"Going to Disney for the weekend, BRB!" October 2011 PTR-Update 10/6-ONE DAY!!!!!

[bellebookworm9]

I'm back with more "When I Was a Disney Newbie!" I went to the library this morning and uploaded more pictures, so there will be a lot more pictures interspersed from here on out.

Remember last time I said we got there super late? Well, we have several receipts saved, and it says that we got dinner at 10:47pm.

I believe Mom took this picture of the Mickey Mouse towel animal (our beds were on the other wall, which is why I'm pretty sure it's her room).

This was obviously before they updated the rooms!

February 16, 2007
This was the first morning of trouble with the other girls in Mom's group. For some reason, the alarm in her room wasn't working, so she overslept a bit. At night, our doors were taped shut so they would know if we left in the middle of the night; in the morning our chaperons were supposed to untape them. Well, apparently these girls got too impatient and decided they were just going to leave without waiting for a chaperon.

Mom took this picture on the way to Melody Hall. It was really cold that morning!

It appears that we had breakfast at 8:34am, so we clearly didn't make rope drop! We shared a bagel, a fruit cup, and banana bread-this was back before I had discovered food porn, so no pictures. Sorry.

After breakfast we were supposed to meet up with everybody. We were told to meet in the "courtyard". Some of the group assumed this meant the courtyard behind Melody Hall, the rest of the group knew it was the courtyard near Country Fair. After some confusion we all met up and headed to the bus stop. I don't think the wait was too long and before long we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom!

Here's the card of everything Mom or I did over the course of our 1.5 days at MK.

We walked down Main Street and caught our first glimpse of the castle.

And then we got a little closer:

Several of my friends and I decided to head into Tomorrowland. We got FPs for Space Mountain, and then as we were heading to Buzz Lightyear, we saw this sign:

Yay! We'd be performing later that day!

We continued on to Buzz Lightyear where we probably waited half an hour. It was very fun and I wished we could have done it again! By that point I believe our Space Mountain FP return window was open so we went back there. We walked right on-why is it that more people don't use FP? There was a small hold up when Stephanie didn't realize she had to actually give her FP to the second CM we encountered. She had put it back in her bag and of course it fell to the bottom. Once we were on the ride I remember thinking I was going to hit my head; Mary and Stephanie must have felt the same way because we were screaming the whole time in fear of that rather than fear of the ride itself!

Next we headed over to Fantasyland. We saw Tigger over at Pooh's Playful Spot, so we jumped in line. This was before I got into collecting character autographs.

Since we had waited a bit for Tigger, we were now pretty hungry so we went over to Cosmic Ray's. I know I got the chicken sandwich and I thought it was pretty dry. We did enjoy watching Sunny Eclipse though. (Mom got a pizza from Pinocchio's Village Haus around 12:10pm).

It was probably around 1pm by this point, so it was time to head over the the Hub for afternoon check in. This was another spot of trouble with the girls in the other room (abbreviated here on out as GITOR). They were apparently stuck on Splash Mountain. It was quite awhile until this message was relayed to Mom! Needless to say, she was not happy.

During the check in time, we took a few pictures.

After check in, it was time for the Wind Ensemble members (that's me!) to head backstage to change and pick up our instruments. We walked back through the CM door near Pirates of the Caribbean. Of course, no pictures are allowed backstage. That's okay, since there was really nothing to take pictures of. We saw the afternoon parade floats getting ready to head out, and we saw Tigger without his head-very weird. Though of course I know the characters aren't "real", it's still weird to see Tigger's body with a human head!

Our "changing room" was just a large room divided with a curtain into the boys and girls sides. After we were in our concert dress, we got on a bus-I think it's a bus like they use as the charter buses for Disney Wedding-and drove around to the back of the Galaxy Palace theater, which is no longer there.

The performance went well, though I can only remember one, maybe two, songs that we played.

Although the Orchestra/String Ensemble and Bel Canto were after us and we were encouraged to return to watch them, we were bad fellow musicians and went back out to explore the park. Mary and I went straight to Frontierland. We grabbed some FPs for Big Thunder, and then went over to Liberty Square where we got in line for

The Haunted Mansion, of course. I don't think the wait was too long. We arrived in the stretching room, and we definitely weren't expecting the lights to go out! We grabbed for each other, and Mary kind of ended up groping me...the joke for the rest of high school was that she "was doing the pledge of allegiance on Gretchen!"

After HM, we went over to it's a small world. We probably waited about half an hour for that. There were some older wind ensemble kids in our boat. One of them just put her headphones on and tried to sleep, but the other two were singing along, quite mockingly, but also hitting all the notes perfectly. It was pretty funny, but I'm sure the other people in the boat probably didn't think so...

When we exited, we heard the music for Dream Along with Mickey. We started running around the side of the castle to get to the front (it was almost time for our 6pm check in, anyway). As we were going, two random guys yelled, "You can't run in Disney World! You need a permit to do that!"

The show was cute but I've never had the urge to watch it again (I did take pictures but we were a bit too far back so everyone looks really tiny). By now it was starting to get dark out, and it was getting chilly. The "shorts club" was quickly turning into the "pants club". Mom sent me to the Emporium to buy here some pants, and Mary got some as well. At that point I was really wishing I hadn't left my winter jacket in Buffalo!

Next we went with Stephanie and her parents over to Pirates, but it was temporarily closed. So we walked over to Pecos Bill's to eat in the mean time. I'm almost positive I got a burger, but I don't really remember it so it probably wasn't anything special (Mom got the chicken sandwich from Cosmic Ray's at 6:41).

After dinner we went on Big Thunder Mountain and Pirates, but I'm not sure in which order. I remember that BTMRR was FREEZING. It was so windy that even with our layers and hoods, we were just chilled to the bone. Also, even though we had our FPs, the line seemed really long. We just weaved around forever, and I couldn't figure out which was the standby and which was the FP, because everything in the structure is so twisty, of that makes sense. We were heading to Fantasyland to see PhilharMagic, but we got trapped by Spectro! We saw it from right before it goes backstage in Frontierland, and almost nobody was there (which of course I remembered for last May's trip and we had great seats there again). I think Mom saw it from Main Street. I took a bunch of picture, but barely any of them turned out. Here are two that did.

I'm guessing Wishes did happen that night, but as we were in PhilharMagic we didn't see it. MPM was cute, but I didn't like the things coming at my face- I didn't remember how much until I watched it again last May. I think after that we might have gone on the carousel, but that might have been the other night. I do know that we stopped at Main Street Bakery for cappuccino, which was disgusting. I don't think there was any sugar in it, and even after we added some it was still pretty nasty.

We checked in and headed back to ASMu. I don't remember the wait, but we probably got on the second bus that came, because that seemed to happen to our group a lot.

The next day we'd be heading to Epcot!

Continued here

Hope you all liked day 2! Only two more days until I can buy our flights-right now it's looking like we might be flying AirTran. JetBlue is a bit too expensive, so I'm really hoping Southwest pulls through for me in price! Has anyone flown with AirTran or JetBlue? Can you tell me your experiences? We've only ever flown Southwest, and we love them!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Hope you all liked day 2! Only two more days until I can buy our flights-right now it's looking like we might be flying AirTran. JetBlue is a bit too expensive, so I'm really hoping Southwest pulls through for me in price! Has anyone flown with AirTran or JetBlue? Can you tell me your experiences? We've only ever flown Southwest, and we love them!

I have flown AirTran several times, and I've never had any problems with them. Pleasant flights and the crew is normally pretty good. No complaints there.

 

[bellebookworm9]

I just bought our flights!

We were able to get two non-stops-on Southwest, like I wanted. We will be departing Buffalo at 6:00am scared1 and arriving in Orlando at 8:45am. I figure this will give us plenty of time to chill at the pool, explore the resort and the Boardwalk, and possibly go to Downtown Disney.

We will be departing Orlando at 7:15pm and arriving in Buffalo at 9:45pm. This will again give us plenty of time to have a later, leisurely breakfast at Cape May Cafe, swim for a bit longer, etc.

I bought Early Bird Check In again for the return trip because I won't be able to check us in at 7:15 the night before-we'll be at MNSSHP (hopefully, if the dates work out the way I want them to).

I also e-mailed the woman I'm renting from to tell her to add Magical Express.

Grand total is $678.80-a bit more than I wanted to pay, but not the $$$$ that some airlines were charging!

 

[bellebookworm9]

First, for a life update: If any of you read my last PTR, or the May 2010 TR, you'll know that last summer I was an orientation advisor. It was a job that I fell in love with and made a lot of new friends through, including my best friend, Sara. I re-applied for this summer, thinking I'd be a shoo-in. I did not get rehired, and I was devastated. It seems that there was a lot of politics in the way the hiring was done though. So now I'm applying for boring summer jobs at local stores. Hopefully this way I'll be able to make it to the Harry Potter 7 Part 2 midnight premiere though!

I've officially changed my major to the Comm. Disorders Audiology track. This means I am no longer obligated to teach, but the grant I was receiving will turn into a loan. I will be able to graduate next May, a year early. I am looking at several grad schools, and the top 3 are (in no particular order) University at Buffalo, University of Florida in Gainsville, and University of South Florida in Tampa. Does anyone know anything about the latter two? I plan to visit them in January, but a little up front knowledge would be nice! There aren't many schools in the country that offer programs in Audiology (I'm looking to go for my Au.D., not my Ph.D.), maybe 3-4 per state. If anyone knows of any other good schools, let me know!!

Onward to
February 17.2007
Today was our first and only Epcot day! Here is the Epcot card:

Unfortunately, the photo album with all the receipts that tell me what we ate and at what time are at home. So you'll have to just let me wing it!

I know we had breakfast at the food court. I think I got a Mickey waffle. This was the day the Jazz Band was going to perform at Downtown Disney, so they headed for that bus while the rest of us got in line for Epcot. I think this was the morning that the GITOR were acting like 2 year olds about waiting for the bus, whining, complaining, sitting on the chains, etc. (If you've never stayed at a value, they have bus queues similar to the ones in the parks, but with chains instead of metal bars.)

Since one of my friends was in the jazz band, her mom who was also a chaperon went with her, and my mom took on the rest of her kids (all my friends, and not badly behaved!) One of the girls' tickets had gotten demagnetized, so we had to stop at guest services or something to take care of that.

Once that was all set, Mom and I decided to spend the morning together. We rented a locker, and got in line for Spaceship Earth.

(You know this is old because the wand was still up!)

The line wasn't too long and we were soon riding past the communication of the past and present. This was before the refurb, so no fun future games were included. I remember talking to mom through most of the ride, and thinking it was pretty boring. I like it much better now.

After Spaceship Earth, we wanted to go to Ellen's Energy Adventure. Now, imagine you've never, ever been to Epcot before. You know that Ellen is near the giant DNA structures, and you know roughly where on the map it is. You see the DNA structures towards the front of the park, and start walking that way. You're mat by a wall. You turn around, and eventually realize that it is necessary to go between the Innoventions buildings to get anywhere. Lesson learned. Well, we finally found Ellen, and enjoyed 45 minutes in the air conditioning (it was a little warmer that day). I'm not sure why I felt the need to ride it again last May, but I can safely say we will be waiting another trip or five to ride it again.

On our way out of Future World East, we grabbed some FPs for Test Track, and then headed to grab some lunch. I had heard how awesome Sunshine Seasons was, so we headed there. We each got the turkey & cheese focaccia and shared some butterfinger cheesecake. While we were eating, the GITOR came up, wanting to know if they could get out of check in. It was something to do with Soarin' FPs. I think one of the girls' tickets wasn't working in the machine, and by the time they got a CM to fix it, it was for a later time (during check in) than the other 3. Now, if I wasn't a Disney newbie, I could have told them that FPs are good all day. Ooops. Of course Mom wouldn't let them out of check in, and they threw a mini fit in the middle of the Land. Well, Mom alerted the directors to this issue and they said they'd take care of it, so we were on our way. We didn't ride Soarin' that trip; Mom wasn't sure if she wanted to, the standby line was crazy long, and I'm not sure why we couldn't/didn't get FPs. Oh well.

Soon after was check in, and I feel like the GITOR actually did not show up, and I think that if that did happen they got in trouble. Mom spent the next few hours with her chaperon friends. They went on Living with the Land, and I'm not sure what else they did, but here are some pictures.

Mary and I headed to World Showcase, which I will continue with pictures of later this week!

Continued here

 

[brookelizabeth]

I am loving the flash back report!!!! I really like the park cards that you made, such a clever idea and fun to look back on.

I so know the "GITOR" type. UGH. Some teenage girls.

And YAY for booked flights!!!!! That makes it seem all the more real, doesn't it?

Nanaimo Bar $2.75

Now this is something I'm excited for! disneyfoodblog says, "the Nanaimo bar — a new item on the menu this year (and not found in the restaurant) is a decent nod to Canadian favorites. While the Nanaimo bars my mom makes are better, this is a nice, sweet way to end your tour of Canada." examiner.com agrees, writing "Nanimo layer bars offer a chocolate graham-cracker crumb base, a buttercream center that can be made with different flavors, and a chocolate topping. The Epcot Food & Wine Festival’s version is reminiscent of a homemade peanut-butter cup, with added emphasis on the chocolate. And a touch of coconut. It was rich, the kind of dessert I would have loved to show up at a school bake sale." I love peanut butter cups, so this should be good!

Holy mother of pearl that sounds DELICIOUS!!!!!!!

 

[bellebookworm9]

I am loving the flash back report!!!! I really like the park cards that you made, such a clever idea and fun to look back on.

And YAY for booked flights!!!!! That makes it seem all the more real, doesn't it?

Thanks, I've always liked the park cards-in the 2010 scrapbook, each park gets its own 12x12 page!

The booked flights definitely make it seem more real. I'm really glad I bought them when I did, since the prices have only gone up since then.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Park hours should be released tomorrow! UG normally has the correct park hours up about a week in advance of them actually being released, so I'm going off of those right now. The park levels are a bit on the high side for Saturday and Sunday-in the 6s and 7s, but we'll deal. UG is also saying that Epcot will be open until 10pm on Saturday...anyone know if that's normal?

I registered for classes this morning-first time I've ever gotten truly frustrated with registering. I got into 3 out of the 4 classes I wanted (Aural Rehab, Child Development, and Abnormal Psych), but couldn't get into Basic Musicianship because all (3) spots were closed-hopefully more will open up. I'm using History of Costume as a place holder right now. I'm also signed up to take Language and Culture online over the summer. I checked my degree progress today, and with the classes that I just registered for, all of my degree requirements are met-minus the fact that I'm still 15 credits short. Where did the time go?

Anyway, let's continue with:
February 17, 2007-Part 2
I left off with Mary and me heading to World Showcase. We started in Mexico.

I know that during this time El Rio del Tiempo was making its transformation to The Gran Fiesta Tour, so we didn't get to go on it (three years later I realized it was no big loss!). We browsed the marketplace area for a bit, and then went over to the old La Cantina de San Angel so Mary could eat. I think she got a burrito. I vaguely remember that the birds were there, begging for food, but we were good and didn't give them any.

Next up was, of course, Norway. We peeked in the Stave church, but at 15 I didn't have much appreciation for it. We didn't make it in there last year, but I'll definitely try in the fall. (It's kind of funny-after this trip, Epcot was my least favorite park. I thought it was boring. Now, it's easily my favorite!) Maelstrom was open and the wait time wasn't too long, but it was more than we wanted to stand in line for (again, no big loss).

We walked a few more feet into China and saw Mushu!

(I can't remember if I already said this, but I did not have the patience to wait in line for the characters at that point. I just took pictures of them from a distance, and I've tried to crop out whoever was standing with them at the time).

I didn't get to see Mushu in May, so he's on my list for October. I know we didn't see Reflections of China, but we may have browsed the shop.

Before we crossed into Germany, we got stuck at the bridge near the Africa Outpost. They were bringing out the IllumiNations barges, and it took a bit of time. We debated turning around, but in the end we stuck it out and continued into my country of ancestry.

We saw Snow White meeting and greeting-it was obviously cold out since she had long sleeves on!

Mom ended up in Germany at some point and took this picture of the train village.

I know we definitely looked in some of the shops here; I was looking for something for my grandma, but I wasn't successful in finding anything. After we were done browsing, we headed back to Future World because it was time for Test Track.

Even with our FPs, the wait was kind of long (which always seems to happen at TT). Test Track is the first "thrill" ride I've ever gotten Mom to go on, and she loved it! I wish I had the ride picture, but we didn't do Photopass (I don't even know if it was around back then) and we didn't buy it on its own.

A big thumbs up!

After we proved that our car was good to go, Mary and I went back to World Showcase, going in through Canada this time. We walked right past The Great White North for some reason, and I never realized the beautiful gardens were there until I got home.

However, we stopped in the UK for a bit of jolly good fun! We looked in some more shops, saw the WS Players do a "Camelot" show, which was quite entertaining, and saw Mary Poppins and one of the penguins, as well as Alice.

We walked past France and into Morocco. I think some more store browsing was done, and we saw Aladdin and Genie (both of whom I also did not get the chance to meet in May).

We walked past Japan, which was partially under construction, and past America. We finally arrived at Italy and looked in one of the stores there until it was time for check in.

At that point, Mary went backstage with the rest of the marching band, and Mom and I went to watch the American Adventure. I liked it then, but I absolutely love it now. After the show, we decided on dinner at Liberty Inn-boring, I know. I'm pretty sure I got chicken fingers, which take the boring cake.

I have no idea where we went after that, but we somehow managed to kill some time until the Marching Band show. We watched them perform at World Showcase promenade, along with a few other bands. When that was over, I think I wanted to go on the Seas with Nemo, but there wasn't really time, and (silly me) it was after 7, so it wouldn't have been open anyway.

I know we grabbed some seats at the Cantina for IllumiNations and ate a churro. But we had a problem. IllumiNations was about to start. Mom was the parent in charge of the first aid forms that night and needed to go pick them up from the Odyssey building. We couldn't get a hold of Mary, and had no idea when she was coming back. Mom couldn't leave me by myself. So we gave up our amazing seats and went to first aid. We watched from back there.

(Mom thinks it's sad that the throw away camera took a better picture than the digital. I then remind her that this is the *only* picture we took that turned out!)

IllumiNations was fantastic although we didn't have the best view. Even then, the music stuck with me. My senior year (I think) the marching band played part of it as part of their show, but after we returned my conductor was playing a CD of it, and asked if anyone knew what it was. I immediately recalled it, and several years later, if anyone started to play it, I'd perk up and go "That's IllumiNations!" (It's sort of like Dug from "Up" with the squirrels).

I managed to navigate us back to the Future World Fountain where we were all meeting up before heading back to the hotel. The GITOR took *forever* to get there. When they finally did, the leader shouted "I'm here!" in a very dramatic fashion, arms thrown open and everything. While we were waiting and waiting for them, I was so annoyed that I was literally begging to leave without them. That may have been the night Mom told the directors that if they didn't get those girls out of her group, she was going to get on a flight home right then and there. Well, they were no longer with us the next day.

Coming up next: we face the Yeti and then I get sick.

I hope to update tomorrow once I get an itinerary figured out! Only 3 days until my birthday, and 11 (?) until I can make our ADRS!

Continued here

 

[bellebookworm9]

Park hours were released a little while ago, so I have a rough itinerary worked out!

Friday, October 7
~Leave house by 3:45 am (What on earth was I thinking when I booked this flight?!)
~Arrive at airport by 4:15 (It's not too far, and I doubt traffic will be heavy that early in the morning...)
~Flight departs Buffalo at 6am
~Flight arrives in Orlando at 8:45am (Praying there are no flight delays)
~Catch Magical Express to Beach Club Villas (If the transportation gods are with me, be at Beach Club Villas at 10:30 at the latest)
~Check in, leave carry ons with bell services (since I highly doubt our room will be ready so early)
~Lunch at Beaches & Cream at 11am (Hopefully we will be among the first people there and won't have too much of a wait, but we're also perfectly fine with eating at the counter so that should help too)

Now, this is where things get fuzzy, and I don't know what to do on arrival/departure day...
Option 1
-Go to Downtown Disney for a few hours immediately after lunch
-Pick up dinner at Earl of Sandwich and stick it in the fridge for later
-Take a nap as soon as our room is ready (I know we'll be exhausted!)
-Swim for a bit (I don't know what time SAB closes though)
-Walk around the Boardwalk/see IllumiNations from resort area (possibly our balcony, if we're lucky!)

Option 2
Here, things get even more fuzzy because of transportation. AK is open only until 5, and DHS until 7. I don't want to make the trip to MK or DTD if we don't have to...
-In some combination, swim, nap and go visit AKL after lunch.
-Get dinner at Mara (African stew and zebra domes )
-Return to resort and explore Boardwalk/see IllumiNations

Saturday, October 8
So, Epcot is a "Park to Avoid" on this day, but we'll make the best of it. Crowd level is predicted to be a 7.6. Hours are 9am to 10pm, with IllumiNations at 10.
~Walk over to Epcot in time for rope drop
~Stay in Future World until 11am (definitely hit Soarin' and Test Track in this time and grab FPs for later, possibly the Seas [for the aquarium, not the ride], and more than likely Mission: Space [green team, of course!])
~At 11am, travel to World Showcase. Do the food booths/shops/attractions from approximately the left half of WS Promenade through Italy.
~Probably take a break around 3pm (swim, nap, etc)
~Return whenever we feel like it (probably around 6 or 7)
~Get dinner at Sunshine Seasons (love that place!)
~Spend some time in Innoventions, hit any other attractions that we want
~Stake out prime viewing location for IllumiNations

Sunday, October 9
Epcot is a "Neutral Park" today, with a crowd level at 6.0. Hours are 9am-9pm with IllumiNations at 9.
~Maybe make rope drop, maybe not. Regardless, be in World Showcase at 11am. I think we will start back at America and work our way to the front, since that would be the opposite of what most guests are doing.
~Sample the food booths/shops/attractions
~We may or may not take a break today, depending on what time we arrive at the park
~Dinner at (?), perhaps just the food booths
~Find a decent spot for IllumiNations, but no need to stake one out an hour in advance!

Monday, October 10
Magic Kingdom is open from 9m-7pm, which makes me pretty darn positive that it's going to be a Halloween Party night. It's a recommended park with a crowd level of 2.6-though I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything for the party itself...
~Sleep in(ish) today
~Hang out at SAB for awhile
~Head over to WL for lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe (I'm hoping for a 1:00 or 1:30 ADR)
~After lunch, spend some time exploring Wilderness Lodge and Ft. Wilderness (I really want to visit the barn!)
~Take the boat to MK around 4pm, when we can enter with our MNSSHP tickets
~Stay at the party probably until midnight

Tuesday, October 11
I have more options today!
~Definitely have breakfast at Cape May Cafe (probably around 10am)

Option 1
~After breakfast, stay at resort and swim

Option 2
~Go to Downtown Disney
~Get dinner to go at Earl of Sandwich (good because we can take it to the airport with us!)

Option 3
~Go visit AKL
~Get "lupper" at Mara (bad because we can't take African Stew with us to the airport!)

~Magical Express picks us up around 4:15
~Flight departs at 7:15
~Flight arrives in Buffalo at 9:45

Whoo! So, there you have it, our very rough itinerary. Now, please help me pick options for arrival and departure days. Seriously, I need help. Also, feel free to throw out other suggestions!

On a side note, can I just mention how much I hate April Fool's Day? There were two blog posts on the DIS this morning, one about refillable mugs, the other about World of Color at Disneyland. The refillable mug one said "Mugs are now good for life", which I kind of believed, but then as I went on there was all this nonsense about micro chips, finger scans, and limited refills. So that one seemed a bit sketchy. The one about WoC was a bit more believable though. It said that WoC was closing due to copyright lawsuits. I thought it was a bit odd because I remember reading that the Imagineers had to come up with completely new ways to even put the show together (the lights, and water sprays). However, I read about a week ago that Hoop de Doo is also dealing with copyright infringement so I thought that the same thing may have happened with World of Color. But no worries, apparently everything is all well (it's really too bad about the mugs though! )

 

[bellebookworm9]

BIRTHDAY FUN!!
My 20th birthday was on Saturday, so my friends threw me a party! My friends Ling, Sara, and I went to WalMart that afternoon-they told me to go to the opposite side of the store. I bought a pretty dress that I'd been eyeing for a while.

When we came back, Ling and I decorated the lounge on our floor-can I just say how hard it is to hang streamers?!

Sara baked the cake at her house, but brought it over to decorate it. When some of our other friends started showing up, they all went to the lounge and told me to stay in my room for a bit "and have fun by myself". Gee thanks for kicking me out of my own party! (At one point Matt came in to get the drinks, and I was playing Solitaire. He said that was the most lonely thing he's ever seen. What Ling failed to tell everyone when he reported this was that I play Solitaire very frequently, so this was no big deal).

They bought me a birthday princess pin/ribbon to wear.

While I was in my room, everyone else was busy! Here's Angela decorating the cake:

They bought a princess pinata-this was the *leftover* candy that wouldn't fit!

They also bought party favors-they didn't make noise though. Sara was being silly.

Ling and Emily were trying to make some noise:

Ling finally came in and got me. When we went back to the lounge, everyone was hiding. Matt was being a creeper in the laundry room.

Hit the pinata! (Problem: How do you hang a pinata? Answer: Have Matt hold it!)

(Nate: "How about I stab it?")

The end result:

Yummy cake!

Let's illegally light some candles!

Decorating Emily with the streamers (Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree).

Shared birthday girls (Emily's was a week or two before)

Ling had put some streamers on my door overnight, and we decided that they would make an excellent hula skirt.

It was a super fun party; we also played Disney Apples to Apples. My mom sent me a really cool princess card that sings, and I got some nice cards from other family too.

 

[bellebookworm9]

I'm finally finishing up our trip around the world for Food & Wine Festival! I believe the last two countries to report on are Greece and New Zealand.

GREECE
(This is another booth that I just love the design of! I've always thought the buildings in Greece are pretty. )

Spanakopita $4.00
This sounds absolutely delicious! Disneyfoodblog says it's "possibly the best I've ever tasted", while Disneyeveryday says "I adore this dish…Popeye would be proud. Pastry is light, crisp and flaky. Spinach filling is superbly savory. I get it every year!" Examiner.com also gave it a glowing review.

allears rating: (71.6%)

Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki $4.00
This could be interesting, but I'm not sure exactly what it is. It seems like a piece of chicken covered in a sauce and then placed on a pita? Well, Disneyeveryday says it's very good and the meat is tender.

allears rating: (72.5%)

Greek Salad with Pita Bread $3.00
This looks quite good, but Disneyfoodblog says it's colorful but hard to serve from an outdoor booth, and that visiting early will probably allow for the best temperature experience.

allears rating: (72.1%)

Baklava $3.00
I think I mentioned that we'll probably get the Baklava in Morocco, since it's virtually the same. Disneyfoodblog says it's always good here as well, and Disneyeveryday says if you love honey and nuts, you can't go wrong with this.

allears rating: (72.3%)

NEW ZEALAND
Lamb Slider with Tomato Chutney $4.75
I don't know if I've ever had lamb, but this sounds interesting. Disneyfoodblog says that it had high remarks from readers, and examiner.com says it was tender and tasty.

allears rating: (70.8%)

Seared Sea Scallop with Vegetable Slaw and Lemon Vinaigrette $4.25
I'm not a fan of scallops, and I'm not sure that mom is either. I didn't really find any reviews of this, other than the Disneyfoodblog saying that readers liked it.

allears rating: (66.5%)

So there you have it, all of the booths from the 2010 Food & Wine Festival. Hopefully 2011 will bring many more good dishes!

I make our ADRs tomorrow, so I'll be sure to update with our food plans! I also finally heard back from the woman I'm renting DVC points from, and she's added Magical Express for us.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Happy belated birthday! Looks like you guys had a fun party to celebrate. Love the Disney princess button.

Yay for the park hours being released! Your plans sound good so far!

Oh, and I totally fell for the refillable mugs being good for life prank too. LOL.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Happy belated birthday! Looks like you guys had a fun party to celebrate. Love the Disney princess button.

Yay for the park hours being released! Your plans sound good so far!

Oh, and I totally fell for the refillable mugs being good for life prank too. LOL.

Thanks! It was a really good time. I love the button too.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who was gullible enough to believe that.

 

[bellebookworm9]

I AM SO FRUSTRATED RIGHT NOW!

First, it's still not showing that we've added Magical Express to the reservation on Disneyworld.com.

Then, this morning I attempted to make our ADRs. I woke up shortly after 11, and logged in. I tried for literally half an hour to make the ressies online, and it kept telling me there was an internal server error. So I finally called. I got my two reservations made, but it took the woman there a while to get the confirmation numbers. Then I was attempting to confirm them online and it kept telling me my phone number was wrong-I tried both ADRs with both my house and cell numbers. So I called the Dining Line again and found out that they had some of the digits in my cell number mixed up. They corrected it. I tried to confirm it again online. Whispering Canyon Cafe showed up, but Cape May Cafe is still telling me the phone number is wrong. I think I'm going to call again.

Okay, I just called. I had one number wrong in my confirmation number. I also changed the time. So here are our (hopefully) final dining plans.

Friday, October 7
Breakfast: At home (3am?)
-Possibly a second one at MCO (9am?)
Lunch: Beaches & Cream when they open (11am)
Dinner: Mara around 5:30pm
Snack: Seashore Sweets in the evening-the menu on wdwinfo looks delicious!

Saturday, October 8
Breakfast: Boardwalk Bakery (pick up the night before)
Lunch: Food & Wine Festival booths
Dinner: Sunshine Seasons

Sunday, October 9
Breakfast: Kringla Bakeri (pick up the night before-School Bread, anyone?)
Lunch/Dinner: Food & Wine Festival Booths

Monday, October 10
Breakfast: Boulangerie Patisserie (pick up the night before-this is new for us)
Lunch: Whispering Canyon Cafe (ADR at 1:15pm)
Dinner: Pinocchio Village Haus (before 7pm when it closes-this is subject to change, we might go somewhere else)
Snacks: Aloha Isle for a Dole Whip Float, Sleepy Hollow for a funnel cake

Tuesday, October 11
Breakfast: Cape May Cafe (ADR at 9:45am)
Snack: Wetzel's Pretzels (I wanted to go here last trip but it didn't work out)
Dinner: Earl of Sandwich (Pick up and take to airport with us)
Snack: Goofys Candy Co! (I the pretzels!)

Oh, and in case you couldn't tell, we finalized our arrival and departure day plans. After Beaches & Cream on arrival day, we'll swim and explore the resort, then take a short nap (either in our room if it's ready or on the beach). Around 4pm we'll take the bus to AK, then transfer to AKL. We'll look around Kidani than walk to Jambo House and get dinner at Mara. Then we'll take the bus to DHS, then transfer to the boat and probably get off at the Swan. Walk to the Boardwalk, explore, and rent a surrey bike!

After Cape May Cafe on departure day, we're going to head to Downtown Disney for a few hours, and return in time to grab ME.

 

[bellebookworm9]

So first up, I have some very trip unrelated chatter. In case you didn't know, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 came out on DVD this past Friday. When I had been looking at it on Amazon, it had some really cool special features. When I checked a few days later, the special features seemed to only be on the Blu-Ray copy. However, Sara (my best friend) went to WalMart and got me the DVD as a (very) belated Christmas present. And it was some sort of WalMart exclusive-a 2 disc special edition that had nearly all of the special features on the Blu-Ray! (The only one missing was the "exclusive opening scene" of Part 2, and I found that on the internet-I'm not impressed).

Well, one of the special features was about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal. It talked about the grand opening and how all the stars were there. I've thought WWOHP looked cool since it opened, but now I really want to go.

Conveniently enough, Mom and I plan to head back to Florida for a few days in January 2012 to look at University of Florida in Gainsville and University of South Florida in Tampa. And I think I've almost convinced her to spend one more day down there to visit WWOHP! I just re-read Sarah's August TR and I got so excited looking at all the pictures. So, hopefully I'll have another ticker soon!

And now here's some more "When I Was a Disney Newbie".

Sunday, February 18, 2007-Part 1
Today was our only day at Animal Kingdom, and it wasn't even a full day, just the morning-early afternoon. After several days of keeping us out as late as possible and then waking us up really early, the adults finally got the hint that teenagers don't operate like that. We were allowed to sleep in a bit more today.

I know we got breakfast at Intermission Food Court again, and I'm pretty sure we arrived at AK around 10am. Here's what either Mom or I accomplished that day:

When we arrived at the park, Mary, Stephanie, and I power walked over to Everest. The line was about 3 hours long (at least, according to the really bad TR I wrote 3 years ago) but we managed to get FPs for just before we were scheduled to leave that day. Looking at this picture, I might actually believe that the line was 3 hours!

Next we wandered over to Dinosaur. I still have no idea why I decided that riding this would be a good idea. The line wasn't too bad, maybe half an hour. I did enjoy seeing the mom from the Cosby Show as the Dr. in the beginning, but my experience on the actual ride has scarred me for life. About 10 seconds in, I closed my eyes, plugged my ears, and hunched down in the seat. It was just sensory overload and I couldn't deal with it. Never again. (Our other friends went on later and got one of the best ride pics I've ever seen, but I don't think any of them still have it on the internet).

After Dinosaur we decided to try Primeval Whirl. I know the line for that was kind of long, but we stuck it out. The ride was quite fun, but I don't really feel the need to do it again anytime soon. I remember the car was very cramped for the three of us. Mary also decided it would be a good idea to chew gum that morning, and almost ended up choking on it from all the spinning.

I really, really wanted to ride the Safari-I mean, really, that's what AK is for! Mary was terrified that the lions were going to eat her (I've never really figured that one out...) but we convinced her that she could sit in the middle. So we headed way back to Africa, stopping to take this picture of the Tree of Life on the way (at least, I think I took it, it could be Mom's).

When we arrived at the Safari, we braved the hour-ish wait. Finally we were in our jeep, heading out to the savannas. Here are some photos (please excuse the heads).

(I'm pretty sure that last picture is Mom's because I know I didn't see the lions!)

After we had our fill of the animals, we headed back to Everest because it was time to use our Fastpasses. I don't think the wait was too long, and soon we were on the ride vehicle. I think we were very close to the front, if not in the front row. The ride was so fun-and I think the Yeti may still have been moving at that point. However, when we got off, I felt awful. I thought my head was going to explode. That ride seriously messes with me. I managed to make it to the front of the park for check in, but I was sooooo sick. I think Mom gave me some motrin, and one of the other chaperones was trying to get us lunch reservations at the Magic Kingdom, though it seemed that nothing was available. So we got on the bus to the TTC, then took the monorail over. I know most of my friends waited and got to ride in the front (I'm jealous that now I'll never have the opportunity to do that), but I just got on with mom and her chaperon friends. I wish I could have enjoyed it. I know at one point we went by the semi-demolished North Wing of the Contemporary, and for some reason I thought it was Shades of Green. Of course, now I realize that makes no sense, but hey, I was slightly delirious! We soon arrived at MK to have (hopefully) an evening of fun...

Continued here

 

[bellebookworm9]

Just bumping, since I updated last night, but a bunch of things weren't working and it wouldn't let me update the title post/table of contents.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Sunday, February 18, Part 2
When I left off we had just arrived via monorail to Magic Kingdom. It was probably around 3:15, because I know we got trapped by the parade at Town Square. When it was over, my mom contacted her chaperon friend, who had managed to get us lunch/dinner ADRs at Crystal Palace. I still have no idea how she managed it, because the line was gigantic and according to the CMs at the AK guest services everything was full. I don't think we even waited once we got there.

I know that I enjoyed the spoon bread (I think it's the corn bread dish) and the potatoes, but I don't remember much else. During the meal, our last camera ran out of pictures. Our waitress said that she could get us one, and we didn't realize until after the fact that they charged us $17.95 for it! The hostess that sat us chatted with us for awhile about the Disney College program. Apparently she didn't do her research before going down there and found out after the fact that her school itself wouldn't accept the credits. She also told us that the hours were many and the pay was little. Although I've had two good friends do the program more than once and really enjoy it, that hostess's experience has always stuck with me and discouraged me a bit.

Anyway, here are some pictures with the characters. I can tell that I was definitely not feeling my best.

(Wow, I didn't realize how young I look in that last picture!)

After the meal, we stopped to use the bathroom in Crystal Palace, and it's just so pretty in there. Definitely one of my favorite bathrooms on Disney property!

I was feeling slightly better after relaxing and eating for awhile, so Mom, her chaperon friends and I went to get FPs for Jungle Cruise before check in. I went off with Mary and we headed for Splash Mountain. I had brought ponchos for us today, and we were ready to go! When we got there, it said the wait was an hour, but we really wanted to ride so we got in line. As we wandered through the queue, I wondered where all the people were. It turned out that we literally walked right on! Here's our ride picture (the only picture I've ever actually purchased, other than Test Track on the Photopass CD).

We decided we wanted to ride again, so we hopped back in line. It wasn't a walk on this time, but no more than a 5 minute wait. It was just as good the second time around! After that, my FP was good for Jungle Cruise, so we met back up with Mom to go on it. We were riding it after dark, which I hear is a cool experience, but I didn't really like it. The hippos popping out of the water always makes me jump, even in broad daylight!

I know after that Mary and I wandered over to Fantasyland. I'm almost positive we stopped in the Winnie the Pooh gift shop, and then headed to Tomorrowland, where we went on Stitch. Stupidest ride ever. It was horrible: the restraint, the dark, the smells and feelings. I just was not feeling well again and that ride did nothing to make me feel better. I can safely say that I will never go on it again.

After our awful experience with Experiment 626, we were walking down Main Street, and suddenly I just felt awful. I just started sobbing on the sidewalk. My head hurt so bad and I was just so upset. Mary called my mom and then she and I went to the Exposition Hall to wait for her. We found refuge in the little theater area (so sad it's gone now). Sitting in the dark and quiet helped a little bit, but I was still feeling awful. Mom got permission for she and I to leave the park early, and we headed to the bus stop. I know Wishes was happening, because the fireworks (which I'm sensitive to anyway) were making my head throb. I disticntly remember our bus driver telling trivia on the way back to the resort, like how many ounces the giant coke cups could hold at All Star Sports ("Does that include ice?", one guy asked ). The driver also asked if anyone knew what EPCOT stood for, and at that point that was one of the few things I did know, but I just didn't feel like answering, and no one else did either, apparently.

When we arrived back at Music, Mom took me to her room so I could rest without roommates and noisy neighbors, which I was grateful for. I had a fever, so she gave me some motrin to bring it down, and I slept for a long time. The next day was our last full day, and we'd be going to MGM (hey, at the time, that's what it was still called!). I really wanted to go, so I tried to get my rest.

Continued here

 

[jenbear123]

I'm really enjoying your "stepping back in time" TR. It's neat to see what WDW was like back then. Lots has changed, that's for sure! I hope you feel better to go to MGM the next day!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Belated...but still HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Looks like a very fun Princess party!

Sorry to hear you got sick on the 2007 trip! Was it all due to EE messing with you, or something more??? It's never fun to be sick at Disney!

Chicken Souvlaki with Tzatziki $4.00

This could be interesting, but I'm not sure exactly what it is. It seems like a piece of chicken covered in a sauce and then placed on a pita? Well, Disneyeveryday says it's very good and the meat is tender.

My neighborhood here in NYC is very Greek, so souvlaki is sold on the streets from little carts! It's everywhere! And, it's DELISH. It's simply grilled chicken with seasoning on it - very mild. The pita is just your normal pita. Tzatziki sauce is a yogurt/mayo/cucumber type sauce-also very mild. You could ask for it on the side if you are leery about it-Joe is not a fan of the sauce. I eat chicken souvlaki at least once a week. It's even one of Henry's favorites!

Spinach pie is very yummy too!

 

[bellebookworm9]

I'm really enjoying your "stepping back in time" TR. It's neat to see what WDW was like back then. Lots has changed, that's for sure! I hope you feel better to go to MGM the next day!

Things did look a little different-heck, they probably look different now than they did a year ago! (I'm hoping to do a mini-recap of that trip once I finish this one.) I'll probably post the MGM update later today.

Belated...but still HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Looks like a very fun Princess party!

Sorry to hear you got sick on the 2007 trip! Was it all due to EE messing with you, or something more??? It's never fun to be sick at Disney!


My neighborhood here in NYC is very Greek, so souvlaki is sold on the streets from little carts! It's everywhere! And, it's DELISH. It's simply grilled chicken with seasoning on it - very mild. The pita is just your normal pita. Tzatziki sauce is a yogurt/mayo/cucumber type sauce-also very mild. You could ask for it on the side if you are leery about it-Joe is not a fan of the sauce. I eat chicken souvlaki at least once a week. It's even one of Henry's favorites!

Spinach pie is very yummy too!

Thank you! It was very fun.

I think something may have been brewing and EE just triggered it-a combination of being in the cold for hours at a time, and just going going going all day every day. Even last May, when we were going at a slower pace, when I rode it I felt sickish afterwards.

Oh, souvlaki and tzatziki don't sound nearly as scary as I was imagining them to be! If nothing else, Mom will probably like it.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Monday, February 19, 2007

I woke up and felt just a teeny bit better. Mom thought I should stay at the hotel and rest, but there was NO WAY I was going to do that! So I took a lot of medicine and off we went. When we arrived, my huge group of friends and I (this was the only day that all nine-ish of us were together for most of the day) headed right to the thrill rides. First we grabbed FPs for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. Next up was Tower of Terror:

The line was about an hour but we just talked and snaked our way through the pretty grounds of the hotel. It's such an awesome queue! At the time, the ride kind of scared me, but when I rode it last year, it quickly tied with Soarin' as my favorite! I know we wanted to buy the ride picture, but it was not at all flattering, so we thought we'd try again later.

Beauty and the Beast was starting soon, so we walked over to the Theater of the Stars. I think two friends were hungry so they stopped at one of the places on Sunset Boulevard while the rest of us got seats; we arrived pretty close to showtime and since it was President's Day we were waaaaay in the back bleachers.

It's a fantastic show but quite disjointed, which drives me a little crazy. (Side note: I finally got around to watching some of the special features on my Special Edition DVD I got for Christmas. They have a 30 minute storyboard of the original, original plot...it was so weird! Belle had an evil aunt and a sister and there was this weird thing about a music box. Let's just say it was definitely NOT the B&tB that I love!)

I think after the show it was time for check in so we headed to the hat. On the way, I got our now traditional picture of the Hollywood & Sunset intersection.

I have a weird memory from this meeting: The Sound of Music, one of my favorite movies, had a song playing over the loudspeakers! I thought that was cool and a bit strange at the same time. After check in, we decided to ride the Great Movie Ride since it was right there. Around this time, Beyonce's song "Irreplaceable" was popular, and if you remember it, you'll know the opening line is "To the left, to the left." So that was our queue motto: If it was an option, go to the left! The wait was 45 minutes, but I liked looking at the cool movie props-like the horse from Mary Poppins-and watching the old previews. We had the gangster version of the ride. It was a little loud but I liked it.

When GMR was over, I called Mom since it was nearing lunch time. She was just finishing up the Backlot Tour, so we headed over there and looked in the end exhibit with the costumes and stuff. I really wanted to try 50's Prime Time, so that was our next destination. We got a little lost on our way there, and ended up catching a little bit of the Stars & Motorcars Parade. When we finally arrived, they weren't taking walk ups due to the holiday. OK, on we went to ABC Commissary. I know I got the fish & chips and it was decent.

I met up with my friends and we went back to use our R'n'R FPs. I think the wait was about 30 minutes with the passes and when we finally got on the ride, I couldn't even tell you what happens. As soon as we launched, I shut my eyes and kept them that way for the rest of the ride. We looked around the gift shop at the end, and I know a few people bought things.

During the day we also definitely shopped a bit on Sunset Boulevard. We all checked in by the Tower of Terror bathrooms (a horrible meeting spot for such a large group, by the way) so everyone could go see Fantasmic. Since one of Mom's chaperon friends was using an ECV that day, our smaller group became "the wheelchair party of 14". We got seats in the last rows of the bleachers towards the left facing the mountain. I remember thinking Fantasmic was really cool, and this is the only picture that turned out.

After the show, it was Evening Extra Magic Hours. My friends all went back to Tower of Terror and rode twice, I think, but I stayed with Mom and her friend. We went over to Muppet Vision and watched that. I think we just missed the show they were admitting for, so we had a bit of a wait. It was cute, but not something I've felt compelled to do again. Then I suggested that we go on the Great Movie Ride again. Well, on top of the wait time, I seriously underestimated the ride time, so by the time we got off, nearly all of the group had left the park, and it was just our band director and my friends waiting for us! Oops!

We arrived back at All Star Music, and I slept in Mom's room again. She had one last chaperon meeting and went to the food court for some carrot cake while I fell asleep. We were leaving the next morning.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007
We had the earlier stopover flight again, so we had to leave a bit earlier than the other group. Of course this was the first warmish day of the trip, so they got to swimming and we didn't.

We took Magical Express to the airport and I remember absolutely nothing about the ride. We checked out luggage and made it through security. Lunch was at McDonald's, and I know I got some Chunky Monkey from Ben & Jerry's, which doesn't seem to be there anymore.

The flight was uneventful, but because I was still quite sick, my ears plugged up and did not pop for literally about a week after. On the flight, everything seemed muffled but very loud at the same time; I can't really explain it, but apparently I was whispering when I thought I was speaking very loudly. We landed, I think my Dad brought us home, and that was the end of the trip that was both kind of fun and kind of disastrous.

So there you have it, the trip that really started it all. This might be my last post for a couple of weeks since it's nearing the end of the semester and I have a lot of packing and studying to do (for both final exams and the GRE, which I'm taking in July). I'm trying to set up some audiologist observations, plus I'm taking two online classes throughout May-August (one is a semester class packed into three weeks ) and working from July-August. Busy busy, but I'm excited!