Mickeystoontown's Cheers to 40 years! 18 days, 10 park days, 2 parties and a lot of fun! Updated 5/27

[mickeystoontown]

PhotoPass pictures catch-up

I have my memory maker pictures in another folder which is why I couldn't remember what we did at some points in time. Just down from ABC Commissary, they had a small band playing and there was a picture set up as well. That's where these two pics were taken:





The next set of pictures were taken in the Sips and Soiree area and before we were asked to dance with the performers:















Picture limit reached...more in next post

 

[mickeystoontown]

PhotoPass picture catch-up continued

We wandered around the park where we took in the dance party, saw the ice skaters. met some of the rarer characters (I'll have to find those pictures.) and had a grand time. The cast members were so interactive with the guests, the guests all seemed happy and it was truly Jolly! Everywhere we went, people were complimenting us on our outfits. We aren't the dress up kinda people so it was pretty fun dressing up to the nines and getting paid compliments.
















I didn't take a lot of pictures because I had to take off my lace gloves in order to take a picture and I was doing some live Facebook videos for my business. I will have to make sure that I take more when we go in November 2025.

I'll be honest with you, the second annual Jollywood Nights was way more organized and fun than the first one. The first one was fun but we left saying "well that was a one and done", but I'm so glad that we gave it another chance because we enjoyed ourselves immensely and I believe the other guests did to. I have already started planning what we'll wear when we go in November of this year. I'll probably reuse some of what I wore in 2024 but the dress, shoes, jewelry, etc. will all be new.

By the time the party was over, we started out of the park along with tons of other folks. We were given some champagne flavorted marshmellows in a box as a souvenir. Kinda cheap souvenir and one that you won't be able to keep but I guess it's the thought that counts.

The Skyliner was not running so we had to take the bus back to Caribbean Beach. The resort is so close that we'd probably be able to walk back (not that I would ever do that or advise anyone to do that....I'm just saying it's that close) so the ride was super fast. WE made it back to our room and I took one last picture before we put up the fancy schmancy close and turned in for the night.



**Up next: Burgers and Pop Art!​

 

[vamassey1]

I enjoyed your party so much. Thanks for sharing.

The food sounded good, except for just being lukewarm. The drinks were refreshing too.

I love that you stopped to listen to music and got recognized for your great outfits.

The shows sounded great too.

My DD was working that night and she said it went much better than the year before.

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

Love your outfits. No wonder you guys got so much attention!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I enjoyed your party so much. Thanks for sharing.

The food sounded good, except for just being lukewarm. The drinks were refreshing too.

I love that you stopped to listen to music and got recognized for your great outfits.

The shows sounded great too.

My DD was working that night and she said it went much better than the year before.

The 2024 party was much better than the 2023 version. We had a lot of fun just walking around and taking it all in.

Love your outfits. No wonder you guys got so much attention!

Thank you! It was fun getting all dressed up since that's not our usual attire.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Before I move on to the next installment, I thought that I should catch up on the PhotoPass pictures since I totally forgot about posting them. It wasn't until I knew I had Jollywood Night pictures that I thought about them.

Our first day in the parks. This was the day that we started at Magic Kingdom and ended in Epcot. I was wearing my custom quilted Tiana ears with a bow tilted to the side.














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[mickeystoontown]

PhotoPass catch-up continued

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I don't care for this pose as it always makes me look 50 pounds heavier











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[mickeystoontown]

PhotoPass catch-up continued

As I wrote before, we left Magic Kingdom and hopped to Epcot to see the concert that evening. These were, obviously, after I changed from my Tiana shirt and ears to my Aristocats shirt and custom faux fur ears with pink rose bow:

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Another one of those hug so you will appear to be 50 pounds heavier:







And this cute one:



Continued in next post

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[vamassey1]

Wonderful Photos!

You're rocking the matching shirts and ears.

 

[Bethislucy]

I also hate the hugging pictures. I go with my cousin too and I love her, but we don't need that many hugging pictures lol.
Did you taste the marshmallows? I thought they were awful, and I didn't know if it was just because I'm not a drinker and they had that flavor or if they really weren't good.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Wonderful Photos!

You're rocking the matching shirts and ears.

Thank you! I can't wear the ears from Disney so I have to make my own.

I also hate the hugging pictures. I go with my cousin too and I love her, but we don't need that many hugging pictures lol.
Did you taste the marshmallows? I thought they were awful, and I didn't know if it was just because I'm not a drinker and they had that flavor or if they really weren't good.

I didn't care for them, but I don't like champagne either.

 

[mickeystoontown]

PhotoPass pictures continued.............NOT! I thought that I had a few more Epcot PhotoPass pictures but turns out that I don't so let's move on to the real update:


Burgers and Pop Art!

When I bought our Jollywood Nights tickets and when planning our days, I knew that we'd want to use today as a down day. A day where we could sleep in and do whatever we wanted. We slept late and sat around trying to decide if we wanted to eat at the resort or go explorin'. We chose explorin', but, first, we had to get something to eat. We decided to go to Disney Springs and find a counter service. We were pretty sure we knew where we were going but not 100% yet.

We walked over to the bus stop and I took my first picture of the day at 12:36 p.m.



Just a few minutes later, a bus pulled up and we had it all to ourselves:



I took the picture above at 12:41 p.m. so I wasn't kidding when I said just a few minutes later.

I snapped one picture of us on an empty bus. I don't know if I have a picture of my shirt but it was a retro style shirt of Kermit the Frog and I made a custom pair of ears to match. I'm going to see if I can screenshot a picture of the shirt from my Etsy purchases. The seller doesn't sell on Etsy anymore so the picture is blurry because it's so tiny.







During the drive, the final decision on where we would be having lunch was made. We were going to D-Luxe Burger. If you haven't eaten there before, you should! The portions are big and the food is so good. Bonus that it is a counter service credit.





Y'all are probably going to think we are crazy but we had lunch, stopped in the World of Disney and left. Whaaaaat? Yep, we left. All we did in Disney Springs is eat and shop for maybe a half hour. We were looking for something to take back to John's parents and to our kids. We bought a couple of mugs and that was it. We decided to drop those off at the resort and then take the Skyliner over to Art of Animation and Pop Century.

Bus luck was on our side again and one pulled up right as we got to the bus stop. We got off at our stop, dropped our bags and walked over to the Skyliner station. At 2:24 p.m., we were at Art of Animation and I was snapping pictures to send to some people who were staying there soon:









Picture limit reached...I'll come back... to post more​

 

[pwdebbie]

Look at me being all rude and stuff. I came on here, posted an update, and didn't even ask y'all how your Easter holiday went! It was our first Easter without Mama, but, for me and my family, it was a little hard but we handled it well. I don't mean this as if we didn't care. I've said this so many times since Mama got sick...."I have absolutely zero regrets about the time that I spent with Mama and the decisions that had to be made about her". Don't get me wrong, I miss her. I miss us being neighbors. I miss talking to her every day. I miss making her dinner and spending those minutes with her every day. But, I know where she is. I know who she is spending eternity with. I know that I will see her one day.

Our family finally has little ones again so we got to watch the two little boys run around and find eggs. We snuggled with our other nephew who isn't walking yet. We spent time in fellowship with friends and family and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

What did y'all do for Easter?​

This was my first Easter since my husband passed. And it just so happened to fall on his birthday. He would have been 72. There were a mixture of emotions in my heart. I had lunch with my son's family. And then Monday I hit the road for WDW.

 

[mickeystoontown]

This was my first Easter since my husband passed. And it just so happened to fall on his birthday. He would have been 72. There were a mixture of emotions in my heart. I had lunch with my son's family. And then Monday I hit the road for WDW.O

I know that it had to be hard for you after having been with him for such a long time. I was praying for you that day!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Afternoon everybody! Y'all still hanging around? I sure hope so. I was about to start another update but realized it's been a while since I posted. I figured you may want to know what's been going on in my "real" life. (If you don't, then just scroll on along until I get around to posting the trip report update.)


In September 2024, we booked a short Disney Cruise for November 2025. The dates lined out perfectly...we would drive from Louisiana to Port Canaveral, stay overnight the night before the cruise and then sail on the Disney Wish November 14th through 17th. After the cruise, we'd go to Walt Disney World and stay until the 29th. We asked our grown kids and their spouses if they wanted to go on the cruise with us. Lacey (our daughter) and Jesse (her husband) were just starting their adoption journey and were wanting to save money so their answer was "no thank you". Hunter (our son) and Tabitha (our daughter in law) were all in. I booked them a stateroom too. We've all been super excited as Tabitha has never been on a cruise or traveled outside of the U.S.
Since September 2024, we've been thinking about port excursions, buying new swimsuits this summer because they wouldn't be readily available in November, etc.

Well, things changed several weeks ago. The university where Tabitha teaches is experiencing a significant budget shortfall and is currently estimated to be in debt by $4-6 million. ULM is looking to the state for funding assistance to address the issue. They lost their President and their acting President stated that the university is balancing the budget for the current year, which appears to be between $4 and $6 million in the red. The university plans to seek assistance from the state to address this budget shortfall.

Naturally, all of the professors, instructors and staff started worrying about their jobs, including Tabitha. When we planned the cruise, she figured it wouldn't be a big deal to miss a few days because the classes that she was teaching during those few days were online. Fast forward to last week. Tabitha had a meeting at the college. Her job is secure but she must start teaching in person classes in order to keep it. Oh and I didn't mention that she also is taking classes herself to obtain her PhD which means she has to drive a total of six hours roundtrip one day a week. This meant Hunter and Tabitha couldn't go on the cruise with us. They were devastated.

We were on a mission to figure out how to work this whole vacation out. There is another cruise that sails on the 21st but that'd mess up our plans for Walt Disney World. We could go to Disney for a few days, drive over to Port Canaveral, sail on the Wish, and then go back to Disney. I didn't really want to do that. We'd have dirty clothes, have to pack a couple of different suitcases, etc. It just sounded like a hassle and vacations aren't suppose to be a hassle.

So, Friday afternoon, we sat down at the dining room table and started troubleshooting/strategizing and came up with a plan. John and I are going to skip the cruise and go straight to Disney. We'll be there November 13th through the 29th. Hunter and Tabitha will drive down and join us November 23rd through the 29th. The cost of the trip is more than what they would have been paying for the cruise but they will also get to stay at Disney longer than they would have been cruising. Their budget allowed them to stay at a value resort with quick service dining. There you go! Problem solved!

After they left, John and I put pen to paper and came up with other plans. We could either pay for Hunter and Tabitha to stay at Caribbean Beach with us or we could pay to upgrade their dining. We weren't going to do both. They chose Caribbean Beach. The next day, John and i were talking about how we told the kids that we'd pay for their Thanksgiving meal and for their date night. Heck, that'd cost us at least a couple hundred out of our pockets so why not just pay a little more and upgrade their dining plan too. Why not? Disney math said it was the better deal. If you are thinking we are favoring Hunter and Tabitha by paying for part of their trip and didn't offer to help Lacey and Jesse, you can poo-poo that idea because we are helping them with the cost of their adoption where needed.

We had all of Hunter and Tabitha's problems solved but we had a problem ourselves. We didn't have a reservation at Disney World for the 13th through 17th. I had to find us a place to stay. We will be at Port Orleans Riverside for those days and then we will move over to Caribbean Beach for the rest of the time. Of course, that's what I say now but I can see me paying full price and changing from POR to CBR. Or, we may just keep things as they are now.

Sooooooooooooo, long story short...........oops, too late for that....John, me, Hunter and Tabitha will be spending all of our time at Walt Disney World this November! When Hunter and Tabitha got married, she had never been to WDW. They celebrate their 5th anniversary in July and, come November, she will be on her 4th trip to WDW. That's what marrying into this family will do to ya!


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[piglet1979]

Well, things changed several weeks ago. The university where Tabitha teaches is experiencing a significant budget shortfall and is currently estimated to be in debt by $4-6 million. ULM is looking to the state for funding assistance to address the issue. They lost their President and their acting President stated that the university is balancing the budget for the current year, which appears to be between $4 and $6 million in the red. The university plans to seek assistance from the state to address this budget shortfall.

Colleges and Universities around here are having financial issues as well. We had a community college that had to scale back, a college closed very suddenly, 2 colleges merged and another college will become a campus for a university in PA. The university that my son goes to is also having financial issues and has gotten rid of several majors and laid off several staff and professors. I think there will be lots more changes here before things settle down. We have way too many colleges for our state. Just in an hours drive from me we have 12 colleges/universities (3 of them community collage's all with several campuses each). We are just over saturated I think.

I hope things settle down for Tabitha and things go back to normal soon rather than later. A 6 hour commute is so long. But yay for more time in Disney.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Colleges and Universities around here are having financial issues as well. We had a community college that had to scale back, a college closed very suddenly, 2 colleges merged and another college will become a campus for a university in PA. The university that my son goes to is also having financial issues and has gotten rid of several majors and laid off several staff and professors. I think there will be lots more changes here before things settle down. We have way too many colleges for our state. Just in an hours drive from me we have 12 colleges/universities (3 of them community collage's all with several campuses each). We are just over saturated I think.

I hope things settle down for Tabitha and things go back to normal soon rather than later. A 6 hour commute is so long. But yay for more time in Disney.

Oh my goodness! That's a lot of colleges! We have one university and one community college in our city. There are two others 30 miles away and then the one that Tabitha is attending to obtain her PhD is 3 hours from here which means she is driving 6 hours and attending classes.

I'm excited that they will still get some Disney time in even if it isn't a cruise.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Burgers and Pop Art! continued

John walked with me through Art of Animation and to the store.







I didn't take a single picture of the food court or the store. I mean, what the heck kinda story teller am i? Forgive me Disboards for I have failed you.

When we circled back towards Pop Century, John decided to find a bench and wait for me to do my window shopping and take a few pictures.
















I also took a video and make a TikTok video which, for some reason, isn't uploading. I guess just go to Tik Tok and search mickeystoontown so you can see it along with lots of others.


Continued in next post​

 

[ThreeBoyMama]

How very generous you and John are. Your kids and their spouses are very lucky!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Burgers and Pop Art continued

The resort wasn't too busy this time of day so I was able to take quite a few pictures.












Again, I didn't take a single picture of the food court or of the store. Go ahead and mumble bad words about me under your breath. It's okay.

I think that I can redeem myself though....I present to you...the public bathroom. Don't worry, I made sure no one was in the bathroom before I took the picture. Yeah, I don't think the pictures quite makes up for the lack of store picture but...................



I didn't make any purchases so I backtracked and made my way towards the bridge to find John:









I found John on a bench in the 70s section of the resort. We hopped on the Skyliner to Caribbean Beach before setting out on our next adventure.

**Up next: Follow the signs they said. It won't take long they said. ​