*Dancing in Disney ~ A Magic Music Days Trip Report* UPDATED 2/24!

[bellaDisneydncr]

Hi all! I'm Katarina and this is my first Trip Report! It's definitely not my first trip, but this trip had something extra special going on so I had to share.

Here is a link to where you can see all of my pictures from my trip:

http://travel.webshots.com/album/569568906frRMQe?vhost=travel

First off- let me introduce the characters of our report:

Me:
(at MNSSHP in Oct.)
I am a huge Disney Freak from way back

Me Kissing Mickey on my first trip I love everything about WDW. I plan on
working there in the near future, also. Disney World is my dream performance
space. So look for me there this summer!

My Mom & My MeMe (Grandmother):

They have gracefully put up with the 22 trips I have made them take to WDW. I think they secretly love it as much as I do.

And The Steel City Angels:

(minus a few people)

The Steel City Angels are a professional dance team from Pittsburgh, PA. We do parades and stage shows throughout Pittsburgh. Look us up online if you want! steelcityangels.com (ok enough with the sales pitch lol) They are the reason I got to go on this trip. We went for Magic Music Days and got to dance in Downtown Disney. But more of that later... on to the TR!

My family and I left Saturday morning (Jan 3rd) at 9:10 am. We flew Southwest Airlines- it's our favorite. We also rented a car. We were staying on property, but my family likes having a car. It is always a lot more convenient for us.We stayed at All Star Sports. Our family, in the past, have mostly stayed at Port Orleans Riverside (still known to us as Dixie Landings...). We had stayed at All Star Music once before and weren't to happy with it, but All Star Sports was great. It was perfect for this trip. We were in the Center Court building 4:


Of course we got one of these when we got to our room:


My Bear couldn't resist the photo op:


The first day we did not have tickets for the parks. We ate lunch at our hotel (I had the chicken quesadilla - which was actually really good. And they made it right in front of me so I was really happy). We went to DTD Marketplace to shop. After that we went to the Premium Outlets. It's my mom's favorite stop. I did get some great stuff from the Character Outlet they have there. 4 ornaments at half price, a tshirt for $10, a Halloween tote bag for $3, and a Magic Kingdom tote bag for $14. If you get a chance to go off-property, head to this outlet. There are always great deals on stuff from the parks. When we were done there we went to do the Resort Monorail tour that we have to do every trip. We hop on the monorail and then go in all the different stores at the GF, Contemporary, and Polynesian. This trip we hadn't planned on doing this, but I thought that Saturday was the last day for the Castle Dream Lights and I wanted to see them- even if it was from the monorail. Monorail Gold was our personal transport that night We started at the TTC and rode to the Contemporary. Here we looked in the two shops. At this point we were getting hungry. We wanted to try the new Contempo Cafe in the CR, but nothing there looked to appetizing to us at that moment. Maybe another time. We remembered eating at the counter service restaurant in the Polynesian so we headed over there. Captain Cook's is the name, I believe. We all had the flatbread pizzas. I had cheese, my MeMe had pepperoni, and my mom had the barbeque that was the special of the day. Mine was great- and I tried the barbeque - it was pretty great, too.
We rode the monorail around a bit more, watched the fireworks from it, then ended our day. It was a great day, but there was so much more to come!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the rest!

Coming next: "Oh my gosh, they're doing it again!" & practice, practice, practice..

 

[Disneyfan71]

I really want to read more of your TR!!!

 

[jjk]

great start, looking forward to reading more

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

Hi all! Thanks for reading- I will hopefully have the next part of my TR up tomorrow. I just got back to school at WVU tonight so it's been a crazy day of unpacking and reuniting. I have a lot of time tomorrow so I will update ASAP!

much love! <3 Katarina

 

[DISDANCEMOM]

I look forward to reading your trip report! My dd10 (9 at the time of our trip) performed with her dance team at the Galaxy Palace Theatre in MK for Disney Magic Music Days in August. I myself performed at the American Garden Theatre in Epcot in 1990 for Magic Music Days. Its is a fabulous opportunity for anyone..especially for a Disney Fan (or Disnoid and my friends affectionately call me!)

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

I'm back! Sorry it took me a while. Getting back into the groove of classes takes some time. I'm still not ready to be back, but I guess I have to be. Anyway- back to the TR!

Sunday.
Sunday was our first day with tickets for the parks. Our plan was to go to MK in the morning and the Studios at night. As previously stated, I thought that Sat. night was the last night of the Castle Dream Lights and knew that Sun. night was the last day of the Osbourne Lights. I really wanted to see them, and knew that some of the other girls on the dance team would be there. But our plans changed- as you will see soon.
We headed out to MK and rode the ferry boat from the TTC. We got through the gates and headed on to Main Street. I stopped and got a map under the train station. It still had the Christmas cover with the Castle with the Dream Lights I also got a times guide. Then made it on to Main Street. One word: Awestruck. Seriously my family and I just walked around staring at the Christmas decorations. It has been such a long time since Main Street looked new to me and it was an entirely different experience. It was so beautiful. My mom said to me as we headed to the hub, "What are we doing first? Gonna go ride something or are we just going to walk around with our jaws on the ground?" I said walk around with our jaws on the ground. :
Here are some of my pictures of Main Street while I was going crazy seeing it all!:




So after our slow walk up Main Street, we headed towards Fantasyland. We wanted to see the new Tinkerbell's Fairy Treasures/Castle Couture shop. Tinkerbell's Treasures was always our favorite store in MK. My mom always commented on how many dresses we used to buy in that store. Unfortunately, I don't fit in any of them anymore... well maybe one:

This is the new effect in the Castle Couture shop. The dress is white, but they put different lights on it to make it Pink or Blue. You can hear the Flora and Merryweather fighting on the color- then the lights change to make the dress change colors. There's even one time where one side is Pink and one side is Blue. I only got pictures of the pink. I should have stuck around and got more. But here's a picture with the Fairies around it.

In Tinkerbell's Fairy Treasures is probably one of the best new interactions I've seen in a while. I walked in right in time to see this. The CM's at the registers had asked this little girl if she wanted to see Tinkerbell. They gave her a bell and told her to yell "Tinkerbell! Tinkerbell!" Well right after she did this, you could see little twinkling lights coming from the corner, through some flowers, then Tinkerbell appeared in the little window behind the counter. She waved and then headed back to Pixie Hollow. It was so great and the little girl looked so excited!

After that we went out into Fantasyland and went straight into Mickey's Philharmagic. One of my favorites in MK. Then we headed to Adventureland. This was something really special. My friend Taylor from WVU is a seasonal skipper on the Jungle Cruise. Well we got in line and asked a CM if we could wait for her boat. We waited and as soon as we got to the front of the line, Taylor got off her boat and started working another position! So we rode once with a different CM. It was great, but I was really upset I couldn't ride Taylor's boat. The CM's saw our problem and told us to come back later and ask for her and we could ride hers. So we continued our day. We walked around a lot, rode the TTA =D, and just enjoyed our day.
We went back to Main Street and watched the Disney Dreams Come True Parade. I love it! I would love to be in this parade. Those dancers are some of my favorites. Here are some of my favorite pics:






Me in the reflection of the castle float:


So after the parade we headed right back to Jungle Cruise. We went to the exit and told one of the CM's what the CM's had said earlier about getting to ride in my friends boat. They said that we could- we would just have to wait til they found out where she was. Turns out she was out front and she came back to see us. It was so great to see her in her costume and everything. She then took us through the exit and put us on her boat first.
Now those of you that are kind of getting upset right now thinking that we got to skip line- we waited 20 mintues to get on her boat, even though we were at the exit. The standby was 20 minutes. So we waited the same amount of time, just got to go in a different way.
Anyway- so I am going to say this. She was the BEST Jungle Cruise Skipper EVER. And I am not just saying that because I know her. She was really fantastic. So, so funny! If you are ever in MK in the summer or winter break times and you get Taylor - you are in for a treat. Here we are, right after our ride:


After that we headed over to Toontown. I had a new photobook made with pictures of me with different characters for them to sign. So I wanted to meet the Princesses (Princess Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle) and have them sign it. My wait was about 30 minutes. Here are some pictures:




Now - I love the princesses. LOVE them. I someday hope to be very good friends with Belle or Snow White. But i must say- recently I have felt very unimportant to the Princesses. At least these ones. It seems you just go in, they say a little something to you or about you, sign my book, take a picture and send me away. I don't want the brush off! I understand they want to spend much more time with the kids, but Adults are kids at heart right? If this had been my once in a lifetime trip and I had wanted to meet the princesses so badly, I would have been very upset. But enough of my rant.

This post is getting long so I will continue in a little bit in another post- Thanks for reading!

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

If you would like to see all of my pictures- you can view them all on webshots- here's the link!

http://travel.webshots.com/album/569568906frRMQe?vhost=travel

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

Wow- long time no report!! I'll finish off the Sunday of our trip.

After meeting the princesses, we went and watched Dream Along with Mickey. This is tied for my favorite show on property. (With Beauty and the Beast) As usual I loved it! Here are some of my favorite pictures:






After the show we waited around to see the Christmas Castle Show. I had never seen them light the castle and was so excited! I don't have any pictures because I recorded it with my video camera. Someday when I get a link I will put it up. This was great to have, but I found I watched the show through the viewfinder too much! I had to keep internally yelling at myself to actually watch the show!! Here's some pictures of the castle after the show:




We then watched Spectromagic and Wishes. Two favorites that never get old. We had a great spot for Spectro and moved back towards Main Street Square to watch Wishes. Then we had to book it back to our resort for practice for the performance the next day.

The group assembled on the tennis court in between buildings 4 and 5 and moved to the parking lot to practice... not the best surface to practice on, but it worked. Went through the show and when we were done we were told to get straight to bed- we had an early day the next day!

Up Next: Living the Dream!

 

[tiggerfan1]

Hi bellaDisneydncr! I remember you from the Theme Park Attractions and Strategies board. Great trip report so far! You took a lot of great WDW pictures. Can't wait to read more!

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

Hi bellaDisneydncr! I remember you from the Theme Park Attractions and Strategies board. Great trip report so far! You took a lot of great WDW pictures. Can't wait to read more!

Hi! Yes I believe we have played a bunch of the games together! lol Thanks for reading! And btw- you have one very good looking signature! hahaha

 

[tiggerfan1]

Hi! Yes I believe we have played a bunch of the games together! lol Thanks for reading! And btw- you have one very good looking signature! hahaha

Sorry for taking so long to reply. I've been kinda busy these past few days. Anyway, yes we've definitely traveled in the same TPA&S game circles. Can't wait for the next update!

Thanks for the siggie compliment. They're just a few of the guys who asked me to be their Valentine. (I WISH!!!! )

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

Hi folks! Sorry my posts have been so far apart!

Well here it is! The moment you've been waiting for: PERFORMANCE DAY!!!!

Wooo!!

So this day started very early, well... early for vacation. I woke up at 7 to do my hair. I was scheduled to have my make-up done by Gina at 8:20. (one of the other Angel's sister and an awesome person! She is a wiz at make-up.) Amazingly I had the latest time slot.. some had theirs done at 6:40... ouch. Anyway getting up at 7 was waaaayy to early. My hair took maybe 15 minutes to do and then I had to sit around until it got closer to my time. Then an hour later... I strolled down to Gina's room and got my makeup done. After that I went back to my room and grabbed my stuff for the day. Woke my mom up and told her I was leaving and that I would see her in DTD. I then went to the food court and got some Frosted Flakes for breakfast It was a great breakfast for a performance morning. I am always so afraid to eat before I dance... And it was hot out so you know... Anyway! Another Angel, Aubree, met me there and then we went and took some pictures with the Mickey statue in the middle of the resort. Seen here:


After that we headed to the front of the resort to wait for our bus. Our Mears charter bus arrived and we were so excited because it was Black and Gold. Yes... I know that's Mears' colors... but we're from Pittsburgh! We bleed Black and Gold!!! The sign in the front window was also exciting:

(This was after the performance- hence the ponytail - this is not what took me 15 minutes haha)

The bus departed and we made our way to DTD. We pulled in right behind the new T-Rex Cafe... which our director like to call the "Trex" cafe. In a little while (we got there really early) the lady from Magic Music Days came on the bus and welcomed us. (I really cannot remember her name right now! I'm so awful- I will find out and tell you ASAP!) She was so sweet. We then sat for a little while and then she came on the bus and said it was time to move to the stage! We walked over towards World of Disney and walked up the side of the building and over to the new stage! It was great just to walk as a group! All our families cheered for us and everyone who didn't know us watched to see what we were doing.
As we did this- my mom took some pictures of the sign with our name on it

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

The backstage area of the stage was just a small space with some chairs set up. We didn't have to spend much time back there, though. We traded some jokes with our Stage Manager and got ready to perform. And then.... then the most wonderful thing happened....
THE VOICE OF DISNEY ANNOUNCED THAT "THE STEEL CITY ANGELS WILL BE PERFORMING IN 10 MINUTES!"

My friends Sarah and I (A fellow Disney freak and Diser!) FLIPPED OUT! The voice of Disney World announced us. You know him- the guy that does announcements before Fantasmic. before mostly every show you see! (and his name is Kevin i believe...) That was one of the best moments of the performance. and it hadn't even started!! We then lined up and took the stage! (with another announcement from Kevin the voice of Disney!! EE!!) It was so great! I was worried that when we walked out the only people we would see in the crowd would be our families. But you wouldn't imagine all the people that had sat down to watch us!! I was SO excited!!! And all throughout the performance people stopped and stood above the seating to watch!
I'll post some select pictures from the performance- if you want to see them all just follow the link in my sig. You'll see all my pics from this trip!






It was a dream come true. We all had so much fun. I did feel a little worn out at the end.. I used too much energy in the first numbers lol And it was hot on the stage. It may have been bearable to those sitting watching- but the stage was black and the heat radiated off of it. In our dance we had a few eight counts where we had to be face down on the ground. I wanted to put my head up so badly! I felt like I was breathing in pure sunlight haha and that wasn't good. But it was totally worth it! I absolutely loved every moment of the performance- I was Dancing in Disney for goodness sake!

Here is a video of our performance- the first 40 seconds or so are missing due to camera problems (you can hear my mom get upset about it right at the beginning):

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=51471199
Sorry if you can't see it on myspace- I tried to get it on youtube but it's too long

And here is a video I made with pictures from me and some of the other Angels of our trip- I had a blast making it! Enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3tBTa4POOE

 

[bonkers]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[tiggerfan1]

Yay, thanks for the update! It looks like you and your dance team had a great time. That so cool that the announcer guy called your dance team's name. That must have been exciting. Thanks for providing the video of your performance. You guys did a great job. I wish that I could dance like that!


By the way, I forgot to mention earlier that I love your signature! How did you make that?

 

[bellaDisneydncr]

Yay, thanks for the update! It looks like you and your dance team had a great time. That so cool that the announcer guy called your dance team's name. That must have been exciting. Thanks for providing the video of your performance. You guys did a great job. I wish that I could dance like that!


By the way, I forgot to mention earlier that I love your signature! How did you make that?

Thanks for all the compliments!! Haha

And thanks about the signature! I had gotten so bored with my previous all Prince Caspian one - I used Picnik ( picnik.com ) - Just uploaded pictures and made collages. Then when I had the pictures in the collage I added the text over it. Each set of 4 (in the different colors) is a different one and then I just put them in my sig next to each other. I'm rather proud of it! haha