Forever Could Even Start Today, Wedding & Disneymoon Sept 17 update 10/1: Last Day, Budget recap

[MeghanEmily]

I think Orlando trips from now on will be a compromise with deals, but other travel will probably remain more budget friendly.

100%. Same here.

 

[ariane37]

They haven't all closed. I can find you a few in NJ. =)

(Reese's Pieces Sundae addict here.)

Say WHAT!?? I'm right next door in NY and my Jersey friends have not told me this! Not my friends anymore Are there still any in North Jersey?
Reese's Pieces is my go-to, too

 

[dgthree]

There aren't as many as there used to be for sure. I live in Northwest NJ, pretty close to the border of Warwick NY. There are two in Sussex County, one in Sussex/Wantage and one in Newton. In the northeast corner of the state, there are also a couple in Bergen County, NJ, in Hillsdale and Elmwood Park. I can also find a couple in Morris County.

 

[Raeven]

So I've never been to Friendly's, and I really know nothing about them other than I've heard the name. But they have Reese's Pieces sundaes? I need to plan a trip to NJ!!

Whatt?! We used to go like every week when I was a kid. We have them here in NY still just not very many.

Say WHAT!?? I'm right next door in NY and my Jersey friends have not told me this! Not my friends anymore Are there still any in North Jersey?
Reese's Pieces is my go-to, too

Wait have you never been to Friendlys either?!

Our closest one is in Clifton Park and then Oneonta I think where I am, but I bet there’s more. There’s also one on I-Drive in Orlando.

 

[amalone1013]

Whatt?! We used to go like every week when I was a kid. We have them here in NY still just not very many.

I feel like growing up, Nebraska had a lot of non-chain places or places that were local chains (like Amigos, the best fast food Mexican ever haha). More chains have moved in there now. Now I feel like where we are in Colorado is all chains and the only local places are Pho places. I like my chain restaurants too, it's just when people come to visit I have trouble with ideas of where to take them that they don't have back home!

 

[AV007]

Following along!

 

[amalone1013]

I thought I was going to update this every week, especially to start, so I thought I'd have no problem keeping up. Like, thorughout the week I'd write my update and then post it on Monday kind of thing. Well, work has been insane this past week so I have't made it far on our first real TR day yet. So I'm working on that, but since that happened, you're now getting a rambling PTR post

December 15-18
...where we try to do all of the Christmas things!​

We got back from Florida for this trip late on Oct 3rd, and I went back to work on the 5th. I started thinking about this trip by the following week. I still feel like I dropped the ball back in May, because I missed out on the Passholder previews for Pandora, and afterwards I was kicking myself because we could have gone for a weekend and also seen Flower and Garden festival with no ticket costs. Ugh. Someday we’ll make it! But I really was wanting to see the Christmas decorations, and we stashed up a bunch of travel points from wedding expenses, so I started pricing things out. I was stuck because the flights were about $400 each with Southwest - I was sticking with them because I have a lot of points saved up, but other airlines were similarly priced or worse. And then when something finally opened up at Pop, it was $185 a night before tax. I couldn't bring myself to book it or the flights at those prices, with it just being a weekend trip (that I wasn't sure I could get off, because we were supposed to work the weekend I was looking at). So I hemmed and hawed and secretly hoped the flight prices would go down, and in case they did I booked a room at B Resort in Disney Springs on points. Actually if we're being honest, this whole idea popped into my head just before we left for the wedding... so I actually booked the room on September 8th but didn't look at anything more until we got home since I was a little busy at that time

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Anyways... I checked prices every day, and after about two weeks, the flights dropped! By about $100, so I jumped on them. Then they dropped another $10 a few days later, so I cancelled and rebooked! More Disney money!

They weren't awesome, the best I could do was getting in at 12:30am Friday night and then leaving at 7pm on Sunday. But I kept looking, and all of a sudden an earlier flight on Friday dropped in price, making it almost half of the price of the late flight I was at work, so I sent Zack a very important message:

Any chance you could work from home in the afternoon *ahem the airport* on Dec 15th?​

And I received back:

I bet I can! I see you scheming over there and I like it ​

And now we have flights that leave at 3:30pm and get in at 9pm! I took the day off of work since I would have had to take off a least a few hours, and I've got more vacation time than Zack. He'll just be working from home that day until we head to the airport. I also changed our hotel to the Hilton in Disney Springs because it was a little cheaper/less points, and I feel like what will be the big difference between Disney Springs hotels?

I started gathering park hours and times for stuff for planning, and when I showed Zack he was pretty upset that all of the Christmas stuff in MK is during the party... like the parade, Holiday wishes. I was like, you know that't the whole reason for the Christmas party right? Party nights are Friday and Sunday that weekend, so neither worked with our plans.

This is my very favorite Christmas movie.​

Until Zack proposed cutting a day from one of our other trips and making this one a three day weekend! Right now we're planning on one more trip at the end of January before our APs expire, and then SoCal in April because his brother is getting married out there. I told him to make the call because his vacation time is our limiting factor, and the 3 days in January plus 5 days in April will use up all his PTO, especially after using everything he had for the wedding trip. And he decided to cut April. So now we're taking vacation on Monday and coming back that night. And the Monday night flight was less than Sunday night I had a moment where I thought we could fit in JBJB somehow, but then I realized the only day would be Saturday, and it's not happening then because of the Galactic Nights. That's okay, I'm sure we'll go for Christmas season again sometime! Oh, and when I went back to change our hotel to include Sunday night, the Hilton wasn't open so I ended up booking at B Resort again.

This morning was our last FP day (for the 18th). Most stuff was open except 7DMT, FEA, and the Pandora Rides in the days leading up to ours. I wasn't overly concerned because I had a few certain ride priorities in mind - Jingle Cruise, Splash (because it was down in September and will be again for our January trip), and maybe Pirates before the changes, though we should have a chance again in January. We'll most likely just focus on MK and Epcot and Christmas stuff, since none of the nights work for the DHS Christmas stuff. We'll see!

So right now we have a schedule like this:

Fri 15th: Flight lands at 9pm. Uber to DS hotel. Possibly late dinner? Homecomin' is calling me... That was probably the restaurant I cared the most about not fitting in in September because it looks and sounds so dang good!

Sat 16th: Do Christmas things.

Ha but really, we don't have everything worked out yet. I've had to work a lot again (3am to 3pm from yesterday through Tuesday, yay!). Hopefully we'll iron it out over Thanksgiving, along with some January plans. But I wanted to see the Candlelight Processional, and was debating about our chances in line. Then I looked to see who the narrator is this weekend. It's Trace Adkins, a country singer. We're both country music fans (I've even seen Trace Adkins in concert ), and when I looked at dining packages a lunch came up at Biergarten (the only package I could find period), and Zack had just mentioned a week before that he'd like to eat there, maybe in January. It seemed like fate, so I booked it. So we have lunch at 12:35pm for the 5pm CP. FPs for this day right now are Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and Splash, all in a row starting in the morning. Splash cuts it pretty close for lunch though. I can't find any other CP packages, but with the spacing between lunch and the 5pm show and Illuminations, it doesn't make sense to leave Epcot. HEA is this night, but I'd like to see the holiday ending for Illuminations, since we'll have a chance to see HEA again in January.

Sun 17th: MVMCP this night. Current FPs are Space, Jungle Cruise, and Splash, starting just after noon. In case we want to go back to Epcot or something in the morning here. See the Christmas Parade, Holiday Wishes, Castle lighting, Stage show... Not sure about any characters. Might see if we want to see some resort decorations this morning, or Monday morning?

Mon 18th: Have Pirates, JC, and Splash FPs this day starting in the morning. Flight home is at 7:15pm, so I need to figure out when we need to call an Uber back to the airport. We'd talked before about limiting our packing to a backpack and just taking it along and stashing it in a locker for the day, and then leaving straight from the park. We'll have to see if that still seems feasible. Probably depends on weather, and how many Christmas things I want to buy...

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January 26-31
...where we fit in one last trip on the APs and I make myself feel better by adding up what all of our individual ticket costs would have been

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We finally picked our January dates, mainly based on hotel and flight prices. We're going from January 26 to 31. I scrounged up more points to stay at the Dolphin again, so we had to adjust slightly as the original dates I was looking at were booked. So we’re flying in Friday night around 11:30pm. Unfortunately, the only earlier direct flight is around 10am, so no working from the airport for Zack this time. There’s one 3pm-ish flight that lands an hour earlier, but it connects in St Louis, and I don’t think it will be worth gambling with the weather for an hour. Then we fly home Wednesday night around 7pm - actually as I checked that time I saw the price dropped, so saved some points! The only plans I have for this trip so far, are some PPO BOG reservations. At 180 days-ish, I got on and booked it for the days I thought we were going, so I would have it when we figured out our schedule. And one day at Garden Grill for PPO breakfast. I'd forgotten, good thing I looked! And that’s it right now. Oh, I did add up what we would have spent on tickets without APs for our trips, just for kicks. Jan 17 ($905.26) + Sept 17 ($1096.96) + Dec 17 ($743.38) + Jan 18 ($947.86) = $3693.46 for hoppers. No MM. Though we wouldn't have spent this much out of pocket ever, by not going as much and not buying straight from Disney, less days in the parks, etc.

Hoping to get a real update on here this weekend. In the meantime, thanks for listening to me (reading) ramble!​

 

[Raeven]

I'm still so sad we're going to miss you in December , but I'm glad you get to go twice!

 

[kastoney]

We boarded (and didn’t get stopped with our garment bag, carry on suitcase, and two stuffed backpacks - score!) and had an uneventful flight. I read while Zack watched Jurassic World on his phone. We landed and got our two bags from baggage claim. Somehow, we made this trip with 3 carry on size suitcases, a garment bag, and two backpacks. And I packed a Vera duffel to bring souvenirs backed. I’m still not sure how we managed!

How were you there so long, packed wedding stuff, and accomplished this????? We just went for a week and had 3 huge suitcases between us!

We usually stay in cheaper hotels, so everything on this trip was so fancy to us! I might have ruined Zack for good! We went to check in, it was around 1am at this point.

I'm sure you did. I used to not understand why anyone needed to stay at a Disney deluxe hotel. Then I stayed at one. Now I'm ruined for life.

I thought I was going to update this every week, especially to start, so I thought I'd have no problem keeping up. Like, thorughout the week I'd write my update and then post it on Monday kind of thing. Well, work has been insane this past week so I have't made it far on our first real TR day yet. So I'm working on that, but since that happened, you're now getting a rambling PTR post

I'm so with you. We got back last Saturday, I was on my work phone most of the day Sunday, then worked 60 hours last week. No fun, but I guess that is the price of vacation.

Anyways... I checked prices every day, and after about two weeks, the flights dropped! By about $100, so I jumped on them. Then they dropped another $10 a few days later, so I cancelled and rebooked! More Disney money!

They weren't awesome, the best I could do was getting in at 12:30am Friday night and then leaving at 7pm on Sunday. But I kept looking, and all of a sudden an earlier flight on Friday dropped in price, making it almost half of the price of the late flight

Congratulations!!!! Though isn't it ridiculous how volatile airline prices can be. I'll never figure out their rhyme or reason.

I had a moment where I thought we could fit in JBJB somehow, but then I realized the only day would be Saturday, and it's not happening then because of the Galactic Nights. That's okay, I'm sure we'll go for Christmas season again sometime! Oh, and when I went back to change our hotel to include Sunday night, the Hilton wasn't open so I ended up booking at B Resort again.

If you can fit it in, definitely try and get to MGM for the holidays. I'm generally not a fan of this park, but IMO their Christmas decorations, and especially the lights on the Tower of Terror, totally eclipsed MK. I was shocked by this, but after a rather disappointing MVMCP (which was largely due to Casey, not the party), MGM made me believe in Christmas all over again

 

[MeghanEmily]

I was at work, so I sent Zack a very important message:

Any chance you could work from home in the afternoon *ahem the airport* on Dec 15th?​

And I received back:

I bet I can! I see you scheming over there and I like it ​

Relationship goals.

I had a few certain ride priorities in mind - Jingle Cruise

Yes! Jingle Cruise! I also FP'd this one, and I'm hoping it stays "jingle" themed when we're there between Christmas and New Years. Cheesy + Christmas is absolutely my jam.

...where we fit in one last trip on the APs and I make myself feel better by adding up what all of our individual ticket costs would have been

I've absolutely done this to make myself feel justified.

 

[amalone1013]

Following along!

I'm still so sad we're going to miss you in December , but I'm glad you get to go twice!

Me too!!! Someday we'll go again at the same time!

How were you there so long, packed wedding stuff, and accomplished this????? We just went for a week and had 3 huge suitcases between us!

I can't believe we managed! Basically when I went to London a few years ago with a friend, I knew I'd have to lug everything around myself so I was very conscious of what I packed. And we've started hotel hopping a bit on our non-Disney trips, so it makes it easier. But I always pack my empty Disney bag so we have more room for souvenirs

I'm sure you did. I used to not understand why anyone needed to stay at a Disney deluxe hotel. Then I stayed at one. Now I'm ruined for life.

Exactly! I can slum it wherever else... but we were going to stay at Pop in January, but I was like... Epcot area... it's calling me! And Pop was great last time. But... seeing Spaceship Earth or the Castle from the room...

I'm so with you. We got back last Saturday, I was on my work phone most of the day Sunday, then worked 60 hours last week. No fun, but I guess that is the price of vacation.

It's like no one can get anything done if you're not there! I feel like, there are two other people who do MY EXACT SAME JOB, just on different shifts. Why is this not done? I ended up having to tell someone, I can't weed through my emails and keep track of which ones did/didn't get done, so you're just gonna have to send them to me again.

Congratulations!!!! Though isn't it ridiculous how volatile airline prices can be. I'll never figure out their rhyme or reason.

Me either! The early Friday flight dropped to $80 - just before Christmas! The late one was almost twice that when I had it booked!

If you can fit it in, definitely try and get to MGM for the holidays. I'm generally not a fan of this park, but IMO their Christmas decorations, and especially the lights on the Tower of Terror, totally eclipsed MK. I was shocked by this, but after a rather disappointing MVMCP (which was largely due to Casey, not the party), MGM made me believe in Christmas all over again

I keep trying to figure out MGM... They have the Star Wars Galactic night on Saturday so it closes early, and the Christmas Party is Sunday, and our flight is at 7pm on Monday. Until we leave I will be checking for an early Tuesday flight, because I want to go to MGM!

Relationship goals.

He really appreciates my scheming, that's why I get to be trip planner for all trips!

Yes! Jingle Cruise! I also FP'd this one, and I'm hoping it stays "jingle" themed when we're there between Christmas and New Years. Cheesy + Christmas is absolutely my jam.

I feel like it should for you, like I've read that before. Jungle Cruise might be my favorite ride. I may have several JC shirts... I think I remember from @ariane37's TR that they had Jingle Cruise shirts last year? If so, I know what I'm coming home with!

I've absolutely done this to make myself feel justified.

Makes me feel better! Look at what a good deal we got!

 

[amalone1013]

Universal Day 1
Part One
(I have a feeling...)​

I was really happy I had convinced Zack that a) I didn’t want to go into the wedding averaging 4 hours of sleep a night, and b) now that the Harry Potter rides were on Express Pass, we didn’t need to worry about going for Early Entry. So I was happily snuggled in bed, when the tv came on by itself and woke me at 7:30! Maybe it was an alarm feature? I’ve seen that before at hotels… It didn’t wake Zack though, and I didn’t feel like moving to get the remote so I just dozed a bit, and watched the little animation about Volcano Bay.

We checked out the Irma damage outside our window in the daylight:

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Eventually we got up and got ready. I lathered up for the day… I’m so proud of myself.
I was in the sun all day for four days before the wedding, and I didn’t burn! I even took a hat, though I’m not much of a hat person and I really didn't wear it a whole lot.

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When I had stopped at the store just before we left to buy some sunscreen, they had one bottle left with the Beauty and the Beast advertising. Obviously that was fate, and it had magical properties!

We had breakfast at the little grab and go station they had set up in the lounge, which was fine, but not anything special. We amused ourselves watching tiny lizards on the planters outside the windows. We also checked out the Lobby again, and the courtyard.

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Then we headed for the walkway to the parks, because we were told that was the quickest way. But somehow we got turned around and ended up at the boat dock… oh well, works for us! We did pass by Jake’s, which was good because we had already pretty much decided that was where we’d be going with our voucher.

I documented some of our wandering:

The boat dock as we pulled away! We made it!​

After our ride, we headed for USO. We decided to start there since it’d be closing early for the first Halloween Horror Nights. I also noted where Toothsome was and pointed it out to Zack as we had an important date there later However, it seems my Citywalk photos are limited to a picture of the Margaritaville sign at night.

We really didn’t do any planning for the Universal portion of our trip, so we grabbed a map and wandered in. Pretty sure I was side-eyeing Rip Ride Rockit this whole time. That vertical lift hill freaked me out just seeing it. I took no photos during this time! I think we were finally just settling in, feeling like all this weight was lifted because we made it, all of the luggage made it, and we were going to have a few days of fun before the wedding! After dealing with all the planning and my family crap, we were just feeling accomplished! The first place we ended up stopping was The Mummy. This is one of Zack’s favorites from Hollywood, so we decided to make it the first ride of the day. We pulled out Express Pass for the first time! The queue was so dark, I had my arms out in front of me feeling for walls on the way through.

So first off, this version is way better than the one in USH. Longer, more of a story to it, cool effects. So that was great. Ended up being one of my favorite’s there. But I had a mishap, because apparently I can't go anywhere without something strange happening to me! If you’re familiar with the ride, you may remember there is a section where the ride pauses for a moment. And at this moment, I realize that my hair was tangled. I had it down, and it was not just tangled from riding, it was wrapped around and through the headrest and knotted behind it. If you’re not familiar, the headrests look like this:

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So yes, my hair was wrapped all through there. I did manage to communicate to Zack I would need his help when we got to the end. As we hit the last bit where you wait before the unloading zone, we were frantically trying to untangle it and I’m sure I just ripped some knots out… I was panicking because I didn’t want to be the person to mess up the whole system because I was stuck in the cart!

I made it off, and even though we could have easily made it through the EP line again without reopening our locker, I was NOT riding again without a hair tie. So I grabbed one and pulled my hair back, and then we rode again.

I thought I'd have more time here, but I'm about to leave work so I'm going to start here and hopefully update tonight or tomorrow. But I'm at work at 3am on Sunday so I'll definitely be updating then!

 

[MeghanEmily]

I lathered up for the day… I’m so proud of myself.
I was in the sun all day for four days before the wedding, and I didn’t burn!

Wow! Congrats!! I'm also incredibly fair, though at least I've got dark hair on my side, but I burn easily. I was SO sure I'd burn before the wedding and slathered the SPF on like crazy! So happy for both of us!

OMG BatB sunscreen WHAT?! Best thing! Definitely a good sign.

So yes, my hair was wrapped all through there. I did manage to communicate to Zack I would need his help when we got to the end. As we hit the last bit where you wait before the unloading zone, we were frantically trying to untangle it and I’m sure I just ripped some knots out… I was panicking because I didn’t want to be the person to mess up the whole system because I was stuck in the cart!

Oh no! What a nightmare! Glad you got yourself loose!

But I'm at work at 3am on Sunday so I'll definitely be updating then!

Wait...3am!? Why!? How!? What is it you do again?

 

[ariane37]

We also checked out the Lobby again, and the courtyard.

When we toured all the Uni resorts during my TA training in Feb. (except HRH which I'd been to before), RPR was my favorite. And my favorite part was the fountain out in the courtyard, I think it's beautiful out there!

Pretty sure I was side-eyeing Rip Ride Rockit this whole time. That vertical lift hill freaked me out just seeing it.

lol, I love that ride! The first time I rode it I was fine since pretty much no roller coaster makes me sick, but the second time I rode it in Feb. I did feel nauseous afterwards. Guess I'm getting old...............

 

[Raeven]

Maybe it was an alarm feature?

I've never had that happen before so strange! Maybe someone did set some kind of sleep timer that were staying there before?

I also noted where Toothsome was and pointed it out to Zack as we had an important date there later

. And at this moment, I realize that my hair was tangled. I had it down, and it was not just tangled from riding, it was wrapped around and through the headrest and knotted behind it. I

How did your hair do that!? Ouch! That's so crazy, and I just keep thinking about how it would hurt to move around on a roller coaster with your hair stuck.

 

[mdsouth]

Great update! Love your photos of the tranquil scenery. It made me think that I could easily be persuaded to stay at an Universal resort sometime.

Ugg about the tv turning when you planned to sleep in. As someone else mentioned it was probably a type of setting that the person before you set up.

Ouch! Looking at the photo of the back of the seat, it is no wonder your hair got tangled up in it! That must have been a frustrating ride for you. And I would expect there have been others that got their hair caught too. Though it sounds like you are like me in that you find yourself in strange situations that do not happen to most people.
Your hair incident reminds me of the time when I caught my own hair on fire during our church's Christmas Eve service. We all light candles and hold them during the hymn Silent Night. I was singing and started to smell that weird smell. Then I realized it was my own hair on fire!

 

[thumper*]

This is my very favorite Christmas movie.

It is our also. We watch it every year, we plan to watch it Tuesday nt before getting up at 3 am the next day to drive down to Disney.

 

[amalone1013]

Happy late Thanksgiving everyone!
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday (whether it was a few days ago or last month )

We had Mickey pancakes for breakfast on Thursday

Zack and I were in charge of the veggie tray, so I added a little festivity to the dip

We went looking for a Christmas tree

And I tried my hand at making a wreath from the branches that had to come off

wait... where did this picture go? I'll find it!
ETA: Here it is!

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Wow! Congrats!! I'm also incredibly fair, though at least I've got dark hair on my side, but I burn easily. I was SO sure I'd burn before the wedding and slathered the SPF on like crazy! So happy for both of us!
OMG BatB sunscreen WHAT?! Best thing! Definitely a good sign.

It definitely had to have magical properties I'm also very happy for us both! Only other fair skinned people understand the irrational fear of sunburn before a big event.

Wait...3am!? Why!? How!? What is it you do again?

Ha I work in the quality lab of a manufacturing plant... Here's a hint: what do you feed Stacey J? I might help make that I'm lucky (mostly) in that I am on first shift, but after down weekends they will often have us start up at 3am instead of 7am, so that falls on me unless I can talk my third shift coworker into covering.

When we toured all the Uni resorts during my TA training in Feb. (except HRH which I'd been to before), RPR was my favorite. And my favorite part was the fountain out in the courtyard, I think it's beautiful out there!

It was such a pretty resort. We could get used to it easily!

lol, I love that ride! The first time I rode it I was fine since pretty much no roller coaster makes me sick, but the second time I rode it in Feb. I did feel nauseous afterwards. Guess I'm getting old...............

I rode it twice... Roller coasters freak me out. I have a theory haha... but really, I didn't go on them much as a kid, only started when I was about 20. So I feel like I don't have the happy fear-free memories from being a kid, I only have adult memories where I overthink everything that could go wrong

I've never had that happen before so strange! Maybe someone did set some kind of sleep timer that were staying there before?

It was really weird with the tv. I think that's the only thing that makes sense.

How did your hair do that!? Ouch! That's so crazy, and I just keep thinking about how it would hurt to move around on a roller coaster with your hair stuck.

I am just that special I guess! It wasn't very tight and was more at the ends at least, so moving on the coaster didn't pull on it. Just wound through all the bars! At least I know Zack wouldn't have abandoned me on there... except he would have ridden that ride all day long... so I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing

Great update! Love your photos of the tranquil scenery. It made me think that I could easily be persuaded to stay at an Universal resort sometime.

RPR was a beautiful resort. We were spoiled this trip!

Ouch! Looking at the photo of the back of the seat, it is no wonder your hair got tangled up in it! That must have been a frustrating ride for you. And I would expect there have been others that got their hair caught too. Though it sounds like you are like me in that you find yourself in strange situations that do not happen to most people.

I am definitely one of those! I always joke one of my best stories is the time I passed out on an airplane...

Your hair incident reminds me of the time when I caught my own hair on fire during our church's Christmas Eve service. We all light candles and hold them during the hymn Silent Night. I was singing and started to smell that weird smell. Then I realized it was my own hair on fire!

Oh no! I always try to be conscious of my hair since it's long, but sometimes you just don't think it's in danger! One of my biggest fears growing up in the midwest was getting a june bug caught in it. They're kind of sticky bugs and I knew some people who had that happen. We don't have them out here in Colorado though, thank goodness.

It is our also. We watch it every year, we plan to watch it Tuesday nt before getting up at 3 am the next day to drive down to Disney.

I love it! What a great plan! It's been my favorite one since I was a kid, even before I understood all of the jokes I think I notice some new goofy detail every time I watch too! I wore my Griswold shirt for tree hunting this year

 

[amalone1013]

I just heard from our photographer, that she expects to have our photos done by midweek, so I better get cracking!

Universal Day 1
Part Two​

So after my close call on The Mummy, I was ready to move on. We wandered down towards Diagon Alley, going along the San Francisco area. We took a small break to watch the fish market entertainment. They were pretty funny and we enjoyed it. We also came across a large UFO crash landed in the street here, and I could not convince Zack that is was part of HHN. He thought it had to do with what they were working on in the building there... which was the Fast and Furious ride. Silly. He was just like, maybe it's HHN... maybe it's for a new ride! He just really likes to hope for new rides in theme parks. He's an optimist

We made it to Diagon Alley, and I snapped a picture of No 12 to send to my friend:

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We went in through the "back" entrance, ie not through the brick wall which was awesome. Again, I didn't take many pictures this day. I was slacking and we were just taking it all in. So I'm stealing a couple from another day.

I really liked the little House Elf agency.

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Of course we rode Escape from Gringotts, right? What I don't understand, though, is why are the Potter ride locker areas so terrible? Tiny, and everyone going in and out the same doorway... that seems like poor planning. WWoHP in Hollywood is basically the same set up as IoA from what I recall, and the locker area/shop for Forbidden Journey is exactly the same and such a pain! Gringotts is just as bad I think. I understand theming/hiding the lockers instead of just having a bank of them outside like with the Mummy, but could we not find a bit more square footage somewhere?

Lockers aside, we enjoyed the ride. For Zack it ranked above Forbidden Journey, but for me it was second to it I just really love FJ and it's use of screens and props together. We might have done Gringotts twice here. It was pretty empty most of the morning around the park, so even the standby line wasn't too long at that point. Maybe 30 minutes? My No 12 picture is from 10:30am. After we rode Gringotts we wandered the area, checked out the stores, went through Knockturn alley, and watched one of the performances - Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees. It was just about noon when we left and the area was just starting to get busy. But we had a lunch to get to!

On the way out of the park, we stopped at the bathrooms in the San Francisco area so I could re-sunscreen. There was a lady and her two daughters in there, they were around 8 and 10-12? And she was making this big deal about how they need to re-brush their hair and fix their ponytails. I just remember thinking, who cares at that age? You're in a theme park! The only reason I even looked at my hair in the mirror, with my lovely pony tail that couldn't tangle around ride headrests, was because we had an important lunch date! Otherwise, I wouldn't have cared too much what my hair looked like at 26 years old! It was just such a weird thing to make a big deal of, because that was the only thing they came in there for. Not one of them used the restroom, just fixed their hair.

Anyways, we meandered our way out of the park while I filled Zack in on what had happened. We were headed for Toothsome Chocolate Emporium! I was excited to meet fellow Dis'ers @Raeven and @CatNipRules (Michelle) and also to eat here Zack is hard to drag out of the park for meals. We're working on that.

As we got over to Toothsome and were waiting, Zack decides that this is the moment to tell me he's really surprised and proud that I set this up for us. I'm really quiet and shy around people I don't know, and so he was shocked that I had talked to people on the internet and made lunch plans with them (note I didn't do anything for lunch plans or reservations, we really just tagged along). I was already a hair nervous that I might be quiet and awkward here, so then I was even more self-conscious, especially when I thought I spotted Michelle and went up to introduce myself. All my worry and nervousness was for naught, and we chatted and soon Raeven and Josh arrived.

So at this point, I'm going to tap out and send you over to Raeven's TR to read about lunch, if you haven't already. I couldn't do it justice after her report

Awesome Toothsome Lunch Story

I stole this group photo from her too.

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I've got one of my own food pictures, and one courtesy of google.

Zack and I ended up ordering the same thing, the Pub It Up burger: 1/2 pound house-made patty, colby andouille queso, cheddar cheese, grain mustard, kettle chips on a pretzel bun

courtesy of Five for the Road blog.​

It wasn't my favorite. I probably should have asked for no mustard as I'm not a fan, but I thought the cheese would mostly cover it and I don't think it did. Zack was happy, and he's pretty easy to please.

I also had to order a milkshake, especially after Raeven's showed up. After much deliberation, I went with the Heavenly Hazelnut – Nutella ice cream, hazelnuts, Nutella, cocoa powder, fresh whipped cream

The cups were plastic mason jars with the Toothsome logo. At one point the waitress mentioned we could keep them as souvenirs. All I could think was, do we not get clean ones for that like most places? Am I supposed to carry out this glass with the 2 inches of whipped cream on the rim? I didn't clarify though as we're not really in a position to bring home extra glasses right now... ​

We had a wonderful time meeting Raeven and Josh, and Michelle, her son, and his friend. Michelle was very sweet and treated us all to lunch, and even gave us a leftover gift card. Thanks again Michelle!

I hope some time our paths will cross again!

Toothsome was a fun place to eat too, and not just because of the company I didn't realize going in there were the characters around the restaurant, and the decor was also fun. We would definitely go back, or at least stop by for some milkshakes - it's always hard to pick where to eat on vacation when there's so many delicious options. We didn't make it everywhere we wanted to at US in 3 days or at WDW in 11 days.

After we said goodbye to our new friends, we decided to head over to IoA. I'm doing this off of memory as best as I can, because still no pictures Because of that I'm going to power through and finish the day, since it's mostly text. I know the first thing we did was pick up lanyards for our tickets and EPs, because Zack had some particular Jurassic Park one in mind he had seen online, and he hadn't found it in USO. I went with a Secret Life of Pets one. I love that movie, and I wish they had more adult merchandise for it.

I know we made the whole lap around IoA this day, and rode quite a few things. Lines were really short this day overall. We went left on our way in, towards the Marvel area. This might have been when I agreed to go on the Hulk, since we didn't do RRR. I thought I was gonna die. Eyes closed the whole time. Ugh. I'm just not a big coaster fan. I went once and it gave me a headache. I sent Zack through the line several times while I waited. He always feels bad doing that, but I always tell him it's not a big deal, and he should take advantage of it especially with something like EP.

After that I think we did Spiderman, which I really enjoyed. And Kong, which I could have skipped... We saw most of the main 'fight scene' in Hollywood last summer on the tour. I'm thinking we must have done Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls this day. I know we got pretty wet, and I think it was more than just Jurassic Park River Adventure, which I'm sure we did. I always joke that it's hard to get in and out of Space Mountain in WDW and the Matterhorn in DLR, but they're a piece of cake compared to Ripsaw Falls! Falls was fun, and I got a kick out of the Dudley Do-Right theme, though Zack wasn't impressed. But he's never seen Dudley cartoons, so he's not a good judge.

We spent a little time in JP Discovery Center after River Adventure, just before it closed, before heading to WWoHP. We kind of hung out, checked the shops, and rode FJ a few times. Then we took a break and enjoyed some Butterbeer. This was my first time having it! I tried to get the frozen kind in Hollywood last year, and they were always out whenever I tried. Zack had gotten the regular kind and I had tasted it, but I'm not a fan of carbonated drinks and it was too bubbly for me. So I was very happy to have some frozen Butterbeer!

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The park closed at 8pm that night, and we finished up with the Cat in the Hat (whoa. just whoa.) and the Suess Trolley Train ride, but we might have gone back through the Marvel area again too. Then it was about park close, so we decided to head back to the hotel and have dinner. We decided to walk back to RPR, which wasn't a bad walk at all. We might have been confused about getting back to the hotel after the pool closed, since you had to go around to the lobby, but on our walk we bumped into a guy who was heading back from HHN and were chatting with him. He was telling us how he and his wife always come up for the first nights, and then come back for several days around the beginning of October, and always stay at RPR.

After we made it back to the room, we picked up our vouchers and apparently I didn't look in the mirror I had waterproof mascara and eyeliner for the trip, and it held up well most days, but today I had taken too much water apparently... We made our way back to Jake's and checked in, and were seated almost immediately. Our vouchers included apps, entrees, and dessert. We actually ordered all different things this time!

For appetizers, I had the Homemade Pretzel Rods – Tangy Mustard, Four Cheese Porter Fondue

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and Zack had the Fly Boy Beef & Cheese Fries – French Fries, Beef, Jalapeno, Pico de Gallo, Vermont Cheddar Cheese

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I'm a sucker for pretzel sticks and cheese sauce, so this was a no brainer for me. I ate all of the pretzels to make sure they didn't go to waste. I mean... I offered to share with Zack, and he ate one, or half of one. The fondue was delicious. I don't remember the other sauce tasting mustard-y, but that's all I see listed online. I tried it, and it was okay, but for me it couldn't hold a candle to the fondue. Zack's fries were pretty good too, but I didn't feel like they were overly special compared to similar appetizers you could probably get at home.

For entrees, I went with the Jake’s Rib-Eye Steak & Frites 10 oz. Rib-Eye, Truffle Parmesan Fries, House-Made Smoked Ketchup

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and Zack had the Roasted Half Chicken – House-Made Pancetta Mac & Cheese, Jalapeno Maple Glazed Carrots and Brussels Sprouts

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The steak was sooooo good, I cut it with a butter knife. It was delicious. I don't remember the asparagus tasting like much, but it's season is Spring, right? So maybe that's why. I liked these fries better than those at Toothsome, but I like thinner fries and Toothsome's were more like steak fries. Zack enjoyed his chicken, but I didn't try that. The mac and cheese was delicious though He definitely did not get any brussel sprouts.

By this time the waitress (who was amazing!) had made a few comments about things being better, hopefully nothing too bad had happened, so we figured she must have thought we got the vouchers for a mistake the hotel made. So we said something to her about how we had gotten it since this was our wedding/honeymoon trip, and she was very happy for us and then told me to stop crying and everything would be okay! So apparently my waterproof makeup wasn't looking great at that point and only added to why she thought we were upset over something! She then told us that some of the desserts could be made to go, so after debating we both went with the Jumbo Dark Chocolate Cupcake - Filled with Nutella & Topped with Cream Cheese Frosting.

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Mmmmm.... We split these for breakfast over the next two days. We really enjoyed Jake's and I would have happily paid menu prices for what we got because the food was so good. The employees were really nice and our waitress was great. She was even trying to not take a tip from us - she told us no, you're on your honeymoon use it for yourselves! But we told her she was amazing and deserved a tip even if we had vouchers for our meal. Plus, I always worry about people not tipping correctly when they have vouchers or coupons too, and the servers getting stiffed.

This pretty much wraps up our first day! We did have a frustrating moment with family. One of Zack's brothers and his boyfriend had flown in on this day, and they made it to Cabana Bay while we were at Toothsome. About a week before the trip, Zack's brother told Zack he thought they'd go to HHN on Saturday. So Zack asked me if we could go if they did. I didn't have an interest in buying those tickets for just us, because it's just not my thing, and it was one more expense, but I was like sure we can go with your brother. And Zack isn't some big Halloween/haunted house fan either, so I swear I wasn't being mean and just thinking of myself. Zack's only interest in it before this was the HP ride, but a month or so before the trip they added HP rides to EP so it didn't matter. Anyways, Zack's brother had three day park tickets but when they arrived said they were going to nap first, so they talked about meeting in IoA later or a late dinner at Citywalk. But we didn't hear from them until... HHN opening time... because they were going... so no Citywalk dinner. Zack was annoyed by it, but more upset about not being told like that than missing HHN. I'm not sure if they wanted to go alone maybe? Which they could have said, and we wouldn't have cared. Zack even wouldn't have cared if they said that, it just would have been nice to have been told We had a good time at Jake's though, and really it was nice to have the first meal with just us before everyone else descended!

Thanks for hanging in with all of the text! Hopefully it'll get better from here, my only other day severely lacking in pictures is the day before the wedding. I'll try to get more Universal days up tomorrow morning (early - )

 

[Gina Starr]

I'm usually a lurker but I just had to pop in to comment about your waterproof makeup issues! I totally understand! I'll see myself in the mirror and ask my husband why he didn't tell me my make up was smeared. He usually pleads ignorance and says he didn't even notice! Anyways, I'm enjoying your TR!