I'm BAACK!! Moms dream vacation a success! Trippie is COMPLETE tons of pics... 1/21

[Hedy]

I will chat the no snow chant for you.

 

[Trentmom]

NO SNOW

NO SNOW

NO SNOW

NO SNOW

 

[tinkerbell87512]

TOMORROW TOMORROW TOMORROW!!!!! Wohooo your leaving for Disney Tomorrow!!

I hope the snow doesn't hit you guys. Delays are no fun at all, specially when your heading ON vacation.

Have a great time and take lots and lots of pictures! I can't wait to hear all about your trip!!!!

PS: Love your pics from the tree lighting. I can't believe how close you were! Lucky lucky you!!!

 

[njdisneyfreak]

You'll be there in less than 24 hours!!!

I will definitely pray for you to get there without being affected by the snow. Are you leaving out of Newark? They are notorious for their delays. Get there super early, if you can.

I'm glad you said what you did about the glue, because you reminded me that I should use a glue stick for mine.

Have a great trip!

 

[Trentmom]

Hope you have a magical time and that you don;t experience any delays tomororw

Take a ton of pics!!!!!!!!

 

[disneygirlinnj]

I will chat the no snow chant for you.

Thank ya!!! Keep on chanting!!!

NO SNOW

NO SNOW

NO SNOW

NO SNOW

Keep dancing!!!

TOMORROW TOMORROW TOMORROW!!!!! Wohooo your leaving for Disney Tomorrow!!

I hope the snow doesn't hit you guys. Delays are no fun at all, specially when your heading ON vacation.

Have a great time and take lots and lots of pictures! I can't wait to hear all about your trip!!!!

PS: Love your pics from the tree lighting. I can't believe how close you were! Lucky lucky you!!!

Thank you so much! It still hasn't hit me that I'm going to be there in a few hours. I can't sleep at allll! AHHH!!!!

You'll be there in less than 24 hours!!!

I will definitely pray for you to get there without being affected by the snow. Are you leaving out of Newark? They are notorious for their delays. Get there super early, if you can.

I'm glad you said what you did about the glue, because you reminded me that I should use a glue stick for mine.

Have a great trip!

Yup! Heading out of Newark so I'm crossing my fingers! Definitely getting there reallllly early! haha... and the envelopes look a little decrepit but oh well. They still work!

Hope you have a magical time and that you don;t experience any delays tomororw

Take a ton of pics!!!!!!!!

Thank youuuuuuu!!! I'll definitely take pics!!! Didn't get to take any more of my pre-trip but don't you worry about pics of the actual thing!!!


I'll try signing on while I'm there guys with quick updates. But when I get back I'll do an official VERY LONG update! woohooooo!!!! See you when I get back guys!

 

[tinkerbell87512]

Woohooo!!! Today is the day!!!

Still crossing my fingers for no delays for you. Have an amazing time!!!

 

[swim-mom]

Have a great time, I am amazed how many people are from NJ.

I am all the way in south jersey ......................enjoy your trip, since NJ is going to be very cold this week.

 

[Trentmom]

Have a great time, I am amazed how many people are from NJ.

I am all the way in south jersey ......................enjoy your trip, since NJ is going to be very cold this week.

There are a ton of New Jerseyans on here...

Hello to a Fellow South Jerseyan

 

[mindyd]

Hi,

I just came across your report and hope you are having a magical time I am very jealous I wanted to see all the Christmas lights but will have to wait for next year.

 

[njdisneyfreak]

Have a great time, I am amazed how many people are from NJ.

I am all the way in south jersey ......................enjoy your trip, since NJ is going to be very cold this week.

There are a ton of New Jerseyans on here...

Hello to a Fellow South Jerseyan

Central NJ over here! We are definitely a WDW loving state!

 

[Trentmom]

Central NJ over here! We are definitely a WDW loving state!

Awesome!!!

Yeppers, we sure are

 

[Hedy]

Hope you got off to WDW ok!

 

[OhMari]

I'm moving you to our regular board. Looking forward to your pictures. I hope you made it out of New Jersey. I saw a dad on tv from Milwaukee and they didn't make it out on Sat. and that snow was suppose to hit New Jersey Sunday.

 

[disneygirlinnj]

I'm hoooooommmeeeee!!!!!! omg it was amazing!!!! I never got a chance to sign on while there (wow...totally didnt think I'd be THAT exhausted every night! haha!) but I kept on editing and going through my pics so I officially have around 950 pics..eek!

Christmas time is amazing!!!

OK... I'm going to start uploading my pics to my pic site and then mayyyyyyyybeeeee write my first day report... but that might have to wait until tomorrow.

OH! and for all of you wondering about the Pirate Tutorial (I was in another topic discussing this..).... I GOT TO SEE THE HOT JACK!!! WOOHOOOO!!! haha... apparently word has gotten around b/c there were 3 other girls there hoping it was the 'hot Jack'.

oh! and thanks for all the 'no snow' chants! we were only delayed by an hour when we left last Sunday!

ok... time to unpack and get settled.... I tried signing on at MCO (yay free internet!) but for some reason this was the only site not loading!

oh yes...and get ready for LOTS of food porn!!! mmmmmmm!!!!!

 

[Trentmom]

Welcome Home DisneygilinNJ!!!!

Glad you had an amazing time and can not wait to see all your pics

 

[tinkerbell87512]

Welcome home!!! Looking forward to the report!!!

 

[disneygirlinnj]

Ok ok... so lets see how I'm giong to start this whole trippie!!! I have to consiously try NOT to use smileys so I can post more pics in each post (25 in each, right? hehe)....

So away we goooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

Ok...so I wake up bright and early to the sound of snow plows plowing the road... ugh!!! I look out the window and it's not TOOO bad..just light flurries but there was definitely snow on the ground. But, who cares?! WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! WOOHOOOOO!!!! I checked online for our flight and it was still on time so that was a relief. My friend Christina was picking us up to bring us to the airport at 9am so we quickly got ready and got our bags in order and headed downstairs to wait for her. It was slightly snowing when I woke up and continued to snow the whole time until our flight took off.

Got to the airport without any problems and quickly checked in outside. The man behind the counter saw the Magical Express tags and was like 'wow..no fair you're going to Disney and we're stuck here in the snow!" haha! There was also a couple and their young son next to us that also had Magical Express tags on their bags so I asked the little boy if he was going to see Mickey and he was all excited! aww...too cute! Since check in was quick and painless we headed to get some breakfast at Au Bon Pain (mm...my favorite) and then relaxed until it was time to head to the gate and board...the whole time keeping an eye on the snow..

We boarded a little late b/c the cleaning crew was late but we all rushed on so we can get in line to de-ice and then head to the runway.

yes...there is ICE on the window... ugh!

We took off about an hour late but only landed 20 mins behind schedule. Perfect flight!

And the best part!? NO SNOW IN DISNEY!! and it was HOT! 83 degrees....WOOHOOOO! (ha..insert dancing emoticon here...lol)

After we landed we headed over to Disney's Magical Express and even though the line seemed a little long, there must have been 10 or 15 people behind the counter whisking people through the process. We checked in very quickly and then got on line for the Pop Century bus. That didn't take that long either and I was definitely thankful that we weren't staying at any of the All Star resorts...each of those lines was PACKED with little cheerleaders and stuff for Pop Warner (ha... no offense if anyone on here was one of those people!).

We all quickly clambered on the bus all excited to get our vacations started! The little movie they show helped pass the time away and in no time we were pulling into Pop Century!! Neither my mom or I had stayed there before so it was cute to walk around and see everything! We headed on line to check in and that line was very short too. There was a really nice cast member, Bob, who was standing at the beginning of the line asking if anyone had any questions and then would walk them to the check-in counter to an available person. We were checked in within 2 mins, all I had to do was sign a paper, give them my credit card, and voila! We were in room 5360 in the 60s section, facing away from the pool (which I would later be thankful for!). We quickly thanked the guy at the counter and headed to the room to see what it was like and freshen up.

The room was cute! Here's us waving to everyone in the mirror... hehehe

We freshened up a little bit and then got things ready to head out. Idiot me had packed a cute dress I wanted to wear to dinner since we weren't going to be walking around much and um... FORGOT that our bags weren't going to get to our room for awhile! GEEEEZ! So I had to stick to the clothes I was wearing and the dress and shoes just wasted space in the luggage. Oh well.

I was STARVING and couldn't wait to dinner so I just wanted to head to the cafeteria at Pop to grab a snack before heading to the Polynesian for dinner at Kona. On the way, I snapped a few pics of the hotel..

me with my new friends...

For my snack I decided on just getting the hummus and some veggies to dip in. I didn't use any of the dining plan just yet so I paid OOP for it.
mmmm!!!! I LOVE hummus by the way and this was pretty tasty!

After my snack looked at the store and enjoyed the Christmas decorations..

We then headed outside to catch a bus and the MK bus was already there waiting for us! SWEET! Quickly jumped on and we were off! yayyyyy!! On the way there it was exactly 6pm so we got to watch Wishes from the bus which was kinda cool. Arrived at the MK and then headed over to the monorail to head to the Poly.

I had planned a lot of extra time to travel so we arrived about 45 mins ahead of our reservation. We checked in without a problem and decided to wander the stores upstairs until our table was ready. Now the dorky pictures officially started (hehehehe)

booo...you can't see the Minnie ears on the hats!

We finished up with the store and were heading over to the bar by Ohana to grab a drink and wait but our little buzzer started buzzing so we went back to Kona and had a great table against the outside of the restaurant.

Ok now...I'm officially saying now that this was my BEST meal while at Disney. From start to finish it was YUMMMMY! Sadly I should have copied my review that I wrote on allears but I forgot! It's not posted yet or I would! UGH!! I guess I'll just write it again..ha!

So lets see... Donna was our server and she was AMAZING! Seriously... I'm going to write to Disney commending her b/c she was that nice and GOOD! We told her it was our first meal on the dining plan and she helped us with everything. So of course...we started off with the sweet bread and macadamia nut honey butter... mmmmmm (get ready for some serious food porn people...)

Now...my plan for this whole rediculous amount of food on the dining plan was just to TRY everything... not eat EVERYTHING. Well...that went right out the window when the appetizers came! For my appetizer I ordered the duck dumplings with creamy ginger soy sauce.... holy moly they were amazing...

I couldn't get enough of them and was honestly thankful that my mom is a rediculous picky eater and won't eat meat...(more on her pickiness in a sec)

My mom got the Kona salad and said she liked it. Now... she's not a fan of the mixed greens but still ate a bit of it. I, on the other hand, despise bleu cheese so tried to pick around the chunks and enjoyed what I tried until a hidden piece of cheese was wedged between two leaves of lettuce. That was the end for me.. ha! But we both agreed the dressing, fruit, and nuts were a great compliment to each other!

a little blurry...sorry..

Onto the entrees... which is now making me hungry just thinking about it. I ordered the beef teriyaki. It was cooked PERFECTLY and the teriyaki sauce wasn't too overpowering but just enough to give it amazing flavor. The mashed potatoes were VERY good too, hands down the best I had while at Disney. I also liked the pineapple 'relish' or whatever they called it that came with it. mmmmmm!! I'm not a fan of broccoli so I didn't want to waste precious room in my tummy for it.

Mom (aka...the picky eater remember) ordered the shrimp and scallops..minus the scallops, and with all the dressings on the side...

So we tried all the sauces that it came with and mom wasn't a fan of ANY. ugh! I could see this going bad very quickly. I tried them to make sure it was just her...and it was. I REALLY liked two of them but the creamy one was just mehhhhh. Donna came by and suggested just using lemon juice on them and that did the trick. WOOHOO!! Donna to the rescue!! happy dance! So mom also wasn't a huge fan of the breading but still ate a bit. Again, making sure it was just her and taking one for the team (I'm not a fan of shrimp either...can you tell the two of us have COMPLETELY different taste in food?) I tried a bite. I was definitely not a fan of the shrimp but hoenstly LOVED the breading. ha! go figure.

Now onto dessert... I had heard horror stories of the coffee at Disney EXCEPT at the Poly so I quickly and excitedly ordered a cup of Kona coffee. mmmmmm!! Donna laughed and said that people from all over the parks jump on the monorail every morning just to head to the cafe and get a good cup of coffee. I don't blame them after having tried the horrible nescafe stuff (more on that on day 2 and beyond..). bleh!

before digging into dessert..

So I ordered the banana creme brulee. I was excited when I saw it b/c I have been scouring the allears menus and it wasn't on there! Score! And oohhhhhh my goodness it was yummmmy (can you tell I thoroughly enjoyed this whole entire meal?). There was a thin layer of chocolate at the bottom of the brulee that made it even better. Donna made sure to point it out so that I don't miss it while I was devouring the dish. The additional carmelized banana was scrumptious as well....

Mom finally found a winner... she ordered the chocolate macadamia nut tart with chocolate ice cream (instead of vanilla). Donna described it as kinda being like a pecan pie. I tried it and it was definitely good but I was too busy inhaling my creme brulee, which I totally could NOT finish...

After paying the bill and thanking Donna again, we wanted to wander the Poly and check out the Christmas decorations..

When we headed outside to wander, I heard the Electrical Water Pageant music start playing. WOOHOO! I had originally assumed we were going to miss the pageant since our dinner reservation was so late. BUT... I forgot to factor in that we were seated much earlier and we got out right in time! YAYY!!!! I swear...they haven't changed this thing since I was like 10 years old... which I love actually. Brings back a million memories! People watching me must have thought I was crazy. I had this big camera and was trying to prop it on ANYTHING I could so that the pics weren't blurry! I finally think I got the hang of it towards the end of the parade!

Ok Day 1 must be continued in another post b/c I'm ONE PICTURE over the limit..... ARGH!!!!

 

[disneygirlinnj]

After the parade was over we took our time and headed back to the monorail to get back to Pop. My friend from home was also down at Disney and staying at Pop so we planned to get together for a drink after we put our moms to bed. Dropped off mom and headed to the lobby to meet up with Evan. While waiting for him I wandered down the hallway to check out all the displays and found one that seriously had my whole childhood in it... ha!

The two of us headed to Pleasure Island and grabbed a beer and walked around to catch up a little. We haven't seen each other in MONTHS so of course whats the best way to meet up again? Go to Disney at the same time! ha! After wandering and deciding that we didn't want to pay cover anywhere we headed to Raglan Road for a Guinness..mmmm!

For some reason I look like a drunk tired idiot.. but umm... I don't even think I had a sip of my first beer yet!

At about midnight we decided to call it a night since we both had long days ahead of us. On the way back we saw a bunch of random birds sleeping in a tree! (later I saw this again at Animal Kingdom....too funny!) I'll post that pic in Day 2's recap since it was taken after midnight and officially Day 2..

hopefully I didn't go over my pic limit.... today was quiet... i have a feeling the rest of the days are going to be REALLLLLLLYYYYYYYY long!!!!

 

[TKDisneylover]

Hey we're back too! So sad I did not see 1 Dis'er

But what gorgeous weather!! Those cute Minnie hats you had on, well we bought one for my sister-in-law who was watching our cat while we were gone. And we saw those same birds sleeping in the tree at Pleasure Island our last night (Friday, 12/7), how bizarre did that look?

Love your pics, you definitely looked like you were having a great time. Hopefully I will have a chance to start posting my trip report soon too.