Food, Friends, and Fun! Update x3 and COMPLETED 10/1

[Bell<3Disney]

I have been sitting here for over an hour catching up on your trip report and am having a blast! I love how Dylan said you were his girlfriend - how cute! and I love the view you had of the fireworks at the Contemporary. What a great way to celebrate your birthday dinner

Awww I am so glad you are enjoying yourself! I am having a ton of fun writing it, especially now that I know people are reading!
I about died when Dylan said my name, I seriously just had to keep telling myself not to cry because ALL the cameras in the building were on the two of us hahaha but it seriously melted my heart it was so cute!
I don't think I will ever have a birthday that will top that night. It was amazing!
Thanks for reading along and letting me know you are enjoying it, it makes me so happy!!!

 

[tienpa]

Definitely one of my fave reviews on here! So many pics and info! thanks!

 

[Bell<3Disney]

Definitely one of my fave reviews on here! So many pics and info! thanks!

Oh my goodness that is such a amazing compliment! Thank you so much! I am so glad you let me know, and you are enjoying it!

 

[Bell<3Disney]

I will be doing a update tonight or tomorrow, in the meantime I know its off topic, but I figured I would post my PTR for our Disneyland trip in August over here so you guys could check it out if you want.





Hey there! Im Genee and I am a Disney Pro! Meaning I love all things Disney, like a lot, a ridiculous amount for a 24 year old in fact. I love being in Disney and the feeling in your heart when you and everyone around you is having fun and making memories. I have started a few TR on here but I have been bad about finishing them because I never kept up with notes, and we used to not take enough pictures to just go off of that. However now I know what I am doing and how to do it. I am also currently working on my TR for our trip to Disney World that we took in January. So if you would like to read about that you can go here. http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2902944
So let me introduce my partners in Disney craziness for this trip.
First there’s me:

as I already said my name is Genee and I am 24. I LOVE DISNEY! I listen to Disney music more than anything and I have a Disney movie on in the background pretty much all the time, partly because I am one of those crazy people who never gets tired of watching them and partly because I am a nanny. I watch two kids 4 days a week and I love them so much. They are funny quirky adorable little kids and they make me laugh and smile every day. I love my job!
My favorite character is Gus Gus from Cinderella.

Just look at him he’s is so fat and cute and everything he says makes me crack up.

My favorite park of all Disney parks is Disneyland of course! I love them all but I just really feel like Walt Disney’s heart went into Disneyland; there is just something about it being the original park and the one I grew up going to. It is most definitely the happiest place on earth to me. So that about sums me up.


Next is my Husband Martin:

We have been together since I was 15 and he was 16, and we have been married for 6 ½ years now. I love him so much! He is funny, and fun and smart and he works hard so we can go to Disney as much as we want. He is a general manager at an industrial and construction supply store. He sells power tools, nuts, and bolts… that kinda stuff. He loves Disney, he especially likes to keep up with all the changes in the parks and the behind the scenes secrets.

His favorite character is Doug from up, and his favorite park is also Disneyland. He likes that all the big rides are in one park, where as in Disneyworld there is more to look at but less rides per park.

Then there is my older brother Lonnie

Notice the ride hasn’t even started yet….. Heres a normal picture of him

He is 27 and other than my husband, he is my favorite person! He is so goofy, and we just have so much fun together in Disney. We have made many memories growing up in Disney so I love going back with him and feeling like kids again.

Arnt we so cute!



He went with us in August a couple years ago and it is my favorite trip we have taken so far. Here are a couple pictures from that trip. I have lost 60 pounds since then so ignore the fact that I look a little different than I do in the picture I posted as my introduction.

We had a blast!

Also joining us on this trip are our friends Nick and Crystal:

They are twins; they are 19 and two of the nicest people I have ever met! They also love Disney and this will be their first trip with just friends, no parents. So they are super excited and I think we will all have so much fun together!!!!!

Nick is going to school at a Christian College here in northern California to be a Worship Pastor, and Crystal is finishing up her general ed at the community college and then will be transferring in a year or so to a school in southern California for art. She is a amazing artist! Martin and I have this piece proudly displayed in our house.

She hopes to work for Disney when she is finished with school.

Since she is such an amazing artist she was so kind to make us all shirts for our trip. I will post pictures as soon as they are done, but they are amazing! They are each different colors and will have our favorite characters on them and then say Disneyland across the top. I chose Gus Gus from Cinderella, Martin chose Doug from up, Lonnie chose King Fergus from Brave, Nick chose Kuzco from Emperor’s New Groove, and Crystal chose Archimedes the owl from the Sword and the Stone. “Who Who what what?” So that explains the title of my PTR.

Next update where are we staying and when are we going?
Hope you come along with me for the PTR and eventually the TR. I love comments, so I know you are out there reading!

 

[Bell<3Disney]

Hello again guys thanks for reading along, I am usually not a big fan of PTR but I had to put all my excitement somewhere!!!

So in preparation for our upcoming trip we have been getting together with Nick and crystal at least once a week to do something Disney. Usually dinner, a Disney movie or a round or two of Disney-scene-it or Disney Apple to Apples. Of course on opeing night we went to see Brave.

Yes I know we really need a tan, and I caught the people behind us at what might be their worst moment ever We had fun, and we LOVED the movie! Her hair is amazing! Of course I am partial to red hair.

Anyway back to the PTR so our official dates are August 22-26th
Originally we were going to go mid September but Martin realized Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion would be closed for holiday refurbishments, and we really didn't want two main rides to be closed while we are there so we switched to August 22-26th.

I feel like our vacation will really start the night before though. Everyone is staying at our house Tuesday night so that we are all together and ready to leave at 4am Wednesday morning. Yep you read that correct folks 4 AM. It is a 8-9 hour drive from our house to Anaheim, without traffic, so it gets pretty miserable if we do hit traffic. A couple trips ago when it was just Martin and I and we had annual passports, we wanted to leave super early so we got to Disneyland in time to spend half the day at the parks. Well what we discovered was if we leave at 4 am we hit like 0 traffic and it makes the drive so much shorter and more pleasant! So that has become our tradition getting up at 4 am and getting to Anaheim between noon and 1pm.

So the plan for Tuesday night is for us all to have dinner together and hang out playing Disney games and watching Disney movies. I always paint my nails with some sort of Disney designs the night before I go to Disneyland so I am going to do that on mine and Crystals nails. I am sure we will try to sleep at some point, but it is always so hard to sleep the night before DISNEY!!!!
After that night of fun, we will all squish in the carand drive to Huntington Beach.
Our plan is to spend the day at the beach and have dinner on the beach at Sandys restaurant in Huntington Beach and then check into our hotel get cleaned up and walk around DTD and enjoy the live music and shops, and probably get dessert somewhere.
We will be staying at the Anaheim Plaza hotel. We have stayed here a few times, its nothing super special, but it is withing walking distance and usually pretty cheap. So we always end up going back. The rooms are pretty big too if you get a first floor room, so hopefully we do because we will be squishing 5 people into 1 room.
Then we will go to the parks Thursday, Friday and Saturday, then make the sad sad trek home on Sunday.
Well that's all I got for now, I will post more pictures as we do more stuff in preparation for our trip.

 

[Bell<3Disney]

Lunch, Snacks, Dinner, and Snuggling under the fireworks.​

After we climbed The Swiss Family Robinsons Tree House, we went in search of some lunch. We were trying to keep it pretty cheap this day, so we wandered a little and ended up at Columbia Harbour House.

I really really wanted one of those lobster rolls, they looked delicious, but Martin doesn’t like lobster, and we were sharing our lunch, so we compromised with the fish and chips. They were really good, it wasn’t quite enough food to fill us up, but I knew we were getting a snack in a little bit so I wasn’t worried about it.

After lunch we walked around fantasyland some more and decided the line was short enough to actually go on Winnie the Pooh. It was cute and pretty much exactly like the one in Disneyland. Then we walked around the shops in fantasyland. I found these and I am not going to lie I was tempted to buy them.

But I resisted since I am 24 and probably should be over the whole buying toys phase. Maybe the day before when I was 23, but not now that I am at the ripe old age of 24. The Jasmine doll was especially hard to resist because I had one when I was a kid and it was my favorite toy, but I left it outside one day and my uncle accidentally ran it over with the tractor. I was devastated, it would be like Andy leaving Woody out and he got ran over. It was tragic!
After we looked through the shops, we wandered around the castle and took some more pictures.

And enjoyed some of the garden areas…

 

[Bell<3Disney]

Then we found a spot for the little show they do in front of the castle every half hour or so.

Then we went over to the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor

Then we wandered back to main street to find a bathroom, and to wander through all the shops. We had bought a picture frame at every park we went to so far, so we needed to scope out the shops and we find our favorite Magic Kingdom picture frame. When we came out of the first shop we noticed that the parade was going down main street, so we found a spot to sit and watch.

We finished wandering Main Street, and enjoyed all the delicious sights and smells.

Which of course made us quite hungry, we knew just what we wanted. So we walked back through Adventureland.

And watched people on splash mountain again for a bit

And made it to our destination, Sleepy Hallow, for a….

Mmm it was so yummy!!!!! Even this little guy wanted some.

After our delightfully delicious snack, we looked around the Christmas Shop. I think this is the cutest display ever!

Then we went back to Adventureland to go cruise the jungle, on…THE JUNGLE CRUISE! Imagine that!
I got quite a kick out of this sign

We of course thoroughly enjoyed the ride and the animals and loved the parts that we a little different from Disneyland’s version.

 

[Bell<3Disney]

We survived the jungle, and hopped on the train for a ride around the Magic Kingdom. As we drove by Thunder Mountain, we shed a little tear that we couldn’t ride on it because they were refurbishing it.

We got off at the main street depot to take some pictures.

Right when we got off the train, the parade started so we stopped and watched for a little bit.

After we took a few pictures and watched the parade, we got back on the train and finished the rest of the circle around the Magic Kingdom.
It was so beautiful to just sit and take everything in. The sun had just set which is always my favorite time in the parks. All the lights turn on and the sky is so pretty I LOVE it!

We were starting to get hungry so we looked around for a bit for a place to eat. There are so many options, but we knew we were sharing so finding a place we both agree on can be tricky sometimes. We decided on Pico Bills because I liked the idea of the toppings bar for the burgers, and Martin LOVES burgers.

Martin ate his half of the cheeseburger absolutely plain, and I put pretty much that whole stack of toppings on my half. It was messy and nearly impossible to eat, but it was delicious! The stuff on the side is cheese sauce, which I dipped my fries in. Yum Yum!

By the time we finished dinner it was dark outside, so we went and found a good place to watch “The music, the memories, and you” and the fireworks. This was my favorite part of the whole day, just snuggling with my Martin and enjoying the beautiful castle and fireworks.

When the fireworks ended it was getting late and we didn’t have very much time left in the Magic Kingdom. So sad, however we still had a thing or two to do before we left the first being…….SPLASH MOUNTAIN!!! We always do the water rides at the end of the night so we don’t have to walk around in soggy clothes for very long.

Then we hit the shops to make our purchases we had decided on throughout the day. We also always buy or souvenirs at the end of the day so we don’t have to carry them around all day. We bought our picture frame, and I bought a t-shirt that said Walt Disney World in all different letters taken from signs and stuff around the park. It was technically a men’s shirt but I thought it looked girly enough.

We took one last picture of Cinderella’s castle as we were walking out

And took this last picture before we walked out the gates

We went back to the car and drove back to our condo. Martin had given me all the stuff to put back in the backpack when we got in the car. I forgot to zip up the backpack and as we walked in the door of our condo I bent over to pick something up and the camera fell out and hit the tile floor. Remember a few posts ago when I mentioned the foreshadowing of me getting on Martin about having to be the one who always holds the camera. Well this is why he kept asking for it!!!! I broke the camera, and I felt horrible. I wish I could say I never do stuff like this, but I am definitely on the ditsy, forgetful, clumsy side. Thankfully we were able to get all our pictures off of it, and we only had one day left of our vacation and we were going back to a park we had already been to and gotten plenty of pictures. To try to get out of my funk from dropping the camera, I took my nightly bath and went to bed. It was pretty much another perfect, day. (Except for the camera thing )

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

I was SO bummed for you about the camera. Talk about irony. I'm just glad it was on your last day of the trip so you didn't miss too many photo ops.

I have been reading through this whole thing and it is bringing back so many great memories! You have some great pictures too. I'm going to have to get some of them from you. It makes me so so to know that the trip is over and that me don't have it to look forward to anymore.

I have to say that the AK day was one of the best. Getting to ride EE with you guys for the first time was fun! The safari too. It was just to cool to be with you on your first time riding everything that you had been looking forward to.

I wish I would have had time to read all of these as you were writing it. So many good memories!

 

[Bell<3Disney]

I was SO bummed for you about the camera. Talk about irony. I'm just glad it was on your last day of the trip so you didn't miss too many photo ops.

I have been reading through this whole thing and it is bringing back so many great memories! You have some great pictures too. I'm going to have to get some of them from you. It makes me so so to know that the trip is over and that me don't have it to look forward to anymore.

I have to say that the AK day was one of the best. Getting to ride EE with you guys for the first time was fun! The safari too. It was just to cool to be with you on your first time riding everything that you had been looking forward to.

I wish I would have had time to read all of these as you were writing it. So many good memories!

I know, it was so fun to be with you guys! I dropped the camera on the second to last day, we had to use my phone to take pictures on the last day. I have one or two updates left, so you can still follow along whenever I get around to doing them haha.

 

[Bell<3Disney]

Well since I broke our camera the night before we don’t have very many pictures from the last day of our trip. We used my iPhone to take some pictures throughout the day, but very few of them have us in them. I know you all would rather look at beautiful Disney World than our faces anyway so hopefully it will still be an ok update!

On top of having very few pictures, my dog ate my trip report notes. If any of you reading this are teachers, I am not lying! He ripped up most of the pages and ate the last page that had my notes from our last day. So this might be a very short update. Although I tend to ramble so maybe it won’t be.

When I woke up in my oh so comfy bed, I couldn't tell if I was more excited that we were going back to Hollywood Studios to do all the stuff we missed the first day, or more sad that it was out last day in the Parks. It’s always hard not to think about packing and checking into flights and whatnot. I really wanted to just put all that aside and enjoy our last day in Walt Disney World. So I started a load of laundry, enjoyed our condo and my glorious vacation coffee and took my time getting ready for the day. Since this was our second day in Hollywood Studios we weren't really worried about getting there right at opening. I don’t think we got there very long after opening though. It was pretty cold and overcast. I was definitely wishing I had a warmer sweatshirt, I don’t thing we ever even took our sweatshirts off.

We took a minute and tried to come up with a plan for the day to make sure we could get all the shows in.


We started off our day with the Studio Back lot Tour, all the props that they have in the que are really cool. We tried to take a couple quick pictures while we walked through, but there was no line so we never really had a chance to stop and really see all the stuff they had. Here are some pictures of what we were able to see.

It was cold!

These are some props from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

This is one of the characters from The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe that the white witch turned into a statue.

Then we went on the tour and saw how some of the stunts are done in movies.


Rain storm!!!!

Explosion!!!!

Flash flood!!!!

Herbie!!!!

Then we got off the ride and looked at all the costumes they have on Display.

Off with her head!

After that we kinda just wandered the park checking everything out, there are so many little corners of that park that would be so easy to miss!

We started to get hungry and just happened to be by Pizza Planet, so we stopped for some lunch.


I loved that the personal pizza came with a salad. Most places you have to pay for a side salad, so that was a nice surprise for me!

It was quite delicious!


Then we made a stop to see some Muppets!

This fountain cracked me up!

After we watched Muppet Vision 3D we checked out all the shops in that little corner and realized it was time to get a spot for….

 

[Bell<3Disney]

This show is SO COOL! Let me tell you, its not a sit back, relax and enjoy the show kinda show, it’s a make you have a heart attack every ten seconds kinda show. I was definitely on the edge of my seat praying that nobody made a slight wrong turn with those cars!

Lightning McQueen even made am appearance to help save the day!

Yes this car is driving on two wheels.

Craziness!!!!

This motorcyclist drove through the fire, and then they showed you how the stunt men get caught on fire and how they get put out.

There were explosions, near death experiences, and plenty of shrieks out of me!

It is a very cool show! Martin really loved it!

We had some fastpasses to ToT so we made our way over there to use those. It was fun as always.

I am missing notes and pictures at this point….

I know we watched the Beauty and the Beast musical again, the actress playing Bell looked more like her than the one from the first day did, but her voice was nowhere near as similar as the first girl.

We stopped so I could give Walt a little thank you kiss for creating my favorite places!

We also watched the Little Mermaid musical; it was not very good at all! We were both very disappointed. The beginning is cool with the puppets and the black lights, but they cut so much of the story out, and the actors weren’t really singing and it was VERY obvious they weren’t singing. Just all in all in was not up to Disney standards in my opinion.

Earlier in the day we had made a ADR for…

I was really excited about this because I didn’t think our budget was going to allow us to go to Sci-fi but we figured why not, it’s out last day we might as well!

That is definitely the best themed restaurant we went to on this trip. The only thing I don’t love is, if you have a big party, like if we had gone while Todd, Alison, and Dylan were still there, we wouldn't all be able to enjoy it together. We would be in different rows of the car, and not really able to talk.


Since it was just the two of us though, it was perfect!

We had the BBQ burger and it was HUGE and delicious!

And since I still had my birthday button on, the waitress brought me a little sundae, score!!

After dinner it was getting dark and close to park closing. We were also quite exhausted from the week and I had loved our first American Idol experience with Dylan so we decided to do it again. There were not very many of us in the show and we happened to get there early so we were right in front for the cheering section.

Here we are cheering on the contestants…

We watched the show and voted for a 16 year old girl whose brother had done a show earlier and made it to the finals for that day. The girl won, so we decided to stay for the finale and see the brother and sister compete in the finale. They were both really nice kids and we were definitely hoping one of them won. I think the brother was going to school for some sort of singing or music degree. They were both very talented! The brother won in the end and they were both very excited for each other. It was really cute and fun to watch. When the finale ended, the park was technically closed, so we made our way back to our car and headed back for our last night in our condo.

I took my last bath while Martin watched t.v., I finished my trip report notes and we reflected on our favorite moments from the trip.

 

[Bell<3Disney]

On our departure day, we slept in a little and I enjoyed my coffee and did the last little bit of laundry. It was very nice having the washer and dryer and being able to come home with a suitcase full of clean clothes. So much better than coming home from vacation knowing you are going to have mountains of laundry to do.

We packed up our stuff, returned the rental car and made the sad flight home to California.

Fake smile!

Our friend picked us up from the airport and we made the 3 1/2 hour drive back home.

Heres our loot from the trip.

we ordered our Epcot picture frame online after we got home.

We had such an amazing trip, and had so much fun with Todd, Alison, and Dylan. We got to experience SO MUCH of Walt Disney World, and made some amazing memories. Some of our favorites are…

My birthday dinner, Dylan calling me his girlfriend at The American Idol Experience, finally getting to ride Everest, all the yummy food, the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom, lunch at Les Chefs De France, and spending time with Todd, Alison, and Dylan, enjoying our favorite place together!


We can’t wait to go back, whenever that may be.

 

[Bell<3Disney]

Thank you so much for joining me as I wrote about our little adventure! Its the first TR I have completed!!!!

For those of you that were interested I will be starting my TR for our recent Disneyland trip very soon. It was one of the funnest trips I have ever taken, and I cant wait to sit down and figure out how to put all the craziness into a TR. I will post a link here, once I start it so, you can join along if you would like. Thanks for reading and commenting!