My Jan'11 Birthday TR A day of sickness, a night of rain, and a week of fun and food.

[jesemeca]

Introductions

Welcome to my Birthday TR.

Me-The Birthday Girl!

My mom

My nanny

We spent a week (Jan 22nd-Jan 29th) at Pop Century. It was a fun week. Not too crowded, weather was decent most days, and best of all we had a great time.

Stay tuned to learn the meaning behind the title.


Table of Contents
Introductions
Working, Packing and Sleeping...All before 9pm.
C'mon we have vermin to see.
We're here, we're here.....I said we're here!!!
Can you hear Earl’s calling my name? Some shopping too!
A Ghost Town, Some Window Shopping and An Early Night.
A Day of Sickness.
A Slow Start, but We Still Walked on the Safari.
Still Not Back From Our Two Week Safari...
Nanny goes on Everest and the pictures just keep on coming!
PhotoPass Pictures to Catch Us Up!
Our Musical Adventure with Nemo.
Time for Some Real Food..Whispering Canyon Cafe..Here We Come!
I'm Walking Right Down The Middle of Main Street, USA.
The Perfect Picture, The Best Wishes and Ride Time.
Some of My Favorite Characters and Some Solo Time.
Cinderella Castle is the Perfect Backdrop.
Popper's Dis Meet and Spaceship Earth.
One I Don't Do and One We All Do...All Inside The Land Pavilion.
Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine.
DVC-You Know You Wanna…And I Took PhotoPass Pictures.
We Always Start In Mexico.
Vikings, Trolls, and Waterfalls...Oh My!
We Skipped Around For Lunch, But Found Our Way Back To China And Germany.
Italy and Back to The American Adventure.
Japan and Morroco.
"On zee leff, iz ze Eiffel Towa"
Can I Finally Get A Picture With The British Invasion?
Canada, Le Cellier and Running Out Of Epcot In The Rain.
I Just Love An Empty Main Street In The Morning.
Breakfast At My Favorite Place Ever.
Cinderella Castle on The Way To Fantasyland.
Time To Visit Some Old Friends.
Dumbo, The Flying Elephant.
Some Interesting Characters To Meet.
Now It's Time To Say Goodbye...To Minnie's House.[URL="http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41625924&postcount=58"]
Their Royal Highnesses.[/URL]
Now It's Time To Say Goodbye...To Mickey's House.
We Visit With Our Two Favorites.
A Quick Train Ride To Frontierland.
My Idea Of Water Rides.
Time For Some Musical Shows.
Celebrate A Dream Come True.
On Our Way To Dinner.

 

[jesemeca]

I had to work Friday morning before we left. I only worked 8am till noon. Which was great cuz I still had a lot of packing to do. I ate an early dinner and then slept till 9pm. We packed up the car and left my house around 10:45pm. By midnight, we had picked up my nanny and stopped at McDonald’s for Sweet Tea, Dr Pepper and fries. This would become a recurring theme for the whole trip.

 

[jesemeca]

Around 1:45am we stopped at the Alabama Welcome Center. I had to take my picture with this missile. I don’t know why, but the past few trips we have always stopped at the Welcome Center. I always take a picture of and with the missile. LOL.




Here’s my mom waking up my sister.


My nanny already mad at me for taking too many pictures.


After a bathroom break, my nanny tells us that it is time to go, she had vermin to see. My mom was confused at first, it took a little while to realize that my nanny meant Mickey when she said vermin. LOL.

Somewhere between the Alabama Welcome Center and the Mobile Tunnel.


When we got to the Mobile tunnel, I tried to take pictures of the prison, but they all came out blurry. I just think it is hilarious that there is a prison right next to the interstate.

By 2:30ish we were 44 miles from Pensacola. My nanny was in the back sleeping, my mom was driving and I am writing by flashlight.

We stopped at the Florida Welcome center around 4am. By 4:30 we stopped in Bonifay for gas.
Me and the ice cream machine.


Florida Welcome Center


Our next stop was Cracker Barrel in Tallahasse. We stopped here last trip and it was a great stopping point.


We were making excellent time, as it was 7 when we made it to Cracker Barrel. I had the breakfast platter, but didn’t finish it. This was due to the sickness in the title. More on that later.

This would be nanny once again sleeping in the back seat. She hated that I took pictures of her sleeping. I told her that if all she was gonna do is sleep than that's all I would be able to take pictures of.


My mom was probably telling me to put the camera away by this point.


Here I am getting all giddy in my seat.


Some scenery shots of Florida. All my other scenery shots came out too blurry, mostly cuz I took them at night.






This concludes the travelling portion of this trip report. Arrival and DTD in the next update.

 

[WINNIEGRACE]

joining in-looks like it is going to be a lot of fun, thanks for sharing!!:

 

[carebee21]

Joining in! Hope you had a wonderful trip and it was so nice to meet you

 

[jesemeca]

This lovely sign came into view around 12:30pm.



It was about this time that I became that little school girl again. I was just so happy to be back. Disney World is really my happy place. Once we drove under that sign, nothing else matters. The thought of being immersed in Disney for the next week had me going crazy. My mom and nanny kept telling me to be quiet and help them find our hotel, but I was too excited to be much help.







Just in case you forgot where we were staying. LOL. I was in full picture taking mode by this point.



My mom pointing something out to my nanny.

Checkin was quick and easy. I got my Birthday button, that I immediately put on. LOL. We were given room 5142 in the 60’s building. This was a little far away to be considered preferred, as far as I was concerned.



This was my view from the smoking section right outside the lobby.



Petals Bar, where I unfortunately didn’t make it this trip either. Next time I will try a cocktail from here.



The building across the pool from us.



Baloo, Mowgli and I. In front of our building.
We were in a renovated room on the middle part of building six. You know the little part that sticks out away from the pool. Yeah, they considered this preferred. The room was nice and enough room for the three of us. Here are some pics of the room before we destroyed it over the coming week.

 

[jesemeca]

After we checked out the room and had our luggage brought in, we headed on over to DTD.



Walking to the buses at POP.



Playdoh!



On the bus to DTD.



Lunch was at Earl of Sandwich, of course. I had the Hawaiian BBQ, which was as delicious as ever. They were kinda busy, considering it was a Saturday afternoon, but we got our food within 10 minutes.



After lunch we browsed the shops. I bought a Winnie the Pooh cookbook, just cuz I love him. I looked through the cookbook after buying and it had some pretty good recipes in it.



Funny story about the Pin shop later on in the TR.



We didn’t shop here, but what do you expect? We’re three girls, what do we want with athletic junk? LOL.



World of Disney.



The door to World of Disney. This started my oddball pictures. You know pictures of doors, walls, floors, a bathroom. (I’ll explain more later.)


Lumiere



Cinderella’s Castle inside World of Disney





The pretend Cinderella and I.



Lego Dragon



I will eat here eventually.

 

[jesemeca]

Some Pleasure Island pictures. As you can tell from the pictures, it was a ghost town. It's really sad to see this area empty and unused.











I only visited Pleasure Island once when it was still open. I went to the comedy show and saw Hip Kitty perform at Rock N Roll Beach Club. I enjoyed the atmosphere of Pleasure Island. My only regret is not going to the Adventurer’s Club, just to see what all the fuss is about.







Another oddball picture. This was on a construction wall in Pleasure Island. I just liked the design.





I loved these windows. I love the Villains, so any time I see them I get all excited. Hopefully, my next trip will be in October, so I can go to the Halloween party.



And these started the pictures of flowers from all over.



The fireplace in the Christmas shop that my nanny fell in love with.

We went to the Make your Own Shirt Store, so I could look for some ears for the week. I wanted to buy the Birthday Ears, but they were too small for me. So I found an alternative later on in the trip. Two alternatives actually.

Back to POP for an early night. I was in bed, ready to sleep by 7ish. It had been a long day. I was up for almost 24 hours. And the fun had only begun. I will detail the “lovely” first night I had in the next post.

 

[PolynesianLily]

Joining in!
Looks like you had fun - I am loving the pictures and the commentary!!!

 

[jesemeca]

joining in-looks like it is going to be a lot of fun, thanks for sharing!!:

Thanks for joining. I enjoy reliving the trip.

Joining in! Hope you had a wonderful trip and it was so nice to meet you

Hi! It was nice to meet you too. I will be sure to post that picture of you and your son, when I get to that day.

Joining in!
Looks like you had fun - I am loving the pictures and the commentary!!!

Thanks! I'm always worried that I'm putting too many pictures, or not enough, or too much commentary or not enough. LOL. More to come soon.

 

[jesemeca]

Around 1 am Sunday morning, I woke my mom up, by making too much noise. She asked what was wrong and I said I didn’t feel good. She told me to go sit in the bathroom. Good thing I did, I just barely made before I got sick. Unfortunately this lasted pretty much all night. My sister had been sick before we left and I apparently took it with me.

My mom and nanny went to breakfast at Crystal Palace and then Magic Kingdom without me. My mom said that the park was very slow this morning. Telling me this didn't help any. I was now mad that I missed all that. Especially walking down Main Street that first morning to go eat at Crystal Palace. Luckily I booked three breakfasts at Crystal Palace. I spent the whole day in bed. Not a single picture from this day. Sorry.

Being sick really sucks, especially when you are in Disney. I was mad because I had already paid for the day and now it was being wasted. I was upset at myself for getting sick in Disney World. I knew that it wasn't my fault and there was nothing I could do about it, but I still hated laying in bed.

I called my mom around 2pm, to see what they were doing and found out that she had gotten sick while in the park. They were on their way back to the room. We were now worried that my nanny would get sick too, but luckily she never did.

I tried to convince myself that I could make it to Magic Kingdom that night, to see Wishes, if nothing else. But my mom said that if I did, I might just make myself sick again. So in the end, we decided it would be better for me to just sleep it off and start fresh tomorrow morning.

I laid down again at 4pm, and next thing I knew my nanny was leaving to go see the Wishes by herself. She said that she had a good time and just hung around on Main Street till Wishes started.

The staff at POP was very helpful when my mom and I were feeling sick. I called the front desk to ask if I could possibly get some toast or crackers from the food court. The guy on the phone asked what room I was in and asked if crackers would work. I told him that that would be good. We just needed something plain. About 10 minutes later a lady showed up with about 80 packs of saltine crackers. I thought that was very nice of them and something they didn’t have to do.

 

[jesemeca]

On Monday morning I woke up feeling much better. I was still a little nervous that I would get sick again, but I was not gonna waste another day in the hotel room. My nanny and I had breakfast at POP. I ate a tiny little bit of my waffle, that I probably should’ve shared with my mom.

On the bus to Animal Kingdom, I met another group of 3 ladies that were on girls only trip. It was kinda cool to meet someone else on a similar type trip. They were headed to Expedition Everest. I checked my apps on my phone to let them know the wait time. If any of you three are reading this, Hi!

I love Pink Flamingos. So of course when I saw them I had to take like 20 pictures of them. Just like I do every time I see them at my local zoo. LOL.

We finally made it to Animal Kingdom at 10ish. We took some photopass pictures in front of the gate. I will have to add those later. Our first order of business was to get to the Kilimanjaro Safari. On the way we ran into these two, Lilo and Stitch. They were very fun, and a great way to kick off my character meetings for the trip. Stitch loved my button and even asked about my LGMH.

I was worried that by getting to Animal Kingdom so late that we would have to either FP it or wait forever and a day. But it was actually only a 5 minute or so wait. This safari ride was excellent. My nanny and I were the only two on the back row. That was a great spot to be able to see all the animals. I took way too many pictures and plan on posting quite a few of them. I will say that the back row is very bumpy.

Some scenery in line.

I don’t remember all the animal’s names. Sorry.

Rhino behind.

Hippo behind. LOL.

The bird was using the hippo as a floatation device.

Some nice scenery on the Safari.

Taking a break at only 10:30 in the morning. LOL.

This giraffe was having a snack.

Up close shot of the giraffe.

The giraffes were very playful this morning. It had been awhile since I rode the Safari, so I don’t remember the animals being quite so close. It did make for some great photos, though.

My Nanny on the Safari. She was enjoying all the animals, just as much as I was.

I believe this is a wildebeast. I probably spelled that wrong. LOL.

Another wildebeast picture. Please correct me if I’m wrong about what animal this is.

I was taking pictures of everything and nothing this morning. LOL. I don’t know if I was trying to get something in this one or if it was supposed to be just scenery.

 

[jesemeca]

Now onto the elephants. There were three total. One was a baby, it was so cute. The baby would not leave the older elephants side.

Getting closer to the truck. They seemed pretty friendly. LOL.

Elephant behind. Had to keep that one going, of course.

More flamingos, not quite pink, but close enough.

The view behind the truck.

The lions were out sunbathing when we passed by the first time. The driver was just telling us that the lion may not move. No sooner did he say that did the male lion get up and start pacing. So I took the next shots one right after the other.

Some antelope, I believe.

Do you see the rainbow? I thought that that was a beautiful addition to the picture. Purely accidental. LOL.

Another picture of a geyser. No rainbow this time.

The abandoned camp.

Getting off the safari. Do you think I took enough pictures on the safari? That’s just a small sample of what I took.

My nanny and I right after the ride.

Next up is Everest for my Nanny and picture I didn't think I could take.

 

[jesemeca]

After our Safari ride, we noticed these guys performing. It was nice to just stop and listen. Plus there was no crowd around us, so I was able to enjoy them.





Bathroom break. (Told you I take pictures of weird things.)






This is my favorite kind of picture to take. I love my self portraits.





We didn’t get over to this side of the park when we came in May. So I was taking pictures of everything. My poor nanny just wanted to go ride Everest and I kept stopping her. LOL.











Next up was Expedition Everest. Only my nanny was going on this. Even if I wasn’t feeling bad, I still wouldn’t go on this ride. LOL. She used the single rider line and was on and off the ride in 20 minutes. I barely managed to find the smoking section before she was done. LOL.





I was taking pictures of the train coming out the mountain thinking that I might get her train. Well after the first few I figured she had already passed. I walked off to a different spot to take pictures. I decided to try a couple more. And I actually got a picture and video of her on the ride. I didn’t think I would actually be able to tell it was her but it was pretty easy to spot her.





She is the sixth person back on the right side of the train.





Up Next…A little more fun in Animal Kingdom.

 

[jesemeca]

I received my PhotoPass CD about a week or so ago. Sorry I haven't posted sooner. Life kinda got in the way. LOL. These are some of our PP pics from our time in Animal Kingdom. I promise more updates are on the way.


First picture of the morning.


I love all the little additions they do on the pictures.


My first portrait. I usually don't like pictures of myself, but I loved quite a few from this trip.


Holding baby Simba.


Lilo and Stitch were great. I was the last in line and didn't feel rushed at all. Which was great.


My Nanny and I in front of Everest.


One last PP picture from Animal Kingdom.

 

[jesemeca]

After her trip on Everest, my nanny and I made our way over to Finding Nemo. They were seating people when we walked up. The theater was quite packed, but I assumed that was because of fewer shows that day. We were in the upper section, closer to the entrance doors. I liked being up higher because I could see when the fish were in the audience. Just a warning most of the pictures were blurry, so there won’t be too many.






I know this one is really blurry, but I love these guys. I just had to share.

 

[jesemeca]

After we finished meeting some wonderful characters, it was time to make our way over to Wilderness Lodge for lunch. I was really looking forward to this meal. I hadn’t had a full meal since Saturday night at Earl’s. So I was really ready to eat.

This was my first sight of the Magic Kingdom sign, so I took way too many pictures. LOL.









As it was last time, the Wilderness Lodge is stunning. I hope to be able to afford to stay there one day. Believe it or not I only took 5 pictures here and two of those were of lunch.







We all order the Canyon Skillet for lunch. The food was very good. My favorite was the smoked sausage. I wish I hadn’t been sick the day before. I could have eaten so much more of this if I hadn’t been sick. But I still enjoyed what I did get to eat. The mashed potatoes and baked beans were also very good.



After lunch the waitress brought me out my first Birthday cupcake of the week.



While at lunch, my mom saw the family she had met the day before. The daughter of the group rode in the horse race. Her brother told me he would post it on you tube, but I’m still waiting. So, if you are out there….C’mon, what ya waiting for? LOL.

 

[jesemeca]

It was finally time for us to head to Magic Kingdom. My absolute favorite place in the world. We came up to the Train Station and I was ready to start dancing.



And by the time I saw this…..



I was starting to cry. I’m really here, celebrating my birthday. Less than a week after my birthday. All the planning and worrying was over. I’m standing here looking at Cinderella’s Castle, waiting for my best friend to show up, what could be better. I could have stood right here the rest of the night and been perfectly happy. *Side Note: At work the other day, a friend of mine was making fun of me for going back to WDW again. (I’m going on my 1st solo trip in Sept/Oct of this year.) He couldn’t understand why I wanted to keep going back. Well, his thing is bowling. So I asked him why he bowled as often as he could. It was like a light bulb went off, he said for the “love” it. Then he looked at me and said he could tell. He said in every picture, he could tell how happy I was. That I kept going back for the “love” of it. He finally got it. I was so excited that someone actually understood my reasoning for going.*

I had to go make a quick purchase. We had seen these at DTD, but didn’t get them. So I got them first thing after getting to Magic Kingdom. My mom was the one who thought to put the button on the ear.



I always take a picture of Walt and Mickey. Just seeing this statue makes me realize that without either of them, none of this would be possible.





The original plan was to make our way over to It’s A Small World, but oddly enough the line was kinda long. We made our way around to Winnie the Pooh, only to find another long line. So we kept moving along.



As we were walking to Tomorrowland, this guy was out blowing bubbles. I took this picture of him and he saw my birthday button. He grabbed my hand and sang Happy Birthday to me as we danced in the middle of Tomorrowland. Of course, I have no pictures of that. LOL. This was the beginning of all the cool birthday treats that happened. I remember thinking, while dancing, how cool is this? I’m being danced with and sung to in the middle of Tomorrowland and I didn’t care who saw me.



We decided to go on the TTAPM, since there was no line at all. While riding, we saw that the lights were on in Space Mountain. This is the best picture I could get on such short notice.



We then got FP’s for Buzz Lightyear. Around this time my best friend texted me to say he was on his way. My mom and nanny went on Carousel of Progress, while I waited for my friend in the smoking section.




I just thought it was awesome that I could get a picture of this without anyone in it.

 

[jesemeca]

After our ride on Buzz, we made our way to the Hub to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade. Because it was only showing two nights while we were here, it was ridiculously busy. We were quite a bit back, but in a perfect place for Wishes and the Magic, the Memories, and You.





I absolutely love MSEP. I was determined to get a good picture of Pete’s Dragon. I then notice a PhotoPass lady taking peoples picture with the parade in the background. So this is what I did……



The Magic, the Memories, and You. I LOVED it. Seeing the pictures on the castle was very cool to me. Knowing that some little kid was seeing themselves on Cinderella’s Castle. I mean, c’mon, that’s gotta be the best feeling ever. My favorite part was when they showed Walt Disney from the opening day in Disneyland. No pictures of the show from tonight, I was too busy taking it all in.


I love watching Wishes, I love it even more when I have my best friend with me. After watching Wishes with him last June, the show has taken on a new meaning to me. So here I am watching Wishes with my best friend, my mom and my nanny, and I am so grateful to be here celebrating my birthday with them. As corny as it sound, when the wishing part came on I realized my wish had already come true.







After Wishes was over we made our way back to Fantasyland. We first went on It’s A Small World.

 

[jesemeca]

Then we checked out the new queue of Winnie the Pooh ride. I enjoyed the little games they had even though they are made for the little ones. My favorite would have to be the hunny walls. That was just too cool.





As we were wandering around deciding what to do next I spotted Chip and Dale. Well, I was wearing a shirt with them on it, so I had to go get a picture with them. They loved it. They pointed at my shirt and then posed the same as my shirt. Chip and Dale’s friend said that they remembered the day they took that picture(meaning the one on my shirt) and said it was a very rough day. LOL. It was very cute.





My friend had left already and now my mom and nanny were going back to the hotel. So I got to spend some solo time in the Magic Kingdom. It was wonderful, I only rode one ride, but that was still alright by me.



I made my way to Main Street and meandered down the street. Browsing the stores, taking pictures, people watching. Things I never get to do when everyone is with me. This is when I realized that I wanted to take my 1st solo trip.





Here I am waiting in the way too long line for the bus back to POP. I was tired and ready for bed. Tomorrow morning is the Popper’s Dis Meet.