Lesson learned. Need more days in Disney!!! Aug 2010 (NEW 1/20-COMPLETE)

[YukiPhnx]

Happy birthday!!!

Thanks!

 

[PrincessCaitlin]

Happy Birthday!

 

[glennbo123]

Happy Birthday (+1 day) Yuki!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday (+1 day) Yuki!

Thanks a lot you guys! It was more or less uneventful, but I'll be doing the real celebrating at the Food and Wine Expo in Toronto at the end of this month.

 

[Kellybelly777]

Great updates!

 

[YukiPhnx]

McDuff Stuff #2- Halloween with McDuff!

This post has been a long time coming. I've just finished an exam and a presentation, so I can FINALLY get back to the Dis.

Now, I'm a BIIG fan of Halloween. It's the one time of the year when I get to dress up and not be asked by strangers WHY I'm dressed up. It's when instead of getting looks of confusion and hearing people say, "What the......?" as they do double-takes and stare at me, people say, "Aww, how cute!" or "What a great costume!" as they smile at me. It makes a big difference.

Since Halloween was on a Sunday this year, I took advantage of the weekend prior to it and was dressed up from Thursday to Sunday. Of course, McDuff had to dress up too. He loves attention.

Thursday
I had a picture of me in my outfit today, but since the lighting was REALLY bad, I deleted it. Just imagine me in a brown classic lolita dress with a white blouse and a big white bow in my hair. I have PLENTY of shots of McDuff though.

Here, I put him in a bow-like thingy.

I went shopping with a friend for his Halloween costume, so we made a trip to the mall. While going through the store, I found this ADORABLE little bear in a pumpkin suit.

It was the size of my palm! I think McDuff made a new friend today.

He also loves dinosaurs and really wanted to take this one home.

But mommy was a little strapped for cash. Maybe next time?

We headed to Walmart to look at their costumes. McDuff can't wait to watch Toy Story 3 with me when I get the DVD!

He also approves of these new Disney shirts.

He tried to make it look like it was only $1 to trick me into getting it. It didn't work. I DID just pick up the Mickey one today though, with my birthday money! It's so cute. Walmart has great Disney shirts.

I think he wanted to be Lady Gaga.

I don't blame him, she's FABULOUS.

Here's a clue to his Halloween costume.

Friday and Saturday

Unfortunately, I don't have many photos from these days. On both days, I was High School Yuki! I wore my old uniform and put my hair up like I used to.

Yes, I seriously wore pigtails to school everyday. For the people who didn't know me personally at school, I was known as "that Chinese girl with the glasses and pigtails" amoung other things...

My friend as an emerald witch really likes McDuff. But of course, who wouldn't??

I got my ears pierced this weekend too!

Here's a closer one.

I had them pierced when I was 10. But when I was 15, I took my earrings out for a ballet recital, and NEVER PUT THEM BACK IN AGAIN. So....naturally....they just closed up. I've been wanting to get them re-pierced for a long time now, and I finally got them done!

And yes....it hurt....I remember it feeling like a small pinch, but this time....it was more than that. I also don't remember it costing as much as it did. Inflation? It's been years afterall.

Sunday
Ta dah! McDuff as a pirate! Using the pirate stuff I got when I was turned into a pirate on my MK day. I'll get to that post....eventually.....in a couple of months maybe....

And what was MY costume??

Drum roll please..........


*drum roll*












*still rolling*









Minnie Mouse!

I was dying to re-use my ears and had this all planned out even before I came back from Disney!

Andrew came to visit this weekend, and he wore his Mickey ears.

On Sunday, I threw a little Halloween get-together at my place to watch movies and give out candy. Here's McDuff looking fabulous in Minnie's ears.

Here I am posing with my Minnie pen with a Christmas decoration that has been there for over a year now....Well, Christmas is coming up, so I guess I don't have to take it down.

I'm a big horror and gore fan. We watched Jeepers Creepers, which turned out to be a huge disappointment. We should've rented an Asian horror film. Those are ALWAYS good.

And that's how my Halloween went!

Alright, now to catch up on the rest of the Dis. I'm so behind!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Love Duffy and your Halloween costumes. All I did for Halloween was pop on my Minnie Mouse ears while handing out candy.

 

[englishrose47]

Great Halloween update Yuki !!!! Belated Birthday Wishes !!! Any word on Dec 18th?? Can you come !!Hey Lessa Jen and Bubba are meeting me for a day of Outlet shopping next month !!!! Anyone else interested !!!!??????

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Great Halloween update Yuki !!!! Belated Birthday Wishes !!! Any word on Dec 18th?? Can you come !!Hey Lessa Jen and Bubba are meeting me for a day of Outlet shopping next month !!!! Anyone else interested !!!!??????

I am?

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Yuki! Sorry I missed your Birthday! Happy Happy anyway!

Looks like Duffy had a busy Halloween weekend! Your Minnie costume is great -congrats on starting your holiday decorating early! It's great that Andrew got to visit!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Love Duffy and your Halloween costumes. All I did for Halloween was pop on my Minnie Mouse ears while handing out candy.

I just love my Minnie ears, don't you??? The kids that came by really liked that Andrew and I was Mickey and Minnie.

Great Halloween update Yuki !!!! Belated Birthday Wishes !!! Any word on Dec 18th?? Can you come !!Hey Lessa Jen and Bubba are meeting me for a day of Outlet shopping next month !!!! Anyone else interested !!!!??????

Yes, I'm definitely there! I need to ask Jen about possibly giving me a ride, since we're both in Toronto.

I am?

Yes, of COURSE you have to!!!!

Hi Yuki! Sorry I missed your Birthday! Happy Happy anyway!

Looks like Duffy had a busy Halloween weekend! Your Minnie costume is great -congrats on starting your holiday decorating early! It's great that Andrew got to visit!

It's ok, -I- almost missed my birthday. I didn't even realize it was coming up until a friend of mine asked me what I wanted for it. I just looked at her and said, "Why? It's not even - omg, it's next week!"

Haha, "early decorating"....yes.....

I think I want to make an actual Minnie costume one day....Those adult-sized Disney costumes just cost WAY TOO MUCH!!

 

[__disneygirl]

YUKI!!!!!!!

You and Andrew are TOO CUTE in your Mickey and Minnie Ears. If I can ever get a guy to tolerate my craziness, he is going to need to do this in order for me to continue to speak to him cause that is just awesome.

I hope you update soon!

 

[Cat0727]

Happy belated birthday girl! I've been really busy this past week so I'm trying to get caught up now!

You and Andrew are so cute! I love that he wore Mickey ears! Duffy's pirate costume is adorable. He looks good in it

 

[YukiPhnx]

YUKI!!!!!!!

You and Andrew are TOO CUTE in your Mickey and Minnie Ears. If I can ever get a guy to tolerate my craziness, he is going to need to do this in order for me to continue to speak to him cause that is just awesome.

I hope you update soon!

Oh, you absolutely must! The super weird/awesome thing is, HE was the one that wanted to buy the hats!!!! My "I don't wear hats" guy DECIDED that he should get a hat and that we should MATCH. He's a keeper right?

Yes, an update will be up by tonight I promise!

Happy belated birthday girl! I've been really busy this past week so I'm trying to get caught up now!

You and Andrew are so cute! I love that he wore Mickey ears! Duffy's pirate costume is adorable. He looks good in it

Thaaaanks! It's ok, we've ALL been really busy. Fall is such a busy time for everyone.

I'm glad he remembered to bring his ears. We went to the mall and ALL the little kids smiled at us! I felt like a celebrity.

I plan to make MORE costumes for Duffy. Still need to get working on that apron....

 

[YukiPhnx]

Chapter 11a. Day 2 pt.6 -Wow, it's REALLY your birthday!

Before we begin, I'd like to share a few things.

Everybody should check out this video. It's an interactive day at Disney World! I think it's very cool that youtube has gotten to a point where you can do that now. There's also a youtube game show going on too.

While on my breaks as I studied, I spent a LOT of time on the Disney memories website. It's their special page promoting their new "Let the memories begin" promotion. People have been uploading their videos, pictures, and stories of WDW onto this page. I chose video only, searched for "surprise" and saw the happiest videos EVER.

So, I chose this title because of a story coming up, but also because I forgot to mention that since it was his birthday, part of my gift to him was to buy him drinks around the World (showcase)! If you recall, another part was buying him the Hidden Mickeys book.

When I last left y'all, I had just changed my mind about leaving Epcot and decided to carry on with the rest of WS. That kakigori really hit the spot and it was just what I needed to cool off and get my head to stop pulsating.

We headed towards the American pavilion.

I don't even remember him taking this picture.

Aaaaaaaaaaaand..............

Passed by it.

I know the Voices of Liberty have amazing voices and all, but I can always watch their performance on youtube. No offense, but I had absolutely no interest in checking out this pavilion. So we trekked on into Italy.

Wow, was it pretty.

Pretty crowded!! See what I did there?

Looking back on the lagoon from Italy. I swear, I just love hanging by this lagoon.

Via Napoli WAAAY in the back. After seeing what's on the menu, I'm going to try to make an ADR to eat there on my next trip. This pavilion is just so picturesque!

Close up of that building on the right. I love the detailing Disney puts into this place.

I showed these next pictures to some of my friends, and they really thought we had been to Italy!

Seriously man.....Imagineers are the best set decorators EVER.

A closer shot of Via Napoli.

And Andrew IN the shot. I think he took this when he was setting the camera up on a ledge. I wonder what -I- was doing at this time.

And our lovely timed photo together. It took a couple of shots to get this because the camera kept messing up.

This is a shot I don't even remember SEEING.

And onto Germany!

First thing we saw was the miniature village. I've never mentioned this, but my mom is a HUUUUUUUUUGE fan of miniatures. She has a collection of miniature shoes and I like to buy her Japanese miniature food and housewares. There's a miniature theme park somewhere in China about the size of.......World Showcase, that shows the world's landscapes as miniatures. And there's no fencing or anything, so people just walk all over it. I loved walking over the tiny Great Wall. It's a great place to visit.

So naturally, I took a lot of photos to share with her. I'll just show you some.

Mini train!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't even know they had a real working model train.

One of BFF's is a German Nationalist. I say that in the nicest way. It's funny cause she's Chinese-Canadian. She's spent a lot of time in Germany, her longest being a year. When I showed her these shots she told me it looked exactly like Luxembourg.

I really love these shots. These "I bet you don't know this is Disney World" shots. Makes me feel like an insider that knows something the general public doesn't know. Albeit one of THOUSANDS of insiders, but still a great feeling, amirite? Like a secret we ALL share and brag about every time we can. Then it's not a secret anymore....hm.....I'll have to think about that.....

So, we finally arrive at our story! While I was at Kidcot, getting Andrew's birthday passport signed and writing up notes for my TR (which I practically did EVERY TIME I sat down, minus the times I'm on a ride of course), I gave him my KTTW to get himself a German beer.

He came back with a special souvenir mug full of Spaten Oktoberfest (sorry, I forgot to take a picture). It's a pretty big mug if you've ever seen it. Watching him drink from it was like watching a kid open a present on Christmas morning. He REALLY likes drinking.

He told me that when he went to get his drink, he got carded. Which is interesting because that was the ONLY TIME we were ever asked to show our ID the entire trip. Am I really starting to look that old????

Anyways, the CM naturally wished him a Happy Birthday because of his pin, then looked at his card went, "Omg! It really IS your birthday!". Andrew asked him why he was so surprised and was told that it's actually very unusual for it to be someone's ACTUAL birthday when they wear the birthday pin.

I on the other hand, was not surprised at all. I mean, I'm a Diser after all.

To be continued in next post.

 

[YukiPhnx]

Chapter 11b. Day 2 pt.6 -The best mustard in the world.

We headed out to find a more appropriate place to enjoy his beer after finishing my notes up in Kidcot. I just love those little tables. Next time, I'm thinking of doing the Duffy stamps at Kidcot.

Sooo, before settling down, I HAD to have a pretzel. I LOVE pretzels and I have learned that Canadians just aren't that into pretzels, and so, don't do it as well. We've got these flimsy little loops they call a pretzel. It's just nothing like the ones you get in the States.

Me and my pretzel! And my soon to be "reason why I drove across the border" in my left hand.

NOM!!!

We sat down on a bench right in front of Germany, facing the lagoon. It was a gorgeous sight. Again, I'm sorry for the lack of photos. I was just too busy RELAXING to remember to take one. What kind of trip reporter am I, right?? Well, this spot turned out to be one of my 2 favourite places at a WDW park to sit and enjoy food. It had a nice breeze coming in, the sky was gorgeous and it was nice and quite. We sat there for quite a long time, just enjoying the fact that we were at Epcot.

So, I open the packet of mustard to try for the first time, mustard on a pretzel. It was.......AMAZING! INCREDIBLE!! WONDERFUL!!! DELICIOUS!!!!

THE BEST MUSTARD IN THE WORLD. What is this and why have I never tasted it before???? I'm a fan of mustard but this......Gulden's spicy brown mustard, blew my FREAKIN MIND. I had Andrew try some and he agreed with me. Were we tasting heaven? It should be illegal that we don't get this in Canada!!!! I think Kara needs to include this in her strongly worded letter to our government. Seriously.

We then actually ate some of the pretzel, and it was awesome. We tried it with the mustard, and it was like.......an @rgy in my mouth. Darn it Disney, why do you keep ruining foods for me???? Now when I see a pretzel, all I can think of is, "I'd rather have a Disney pretzel".

I went back to the pretzel kiosk and grabbed a couple packets of the mustard, not knowing when I'd ever have it again (of course, I find out a few days later than it's in other parks too). We had 3 packets of mustard with the pretzel. We kept the mustard by itself!

Now, at this time, I was still a bit buzzed and Andrew was definitely drunk. He wanted to make sure this mustard was actually ALL THAT and not just the alcohol talking, so we kept a few packets to try when we were fully sober. At this time, I also decided to not use our Soarin' FP because it wasn't a must-ride for me, and it just wasn't worth the walk in my eyes.

BTW, we tried it again when sober, STILL THE BEST MUSTARD EVER.

After finishing up the pretzel and his beer, we continue on with WS. This is still Germany, right?

Ok, before I posted that picture, I was thinking I didn't see it when at WDW. I think it was Kara's report? I saw pictures of those knights, and I thought to myself, "Awww, I would've LOVED to see that! I can't believe I missed it." Well...apparently I didn't. I just have a terrible memory. Moving on!

The little bit of Africa in Epcot.

A glimpse of what to come.

It's CHIIIIIIIIIIINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! My home town. Er, country.

Hey, it's Chiiiiiiinaaaaa!

Loook, it's Chiiiinaaaaa!

Ooooooooooh, China!!!!!

You must understand, I haven't been to China in over 6 years! I keep meaning to go back to see family, but I've never been financially able to. So it was REALLY exciting for me to see the pavilion, even if it's fake China.

BTW, don't ask me how accurate this pavilion is, I've never been to those places. I'm from Southern China, nowhere near Beijing. You can KIND of ask me about HK, but that places changes SO MUCH in just 2 years! I bet they have flying cars already. The last time I was there, they had tvs on busses. Now THAT'S a great idea.

As we approached CHIIINAAAA (I was seriously saying it like that when I was there), a show was going on.

It was INCREDIBLE. That girl with the table? WOW. Anybody who hasn't seen it should youtube it. You DON'T think she can get anymore awesome, then she does something that BLOWS YOUR MIND. It's a great show.

I HAD to do a picture shout-out to Jordy.

PEEPS!

Unfortunately, and I'm really sorry for this because I have no excuse, that's all the pictures I(Andrew) took in China. We spent a good hour in this pavilion and all we took were those shots. We went into the giant store they have inside there and looked at all the "Chinese" stuff. I really liked those zodiac shirts. But they didn't have the cute ones in adult sizes. I wanted a dragon one. You could say one of the reasons why I love dragons at all is because I was born in the year of the dragon. But who needs a reason more than, THEY ARE AWESOME.

Side note, I got the How To Train Your Dragon DVD for my birthday!

Most of the merchandise looked authentic enough. Then I saw fortune cookies....CITRIS flavoured fortune cookies. Um....I don't know if anyone has told Disney but.....fortune cookies aren't Chinese. Not in the slightest. We have no such thing. And sure, we like to eat dried orange peels (yes, really, it's like chewy candy), citris flavoured anything isn't very Chinese either. I was disappointed.

We came across the traditional Chinese clothing and I lamented over the fact that my mom won't let me get the dress because she says only mature women wear them. Mature as in....40+. And on a woman's wedding night. I love the dresses and they're gorgeous, but I suppose I'll just have to wait until my wedding night.....I'm so jealous of my friends that have a traditional dress, but I agree with my mom. It is TRADITION after all. And I'm a pretty traditional girl.

We also spent some time asking if the store had tiger balm. My feet were KILLING me. We asked around but to no avail. I also saw some REALLY CUTE panda t-shirts, but the one I wanted ran out of my size, so I guess I'll try to get it next time?

While waiting to get my passport signed by the CM, I noticed that the name of the kid in front of me was named Tom. The CM wrote his name in Chinese, and it was the character for "soup". Haha. I laughed on the inside. It makes sense cause Tom DOES sound like soup in Mandarin.

Outside the store, they had stands that sold Chinese yoyos and fans. Those yoyos are SOO tricky. Andrew filmed me FAILING at them. The children that were around were so nice! They were giving me encouragement and helping me put the yoyo back on the string, while Andrew filmed and just LAUGHED at me.

By the time we left China, it had gotten dark. We headed over to Norway to try to get on Maelstrom.

It's so dark!

Looks kinda forboding, doesn't it?

We looked around their store and didn't find anything we liked. On my last trip, I bought a red wooden star Christmas ornament. I hung it on a zipper on Andrew's bag. I was thinking of getting something similar to that, but I think I was getting too tired. I got the passport signed and headed out.

Outside, we had some fun with this statue.

Why does it suddenly look so much brighter?

A family with 3 kids watched Andrew do this shot, so they all went up and did something similar when we were done. What a role model, eh?

We checked the standby for Maelstrom? 30 minutes! No way. I'll save it for next time.

We decided to grab some food in Kringla bakeri. I was determined to have the famed school bread and maybe something for breakfast the next day. Andrew bought a roast beef sandwich and I bought a salmon and egg...thing, along with school bread.

Ok, NOOOW, I feel REALLY bad for not taking a picture of my food. I'm such a bad Diser! I really thought I had taken a picture before I ate it back in my room, but it seems that I didn't.

Andrew LOOOVED his sandwich. Best RB sammich he's ever had, he says. I love smoked salmon, so it was win with me. I've never had it the way they prepared it, but I really enjoyed it. About the school bread.....I had no idea it was covered in coconut shavings. I also didn't know it was going to be THAT big. But boy, was the custard amazing. I don't like coconut shavings at all, but the bread and custard was a win for me. Andrew pretty much devoured the rest after I took a few bites. He loves coconut. I'm so glad he enjoyed it. It's another reason for him to return to WDW! Yay school bread!

We made a short stop in Mexico because we had already looked around the pavilion the day before. I settled down in Kidcot and wrote down notes while he bought a Blood Orange Margarita (with my money). This is something else that was highly recommended by the DIS. By this point, Andrew has complete faith in the Dis's advice. He really enjoyed this one. In fact, he can't wait to come back to try to Jalapeno margarita!

He's the only shot we took of Mexico. It sure is beautiful at night, huh?

Oh ya, Andrew also graffiti-ed the Kidcot table.

On our way out, we saw our 2nd photopass photographer!

It's not my favourite, but Spaceship Earth is just gorgeous.

When we got to the bus stop, a bus for Pop was already there! So we bolted for it and made it on. We had dinner in our room and STILL haven't gone to the pool yet.

Coming up: A LOT of ways to spend my money and falling in love with ToT.

 

[englishrose47]

Great Update Yuki !!!So excited you are coming onnthe 18th!!! We have to make more definate plans !!!I have a feeling my twin Grandaughters (15) will want to join us as they LOVE the Mall!!!A frequent call I get is pick us up at the Giant Screen Gram!!! You will see it on the 18th!!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Loved the update, Yuki! I confess we always skip the American part too - we can get that here. You got lots of Germany and Italy that we never really get to. I don't even remember that Pizza place. I'll have to look it up. I'm glad you finished up with such a good day, and school bread makes it worth the trek!

A Rosie-Yuki Meet? Sounds like a crazy time - take lots of pics!

 

[Cat0727]

I have yet to stop by the American pavillion either. I want to just once though, so I can say I did it all!

Mmm mustard! I LOVE mustard. I could put some on a slice of bread and eat it

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

He REALLY likes drinking.

Of course he does, he is a Queen's Engineer! I think they take a class in drinking.