Laughter, Tears & Screams- Two Aussies in WDW! New - 6/10 - The End!!

[shebaxric]

Hurray for the update!!

I have started reading your previous trip report and am enjoying that one, too!

 

[Disneymom3304]

Still reading your wonderful report!!! A cliff hanger!!! Wow, you are good! Hope it is not too sad though.

 

[disneybam]

So happy on the TTA!!

Julie,
I've been hiding from the beginning and wanted to come out and say how much I enjoy reading about you and Conan's "adventures". You two have seen more of our country that most of us who live here!! I'm jealous! How fun!

Almost every picture I see from the TTA comes out so nice and cheerful, even my pictures. Must be the lighting? I'll be reading along until the end, even if I don't post much.

 

[AussieAngel]

Hey everybody!!

It's Good Friday here and we've had a nice lazy morning, eating hot cross buns and tidying the house before my brother arrives. It'll be a big family Easter weekend for us - but we're going to see Wicked tomorrow night, yayyyyyyy!!! I'm so excited! This will be my third time seeing it, but I just love it! (Obviously!!)

Wishing all my lovely readers a fun, relaxing Easter weekend!! I hope Easter Bunny brings you lots of yummy Easter eggs!

I just wanted to say that I love your reviews. I started with your dining reviews and they were awesome so I came over to read your trip report! Also awesome!

I really wanted to reserve the WL for our trip coming up but was trying to save some $$ so going for deluxe dining instead.

Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

Oooh, yay! Welcome! I'm glad you popped over from my dining report!
Make sure you train yourself for Deluxe Dining - sooo much food!! Where are you staying instead?

Yaaaaaaaaay! Update! I love the Tink photo!!!!! Can't wait ti hear about Jiko!

Thanks Torsie, I like the Tink photo too! She looks so tiny!

Hurray for the update!!

I have started reading your previous trip report and am enjoying that one, too!

Oooh, I'm glad you're enjoying my old trip report! There'll be more updates coming up here soon, don't worry!!

Still reading your wonderful report!!! A cliff hanger!!! Wow, you are good! Hope it is not too sad though.

Don't worry, it's not too sad - there's a happy ending eventually!! A cliffhanger, heheee. I didn't really mean it to be a cliffhanger! Glad you're still reading along!!

Julie,
I've been hiding from the beginning and wanted to come out and say how much I enjoy reading about you and Conan's "adventures". You two have seen more of our country that most of us who live here!! I'm jealous! How fun!

Almost every picture I see from the TTA comes out so nice and cheerful, even my pictures. Must be the lighting? I'll be reading along until the end, even if I don't post much.

Yayyyy for de-lurking!! I'm so glad you decided to come and say hi!
We're very lucky to have seen lots of your fantastic country... I love it! I wish I could live in New York! (Or Hawaii!)
You're right - there's lots of nice photos around of people on the TTA. Maybe everybody is just happy and relaxed on it! And yep, could be the natural light too.
Thanks for reading!!

 

[lmillercrew]

Go Speedracer, Go Speedracer, Go Speedracer GOOOOOO!!! I always liked the cars when I was younger because it made me feel like a grown up.
We ate at LTT in 2007 and loved it! I had some chicken, tomato pasta dish and it was yummy!!
I love the Jungle Cruise too. And as far as Dumbo goes, I think that if you get there at rope drop Dumbo should be first on the list. I've heard it gets crowded quickly.

 

[punkin413]

I don't if it's always the same in there, but both times I've visited their houses, I just want to get out again! They always seem to be PACKED with people!! Pushy, shovy people who want to touch Minnie's fridge and sewing machine. We really didn't stay for long in either of their houses - it was too crazy!! Just snapped a couple of pictures and headed out the door! Fresh air!!!!

the one and only time we've been in minnie's house it was like this -- MADNESS!!!!! i don't do well in those situations and don't have the patience for stupid people so we left.

Also, I always feel a bit sad for Minnie when I visit her house. Her house is all neat and girly and pretty, with zillions of Mickey photos. And in Mickey's house, there's only photos of his dog and lots of sport stuff!! Phhh. Boys.

We were feeling pretty tired and ready to go back to the WL for a rest, but first, we wanted to do Stitch's Great Escape. We'd never done it before and we really didn't know what it was. And now, even though we've done it, I still don't know quite how to describe it!! Gross might be one word to describe it. Hehehee. Weird might be another word. All I remember is it being really, really dark, and Stitch burping in our ears. Ewwwww. I think we'll skip that one next time!!

i've never done this and that's exactly why! the way i've heard it described, i have absolutely no desire to experience it. i wish they'd turn it into a wall-e themed attraction! i don't know of anyone who actually likes it.

I got kisses!! Woooooo!!!

very cute!

I think throughout this trip, Magic Kingdom became my favourite park. Sure, there's no really big thrill rides, but it's just so Disney! It's all so pretty and fun and we just had such a great time there!! Hollywood Studios used to be my favourite park, and I still love it, but I think Magic Kingdom might have taken over my top place! Oooh!

i so agree!!! MK is my favorite place in the world, i think. i am a thrill ride lover and i do agree that MK lacks in that department. but you CANNOT beat the atmosphere there. i just love it! walking down main street for the first time is my favorite part of every trip!

 

[smile4stamps]

We'll be staying at the Carribean Beach Resort. I had tried calling last week to upgrade to the WL but since I had booked under the 4/3 special they told me that there wasn't any way to upgrade

We will be using a lot of our dining with 2TS restuarants. I think I have 4 Signature Restaurants booked. I have 3 or 4 ADR's left to book to fill outhe week. Not sure where else I want us to go though... I guess I need to go review your reviews again

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Hey Julie!

I also don't post much, but I really enjoyed your dining report, and your trip report is even more awesome!

Enjoy your family time this weekend, then take pity on us and come back with more!

Maria

 

[MagicShell]

I loved your MK update. Magic Kingdom is also my favorite park, I could just walk around in there all day and never even have to ride anything. The feeling I have in the Magic Kingdom is like none other. It is especially great to be at Magic Kingdom with low crowds. I got to see the opening show at Magic Kingdom for the first time in December. It was so fun. Can't wait to see what happened next.

 

[susanrose73]

Can't wait to read more!

Your husband and you look so sweet together!

I love that you always get pictures of the two of you together! Do you just ask CMs to take the pics? Do you ask strangers too? I have to start doing that more often myself. People don't generally mind, do they?

 

[tink1957]

Happy Easter back at you! Patiently waiting....

 

[AussieAngel]

Well, Easter is nearly over and it's been a big weekend!! Lots of catching up with family, drinking wine, eating chocolate, and generally lots of fun! Everybody has gone home now so it's just Conan, Annie and me again in our little house. Nice and quiet - I had an afternoon nap on the couch before! Lovely!

Sorry about the lull in my TR updating over the weekend, but I'm back now! I have one more week of holidays before school goes back - plenty of time to do lots more updates!!

Go Speedracer, Go Speedracer, Go Speedracer GOOOOOO!!! I always liked the cars when I was younger because it made me feel like a grown up.
We ate at LTT in 2007 and loved it! I had some chicken, tomato pasta dish and it was yummy!!
I love the Jungle Cruise too. And as far as Dumbo goes, I think that if you get there at rope drop Dumbo should be first on the list. I've heard it gets crowded quickly.

I can totally understand why you would have loved the cars when you were little - I think I would have too! How often do you get to drive a car when you're 5 years old!?
Yep, Dumbo was definitely crowded! It really wasn't high on our list so I don't know what possessed us to wait in the line so long, but oh well! At least we can say we've ridden Dumbo now!!

the one and only time we've been in minnie's house it was like this -- MADNESS!!!!! i don't do well in those situations and don't have the patience for stupid people so we left.

Ha! Yeah, we really didn't stay long either. I can't stand people pushing into me, and as you said, it really was madness! We've visited Mickey and Minnie's house twice now - I think we'll give it a miss next time!

i've never done this and that's exactly why! the way i've heard it described, i have absolutely no desire to experience it. i wish they'd turn it into a wall-e themed attraction! i don't know of anyone who actually likes it.

Ooooh, what a great idea! They should totally change Stitch into a Wall-e attraction!! They could do something really cute with Wall-e and Eve. Much better than Stitch burping, anyway!!

i so agree!!! MK is my favorite place in the world, i think. i am a thrill ride lover and i do agree that MK lacks in that department. but you CANNOT beat the atmosphere there. i just love it! walking down main street for the first time is my favorite part of every trip!

Yep, Magic Kingdom is awesome!! It's all just so pretty and fun and happy. How could you not love it!?! It's magic!!!

We'll be staying at the Carribean Beach Resort. I had tried calling last week to upgrade to the WL but since I had booked under the 4/3 special they told me that there wasn't any way to upgrade

We will be using a lot of our dining with 2TS restuarants. I think I have 4 Signature Restaurants booked. I have 3 or 4 ADR's left to book to fill outhe week. Not sure where else I want us to go though... I guess I need to go review your reviews again

I've heard lots of great things about the Carribean Beach Resort! Haven't they got a beautiful new pool complex? Or maybe I imagined that.
Sounds like a good idea to use your Deluxe credits at 2TS restaurants if you can. Hopefully my reviews might help you decide where else to go!! Lucky you, what a great trip you've got planned!!

Hey Julie!

I also don't post much, but I really enjoyed your dining report, and your trip report is even more awesome!

Enjoy your family time this weekend, then take pity on us and come back with more!

Maria

Aww, thanks for reading Maria!! I'm glad you decided to say hi!!
I'm glad you've enjoyed my reports so far!! Next chapter coming up very soon!!

I loved your MK update. Magic Kingdom is also my favorite park, I could just walk around in there all day and never even have to ride anything. The feeling I have in the Magic Kingdom is like none other. It is especially great to be at Magic Kingdom with low crowds. I got to see the opening show at Magic Kingdom for the first time in December. It was so fun. Can't wait to see what happened next.

Glad you liked the update!! Magic Kingdom is just great, isn't it!? So pretty and fun!! We're lucky that each time we've visited Magic Kingdom, the crowds have been pretty low. We've never seen the opening show though - maybe next time!!

Can't wait to read more!

Your husband and you look so sweet together!

I love that you always get pictures of the two of you together! Do you just ask CMs to take the pics? Do you ask strangers too? I have to start doing that more often myself. People don't generally mind, do they?

Thanks for your lovely comments, susanrose!!
As for the photos of both of us together, lots of them are Photopass photos... are they the ones you mean? Other than that, most of the others are ones we have just taken ourselves, with the camera in our hands, stretched out in front of us! There might be the odd occasion we've asked someone else to take a photo for us, but yep - most of them are just self-shots!!

Happy Easter back at you! Patiently waiting....

Aww, thanks Tink!! We had a relaxing, fun Easter. Hope you did too!
Next chapter coming up now, thanks for waiting patiently!!

 

[torsie24]

Well, Easter is nearly over and it's been a big weekend!! Lots of catching up with family, drinking wine, eating chocolate, and generally lots of fun! Everybody has gone home now so it's just Conan, Annie and me again in our little house. Nice and quiet - I had an afternoon nap on the couch before! Lovely!

Sorry about the lull in my TR updating over the weekend, but I'm back now! I have one more week of holidays before school goes back - plenty of time to do lots more updates!!

Next chapter coming up now, thanks for waiting patiently!!

Glad you had a lovely easter!! VERY GLAD there's a new chapter coming!!!

 

[AussieAngel]

Glad you had a lovely easter!! VERY GLAD there's a new chapter coming!!!

Thanks torsie!!! Did you have a nice Easter too!? New chapter coming up right now!!

 

[AussieAngel]

So as we were slowly wandering out of Magic Kingdom, we chatted about what to do next. A swim? Nooo, it was too cold. A sleep? Nooo, we weren’t that tired. Instead, we decided to head to the Contemporary.

We’d been there a few times for meals (at The Wave, Chef Mickeys, and California Grill) and every time we were there, Conan wanted to play in the games arcade but we never really had the time. And now, we had the time. So off we went!

We hopped on the monorail for the first time ever, and had a short little ride to the Contemporary. The monorail is fun! Small things amuse small minds. Hehee. Once there, Conan had a play on the games while I shopped at the big souvenir store at the Contemporary. Yay!

Here’s Conan enjoying the Star Wars game! Pow pow!

I battled Conan in a game of Air Hockey too. Don’t you just love Air Hockey!? We do! And I won! Woohoooo!! As I’m writing this, I just asked Conan to double check that I actually won, and he said, “I cannot recall!” Which means I totally won. Hehehehee. Go me!

After playing at the Contemporary for a while, we caught a little boat back to the Wilderness Lodge and headed up to our room. And look what we found on our bed!!

Wow, swans!! With our little Chip & Dale toys poking through to say hi! How cute!! Mouse-keeping had arranged them just like that. Hehee.

We had a little relax in our room for a while, then had showers and got ready for dinner at Jiko! Yay!! I was so looking forward to eating at Jiko. We’d never eaten there before, and the menu had always really appealed to me. And all the photos I’d seen here on the DIS boards looked so delicious!

So when we were ready, we caught a bus to Magic Kingdom, then another bus to Animal Kingdom Lodge. It didn’t take too long all up, and we arrived with some time to look around AKL and explore the store too. Yay! I just love AKL. Especially the pool – it’s so big and pretty!! We ended up buying some cute little animal toys for my nephew from the store, and then headed to Jiko to check in for our dinner.

And how was dinner? It was beautiful!! It definitely lived up to my high expectations. The actual restaurant is gorgeous and the food was fantastic. The full review is in my dining report, but I just have to share our entrees because they were so, so good!! I had the Swahili Curry Shrimp, which had the perfect amount of spiciness. It’s now one of my favourite dishes at Disney World!

And Conan had the Filet with Mac & Cheese – yum!!! I had a taste and this was excellent too. I wish I had this for dinner tonight!!

So feeling very satisfied after a totally enjoyable meal, we had one last look around AKL, and I bought some zebra domes from Mara with a snack credit. Woohoo!! We headed out to the buses, where we caught the Magic Kingdom bus after waiting only a couple of minutes. Everything had gone so smoothly that night!!

We were the only people catching the bus to Magic Kingdom – the park was well and truly closed by now, so the driver asked us why we were headed there. We explained that we were going there to catch another bus back to the Wilderness Lodge, and he nodded.

And guess what – 10 minutes later, we pulled into the Wilderness Lodge!! Our lovely driver had totally bypassed MK and driven us straight home! How nice!! How’s that for some pixie dust!? We made sure to thank him profusely – I thought about giving him a zebra dome to say thank you, but decided against it. Hehehee.

So wow, what a perfect night!! You know you have those days where things just work?! Everything seems smooth and easy and pleasant – this was that day, for us! Yayyyy!

Then we got back to our room and things came to a crashing halt. Seriously, about 3 minutes after we returned to our room, the phone rang. Oh-oh. We both stopped and looked at each other, worried. Because the only people who we gave the WL phone number to was our parents before we left, in case of emergencies. Of course, it could have just been the front desk, but you know how you just know when something bad is about to happen? We both knew that phone call was not going to be a good one.

And it wasn’t. It was Conan’s parents calling from Melbourne. They were looking after Annie, our cat, and we’d been calling them every few days while we were away to see how she was going. She’s a bit of a scaredy-cat, so she’d basically been sleeping behind a cupboard the whole time, only coming out to eat and use her litter tray. Not an ideal situation, but it’s better than sending her to the kennels, with 50 other meowing cats!!

Anyway, they were calling to let us know that Annie had developed a yucky looking sore on her forehead. It was about the size of a penny and it didn’t seem to be bothering her, but they were going to take her to the vet to get it checked out.

Oh nooooooooooo!!! Poor Annie!! Now, I know a lot of you are probably thinking, “So!? It’s only a cat! And it’s only a sore on her head!” But she’s our baby!! We love Annie and we spoil her terribly. She's 14, which means I've literally spent half my life with her! We felt so guilty to be leaving her for 4 weeks in the first place. We were missing her every day and we’d often say to each other, “What do you think Annie is doing?!” So to know that Annie was being taken in her cage to her least-favourite place in the world by people she hardly knew, was just awful!!

So basically, I lost the plot for the next few hours. I cried and cried, and was ready to pack my suitcase and catch the next flight home. I just couldn’t bear the thought that Annie was sick, and we were literally on the other side of the world and couldn't do anything about it. I wanted to be there to help her! And what if the vet said it was cancer or something terrible?! Augghhhhhh!!!

Because of the time difference between Australia and America, we had to wait until 4am to call Conan’s parents back to see how the trip to the vet went. We were up until at least 1am anyway, talking about what to do and crying, and generally just saying, “Poor Annie!” Eventually we decided to try to get some sleep, and we set the alarm for 4am, so we could call back home and see what the vet had said. Oh dear.

To cut a long story short, the vet didn’t know what the sore was on Annie’s head. They didn’t seem to think it was anything too serious – PHEW! – but they didn’t know exactly what it was. Huh. Silly vet. But they prescribed some antibiotics for her, which Conan’s Dad had to give Annie twice a day. Poor Annie!!! And poor Conan’s Dad!

So the news wasn’t so bad, really. We were a little bit relieved that the vet didn’t say something horrible like it was cancer and they would have to operate straight away. I guess no news is good news, right?! Still, I couldn’t help but wish we could be at home to take care of her. Annie hates having medicine – as most animals do – and I felt bad that poor Conan’s Dad had to force it down her throat twice a day. Oh dear!

And I felt guilty that I was in Disney World, on our much-awaited vacation, wishing that I was at home with my cat! I really didn’t want to be there at that stage – I just wanted to go home! Craziness!

Anyhoo, we fell back to sleep at about 5am. It had been a really awful night. Our poor neighbours probably wondered what we were doing up all night and what the crazy lady was crying about. Hehehee.

The next day was to be our Animal Kingdom day. We had an 8.05am ADR at Tusker House – would we really be able to get up in 2 hours and eat breakfast?! Would we pack our bags and fly back to Australia!? Oooh, I’ll tell you all about it in the next chapter!!!

(But I will tell you, because I don’t want anybody to worry, that Annie is now fine. She’s sleeping on the couch next to me right now as I type, purring and cuddling into me. We took her to the vet when we got back to Melbourne and our nice vet said the sore was probably a skin irritation that older cats get sometimes when they’re stressed or away from home, and that it would probably disappear gradually, which it has! Yayyyy! It made us feel terrible though – poor Annie must have been stressing out at Conan’s parents’ house. But the good news is though, that she’s back to her normal happy self now! Back to lazing around in our little backyard, sleeping on our faces, and purring on the couch next to me. Awww.)

Here's my favourite photo of Annie, just because she's cute and healthy again!

 

[torsie24]

Awww, poor Annie!!! I'm already stressing about leaving our cat, Bella, for 2 weeks in October, so I know exactly how you must have felt!! But I'm super glad she's all better now! She is soooo cute!! I love her name tag!!

My easter was great thanks, sad to be back at work tomorrow

Glad you loved Jiko and AKL! I keep wondering if booking there was the right thing to do, so it's great you loved it!

 

[shebaxric]

I'm so glad you posted an update about Annie! I was worried when I was reading about her condition. I too, get stressed out when I have to leave my pets for vacation. I have three dogs, so I can't really take them with me anywhere. The picture of Annie is absolutely cute!

 

[pamouselover]

awesome pictures, you guys are so cute!

 

[Disneymom3304]

Awwwww poor Annie! I am so happy she is okay! I can totally sympathize, I have 5 cats! Yes 5, and I hate leaving them to go on vacation. Luckily I have a great brother who watches over them for me! Can't wait to see if you made it out to AK that early.....

 

[MagicKisses2]