"Can I see your pins?" 12 Days of Disney Fun: Oct. 2011 3/13 It's the end.

[DisMomAmy]

Wow - you were off to a GREAT start! 10:45 and you were already at POP and your room was ready!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Yay, an update finally!

That's so weird the SW counter doesn't open til 4:30 when there are so many flights at 6, I wonder if people miss their flights because of that.

Glad your room was ready, Pop looks so cute! Brandon and I sleep in separate beds sometimes on vacation, it's nice to have so much space to yourself once in a while!

That penne looks so good, and the tie dye cheesecake looks awesome, I really have to try that someday!

Hey now! It's only been a little more than 2 weeks since we got home!

You know, if you would have stayed at pop that night, you could have had some tie dye cheesecake too!

Sounds like an easy trip to Florida (minus the SW line!)

Tie-Dye cheesecake IS delicious! Who knew those colors could add so much flavor?

Right?!

That food looks delish!

Were you flying out of Ohare? We're considering Southwest for next trip because (for now) the fares are pretty reasonable, so your TR could prove to be very helpful!!

Nope, we were flying out of Midway. SW doesn't fly out of Ohare. Generally it's a breeze but the counter not opening until an hour and a half before ALL of their first flights of the morning is a big inconvenience.

Wow - you were off to a GREAT start! 10:45 and you were already at POP and your room was ready!

I know, it was awesome!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I can't believe how early you had to wake up! I guess that's the downside of getting to Disney so early, though! Your lunch looks really yummy. From everything I've read, the Pop food court seems to have so much variety.

 

[DisneyCrafter]

I can't believe how early you had to wake up! I guess that's the downside of getting to Disney so early, though! Your lunch looks really yummy. From everything I've read, the Pop food court seems to have so much variety.

Yup, it was earrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrly! It ended up being a great idea, though, because the day felt really long. (I guess that's because it was really long. ) Our lunch was delicious. They definitely have variety but as you will find out later in the TR it was difficult to choose something sometimes!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Thursday September 29 continued:

After lunch we decided it was time to hit our first park, we were both feeling too excited to take that nap I thought we were both going to need. We decided on Hollywood Studios because Greg helped me reason that this park was one of the places we had the least amount of time planned at (aside from AK, which we both felt we don't need a lot of time at). One of these trips I want to play "bus roulette" and hop on the first park bus that comes. Anyway, we managed to have great timing a bus for DHS showed up right away and in no time we were stepping off from our first Disney bus ride for the trip; it's such a short ride from Pop to DHS. As soon as we entered and went through bag check, we headed straight for Sunset Boulevard.

We saw the wait for Tower of Terror was 20 minutes.

See? I told you! Before heading to the queue, we headed over to RnRC to check the wait time. Am I the only one who thinks it would be convenient to also display the wait time before walking all the way back to where the queue starts??? The wait was around 60 minutes if I’m not mistaken so we grabbed some FPs and headed back to TOT. We didn’t wait 20 minutes at all-it was more like 5 including the queue after the preshow. We walked right into the library. It was a great first ride of the trip! “What goes up, must come down!”

We still had some time to kill before our ride to the Aerosmith concert was leaving so we decided to head on over to experience something we’ve never done before; the American Idol Experience!

We were nearly 30 minutes early for the show so we just hung around for a few moments before the “producer” and a cameraman came out to film, what little of us were there, shouting our “love” for one of the contestants. We then waited a few more minutes before being let into the theatre. It was great to feel the chill of the air conditioner as it was really warm this day! I do have to say that they do a great job of really making you feel like you are watching the real AI live.

When it was over I decided it was time for another first; a stop at the Writer’s Stop!

What did we get you make ask? Well, the carrot cake cookie of course!

It was delicious and not very cookie like at all. If you held it in your fingers for too long the cookie part would stick to your fingers. It is also very large for such a sweet treat so it was perfect for Greg and I to share.

I love the quietness of Writer’s Stop, it would be a great place to just hang out for an afternoon; I just wish it was a little bigger so they could have more tables so you wouldn’t feel bad for sitting for too long. Random: All throughout our time there I kept hearing chirping, as in a bird chirping and I saw a little radio across the way so I thought they were piping it in for ambiance for whatever reason but then I noticed just a bit before we left that it was an actual bird in the building! Crazy!

By then, if my memory is correct, our FP time became available so we headed on over to Sunset Blvd. By then the wait time was down to 40 minutes but there’s just something about that queue that makes me feel like I’m not moving. We were able to walk right into the preshow area. Yay! P.S. I love looking at how bright all of the white on your clothes look when you stop right after the ride is over; I know it’s because of the black light so it shouldn’t be that amusing but it is!

By this time, the length of our day was catching up to me so instead of dragging around the park I decided that we would leave and go rest back at Pop. If we happened to make it back to DHS for the evening to watch Fantasmic and eat dinner at Mama Melrose’s we would but if we didn’t we could always go to DTD for dinner.
I think we waited a bit for the bus but it is a quick ride back to Pop and soon Greg and I were both taking a nap.

Up next: Did we make it back to DHS or did we go to DTD?

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Okay...so I'm not sure if I'm going to continue this TR, nobody has visited it and I even posted an update 4 days ago!

 

[DisMomAmy]

Please continue!!! Not sure how I missed your last update but I haven't had my usual DIS time this weekend... We spent yesterday preparing for an October snow storm & we've been without power since 3:30am. We leave Saturday so this week will be crazy but know I'm reading & will catch up soon!!

 

[Joyciemc]

Oh no, please continue!

It stinks when you're writing and wondering if anyone is reading (definitely been there!), but this is a great start to your trip report, and I absolutely want to know what happens next!

I'm hoping you went to Mama Melrose's, since I'm curious to hear about dinner there!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Please continue!!! Not sure how I missed your last update but I haven't had my usual DIS time this weekend... We spent yesterday preparing for an October snow storm & we've been without power since 3:30am. We leave Saturday so this week will be crazy but know I'm reading & will catch up soon!!

Oh no, please continue!

It stinks when you're writing and wondering if anyone is reading (definitely been there!), but this is a great start to your trip report, and I absolutely want to know what happens next!

I'm hoping you went to Mama Melrose's, since I'm curious to hear about dinner there!

Thanks ladies! I'll continue! I'm uploading our Disney pictures to FB as I type this and I think it's official...I have the Disney blues.

 

[DisneyFirefly]

I'm around! I've just been busy with work and the boyfriend and haven't gotten much time on the Dis in the last few days

 

[DisneyCrafter]

I'm around! I've just been busy with work and the boyfriend and haven't gotten much time on the Dis in the last few days

The boyfriend?!

 

[DisMomAmy]

There's nothing worse than the Disney Blues...

 

[DisneyFirefly]

The boyfriend?!

Yes, the boyfriend His name's Mike, he's my age, he lives out in Westmont, so we usually see each other on the weekends (which is when I'm off work )

He was Spock for Halloween and I was a witch. This was Saturday at some club in Schaumburg a friend of his wanted to go to.

 

[DisneyCrafter]

There's nothing worse than the Disney Blues...

I know! Ugh!

Yes, the boyfriend His name's Mike, he's my age, he lives out in Westmont, so we usually see each other on the weekends (which is when I'm off work )

He was Spock for Halloween and I was a witch. This was Saturday at some club in Schaumburg a friend of his wanted to go to.

That's great! We were out in Lombard for a Halloween party on Saturday. I was a cat and Greg was a zombie. How was the club? I'm not really one for clubs. I don't mind bars but clubs are usually SO loud!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

This was us this past weekend before we left to a friend's house for a party!

Happy Halloween Everyone!​

 

[DisneyFirefly]

That's great! We were out in Lombard for a Halloween party on Saturday. I was a cat and Greg was a zombie. How was the club? I'm not really one for clubs. I don't mind bars but clubs are usually SO loud!

Awesome! The club was all right, but I'm not really a club person and neither's Mike. We went because our friend needed to get out of the house and wanted to have a good time (she had surgery six weeks ago and has basically been housebound since). But yeah, it was insanely loud. We were only there for about two hours and then went back to the friend's place to watch a movie.

 

[Nermel9]

I'm sorry I missed your last update!! Sometimes when TR'a get pushed back to page 2 I miss the latest updates! Please keep writing it, its off to a great start!

I love DHS! We have never bothered with the AI show, but it sounds like it could be fun! I'd have to do it alone if I ever want to see it though, Brandon hates AI!!

Isn't writers stop so cute? I wish it was bigger too!!

Love the Halloween costume, I was boring, I didn't dress up this year!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Awesome! The club was all right, but I'm not really a club person and neither's Mike. We went because our friend needed to get out of the house and wanted to have a good time (she had surgery six weeks ago and has basically been housebound since). But yeah, it was insanely loud. We were only there for about two hours and then went back to the friend's place to watch a movie.

That was nice of you.

I'm sorry I missed your last update!! Sometimes when TR'a get pushed back to page 2 I miss the latest updates! Please keep writing it, its off to a great start!

I love DHS! We have never bothered with the AI show, but it sounds like it could be fun! I'd have to do it alone if I ever want to see it though, Brandon hates AI!!

Isn't writers stop so cute? I wish it was bigger too!!

Love the Halloween costume, I was boring, I didn't dress up this year!

Thanks for saying hello and making me feel better about spending the time to write this TR.

I heart the Writer's Stop but then again I love the coffee shop feel in general.

The last time I dressed up for Halloween was when I was a freshman in college. It was kinda fun but I hate spending money on a costume so my solution was really cheap!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

So, remember how I said that we yellow tagged our luggage? Well, I was expecting to walk in our room when we got back and find it waiting for us. But guess what we found when we opened the door? No luggage! I honestly can’t say I was surprised. We had a bad experience with the yellow tags on our honeymoon as well.

I instantly was on the phone with luggage services. The CM said they had “No record” or our luggage. What does that mean you ask? It was never scanned in AT THE AIRPORT! That meant a few things, worse case being that they were back in Chicago or ended up on another flight. EEK! He took down our luggage confirmation numbers and promised to call back in a little bit. I was nearly in tears on the phone with him and he could tell because he said he’d have his manager call us.

At this point, I was so happy that I packed everything we needed to get by for the remainder of our day and for the next day as well. Not 5 minutes later, we get a telephone call. “Do you want the good news or the good news?” Our bags were AT POP! I didn’t even question why they weren’t scanned in at the airport OR at Pop because at that point I was just happy that our luggage was close by. It took about 15 minutes but we soon had our bags AND 2 FPs for any attraction in Magic Kingdom thanks to the manager.

Needless to say by the time we were settled down and ready for a little snooze we realized we didn’t have much time to sleep if we wanted to have dinner at Mama Melrose’s. We set an alarm to go off in about 30-45 minutes and I hoped that I wouldn’t be MORE exhausted when it went off.

It definitely was more of a “twilight” sleep for me. The family next door had a fussy baby and I could hear it crying. Ugh! I woke up and felt surprisingly okay so we spent a little time getting ready and headed out to DHS!

We headed straight for the hat when we arrived at the park because Greg was itching to look at the pins. He ended up picking out a medallion to help weigh down his lanyard. I sat on the steps. I was HOT!

When he was finished we headed toward Mama Melrose’s to check in. It was CROWDED! They were running 40 minutes behind and everyone in line in front of us was NOT happy. One woman was really frustrated because she said she had booked the Fantasmic package but the CM was telling her that wasn’t possible because they don’t seat Fantasmic packages for as late as her reservation was for. Another family tried to walk up and was told they were only honoring reservations. We checked in and left to go get some water.

We headed over to Pizza Planet and Greg went inside to order us some ice water while I sat at a table outside to wait. At this point I saw the family that was frustrated about the Mama Melrose’s reservation getting in line at Pizza Planet; they didn’t want to miss Fantasmic I’m sure! I had a “Meh” attitude about making Fantasmic. If we made it in time, awesome, if not, it was okay.

We were sat at 7, so not quite 40 minutes after our reservation. We waited and waited and waited. Eventually we got our drinks and some bread (which was delicious but could have used some parmesan cheese to go with the oil). He definitely made up for his lack of speed in the beginning because I would barely get halfway done with my lemonade and he’d bring another one! The lighting in Mama Melrose’s isn’t the best but I did manage to get a few pictures.

Greg had the “Carne d’Italia” pizza and I had the penne alla vodka. The food was great!

Snapped this on the way to Fantasmic:

Even though we waited a long while for our server we were out of the restaurant and on our way to Fantasmic by 745. That’s when we heard it…
Fantasmic was already standing room only! That’s okay, we were going to see it! The area wasn’t actually that bad. We were able to sit on a step until it started and the area was staggered so we could see just fine. I was really impressed with the quality of pictures that my camera took:

As soon as Fantasmic was over we headed out and caught the 2nd bus back to Pop and we were dreaming our first dreams in Disney of the trip!

​

Up Next: Playing “musical” rooms at the Dolphin and melting at the Food & Wine Fest!
​

 

[RedRed]

Enjoying your report ... Makes me feel I am there . Thankyou