Disney Birthdays: EX Cast Member Style **UPDATED 12/14 X3!!!**

[MinnieJay]

Howdy all! And WELCOME to another trip report of mine! Now, I would tell you to go read my other trip report that is linked in my siggy, but that dang Photobucket had other plans and my pictures aren't showing up for some reason and now I'm just ranting. Whatever. BUT, if you like to read and imagine pictures...that TR is right up your ally !

Anyway. This trip report is a bit different than most for a number of reasons.

#1: I'm also writing this on my travel blog. So some edits will be made. Y'all know what ToT means, whereas my readers on my travel blog don't. Boo for them lol

#2: Me and my friend are "ex" cast members. I say "EX" because we both did the College Program some years ago, but now I'm a Campus Rep at school so I still have all my perks while she does not.

#3: Because we are "EX" CMs...we do and see Disney a lot differently than most...... I'll warn you now....(We don't like the Magic Kingdom) GASP.OMG.

#4: That's all the reasons I can think of for now

You do NOT want to miss this trip report. We had some good times, some rainy times, met a celebrity, and some REALLY good food and celebrated being a year older with some great firsts.

I'm uploading pictures to Photobucket (sigh) as I type. I'm going to make the post on my travel blog then come back to you good people. Everyone make a magical wish that Photobucket agrees with me!

See ya real soon!

WAIT! If you're just joining along or if not, I just realized I didn't do a "real" intro to introduce myself.
Hi. My name is Jay. I'm 22 and a college SENIOR (FINALLY!) I love Disney and I don't know how many times I've been since my parents have been taking me since I was this young:

And then by the time I was a senior in high school and went to my Grad Nite at Disney when I was a senior:

I knew I should look into the Disney College Program.

After my freshman year of college, I applied to the DCP on a whim and got in. IT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER and for the BETTER. I loved it. Made good friends and Disney is a huge resume builder. When I go into job interviews, my experience at Disney is the first thing that want to know about.

When I'm not doing homework, I'm lurking these boards and crying my eyeballs out on Youtube to either: 1) Parents surprising their kids with a trip to Disney. (I WILL DO THIS ONE DAY FUTURE OFF SPRING!) or 2) Disney Proposals. Also, I'm love Re-Pinning Disney things on Pinterest.

Hope you'll read along!
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[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[MinnieJay]

Yay! A reader!!!

 

[MinnieJay]

Chapter Links:

Life Happens
May 27
Departure Day!

May 28, 2013
Chicken Sandwiches, Dinosaurs and a Yeti! Oh My!
Liquid Courage around The World helped me meet my childhood crush.
Met a Celeb and got spoon fed. All in one hour
Random Pictures from today!

May 29, 2013
Gettin' Soggy!
EPCOT's Golden Hour

May 30, 2013
Magic Kingdom Game Faces
Flawless Epcot
It's a wrap!

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[MinnieJay]

Howdy y’all! Welcome to another trip report of mine!

Seems like I alternate between Disney and Cruises huh? Well, I’m a bit of a creature of habit. Let’s see here. First trip report was of a cruise, next one was a trip to Disney, last one was a cruise….where does the pattern leave us now…?

If you said DISNEY…DING DING DING! You’re a smart cookie!

Yes, I returned to the Wonderful World of Disney this time, not with Malcolm, but with a good friend, well a best friend of mine.

It was her 21st birthday and I was going to be celebrating my 22nd birthday a few days after her. No better place to abandon some adult responsibly than Disney right? Right.

Let’s get it into the nitty gritty:

Who: Me, (Jay) and my best friend Keri

Me. Jay:

and my gorgeous friend Keri:

We’ve been friends since high school

When: Interesting story on the “When” part. We were originally set to spend a full week in Orlando. May 27th- June 2 to give some dates. We were going to spend May 27-31 at Disney. Pack up and head to a offsite hotel because My Love. My Everything. My Favorite Artist in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, Ne-Yo was performing at Universal Studios on MY BIRTHDAY that Saturday…and of COURSE I just HAD to go see him. If Ne-Yo and I didn’t end up married by the June the 2, Keri and I were going to pack up and head back home with happy memories of our birthdays.

BUT…Life happens.

I got an AMAZING email that I was accepted to an internship in Washington D.C and would need to report to my first day of work June 3. I live about 10 hours away from D.C and the internship would last the whole summer…so I needed to drive up there on the 2nd of June.

No Ne-Yo…SIGH.

THEN, because I was turning 22, I was getting kicked off my mom’s dental insurance by them. So I needed to get all four wisdom teeth out before my birthday and before my trip. BOO and OUCH.

ON TOP OF ALL THAT.

I was taking two online summer classes!

Yep. This summer was turning out to be real interesting.

But I managed. I ended my Spring semester of my Junior year of college. Started my summer classes a week afterward. Got my four wisdom teeth pulled. Was in pain. Continued taking summer classes while working. Quit my job. Went to Disney. Came home. Celebrated my birthday with a photoshoot with ALL my family and my Boyfriend Malcolm and went on to have the most amazing internship EVER in D.C.

Whoa. A mouthful eh?

BUT ON WITH THE SHOW! And pictures!
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[MinnieJay]

My favorite day!

Usually.

The day before, I just returned back from a trip to my boyfriend’s hometown so we could visit his family for a few days. So the night we got back, it was nothing but washing clothes and repacking.

So when the morning came, I didn’t hop in my usual, “I’m going to Disney today” flair.

I was supposed to meet Keri in our hometown which is an hour away from where I attend school. But yeahhhh, I was late getting down there, but that’s besides the point.

From our hometown, Orlando is only about 4 hours away so once I got to Keri, we were off! We had plans once we got to Orlando to go get our nails done…more about that later.

We had fun just talking and getting excited and before long, we saw these gorgeous sight!

Yay! Keri was freaking out in particular because she hasn’t been back since the end of our college program in 2011!

We were staying at my old work place…All Star Sports, which is not want we wanted…at all.

Backstory: The Hub (Disney’s Employee Intranet) had GREAT Cast Member rates. I really tried to get a room at the Port Orleans in the Princess Room. But it was sold out. WOMP WOMP. All the other Mods were a bit too pricey and the only Value with available dates was All Star Sports. I used to work in Merch at the All Star and Sports was never my favorite, but, it couldn’t be that bad right? (Foreshadowing)

We checked in, got our birthday pins and was taught how to use the new Mickey Head Tap things. Pretty cool. We were also on the Dining Plan (excellent Cast Member rates for that as well.) but decided against getting our mugs right then. We had a lot of crap that needed to get to the room so we could go get our nails done.

We were on the first floor which I didn’t really care for, but we didn’t plan to be in the room that much anyway. On the plus side, at least we didn’t have to load all our stuff up stairs.

The room was cutish.

My friends came to visit while I was on my college program and they stayed at Sports so the basic layout wasn’t a huge surprise.

View from our room.

fter getting settled in, we needed to go get our toes done and get some pop-tarts for a quick on the go breakfast on park days. Then we were hoping to head to Downtown Disney to pick up her park passes (found a great deal from Disney through our school…HOLLAAA!) and get Keri her first legal drink!

HOWEVER, because it was Memorial Day…there were no open nail shops…at all. Whatever, we used that saved money in a VERY useful way later on ; )

We picked up some poptarts from Publix and made our way back to the hotel to take the bus to Downtown Disney.

Horrible idea. I’m not sure why we didn’t drive.

THE BUS TOOK FOREVER AND A DAY!

We finally got to Downtown Disney, picked up her park tickets and then headed to Paradiso 37 for some drinks.

We had a gorgeous sunset.

We took the bus back to the hotel for dinner at Sports and then went swimming.

That’s where I had my “I’m on vacation!” AHA moment.

While swimming and watching Cinderella while in the pool.

I love that feeling. I’m at Disney, with my best friend and celebrating our birthdays…nothing could be better.

After swimming, we headed back to the room and thank goodness for the free wi-fi. I got ahead on my homework and turned them in. We had an early (lol) day tomorrow!
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[MinnieJay]

I kind of feel like I'm writing to myself on here...If you're reading along, let me know! I'm nice and don't bite! I swear!

May 28th, 2013

Today was our first park day! We had no real set plans today we just knew we didn’t want to go to the Magic Kingdom and wanted to go to Animal Kingdom first.

I jumped up and turned on some Disney Tunes and tried to get Keri out of bed which didn’t seem to be happening. I got dressed in my Animal Kingdom inspired outfit, brushed my teeth, did my hair and make up, all the while Keri was still in bed. Le Sigh.

SHE.TAKES.FOREVER.AND TWO WEEKENDS.TO.GET.DRESSED.OMG.

**Mental Note: Make Keri get up a full hour before me so she can get ready for now on**

As she was curling her hair and putting on full make up, I was trying to help her speed along by ironing her clothes.

About an hour later, she was done!

But we couldn’t leave without having a mini-photoshoot!

(We’re girls…leave us alone)

My Animal Kingdom outfit. Leopard Print shirt (I’ll tell anyone that Leopard is my fave color…judge me not) black shorts and black sandals to top off my safari look.

No Disney Animal Kingdom look would be complete without a set of Leopard Print Mickey Ears!

Then Keri did this:

And I thought it was pretty. So of course I had to play copy cat and do my own version of it.

Eh...Not quite the same

Then, we were on our way!

We ate pop-tarts to hold us over until we got to Animal Kingdom.

THE DAY WAS GORGEOUS!

We took the bus over to Animal Kingdom so we could get the full “tourist” feel going on.

We got to Animal Kingdom shortly after park opening.

This is my favorite second park. They have some of the best food, one of my FAVORITE rides and it’s just awesome all over.

Before we move on ANY further, there is something you must know about Keri and myself. We LOVE to eat. A lot. Keri can eat more than I can, hence why I call her the Human Food Disposer. And when she’s hungry…BOY…she turns into a mean person! (I won’t say the REAL word I was thinking…..

So, first thing we did was head to Keri’s old stomping grounds, Restaurantosaurus

It was still pretty early so we figured we should eat now before the big lunch crowds came.

During my CP, I used to LOVE to eat here because they had the BEST Shrimp Po Boy EVER!

But sadly, that went away. *Tear*

Keri loves anything that is a Bacon Cheeseburger so that’s what she got with a Cheesecake in a glass.

Meanwhile I pondered what I wanted….and decided on Grilled Chicken Sandwich with a Cheesecake in a glass.

We “payed” for it using the dining plan.

OMG it was so good. The chicken breast was so tender and juicy! The bread was so good! I ate my fries first so by the time I got to my sandwich, I could only finish most of it because I wanted room for my cheesecake. But never fear! Keri the Human Food Disposer was near! She ate her whole burger and then the rest of chicken sandwich. The cheesecake was so-so for me. I just really liked the orange-creamsicle flavored jello stuff at the top.

We sat there, stuffed for a second, so glad to back at Disney with good ‘ol Disney food.

BUT WHY SIT WHEN YOU HAVE DISNEY OUTSIDE.

First order of business?

My FAVORITE ride in the whole park!

DINOSAUR!

No matter how many times I ride that thing, that darn dinosaur always manages to scare the crap out of me.

And yes, I hold my ears. Dinosaur is a loud ride! Don’t judge me. After riding that a few times we had enough of our dinosaur hunting for the day.

After bringing a dinosaur back, we walked around the park for another must do:

Lines weren’t bad at all today, but we could tell it was getting pretty busy, so we grabbed fast passes for later and hopped over to another park.

Stayed tuned to find out which park we went to next! MEAT SAUCE! I met a childhood crush and more shenanigans.
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[MistDis]

Following along!

 

[MinnieJay]

Following along!

Thanks and enjoy!

 

[MinnieJay]

After leaving the Animal Kingdom, we bounced over to my personal favorite park, EPCOT.

EPCOT is just amazing. It’s perfect. It’s flawless. What’s not to love about EPCOT?

MY EPCOT!

We had no real set plans here either. Aren’t we just so organized? See, when you’re a Disney CM or EX CM, you just go with the flow.

My typical “Tourist” picture. If I look hot in that picture, it’s because I am.

We skipped the attractions in Future world and headed right over to Club Cool for some cultural refreshments.

My favorites are Vegitabeta from Japan and Beverly…JUST KIDDING. Pass that Krest Ginger Ale to me.

We were getting kinda hungry at this point and wanted something to eat from the World Showcase but just didn’t know what. So we started in Mexico and made some bad decisions.

We stopped for a little A/C and to look around.

I have a thing for collecting Shot Glasses (Or as Disney calls them “Tooth Pick Holders”).

The Mexican Pavilion is gorgeous inside.

Then came the best bad decision we’ve made in a long time.

We came across this sign outside of La Cava del Tequila.

All we have to do is follow them on Twitter and we get a 5 dollar shot…?

*Hits follow button*

We showed the bartender that we followed the bar and after checking our i.d’s and wishing us Happy Birthday, we were presented with our shot.

Tequila, a lime and salt and meat sauce (my term for it. HA!)

Now, I was skeptical about the meat sauce….

Keri gulped all hers down while I sat and looked at mine.

I was hungry and knew drinking wasn’t the best idea on a pretty empty stomach, WITH the Florida Heat.

BUT BAD DECISIONS HAPPEN.

I prepared my lime and salt (Y’all just typing this is making my mouth water lol), took my tequila shot, had a bite of the lime of salt. Then I went for the red stuff, the meat sauce…THAT ALMOST CAME BACK UP! It’s like a thick salsa but it tasted like pasta sauce with meat and I only had that lime and salt to get that taste out of my mouth. My reaction to it must of been loud, because Keri, the bartender and a few fellow bar-goers were laughing at me. Go ahead. Laugh away…but that meat sauce was gross.

The funny thing about tequila is when it hits you, it punches. HARD.

Upon leaving put both us in that, “LET’S DRINK ALL THE ALCOHOL AROUND THE WORLD!” mood. Not going to lie to you guys, this part is a bit of a blur…lol. But I have pictures to help me tell my story. So let me try.

When we left, in true Florida fashion, it was raining.

So I took this picture. Cute. I know. I was eating the rain.

I know we skipped Norway, I didn’t see anything good in there.

Next is China. Which I do remember. It was fun!

There, we each got a Mango Gingerita. It’s really refreshing for an alcoholic beverage. It’s made with Vodka and Rum.

After China, we headed to the next country, Germany!

My family hails from Germany so that was pretty cool!

Also, we skipped Italy drinking wise. We were starving at that point and I’ve read nothing but good things about Via Napoli.

OH! Another thing. We had no ADR’s this trip. Gasp.

However, we got into Via Napoli after just a few minute wait. However, something with the dining plan is why we couldn’t eat there. WOMP WOMP. Looked good, but we didn’t want to play Out of pocket for it.

But I did get some good pictures!

Next, we headed to the great American Adventure where I ran into a childhood crush of mine!

IT WAS SO WEIRD. It’s so weird to see your crush in a Disney Park.

I mean, I loved him since I was young! So when I saw him, I had to go say hello and introduce myself! It’s been way too long and I was old enough to have the courage to do it!

MAX. YES. MY CRUSH IS MAX.

Remember what I said about not judging me right?!

I told him how I was in love with him since I was a child and I hope Roxanne wasn’t in the picture anymore : )

I sent this picture to Malcolm with the note: “It’s OVER. I found a new man!”

Yes. I like selfies with characters.

There was nothing we wanted to eat in America either, so we left and headed to Japan for a walk-through.

Up next, Morocco!

Keri had an Oasis Slushie, the Habibi Daquri. I helped her drink it. That’s what friends are for right? Right.

I wanted to see Aladdin and Jasmine, but it was too hot. We though about eating here in Morocco, but nothing sounded good.

We went to France next where we had the most fun.

We thought he was cute…so Keri took a picture with him…lol

I think this is still in France…if not, someone correct me.

We were still STARVING but drinking alcohol. Yuck.

A girl in my class also did the DCP and suggested we stopped at the UK at Rose and Crown. It was packed, but we went inside anyway. We let the bartender make us something and I can’t remember the name of it but it would of been good if it wasn’t for all the ice in it. It had fresh fruit and was pretty good pre-ice. But because it was so packed, we went outside to drink where the race was on to drink it before the ice melted.

At this point, we were about to pass out from heat and not eating so we headed out the park.

ISN’T THIS JUST BEAUTIFUL?!

Sunglasses and Advil. I thank you.

Good thing the lines for the buses were empty.

But where were we headed next?

Just know:

We met a celeb at dinner during a blast from the past! (And he was a bit of a jerk…but a nice jerk.)

Who was it?

FIND OUT NEXT!

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[skylizard]

Love the animal kingdom leopard print outfit! Looks like you guys had a blast!

 

[MinnieJay]

Love the animal kingdom leopard print outfit! Looks like you guys had a blast!

Thank you And we did! Stay tuned for more!

 

[TeamMMom]

Looks like fun so far! Looking forward to following your TR!

 

[rymahoney]

Just curious could you add why u don't like mk

 

[MinnieJay]

Just curious could you add why u don't like mk

Been there way too many times. Even while on my college program, I didn't like to go often. Way too congested. If I do go to MK, it's to watch Wishes or eat a a certain restaurant. But we did go on this trip!

 

[MinnieJay]

Looks like fun so far! Looking forward to following your TR!

Thank you and Welcome to DisBoards!

 

[MinnieJay]

We were hungry. We were slighty tipsy. But most of all, we were hungry and in a goofy mood.

We didn’t have any ADRs and we hate the Magic Kingdom, so naturally, we headed to Hollywood Studios. I don’t really care for HS, but I’ll tolerate it.

While planning this trip, the only thing Keri really wanted to do was eat at Primetime and she really wanted a server who was going to play the role. I looked at the menu before hand and I didn’t see anything I would really eat, but what my best friend wants, my best friend gets : )

So Primetime it is!

We walked in and they said it would be a wait but we didn’t have a problem with that. We found some seats and took in our surroundings.

Keri said it looked like her mom’s living room when she was growing up.

I was starting to get tired so I rested my eyes for a bit, keeping my ears out for the hostess to call our party of two.

We were sitting by the bar and while I had my eyes closed, I heard a kid and his dad talking to a voice. The dad asked where he was from and I heard the voice say, “The Hollywood area” so in my head, I’m already like, “Dweeb. You probably live in LA. Or Santa Monica. I bet your address doesn’t say ‘Hollywood’.” Then I hear the kid ask for a picture and the voice says back, “Sure buddy!” I keep my eyes closed, but the more I hear this voice talk, the more I think the voice sounds familiar. But I can’t think who it is. Then, I hear the voice talking to someone, very loudly, how he used the disability card to get on rides. “Yeah dude! We rode everything like six times in a row!” With my eyes still closed, I recognize the voice but there is no way it is who I think it is because he wouldn’t use the disability card just to ride something. No, not who I’m thinking of….

Then Keri hits my arm and asks me had I been listening and is that who she thinks it is. I can’t tell because he looks a bit older in person, but it looked like him. But I tell her it couldn’t be…he was basically bragging about using a disability card to ride things back to back. We get up and get closer. And yep, it’s who I think it is.

Drake Bell. From Drake and Josh.

Keri walks right up to him and says hello and asks for a picture.

Then there is me. Who can’t place his face to a show so I say,

“Hey! You’re Josh from iCarly!”

*Facepalm*

1. That’s not his name.

2. He wasn’t even on iCarly.

But I was tired and hungry and couldn’t think right. Close enough. Those shows came out when I was bit older anyway

Even though I called him the wrong name and from the wrong show, he still takes a picture with me.

See my face. It’s full of embarrassment.

But he was nice. Just as he was wishing us Happy Birthday, our name was called and our table was ready!

At Primetime, you don’t have a server, you have a “Cousin”. We had Cousin Sam and he was a HOOT! OMG!

He gave us our menus and took our drink orders. When he came back with our drinks, he asked if we had washed our hands. We stopped at the front of the park to use the restrooms before coming to Primetime so we felt like our hands were still clean. So when he asked if we washed our hands, of course we said yes. Then he asked us what color the soap was. WE WERE STUMPED. He wouldn’t let us get our drinks until we went to go wash our hands lol. Keri was loving it. So we came back and told him to the color of the soap and he gave us our drinks.

Then he took our order.

I got the fried chicken with green beans and greens, I can’t remember what Keri got, but I want to say the meatloaf. While we were waiting, we had our phones out and Cousin Sam came back and told us to put them up, which we did. Me and Keri spent the whole day together, wasn’t too much to talk about and I was still tired so I had both on my elbows on the table and we were talking to the family next to us. Cousin Sam came OUT OF NO WHERE and told me to get my elbows off of the table or I won’t be getting dessert. Keri was loving all of this.

Our food came out and everything was good. I loved the skin of the chicken and the green beans.

But I didn’t care for the greens. Look, I’m from the South. I grew up on fried chicken, sweet tea (which tastes horrible in Florida and Disney no matter what) and greens. So I couldn’t get into the Disney version of greens. So, I picked at them and spread them out so Cousin Sam wouldn’t say anything. But I was wrong. So wrong.

Cousin Sam came by and asked why I wasn’t eating my greens. I told him I didn’t really care for them. He then asked if I wanted dessert, I told him yeah. He told me no dessert until I ate my greens.

Then he did the unthinkable.

HE SPOON FED MY GREENS TO ME.

He had a whistle and made an announcement to everyone near that I wouldn’t eat my greens.

That’s when he proceed to spoon feed them to me lol

He fed me at least three spoonfuls and then told me I could have dessert.

YAY!

I got smores, even though I was STUFFED.

I loved how burnt the marshmallows were.

SO GOOD.

One thing we wished we would have done was bring cash so we could leave tips.

We took turns tipping and it was my turn to tip.

So I ordered a drink to go and put the tip for the whole dinner on my debit card. Cousin Sam had to get it approved by the manager and I took the chance to let his manager know how awesome Cousin Sam had been to us.

We rolled our fat butts out and headed for the Great Movie Ride to give our stomachs some time to digest our food.

It’s a nice little ride/nap/resting place in the Air Condition. Then we headed for my favorite attraction at all of Disney…Tower or Terror. I was still slightly scared I was going to toss those spoon-fed greens back up, but I figured I was safer on ToT than on Rockin’ Rollercoaster

We rode both a few times before we decided to head back to the room. It had been a really long first day of running around the parks.

Just that day alone, we had been to:

Animal Kingdom, EPCOT to Drink Around the World, then to Hollywood Studios.

We were tired.

We wanted a nice picture to end our day. Both of our phones were dead and I had my point and shoot camera, which I always thought wasn’t that hard to work…but it was a the through out this trip that no one could work my camera.

Coulda been a nice picture…oh well haha.

We got back and got showered. I caught up on some homework and passed out shortly.

But wait, don’t you like my Disney themed p.js? I got them a few years back…

Cute? I know.

Stayed tuned because tomorrow, we head back to my favorite park, get excited to take a nap, and brave the rain.
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[MinnieJay]

Random pictures I couldn't post because of the 25 picture limit!

Just chillin' in Italy!

When I worked in Merch at Disney, people used to ask me all the time, "Do y'all sell the Thing 1, Thing 2 tee shirts?" Meanwhile, I would stare them like this: This little girl isn't helping my case lol

Little bunny right outside our door when we got back home!
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[MinnieJay]

This morning, I woke up a little early to finish up some homework that I was too tired to do the night before. Then, I woke Keri up while I napped (remember it takes her FOREVER AND A WEEK TO GET READY!). I woke back up while she was working on her hair and then I got dressed.

Our only real plan was the avoid the Magic Kingdom and to eat at San Angels Inn. Being an (Ex) Cast Member is nice…no rush on seeing things.

We finally made it out the door.

Running around the parks yesterday really took a toll out on us and we were tired. The heat wasn’t helping either.

We got on a bus to EPCOT, my favorite park.

Once there, we headed straight for the World Showcase, because you know, breakfast!

We wanted to eat an early lunch in the World Showcase. Since we were in the Mexican Pavilion taking shots the day prior, we decided to head back that way to try out San Angels Inn.

When we got there, they weren’t seating yet because it was so early.

NO PROBLEMO!

Reminder, we made no Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs) so for us to even be able to be seated was a deal in its self.

I happen to love sitting in air conditioning and going around Mexico with Donald!

So we hopped on the Grand Fiesta Tour!

I love the Mexican Pavilion, it’s so gorgeous on the inside with the perfect 24 hour “sunset”.

After our tour around Mexico, we looked around the shops for a bit, waiting for San Angels Inn to open still.

I thought these were pretty, but I didn’t have a few hundred to spend on a small glass figure I surly would accidentally drop.

This was the type of store you yank your kid up and say: “DON’T YOU TOUCH NOTHIN’! CAUSE I’M NOT BUYIN’ NOTHIN’ YOU BREAK!”

FINALLY, San Angel Inn opened up and I was excited because I was hungry!!

We were sat at this dimly lit table. It would be so romantic if you were on a date, but I was there with my best friend…

so naturally, we held hands across the table for a sec to not make ourselves feel so lonely! lol

Waitress came by and took our drink orders.

I really wanted a sweet tea, but I was in Florida and knew better than to order sweet tea any further South than Jacksonville, so I got a water and a Coke. The waitress was really nice and said things in Spanish then in English which I thought was really cool, so naturally, I had to place my order in Spanish to keep my Spanish skills fresh! Luckily, she understood me, encouraging me all the way. Disney Magic and many, many years of Spanish class, along with living in Florida for a year had me thinking I could speak fluent Spanish. Go figure.

As we were waiting for our food, a group of lively adults were sat beside us. They wished us happy birthday (we had on our pins) and we struck up quick convos with them.

The waitress brought us our chips.

OMG. Jesus personally had to craft those chips and send them to Disney from Heaven’s bakery. They are that good! Combined with the salsa! YUMMY! She brought two different salsa, one a little spicier than the other. I’m a bit of a wimp when it comes to spicy food, but both were very good.

Because we were on the Disney Dining Plan, we had to get the “Disney Dining Special”, which made it easy for us to order!

I think was apart of the “Traditional Mexican Dinner” special. I want to say this was the Tostadas de Tinga. Very good.

I really wanted to name this trip report, “So good, I need to put my hair in a pony tail for this one!” but decided not to because I often got so excited about the food, I forgot to do my food porn.

But that is what I often did when I ate really good food at Disney; put my hair in a pony tail so nothing could distract me from my eating Disney food mission!

I’m sure we got dessert because it was on our plan, but I can’t remember because I was in a food coma. Too full and I was starting to get sleepy!

We paid and left out of the pavilion, but it was just so hot and dang sticky outside and we were really sluggish.

That’s when Keri had the best idea of the trip.

“You know what would be fun?”

Me: “What?”

Keri: “A NAP!”

Yep! A nap sounded like so much fun and I’m not even being sarcastic. We basically ran out of EPCOT to the bus, excitedly talking about our nap. We were so tired that we got a spring of energy just because we knew a nap was coming. There we were, 21 and 22 years old, at Disney World, excited to go back to our room to take a nap.

Don’t judge us.

I raced her to the room, got there first, drew the blinds and hopped in bed. That was the best feeling I felt in a long time. Soon, I dozed off…only to be awaken by housekeeping around 2 that afternoon. We put the latch on the door so they wouldn’t come in. But housekeeping stood at the door while tried to explain to her that we didn’t want the room to be cleaned. She must of not understood so I told her to close the door while I put on clothes which she didn’t understand either. REALLY LADY? So she saw me standing in my underwear, getting out of bed, telling her to hold on with the 1 min sign, and closed the door so I could put on pants.

I re-opened the door and told her we didn’t want the room cleaned for today, just wanted some fresh towels and wash rags. She kept asking me if I was sure. Yes, I’m sure. I just want to go back to sleep! She had me sign off on a paper I guess saying I didn’t want my room cleaned and I went back to sleep.

Naturally, Keri slept through all this. Go figure.

We slept for about an other hour, before deciding to hit the parks again.

It was looking a little cloudy out:

So I changed since it tends to be a bit chilly on the buses and monorail, especially if you’re drenched in Florida Rain.

As soon as we got past the pool area, the heaven’s opened up, so I brought a poncho.

Keri has this thing about ponchos. We both agree that Disney has a dome over it and they control the weather. She told me that as soon as I brought a poncho, the rain would stop. It’s just Disney’s way of making more money post lunch time – summer 3 o clock rain showers.

Welp, it did stop raining as soon as I got my poncho on.

Whaleface.

But it was trapping my body heat inside and I wanted to look like a tourist as much I could, so I kept the poncho on.

Maybe I’m really nostalgic, but there is something really comforting about being in Disney World while it rains.

I remember being in the Magic Kingdom, me, my mom and dad were walking through Tomorrowland decked out in our yellow ponchos (way back in the day!) It wasn’t lighting or thundering, just raining and kind of hard. People were hiding out under any coverage they could find. But my dad insisted we keep going (“At least all the lines are short!”) and we trucked through it. My dad was always the type to want to get his full money worth, so this is a Disney memory that will always stick with me: Walking through the rain in a poncho for short lines. So long story short, rain in Disney World reminds me of my daddy.

Me and my daddy during one of our trips to Disney World.

***Continued in next post.***
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[MinnieJay]

Anyways, where was I?

Keri and I were on the way back to EPCOT for no particular reason.

Even when a bit soggy, this park is perfect.

While we were here, we figured we should see what the big fuss about the Test Track was all about.

The wait wasn’t that long. I guess the rains had cleaned crowds out.

I was the lucky holder of this baby.

Y’all ignore the random nail polish on my thumb. Remember we were supposed to get our nails done on that first day? Well, we did find one open shop, but they were taking too long, so we left before getting our nails done. That was the color I was going to get. Whoops.

We stood in line to design our car.

Over all, we felt like the whole, ‘Design your car’ mess was a waste of time. But we went with it, just to try it out. We saw some people skip it and just wait by the exit.

Overall, the ride is still the old Test Track, just looks like Tron threw up on it.

The basic concept is a little different too. I THINK, instead of you being a crash dummy for the car like in the old test track, you test your made up car against how the car you were physically riding in. We “won” in some area, but I can’t remember and really don’t care. I liked the old Test Track better honestly. WOMP WOMP.

Then, we went to the show room to see what new cars they had.

They had a controvertible Camaro that I would love to one day own.

But there was this family with their young son on the other side of the car that wanted pictures too I guess. They totally disregarded it was line of people wanting to take a picture in the car too so they put their son in the passenger seat with me.

Um, HELLO, I don’t want your baby or you in my picture! Get out my future car, line starts over there buddy! But they ignored everyone that tried to tell them. SO RUDE.

So I have them in the back of all my pictures.

See the guy in the background opening up the car door? GO. AWAY.

He is still standing there with the door open. Keri felt weird about getting their kid on camera, so she moved angles to cut the kid out.

Then, some kids from Brazil started moving in on the car, one opening up the car door and trying to crawl in there with me.

UH HELLO, I HAVEN’T EVEN BEEN HERE 30 SECS. GO.AWAY.

Right here is a kid opening up the car door. Dude. Really? How rude.

We left before we had to tell anyone off.

The sun was coming out and who can be mad during the “Golden Hour” at Disney?

You know, those magical hours where everything just has this perfect hue to it because of the sun setting? Photos come out gorgeous!

This place is just PERFECT.

We hopped on the bus over to Hollywood. We were getting hungry and I really wanted a pizza and salad and I was very determined to get it.

Golden Hour!

We got to Hollywood and Keri wanted a bacon cheeseburger.

We headed to Sunset.

I got just what I wanted:

And Keri got a Bacon Cheeseburger. She got full and gave her Star Wars Darth Vader cupcake to a nearby family.

I kept my dessert. Give away chocolate? No way!

Since we were trying out new things, I wanted to try out the new Star Wars!

I know absolutely nothing about Star Wars besides some of the characters and Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s daddy.

But I do know that ride made me and Keri sick to our stomachs! 4-D rides get to me I guess! I got sick on the Simpson’s ride at Universal when me and Malcolm on Spring Break there two years ago.

After that, me and Keri were feeling pretty yucky and we were done for the night.

We headed back to All Star Sports.

I always liked working at All Star Movies because it was so bright and usually the biggest, but Sports had its own charm to it. I liked the quietness of it.

As I was walking through the lobby, I snapped a few pictures. I worked in the Gift Shop below. It was amazing to stand where I used to work and be a guest this time. It’s a whole different perspective.

I noticed how much I took for granted while being an on-site Florida cast member. I would get off of work and had the choice to go ride Tower of Terror before I went home if I felt like it. Families would save up for months just to go stay at All Star and I had the chance to make their vacation magical. I always knew that and I always strive to do so. But this time it was different. I was there, spending my hard earned money that I saved up to stay there. No, All Star isn’t the Grand Floridian, but it was MY hotel and I enjoyed everyone I crossed paths with.

I got some homework done, showered, watched a bit of t.v. while eating my left over cake and headed to bed. Last park day in the morning and we have a lot to do!
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