I froze when Ariel spoke to me ~ Update 7/21!!!

My sister's princess

<font color=green>These boards have grimmer police
Joined
May 29, 2008
Hello:wave2: and welcome to my first attempt at a trip report! You will be following me on my first visit to the most magical place on earth! This might be a little long, but I promise my joy and happiness will make up for it!

WARNING : there will be MANY pictures to follow! I have them, might as well use them right?!!!


First the characters you will encounter, and a little background info on all of us!!!



Jeff AKA Jeffery, your Jeffery, and much later in the trip My Jeffery
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Jeff is my sister’s boyfriend. He introduced her to the magic when they graduated from college with a surprise trip! They live together in SC, having left Maine many moons ago to work as physical therapists. Jeff and I have always been more than a little cold tword each other. This trip is meant to allow us to “get to know” each other a little better.


Andrea AKA Andy or Sissy
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Andrea and I are as close as close comes. We are six, count them six years apart. Having been offered an amazing job in SC, she left me and Maine a few years ago. I had been to SC to visit a few times, and she home, but only for weddings and a funeral. We were in need of some sister bonding time BADLY.


Me ~ Elizabeth AKA Beth, Little Beth, Munchkin, Boo
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20 years old, life long Disney lover. Never had been to “THE WORLD.” I am a poor college student, working as a RA in my dorm at school. By the time March came around I was badly in need of some vaca time! I was counting down the days from the time that we started planning. Just started dating a new young man in January before the trip. (This is important later I swear) You will see where the Little Beth comes from easily, both my sister and I are smaller.



We are all from Maine. However Andy and Jeff left for SC a few years ago. This trip was a chance for them to share the Disney magic with me. There were some rules though when it was decided that we would go.

1) Beth couldn’t ask questions.
2) Beth isn’t allowed to know when where and why
3) If Beth wants to do something all she must do is ask. If at all possible it will be done.
4) Jeff must take as many pictures of Beth and Andy together as they want, and must not complain.
5) NO cellphone in the parks


1-3 Stem from my very strong need to be in control at all times. I need to know where I am going when I am going there and how I am getting there. This trip was meant for me to experience the magic in all ways possible. My sister is the most amazing woman I know and spent hours planning, and replanning this trip until it was what I now know is the perfect first timer’s trip.



Coming soon : a little more on the planning and a lot more about the trip!!!!!!!
 
Getting there!!!

So it is decided that spring break 08 will be spent with the mouse! This is decided in October and soon the surprises and TINY bits of information start coming. First comes the guide book. Color pictures and just enough descriptions to get me super excited. This is where the game of guessing where we are staying comes into play. Every few days I would ask my sister a different place, and I never came close!!!!!

January/my birthday brought:
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And the end of February:
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All the while I was working as much as possible, and picking up babysitting whenever I could. I knew that this was going to be amazing. If only I knew what were where doing!!:laughing:

The plan

Fly to SC and stay with my sister for a few days, then drive from SC to Disney strait through. This driving was done by Jeff, who had done the haul with a my sister a few times a year now.

Flight down was one of the reasons I hate flying delay delay delay, and when I arrived in SC the weather was great. I will spare you the boringness of this part of the trip!


Jump to



This is Andy telling me we are getting super close!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Up next: Where are we staying!!!!!!!!!!
 
Day 1 in Florida

But not in Disney!!!!!!!

We pull into the Radisson Celebration pretty late. We will spend tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night here. This is to allow Jeff to rest up, and give Andy and I day to catch up before the trip. It was pouring when we arrived, and we had a ton of luggage, as you can see here
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Yes Andy is saying don’t take a picture of me looking like this, and of course being a good little sister not only did I take the picture, but now I am posting it for all to see!

The resort was beautiful, but we all headed to bed knowing we would need the rest in the up coming days.
The next morning is rainy and cold by Florida standards. Being the Mainer that I am I thought it was quite nice!!!!!
We spent the day exploring the lobby, pool, and playing the games they had pool side. Here you will see the start of the extreme number of pictures I took this trip

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This is some kind of duck that was just standing around for a while. We sat and watched it as my sister and I called home and spoke with our dad. He is a bit of a bird guy, but had no idea what we were talking about as we tried to describe it. It could be that we had no idea what we were talking about:rotfl2:

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Pool area. There were two pools. One had a slide and was unheated. Even being from Maine I wasn’t going near that thing, as the wind was picking up. So we went to the heated pool and took a dip.
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This was the most relaxing day of the trip and was a ton of fun. Not as much fun as Disney, but a ton of fun.
We went and did some shopping at the wacky places that are shaped like sandcastle and mermaids and such. Didn’t buy much, Andy said to save my money, as I would find much better stuff later in my trip.

We headed to bed early knowing tomorrow would be early. My issue with this Just tell me why tomorrow would be early PLEASE!!!!!!
 
My sister proceeds to wake me up VERY early. I won’t say the time it is so early it is vulgar. You should know for reference for the rest of the trip, I am not fun or easy to wake up. I am a morning person once I am up, but getting me up is a scary thing.

I get in and out of the shower finish packing up my stuff, and we are on our way. On our way where, well that is a good question and I would like to know the answer as well, but no I have to wait until we turn into the driveway of : Old Key West.
Wait what? I don’t understand when we were playing the guessing game I didn’t even look at the DVC places. This would explain why it was that I never guessed where we were staying lol.
We pull up to the nice security guard lady, she says “welcome home” ~ well I like the sound of that!!!

Security “Name please”
Andy “Ourlastnamethatiamnotputtinginhere”
Security looks at list twice “I’m sorry could you spell that please”
Andy “Notspellingourlastnamehere”
Security “I’m sorry you are not on our list.”

I thought my sister was going to pass out. However being the obsessive Disney planner she is she has all of the paperwork in her bag

Andy “This shows our reservations for today”
Security “I’m so sorry, Welcome Home”

And she opens the gates……… We go up to the Hospitality House where we walk into the lobby and I find my first pressed penny machine!

The first thing Andy does is take me to the counter and ask for a first trip button. I put it on and then. I am told to stay away from the check in counter to preserve any surprises. I wander around looking at the books, the old cartoons on the TV, go outside and look around……. Why is this taking so long. I go back in and my sister is standing at an empty desk. At this time she tells me to go back outside. I know this isn’t a good thing. AT ALL
I can see her through the glass doors and know that she is not happy.

What had happened: When the switched the computer system over our names and reservations had transferred but non of our information. This meant that none of our dinning plan info was linked to our room. There were other issues that my sister wouldn’t go into as this was my first trip and I wasn’t allowed to know anything! ( I found out later my sister was the most upset because she feared we would miss our ADR, the manager called ahead and told them what had happened and they still sat us!)

This all took over an hour to straiten out, but when they were done our room was ready. We booked it to the room, and then my sister yanks me toward the busses. At this point I decided that I like not know what was going on. It was more fun to guess!

A AK buss pulls up, I look at my sister she shakes her head. I step back. A MK bus pulls up I look at my sister she grabs my hand smiles and pulls me onto the bus. I get on the bus and look around. It hits me OMG I am in Disney. We get to MK and I look around in complete amazement. I start to walk toward the gates and yet again I get my hand grabbed and am pulled another way. We jump onto the monorail and are off! We zoom to the Contemporary where she gets me off the monorail and grabs my hand again. (yea we hold hands a lot we are super close and never see each other) She pulls me down the stairs and to CHEF MICKY.

We get our plate picture taken and head to the table. I set my stuff down and go to the little princess’s room. When I come back there is something waiting for me
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My mom had gotten a basket delivered. Inside was a set of ears with my name on them, a signature book and pen, plus some yummy snakes! Thanks Mommy!!!! I put on my ears and looked around me almost overwhelmed with how excited I was. It was discussed and decided then and there that I would be acting like I was 5. Then end.
The stitching that was used to put my name on my ears was the Disney font, all week people were stopping me in the park to ask me where I had gotten it done!


I got very into the characters and getting autographs as well as pictures! This also was some of the best food I had on the trip! I loved the whole thing!

Ready for some CM pictures? I sure am!!!!

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Look at all the ears!!!
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The waitress noticed my button and brought me a cupcake and a special placemat. The characters loved it and got really excited to see my first time button!

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Silly Pluto! He put my book on his nose and wouldn’t give it back.
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Now that is the way to start a Disney trip. I can’t say enough good things about CM!!! This is also the first time Jeff and I start to make some sort of connection. Maybe this guy isn’t so bad after all, or is he?



Up Next : Here I come Disney World!!!!!!!!!
 


So we head out of Chef Micky’s

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This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip. My sister is my best friend, and being so far apart has been really hard for both of us. I am so thankful to her and Jeff for all the time, money and effort they put into this trip for me.



We are off to the first gift shop ~ the list

Autograph book/pen ~ Check ~ Thanks Mommy
A park bag
Pin trading startup


Well I found the pins and lanyard, but I guess the bag will have to wait.
I make my first purchase of many on Disney property, and if feels gooooooood.
Yea I like giving my money to Micky so what.

And we are off to spend the day in the Magic Kingdom.

First up Castle pictures!!!!!!

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Having been a lurker on the DIS I knew to bend down and see the crown rest on Cinderella’s head. My sister was impressed!

Then we were off to Big Thunder Rail Road!!!!!!!!!! It was walk on. Yea my first ever Disney ride and I walk on. This is my sis’s favorite ride and we had a blast. Most of the trip Jeff let Andy and I sit together! On we go to splash mountain, where I get wet and whiny. Yea I whine. I should also take the time to tell you that of all the rides at Disney Splash scared me the worst. I am terrified of the dark, and no one warned me that there is a moment of pitch back in Splash. Scared the heck out of me!!!

On to Tom Sawyer’s island! We wandered around all the caves and had a ton of fun. Yes I even have a picture!
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We had some fun in the shops
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And I found my park bag. It is one of the ones with the ribbon closers and straps. It has all kinds of characters on it and it is blue. I love ii!

Pirates anyone?

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Or a Jungle Cruise?

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This was a super fun time. I loved the silly jokes. We had a very funny woman skipper that made the whole thing great!

We did the Swiss family’s house and outside, while eating my first Micky Head Ice cream I made my first pin trade. This became one of my favorite things, searching the CMs for Ariel pins everywhere we went!

At this point Jeff and I are even joking a bit. Could it be that all this time I was wrong??????????

Next Up : Meeting Ariel would I be able to speak?
 
If there is anyone out there reading along I hope it all making sense and not putting you to sleep :goodvibes




Remember the rules? I loved the one about me getting to do anything I wanted as long as there wasn’t a good reason not to I used the rule for the first time on the first day:

The only character that I was willing to stand inline for was Ariel. She is the strongest of all the princess, as she is the one doing the saving! I loved this movie as a child, and in my dorm room is a little mermaid fish tank. And besides that I am at Disney world and I am going to meet the princesses and that this that. :banana:

We get into the long line and watch the children playing in the fountains.
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Some of the mother’s around us were having heart attacks when their children came back soaked. One girl was in a sopping wet princess dress and looked miserable. We stood in the line, for a while, but not too long. It was the longest line that we stood in all week.

Here are a few more pictures of the outside of the grotto
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We went in and I got to see Ariel. I told her she was my favorite princess and she was very kind about it. I was shaking I was so excited and nervous. It was like I was meeting a celebrity! I told her I had waited a long time to come and see Disney for the first time. She took pictures with my sister and I
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She signed my book
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And then showed me a princess pose
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Then we did a princess pose together
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This experience was well worth the wait in line. It was one of the highlights of the trip, and I loved it! When I went in March (This was Sunday) there was a PhotoPass Photographer inside that took many pictures of first the three of us (Andy Me and Ariel) Then of just Ariel and I! I left walking away feeling the Disney magic deep in my heart!!! pixiedust:
 
:goodvibes: That's so sweet of your sister to plan this trip for you! And I love the luggage you got, it's so cute!
 


:goodvibes: That's so sweet of your sister to plan this trip for you! And I love the luggage you got, it's so cute!

I am so excited that someone is reading this! :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1: :cool1:

I loved my luggage as well. I was looking on line at it, and my mother got really angry and I didn't understand, it turns out what I was looking at and talking about ordering was what my sister had already bought for me!
 
Due to the extream number of photos in these posts I have broken this day down into many parts hope you all don't mind!


Next I get pulled to the front of the castle and plunked onto the ground in front of it. Surrounded by young children I sat on the ground and waited.
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Might as well get a cute picture with ears. I love that you can see the castle in Andy’s glasses.


Wait what am I waiting for? Hahah I love not know what is going on. Then I see


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I got this one at the perfect time!
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Yea I took way more pictures than that but you get the idea.
I love seeing other people’s pictures and enjoy sharing mine. I hope they can take people back to their own trips!

This was a fun and cute show and I loved every moment of it. It was also a nice break as we had been going strong since breakfast. It was great to sit down and rest!


Up and onward!!!!
We ride Winni the Pooh and I ask Andy to take a picture of Jeff and I, yea he is growing on me now that I see him enjoying the Disney magic as much as I am.
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Yes I know my ears are on backwards!

We did ride the Haunted Mansion! This is soooo fun and they let all three of us cram into the doom buggy so it looked like the ghost was on top of me. Even with all the dark I was ok, most of the ride was dark, but never pitch black, and I could feel sissy next to me. I loved all the detail in the ride and wished we could have gotten back to it, but we had so much to do!!!!

I love how I am so into it, Sis is into it, and Jeff is standing there. The photographer said look scared! Now look scared!
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Now you can smile
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I love the haunted mansion photopass picture, I love seeing all the incorporated character ones!
 
That was the first one we found and at first I was really confused. The photopass photographer explained it to me though. I love that Jeff seems to want no part of it lol:confused3
 
Warning: Things maybe a little out of order from here on. I can’t quite remember when we did things but I sure do remember them!!!!!


ON TO TOONTOWN!!!!
Toontown Fair!!

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Into Minnie’s house

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Wandering around
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Minnie’s living room
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Micky’s House!

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His bedroom
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Kitchen
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Pluto’s House
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A very nice mom took our picture by the pumpkins!! Thank you!
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Cactuses
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We didn’t wait in the lines to see Minnie and Micky, we had done breakfast together it was ok.


From here we continue around the park.
Ariel anyone?
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And some Cindy
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At this point not sure how or why, but we all stopped taking pictures.

We had a yummy dinner at Cosmic Ray’s loved the singing!!

We rode the Carousel of progress LOVED it. I still sing it’s a great big beautiful tomorrow often!



Ok how about some nighttime castle pictures? You can never have enough pictures, that seems to be the theme here


Purple
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Green
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Pink
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We saw the spectro magic parade! Super fun!
This is where I acquired my second pair of ears on the trip. A girl can never have enough ears don’t ya know.

I know these didn’t come out well, but who doesn’t love this parade?
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King Triton!
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And then ::::::::::


Wishes. WOW.
I stood next to my sister and we wrapped our arms around each other. About half way through I stared to cry. I never thought that I would make it to Disney, and I never dreamed that I would get to share it with my best friend. I was so happy and thankful to be there and just so moved. This became my favorite moment of the trip.

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We had a few more things to do tonight! Including pictures with the nighttime castle YAY for photo pass!!!

Please notice the night ears. Yea we made fun of my sis the rest of the trip for not having ears that light up.
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Love the castle effects in this one
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Toystory time!
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Because of the fear of the dark I choose to sit out on Stitch, but we waited for Jeffery to ride. We were well into the extra magic hours at this point and I was getting tired and cranky!

But had enough energy to goof around while we wait for Jeff in the gift shop
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I was fading VERY quickly. Like I wana go to bed now or I am going to have a melt down like a 5 year old in the store.
But we still had the Laugh floor to do!
Jeff got made fun of for having “4 ears” as he was wearing his ears. He even got to answer a joke. I love the whole “that guy” concept. This show is a must do!

At this point I was done. I had to get some rest or tomorrow wasn’t going to be any fun. We headed back “home” I got back and called the new boyfriend. Talked to him for all of 2 minuets and crashed. Haha that’s good for a budding relationship right?


What will tomorrow bring? Will I see more princesses. There hasn’t been much princess time and I was getting a little whiny about it! O and we better get to eat something yummy!
 
I loved the last update! That was so sweet about watching Wishes with your sister. I'm planning a trip with my boyfriend right now, but I'd love to take my sister some day! (She's 13, I'm 20).

Don't you just hate how tired you get by the end of the day? You want to stay up and be at disney as long as possible, but it's exhausting!

Love the report, can't wait to see what happens next! :)
 
I loved the last update! That was so sweet about watching Wishes with your sister. I'm planning a trip with my boyfriend right now, but I'd love to take my sister some day! (She's 13, I'm 20).

Don't you just hate how tired you get by the end of the day? You want to stay up and be at disney as long as possible, but it's exhausting!

Love the report, can't wait to see what happens next! :)


I do hate how tired I was. I look back and wish I would have stuck it out a little longer!
 

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