DISNEY COLLEGE PROGRAM - A Spring 2013 Adventure! *COMPLETE* 11/20

We are staying at the boardwalk in august- the pics of the pool & bakery are making me very excited!

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Welcome Back!!! Your pics of BW have slightly convinced me that maybe DF and I should check it out for a possible reception venue!
 

Welcome Back!!! Your pics of BW have slightly convinced me that maybe DF and I should check it out for a possible reception venue!

I would definitely look into that! It has to be one of the most gorgeous locations on property! I'm thinking about doing that myself in the future :laughing:
 
May 7th, 2013 (Part 4) - Big River Grille and La Nouba!

Once Miranda left, Mom and I got ready for our night! Once I showered and got ready, I made this little beauty of a video giving a tour of our garden suite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbEAXgSGE18

I am a frump.

Then mom and I headed down to the Boardwalk to grab dinner!

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As we were walking to dinner, we saw FanoftheDuck from disboards! I was so glad he said hello! He was at Disney for his friend's wedding (which is tomorrow, on my birthday!) I hope that it was completely perfect! The Boardwalk is probably the most gorgeous place to have a wedding. I'm definitely keeping that in mind.

I wanted to try Big River Grille really bad, so that's what we did!

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We walked up to the podium, asked for an inside table, and got seated right away! We had a lovely window table so I got to stare at the love of my life out the window- the YaCHt Club. <3

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We started off with the crab and artichoke dip. I LOVED THAT STUFF. What a great way to begin!

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The menu was unexpectedly good. I was excited and had a hard time deciding what to get! But after obsessing about my new macaroni and cheese cookbook, I decided I wanted pasta. So I got shrimp alfredo and it was AMAZING! I haven't had alfredo anything in so long because it's really not the healthiest for you.... But IT'S MY BIRTHDAY WEEK! And it was SO worth it. OMG. The noodles were cooked perfectly, the alfredo just tasted phenomenal, and I was just in love.

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Mom got the mushroom and swiss burger and she said it was excellent! The portions at this restaurant were huge so she couldn't even finish it! The dish came with kettle chips too which she loved.

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We were too full for dessert. (even though we saw this chocolate cake that looked HEAVENLY) I have never been to Big River Grille before today and I was VERY impressed. It was definitely a hidden gem! The atmosphere was so relaxed and the food was such good quality. We had a fantastic experience there and I'm so happy we decided to give it a go. It's still weird to me that they don't take reservations, but getting there right around 5 pm definitely helped us get seated right away!

After dinner we just walked around the Epcot resort area twice. I am in love with this area. It's beautiful. I wish I could just walk around there every day! (Heck, I guess I could if I wanted to)

Near the Yacht Club we saw a little bunny as well as a mama duck and her little baby ducklings!

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We got back to the room, changed, and headed to Dundries and Sundries - the little gift shop in the Boardwalk lobby. Mom wanted to grab some medicine and we were talking with the CM's as we were checking out. I mentioned that it was my birthday tomorrow and mom was like "we have to get your birthday button!" Then the one cast member in the store, Patrick, was like "oh can I make it?" And I was like "yeah sure!" Little did I know what was to come.

He said he would be right back because he had to go get his supplies. He came back with colorful fancy artistic markers and I was getting SUPER excited. He let me pick a color and I said purple.

So then he made a big announcement with a straight face. "What I am about to do will offend all of the nuns in the Catholic Church across the United States. I'm working on the Vatican."

:lmao:

Then he started. He wrote my name out in black. Then he added in the purple. Then he started drawing pixie dust. Then he added in some blue. And before I knew it I had the most GORGEOUS birthday button in EXISTENCE.

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I just couldn't believe it! I literally told my mom this morning "I really want to find a special cast member to make my birthday button." Then he just found me! It was magical, it was unexpected, and it was what Disney is all about.

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I thanked him profusely and I thanked the cashier for being a part of the moment.

After that, Mom and I grabbed our car and headed to Downtown Disney! I was just obsessing over my birthday button. IT'S LITERALLY THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD!!

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Mom surprised me this afternoon and asked if I wanted to go to Cirque du Soliel: La Nouba for one of my birthday presents. UMM YES. OMG. I HAVE BEEN DYING TO GO!!!!!!

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We arrived at Downtown Disney a little after 8 pm and we went to the box office. We waited in line and got up to the window. Mom and I were discussing where we would like to sit, and the cast member told us "one moment, let me just refresh the cancellations." So we were like, okay no problem. Then he was like "I have two seats open right here; two people cancelled." He pointed to the first row of category 2 DIRECTLY in the middle. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!

Of course we said yes and I thanked him SO many times!!! I couldn't believe it. I was like jumping up and down and was just ecstatic.

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We were loaded into the theater at 8:30 pm for the 9 o'clock show. We were in section 204 and in row FF. They were BEYOND PERFECT.

The show started at 9 and I was BLOWN AWAY. Stacey is so right, it is literally eye, ear and imagination candy. I was in awe.

I took physical theatre classes for the past 2 semesters so a lot of things in this show were coming full circle for me. It was a little weird how I was recognizing so many things!

They had hilarious clowns, there were INCREDIBLE costumes, the music was amazing.... AHH I just don't even know how to accurately describe this show.

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One of my top favorite things was recognizing little clips in the soundtrack from the Stacey show. It was so exciting when a new one would come on. My mom and I would be like "ah this ones in must do Disney!" Loved it.

The best part was definitely the Chinese yoyos with the young girls. My jaw DROPPED for a good five minutes. I was just like "HOW DID THEY DO THAT?! OH MY GOD." The girls did not miss a beat. At all. Ever.

Then the juggling was INSANE. I couldn't even get over it. How he did it so flawlessly is beyond me.

The acrobatics, tight rope walking, the trampolines, and the EVERYTHING were so cool. I just don't understand how people learn how to do this stuff.

I was beyond impressed. BEYOND. It was so phenomenal. I saw the show once when I was in 7th grade and I remember it being amazing but I didn't remember any of the specifics. It was was EYE OPENING. The show was surreal. It almost seemed super human. It was unbelievable. I LOVED IT!!!!!

GAHH well that was pretty much one of the most awesome things I have ever seen. My mom and I haven't stopped talking about it. I was so excited that we got to go!

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So we headed home after and we got back to our room.

I literally had just been talking about how I physically cannot be surprised to my Mom. I am always the surpriser but never the surprisee.

Well... we opened the door there were BALLOONS and A WRECK IT RALPH CAKE sitting on our table. WHAT?!!!!?

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I read the card and it didn't say who it was from. I asked everyone and nobody owned up to it, so I still don't know who gave it to me. I'm guessing that it was the Boardwalk, since they used my full name instead of Jess. Whatever... IT WAS PERFECT!!!!!!!! Leave it to Disney to surprise me!!

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We didn't get to eat the cake because we didn't have any plates or forks or knives, but we put it in the fridge and saved it for later!

After that we headed to bed. It was my last night being a 19 year old! (:

COMING UP NEXT: MY BIRTHDAYYYY!

Continued in Next Post
 
May 8th, 2013 (Part 1) - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

This morning my alarm went off at 7:30 am but I was tired so I fell back asleep until 8. Then once I re-woke up I realized IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthdays are a HUGE deal to me. And being a Disney fan encourages me to celebrate birthdays even more. I knew that this was going to be the most incredible day and I couldn't wait to see what would happen! TIME TO GO, TIME TO GO!

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Mom and I headed over to the Innkeeper's Club to have my little birthday breakfast! I got fresh fruit, a hard boiled egg, a flaky croissant, and a raspberry danish. YUM AND YUM. I loved everything but I ESPECIALLY loved the danish. I love raspberry everything.

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Lorenzo, one of the cast members in the lounge, was SO FUNNY. He was ALL excited it was my birthday. He was like "THE BIRTHDAY PRINCESS HAS ARRIVED!" It was awesome.

I finished eating and then it was time to go to the Magic Kingdom!!!! EEEP!! We got right on the bus. I was so excited to be able to take a Disney bus on my birthday. Disney buses are MAGICAL. I love feeling the blasting cold air conditioning. I love the fresh smell of it in the morning. And I mostly love the bus voice guy. To make my birthday even more magical, the bus voice guy announced to the entire bus that there was a birthday on-board! It was AWESOME!

We arrived to Magic Kingdom and I heard the Mickey Mouse Club March start as we pulled up. I got off of the bus and I instantly felt like a five year old again. I may have turned 20 today but going to the Magic Kingdom always snaps me back into my childhood state. I was SO EXCITED. I couldn't believe it. I was so ready for a wonderful day!

We walked in to the Magic Kingdom and the sun was shining and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL outside. I was just loving life. Having great weather on your birthday is probably the greatest gift of all.

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I realized that I seriously just wanted to meet characters. I was in the ZONE. I was just looking at the list of characters on the My Disney Experience App and I was like... "I want to meet him. I was to meet her. OMG WE HAVE TO MEET THEM!!!" That's all I wanted to do.

We saw MARY POPPINS! Her line wasn't that long so we hopped right in. We were the last family who got to meet her for that set. Eeep! She was so lovely. I haven't met her in such a long time... maybe since the frump trip back in January 2011? It has been a while! I told her, "you're the first character I met on my birthday!" and she said "Thank you so much for letting me be such a special part of your day!"

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We both put our hands on her umbrella for the picture and it was PRECIOUS.

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Then my Mom joined in for a second photo. Mary Poppins is just delightful. She's so beautiful!

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After that we ran over to meet Snow White! She was sweet.

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Then we still had a bit of time until our princess fastpasses and I NEEDED to meet Pluto. Pluto is my FAVORITE. We got in line and it was really long but I didn't care. I was fine with waiting for a while in the direct sunlight for the love of my life. <3

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Pluto saw my birthday button and he got SO EXCITED! He started conducting happy birthday to me and I told him I loved him and that he was my favorite.

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He blew me kisses and put it hand to his heart and gave me so many hugs. I was in love. Like 100% completely. Pluto will always be my favorite.

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This is my favorite picture of all time.

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Continued in Next Post
 
Read all your reports and just joined the DIS! Been reading for a while, wicked happy I can post on your report now! Can't wait for another updatepopcorn::
 
May 8th, 2013 (Part 2) - Happy Birthday, Princess!

Then it was time to meet the princesses!!!

Our first princess was Aurora! I told her it was my birthday and she asked if there was any pixie dust in my birthday cake. I said yes, of course, and she said she bets Fauna had something to do with that! Sometimes she still sneaks her magic wand while she's baking.

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Next was Cinderella and I LOVED her. She was just so engaged in our conversation and I felt like a real princess when I talked to her. She asked me about my plans for my birthday and told me that I looked beautiful!

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Our last princess was Rapunzel. She was adorable, of course. She told me it's so great to have your mother with you on your birthday, as long as it's your real mother! Thankfully mine is!

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Our Photopass photographer was EXCELLENT. He even took a nice selfie of himself. LOL

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What a fun start to the day! (: It's not a birthday without some castle pictures!

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From there we went to go meet Aladdin and Jasmine but their line was closed. So we started wandering for a bit. I got pixie dusted in Castle Couture for my birthday, because it is necessary to sparkle on your birthday!

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I had to take a picture with my girl, Jas!

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After that we wandered our way over to get in line for Merida! I haven't met her since before Brave came out last May, so I wanted to go see her in her beautiful greeting area.

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The line was long and we were standing in the direct sunlight but it was okay because I was so excited to meet her!

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Mark came and met up with us and I was SO EXCITED BECAUSE I GOT TO HANG OUT WITH MY BEST FRIEND AND MY MOM IN THE MAGIC KINGDOM ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!! Mark brought me my birthday present - he got me two Tangled play sets and I was SO HAPPY!!! I promise, I'm 20 years old.

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Continued in Next Post
 
Love the updates...and the video tour!

I just turned 23 and I'm always looking for a Pocahontas playset!!! I've determined I will never be able to grow up, so why bother trying??
 
Wow, what a great birthday so far. Pixie dust pixiedust:for those front row center seats for the show. I have seen two of the shows in Vegas, just amazing performers. The Wreck it Ralph cake and balloons are so fun, what a great surprise!
You look so cute in your Mickey tie dye dress for your birthday trip to the MK.princess: I'm sure this will be a Bday you remember for a long time. I hope anyone who reads this will find Patrick to make their Bday button, I have never seen one so fancy and pretty! Great job, and what luck for you to run into him.
 
Loving the updates. Does anyone know where to find jess's DLR TR? I thought I read she was taking a trip there.
 















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