Old, New & Long Lost Friends, with a Side of Frump! FINISHED! DL TR started 1.20.14!

[arbolita]

Greetings friends and soon-to-be friends (there are no strangers here; just a few people who may be a bit strange, including yours truly)! I am less than a week back from my recent Walt Disney World vacation, and have been bursting at the seams to share it with all of you!

So please join me for the world premiere of Old, New & Long Lost Friends, w/ a Side of Frump: A January '13 Walt Disney World Trip Report!

For those of you who don't know me, I am Theresa!

You may be familiar with me from my posts on TheDis, as GertieTheDino89 on Twitter, the girl who makes the Stacey gifs, or the girl who made the One More Disney Day video on YouTube.

You also might not know me at all, and that's cool too (I guess...). I hope you decide to stick around and get to know me and allow me to get to know you!

As my Twitter name implies, I looooooove Gertie the Dinosaur, who resides in my favorite Walt Disney World park, MGM Studios! (name change? What name change?)

For reasons I can't explain, seeing Gertie happens to be my most vivid memory from my first trip to Walt Disney World in 1990. I always tear up a little bit the first time I see her while in Walt Disney World, and when people post her picture on Twitter or text it to me while they are in the parks, it's guaranteed to put a smile on my face! Oh Gertie.

I subscribe to the Disney Frump way of life, a la DisneyFreak508 and DisneyFreak616 and many of the rest of you on these boards! Here's a spoiler - if you've been following along with Jess's ongoing DCP Trip Report, you've already seen a sneak peak into what's in store for this TR! If you haven't been there, go now! Her previous trip reports are some of the most amazing I have ever read and really inspired me to want to write my own. So if this trip report winds up being AMAZING, you can thank her!

The other person who joined me on this trip is my husband, Scott.

He's not quite the Disney fanatic that I am, but he does enjoy visiting the Parks for the food, customer service, and to keep me happy

Most of our trips to Disney have been together, including the trip where we got engaged, our honeymoon and for our first anniversary.

On this trip, we were in Walt Disney World from January 26 - February 1, 2013, and stayed at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort - our very first time staying in a Deluxe or DVC resort!

We were able to catch the tail end of Long Lost Friends Week in the Magic Kingdom, finally see New Fantasyland and Test Track2.0, check out a few new (to us) restaurants, staying in the park after hours, and, as the name of this Trip Report implies, meet up with a TON of Disney friends! I feel like I always say this when we return from Walt Disney World, but this was truly the best Disney trip we have ever had, and I am already eager to start planning another one!

So, I hope you all get settled in, because this is going to be one unforgettable journey!
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[arbolita]

Day Before Leaving (January 25)
Chapter 1 - If I were a DME tag, where would I be?

Day 1 - Saturday, January 26, 2013
Chapter 2 - Oh, is that what they are calling Walt Disney World now?
Chapter 3 - Guess that means we don't have to go to Animal Kingdom!
Chapter 4 - Wait, where are we?
Chapter 5 - This room is nic- OH MY GOD, THAT VIEW.
Chapter 6 - The Best Seat in the House
Chapter 7 - The Scariest Thing I've Ever Done During a Disney Vacation

Day 2 - Sunday, January 27, 2013
Chapter 8 - Oo-de-lally, Oo-de-lally, Golly What a Day
Chapter 9 - "I see a hippo sleeping up there!"
Chapter 10 - Little tooooown, it's a quiet village...
Chapter 11 - Let's Go Join the Circus
Chapter 12 - Even Galactic Heroes Can't Prevent Fashion Crimes
Chapter 13 - "Of course they're real, you can see them can't you?"
Chapter 14 - Enchanted Tales with Belle and Brickering Part 2

Day 3 - Monday, January 28, 2013
Chapter 15 - Scott Becomes Obsessed With Pin Collecting
Chapter 16: If I look sadly at this staircase long enough, will they let me upstairs?
Chapter 17: Frumping Around World Showcase
Chapter 18: Who knew something with school in the name could be so good?
Chapter 19: Reunited and It Feels So Good!
Chapter 20: Fantasmic leaves me mist-ified
Chapter 21: Sorry Canada

Day 4 - Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Chapter 22: Checking another item off the Disney Bucket List!
Chapter 23: "Did you guys pay extra for this?"
Chapter 24 - Timon, Go Home, You're Drunk
Chapter 25: Our favorite Cast Member and more Brickering


Day 5 - Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Chapter 26: Breakfast of Champions and Gertiepalooza!
Chapter 27: You don't want her to look like a lizard person, do you?
Chapter 28: How did it take 5 days for this to happen?
Chapter 29: My favorite Hidden Mickey of all time
Chapter 30: Can we make it??
Chapter 31: Happy 25th Anniversary Illuminations!

Day 6 - Thursday, January 31, 2013
Chapter 32: My husband, the iPadographer
Chapter 33: Note to self: Bring hair ties for Test Track (and Canadians smell weird)
Chapter 34: Tardis Cake and #CultofCornbread

Day 7 - Friday, February 1, 2013
Chapter 35: "Oh no, not the Wookie planet!"
Chapter 36: Be Our Guest
Chapter 37: Adventureland Challenge and "Missing" our Bus


Breaking News: PTR Announcement!
Speaking of 25th Anniversaries...

Disneyland Trip Report has started!!
Puns, a Fun Run and 1901 - Our first trip to Disneyland!


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[AlohaAnnie]

I will be following along!

 

[Marsheliz]

I am totallysubscribing!

Love Jess's TR'S!

Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[onelilspark]

Joining in

 

[danimaroo]

I'm in! This is snoogibear from twitter. We overlapped trips by a day! Or well, our last day in the parks was the 26th. Looking forward to reading along!

 

[Cinderella16]

Subbing. Sounds like a fun one!

 

[arbolita]

I will be following along!

Glad to have you here!

I am totallysubscribing!

Love Jess's TR'S!

Can't wait to hear all about it!

Her TRs (and videos) are really something spectacular. I don't see how anyone could NOT want to book a trip immediately to Disney after reading one!

Joining in

Hooray! Welcome!

I'm in! This is snoogibear from twitter. We overlapped trips by a day! Or well, our last day in the parks was the 26th. Looking forward to reading along!

Hey there! Can't wait to start reading along with your DL TR! We're hoping to make it there for our first trip within the next 12 months.

Subbing. Sounds like a fun one!

I hope you enjoy it!

 

[MasonsDisneyMom]

Joining in!

 

[debjk4]

Subbing! Can't wait!

 

[arbolita]

Joining in!

Hello neighbor from the Mid-Atlantic, glad to have you here!

Subbing! Can't wait!

Thanks! I can't wait to start writing it!

 

[arbolita]

Chapter 1 - If I were a DME tag, where would I be?

A brief bit of background for this trip. Originally we were going to take this trip in the spring, but after looking at prices, we decided in November to push it up to the end of January. I definitely think we made a good decision, but there was one small factor which was complicating things a little bit...we were scheduled to move in January.

My husband and I both had been dealing with nearly an hour long commutes to work, paying tolls each way, and coupled with some very obnoxious neighbors living below us, we were getting worn out. We'd been having a very unsuccessful time trying to find a new place until mid-December. We found a townhouse that would have us each to work in under 20 minutes and plenty of extra room! We set everything into high gear, and planned our moving date for January 19th.

Yes, friends, that is exactly ONE WEEK before we left for Disney. Yes, you could say I'm a little bit nutty for thinking that might be a good idea. But I had been having a stressful time at work, and just knew that I needed to be in my happy place down in Orlando to recover. As soon as I was done working for the day, I tweeted:

@GertieTheDino89 I'M GOING TO DISNEY IN THE MORNING! DING DONG THE MONORAIL IS GOING TO CHIIIIIIIIIIIME.

(Taking a page from some other TRs, I'm going to include a few of my tweets throughout my posts! You can identify them by the italics and teal text.)


We were waking up at 5:30 AM, but as usual, I had left most of my packing for the night before leaving. I knew our first day in the parks was going to overlap with the last day of the Long Lost Characters, so I located the perfect movie to watch while packing.

This was always one of my favorite movies as a kid, and I definitely did a lot more watching the movie than I did packing.

I knew after receiving our DME tags in the mail at our old place, I had put them in the carry on bag I planned to use for the trip. However, while trying to reorganize everything in that bag, I took them out and had no idea where they went!

@GertieTheDino89 If I were a DME tag, where would I hide...

After a lot of searching, I finally located it in a laundry basket - let me tell you, if I actually WAS a DME tag, that is not where I would have been hiding! Guess I'm not cut out for that life. Oh darn.

I finally finished packing around 10:30, but because I was DISNEYHYPER I didn't manage to fall asleep until after midnight, although I swear I woke up every 20 minutes thinking it was time to go to the airport.

At 5:00, it actually was time to get up!! We were going to drive over to our in-law's house at 6 AM so they could drop us off at the airport. I was so happy to be leaving Maryland, because the day before we left, the atmosphere decided to send us some of this:

Nope, sorry, not a fan of snow. GET ME TO THE SUNSHINE STATE, PRONTO!

Continued in next post

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[arbolita]

Chapter 2 - Oh, is that what they are calling Walt Disney World now?

Our trip to the in-law's, and subsequently to the airport, was relatively uneventful. We each had one bag to check, so we got in the AirTran line. I was really surprised how packed it was at 6:20AM! We usually fly around the same time and have never seen that many other people in the airport.

Once we finally got through the line and were ready to head to security, my husband and I looked at each other, and knew exactly what we needed to do. And I'm going to share this helpful hint to all of you in the event that you ever have to fly out of BWI Airport in the AirTran or SouthWest terminals: GO DOWNSTAIRS.

Next to the Southwest and AirTran check in desks, there are areas to go through security, and if it's as busy as it was the morning we flew to Disney, you'll be in for a long wait. However, if you keep walking past them and take the escalator or elevator down a level, there is a lesser known security area. We walked down, and were greeted with this lovely sight:

There was absolutely no one else down there! So we zoomed through security, and we ready to get to our gate. But first I had to go on another mission.

I also had to get the obligatory pre-vacation picture. One of us was way more excited than the other to have gotten up at 5 AM and to be waiting for our plane by taking pictures in an airport terminal. Can you guess which one of us that was??

We started boarding our flight around 7:30 AM, and since AirTran allows you to pick your seats ahead of time, we knew we'd 1) be able to sit together, and 2) be seated on the side of the plane that had rows of 2 seats instead of rows of 3. Nobody had to get stuck in the middle!

A few minutes after 8, the flight took off. It had been gray and dreary all morning, but as soon as the plane got above the clouds, we figured out where the sun had been hiding for the past few days! I couldn't even get a picture, it was so bright! There was a cute kid across the aisle from us who kept saying things like "Are we flying yet??" (as the plane was still on the tarmac), "Bye Bye Maryland!!" and my favorite, when he was looking down on clouds for the first time "Look- IT'S SNOW!"

To help pass time on the flight, I listened to the ISO5571 Disney Photography Podcast, and flipped through the complimentary magazine, when I noticed they had a page about New Fantasyland! As I started reading however, something stood out to me:

The largest expansion WHERE?? I had no idea that when they added New Fantasyland they decided to entirely change the name of the resort to Disneyland Florida. Come on AirTran, get it together. That's a pretty major detail to get wrong.

Just after 10:00 AM, our flight landed, and I was finally able to tweet the words I had been longing to say:
​

@GertieTheDino89 HELLO FLORIDA!!!!!!!!

Continued in next post

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[MasonsDisneyMom]

Thanks for the BWI tip! We're flying Airtran out of BWI in May (we can fly either BWI or PHL from here but BWI has been less expensive lately). I love the two seats on Airtran. On our way down DS will be 1 so we only have to buy two seats but on the way back he'll be two so we have to pay for his own seat even though we know he'll be on our laps! At least we won't have anyone sitting with us!

 

[arbolita]

Thanks for the BWI tip! We're flying Airtran out of BWI in May (we can fly either BWI or PHL from here but BWI has been less expensive lately). I love the two seats on Airtran. On our way down DS will be 1 so we only have to buy two seats but on the way back he'll be two so we have to pay for his own seat even though we know he'll be on our laps! At least we won't have anyone sitting with us!

Glad I could help! I agree, they have been showing some great fares between BWI and MCO recently! If you are facing the check in desks, you'll want to head towards the right, because the escalator/elevator/stairs on that side are the ones that put you right in front of the security area downstairs. There should be signs near the escalator confirming that the security area is open (or you could ask a staff person).

 

[Marsheliz]

know what you mean about after you have a stressful few weeks, you are ready to just be there already and be on vacation.. AHHH- I could go for a vacation right about now!

 

[onelilspark]

My husband hates it when I notice errors like that in magazine articles about Disney. He says I shouldn't even read them.

I love your luggage! It's adorable, I want it!

 

[arbolita]

know what you mean about after you have a stressful few weeks, you are ready to just be there already and be on vacation.. AHHH- I could go for a vacation right about now!

Definitely! In November and December, I had been covered for a co-worker who was out on sick leave, so I was working twice as hard as usual. While I was in Disney, she went out again, so I'm back to doing two jobs. Is it spring break yet?

My husband hates it when I notice errors like that in magazine articles about Disney. He says I shouldn't even read them.

I love your luggage! It's adorable, I want it!

Thanks! I got it as a wedding gift from my mom - I believe it's from Bed Bath and Beyond!

I just don't get how certain errors get past the writer and editor! It's not as though there aren't a thousand Disney resources for them to check. And if they don't really have an interest in writing about Disney, they can always hire me!!

 

[danimaroo]

Haha you are just like us with the Starbucks before flights! My husband's first stop once we are through security is Starbucks on those early-morning flights! We are also from Seattle, so that kind of just comes with the territory of being coffee fiends.

I cracked up at the magazine! DISNEYLAND FLORIDA? Like, how does someone really put that in a magazine?! I'm an English major nerd and love editing like you wouldn't believe, so when I see typos like this in magazines or any other professional-type writing it drives me insane, haha.

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Joining in.