My 1st PTR/TR: An unexpected trip, Disney in December 4 *Day 3 6/5 Illuminations!*

[Roxychica7]

Hi everyone! I didn't think that we would be able to go this year to the World, since being semi-poor graduate students, we HAVE been able to go the past 3 December's in a row. Well, I got a pin-code via email, and I finally booked our trip today and we will be staying at the All-Stars Sports resort, in a preferred room, December 15th-20th!! Yeahhh!

For now, I'm still at school working on a take-home midterm, so I'll just do some very quick introductions, until the extended version tonight.

Ok, so, as the signature states, I'm Jess, the Disney gf. I've been to Disney 5 times with my family, staying at the Caribbean Beach resort each time. When I met my boyfriend in 2004, we were both in school, getting our bachelors, but going to schools in different states, me on the Eastern shore of MD and him in Virginia. My friend from school said she had a friend that went to Virginia Tech that she had gone to high school with and that his roommate seemed like my type. So, I'm like ok, let's give it a whirl. We talked non-stop for 3 months, until he visited me during spring break, we decided to try dating. Did a 3 1/2 year long distance relationship until our bachelors were over with and now we're in grad school and have been living together for 1 1/2 years. Since then, we've been to Disney 3 times together, Dec 2005, 2006 and 2007. So, granted to say, I've converted my bf in my Disney bf and I think he loves it as much as I do (ok, maybe not AS MUCH as I do, but close).

I shall be doing more proper introductions, but that's it for now!

 

[Roxychica7]

Hello everyone! So, introductions...

I'm Jess, 24

I'm a biologist, I have 1 semester left in graduate school, and I currently teach an undergrad class as well as have a part time job with the Smithsonian, working with algae (most of my saved money for this trip). I love Finding Nemo, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid and also some of the classics (Parent Trap, Swiss Family Robinson, etc). Loves TTA, Thundermountain, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain and Pirates. Must have a turkey leg on each trip, as well as a giant burger from either Restaurantosaurus or Cosmic Ray's.

Blake or Dbf, also 24, fishery biologist, playing catchup in grad school since I'm technically a year ahead of him. Works part time at NASA, all time favorite Disney movie is the Lion King. Loves Space, Splash and Thundermountain, Winnie the Pooh, Pirates and Rock and Rollercoaster. Discovered last year when we were on the dining plan for the 1st time that he is absolutely in love with the park food. Loves burgers also, as well as Pretzels (with cheese), ribs and chicken and everything else, including spicy food.

Here we are together on our trip last year, posing with the Finding Nemo crew.

I'm super super excited that we're able to go this year. I had already purchased 4 shirts for each of us (Old Navy has a great deal right now), for about $3.50 a piece in the hopes that we would be able to go. I've never made shirts before, but I have a bunch of designs picked out as well as had the wonderful dis members make a few. I just need to go out and purchase the paper.

But, the trip, thankfully is PAID IN FULL. Just have to get the plane tickets and finish up earning some extra money for our meals. Since we're only doing counter service this year, I did a mock run of what we want. Dbf has a terrible time making up his mind for what he wants to eat. So last year when we went, I had him pick his meals out ahead of time, let his mouth water, then wrote his picks on index cards and when it came time for our TS meals, I only let him pick out his drinks so he wouldnt back out on his decision. He loved them all, but man, he takes forever deciding!
We figure we'll need about $300 for food/snacks and I've already collected about $75. I tell ya, the ebay business is amazing, you'd be surprised what and how much you can sell things online, especially old clothes that don't fit anymore! (Probably due to the last time we went to Disney)

So, welcome to my pre-trip report! I plan on doing a trip report/food review. Only 54 days until our trip! I've never made reservations so close to our leaving date, so I guess it makes it even better since it's so close now!

 

[izzyzoeybear]

Subbing
I know how exciting it can be to get your first subscriber!!!
Sounds like you have a good start to your trip.....We did matching shirts for Halloween and they turned out great!!...

My DS thinks the pic of you with the octopus is cool....He is in a gifted program on Saturdays at Purdue University and is taking a class right now on aquatic biology....He was like...How cool is it that she can play with sea life all day long....

 

[Roxychica7]

Subbing
I know how exciting it can be to get your first subscriber!!!
Sounds like you have a good start to your trip.....We did matching shirts for Halloween and they turned out great!!...

My DS thinks the pic of you with the octopus is cool....He is in a gifted program on Saturdays at Purdue University and is taking a class right now on aquatic biology....He was like...How cool is it that she can play with sea life all day long....

Hi Izzy! I was VERY excited to get my first subscriber! Glad to know I'm not the only one!
Sounds like your son is on the right track! I'm actually teaching a Biology of Marine Organisms class. Unfortunately we don't get to play with Octopus (that was when I used to work at the Baltimore Aquarium), but I still love it! Welcome aboard!

 

[Roxychica7]

This past week, aside from booking our trip, has been preventing me from browsing the DISboards as much as I would have liked. I had a take home midterm for Research Design and Analysis, in other words, part 2 of Statistics. I took me literally 5 days to complete and by the time I was done, 5 problems took me 24 pages of hand written equations. Oy, it was rough. But, thankfully, I'm done for the week now and I can get back to starting to plan out our CS meals!!
Dbf said "didn't we already do that?" As I replied, "of course not, that was my mock trial, you know assuming that we could go to WDW, but now that we are REALLY going, it's time to do it for real this time!"
But today was quite uneventful aside from the exam. I did call my friend, Ann today who lives in Casselberry, FL, I graduated with her from high school, but she moved back to FL in Aug right after graduation in 2002. Every year we've gone down, so 2005, 2006 and 2007, I got to visit with her for a day. 2005 we just walked around West Side/Downtown Disney, 2006 we spent the day at Disney Quest, last year we went to Animal Kingdom and this year, we're talking about going either to HWS or Epcot, plus do one
of the Disney putt-putt's, since she's a season worker at Animal Kingdom and has free passes. She and I were both excited to see each other again, especially after I told her it was a done deal!
But that's it for today! I'll leave you with a few past pics to wet your whistle!

Here's one from AK last year with my buddy Ann. It was SOO cold that day, I thought I was back in Baltimore, notice the not-so lack of clothing, plus gloves and a hot chocolate!

This is Dbf at Ohana's, I always make fun of him for this one since his eyes are SO BIG. I think that's exactly when the point of his love of Disney food began

And one of my favorites from last year. (Not so favorite for my hair), but I forget sometimes how there is a lack of "Splash" on Splash mountain, but rather a Tsunami!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

darn it i was not first, but still on the first page of posts....

im to lazy to look back now, but what grad school are you going to?

 

[Roxychica7]

darn it i was not first, but still on the first page of posts....

im to lazy to look back now, but what grad school are you going to?

Hi Dan! As a newbie, hopefully I can keep up with your awesome TR's! It's ok on being lazy, I think I actually didn't write it up there after all.
Let's see though, I started out at Coastal Carolina (about 5 mins from Myrtle Beach, SC), then transferred to a small school in Western MD about an hour from my house, called Hood College. It caters to full time workers, so the earliest class starts at 5:30pm. In addition, I ended up getting an Assistantship and work for the Bio dept so my tuition is paid for so it works out in the end!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

Hi Dan! As a newbie, hopefully I can keep up with your awesome TR's! It's ok on being lazy, I think I actually didn't write it up there after all.
Let's see though, I started out at Coastal Carolina (about 5 mins from Myrtle Beach, SC), then transferred to a small school in Western MD about an hour from my house, called Hood College. It caters to full time workers, so the earliest class starts at 5:30pm. In addition, I ended up getting an Assistantship and work for the Bio dept so my tuition is paid for so it works out in the end!

well thank you for the kind words...sounds like a good deal that worked out for you.

i really liked that octopus picture, did yo uever get to swim with the dolphins at that job.

 

[Roxychica7]

lol, everyone always asks me that! I'm not much for dolphins, actually I was an Aquarist, which means I took care of the fish, so like pufferfish, butterflyfish, sturgeons, etc, plus octopus, and sea anemones! I have swam with the dolphins in Honduras though, let me find a picture really quickly for ya, which is much better than having them stuck in a tank!

Here we go...this was Jan 2006 on an island chain north of Honduras called "The Bay Islands" and this particular one was on Roatan.

We got to train them, swim with them in the ocean and have one on one time with them. I've never done Discovery Cove before but I guess it would be similar to it? Awesome awesome place for snorkeling AND the food even rivals Disney's!!

 

[Roxychica7]

Subbing
I know how exciting it can be to get your first subscriber!!!
Sounds like you have a good start to your trip.....We did matching shirts for Halloween and they turned out great!!...

My DS thinks the pic of you with the octopus is cool....He is in a gifted program on Saturdays at Purdue University and is taking a class right now on aquatic biology....He was like...How cool is it that she can play with sea life all day long....

I have this one too that your son might like. The octopus' name was Terp (named after the Maryland Terapins) and let's call this picture:
"I said Give Me My Fish!!" I think he got a little impatient with me

 

[Roxychica7]

Well, I see we have some lurkers on here, but only 2 posters, so to entice some more people to comment, I'll go through my past 3 trips, since those were the only years I have digital pictures from. Maybe if I get a chance I'll grab some pictures from my kid years and try to scan some of them.

Ok, so the 1st year we went, I went with my Dbf, we had only been together a 1 1/2 years at that point, along with Dbf's sister (we'll call her Kiki) and her bf we'll call him ABZ). We had first thought about the idea of going to the world when we went to Nagshead for a week in May of 2005. ABZ's parents had timeshare in Kissimmee and threw out the possibility of us staying for "free." It was an off year, so we split the $250 cost between the 4 of us, got discounted Base Tickets through a website in Florida as well as Seaworld tickets (I had't been since about 8th grade) and our plane tickets.

Honestly, we didn't get THAT many pictures down there. Unfortunately, Dbf's family is not known for being on time and my family is known for getting there very close to rope drop (even though I've never been to one before). So, most of the time, we got there pretty late for Disney standards. Oh well, the past is the past.

Here we go!
Ok, we left from the Newport News airport.
Here's Dbf and I, don't let the smile fool you, I have to dose up on Valium before I get on planes.

And Dbf's happy dance that we landed in Orlando

When my hair was long.

Our 1st park for the week was AK. We didn't end up going to MGM, because we went to Sea World.
Here's a few from AK.

We're actually visiting Dbf's family right now, it's Kiki's birthday, so we're driving home no, but I'll post more of 2005's trip!

 

[sherreis]

I love the pics of you playing with the sea life. I showed DS8 the pic of you with the octopus and he said "cool" and then squished up his face. Love the Baltimore aquarium - haven't been there in a while. DH has never been there which is hard to believe since we live outside Baltimore.

I went to Hood for one semester - it was an all-girl school then and I did not like that. But, they had a good biology department back then too. Do you guys live out by Frederick?

Keep the pics coming. You two make an adorable couple. Looking forward to hearing more about your upcoming trip.

 

[izzyzoeybear]

Oh the days!!! I can remember the days of DH and I going to WDW b4 we were married and just dating....It was actually one of our first big trips together and that was back in 1995....It was always so nice, get up when we wanted....go to the parks when we wanted...stay out really late....but alas....now we run on the kiddos time....and we still have a lot of fun...

Yesterday, My DS brought home some kind of fish life they made out of Jello and his final project. He has to make a 3-d saltwater ecosystem...Hoping to find some things at the living seas that he may use to put in it...we shall see....

 

[ReginaSkrb]

Great pics, enjoying the TR's so far!

 

[Roxychica7]

I love the pics of you playing with the sea life. I showed DS8 the pic of you with the octopus and he said "cool" and then squished up his face. Love the Baltimore aquarium - haven't been there in a while. DH has never been there which is hard to believe since we live outside Baltimore.

I went to Hood for one semester - it was an all-girl school then and I did not like that. But, they had a good biology department back then too. Do you guys live out by Frederick?

Keep the pics coming. You two make an adorable couple. Looking forward to hearing more about your upcoming trip.

Thanks Sherri! Glad you could make it! I can't wait to hear about the rest of your TR either! Yes, my family still live in Baltimore, but dbf and myself live about 3 miles from Hood. I'm glad I never went to Hood as an undergrad..food's crappy and I'm not too keen on the liberal arts aspect of the school, but I do love the Bio dept! It works for me just being a grad student.

 

[Roxychica7]

Oh the days!!! I can remember the days of DH and I going to WDW b4 we were married and just dating....It was actually one of our first big trips together and that was back in 1995....It was always so nice, get up when we wanted....go to the parks when we wanted...stay out really late....but alas....now we run on the kiddos time....and we still have a lot of fun...

Yesterday, My DS brought home some kind of fish life they made out of Jello and his final project. He has to make a 3-d saltwater ecosystem...Hoping to find some things at the living seas that he may use to put in it...we shall see....

I think dbf has finally realized that Disney will be a huge part of our future and thankfully we have been able to go so many times since we're still young. I am really looking forward to showing our kids one day, but for now, I love it just the two of us. At least with there being more than just you and your Dh now, you don't have to ask so many people, "can you please take a picture for us?" I hope your son does a great job on his 3-D project!

 

[Roxychica7]

Great pics, enjoying the TR's so far!

Thanks Regina! There's plenty of pics to come! Thanks for stopping by!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

really good pics of the dolphins i would love to do that sometime...and enjoying hte trip from the past.

 

[sherreis]

Frederick is very pretty, especially, this time of year.

I also loved the pics of the dolphins. My neice and her husband used to live on Roatan and they worked at the resorts there for a while before returning to "normal" life in San Francisco. From looking at their pics, Roatan is beautiful!

You're lucky that DBF is becoming such a Disney lover - a true indicator of compatibility in life.

 

[disneydusted]

Hi Roxychica! How could I pass a fellow Marylander and not say hi?!! What are you most looking forward to doing when you are down in Disney?
Love the octopus! We've gone to the Baltimore Aquarium quite a few times and really like it.
Keep on posting!