I can't believe we're still in one piece! A GG TR - updated 3/19/09 !

[Disneylove1228]

reading your TR... can't wait for more!

 

[BarbieGal457]

reading your TR... can't wait for more!

Hey there! Glad to hear that you like it!! I'm going to update in a little bit after I finish up some homework! I still have to go back and edit in a few more pictures. I don't keep anything but school papers on my laptop, so all of my photos are on my desktop. Thank gosh, because from the last two trips I have over 4k!!

 

[BarbieGal457]

After two very long, but very exciting days, I finally awoke on Monday feeling very refreshed and ready to go. Mike and I had planned to wake up and be at DHS for around 9:30 in order to get to TSM quicker. Now, I am never commado - or so I'd like to think (not that there's anything wrong with it, it's just not my style) - but today, I had the outfit laid out and everything! This was partially so I didn't have to turn on lots of lights and make noise while Laur&Lou were still asleep, I didn't want to wake them. The rest of the gang was planning on getting there around 11:00 or so, and didn't believe me when I said TSM would already have a crazy long wait. Tsk tsk, they should believe the Disney Addict!!

As we boarded the bus, I did something I haven't done in ages - consulted a map. I usually pick up a few for my photo albums from each trip, but this time I wasn't exactly sure where TSM was located, so I figured it couldn't hurt. I also pulled up the DHS map application on my iPhone, and was all prepped for when we entered the park. On the ride there, the bus was pretty packed, so Mike and I stood. My hair is very long, almost to my hip bones, and some very young girl, about 1 and a half years old, who had been fussing most of the ride became fascinated by it. She just wanted to touch it, not pull or hurt, just touch! Her mother kept telling her to stop, that it wasn't nice since she didn't ask my permission, but I just laughed and told her it was ok if her mom said it was. For the rest of the ride, she gently flipped it around, and the back of the bus seemed very grateful the fussing had ended!

On a sidenote, I just love the people you meet on Disney transportation. They're usually so nice and willing to talk about their home, and ask you about yours. We met a lot of people from Wisconsin especially, and Illinois and Missouri. Another night, on a long busride to DTD, we met a lovely couple from Canada. Mike is in love with Canada and I've recently become very interested, so it was great to have a 30 minute conversation with them. They had an infant son who was just precious, who Mike gave his seat up for (so they could rest the carseat and the husband could sit) even though the bus was fairly empty. Just the nicest people! Later that night we met a mother and young daughter from England, and they asked me all about Philly and if they really should visit NYC and was it really that cool? to which I said yes! I just never get over all the wonderful people you meet. Sure, there are some grumpy ones here and there, but overall I love it, especially since I fancy myself a people person.

Ahem..back to the day!!

As soon as we entered DHS, we made a beeline for TSM. The FP return window was already between 2:30-3:30 I believe, so we snapped up two and then jumped in line. We figured if we didn't want to ride again we would give the passes to a couple we'd find. We waited about 50 minutes to an hour, but the queue was themed adorably. Maybe it could be a bit more entertaining, but riding the Line Ride here wasn't so bad. It seemed even after you thought you'd seen it all in one little area, you noticed something else. We finally jumped into a car and had a ball. I purposely did not read or watch anything about TSM before going so I was completely surprised. All I knew was that midway-type games were involved, in a 3D setting, while moving. It was awesome! I truly had a great time and wished it was longer.

When we exited we were so glad we'd gotten those passes! By now, we were pretty hungry. I don't normally eat breakfast due to my stomach, and I kind of forced Mike to go without that day! Lauren and the rest had asked to us wait to go to Pizza Planet with them, but we were starving. We first, however, played for a few minutes in the Honey! I Shrunk the Kids play area, something I hadn't done since I was a little girl. I reverted back to being 7 again, sliding and climbing all over. When I was little I got stuck behind a large Apple Jacks piece, but this time I couldn't seem to find it. I know I did, though, because they took a picture of me! Yes, before rescuing me, they photographed my panic. I finally got to slide down the leaf coming out of the giant Kodak film canister, which was my absolute favorite when I was little. It seemed so huge then, and now it was no different! It was definitely a lot steeper and faster than I thought. We did the rope climb thing, and then headed on out, but not before I spotted a mom wearing a Podcast tee! We did we "Omg! DISboards!" smile (after she'd heard me say OMG! DISboards! aha).

Wheeeeeeee! Down I go! I do not recommend this slide in sweatshorts.

We had a nice lunch in the sunshine at Pizza Planet, and then just began wandering around since Lou called and said they were on their way. They met up with us in front of RnRC and immediately jumped on ToT since the wait was about 5 or 10 minutes. Mike and I sat that one out, as we're both terrified of it! I decided right before they had arrived that it was time for my first turkey leg of the trip. I adore turkey legs, and was having a grand old time being stared at as I tackled the appendage. The gang arrived and immediately craved legs as well, but waited until after ToT to have it. We took our legs on over to Journey of the Little Mermaid, a personal favorite of both myself, Mike, and Jessy.

The day seemed to be filled with waiting around, and it was the first time I was ever bored in DHS. I hadn't felt well all trip so far, being very dizzy and such, so I was sitting and resting a lot. After the Little Mermaid we went back over to RnRC. The wait said 30 minutes, so they jumped into line as Mike and I waited, again. It's my favorite ride ever, so to sit it out was painful, but no one thought that it'd be good for me to subject myself to such dizziness. Right as they got into line, however, the wait time jumped to 70 minutes. Now, I love love LOVE Aerosmith, but sitting around for 70 minutes wasn't going to cut it. We sat in the sun, relaxing, and then walked around a bit more and went in some stores to pass the time.

They finished up at RnRC just in time for the next showing of Beauty and the Beast, and we grabbed amazing seats right up front. I still love that show, no matter how many times I've seen it. We then went to see the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, and sat right in the second row. Our friend Pat had been picked for the show the year before this, so Mike went all out in order to be chosen. He was, and we had a great time fussing and whooping it up for him. His personality is perfect for the show. He's so into entertaining perople that it was great to see him have so much fun! We also squeezed Muppets 4D in there, but I can't remember when! I know it was before dinner though. We had an ADR at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theatre at 6:30, but decided to hit up one more attraction before dinner. We went into Star Tours, a first for me! Can you believe it! A rare attraction I haven't seen in Disney! Frank is a huge Star Wars fan and was so excited for it. It was soooo much fun! Gianna and I held hands screaming the whole time. I know it's probably a bit dated, but I loved it!

We "raaaaaaaaahr"ed for the rest of the trip!

Jessy and Ryan jumped into the back of the picture!

The view from our car.

The Sci-Fi was aboslutely packed when we arrived, but we were seated within five minutes. Jessy and Ryan sat in another car, but one right next to us, which was nice. Everyone thought it was so awesome, and loved the theme. Mike and I split some chili, and I got the ribs for dinner. We ate fairly quickly, and Mike and I decided to split from the rest of the group. It was EMH at DHS, but since we'd pretty much seen all we wanted to, we decided we were going to spend the night at DTD. Jessy, Ryan, Gianna&Frank had spent the previous day there, since they'd only purchased six-day tickets and decided they needed that day to relax - who could blame them! We used up or FPs on TSM, which was so lovely. As we were leaving, we stopped by the awesome memorabilia store near the turnstiles. They had Burt's striped coat! I actually almost bought a pair of Hilary Duff's sweatpants, but they weren't long enough for my legs.

At Pop I dropped off the bag of a few souvenirs I'd purchased, including a new shot glass for my collection. I love that it says Hollywood Studios on it, and it has all the characters and such. I also changed since it was getting cooler, and I hate being too chilly, it ruins everything for me. We got to DTD after the aforementioned conversation with the lovely Canadians. We strolled around, looking at T-Rex and in some stores while munching churros (remember all this food I'm eating, it'll matter tomorrow). We'd gotten there about 9:30 or so, and the stores closed pretty quickly around 11, so it was back off to Pop.

Tonight, I finally joined in the night swimming! It was freeeeeezing though. We had a good time talking to lots of people our age from Jersey and NYC, including someone who worked at my favorite pizzeria in Brooklyn! What a small world! We had a great night, and I gorged on chocolate chip cookies.

I had no idea of what I was about to wake up to.

Next Up: The Nightmare Before Animal Kingdom.