Our Anniversary Week at the Happiest Place on Earth!! TR DONE 8/30 SOUVENIR POST SOON

[troobabiee7]

Hey Kristen! I loved reading about IOA. So sorry you didn't like the food. The Universal counter service food is GROSS! We tried eating at Mel's over at Universal one day back in 2006 and it was beyond disgusting. They have the absolute greatest sit-down restaurants though. Mythos was ranked the #1 theme park restaurant in the world every year for like the past five years, and the food's ridiculously good. The atmosphere's amazing too, and it's pretty cheap! Finnegans, Lombards and the CityWalk restaurants are also amazing. That's where Disney and Universal differ - Disney has better counter service restaurants and Universal has better sit-down.

I hope you did well on your test!!

 

[Me&3]

I hope you did well . I'm sure you did without adout

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Hi there! I wanted to pop over since we were there at the same time and some of our park days overlapped! I can't believe you found yourself in my pics...now I have to browse yours and look for my family!

I'll try to catch up a little at a time, but just wanted to say HI!

 

[xoktenox]

Hey everyone, hope you're all having a great weekend! My test yesterday was pretty hard but hopefully I squeezed out enough points to pass. I really wouldn't want to have to take it again AND pay another $88 to do so! Thanks to everyone who wished me good luck
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When we last left off Chris and I had just returned back to ASMo after enjoying ourselves at IOA. Before I continue I'll give my little analysis of IOA for everyong. Did I have a good time there? Yes. Would I be in any huge rush to go back? No. I liked IOA and thought it was fun but it just wouldn't be anyplace I'd be dying to rush back to. Chris really loved it so he'll probably be the reason we end up back there. I've been to Universal numerous times and I personally liked it there better than IOA. Chris would definitely disagree. Maybe I was a little biased becasue of my belly issues, idk. That being said, I would suggest to people to schedule an IOA/Universal day into your trips if you have time. Both parks are fun and you get can into both parks for one day for less than the price of a one day base Disney ticket. And there are Mears buses to take you from Disney resorts to IOA and Universal, if you don't have a car. Give it a shot

So, Chris and I laid down for a nap when we got back from IOA. Our dinner ressie at Whispering Canyon wasn't until 9 and even though we were going to go and try and get in early we still had plenty of time. It was about 4 when we returned to ASMo. Wait time out.

I forgot that when we got back from IOA we got off at the ASMu stop to check in person if our fridge was there! Like we were told that morning, it wasn't That was it, I had had it by that point. We stopped looking for it. Were we wrong for that? Maybe so but we weren't wasting any more of our vacation searching for this fridge! I texted the swapper after me and told her what had happened and whose name the fridge was supposed to be in. That at least gave her a heads up before she left so she could maybe come on the Dis and see what was going on. We just weren't taking anymore of our time looking for it. SOrry!

Back to the room we go and lay down and take a nap. We woke up about 6:15, I couldn't believe I had slept for so long. Then I looked at myself in the mirror and saw how sunburnt I was and it all made sense. Sunburn for some reason will always make you sleep like a baby, as long as you're not in too much pain LOL So we both got showered and ready to head to WCC for dinner! We were really excited!! This is us at the bus stop. I liked these pictures at first but now I realize how fat my face is in them. And the poof on my hair should have been higher which would have made my face look less fat. Yes, I'm crazy LOL

We hopped on the bus that was going to the MK. After a quick bus ride we walked over to the boat dock and waited about 10 mins for a boat heading to the Wilderness Lodge. I was soooo happy to be heading over there. Ever since the first time I saw a picture of WL, I was in love. It's gorgeous. I took some shots on the boat ride over, some good, some not so good. DOn't mind the not so good ones LOL

The castle

Space Mountain..can't wait to finally ride in December!

I thought this was a cool vantage point

It was a gorgeousssss night out, as you can see. The boat ride was a little breezy but I just threw on a sweatshirt and was good to go. It didn't help that my sunburn was making me way colder than I should have been!

So we finally made it to the WL.

We walked through the woods and finally I saw it in person...

It's beauuuuuuuuuutiful! Even Chris was like "Wow babe this place is awesome!" I love it here and can't wait to get to stay here in a future trip! So we walked in and made our way to the lobby. The inside of this place is just as magnificent as the outside!

continued in the next post...

 

[xoktenox]

continued from previous post...

We walked right over to WCC and could hear a lot of hustle and bustle coming from inside. I also saw the little area near the check in where the kids can play with Lincoln Logs and it reminded me of playing at my Gram and Pop's with my brother when we were little kids! LOL we checked in and they said they probably wouldn't be able to seat us for about another half an hour or so. That was no problem at all because we really wanted to explore!

Without the flash

With the flash

Without flash

With

When we showed up to the WL I texted tinkgurl to let her know we were there because she and her family always used to stay in the villas. She was so happy that we were there getting to check out a place she loved so much. I had Chris take a picture of me near the totem pole on my cell phone and send it to her. I just checked if it was still on my phone and for some reason I deleted it so I can't post it! So about 15 minutes had passed and our buzzer was going off for dinner! Score, we got seated like 40 minutes early!!

We were walked to our seats all the way in the back of the restaurant, in the quiet part. I kind of wanted to be in the middle of it all in the loud part inside but I wasn't going to complain. We walked through the main dining area and saw people with lots of ketchup and big glasses of water or soda. I was sooooooo hoping they would do that for Chris because he drinks soooo much! This was where we were sitting, we could look right out into the lobby.

Our waitress came over and introduced herself as "Jailbird Jessie." SHe just sat down at the table with us and was talking to us for a little bit. I thought that was really cute that the waiters and waitresses do that! So she took our drink and appetizer order while we looked over the menu for our dinner food. Chris ordered a coke to drink and our appetizer of the nachos for two. I ordered a bottomless chocolate shake and a water with lemon. Within minutes the food and drink had arrived.

They also brought out the most delicious, moist cornbread!

All of this was soooo good and it was really hard for me to not eat it all up. We tried to pace ourselves so that way we could have room for dinner! WHen Jessie dropped off the apps she took our dinner order. I got maple trout and Chris got steak. Soon after we had finished the nachos (which were delishhhhhhhhh) our dinners were brought out.

We were both VERY pleased with our meals! Chris said his steak was cooked perfectly as he had ordered it and was very tender and juicy. My trout was great too. It had the perfect little maple taste and was yummy but I think I was so full from the other food and the chocolate shake that I didn't finish it all. Unfortunately none of the typical WCC antics were pulled on us. I was a little sad about that but we still had an amazing time and amazing dinner here and would totally return to WCC!!!


Up next: more exploring and a hilarious caricature!!

 

[xoktenox]

Good luck!

Thanks!

I believe in you

Awww thank you!

Just read the rest of your IoA updates. I'm sorry that you felt sick after your gross lunch! That's hard to recover from. It stinks that you missed the rest of the rides you wanted to go on because of it!

I am sure WCC was much better!

The lunch in IOA was a total change compared to Disney food! Ick! It did make us miss out on some rides which stunk but Chris will probably just use it as an excuse to go back LOL WCC was wayyyyy better!

Hey Kristen! I loved reading about IOA. So sorry you didn't like the food. The Universal counter service food is GROSS! We tried eating at Mel's over at Universal one day back in 2006 and it was beyond disgusting. They have the absolute greatest sit-down restaurants though. Mythos was ranked the #1 theme park restaurant in the world every year for like the past five years, and the food's ridiculously good. The atmosphere's amazing too, and it's pretty cheap! Finnegans, Lombards and the CityWalk restaurants are also amazing. That's where Disney and Universal differ - Disney has better counter service restaurants and Universal has better sit-down.

I hope you did well on your test!!

Hey Mel! I know you love Universal parks so I'm sure you liked the IOA updates! The food was terrible! You did warn me of it before we went but I didn't listen even though I knew the Mythos would have been delicious. We didn't want to spend MORE money on food. You'll see how much we ended up spending and it was alot! LOL We should have just sprung for it!

The test was kinda hard but I'm hoping I pulled out enough points to pass. Do you have to take the multi-subject CST to teach elementary ed? I was talking to some of the people there and I think thats what they were doing!

I hope you did well . I'm sure you did without adout

Thank you girl, you're so sweet

Hi there! I wanted to pop over since we were there at the same time and some of our park days overlapped! I can't believe you found yourself in my pics...now I have to browse yours and look for my family!

I'll try to catch up a little at a time, but just wanted to say HI!

Heyyy!! I have to go read some more of your TR asap. I was freaking out when I saw us in your picture! I like rushed to tell my BF when he got home from work and he was just like "cool." LOL Glad you came over, hope you enjoy!!

 

[troobabiee7]

See what happens when you don't listen to me?!!! Totally kidding! I'm glad you felt better from the gross food. And you're insssaaaannneee, you both look so cute in those pictures! I love your pictures from the boat ride to the WL... while I love the Disney parks, the real magic for me is outside of them, away from the crowds, hustle and bustle and just enjoying the resorts and rest of the property. There's seriously nothing better than the Disney resorts at night, when everything's really relaxing and all lit-up and gorgeous. Love it!

The WCC food looks so good! I've read mixed reviews so I was afraid of trying it, but we'll definitely have to one time. Was it really loud in there??

 

[wdwgirl03]

Ahhh I can't wait until August so I can be on that boat dock!

Glad you liked WCC and the Wilderness Lodge...it's such a cool place. That cornbread they serve is really good!

 

[PopArtGal]

yummmm bottomless shake

 

[punkin413]

glad you liked the WCC!!! we had lunch their last year. it was really good. i think i got a burger and ray got the trout. it was really slow that day and therefore quiet but our server did give ray what she called a MANLY coke and that was pretty funny.......

oh, and stop saying you're fat! you are not even close to being fat. you're a beautiful girl inside and out......say that 100 times to yourself.

 

[xoktenox]

I forgot to mention this in my little blurb before the update earlier. Yesterday I went and got some pink hair extensions. I saw a lady from the IT department at work with them and decided I wanted them asap. Then I was talking to Nicole and she reminded me that her hair salon was doing them and all the proceeds were going to a little girl with leukemia. One of the stylists at the salon's 2 1/2 year old daughter was diagnosed at the beginning of the year with stage four cancer. Well the salon was charging $10 a strand with all the money going to the little girl. Then I really knew I couldn't pass up getting the extensions so after my test yesterday I went home, showered and headed to the salon. Here's how they came out. It took like 5 minutes to get 2 strands on each side. I got light pink and hot pink.

Once again, I'm wearing a shirt and its a tube top LOL

See what happens when you don't listen to me?!!! Totally kidding! I'm glad you felt better from the gross food. And you're insssaaaannneee, you both look so cute in those pictures! I love your pictures from the boat ride to the WL... while I love the Disney parks, the real magic for me is outside of them, away from the crowds, hustle and bustle and just enjoying the resorts and rest of the property. There's seriously nothing better than the Disney resorts at night, when everything's really relaxing and all lit-up and gorgeous. Love it!

The WCC food looks so good! I've read mixed reviews so I was afraid of trying it, but we'll definitely have to one time. Was it really loud in there??

i totally should have listened to you!! And thank you for saying we look good in the picture LOL I am just very unhappy with my body right now so I critique EVERY picture so harsh! Anyway, you're totally right about the magic of the Disney resorts. Our night at WL and the night we spent riding the monorail loop and watching the fireworks from the Poly were definitely highlights of the trip. Thats definitely the amazing part of Disney, the magic certainly doesn't end when you leave the park!

WCC food was really good! I know your a vegetarian and I really think you and your mom would enjoy the trout! I would recommend trying it there! It wasn't loud at all when we were there but it was kind of late for dinner (like 8:40ish when we sat down) and we were not in the main dining room. We were close to it though and didn't hear a lot of noise from inside

Ahhh I can't wait until August so I can be on that boat dock!

Glad you liked WCC and the Wilderness Lodge...it's such a cool place. That cornbread they serve is really good!

OMG so lucky that you'll be at that boat dock in 2 months!!! WCC and WL were both really awesome. The cornbread was mmm mmm goooood!

yummmm bottomless shake

OMG so delicioussssssss

glad you liked the WCC!!! we had lunch their last year. it was really good. i think i got a burger and ray got the trout. it was really slow that day and therefore quiet but our server did give ray what she called a MANLY coke and that was pretty funny.......

oh, and stop saying you're fat! you are not even close to being fat. you're a beautiful girl inside and out......say that 100 times to yourself.

I love the manly coke!! I was soooo wishing that they would do something like that for us but they didn't. Ray is obviously enjoying himself there so no wonder he wants to stay at the WL too! I hope those pictures got you even more excited for your WL stay next year

And thank you for not thinking I'm fat LOL I'm not one of those people who says it just so people can say "oh no you're not fat!" I just keep saying it because I am soooo unhappy with the way I look right now! Thats why I'm trying really hard to eat healthier and exercise lately. I MUST look better in the pictures in December

 

[PopArtGal]

nice hair extensions.

I just got my hair cut and it seems my hairdresse had a lot of fun with the scissor. lol She cut a bit more than I wanted.

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

The hair extensions are super cute! And such a great cause.

You're tempting me to make a WCC reservation for my one day trip!

 

[meanmom121]

I forgot to mention this in my little blurb before the update earlier. Yesterday I went and got some pink hair extensions. I saw a lady from the IT department at work with them and decided I wanted them asap. Then I was talking to Nicole and she reminded me that her hair salon was doing them and all the proceeds were going to a little girl with leukemia. One of the stylists at the salon's 2 1/2 year old daughter was diagnosed at the beginning of the year with stage four cancer. Well the salon was charging $10 a strand with all the money going to the little girl. Then I really knew I couldn't pass up getting the extensions so after my test yesterday I went home, showered and headed to the salon. Here's how they came out. It took like 5 minutes to get 2 strands on each side. I got light pink and hot pink.

Once again, I'm wearing a shirt and its a tube top LOL



i totally should have listened to you!! And thank you for saying we look good in the picture LOL I am just very unhappy with my body right now so I critique EVERY picture so harsh! Anyway, you're totally right about the magic of the Disney resorts. Our night at WL and the night we spent riding the monorail loop and watching the fireworks from the Poly were definitely highlights of the trip. Thats definitely the amazing part of Disney, the magic certainly doesn't end when you leave the park!

WCC food was really good! I know your a vegetarian and I really think you and your mom would enjoy the trout! I would recommend trying it there! It wasn't loud at all when we were there but it was kind of late for dinner (like 8:40ish when we sat down) and we were not in the main dining room. We were close to it though and didn't hear a lot of noise from inside



OMG so lucky that you'll be at that boat dock in 2 months!!! WCC and WL were both really awesome. The cornbread was mmm mmm goooood!



OMG so delicioussssssss



I love the manly coke!! I was soooo wishing that they would do something like that for us but they didn't. Ray is obviously enjoying himself there so no wonder he wants to stay at the WL too! I hope those pictures got you even more excited for your WL stay next year

And thank you for not thinking I'm fat LOL I'm not one of those people who says it just so people can say "oh no you're not fat!" I just keep saying it because I am soooo unhappy with the way I look right now! Thats why I'm trying really hard to eat healthier and exercise lately. I MUST look better in the pictures in December

I love those hair extensions. They look great on you. How fun.
Maybe I'll get lime green for disney
Somehow I don't think those colored hair extensions are meant for 47 year olds - but the 16 year old who lives inside me would love them.
And quit lying to us about your nudist tendencies

 

[xoktenox]

peanut butter jelly time!!!!

 

[punkin413]

love the pink hair extensions. my best friend from high school got some too with her little girl and they look so adorable together.

not that you need it but i lost a good bit of my weight when i started drinking nothing but water. i cut out diet coke, tea, EVERYTHING but water. i do allow myself coffee in the morning but i'm telling you, drinking nothing but water makes a TON of difference. diet coke is okay every now and then but it's just not good for you. your body needs that water to cleanse itself and be healthy.

if you already drink tons of water, nevermind!

 

[redlight]

Love the hair extensions!

I'm trying to lose weight myself. Eating more slowly helps. I also try to eat less at night.

 

[Charleston Princess]

I "think" I am caught up on your updates!!! Enjoyed seeing all the pictures from Universal -- we will probably never end up there until they open the Harry Potter park. Then, we will have to go for Connor.

Dinner looks so delicious at WCC -- looks like I will have to eat there sometime.

 

[tinkgurl]

GIRL! You are not fat! But you did make me laugh with the "my poof should've been higher".

Ahhh...the MK. I'm getting antsy for that view.

Woo! WL! Aw, the boat dock. How I miss you so! Haha, woo! I'm mentioned again! That sucks the pic you sent me got deleted! It was a very nice pic!

OMG, you did some good describing where you were eat WCC because that's exactly where I imagined you guys were when you told me while you were eating!

Love the pink extensions!

 

[Me&3]

The hair extensions are cute. I like how you let us know that you have a shirt on.