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

[Roxychica7]

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

Thanks! I LOVED it in Roatan. Once I get done my past trips, I may do a quick segment from this summer when I went to San Salvador,. Food wasn't that great, but beautiful scenery!

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.

Oh it definitely is! We're going to drive up to Harper's Ferry/Charlestown this upcoming weekend just because the mountains are so close and the rivers interwine, it should be some beautiful pictures! That's so amazing about your niece and husband! We worked with someone named Jennifer for the week we were there, we stayed at Anthony's Key Resort. And yes, Roatan is absolutely breathtaking!

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!

Hi Disneydusted! I haven't been to NAIB in a while, since moving out here to Frederick. Plus, after working there, it's a little sad to go in there not as staff anymore, you know? I'm looking forward to slowing down this year. I want to visit some more of the resorts all decked out in Xmas decorations. Last year we hit the Poly and GF, this year, we want to see Boardwalk and Beach Club to especially see the chocolate carousel! Thanks for the comments though! I'll be sure to post lots more pics!

 

[Roxychica7]

Welcome to all my new readers! We ended up staying an extra day at Dbf's house and the rest of my 2005 pics were on my home computer.
But with that, on go we!

Remember, we didn't take very many pics this year. I think the excitement from going on my 1st Disney trip without my parents made me forget to take pics. But, the rest of AK that day was spent watching the Jungle Parade, visiting all the animals and checking out the magnificant Tree of Life.

Our First view of the wonderfulness of Disney at Christmas time.

One of my favorites. 2 Scarlet Macaws.

And the boys goofing around.

Animal Kingdom is still probably one of my favorite parks, probably number 2, with MK of course first. I remember them building AK when I was there with my family and then going the 1st year they opened it with my mom. Such an amazing park.

The next day, we did a short day at MK, and tried out hand at Disney Quest. This day is short, so I apologize in advance.

It was very gloomy that morning.

Our first picture with the castle together..ever.

Blake's favorite.

We tried to save money that week since we stayed in a timeshare and cooked most of the time indoors. We did eat lunch in the parks, but they were all counter services and we were goofing off, so I don't have any food pics to drool over. No worries though, our 2007 trip, I took pics of all our meals!

 

[Roxychica7]

And at night..the first is a little blurry, but you get the idea of the castle.

Man, who doesn't love that castle? I think the glittery sparkles this year are the best yet.

The next day, we did a short day at Downtown Disney and Disney Quest. ABZ is a true gamer and Dbf was excited just to try it all out. We did have fun there.

I always want to sing "We are the Champions" to this pic

Check out that awesome head gear!

For those of you that haven't been to DQ, it'll have to stay a secret, or at least until my 2006 entry, since I realized we were REALLY excited and didn't take any pics inside

Dinner at Rainforest

And the first year, my friend Ann and I got to see each other! (I think it had been about 3 years since we last saw each other)

Ok, well that's it for tonight! I made a Marine Biology version of Jeopardy for my class that I have to finish up, they have an exam on thursday. But I'll be back on shortly...

Next up...Epcot!

 

[izzyzoeybear]

I love looking at past pics. But I will have to catch up with you in a week or so since we are off to the world in less than 24 hours!!! Can't wait to catch up when we return!!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

enjoying the trips down memory lane, i think i might have to do some of that on my PRe TR, i think people would enjoy reading about them.

even if they have read them before..a nice little recap.

 

[julezdisney]

Hi! Subbing! Great pix! Better yet- I can even see them from work! yay!

 

[Roxychica7]

enjoying the trips down memory lane, i think i might have to do some of that on my PRe TR, i think people would enjoy reading about them.

even if they have read them before..a nice little recap.

I agree! I remember browing your TR's randomly before I even subbed your latest one. You have some GREAT pics in there of DW and yourself!

Hi! Subbing! Great pix! Better yet- I can even see them from work! yay!

Hi Julez! Thanks for subbing! Hopefully my PTR won't make you procrastinate too much at work! Unfortunately, I get sucked in sometimes and can't stop looking at trip reports or food pics

 

[Roxychica7]

We booked the flight! Woo Hoo! I had been looking through expedia and AAA for a while now trying to find a roundtrip flight for both Dbf and myself that was:
1) Less than or right at $250 a person
2) Arrived in Orlando before 11, preferrably earlier
3) Didn't have a ridicuously early flight back

And after 2 weeks of scouting seeing arrival times at 3pm and departures at 5:30am from Orlando and all with layovers, I saw a Southwest commercial last night and decided to give it a whirl today. And..it met ALL THE ABOVE!
1) Total ended up being $509 with all the fees, only 9 over what I had wanted
2) Arrives in Orlando at 9:20am!!!!
3) Departs Orlando at 2:15pm
and bonus 4) BOTH Arrival and Departure are NONSTOP flights!!

Wooooo, I don't think I could honestly get ANY better than that. I called Disney back today to give them our flight information so that now, we're all set for the Magical Express! This will be my first time riding it, since back when we stayed at CB, there wasn't a such thing, 2005 and 2006 we stayed off property and last year we drove from Maryland and didn't need it.

Ok, moving forward, what's next...Epcot!
I remember getting to Epcot VERY late, I wanna say..6pm? Since all of my pics were taken in the dark (side note: not happy about that one!) but, most of us (notice I say most) decided to sleep in that day since we were out at Downtown Disney the night before. Kiki, love her to death, takes FOREVER to get ready and is the reason for most of Dbf's families late arrivals. As you will hear in the next PTR for 2006, the late arrivals get worse as Dbf's whole family is there. Oy ...ok, on we go.

This day, all I can really remember doing is going on Ellen's Universe of Energy (even though it's a little cheesy and kinda long, I love Ellen, she's hysterical, what can I say?!) and trying on hats in World Showcase.

First up, Dbf and ABZ in Mexico!

Followed by China, Germany and Morocco..

Then I think the boys, enjoyed just goofing around.

But, Dbf snapped out of it and we got some good ones together.

I do really enjoy Epcot. It's very tiring, I forget how BIG World Showcase is, once I get halfway around that loop. But I love feeling like you're traveling the world and all the CM's are authentic..along with the food! But I think that's it for today...

Next up, and last day for the 2005 PTR is Seaworld..since it IS non-Disney, I'll keep it short

 

[disneydusted]

Fun pictures! I like the one of you two by the fountain in France. WS is pretty at night... did you stay for Illuminations?

 

[Roxychica7]

Fun pictures! I like the one of you two by the fountain in France. WS is pretty at night... did you stay for Illuminations?

I LOVE WS at night, especially with the buildings all decked out in lights and wreaths. We stayed for Illuminations that night, I ended up recording the whole thing on my digital camera, I just LOVE those fireworks.

 

[sherreis]

I LOVE WS at night, especially with the buildings all decked out in lights and wreaths. We stayed for Illuminations that night, I ended up recording the whole thing on my digital camera, I just LOVE those fireworks.

We all love Illuminations as well especially on a nice evening.

 

[disneydusted]

Don't you just love it in Epcot when there is about 20 minutes to go before Illuminations and the music gets a bit mysterious, and you can feel something is going to happen? And then, the lights go out.....

 

[julezdisney]

Happy Halloween! Keep safe & have fun!

 

[Roxychica7]

Don't you just love it in Epcot when there is about 20 minutes to go before Illuminations and the music gets a bit mysterious, and you can feel something is going to happen? And then, the lights go out.....

YES! Especially since we got the Illuminations CD, back in 2000 when they gave it to you as their free gift and I hum the music to myself whenever it starts

Happy Halloween! Keep safe & have fun!

Have a fun Halloween too!

 

[disneydusted]

On your free CD, does it have just the Illuminations song (about 11 minutes) or does it also have the prelude music? We bought the CD 2 years ago but it just has the Illuminations music and the Dream Makers music.

 

[Roxychica7]

On your free CD, does it have just the Illuminations song (about 11 minutes) or does it also have the prelude music? We bought the CD 2 years ago but it just has the Illuminations music and the Dream Makers music.

It's called, "Millennium Celebration" and it has a picture of the Epcot ball on the front when it had the wand with the year 2000 on it. I have 5 songs, 1) Reflections of Earth (9:31), 2) We Go On (2:26), Tapestry of Nations (23:53), Promise (4:23) and Celebrate the Future Hand in Hand (5:11). It still amazes me, especially when I can "see" the particular fireworks when I listen to the songs. I think you may be able to find it on Amazon, not sure what the price is, last time I checked it was starting at $21, may be because they might consider it a collectors item? Not sure. But, it's really good!

 

[Roxychica7]

So, after contimplating for a while, as far as if I should update with Sea World pics, I have decided against it and will instead proceed to Disney in December 2006! I will however, leave you with one picture from the trip, and that is the Sea World Christmas tree, since after all, it does still go with the holiday theme!

But, hopefully I haven't lost anyone. I apologize for the leave, I had a long field trip with my class on saturday and then am feeling slightly under the weather, so if you don't mind...off we go to the 2006 Trip Report!

Cast Characters (ages then):
Me (22)
Dbf (22)
Kiki (Dbf's sister) (21)-is a photographer, VERY picky eater
ABZ (Kiki's bf) (21)-loves everything, especially video games and ESPN
Stu (Dbf and Kiki's step bro) (22)-in a band, looks like he'd hate Disney, but is a complete and total kid at heart
Deb (Dbf and Kiki's mom)-Southern mom, Picky like her daughter
John (Stu's dad, Dbf and Kiki's step dad)-loves harleys

So, this year, I was at Coastal Carolina, I had had a HORRIBLE semester there and realized that I would be moving out and that our Disney trip pitstop on the way back to my apartment in SC would be my last time staying there. It worked out nicely though because with driving, we drove from VA to SC, stayed overnight at my apartment for free (it was a 4 bedroom, 4 bath, but with being a grad student, there were only 2 of us living there and we each had a side, so 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms to ourselves, perfect when visitors came). Once Kiki, ABZ and Dbf were done their finals, we drove down to SC, my apartment was located in Conway, about a 5 mile drive to Myrtle Beach. That was about the only thing I LOVED about it, aside from that, I hated the college, the people, the classes and above all, being 8 hours away from my family when it is typically a normal vacation spot for us in the summer.
On our pit-stop down, we had dinner at Tony Roma's

and then walked/played around at Broadway at the Beach

As you can see, they were having fun feeding the ducks..that they decided to include Dbf in on the fun

So Deb and John would be flying down the next morning staying in their timeshare in Kissimmee and me, Dbf, Kiki, ABZ and Stu would be staying in ABZ's families timeshare. We thought we were staying in Kissimmee like last year, but we were staying in the Universal Area. Which proved to be a pain in the butt because we had to drive to Kissimmee every morning to meet up with Deb and John because again unlike last year, we didn't have a real kitchen and they did. But, we slept in and ended up leaving I wanna say around 10:30am from South Carolina and took the next journey down to Orlando.
By the time we got to Disney (we hadn't passed under the sign yet because we were technically staying in the Universal area), it was 8:30, dark and we were exhausted.

Next up...Day 1...Animal Kingdom!!

 

[Roxychica7]

So, after sleeping in and heading to AK, we saw the best thing in the world...

The welcome sign

We hadn't even gotten into the park entrance yet, when we see a few familiar faces.

Next, we head toward Dinoland USA and get a lovely picture of these guys before hitting Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl.

This was the first year we tried Primeval Whirl. I definitely recommend it if you haven't got on it. It looks like it would be cheesy, but once the thing really starts spinning, you can't really tell when that's going to happen, you end up busting out into hysterical laughter. I really like this one now. Although the nervous face doesn't do justice

So, then we hit a Bug's Life, love this one too! Especially all the "movie posters" outside the theater.

Ok..bear with me, have to get some stuff done really quick for school, I shall update more AK later!

 

[Roxychica7]

Continuing with AK...

Ok, so next, we hit a stop at the TOL for a group shot.

Followed by some pics from our Safari adventure..

Waiting in line

And some stinky flamingos..

Black Rhino butts

White Rhino

And then we hit the beautiful Pangani trail

I'm pretty sure that we ate at Restaurantosaurus..excellent burgers and by that time, it was close to closing time, so we hit the TOL one more time, I enjoyed some yummy Tea and a Pastry while the rest of the crew went on EE , and then we saw the last show of FOTLK.

I could take a picture of this tree from every angle!

Caught them all on their way down (Remember, John in orange, Kiki in blue-all in the back)

We were giraffe's this time. I always feel sorry for the poor soul that gets stuck making the giraffe sound before the show starts

And I leave you with a close up of the Lion ornament on the AK Christmas tree.

Up Next...Day 2, MGM

 

[Lady Lallie]

I'm here and I am all caught up. I can't wait to hear all about your trip, you have to take lots of pictures of all the holiday decorations and lights of course.