Don't Mind All The Blurry Pics Trip #2 - Updated 4/14/09

[BeckWhy]

So my last vacation in 2006 I realized I loved having so many pictures to look back and remember. I can remember that trip like yesterday. I do reject previous trips for not taking as many pics. So I have learned my ways and decided to take as many pics as I can.

I'm in the process of uploading my pictures to the internet. I have to figure out what order they go in since they were on different cards and apparently didn't save in chronological order.

But here is the link to my pre-trippy: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1861190

You don't really have to read it, since I'll explain a bit of it here.

 

[BeckWhy]

The Real Trip Report

11/19/08 Introductions page 1/post 3
11/19/08 Mini-Pretrip & The Airports page 1/post 4
11/24/08 The Airport & Pop Century page 1/post 13
11/24/08 Downtown Disney page 1/post 14
11/24/08 End of Day 1 page 1/post 15
11/25/08 Magic Kingdom Part 1 page 2/post 18
11/25/08 Magic Kingdom Part 2 page 2/post 19
11/26/08 Magic Kingdom Part 3 page 2/post 20
11/30/08 Magic Kingdom Part 4 page 2/post 21
11/30/08 Magic Kingdom Part 5 page 2/post 22
12/2/08 Magic Kingdom Part 6 page 2/post 29
12/2/08 Magic Kingdom Part 7 page 2/post 30
1/8/09 Magic Kingdom Part 8 page 3/post 33
1/8/09 Magic Kingdom Part 9 page 3/post 34
1/8/09 Magic Kingdom Part 10 page 3/post 35
1/8/09 Magic Kingdom Part 11 page 3/post 36
1/12/09 Epcot Part 1 page 3/post 38
1/12/09 Epcot Part 2 page 3/post 39
1/12/09 Epcot Part 3 page 3/post 40
1/13/09 Epcot Part 4 page 3/post 41
2/6/09 Epcot Part 5 page 3/post 42
2/6/09 Epcot Part 6 page 3/post 43
2/6/09 Epcot Part 7 page 3/post 44
4/7/09 Epcot Part 8 page 4/post 47
4/7/09 Epcot Part 9 page 4/post 48
4/7/09 Epcot Part 10 page 4/post 49
4/14/09 Animal Kingdom Part 1 page 4/post 51

 

[BeckWhy]

Through all the drama as to whom would go to Disney World with me it ended up being my ex-boyfriend who went. (He was supposed to go with me in the first place anyways.)

I'm Becky, 25, college grad working in retail. I'm the Disney geek in my family, straight arrow, follow the rules, goody-two-shoes. I have several Disney trips under my belt.

Then there is Eric. My ex-boyfriend, 25. He works for his parents who pay for everything. He's a recently turned Disney freak. He used to be anti-Disney, until our last trip (2006) and his recent trip to Myrtle Beach. Let me elaborate on that a minute... His family is very anti-Disney. They have the whole mentality of "why are you going there again?" Well a couple years ago his parents bought a timeshare which has taken them to Myrtle Beach a couple times a year. Well, never once was Eric invited until this past May (they actually invited him around Thanksgiving and he invited me, but we broke up, but then he asked me to go anyways, and I wasn't going to give up Disney World for Myrtle Beach). Anyways, he went for 7 nights... he hated it. There wasn't enough for him to do... or nothing his parents wanted to do. So this trip I heard a lot about how he loves Disney World and hates Myrtle Beach. Moving on though, we dated for about 5.5 years and he up and broke up with me for another girl... which of course didn't work out. A few months pasted and we became friends and have been since.

I love traveling with Eric because he practically lets me run the show. Sometimes he complains here and there, but for the most part when I say jump, he asks how high.

 

[BeckWhy]

So moving on with the trip.

I got a pin code sometime ago and new my calling was coming and booked the trip right away. November 11 - November 18 at Pop Century. I booked up our ADRs, and waited around for airfare to drop.

I know a lot of you think that's not such a great thing to do, but it actually played out really well for us. Three airlines have direct flights to and from Buffalo to Orlando: AirTran, JetBlue, and SouthWest. I watched each of them like a hawk for months. AirTran was constantly running $72 each way, but JetBlue has better flight times.

With AirTran I would have had to book direct down and either the direct flight back, which was at 9 am, or a layover flight. I really didn't want to do either. Well one day AirTran was running a special: $59 flights (but they were all non-direct). I spoke to my dad about it and he told me for the $16 more, to get the direct flights. So I held my breath and hoped JetBlue or SouthWest would bring their airfare down. A couple days later JetBlue dropped their prices from $114 round trip to $72. I jumped on those tickets so fast. I had to have my mom double check all the info to make sure I typed it in correctly because I was so excited. They were perfect flight times.

Anyways, about 3 weeks ago SouthWest ran 50% off their flights out of Buffalo making round trip with direct flights only $93. I almost peed myself. I would have never waited so long to book plane tickets anyways, but it was a killer deal.

Everything was getting set up for the trip.

I asked to be scheduled on the low end of my hours up until Disney World to make sure I had enough time to get everything set for the trip (ok, it really was to make sure I got everything packed because I always forget something). But the week before I was working 40 hours, which in the end was great because it kept me occupied.

November 10th:
I asked to open and work an 8 hour shift. The manager only scheduled me for 4.5 hours midday though because she didn't want to take Monday off (the other manager said she would take Monday off, but it just didn't happen). In the end it didn't bother me though. I went to work and came home, finished some last minute stuff, called Eric to make sure he packed all his last minute goodies and was in bed by 9. I know it's like really early, but I had to wake up at 6 am (ok, you all are thinking I'm such a baby now aren't you?).

Surprisingly, I actually fell right asleep. But I was woken up in the middle of the night. I had to use the restroom, but it was around the time my brother got home from work. (I should tell you now that I still live with my parents.) He's not very nice and gets very upset when someone is in the bathroom when he gets home from work. Anyways, usually he doesn't take too long, but he kept talking and laughing and being rowdy with my sister (she must have just got home from the bar), so I didn't get to use the bathroom and couldn't fall back to sleep because of all the noise. Finally around 5 am I fell back to sleep, to wake up at 6.

I woke up and straightened my hair, ate something really quick and got my mom up so she could drink her coffee before driving us to the airport. My mom was going to drop us off, head off to Rochester to visit my aunt for the night, and head to NYC to visit my older sister. Of course my dad had all sorts of last minute stuff, so we were running late.

Eric started calling me at 7:45. I didn't know because of all the commotion. But I finally checked my phone and told him we weren't ready yet. We didn't leave the house til 8:15 am (we planned on leaving at 8).

This is me on the way to Eric's apartment to pick him up

Eric was ready and waiting for us when we pulled up.

It snowed the night before we left

The drive is about 2 hours to Buffalo. I thought we were going to stop in Irving to get gas and ciggarettes, but my mom said we would keep going, so that saved us some time.

Traveling north on I-90 there was no snow in the south towns or Buffalo.

My aunt had called while we were on the road and asked if I was still with my mom. She wanted my mom to pick her up an Aerobed at Linen-N-Things on her way there (I guess they are going out of business).

We arrived in Buffalo around 10 am. We had planned to do breakfast at McDonald's across the street from the airport (we always do this). Eric ordered a egg, cheese, and bacon bagel and an OJ. I paid for my mom's meal (I do this for whomever comes with us). She ordered pancakes and sausage with a small coffee. I got a sausage egg biscuit with cheese (extra $.30 for the cheese) meal with OJ. Sorry, I didn't take any pics because Eric was giving me a hard time and most of you can get them at one of the 239042845290345204958720958 McDonald's there are around.

Eric kept saying how he hates biscuits (which I never remember, I kept wondering why Eric never got biscuits on the trip). He liked his bagel, and my mom liked her pancakes. She asked for more syrup when we got them (they give you one container for a stack of pancakes) but they told her they would have to charge her for it. I love sausage, egg and cheese biscuits and I only eat them on vacation so I was loving life. My hash brown was cold, but still crispy. There was a sign next to our table that said something like "No loitering. You have 20 minutes to eat. Strongly enforced by management." What is that all about? What if it takes me longer than 20 minutes to eat? What if I chillaxing while I wait for the McGreasy to be rejected by my body! LOL!

My aunt called again to clarify any info about the Aerobed she wanted.

My mom dropped us off at the airport around 10:30 am. I didn't do an online check-in because we had to check luggage anyways. There wasn't a wait. The wait for security was fairly long... like 15 minutes. Eric's stuff went through fine, but for some reason they had to search my backpack.

We headed to our gate and waited. Eric played with his iTouch trying to get internet.

All smiles waiting for our plane!

And here is our jet

They started boarding the plane about 10 minutes early. That's ok with me, the earlier we get there the sooner I get to have fun!

I get to sit by the window because airplanes give me panic attacks. JetBlue has TVs also! That was cool!

Our plane was scheduled to take off at noon. I called my dad when we boarded and told him I'd call him when we got to the hotel. He asked me about what time it would be and I said "I don't know... 4 o'clock?"

There wasn't anything really exciting on TV, so we did a bunch of channel surfing.

I watched the Food Network for a little while. The flight went by really fast. They had good food too. A lot of options. The steward came back with a basket of treats, asked what we wanted and took our drink order. Eric and I both got Munchies. But Eric got a Sprite and I got a Coke Zero. Check out JetBlue's website for all their snack offerings.

I'm not sure what time we landed, but we got off the plane and headed towards the main terminal. Here's Eric on the bumpy airport monorail:

I saw the Disney World store so I ran in to check out the offerings. I ran a contest for my girls while I was gone. I told them if they met a certain level of units per transactions I would bring them a special treat (I also gave them some insite on how to achieve higher UPTs). I wanted to see what this special treat was going to cost me... and it wasn't going to be cheap. Eric waited for me in the atrium:

Ok guys... It's almost 9... I gotta get ready for bed cuz I got a long work day tomorrow.

 

[OhMari]

Good start.

I reallly tried hard to take pictures of everything we did before our departure and at the airport, but my dh was making faces at me. He didn't understand why I was taking pictures.

 

[BeckWhy]

Good start.

I reallly tried hard to take pictures of everything we did before our departure and at the airport, but my dh was making faces at me. He didn't understand why I was taking pictures.

I told Eric that I was going to take pics weather or not he wants to or not! Of course he did get pretty agitated with me during parts of the trip...

 

[nahbois2000]

cold weather up there.. bet it was nice to hit the sunshine state

 

[312.Duck]

Ok... I know I probably offened a few of your already... So let me explain.

I never actually got sloshed. I found it quite difficult to even get a buzz. It just started around the first day of our vacation that I started saying it. I had plans on trying several alcoholic beverages and figured I would get somewhat tipsy. Well it didn't really happen, but I continued to say that over and over again throughout our trip.

LOL...LOL...LOL....I love it!

I've tried. No, really, I've tried to drink at Disney.
But it never seems to work!
Every time it's one thing or another...either I'm too damn full, too tired, too busy, whatever.
That or all their alcoholic drinks are half proof.



I like the shot of the fresh snow fall on the way up.
Good stuff, keep it up.

 

[BeckWhy]

cold weather up there.. bet it was nice to hit the sunshine state

It's cold, but I grew up here. It's not that bad too me. You'll here more about the WNY weather later in the TR. It was nice to go to FL, I don't really go for the heat or the sunshine, they are just extra perks.

And even though it's cold here, we have the proper clothes for it! HAHA! Down there when the temp dropped we were scattering around to buy more hoodies!

LOL...LOL...LOL....I love it!

I've tried. No, really, I've tried to drink at Disney.
But it never seems to work!
Every time it's one thing or another...either I'm too damn full, too tired, too busy, whatever.
That or all their alcoholic drinks are half proof.



I like the shot of the fresh snow fall on the way up.
Good stuff, keep it up.

We drank a bit. I'm not sure if we drank a lot or not... you guys can be the judge... but you the drinks are like 1/2 proof... they have to be.

 

[312.Duck]

It's cold, but I grew up here. It's not that bad too me. You'll here more about the WNY weather later in the TR. It was nice to go to FL, I don't really go for the heat or the sunshine, they are just extra perks.

And even though it's cold here, we have the proper clothes for it! HAHA! Down there when the temp dropped we were scattering around to buy more hoodies!

I appreciate that 100%.

People always ask, "ooohhh, isn't it cold up there? Don't you grow tired of it?"
Well, ummm...no.
I usually make sure to get that option called "heat" in my car (is that even an option?), I wear a coat, hat, & gloves if I'm outside in really cold temps, and everywhere I go...work, home, eat, drink...has heat!

I also happen to like some of my nice sweaters.


Your assessment of DW in terms of perks is also Spot On. If I really want heat, there's many hotter places I can go besides Orlando!

 

[BeckWhy]

I know I need to get more down for you guys. I was thrown back into work and don't have much time to do it other wise (well, trying to unpack and everything). I've also had some problems with my computer.

 

[heaven2dc]

Great idea to have tv's to pass the time. Anxious to see how warm it is when you arrive (looked pretty chilly when you left

I think it's great you and Eric are still friends - plus he loves Disney too!

 

[BeckWhy]

After the Disney store I decided to run into the Sea World store. Last time they had these really cute stuffed penguins and I wanted to check them out. Each trip I buy a realistic stuffed animal from the Animal Kingdom. They are made by a company called Fiesta. I thought maybe I could add a penguin to my pack. They weren't as realistic as the Fiesta animals. So I decided to skip them.

We headed through the terminal to the B side where Disney's Magical Express was. We get there, head down the escalladers and nothing. "What the...?" So we go to one of the little seating areas so I can dig my ME documents outta my back and see what was going on. OMG! It's terminal A. Fantastic! I could have sworn they were terminal B. So back up the escalladers through the main terminal and down some more escalladers. Yep, that's where ME is. What an idiot I am.

There were cast members directing the way and there was a small line for ME. The sign at the front said that only one person needed to check in. I knew that would make Eric happy because he hates waiting in line. So I told him to go have a seat while I checked in.

The process was painless. They stamped our ME docs and asked how many checked backs we had. Then we headed off to the Pop Century ME waiting line. The lines have grown in the length since 2006. I don't mean the people waiting in line, just the length of them. Anyways, walked through the lines and waited.

Here's Eric trying to get the internet on his iTouch while waiting:

Just like last time we didn't wait long at all. Maybe 3 minutes. We were kinda far back in the line, but here's the bus:

They loaded the suitcases/strollers/whatever people had under the bus while everyone got on board and found seats.

All smiles cuz we're GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!

This bus' TVs worked and it was the first time I saw the ME video. It was cute, but I was kinda oogling all the senery. I've been wanting to move to FL for a long time and was trying to check out the apartment complexes that we passed. The driver told us it would only take about 35 minutes to get to Pop, which was his first stop.

I always try to get a pic of the WDW gate, but never can get a good one. Plus this time we were towards the back. It was not going to happen. But as you drive you turn onto Victory Way or something like that... it's the road the Wide World of Sports complex is on.

Then you turn onto Pop Century Blvd I think and you're there.

We got off the bus and grabbed my suitcase and headed towards the lobby. The Caddy golf cart thing was parked out front. I didn't get a pic of it and I wish I had. I figured it was like stationed there the entire time (I didn't see it any other time I've been there). The lobby was fairly active, no surprise there, but we didn't have a wait to check in.

We headed right up to the cast member and she told us where our room was and that it was ready. When she showed us it was in the 80's, I asked her if there was a room available in the 50's or 70's. She asked us to hold a second, did some typing, some more typing... then said "Oh I think I have one... Let me just recheck this..." She typed some more and then said "Oh wait, no, it's not available." She wasn't very comforting... I mean, her tone of voice... I don't know. I guess I think when I at the Happiest Place on Earth that the people work there are a bit... nicer. I dunno. I just rolled my eyes. I had requested a room in the 50's or 70's (I know they are not guarenteed), but every time I called to confirm they never had it listed (if you read my pre-trip you will realize that I had a lot of problems communicating with CMs at the reservation center).

I was fairly annoyed... I mean the hotel has like 3000 rooms and they didn't have anything available other than the 80s? I mean I would have taken the 90's over the 80's. Oh well... you win some, you lose some.

So we headed off towards our room... walked passed Hippy Dippy pool & the 60's, right through the 70's and to the far side of the 80's. At least we were on the second floor. And you know what, it was pretty quiet over there. And it really wasn't that far. I actually wasn't that upset after we got there.

7251 was our room number. I knew as soon as I looked at the room that it was H/C accessible. I was glad for that because I love the "bigger" shower. It had a king bed and of course a fridge (which I requested because Eric has meds that have to be fridgerated).

Poster of the 80's: LOVE EPCOT AND FIGMENT!

For those of you who haven't stayed in one of these rooms, let me try to explain the bathroom. There is no separation between the "toilet" area and the "shower" area. It's all one big tiled floor. So after you shower make sure you don't walk in the bathroom with socks on or they will be soaked!

Most rooms had lil towel dogs. Eric thought they were cool.

I called my dad before I took any pics actually. It was 4:00 on the dot. He was pretty impressed with my time guessing abilities (I didn't even realize it when I called him, he told me on the phone). I also told the girls at work that I was gonna text them pics of me in FL as soon as I stepped off the plane. I forgot, but I took some at the hotel and sent them out.

A few of them texted me back, but I have filled up my inbox since then so I don't remember what they said.

After that we were pretty starved so we headed to DTD to use our Planet Hollywood voucher. We did this last trip and fairly enjoyed it. Except last time it was for a burger or speghetti and a drink. This time you got $15 off as long as it wasn't alcohol.

We were on Roger Rabbit's side of the 80's!

Nice pic, I know.

We tried to find a faster way to the lobby other than all around the 70's... you just walk passed the playground. (BTW, this is not the fastest way to walk to the buses, but we figured that out later.)

(This isn't lighted at night, and there were nights kids were playing on it and I don't know how because we couldn't see a bloody thing!)
Kid's water area with Goofy and a tiny Vette.

There was no line for the DTD bus, so we just sat down and waited (we like sitting and waiting).

Look there's the 80's and 90's!

 

[BeckWhy]

I always forget there is a bus pickup/drop off location in Pleasure Island. But we had plenty of time to spare anyways. I wanted to go into Once Upon a Toy and see if they had the missing Potatohead parts I want anyways. When we were walking past Rainforest Cafe they had an exhibit going on. A trainer was talking with some birds. They were very beautiful.

Eric said he'd be waiting outside for me while I was looking around Once Upon a Toy. I found one of my missing Cruella arms, and started to dig for my missing Incredible arm. A CM came over to me and asked if I needed any help finding anything.

Now before I go any further, I should explain something. I might offend or upset some people with the next bit of info I'm gong to say. I work in retail; I'm a manager in retail, and have had very stressful days, had to deal with bad/upset customers and employees. I know the stress that is out there.

So I told the CM I was looking for a left Mr Incredible arm. Her immediate response, without even thinking was "We don't have any." And she didn't even say it nicely or anything. No "I'm sorry, but we currently don't have any in stock." But she gave me a cocky "we don't have any." Now immediately, because of her response and the fact there is a bin full of Incredible parts I think how do you know this and how do you not have left arms when you have 23497134823491072348819234781923479132487 right ones. I stay calm and say "do you know when you'll get more in?" Her response "NOPE!" "Could you go ask for me?" (Of course now I'm starting to get witchy... and I am a mean customer... I'm so bad I got Sears to give me a $2300 fridge for $1400 because their ad was misleading.) So she told me to hang on... went and talked to a few guys and stood there and pointed at me. Never returned to tell me when they were getting shipment in. Now I know there's a chance their shipment comes in sporatic, but I can't imagine it does. And I know that maybe the item I want isn't there, but at least I can come in and check.

Anyways, I decided to just get the Cruella arm and check back later. They had a bunch of new parts (Star Wars) that I didn't have and would definately fill up a box.

Here was a Christmas Tree that was up!

And we passed the cool Lego structures that everyone has to take pics of:

(Rainforest Cafe from the Lego store):

Kinda looks like Dory

I think it would kinda hurt if this shark bit you!

Chop Chop

And of course we had to check out the new T-Rex Cafe.

I went up to try to look at their menu. Not that we were gonna eat there, just sit at the bar and have a drink. But there was a line just to look at the menu! So I took a pic of the Rover instead.

Another Christmas Tree in DTD:

We headed off through DTD and strolled through the vacant Pleasure Island. This was the first time I've been there since I was very young. I almost felt bad I didn't get to experience it at as an adult.

And onto Planet Hollywood:

Forest Gumps shrimpin' boat:

Ok, so I do think the giant globe shaped thing sticking out of the ground it a bit weird. And Planet Hollywood is very loud. But to get $15 off a meal, hey why not. Plus I love their drinks there.

There was no wait and the photog took our pic out front. I didn't want too, didn't care too. Do you really have to do it?

I planned a head what we would get that would be the best bang for our buck and fill us up. We got the VIP Platter: Texas Tostadas, Buffalo Wings, Spinach Dip, and Chicken Crunch. Eric, being a fan of the new Terminator series on TV ordered a Terminator; while I ordered a Blue Lagoon (it has a shark swimming in it, plastic of course).
Here's me after we ordered food:

\
My Blue Lagoon (minus the shark):

Eric yelled at me for using my flash... so I turned it off.
The platter:

Eric's Terminator:

Starting with the food, the spinach dip was very, very bland. Almost no flavor what-so-ever. It really needed salt and the chips were not salty enough. I'm not a fan of chicken wings, but these weren't too bad. They weren't as fatty or juicy as the wings we get up here (I don't live in Buffalo, but I live close). The Texas Tostadas were like tortilla chips with cheese and and I think bacon on them. Eric liked those the most. And then there was the Chicken Crunch. Ok, these were AMAZING! I loved them! YUMMO! They were crispy, crunchy, sweet, salty... everything. They were great!
Eric really wasn't a fan of any of it. He didn't even eat the wings and he usually eats 23984193048 of them at a time. And he didn't like his drink. I realized when he orders a drink he doesn't like, he won't eat. I will say I tried his drink (actually I think I finished it off) and it wasn't that great. It was ok, but we have had way better. My drink was very good, but also not my favorite. I definately liked my Sweet Death Becomes Her better. But I got a plastic shark out of the deal.

We left Planet Hollywood and headed off to Sosa Cigars. Eric has to buy cigars every time he goes, even though he doesn't really like them and doesn't know what to buy. This time dad was working and he helped Eric pick out some cigars. They were really nice.

Also the magic store was open. Last time it was closed, so we checked it out. They were doing demonstrations and I got to be part of a card trick. It was fun. Then we headed back off towards DTD (remember I forgot they have a bus stop in Pleasure Island). We walked back through Pleasure Island.

We stopped at stores here and there to check out the merch. I need to save more money if I'm gonna spend it on some of those items.

We walked through the World of Disney store because I need a Minnie Mouse to go with my collection of Disney stuffed animals. I decided to wait til later to pick her out in case I wanted to utilize the deal they had going on (spend $60 and get a WDW luggage piece for $20).

Can someone explain to me what's the deal with these ball-like stuffed animals?

 

[BeckWhy]

So we headed back to the hotel after that.

When we got back there I wanted to get the refillable mugs. I get one every trip I go whether or not I use it. Eric picked out a few more items than me. He got a couple Bud Lights, a mug, Doritos and Cheetos. I only got a mug. But then I headed off to Petals to get a drink.

I stood there a while debating on what I wanted. Finally I decided on the Hula Hoop. I had a Lava Lamp last time, so I thought I'd try something new. The bartender was really nice. He brought me my drink and then my check. As I was filling it out guess what I did. I knocked over my drink. Didn't I tell you I was an idiot? The bartender came right over and said not to worry, he'd make me another one. Then he went on telling me a story about how he was at a bar with some friends watching a football game and the crowd got a lil rowdy. Eric was sure to tell me afterwards about how big of a goof I am to knock over my drink. HAHAH
Me sipping on my Hula Hoop:

Up close:

It was very good. I really liked it.

I had noticed that you could just barely see the WDW entrance sign from our room. So I ran up to the 4th floor to take a pic of it.

I also saw this lil guy while on my mini-trip:

He's the pizza guy! It's a lil mini van... its really cute.

I headed back to the room and showered and went to bed. Eric watched some TV.

Coming up: The Magic Kingdom!

 

[maxie]

That is so cool that you can see the WDW sign from PC! Great start to your TR.

 

[BeckWhy]

So... at the same time... I'm putting my TR on a hold a wee bit to plan my next WDW vacation. I just called WDW ressies and asked if there was a PIN attached to my name, the CM put me on hold came back about 3 minutes later and told me no. I asked him to check my mom's name... he said he checked my entire household and there was nothing... then he said "wait.. can I put you on hold again?" Ok... so I'm sitting on hold again. Is there really a reason to put you on a hold while looking for a PIN?

 

[BeckWhy]

I had planned to arrive at every park for opening. And I don't mean getting there 5 minutes before opening; I wanted to be there at least 15 minutes early.

So we ended up waking up around 7 am. It actually only takes me about 30 minutes to get ready unless I straighten my hair, so I was good to go. Eric wanted to shower, so it took him a bit longer. I planned on getting breakfast at Main St Bakery because I have seen pics and their stuff looks amazing (we ate there last time, but all Eric got was a bagel).

I had Eric carry a backpack. I didn't want to have my pics taken with a backpack, but I found a really cute Tinkerbell purse that I picked up before the trip. We put out sweatshirts in his bag and a couple Gatorades (I decided I wanted to buy these in the 16.9 oz bottles because they have large mouths so we could fill them with ice later in the trip and have cold water; last trip we bought quite a few waters), his camera, maybe that was it. So he basically carried a backpack for the sweatshirts.

We headed off toward the lobby around 7:45 am. I wanted to fill my mug up with something and throw it into Eric's bag later in the day.

I got an orange soda and I think Eric made tea.

We didn't have to wait for the bus to the MK... which was nice I guess, but I had assumed we'd have to wait at least 10 minutes for one.

So of course we arrived at the MK really early. It was around 8:15 or so. We headed through security to get our bags checked. The woman Eric had made him open everything up even his wallet. I thought that was a bit weird. But I guess someone could make a bomb that was that small.

At first we were only allowed to the turnstiles. We headed off to the left hand side because there was less of line over there, but we actually didn't wait in line at all. We kinda just sat around.

I'm not sure at what time, but they started to let people through the turnstiles into the "reception" area of the MK. We just hung out and took a few pics.

I just want to say... I'm a bit picky... so if I ever ask you to take a pic of me, please make sure you get the entire building, including the flag pole.

They had some activities going on and there where pixie dust Mickey's too.

People started to crowd around the tunnels that go under the railroad, so we moved over there.

They also have a new opening ceremony here than they did 4 years ago. I videoed some of it, but I don't know how to view it on my computer or upload it either. Its really cute though, CMs come and welcome you, sing and dance. Then the train pulls in (which BTW I didn't know happened and I was kinda upset when we walked up to the MK and the train wasn't perfectly centered at the station... it wasn't even there at ALL!) with all the characters you can think of and the selected family and they open the MK. It's very cute. I almost cried.

 

[BeckWhy]

Then we were off into the park and headed towards Main St Bakery.

The line was fairly long, but it moved really fast. We waited maybe 5 minutes to order. I knew exactly what I wanted!

Of course we get up there and Eric didn't know what he wanted. Thanks for setting an example. I thought for sure he'd get french toast loaf cuz he loves french toast. So he debated and debated and I was like "that croissant sandwich looks great!" And he replied with "I hate croissants."

Anyways, I ordered the cinnamon roll and Eric ended up getting ordering the croissant sandwich and a banana.
Eric already started eating his sandwich...

My roll was AMAZING and it was HUGE! Both of us could have easily ate it. I was super sticky after eating it! Eric wasn't fond of his sandwich but he ate most of it. I had the bit that was left. I thought it was good but needed some salt.

Alright guys... TBC til later. I have to go to work!

 

[BeckWhy]

Even though the line for Main St Bakery was long, there was plenty of space to sit inside. And a few tables outside which wouldn't have been too bad either, since it wasn't too hot.

We headed down Main St and then towards Liberty Square.

I wanted our pics taken on these cute rocking chairs but Eric said no.

I don't know if you can tell, but Goofy is in that window!

We headed off towards Frontierland. This is what the walkway looked like around 9:15 am.

I figured we'd ride Splash Mountain first in case we got wet. It would give up plenty of time to dry off.

We walked right on... I mean all we had to do was wait for the next log to come up.

I like Splash Mountain a lot. It's one of my favorite rides. It starts off this happy go lucky log ride and gets a lil more creepy as you go on. Make sure you watch for the FSU gopher! Eric didn't believe me he was there, but I showed him. "Everybody wants a laughing place, a laughing place." I had my nails done and thought for sure they would glow under the neon lights and they didn't. My teeth did, but not my nails. I was a bit disappointed.