Hunny even my socks smell like Disney! ~ "relaxing" Sept 2010 trip!1/24/11 RACE TIME!

[KatMark]

I've seen you on several other TR's I'm following so I thought I'd join in on yours.

 

[Shannon84]

I've seen you on several other TR's I'm following so I thought I'd join in on yours.

I am so glad to have you following. I actually am catching myself up with your TR and am LOVING it I think I am addicted to TRs now

 

[KatMark]

I am so glad to have you following. I actually am catching myself up with your TR and am LOVING it I think I am addicted to TRs now

Thank you. I'm all caught up on yours, now.

First, I love the pedicure...too cute.

I am so happy to read that Lee really enjoyed POTC -- it is one of our favorites. Also love Splash Mountain; that first time doing that drop is hard on anyone.

I was amazed at the number of rude people we saw this trip. I hate when they talk in an attraction or DON'T turn their cell phones off.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[DisneyBride'03]

I have been hinting (aka begging) that Santa brings me a new camera this Christmas, because night time pics were impossible! I am glad I at least have a few of the castle.

You know, I have stayed at POP about 3 or 4 times and that is the first time I have had a fridge in my room, I didn't request it. I am wondering if this is part of the refurb? or maybe because we were given a handicap accessible room (since we asked for a king bed and all)

Wow that is cheap!! I would love to do one like that where you get to travel through MK. I think that would be a fun park to run, I am sure you will have a blast fit me in your suitcase?







:

I thought your Castle pics at night were awesome....I barely took pics this trip...
I still have not totally decided where I am staying in Jan! lol I know for sure Dec we are at POP..just changed actually,..DD's will have fun.

As far as Jan goes Shannon, my DH has challenged me to travel with just a carrry on since its just a quick trip for the Half..so I will have 1 check in luggage that will be empty!
I cant wait to hear/see your experience with the race!!!!

The cheesecake sound yummy and naughty at the same time

 

[arbolita]

I'm here!

I've stayed at two moderate resorts, Coronado Springs and Port Orleans. I really liked both of them. I love the refurbished rooms at Coronado, but to me it felt as though the actual room at Port Orleans was more spacious.

Though I will say that we did our first split stay during this trip, and it will be our last one. Between trying to remember how many meal credits and how many tickets were on each room card, and the hassle of checking out of one room several hours before we could check into the next just isn't worth it to us.

 

[Shannon84]

Thank you. I'm all caught up on yours, now.

First, I love the pedicure...too cute.

I am so happy to read that Lee really enjoyed POTC -- it is one of our favorites. Also love Splash Mountain; that first time doing that drop is hard on anyone.

I was amazed at the number of rude people we saw this trip. I hate when they talk in an attraction or DON'T turn their cell phones off.

Looking forward to reading more.

Thank you...I wish I was able to have a pedicure regularly...my feet do not fare well with running I think Lee was more scared of the little unexpected drops at Splash Mountain, but thankfully he enjoyed the ride and he agreed to ride it again later in the trip

I thought your Castle pics at night were awesome....I barely took pics this trip...
I still have not totally decided where I am staying in Jan! lol I know for sure Dec we are at POP..just changed actually,..DD's will have fun.

As far as Jan goes Shannon, my DH has challenged me to travel with just a carrry on since its just a quick trip for the Half..so I will have 1 check in luggage that will be empty!
I cant wait to hear/see your experience with the race!!!!

The cheesecake sound yummy and naughty at the same time

One carry on with all your race stuff? that's no fair Yeah you will see a pattern of poor eating leading up to the race that week

I'm here!

I've stayed at two moderate resorts, Coronado Springs and Port Orleans. I really liked both of them. I love the refurbished rooms at Coronado, but to me it felt as though the actual room at Port Orleans was more spacious.

Though I will say that we did our first split stay during this trip, and it will be our last one. Between trying to remember how many meal credits and how many tickets were on each room card, and the hassle of checking out of one room several hours before we could check into the next just isn't worth it to us.

I really want to try Port Orleans if we do decide to try something different than the Value resorts. After hearing you say that and really thinking it over... I am sure a split stay can be quite a headache I am not sure we would enjoy that too much, especially when we have a limited time frame for travel usually

 

[Shannon84]

Tuesday September 28th….First FULL park day!! I was so excited and so exhausted all at once! I decided to get a wake up call and I made Lee answer. It was Mickey and then Stitch interrupted. I could hear it and when I asked Lee who it was he said “It was Mickey and then some crazy thing” Before this trip he had not heard of Stitch or seen him anywhere…I was laughing so hard at his confusion

Now if you are looking for a TR with people making it to rope drop...we are not those people I tried so hard to make us rise and shine early, but it just wasn't happening!!

I decided we would return to Magic Kingdom for our first full day of park fun (looking back I sort of wish I flip flopped this day with the day we did EPCOT just to break it up) Walking into the park and down Main Street, we are greeted with a song and dance

Now in anticipation for this day I wanted a personalized shirt (I made one for the half marathon as well). I wish this shirt came out similar to the ones that princess momma made…but mine doesn’t look quite as nice! Also we had backpacks to use for the parks, but were able to squeeze everything we needed each day into our camera bag (which I was stuck carrying) but it was nice to just have one small bag

We ate a very early lunch at Cosmic Rays and were some of the very first people in there…it was nice to have some peace and quiet to eat. On our way out we spotted Alice and the White Rabbit…Lee really wanted to tell them he was disappointed the tea cups were under refurb, but no time for that! Some lines for characters were HUGE, so I settled for a quick picture of the character and sometimes some other random people – I apologize if you end up being a random person in my pictures

First things first I really wanted to do Space Mountain, because it was under refurb last year during my visit. Of course Lee is already scared of rollercoasters and as we approach we find out its broken down. I grabbed us fastpasses just in case and may have fibbed to Lee that sometimes they cant get the lights to turn off and that’s why it must not be running…I really hope he doesn’t read this report

I convinced Lee to try out the People Mover and I snapped a pic of Space Mountain with the lights on, yay!

We also checked out Carousel of Progress and it had just finished raining when we exited – nice timing Lee decided after his wonderful wake up call this morning that he needed to see Stitch’s ride….ugh!! I wanted to talk him out of it, but I decided it was good that he was getting excited and choosing rides himself. Honestly the only part of this that I minded was Stitch's BURP – GROSS!!!

On our way to Fantasyland we ran into PUSH!! I was so excited because I have heard of him, but have never seen him before and he was being chased by this little girl (another victim to my random picture taking skills) He wheeled up to us and saw our Happy Anniversary button and started to sing to us…Lee was AMAZED!!! I knew this was one of those moments that set Disney apart from other places in his mind

The only two rides we managed to do in Fantasyland were PhilharMagic and DUMBO!! I LOVE PhilharMagic and now that Lee had quit smoking (right before our trip ) he was able to really smell better and loved all the extra touches during the show.

Now, I rarely get on Dumbo due to typically enormous lines, but surprisingly Lee really wanted to ride, I think because it was something he saw as iconic Disney World. I snapped a picture of the Fantasyland construction for you guys while we were riding, actually it was Lee’s idea – isn’t he wonderful?

Here we are after in the Dumbo car…too bad we barely fit in together…honestly I had to ride with one butt cheek up , but that’s ok

After our Fantasyland tour, we back tracked to Toon Town…I normally skip over this area, but I wanted to show off Mickey and Minnie’s houses. I am not sure why we didn’t take any pictures, but there was a photopass photographer in Minnie’s garden and of course I couldn’t resist. I am not sure what I am doing with my leg or arm, but I was pretty overwhelmed with excitement haha

While we were walking around I noticed the line to meet princesses was VERY short and BELLE WAS THERE! I had to do it and Lee seemed fine waiting because he knows how much I LOVE Beauty and the Beast. Now I don’t know what happened between walking through the door and up to the first princess (Cinderella) but I FROZE and didn’t know how to interact with these characters They kept calling me Princess Shannon because of my shirt and I LOVED it!! I only have the picture with Belle on our camera

Up Next: The second part of day 2 at Magic Kingdom and our dinner at Cape May Cafe (promise to post tomorrow...just exhausted tonight )

 

[hill6]

Great report.

My suggestion for the split stay is

Moderate: POFQ - half the size of the other moderates. Very nice and quiet.

Deluxe: Depends on what you want. If you want monorail and ease to MK then definitely do Poly of spring for the GF. We had Theme Park View last year and we loved, loved, loved it. If you want to enjoy Epcot then definitely do YC or BC. The few minute walk from there is tremendous. It is also great to go to the World Showcase once it opens and the half you are in is almost completely empty as everyone is at the other side of the park.

 

[KatMark]

Great update, Shannon. That was too funny about the wake-up call (I gave up doing them because I don't like Stitch).

for Lee starting to feel the magic with PUSH singing to you guys and selecting a ride he wanted to go on.

And my Mark would be so happy that Lee wanted to ride Dumbo. It is iconic Disney. And don't feel bad...Mark and I haven't fit in the same one for years and we just each take a flying elephant.

 

[arbolita]

I feel like I'm in good company, because Mr. Arb and I are not rope drop people either. I had planned on trying to make it to one during this trip, but it didn't happen.

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Push is awesome! I have only had one run in with him ever! It seems like he's around in the morning and we save tomorrowland for the afternoon usually... Great update!

 

[Shannon84]

Great report.

My suggestion for the split stay is

Moderate: POFQ - half the size of the other moderates. Very nice and quiet.

Deluxe: Depends on what you want. If you want monorail and ease to MK then definitely do Poly of spring for the GF. We had Theme Park View last year and we loved, loved, loved it. If you want to enjoy Epcot then definitely do YC or BC. The few minute walk from there is tremendous. It is also great to go to the World Showcase once it opens and the half you are in is almost completely empty as everyone is at the other side of the park.

I think if we do a split stay and if its during the next wine & dine half then my choices are POFQ and Beach Club...lots of "ifs" in there

Great update, Shannon. That was too funny about the wake-up call (I gave up doing them because I don't like Stitch).

for Lee starting to feel the magic with PUSH singing to you guys and selecting a ride he wanted to go on.

And my Mark would be so happy that Lee wanted to ride Dumbo. It is iconic Disney. And don't feel bad...Mark and I haven't fit in the same one for years and we just each take a flying elephant.

The funny part is later that same day after riding Stitch's Great Escape we ran into Stitch walking around Tomorrowland and Lee turns to me and whispers "Why does he have more arms on the ride?" He really had me tickled and honestly Ive never seen the movie so I wasn't sure what to say to him

I loved riding Dumbo - I wish the ride was just a little longer, I didn't want to get off (or maybe I was stuck and couldn't get up )

I feel like I'm in good company, because Mr. Arb and I are not rope drop people either. I had planned on trying to make it to one during this trip, but it didn't happen.

I really want to be a rope drop person, because I know you can get so much more done while people like us are sleeping in It just never happens

Push is awesome! I have only had one run in with him ever! It seems like he's around in the morning and we save tomorrowland for the afternoon usually... Great update!

Maybe that is why I usually miss him...my tradition is to start in Adventureland, but Lee wanted to eat at Cosmic Rays so we started on that side. He scared me at first because he wheeled up to us pretty fast

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Here we are after in the Dumbo car…too bad we barely fit in together…honestly I had to ride with one butt cheek up , but that’s ok[/B]

I am not sure what I am doing with my leg or arm, but I was pretty overwhelmed with excitement haha

[/B]

When I pose like that, it's because I just ate some fried chicken and needed to subtly get rid of the grease.

 

[KatMark]

When I pose like that, it's because I just ate some fried chicken and needed to subtly get rid of the grease.

 

[Shannon84]

When I pose like that, it's because I just ate some fried chicken and needed to subtly get rid of the grease.

I just started cracking up at work...that pretty much looks like what I am doing in that picture

 

[Spartangirl]

Your princess shirt is adorable...looks like it helped to make your princess interaction a success!

Oh...I LOVE the people mover...so relaxing!

Space mountain with the lights on??? It looks so different!

YAY...you saw PUSH! Very cool!

 

[Shannon84]

Your princess shirt is adorable...looks like it helped to make your princess interaction a success!

Oh...I LOVE the people mover...so relaxing!

Space mountain with the lights on??? It looks so different!

YAY...you saw PUSH! Very cool!

Thank you ...my mom helped me personalize a couple shirts for the trip!

The people mover is great, I miss the old audio though, but for some reason I love how it goes fairly fast around the corners

 

[Shannon84]

Well when I left off last…I was having my awkward moments with the princesses. I guess I am not 100% sure how to interact with the face characters maybe?? That and I was very excited, because I haven’t had a picture with Belle in years!

At this point we were HUNGRY and we went on a funnel cake hunt!
I snapped this picture while Lee was trying to figure out how to “break in”. He was really disappointed you couldn’t “tour” the castle, poor thing! He thought you could see the suite and walk through the castle (now that would be cool!)

We found Lee’s favorite…funnel cake…I love this picture with the castle behind him

We also ran into the photopass photographer with the Princess and the Frog magic shot and I cannot wait to share those with you guys when I get my CD in, they have to be some of my favorites. If you can find someone with this magic shot, get it!

We only had one more ride on our “must do” list and that was Big Thunder Mountain. I’m not a huge fan of this ride, but I wish I had a picture of Lee’s face, he LOVED it. It instantly became his favorite.

We also decided to re ride a few attractions and during this trip Haunted Mansion crept its way up my favorites list and is probably in my top 5. Lee and I both agreed the effects in this ride are just plain awesome!

Next Lee said lets do Splash Mountain (now I know why I love him!!) and he said lets put our hands up for the picture and if it comes out good lets buy it! A man after my own heart!! Well we had a GREAT ride and our picture came out so funny….so we bought it! (sorry this picture is taken with my phone..our scanner doesn’t work at this moment)

And then it started to POUR, I mean skies opened up, not stopping any time soon sort of rain. We purchased a of couple ponchos and ran to Pirates…we dried off a bit in the ride and in the gift shop where I snapped a picture of Lee checking out the forecast on his smart phone (I joke that I am in a relationship with Lee and the droid)

Lee showed me the map and it was all RAIN and it wasn’t letting up any time soon…so we booked it to Space Mountain and I wish I had a waterproof camera, because there was no one else running around with us – empty park!

We got right on Space Mountain with our fast passes and Lee was NOT happy that you had to sit by yourself in a row…I sat in front of him and he dug into my shoulders the entire ride. I LOVED IT!!!! Still bumpy and all, but I was so happy to ride and Lee HATED it He looked like he had just seen a ghost when we exited…poor thing. We were soaked and decided to head to POP before dinner (I made Lee stop for some poncho photopass shots )

After taking a nap at POP, we woke up, dressed real quick, and were ready to EAT!! We made it to the bus stop and the rain was finally letting up, we even saw some rainbows

I wasn’t so sure about trying to take a bus to EPCOT and run through to Beach Club that way, so we took a bus to DTD and then one to BC. BIG MISTAKE I probably could have done cartwheels around EPCOT 5 times in the same amount of time – heck I probably could have stopped for a ride around Spaceship Earth on top of that…ok now I’m just exaggerating (slightly)

It did take us almost 2 hours to travel to dinner (Lee was getting really peeved too) We arrived about 5 or 10 minutes late to Cape May Café, but we were seated within 10 minutes of that time, not so bad. It was pretty busy, but the hostess made sure to point out the Oreo Bon Bons to us and explain the buffet. Our server was phenomenal, she kept up with all her tables and she was BUSY, she even took the time to show us how to crack the crab legs properly (usually I skip on these, but I thought what the heck)

I visited this buffet last year with my family, my aunt chose it for dinner one evening and we HATED it. This time around I LOVED it, everything was fresh and I loved the choices.

OREO BON BONS – these must be created in heaven while angels look on and sing…I couldn’t say enough about them and they are difficult to explain when people ask me what they are. I just cant make them sound as good as they truly are

After our wonderful dinner we waddled around the BC and YC area and took some pictures…this is when I decided I would love to stay here for part of a split stay (Lee was hoping for a whole week).

On our way out of the BC or YC, I cant remember which one, Lee snapped this last picture of the night…I swear he saw “Virginia” from a mile away and was excited

I really wanted to go over to the Boardwalk to have a drink and relax, but Lee and I had stuffed ourselves silly and chose to take a taxi back to POP (I was still scarred from our bus rides over and honestly that $10 taxi ride was money well spent! )


This was the day I pulled the TR name from! When we returned to POP from MK and we were soaked Lee says to me "Hunny even my socks smell like Disney!" Now thank goodness he wasn't actually smelling his socks But I had been explaining to him how I think Disney has all different and noticable smells and he agreed (I'm so happy he agreed - because sometimes I smell something back home and I think "that smells like such and such from WDW")

Up Next: Off to the movies (aka Hollywood Studios day)

 

[KatMark]

Great update, Shannon. Your pictures are awesome...and I love the shot on Splash Mountain. Sorry Lee didn't like Space Mountain. Here's an idea--you do Space while he does Big Thunder.

NEVER take a bus to Downtown Disney and then to a resort. Buses to Downtown Disney are ALWAYS horrible--no matter from what resort.

We've not stayed at POFQ. We have visited and it is a nice resort (we have our own moderate we always stay at). We have stayed at two deluxes--Contemporary and the Poly; our dream is to stay at two more that interest us -- the Beach Club is one of them...I think it is really beautiful.

 

[DisneyBride'03]

Thank you ...my mom helped me personalize a couple shirts for the trip!

The people mover is great, I miss the old audio though, but for some reason I love how it goes fairly fast around the corners

Love that shirt Shannon....wow...it's like you pre-made your shirt for the 2011 Princess Half.....

Ok.. Loved this update and the photos!!! Esp the one of Lee at one of my all time fave spots!!!! They have an ice cream sandwich with cookies that my DD13 loves....ever since we stopped there one night during an EMH....I think its called Sleepy Hollow or something...lol....funnel cake looked great too