroad by mistake so we settled in for a round trip. It was lovely, like I said it was a beautiful day.

When me got off the train we hit up Splash Mountain, for real! We even got the front row!



It was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wet! Thanks J. It was also a ton of fun.



We got off soaked and starving! We went to Pecos Bill's I got pulled pork they got cheeseburgers. Nothing thrilling about the food, it was fine. I debated calling it a day since I was soaked and limping around with one flat tire, but we decided to do Haunted Mansion.

When the creepy CM asked how we were we replied "Dying to get in!" We were so proud of ourselves. The 3 of us squeezed into one doom buggy. We even found the hidden Mickey in the plates!

When we came out there were 3 little kids in Haunted Mansion uniforms getting their pictures taken in front of the carriage! So cool.

After that I asked J & C if they minded walking me to main street because (ugh flat tire ) they walked me all the way to my car. Funny story though, I couldn't remember exactly what my rental car looked like so I was wondering around pushing the button and hoping I'd see it. Grand total it was probably a 5 min search, but none the less embarrassing. Speaking of embarrassing my parking job! Sigh, I was so excited to have finally arrived I hadn't even noticed.

Everyone said goodbyes and J and I were like see ya back at Disney!

I headed out with my GPS on, but regretted it and ignored it in favor of the signs. I4 was pleasant enough on the way back, but when I hit the interchange I hit serious traffic. No standstills though thank goodness! I was home around 9pm tired and sunburned, but pretty darn pleased with my first solo Disney adventure!





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[ElsasMom]

Love your pics and outfit!! Especially the shoes!! Even they match...so awesome! Too bad about the no - shows but looks like it was still fun! I find it's really hard to get people to commit to doing anything...they love to say it sounds like fun but...you know how it is.

Thanks! I LOVE those shoes. I wore them when I got married Yeah, it ended up fine. I was just happy to be at Disney! But I probably won't arrange any other meet ups.

 

[unwritten01]

I love reading your TR - love this too lol - "Isn't it great"

Your enthusiasm is contagious! Thanks so much for posting!

 

[ElsasMom]

I love reading your TR - love this too lol - "Isn't it great"

Your enthusiasm is contagious! Thanks so much for posting!

Aw, thanks! I have a few more trips left to post her and I started a new TR for 2016!

 

[ElsasMom]

Who wants to hear about another fun day trip to Disney?

Oh Good, because in May I went to Galactic Breakfast for Dcuz's birthday! I stalked those reservations like a crazy person because I knew how much she wanted to go. I got one on her actual bday at the end of May, but we had to bring little Miss MM after all so I ended up swapping for earlier in the month. So we ended up with the same crew from Flower and Garden.

Galactic Breakfast is a Star Wars (Imperial Forces) character breakfast at Sci Fi Dine in at Hollywood Studios.

I wore a Leia bound with R2D2 earrings and a Millennium Falcon necklace.


(Full disclosure my friend photoshopped the stand off the speeder so I'd look like I was flying)

Despite all her talk about "trying Disneybounding" on our last trip she decided not to. Dcuz & MM wore Star Wars shirts and shoes! I loved MM heart made out of Star Wars characters shirt.




Let's do this! We drove over in the morning. Another good thing about swapping late May for early May was instead of 8am we got 10:00.

​

Obvious Mickey!

We're here!

So EXCITED!!!

We had time to kill so we did Star Tours, MM was to small so we swapped.



Dcuz went first because she was the birthday girl! MM and I hung out and took a selfie.



I'm pretty sure Dcuz had been the rebel spy! Then it was my turn. After Star Tours we jumped in line for speeder pictures.




I wish I had a more serious expression in this one!



And my photoshopped one:



After that is was time to check in for breakfast!! ​

 

[ElsasMom]

Breakfast with Darth

We checked in and they gave us a buzzer. It wasn't long before they escorted us in for a picture with Darth Vader (aka Dad ) and Boba Fett.




I'm not gonna lie, it was a HUGE let down. Darth had zero reaction to me as Leia or anything really. They just stood there, we might as well have been taking pictures with statues. I didn't expect him to sing and dance or talk or anything. YAWN!



No matter we were pumped to eat and see all the INTERACTIVE characters!








They brought us each a little light saber! I got coffee & french toast. J got steak and eggs. But before we got real breakfast the server bought us some adorable treats!



After pastries we got fruit cups with little melon Yodas!



Everything was really good! I was really excited for my coffee which I totally spilled on my white dress.

Before we knew it characters were visiting!







Everyone was fun, but the Jawas were my favorite!

Soon breakfast had arrived!

MM's


Dcuz's


Mine


The food was good, but it was waaaaay more than I could eat and I regretted not getting what Dcuz got.

The server brought Dcuz a cupcake! (I'm still a tiny bit upset I never got a cupcake on my bday )



After that characters were coming around for the second time! I took advantage and got a better picture with the storm trooper.



We traded with the Jawa. Dcuz gave him MM's R2D2 barrette and he got adorably excited! He produced a tiny plastic magnifying glass from his pouch with overjoyed MM and the trade was made!



Now we were full and happy! I had to get out of my coffee stained dress.
​

 

[ElsasMom]

Secret Meet & Greet

Ok, full disclosure this probably happened before breakfast because I'm almost positive I changed right after we ate. Either way we went to see Minnie in her dressing room! She was in the tucked away room next to Baymax in the Animation Building. My mind was totally blown! I had no idea anyone meet back there, but it was ADORABLE And Minnie's sparkly dress! Sigh









After that (or maybe before? ) I ducked into the ladies room and sadly shed my Leia Disneybound. I kept the buns and Star Wars jewelry I just put on a Star Wars shirt (borrowed from my son), khaki shorts and traded my boots for brown flip flops.

Then we went back to the Animation Building because Dcuz and MM hadn't meet my friend Baymax yet.

I want to say this way the time they kept coming out and saying he sprung a leak and they had to get some more scotch tape, but we weren't in a hurry. In my experience Hiro and Baymax were always worth the weight.







Those guys

And which point we decided to do something we had never done, park hop! We headed over to MK.

No sooner had we arrived then the very family I'd searched for on my weekend trip with N (which chronologically was my last trip, I just posted those two out of order) Now here I was a week later, not in my Drizella bound practically peeing my pants with excitement!

No time to be bummed that I wasn't in my favorite Drizella outfit because they were hilarious! Brace yourself for picture overload! (And I'm not using all of them)


Drizella's face in this one!

















Don't get me wrong Galactic Breakfast was great, but I was more excited for the Tremaines! Disney Bucket List is shrinking! Fabulous
Like for me it was: We went to Disney, we ate some stuff, We SAW THE TREMAINES! We went home.

We wondered around Fantasy Land and I know it's hard to believe, but we actually had a not so terrible wait for Peter Pan or maybe we had a FastPass, anyway after Neverland we decided to take a cruise around the world....
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[Gracefulskinny]

Yay for getting to meet the tremaines! Aren't they fun!

 

[DisneyKates]

What a perfect day! On a side note, I always travel with shout wipes. They seem to get out any stain and make something wearable again immediately! I too am a frequent coffee spill offender.....