"It's Coming and it's BLUE" - A July 2010 TR - COMPLETED!!

[redlight]

Maybe being in Ohio causes jaw pain

You crack me up!

 

[MarieTheCat24]

Not to jump into the conversation here, but you love ghost hunting shows and you haven't seen Paranormal State???????

I don't know when it's on right now, if at all, they're probably getting ready for a new season. It's on A&E, it used to be on right after Intervention on Monday nights, then they moved it to either Tuesday or Wednesday nights. It will probably be on again in the fall, I should check the A&E website, I was just thinking about this show and why I haven't seen it lately, and now this reminded me!

I know, right? I feel like such a bad ghost hunting show fan. I didn't even know that Paranormal State existed! I usually just stick to the shows on SyFy and the Travel Channel. But I will DEFINITELY have to check it out now that everybody's raving about it.

You know, I'm not surprised. I'm sorry people are so jealous of me, but I can't help it that I'm popular!

GAH. Mean Girls was on ABC Family tonight, but I went out with friends and had to leave right after it started. Boo.

Oh noooo! Of all places, LE CELLIER?!?! WHERE JESUS HIMSELF RESIDES IN THE KITCHEN???? OMG.

I KNOW! Thankfully, it happened after we had finished eating and were waiting for the check. But my Le Cellier update will be a fun one. SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT.

Giiiiiiiirl. It's on hiatus right now, but it's usually on Tuesdays at 10 on A&E. It's about this sexy soulmate of mine, Ryan Buell. He says he was ~tormented~ by evil spirits as a child and has always been fascinated by ~the unknown~ and all of that, so he started being a paranormal investigator in high school. Then went to Penn State for college and started the Paranormal Research Society there, and it grew into this huge thing and a bunch of other students got way into it, and they would all go on investigations together. He knows all these demonologists and psychics who help them figure out what the f is going on in these people's houses. Then, like 3 years ago, A&E called him up and was all "Hay, that's a pretty weird story, your life would probably make a good show." So now they follow them on these investigations. Some of it is insanely boring and some of it is HORRIFYING. Everyone and their mom says the show is completely fake, though. I think that some of it is fake and dramatized to make the show intense, and some of it is real. Ryan is too obsessed with it, I mean he made this his life, for it to all be fake. But I mostly just watch it because Ryan is so hot. It could be a show about anything and I would watch it for him. Anyway the episodes are on Youtube and I have gone on long enough. LOL.

I will definitely have to check it out. It sounds really interesting.

And regarding the "Some of it is insanely boring and some of it is horrifying", I feel the same way about pretty much all of the ghost shows. Like a lot of the time they don't really have much to work with so it ends up being SUPER dull. But then its those moments when they capture something really good that scare the baloney out of me. And make me continue to watch them obsessively.

You crack me up!

 

[bluejasmine]

Oh Oh a Poly trip report! I cant wait!

 

[MarieTheCat24]

Oh Oh a Poly trip report! I cant wait!

Thanks for joining!! I promise that there will be many fabulous Poly pics coming up. I just wish I could go back RIGHT NOW.

 

[oboedm]

Your TR had me cracking up today! You are too funny... a great writer! Good to know that 1/85 of the fun is out of the way and we are onto the 100% fun from here on out! Can't wait to read more!

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

OH MY GOSH. THAT'S AWESOME!! I really hope you find a pic!!

You asked for it!!! This was when I was probably 21...I think it was 2002.


These were the only pics I could find that weren't too scandalous! I know I have a pic somewhere with my sister as Magenta but I can't find it. A friend had a house in upstate NY and every Halloween, we would go up and have a huge party! That year, we were all really into Rocky Horror and no one but my sister knew that I was going as Frankenfurter. So after we all split up to get in our costumes, I had my sister cue up the music and I made a grand entrance lip syncing Curry's entrance song! It was great!

Anyway, here are some pics! The last one is a little scandalous but a friend photoshopped me onto the DVD cover!

Hope you like the pics! Sorry to hijack!

 

[MarieTheCat24]

Your TR had me cracking up today! You are too funny... a great writer! Good to know that 1/85 of the fun is out of the way and we are onto the 100% fun from here on out! Can't wait to read more!

Thank you so much! And thanks for reading!!

AND NIKKI...THOSE PICS ARE AMAZING!!! Thanks so much for posting them!! You are the coolest person ever.

 

[heaven2dc]

Great TR so far!! I would love to have seen pics of those pineapple lamps My DS32's gf works at the Marriot in our town and she would die laughing knowing that Marriot had those types of lamps (she would absolutely love it!).

 

[MarieTheCat24]

DAY ONE: THE ARRIVAL
This was it. Today was the day that I would make my triumphant return to Walt Disney World. It had been two days short of a year since I was last on Disney property and boy, was I ready to get back. I was DESPERATE for some Disney magic. DESPERATE. In an ideal world, I’d be able to travel to WDW multiple times a year, but with my schedule (and my family’s schedule) unless I want to get brave and attempt a solo trip over Spring Break (or can finally convince my friends to accompany me) the once a year vacation plan will stand. And knowing that this will be my only opportunity to get doused with pixie dust for an ENTIRE YEAR makes the arrival all that more exciting.

I woke up bright and early this Friday morning (7:00) and hopped in the shower – literally, I was bouncing off the walls at this point – got dressed, dried my hair and attempted to prevent it from frizzing horribly the second I stepped out into that dreaded Florida humidity. That feat proved moderately successful. As you’ll see in pictures later on, my hair didn’t frizz all that badly, but it did start to get weirdly wavy. I guess I just need to resign myself to the fact that my hair + Florida humidity will never be an attractive combination.

Around 7:45, we started hauling our bags back down to the car while Mom checked us out of the hotel. And that’s when tragedy struck. Well, not tragedy, but I was pretty upset for a hot second. I’m not a pin collector by any means, but I do have one pin that I bought several years ago that I ALWAYS stick on my bag when I’m at Disney. It’s Marie from the Aristocats being completely adorable, like she always is. Anyway, as soon as Katie and I got our bags outside to the parking lot, we heard a clink. Katie noticed the pin right away and yelled out, “Marie!” I immediately stopped, turned around, and picked her up, but the pin back thingamajigger was nowhere to be found! It was heartbreaking in a way that is completely and totally acceptable for a twenty year old girl. The idea of not wearing Marie on MY FIRST DAY AT DISNEY was horrible. But because we didn’t have any spare pin backs on hand, I stuck her in a bag that I was leaving in the car to deal with later. And this is a little sad, but that’s where she stayed for the rest of our vacation because I *GASP* kinda sorta forgot about her. I KNOW. I KNOW. I am a TERRIBLE pin owner. Y’all should call Pin Protective Services on me.

Anyway, back to the whole arriving at Disney thing.

Once Mom had met up with us at the car, we all piled in and off we headed towards WDW. I think at this point I ate one bite of a PopTart for breakfast. I was too excited to eat!! I should also mention that even though our hotel was literally right across the street from the edge of WDW property nearest Downtown Disney, we had time to kill, so we decided to take the long way and follow our traditional route of entry off I-4. Yeah, we’re weird, but whatever.

I mean, here’s a picture that I had taken the night before of one of the entrance signs as we turned into our hotel complex. We were THAT close. And once again, please ignore the blurriness of the photo. It's hard to take a picture through a car window at night.

So anyway, we took our crazy person route back onto the highway until we saw signs like this.

Seeing “Magic Kingdom” on a typical highway sign is JUST. SO. COOL. It’s second only in coolness to the fact that the Weather Channel lists your location as Walt Disney World when you’re staying on-property. That never fails to make me giddy.

And then, before we knew it, we were pulling up to this beauty.

AHHHHH!!!! Cue the fireworks and the Hallelujah Chorus. WE ARE FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Seriously, just driving around WDW property makes me incredibly happy. Seeing all of the sights for the first time each trip, even at a distance, is MAGICAL. There really is no other word for it.

And then, of course, there are these little purple and red numbers. They are so simple, but they represent SO MUCH. No longer are you driving around the “rest” of the world, with its green directional signs. You’re in Walt Disney World – completely and totally isolated from the outside world. And boy, is that a good feeling…

After a bit more driving, we made it here.

Listening to my dad tell the CM at the booth that we were headed to the Polynesian pretty much put me over the edge. GAH! THIS WAS REALLY HAPPENING. WE WERE REALLY AT WDW.

A left turn onto Seven Seas Dr. and a little more driving later, we were pulling up to what is quite possibly my favorite place in the entire “World”, the POLYNESIAN. I made my Dad turn really slowly so that I could snap this photo.

I took this one while we were sitting at the Guard’s booth, waiting for our parking pass. My little piece of Polynesian heaven is RIGHT THERE waiting for me!

With parking pass on the dash, we found a place to park among the sea of Texas, New Jersey, and Ohio cars. Evidently the only people who drive to WDW are from one of those states. Or at least that's what the Polynesian parking lot would like me to believe.

I immediately jumped out of the car and started snapping pictures as we headed for the Great Ceremonial House.

THE MONORAIL!!!

PALM TREES!!!

As soon as I stepped through those sliding doors, I, of course, had to stop for a few seconds/minutes/hours (who’s counting?) to inhale some of that delicious Polynesian air. Best smell in the entire world. It's the perfect combination of the Disney water smell, tropical plants, and whatever they're cooking at 'Ohana. Disney would make a killing off of Great Ceremonial House-scented air freshener. WHY HAVEN’T YOU MADE THAT HAPPEN YET, DISNEY?

We decided that we’d wait until the afternoon to check-in because we REALLY wanted/needed to be at the Magic Kingdom in time for the Welcome Show. So we headed up to the monorail station…

I love that all of the "Celebrate Today" banners are still up. I certainly planned on celebrating today. Honestly, every single day you're at Disney is cause for celebration. So get to celebrating, people!!

We jumped right on the monorail that was already there, waiting *just* for us…or so I like to think.

Here’s Dad and Katie on the monorail. Dad’s wearing his “Monorail Shirt” which I so aptly named after noticing that it is almost identical in color to the monorail benches.

And here’s a not-so-great picture of Mom and I.

We waited while a few other people boarded and then heard those GLORIOUS words I’d been dying to hear for quite some time, courtesy of the Monorail Voice Guy, “To our new passengers, Aloha, and welcome aboard!” And with that, we headed off towards “a timeless journey through lands of fantasy”…THE MAGIC KINGDOM!!!!!!!!

 

[tinkgurl]

Girl..you are going to have to start labeling your days so I know what date it was so I can figure out if I was where you were!

 

[Queenofallthings]

I'm with you on that whole air freshner thing girl!!! We would all buy it!

I love those purple and red signs....those are the little things that tell us we're "home"!!

 

[yourhighwayinthesky]

I'm glad I started reading this! It's getting me really excited for the trip that I'm supposed to leave for in less than 2 hours! I still haven't gotten any sleep. hahaha Too excited I guess

 

[PrincessCaitlin]

One of my biggest fears for my next trip is the Florida humidity and my hair I totally understand!

I'm sorry about your Marie pin! I always have the worst luck when it comes to losing the backs on pins but I can never justify spending more money for the locking ones.

Yay for being at Disney

I love the look of the Polynesian I don't think I ever really want to go to Hawaii but I really want to stay at the Poly

I can tell how excited you are from that picture! Can't wait to hear about your time at MK!

 

[MarieTheCat24]

Great TR so far!! I would love to have seen pics of those pineapple lamps My DS32's gf works at the Marriot in our town and she would die laughing knowing that Marriot had those types of lamps (she would absolutely love it!).

THANKS!!

And I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the pineapple lamps. That's totally the type of thing I usually take a million pics of. I guess I was just out of it from being in the car all day.

Girl..you are going to have to start labeling your days so I know what date it was so I can figure out if I was where you were!

Noted. This update (and the next several updates) took place on July 23rd.

I'm with you on that whole air freshner thing girl!!! We would all buy it!

I love those purple and red signs....those are the little things that tell us we're "home"!!

Maybe we should start a letter writing campaign. WE WANT GREAT CEREMONIAL HOUSE AIR FRESHENER!!!

I'm glad I started reading this! It's getting me really excited for the trip that I'm supposed to leave for in less than 2 hours! I still haven't gotten any sleep. hahaha Too excited I guess

OMG. I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING TRIP!!!

THANKS FOR READING!!

One of my biggest fears for my next trip is the Florida humidity and my hair I totally understand!

I'm sorry about your Marie pin! I always have the worst luck when it comes to losing the backs on pins but I can never justify spending more money for the locking ones.

Yay for being at Disney

I love the look of the Polynesian I don't think I ever really want to go to Hawaii but I really want to stay at the Poly

I can tell how excited you are from that picture! Can't wait to hear about your time at MK!

Yeah, I never really even thought about buying a locking pin back. I mean, I only actually use the pin once a year, so it would have been a waste. And since I never actually replaced the pin back, Marie is currently being used as a push pin on a cork board in my room. I'm so resourceful.

I'm with you, I've never really had any interest in going to REAL Hawaii, but the "FAKE" Hawaii is just FABULOUS.

 

[Poohgirl521]

Kara-

Loving the TR so far. You forgot to mention one of the FAMOUS sounds of the monorail--- PLEASE STAND CLEAR OF THE DOORS!!! LOL. I don't know why but I always found that funny. I have only been to WDW twice and the first time we stayed at the Poly. I loved being right on the Monorail. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

 

[Nermel9]

LOL I love that you and your family took the long way to get to WDW just to see the signs and pass under that arch! I would probably do the same thing, if I didn't go in that official entrance I just wouldn't feel like I was in Disney!

I love the Poly pics!!! I hope to stay there one day!

Can't wait to ready about MK!

 

[tinkgurl]

This update (and the next several updates) took place on July 23rd.

Okay...the 23rd...we were at the Poly for breakfast at Ohana! Then we went to the MK! So we had to have walked past each other sometime during the day!

 

[MarieTheCat24]

Kara-

Loving the TR so far. You forgot to mention one of the FAMOUS sounds of the monorail--- PLEASE STAND CLEAR OF THE DOORS!!! LOL. I don't know why but I always found that funny. I have only been to WDW twice and the first time we stayed at the Poly. I loved being right on the Monorail. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip!

Thanks for coming along!! And my love for "PLEASE STAND CLEAR OF THE DOORS" is just a given.

LOL I love that you and your family took the long way to get to WDW just to see the signs and pass under that arch! I would probably do the same thing, if I didn't go in that official entrance I just wouldn't feel like I was in Disney!

I love the Poly pics!!! I hope to stay there one day!

Can't wait to ready about MK!

Yeah, we're a crazy bunch and we just couldn't skip one of our WDW traditions. We ALWAYS have to enter WDW property the same way. It would just feel weird if we didn't.

Okay...the 23rd...we were at the Poly for breakfast at Ohana! Then we went to the MK! So we had to have walked past each other sometime during the day!

OMG. What time was your breakfast? We could have been in the GCH at the same exact time! It's so weird to think that I "know" someone who was there at the same time as me, but we never actually bumped into eachother. WDW IS JUST SO DARN HUGE. IT'S CRAZY.

 

[__disneygirl]

LOL the Marie pin thing cracked me up because I do stuff like that too. Like, i'll say I need to do this or wear this on this day or do things a certain way and then I get there and i'm like, I'm at Disney World, who cares? And then when i'm home, unpacking through a complete mental and physical break over having to leave Disney, I find all that stuff and i'm like... oh.

YAY THE DISNEY DIRTY WATER SMELL!! I so saw that coming.

OMG your dad is so awesome with his monorail colored shirt. I can't even. That's so awesome. I need one, to be honest.

YOU LOOK SO CUTE IN YOUR FOREVER YOUNG MINNIE EARS SHIRT OMG I LOVE THAT SHIRT!!!!!!!!!!

“To our new passengers, Aloha, and welcome aboard!” ON THE VERGE OF TEARS BUT IT'S FINE.

I want to take this really expensive and exclusive dance workshop this fall but it's throughout the time when I want/NEED to be at WDW and I need to ask my dad to help me pay for it and I know he never will if I'm like OH ALSO, I'M GOING TO DISNEY, WHICH IS MAINLY WHY I NEED HELP TO PAY FOR IT, BECAUSE I'M SPENDING ALL MY MONEY TO GO THERE. BY THE WAY. I'm awful, I know. And even if he doesn't help to pay for it I know he'll be like YOU'RE NOT MISSING ANY TIME DURING THE WORKSHOP because he's strict, and you know, doesn't leave commitments to go party with Mickey Mouse and Hanson at the Food and Wine festival. And i'd have to miss like a week of the workshop which is bad. I mean, they allow it, but it's not great. But then again it's a 9 week workshop and it's like I'd still get 8 life changing weeks out of it...Sorry to ramble on your report but the reason I brought this up is that just reading that one sentence that Monorail Guy (Love of my LIFE) says, made me want to just quit life and go to Disney. Like, who cares about anything else? That's totally the way it is, like a drug or something. You know how they say don't offer heroin to a heroin addict? DISNEY ADDICTS WHO HAVE OTHER COMMITMENTS SHOULD NOT READ TRIP REPORTS.

Ok i'm done. Sorry I brought up my weird life and hard drug references on your trip report. Back to your regularly scheduled Disney magic.

 

[MarieTheCat24]

OMG your dad is so awesome with his monorail colored shirt. I can't even. That's so awesome. I need one, to be honest.

We didn't even realize it at first, but then he sat down and I was just like OMG It's monorail camoflauge!!!

YOU LOOK SO CUTE IN YOUR FOREVER YOUNG MINNIE EARS SHIRT OMG I LOVE THAT SHIRT!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you! I love that shirt so much. I wanna wear it forever.

I want to take this really expensive and exclusive dance workshop this fall but it's throughout the time when I want/NEED to be at WDW and I need to ask my dad to help me pay for it and I know he never will if I'm like OH ALSO, I'M GOING TO DISNEY, WHICH IS MAINLY WHY I NEED HELP TO PAY FOR IT, BECAUSE I'M SPENDING ALL MY MONEY TO GO THERE. BY THE WAY. I'm awful, I know. And even if he doesn't help to pay for it I know he'll be like YOU'RE NOT MISSING ANY TIME DURING THE WORKSHOP because he's strict, and you know, doesn't leave commitments to go party with Mickey Mouse and Hanson at the Food and Wine festival. And i'd have to miss like a week of the workshop which is bad. I mean, they allow it, but it's not great. But then again it's a 9 week workshop and it's like I'd still get 8 life changing weeks out of it...Sorry to ramble on your report but the reason I brought this up is that just reading that one sentence that Monorail Guy (Love of my LIFE) says, made me want to just quit life and go to Disney. Like, who cares about anything else? That's totally the way it is, like a drug or something. You know how they say don't offer heroin to a heroin addict? DISNEY ADDICTS WHO HAVE OTHER COMMITMENTS SHOULD NOT READ TRIP REPORTS.

Ok i'm done. Sorry I brought up my weird life and hard drug references on your trip report. Back to your regularly scheduled Disney magic.

I really hope things work out and you get to take the workshop. It sounds fabulous. And I am totally jealous. I wish I hadn't given up dance. Or well, I still dance...I'm taking hip hop Fall Quarter...but it's not serious like it used to be. But yeah, I totally know what you mean. I absolutely should not be reading trip reports. Someone's picture of a random bench will set me off and I'll be all OMG I NEED TO GO TO DISNEY NOW. If only I didn't have this thing called college holding me back. Oh, and the fact that I don't have an infinite supply of money. If I did, I would go all "Eloise at the Plaza" on the World, except it'd be more like "Kara at the Polynesian". But yeah, this whole once a year trip thing just isn't enough. I NEED WDW IN MY LIFE. Honestly, it's like medicinal. I'm working on convincing my friend to go to WDW with me over Spring Break, but it ain't cheap and because of that I don't know if she's gonna go for it. GOSH. WHY MUST THE THING I LOVE MOST IN THIS WORLD BE A) FAR AWAY AND B) REALLY EXPENSIVE?