Celebrate Good Times Come On! An Oct 2013 PTR - Link to TR 10/29!!

[Pluto0809]

Hmm...I went in 1997 and I don't remember the Hunchback show. Then again, the only thing I remember from then-MGM that trip is that my youngest sister got stuck/lost in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground and I had to go find her.

The "selfie" picture with Jim brushing his teeth is pretty funny!

I'm not sure I would have remembered the show if it hadn't been for the spitting guy. That's the only thing that made it memorable to me!

Yes LOVE that " selfie picture" ah our younger days, you know since we really didn't have the kind of technology as we do then I think we were more " in the moment" resulting in less pictures

I have very very few pictures of things and even us on vacation, maybe its not such a bad thing, we don't have to document everything in a kodak moment ( that right there shows my age )

and NO I didn't get that pin ordered I tried home computer and 2 at work get as far as checkout and N O T H I N G !!! Not happy at all

EDITED Yeah is on his way to my house too I learned something today, those emails from TDS in all the very very small print at the bottom is a PHONE # so a very nice CM took my order ( I almost fell off the chair laughing when she asked if I was ready for my "magical" total had her laughing too ...did you ever ??? Magical Total ??? )

OK enough about me, looking forward to more of your report Hi to the doggies hope Eddie is well

Yeah, I don't have very many pictures from the trip. I wish I did though because I'm sure there is so much more that we did that I don't remember. I love writing the TRs now because I can always go back to them to remember the trips.

So glad you got the Pluto pin! I got a notice yesterday that mine shipped! Magical total, now that's funny.

Eddie is doing great, he got his stitches out Monday. He must have been feeling good because he spent a half an hour that day barking at the tree that had invaded our backyard!

 

[Pluto0809]

Wednesday 10/21/98 and Thursday 10/22/98 were both spent at Magic Kingdom. We were supposed to go to Typhoon Lagoon on Thursday but I was too sick for a water park so we ended up skipping that.



Before we headed into MK though, we hopped on the monorail and rode around to the TTC. That was where our brick was located. If you remember I mentioned it a few posts ago as it was a wedding present from my Aunt. It took us a few minutes to find it and then we tried to get pictures with it and our wedding rings. I’ve blocked out our last name for privacy.









The brick is still there although it’s looking a little worse for wear. Here’s a picture I took of it in March of this year.



You’ll also notice that the bricks all around it are not the same. They moved some of the bricks around when they added machines for ticket purchases.

We decided to take the ferry back since we rode the monorail there. If you squint really hard in these two pictures, you can see the castle and space mountain in the background (yes, we are wearing matching shirts, how cute).





I do not look like I’m having fun in that picture do I? I must have been feeling pretty crappy that morning.

It looks like we headed towards Adventureland first. Jim found some topiary of Pumba and Timon:



We visited my favorite birds. I’m looking a little more awake in this picture:





We got lost in the jungle:





Watch out, Ginger snaps!



I’m sure we also rode Pirates and climbed the Swiss Family Robinson Tree.

I’m pretty sure we hit the Hall of Presidents next and had lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern. Jim had cheese sticks and grilled fish while I had the Colonial Chicken.

Then we headed to Splash and waited 45 long minutes in line. There were several groups of disabled kids in the park that day and one of the groups was in front of us in line. They had to stop the ride for a bit to load them all. It didn’t bother Jim and I, we totally understood why we had an extra long wait. But halfway through the ride we got stuck as they unloaded the kids. We were stuck for close to 20 minutes listening to “Laughing Place” over and over. It was months before I got that song out of my head!

After spending so much time in the Br’er Patch, Jim decided he needed to meet Br’er Fox and Br’er bear. So he stood in line with a bunch of kids. Check him out, I think he’s trying to look tough in this picture.



I’m sure we rode BTMR next and then headed out to explore Tom Sawyer’s Island. I found a comfortable place to take a break.



We stopped and watched the 3:00 parade. I can’t really tell from the picture but it was probably somewhere in Liberty Square or Fronterland. The float looks familiar too. I’m pretty sure that’s the one that is now the Princess float.



Continuing through Fronterland, we stopped to visit my favorite bear, Big Al.







We somehow ended up back in Liberty Square and Jim got into some trouble. Check out the outfit on that girl watching!



I know we rode the Haunted Mansion so that may have been next or maybe before the parade. We then headed into Fantasyland. I know we rode Small World because Jim took another selfie of us:



We also rode Peter Pan because I remember waiting in line with several very rude children that keep kicking us in the back of the legs. We both took turns glaring at the parents but they did nothing to stop the behavior. I also remember watching and really enjoying the Lion King Puppet show. It was in the theater that is now Mickey’s Philharmagic. I’m pretty sure that Snow White was the only other ride we rode in Fantasyland. That is one of the rides that I actually remember from my first trip at the age of 2 ½. We skipped the Carousel, Dumbo and the Tea Cups. We also totally skipped over Toontown. I had been looking forward to riding Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride as it was a childhood favorite but sadly, it was already closed for the changeover to Winnie the Pooh.

Magic Kingdom closed ridiculously early that night, I want to say 6 pm, so we headed out after Fantasyland and back to Dixie Landings. Once again we took dinner back to our room from the Cotton Mill Food Court. One of us had Chicken Tenders (probably me) and the other had a Burger (probably Jim). There was also onion rings and pudding involved.

The next morning, instead of heading to Typhoon Lagoon like we planned, we went back to Magic Kingdom to finish up what we missed. I’m pretty sure we spent the morning in Tomorrowland since we missed it the day before. We rode Alien Encounter which for some reason is not on the map I posted above. The map must be outdated a bit because I also remember Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. We didn’t ride that one but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Back to Alien Encounter. This ride scared the poop out of both of us and we loved every minute of it! It was one of those rides that we talked about a lot after our trip. I was so disappointed when they changed it to Stitch.

We also rode Space Mountain and did not like it very well. We both found it too rough and came off of it sore. That is one ride that I’m glad they renovated. It’s much smoother now than it was back then.

I wanted to ride Buzz Lightyear but Jim absolutely refused (remember the TOT incident?) because he couldn’t see the ride, I didn’t know what it did plus it has the word “spin” in the name. I now know that we would have loved it and I will be dragging him on it in October.

We also rode the TTA and despite being able to see a bit of the Buzz ride from that, Jim still wouldn’t ride. I think the only other attraction we did was Carousel of Progress. Well, maybe we waited in line for the Tomorrowland Speedway but I don’t remember.

I only have two pictures from our second day at Magic Kingdom. This silly shot that Jim took:



And this one of me with my favorite guy:



So if you read my last TR, you will know that I said that that trip was my first time eating at the Plaza. Well, I was wrong! When I was going through my receipts from this trip, I discovered that Jim and I had lunch there on our second day at Magic Kingdom. I was totally shocked to see the receipt because neither of us has any recollection of the meal there. Jim had a Cheese Steak Sandwich and I had a Hamburger.

Up Next: Flashback! Part 4

 

[missangelalexis]

I am really enjoying this trip down memory lane, especially the selfies!!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I'm impressed with how much you remember from that trip!

 

[sweetpeaandevie]

I love this flashback TR, Greg and I got married in May of 98 and I can't remember much from our honeymoon, definitely not enough to do something like this.......kudos to you!!!

 

[smile4stamps]

Hello!! I'm also going in October! We went last October as well and I'm still working on that TR!! My husband is also not a big Disney parks person but he tolerates going to WDW as we enjoy lots of good food!!

Love the trip down Memory Lane! My last trip while I was in college was close in time to your trip! Body Wars also made my mom and I sick!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[Pluto0809]

I am really enjoying this trip down memory lane, especially the selfies!!

Thanks, glad you are enjoying it!

I'm impressed with how much you remember from that trip!

Well, I'm not sure if I would have remembered half of it if I didn't have the pictures. Finding my notes and receipts from the trip didn't hurt either!

I love this flashback TR, Greg and I got married in May of 98 and I can't remember much from our honeymoon, definitely not enough to do something like this.......kudos to you!!!

Thanks! Pictures and receipts have helped a lot! I would have never known we ate at the Plaza on our second MK day if I hadn't had the receipt.

Hello!! I'm also going in October! We went last October as well and I'm still working on that TR!! My husband is also not a big Disney parks person but he tolerates going to WDW as we enjoy lots of good food!!

Love the trip down Memory Lane! My last trip while I was in college was close in time to your trip! Body Wars also made my mom and I sick!

Can't wait to read more!

Thanks for joining in! What are your dates for this October?

 

[Pluto0809]

I've got a lot to do this morning at work so no update yet. If I get caught up I may do one later today or tomorrow morning.

I needed to post this morning though because my heart is hurting for a good friend of mine. I met her seven years ago when I started volunteering at a local animal shelter. She works there and is as big of a Disney fan as I am. When we first met, she was in a horrible marriage with a guy who was abusive. I don't think it ever got physical but he was very controlling of her and wouldn't let her make friends or do stuff with other people. I think the only reason she stayed was for her son.

Over the last several years I've watched her transform as she divorced the guy, got out on her own, then met a wonderful man who treats her like a princess. Do to financial issues, she hasn't gone to Disney since childhood but always wanted to know every detail of my trips. She always talked about stowing away in my suitcase on one of my various trips. About two months ago she excitedly told me her boyfriend had surprised her and was taking her to Disney! It was just for three days, one at Epcot, one at MK and one at Islands of Adventure (she's also a Harry Potter fan) but you would have thought he given her the world. We've spent the last few months of Saturdays talking Disney as she had a million questions.

This Saturday was the last time I saw her before her trip and she was bouncing off the walls with excitement. When I left for the day I gave her a big hug and told her to take lots of pictures so I could see how her trip went. She was especially excited about New Fantasyland because B&TB is her favorite movie. They were going to eat lunch at BOG.

Yesterday I found out that her boyfriend had passed away suddenly Saturday night. I don't know all the details but I guess she found him. I am so devastated for her, not only did she lose a wonderful man but she lost her chance to go to Disney. I don't think I'm going to see her again till the end of September but it's going to be hard knowing I still have my trip coming and she has lost her's. Oh, and she found out from his mother that he was going to ask her to marry him while they were at Disney. His mother gave her the ring he had already purchased.

If you guys would keep her in your thoughts and prayers, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[Luvchefmic]

Oh My God Ariana there are absolutely no words that will help You are both in my prayers Stay strong she will need that soon enough

Ruthie

 

[missangelalexis]

I am so very sorry to hear this devastating news. Thinking of you and your friend during this hard time.

 

[Disney9.9.10]

I'm here!! Congratulations on 15 years!!

Great idea for a mini throwback TR! I love seeing old Disney photos.

I am so sorry to hear about your friends loss. She has really been through a lot and it is so awful that this happened.

 

[KatMark]

Ariana, my heart is bleeding right now reading of your friend and her boyfriend. I will keep them all in my thoughts and prayers. So very, very sad.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I'm so very sorry about your friend losing the man she loved. My heart hurts for her. She will be iny prayers.

 

[Pluto0809]

Oh My God Ariana there are absolutely no words that will help You are both in my prayers Stay strong she will need that soon enough

Ruthie

I am so very sorry to hear this devastating news. Thinking of you and your friend during this hard time.

I'm here!! Congratulations on 15 years!!

Great idea for a mini throwback TR! I love seeing old Disney photos.

I am so sorry to hear about your friends loss. She has really been through a lot and it is so awful that this happened.

Ariana, my heart is bleeding right now reading of your friend and her boyfriend. I will keep them all in my thoughts and prayers. So very, very sad.

I'm so very sorry about your friend losing the man she loved. My heart hurts for her. She will be iny prayers.

Thanks everyone for the kind words and thoughts yesterday. I was in a very dark place yesterday worrying about my friend. Today I'm more hopeful because she has a wonderful support team around her right now. She has a long road ahead of her but she has proven she is strong and will make it through this.

I do want to get her something special from Disney when I go in October so I need to think about what that will be.

 

[Pluto0809]

After lunch, we headed out of the Magic Kingdom and back to our room. We caught the boat from Dixie Landings and headed to Downtown Disney for the afternoon. For some reason, I felt the need to take a picture of a duck on the dock.



We checked out the birds at Rainforest Café.



We visited the Lego sculptures.



I’m guessing we did some shopping, I remember World of Disney for sure. I also remember a store on the West Side that had all kinds of music memorabilia. They had a signed, framed photo of Van Halen, Jim’s favorite band. He seriously considered buying it but it was like $800. Way out of the price range of a pair of newlyweds.

Included with our package, we got two free items. There was a list of things you could pick from. One of them was a free photo with Mickey Mouse. I had originally thought the photo place was in Magic Kingdom, hence the matching Mickey shirts from the day before. It turned out I was wrong and the photo place was at Downtown Disney. So instead of matching Mickey shirts, we wore matching Nascar shirts for the photo.



We got a 5 x 7 and an 8 x 10. I have the 5 x 7 framed and in my Pluto room. There was nothing else on the list of free items that we really wanted so we ended up getting a free Planet Hollywood t-shirt for one of my cousins with our second voucher.

After shopping we took the boat back to Dixie Landings and for the third night in a row we did take out from Cotton Mill. We got Spaghetti (probably me) and chicken tenders (probably Jim). Other items on the receipt were a salad, mashed potatoes, corn and pudding. Guess we were hungry that night.

On Friday, October 23, 1998 we headed to Animal Kingdom. The park had just opened that year and half of it wasn’t built yet. Check out the old map:



No Expedition Everest, no Kali River Rapids, not much in Dinoland. I’m thinking we slept in a bit this morning because my first picture is from lunch at Rainforest Café. Jim had to take a picture of this gorilla because he jokingly said it reminded him of his sister.



No idea what we ate because it’s not on the receipt. I do know that we got a huge appetizer plate free because they accidently seated us in a closed section and we had to move tables. We didn’t complain at all, they just automatically brought us the free appetizer.

After lunch we wandered around looking at the animals and I took a few pictures.







We checked out Dinoland which wasn’t much at all at that time. We went in the Dinosaur Jubilee tent but did not ride Countdown to Extinction (now Dinosaur) because Jim couldn’t see it. I remember being kind of mad about that. If it was today, I’d tell him to find a bench while I rode but we were still learning each other at that time.



I think we may have gone to the Jungle Book show after this but I have no pictures.

We waited in a pretty long line to see It’s Tough To Be A Bug.



This monkey was in the line and I’ve tried to find him since but have never been able to. I’m guessing that the line has changed since then and you no longer walk underneath him.



I never noticed before that there is also an ant in that picture.

Next, we waited over an hour for the Safari. I was obviously getting bored in the line because I took this picture.



Continued in Next Post

 

[Pluto0809]

Continued from Previous Post

So here’s my pictures from that safari. Once again, probably some of the worse you’ll ever see. There are animals in some of them but you really have to strain to see them!













After the safari, we walked the Gorilla Falls Trail. The only pictures I took were of the Meerkats. Both of us love the Lion King movie so we were fascinated by the Meerkats.





Then we headed out to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. I had a blast in the petting zoo while Jim watched. He is a huge germaphobe and would not touch the animals.









And I think that is all we did at Animal Kingdom. We never headed to Camp Minnie-Mickey because we thought it was a kiddie area. I didn’t discover Festival of the Lion King till my 2010 trip.

I have no receipts for our dinner this night but I’m guessing it involved the Cotton Mill Food Court and probably one of us had Chicken Tenders.

Saturday, October 24, 1998 was kind of a free day for us. We headed back to MGM just to have lunch at 50’s Prime Time Café. This was probably our favorite and most memorable meal of the trip. Our waiter picked on Jim mercilessly the entire meal. I watched him get more and more frustrated that I wasn’t getting in trouble. He did enjoy coloring before the meal as you can see from the photo. Also, I think this is the only one of him without his hat. That was the first thing he got in trouble for!



I know he also got yelled at for elbows on the table too and probably a few more things. He ordered Meatloaf while I had a Chicken Dinner. I can’t remember what all came with my meal but it did have green beans which I do not like. Jim ate them for me. For some reason there were mushrooms on Jim’s meatloaf and neither of us would eat those. Jim tried to hide them under his napkin but the waiter immediately figured that out and picked up the napkin. The waiter actually gave Jim a pass but he was really frustrated at that point and proceeded to tell the waiter that he ate my beans. That back fired big time when he got yelled at for tattling! We had so much fun during that meal!

Sometime during that day, we also visited Disney’s Wide World of Sports. We were pretty underwhelmed as the only place we could go there was the gift shop. Nothing else was open. I do think Jim bought an item or two but we were back at the bus stop in less than 20 minutes.

That night, we took the ferry to DTD and had dinner with Jim’s Aunt and Uncle who lived in Orlando. I don’t have the receipt and neither one of us can remember which restaurant we ate at. Maybe someone can tell me by looking at the background of this photo?



It must have gotten chilly that night too as I’m in long sleeves and Jim is wearing a coat.

Sunday, October 25, 1998 was our last day at WDW. I don’t think we did anything other than catch a ride back to the airport. I did finally remember to take a few pictures of our room though!







And that is the end of our Honeymoon TR. I do know we spent an obscene amount of money on souvenirs from looking at our room receipt, but I couldn’t tell you exactly what everything was at this point.

Up Next: Resort and Date Madness

 

[KatMark]

Ariana, I enjoyed the flash ack to your honeymoon trip immensely. Amazing how much is different, yet the same. The only thing I can think of restaurant wise at DTD might be Empress Lily which is now Fultons.

 

[sweetpeaandevie]

That was a wonderful honeymoon story!!! We thought about doing a Disney cruise for ours but ended up going to Gatlinburg, TN. It was great though...

In hindsight it turned out to be a great decision. we went to Disneyland a few years later and Greg HATED it!!! I am hoping that WDW will be better for him as we have kids now!!! Time will tell

I am so sorry about your friend. I can't imagine how horrible that would be to go throughAt least she has support

 

[Disney9.9.10]

What a great honeymoon report! I love looking back and seeing how much everything has changed.

I'm glad that you are feeling more hopeful for your friend and that she has a great support network - that is incredibly important when you go through a loss.

 

[DMGeurts]

Oh my gosh Ariana, I just don't even have the words for your friend. How unbeliveably sad and heart breaking. My thoughts and prayers go out to them, and to you.

D~