AP Renewed: Welcome to Our Tea Party Where Every Thing is MAD! *Update 2/4

[ElsasMom]

Hello There! Welcome to my new TR!

You can find 2015's Disney Adventures here: Adventure is Out There: A Year of Disney

Obtaining my AP last year was an epic drama, but the year of Disney memories that followed was absolutely priceless! Last January my "you-can-go-disney-as-much-as-you-want-as-you-don't-make-me-go" DH bought me was was then the Seasonal Pass for my birthday.

I truly believed last year was a one shot thing. The pass would expire, the end. However, I was happily mistaken! For a few reasons I had to renew. DH sprung for the new Gold Pass option this time! (it was my Xmas & Bday gift )

Reason One?
Disneybounding! I had a blast making Disney inspired outfits to wear in and out of the park and more importantly I made some amazing friends and experienced some Disney magic here and there.

Since I went with an Alice themed title for this TR I'll show you some Alice bounds:

My Casual Alice on my birthday trip last year:



And Here's Queen of Hearts

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And Cheshire Cat in Hollywood Studios


Reason Two: And on top of all the awesome bound ideas and friends to make Disney memories with? Disney unveiled Club Villain!

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"Dancin’ and Chillin’ with Disney Villains
Sunset Showcase loudly presents Club Villain, a frightfully fun dance-and-dine event—debuting January 16, 2016!


This spellbinding evening features decadent New Orleans delicacies like tender beef striploin rubbed with herbes de Provence, Voodoo sticky “pig wings” with citrus gremolata and spicy shrimp sautéed with Andouille sausage, tomato, okra and onions over creamy polenta.

Trick or treat yourself to fiendish cocktail concoctions—specialty alcoholic drinks plus beer and wine—hilarious stage-show numbers and up-close encounters with Disney’s most dastardly doomsday divas. Mix and mingle with mysterious Maleficent, hilarious Queen of Hearts, the delirious Evil Queen and the always fur-fetched Cruella De Vil—and wicked jams from our house DJ!"

AND GUESS WHO GOT RESERVATIONS FOR THE VERY FIRST NIGHT?!?! ME!

Reason 3 365 Day PhotoPass!!!!!! FINALLY.

Reason 4 DISNEY!!!!!!!!! (everyone needs a place to run away to )

Let's see... what else do you guys need to know before we get rolling here? I live in FL (born and raised even though I lived other places for many years). I'm a married mother of 2. Life long Disney fan. I have CP and use in the parks. Checked a lot of great stuff of my bucket list in 2015, but I still haven't done it all....

Who's Excited?

2016 Disney Adventures:

January

Club Villain!
Let's Get This Tea Party Started!
Hitting the Road

February

Birthday Trip!

March

April

Spring Dapper Day
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[KathyM2]

OMG I'm first!! I think that is a first!! Love reading your TR's!! and your outfits!! So excited that you get another year of lots of Disney...and again...jealous that you are close enough to go so often!!

 

[BLAZEY]

Lucky Lady, you get a full year of Disney! Your outfits are so cute. Can't wait to read about your adventures. I have CP as well. We did our first trip to WDW this past November and can't wait to go back.

 

[ElsasMom]

OMG I'm first!! I think that is a first!! Love reading your TR's!! and your outfits!! So excited that you get another year of lots of Disney...and again...jealous that you are close enough to go so often!!

back! Yay! First place! So glad you're back for more! The first trip was pretty spectacular this time!

Lucky Lady, you get a full year of Disney! Your outfits are so cute. Can't wait to read about your adventures. I have CP as well. We did our first trip to WDW this past November and can't wait to go back.

So glad your here! Right? Another year of Disney I'm glad you like them there's a link to my Tumblr in my signature which has all my Disney outfits if you want to see more CP twins! Do you use a wheelchair in the parks too? Your first trip how exciting! Did you love it?

 

[BLAZEY]

Thanks for the welcome. No I don't need a wheelchair or a cane. I am able to walk unassisted, but had 7 surgeries on my hips and ankles as a child and wore AFO braces until I was 10. I do walk with a gait and drag my left foot a bit. Yes WE Loved Disney World and am already planning to go back. I just need to replenish the travel account. We live in Victoria BC Canada, so it's quite a bit of travelling to get there. Disneyland is much more convenient.

 

[ElsasMom]

Thanks for the welcome. No I don't need a wheelchair or a cane. I am able to walk unassisted, but had 7 surgeries on my hips and ankles as a child and wore AFO braces until I was 10. I do walk with a gait and drag my left foot a bit. Yes WE Loved Disney World and am already planning to go back. I just need to replenish the travel account. We live in Victoria BC Canada, so it's quite a bit of travelling to get there. Disneyland is much more convenient.

I used to wear AFOs as a kid too. I just can't handle all that distance! WDW is just so spread out. I'm so glad you had fun! How could you not?

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Joining in of course!

 

[ElsasMom]

Joining in of course!

YAY Now it's a party!

 

[ElsasMom]

Let's Get this Tea Party Started!

Before I tell you about my first trip this year, I have to post these pictures from my one and only trip to DisneyLand :




The Mad Hatter took the first picture with me and then he said "Oh, no no no, you need a hat. This will never do." He popped into a gift shop and exclaimed "I'm borrowing this" and plopped the Cheshire Cat hat down on my head!

As I mentioned I hadn't originally intended on renewing my pass, but then my "Disney Partner in Crime" aka Miss J sent me a link for the brand new Club Villain and miracle of miracles I got us reservations for the first night 1/16 at 9:15p at which point DH & I agreed I should just renew my pass.

The Cast

Here are just a few of J & I's Disney memories from 2015


J and I HAD TO Disneybound for this amazing night, but who? It would be fine to do one of the villains who'd be there (Dr, Facillier, Maleficent, Evil Queen, Cruella or Queen of Hearts) but I proposed we'd get more interaction if we did henchmen.

There was one clear choice!



We were going to be card soldiers!

With Reservations and Disneybounds squared away I made FPs:



As the trip got closer I realized if we had a 9:15pm dinner we wouldn't leave the park until midnight and there was NO WAY I could drive home after a full Disney day at midnight (which also ended up being a good call in light of the open bar). So, I held my breath and searched for a last minute on property room that wasn't ridiculous. I paid more than I normally would, but we got a room at All Star Sports. I requested ground floor and close to transportation.



Next up was transportation , now if you read my last TR you recall that DH's car died on the way to pick up my first AP and my car is just as old so at this point no one wants me driving it all the way to Orlando, but we are looking to get a new car this year (I have Disney trips to make!). So, we attempted to rent a car from Budget and after receiving confirmation from their website that we had a vehicle we got a phone call in which a very flustered young man said "The only place you can rent a car same day is the airport"

I had a small panic attack and then pressed on. I booked a car from Enterprise for the weekend special rate. (more on that later) No issues there thank goodness.

I think that's all the nitty gritty so back to the outfits!

J would be a red card & I'd do black. This was our inspiration:



The first order of business was the amazing playing card rose hair clip I saw on Pinterest, Ta-da (it was all DH I just bought the supplies) & here my crafty friends are instructions which include petal templates: Playing Card Hair Flower Tutorial


Both


J's


Mine! Perfect, right?!?!

We bought the heart jewels (and french barrettes on Amazon, but I'm sure any craft store would have them). We used one heart jewel for the middle of the red card flower and then my clever DH painted a second heart black and added a stem for my Spade. He also used card scraps to add stems to my inner petals so they'd be spades too.

The other big DIY were our shirts. We each made our own. J found a glittery red heart iron on at Joann's and some black be-dazzle jewels to line it with. Apparently, bedazzle jewels have adhesive in them and you just heat them to make them stick. Her jewels became a major problem when a few of them fused to the ironing board! She had to tear her shirt to get it off and stitch up the back.

For mine I found an image of a spade and cut it out on my
Silhouette to make a stencil. Then painted black fabric dye over the stencil. I had shirt issues too because the dye bled & instead of a nicely defined spade with an intricate design it bled and looked like a vaguely spade-like blob.



In the end it had to be hand traced with black Sharpie. Then we glued small red swarovski crystals around the edges with fabric glue. The shirt I used came off the clearance wrack at H&M for $3 because it was stained, but two washes with some Resolve and an overnight soak in bleach water took them all out. I found my pants at a consignment store for $6 and when the weather turned chilly I lucked out because my DS had a black leather jacket (tags still on, never worn even) hanging in his closet that fit me!

Here are the final bounds:





Good stuff, right?

Up Next: Hitting the Road
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[Gracefulskinny]

The first order of business was the amazing playing card rose hair clip I saw on Pinterest, Ta-da (it was all DH I just bought the supplies)

Wonderful!

I had shirt issues too because the dye bled & instead of a nicely defined spade with an intricate design it bled and looked like a vaguely spade-like blob.

Turned out very cool though!!!

Good stuff, right?

 

[BLAZEY]

Very cool outfits!. Love the hair clips. I wish I was crafty to make something like that for DD6.

 

[unwritten01]

Fantastic outfits and glad you are back with another TR!

 

[abarriger]

Oh my gosh your card disbounding as AMAZING! I'm totally inspired! Can't wait to follow more of your trips.

 

[ElsasMom]

Very cool outfits!. Love the hair clips. I wish I was crafty to make something like that for DD6.

*Curtsies* Thank you! Well, there's always Etsy right?

Fantastic outfits and glad you are back with another TR!

Aw, thanks! This one is already more exciting than last year because this first trip was amazing! And I am so grateful to be back with a new TR!!

Oh my gosh your card disbounding as AMAZING! I'm totally inspired! Can't wait to follow more of your trips.

Thank you so much! I was pretty proud of that one. You can see the rest of my bounds on my Tumblr linked in my signature. I hope you give it a whirl it's so fun! I'm so glad you're having it's gonna be a great TR!

 

[ElsasMom]

Hitting the Road!

One bit of business first though, I made the reservation for Club Villain before my 2015 AP expired and then I renewed my AP online and booked a room at All Star Sports. I chose Magic Band colors to match our bounds. Red for J (obviously) and since there's no black and I could not bear the thought of gray I went with yellow.


These were linked to our room and with all the drama last year I was intensely worried about picking up and linking my new AP. It was right before the trip that I noticed HOLY COW! My new AP is linked to MDE already?!?

So, I called my cousin/friend N who is now a fully certified TA and a PH and said "Woah, you don't have to pick up your AP in person anymore?" She wasn't entirely sure and guessed it made a difference that last time I was getting a new AP and this time I was renewing. I was able to make me my FPs and order my PH Magic Band. I was really hoping purple had made it as an option since last time, but no. So, I picked blue since I don't have that color yet. I'm probably going to hit it with some purple glitter

I printed my confirmation email and brought all my old PH stuff just in case.

I got up at 5:30am and got dressed. I really wanted to slip out before DD got up. I did my Tiana bun hair style (I was out of practice because it took like 6 tries) and got my makeup on. Then (MISTAKE) I asked my poor groggy DH to clip my flower in and he ruined my hair

So, I threw it back up quickly and declared it "good enough", but wasn't really seeing my flower as much as I wanted. I was hoping to have it pretty front and center for pictures. I knew my window to escape un-accosted was rapidly closing. I made a quick sandwich and grabbed some fruit and granola bars. DH snapped some pictures and I hit the road.

It was still dark and chilly and there was this eerie fog. I was just grateful for the calm, quiet roads. I tried to turn my GPS on and after I hit "GO" it started updating so instead of going the shorter way I'd taken in Oct I just went my old standby route.

I love watching the sunrise over the water on my way to Disney!

So, all the sudden my GPS started barking directions at me and I jumped out of my skin. Stupid GPS! I switched it off and followed signs. It was at about that point that I realized I'd forgotten my sunglasses! I drove the last 3rd of my trip shielding my face with my hand!

I pulled into All Star Sports at 8:36am (ahead of schedule). It was already hopping, but there was no line at regular or online check in. She said it would be the Homerun Hotel building which was close to transportation, but uh-oh second floor. After a long phone call she said I'd have ground floor in that building, but we won't know which room until later. They would text me.

I asked if she could check my AP is linked to this Magic Band? She sent me to the concierge. Concierge says Nope! Not linked. She said the new AP was there and my reservations were there, but they weren't linked. So glad I checked! About 5min of furrowed brows and chit chat later we were in business. I asked for 2 celebration buttons and headed back to the car.

I ate my granola bar and texted J. She was still an hour out, the fog had been much thicker on her drive. I moved my car down to the right building & unloaded my wheelchair and backpack. It was there standing in the parking lot that the first red gem fell off my shirt.

I headed the very short distance back to the lobby to use the restroom which had these cute red star mirrors and grab some sunglasses. I really like the heart shades, but they didn't match my outfit so I went with black with clear Mickeys! I showed my old PH discount card and explained I'd just renewed and they said it was fine.



Then I got my first useless text: "Your room isn't quite ready"

Then I rolled into my little box to wait for the bus! I texted some friends from my Disneybound group who were in MK and told them I was on WDW property! I sent them a picture of me waiting for the bus. My new sunglasses are mirrored so you can see the reflection of me taking the picture too.



At this point it was shaping up to be a lovely day weather-wise! So I shed my jacket and realized I'd forgotten sunscreen, opps! I think I counted 5 buses before the MK one. Even so it knelt down and I got on to find there were maybe 10 other folks on the bus.



Right before 10am we were pulling in!


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