Running... From Coast to Coast and Back Again - Tink 1/2 TR, Princess TR

[Shannon84]

I am the same way about arriving in the Orlando airport, I just want to sprint to ME area and get on the bus to my resort as fast as possible!!

I found the bus system to WWoS really confusing when I did the wine and dine half...I think most CMs were confused too

Love the picture in the EE challenge tent...thats nice that they set up a little photo op there!!

 

[jenseib]

I love the tent picture. Thats so cute. I also love your tank top, where did you get that?

 

[20thingamabobs]

Can't wait!

I know, I'm anxious to finish them but things have been crazy..

I am the same way about arriving in the Orlando airport, I just want to sprint to ME area and get on the bus to my resort as fast as possible!!

I found the bus system to WWoS really confusing when I did the wine and dine half...I think most CMs were confused too

Love the picture in the EE challenge tent...thats nice that they set up a little photo op there!!

Yea, I really struggled with it but it worked out ok since we arrived just in time but I would have been upset if we'd just missed it

I didn't think the buses were too bad during Marathon Weekend but I have no idea what the deal was for EEC... we never did ride one of them...

I thought the little set up was cute too! I'm glad they had a little more offerings for the EEC than the ESPN 5k and I thought that was nice. Made everything a little more exciting

I love the tent picture. Thats so cute. I also love your tank top, where did you get that?

Thanks! I got my shirt at the kiosk outside the American Adventure pavilion in Epcot. The little Mickey Heads are the different flags from the various countries and on the back it says something like "one World. One Mouse."

 

[DrMomof3]

Loving the TR so far! And I'm SO jealous.
Was your DME bus a Cruise Line bus?

Amanda

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 1 Continued: May 6th, 2011 – Epcot / Animal Kingdom Lodge-Kidani

When we left off, we had just gotten off a bus at Pop Century and were sitting on a bench waiting for the Epcot bus to arrive. We probably waited just under 10 minutes before a bus to Epcot pulled up and we hopped on. It was still only a little after 2:00pm by the time we arrived at Epcot. I snapped this quick picture of the Flower & Garden entrance on our way in:

Once we made it to the hub area on the other side of Spaceship Earth I stopped briefly to check out the info board to see if there were Fast Passes still available for Soarin’ or Test Track. While Soarin’ was of course all out, it said that Test Track had some remaining for between 7:15-8:15pm. So, over we went to pick one up. It was for 7:25-8:25 by the time we got it. With our Fast Pass in hand, we headed over to start our journey of drinking around the world. Since we were having dinner in Canada, we decided to head for the United Kingdom instead. As we passed through Canada, DBF asked which country got jipped with just a pile of rocks… I tried explaining that there was more to it that he couldn’t see and that they had to whole section to the left as well but he was convinced all the Canada pavilion was, was a pile of boulders…. I swear, I can’t take him anywhere… Anyway, our destination was the Rose & Crown Pub:

We took a look at the menu and decided we would start with the Strongbow Cider. DBF promised it would taste like apple cider so I went for it. We decided to share this one and the CM explained that it was the same price to get two half pints as one full pint (one would hope so) so she just poured it into two separate glasses. With drinks in hand, we headed outside. We decided to just take a seat at one of the tables right outside the door and just take in the atmosphere. Here’s a pic of each of us with our drinks; I thought it’d be cute to point to flag of the country we were in on my shirt:

I’d never really done this and there was a small part of me that struggled with the fact that I wasn’t running from attraction to attraction but on the other hand, I was really enjoying finally getting to fully take in the world showcase for once. After relaxing for a little bit, we decided to walk through some of the shops in the UK. There was a band playing in the little open garden area in the behind the back of all the shops so we stood and enjoyed that for a while as well. Then, I headed into the toy soldier to pick up a Duffy mask thing so have stamped in each of the countries we drank in (plus, it made a nice fan in the hot 80 degree plus weather). So here he is with the first stamp and a close up of the stamp:

Once we were close to the end of our drinks, we started to head towards France. When we arrived, we still had of our drink left so we decided to have a seat on the steps down to that terrace to just relax for a moment. DBF and I had Illuminations from these steps back during our half marathon trip and really enjoyed it. We were hoping to be able to do it again but occasionally they hold private events here and it’s closed off; but here’s what it was like while we were sitting:

We finally finished our first drinks (I gave about a ¼ of mine to DBF because it was just too much for me) and then we were off for drink number 2. I was very excited for this drink as it’s one of my favorites in all of WDW – The Grey Goose Citron Slushie! We hadn’t been carded in the UK but we did get carded here, but with all that out of the way, we were off to enjoy France with our drink in hand. We shared this one as well as we walked around the pavilion and got my Duffy stamp. Here’s us with our drink and the new Duffy stamp (please excuse how sweaty and weird I look, the Florida humidity wasn't agreeing with my hair):

This one didn’t take as long to drink and before long we were ready to move along. By this time, it was about 3:45 so we decided to head over to Canada to check in for our 4:00pm Le Cellier reservation:

They weren’t seating anyone until right at 4 so I walked around snapping some pictures and got my Canada stamp:

Continued Next Post...

 

[20thingamabobs]

Around 4, about 6-8 CMs lined up and sang the Canadian National Anthem and then we were able to be seated. Here’s a view from our table:

We tried to get a lighter drink here so we both ordered a glass of wine. I know I ordered some type of Riesling and DBF had a red wine but I can’t remember the brands but I was sure to ask our waitress that they were indeed “Canadian” wines. Here we are with our drinks:

We ordered a bowl of the Cheddar soup to share to dip our pretzel bread in to start and apparently I didn’t take a picture. For dinner, we both ordered the Filet Mignon. I really wanted the cream cheese mashed potatoes but they don’t serve them anymore so I ended up getting a different type of mashed potatoes while DBF stuck with the mushroom risotto that it comes with:

After dinner, our bellies were really full and we didn’t really feel like continuing our drinking tour right away so instead, we headed back towards Future World to see what the wait for Soarin’ was. On the way, I stopped to take a picture of the sand design along the path over:

In March, this design was purely of African Cats so it was neat to see that they had changed it a little. Once in Future World, the information board outside was reporting a 75 minute wait. I asked DBF what he wanted to do and we decided that we really didn’t have anything else to do so we headed inside. I snapped this pic before we got in line:

I’d never really been through the stand-by line before so that was interesting. I was excited to play with the games that show up on the large screens but was quickly disappointed when I realized that they don’t entirely work very well… So, we spent our time in line just talking. There was a group of 13 high school students in front of us that were playing some very loud and obnoxious games that was thoroughly annoying so that part kind of made the experience a little unenjoyable but oh well. The line was moving faster than I expected and after only 55 minutes (opposed to the posted 75) we were being assigned to our rows. We were going to be assigned in to the middle section. 10 of the thirteen kids in front of us were assigned to row 1 while the remaining 3, DBF and I, and some others were assigned to row 2. I always prefer a non-foot view but could have lived with it if it wasn’t for these kids. You see, when we got the attraction and started our “flight”, the kids beside us started yelling, and I mean YELLING, comments about the feet of the kids that had been placed into Row 1. It really took away from the attraction but I did my best to block them out and just enjoy it. I just can’t believe how inconsiderate some people can be. Anyway, we enjoyed it none the less and as we exited, we contemplated where to head next. We finally decided on Mexico. I knew we should head inside to get our drink so that’s where we went. We were going to get one of the specialty margaritas but ended up with just a plain Strawberry one instead. We got it in a to go cup and headed back outside. I got my stamp on the way out:

And once outside, we stop for the obligatory picture:

We started to walk towards Norway. Once there, we decided to just grab a seat for a little and relax some more. DBF headed to the bathroom and I made a friend while he was gone:

It was getting close to 7:25pm which is when our Fast Passes were good so we decided to just head back over there. I snapped this picture before we headed inside:

I love Test Track and it was wonderful as usual. Once we left, we decided we would just head back to World Showcase, grab one last drink and then find a spot for Illuminations. For our last drink (that’s right, we only hit 5 of the pavilions and then we had enough), we chose Germany. While DBF waited in line to get an Oktoberfest beer, I headed inside to get a Riesling per Shannon84’s suggestion. Here’s our pic:

I have to say, this may have been one of the best glasses of Riesling I’d ever had. I was extremely tempted to go back in and buy a bottle of it but I didn’t. DBF made the walk from Germany over to France again to head for our little terrace. Well, when we arrived, we realized that it was indeed closed off for a private event. Remember this, it will become important later. With our terrace blocked off, we turned around and headed back in the direction we’d just come in the hopes of still being able to find a good spot. We finally found an opening in the Japan pavilion between a group of people and a trash can. There was more than enough room for us to fit in but as soon as we stood there, the people next to us started inching closer and closer trying to push us back out. I’m not sure why they did it seeing as there was plenty of room for all of us with room to spare for personal space but they did it anyway. I left DBF standing there and I went headed off towards the American Adventure pavilion to get a cream cheese pretzel and look for a new spot. I didn’t see anything along the way but as I was standing in line for my pretzel, I noticed a section of fence inside the area where the Flower Power concerts were being held that people were standing against. Since it was technically inside the concert area, there was a rope up but there was no reason I couldn’t get in there. So, with pretzel in hand, I headed over. I asked the women standing there if either of them was saving the space. They both said they each had one of person joining them but that there would be room for DBF and I too. So I staked out and called DBF to join me. We spent the next 20 minutes talking to the two women beside us before Illuminations started. Here’s the pictures we took of the show:

It’d been a long day and DBF and I were both pretty tired so we decided to skip Extra Magic Hours and head out. We stopped for one quick picture before heading to our bus stop:

The bus queue was already crowded and I knew we wouldn’t get on the first bus that pulled up. The first bus came after about 5 minutes and my thoughts were confirmed. There were still about 10 people in front of us and about 20 behind us. It took another 10 minutes or so before the next bus showed which wasn’t bad at all. Not too many more people had got in line and when we boarded, almost everyone except 2-3 guys in the front of the bus were able to sit. After such a long day, I had a little bit of a headache so I laid my head on DBF’s shoulder on our way back. We got back to the hotel around 10:40pm and this is what we were met by:

So pretty lit up at night.

Next up, we finally get to see our room and… a surprise? For me? But how’s that possible, I planned the whole trip…

 

[Shannon84]

First off I am very happy my suggestion paid off well I love riesling!

I just hate when people ruin attractions, especially after waiting forever in line, for some reason this usually happens to me on Dinosaur

I think I would have a hard time adjusting to just strolling around World Showcase and EPCOT in general...but it must be nice to really stop and smell the roses there...especially when I feel like I usually miss a lot at that park

Great pictures of you and DBF, I love the Mickey tank top with the flags and the stamps were a great idea!! Can't wait to hear about your surprise!!

 

[amazingact21]

I saw you! I hope you had fun and I wish I would have got to talk to you. Your DF briefly introduced himself while we were waiting for the bathroom but it would have been fun to get a picture! Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful trip and I can't wait to read your report!

Sorry about if my DF sounded really weird. We were by the bathrooms when I happened to see you and recognized your costume. I turned to DF and told him, "Hey, you know how I read people PTRs on the DISboards...well, I think that person's on there."

And, of course, DF replied, "Well, go ask her!"

I didn't want to be weird, though, plus I'm a really shy person, so I just said, "No, forget it, I'll just tell her I think I saw her on her thread later."


But DF refused to listen and went ahead and talked to you.

I was kinda embarassed; I kept thinking, "She's going to think we're crazy!"
Not to mention at that moment I was fighting with the hand-washing machine.


So, I'm glad to see my DF talking to you didn't bother you; I got on to him afterwards, saying how mortified I was that he went up to you just on a comment I said.




Your Epcot day sounds like a lot of fun. I'm glad you were able to find a good IllumiNations spot, especially after those rude people pushed you out of your original choice.

Was Test Track working all right for you when you went on it? I know when DF and I rode it on the 10th, the part with the brake check seemed broke.


I can't wait to see what your surprise was!

 

[jenseib]

great day. I would be falling over after 5 drinks though. I'm not as young as I used to be. LOL! I wanted to get a drink in France this past trip,but I just never made it there to get one.When we were there I didn't have time.

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Hey Whitney! Sorry I've been absent from this forum lately.... But I have been spending lots of time over on the Wedding boards! Scott and I put our deposit down on our Disney wedding!

I don't allow anything but bathroom stops at MCO after landing there. I have to fight the urge to run to the ME as well. It doesn't feel like vacation until I'm getting on that bus!

Scott and I did a grown up only trip last August and spent most of one day drinking around the world and it was awesome taking the time in each country to really check it out and not just breezing through like I usually do. I saw quite a bit of stuff I had never noticed before. It was very relaxing.

Glad to see packet pick up for the EE challenge went smoother than the ESPN 5K. I can't wait to here about the race!

 

[20thingamabobs]

First off I am very happy my suggestion paid off well I love riesling!

I just hate when people ruin attractions, especially after waiting forever in line, for some reason this usually happens to me on Dinosaur

I think I would have a hard time adjusting to just strolling around World Showcase and EPCOT in general...but it must be nice to really stop and smell the roses there...especially when I feel like I usually miss a lot at that park

Great pictures of you and DBF, I love the Mickey tank top with the flags and the stamps were a great idea!! Can't wait to hear about your surprise!!

I loved the Reisling in Epcot, definitely going back next trip for a whole bottle (to bring home obviously ). I was very annoyed with the kids on Soarin' It was bad enough listening to them in line for an hour straight but then they had to yell on the ride too Sadly, this wasn't the only time this happened to us... It was hard taking it slow at Epcot but looking back, I'm so glad we did. We really had a nice time. my surprise is a good one, I've been having trouble not sharing it yet!

Sorry about if my DF sounded really weird. We were by the bathrooms when I happened to see you and recognized your costume. I turned to DF and told him, "Hey, you know how I read people PTRs on the DISboards...well, I think that person's on there."

And, of course, DF replied, "Well, go ask her!"

I didn't want to be weird, though, plus I'm a really shy person, so I just said, "No, forget it, I'll just tell her I think I saw her on her thread later."


But DF refused to listen and went ahead and talked to you.

I was kinda embarassed; I kept thinking, "She's going to think we're crazy!"
Not to mention at that moment I was fighting with the hand-washing machine.


So, I'm glad to see my DF talking to you didn't bother you; I got on to him afterwards, saying how mortified I was that he went up to you just on a comment I said.




Your Epcot day sounds like a lot of fun. I'm glad you were able to find a good IllumiNations spot, especially after those rude people pushed you out of your original choice.

Was Test Track working all right for you when you went on it? I know when DF and I rode it on the 10th, the part with the brake check seemed broke.


I can't wait to see what your surprise was!

Hey! I was actually glad your DF came up to talk to me! I think it's so fun meeting people from the DISboards! But, it is a little strange too. Maybe next time though! I too had a fight with the water machine before I finally just went to a different one that worked better.

I'm glad we were able to find a good spot too since we'd planned to find a spot early but then moved three times. I was worried we wouldn't get anything.

When we picked up our Fast Passes around 2pm, the ride was completely shut down but I could see the cars going around the outside VERY slowly. By the time we went back at 7:25, it seemed to be working fine. The video that plays after the brake check sequence didn't run but that was the only abnormal thing that I noticed but it also wasn't working when we were there in March either... what happened while you were riding?

I can't wait to share my surprise!

great day. I would be falling over after 5 drinks though. I'm not as young as I used to be. LOL! I wanted to get a drink in France this past trip,but I just never made it there to get one.When we were there I didn't have time.

haha, you can't really tell in my TR but our drinks were fairly well spread out and we shared most of them.. I assure you, if I drink all five by myself quickly, I too wouldn't have been walking straight The drinks in France are awesome, you'll need to be sure to get one next time!

Hey Whitney! Sorry I've been absent from this forum lately.... But I have been spending lots of time over on the Wedding boards! Scott and I put our deposit down on our Disney wedding!

I don't allow anything but bathroom stops at MCO after landing there. I have to fight the urge to run to the ME as well. It doesn't feel like vacation until I'm getting on that bus!

Scott and I did a grown up only trip last August and spent most of one day drinking around the world and it was awesome taking the time in each country to really check it out and not just breezing through like I usually do. I saw quite a bit of stuff I had never noticed before. It was very relaxing.

Glad to see packet pick up for the EE challenge went smoother than the ESPN 5K. I can't wait to here about the race!

No worries! I'm glad you came back over though! Congratulations on putting down your deposit! That's so exciting! Have you decided on dates and locations? I can't wait to hear all about it!

I was very anxious in MCO but it worked out ok.. Next time though, he can get coffee at the resort

I really enjoyed relaxing at Epcot. I noticed a lot of new things also and while we took things slow, we still got to experience our two favorite Epcot attractions. I would definitely do it again.

Packet pick-up was so much better this time around. It was smooth and not crowded at all. It was alot more like packet pick-up for the half marathon (minus the vendors) than the ESPN 5k. The race was so much fun! I can't wait to tell you about it. You should definitely plan on trying this one next year!

 

[20thingamabobs]

Once in the resort, we headed over to Bell Services to get our carry-on bags. With bags in hand, we headed over to find our resort. The elevator was right around the corner from the lobby, we took it up two levels to the fourth floor. Our room was right on the corner about 4 doors down. It was so convenient and I was really happy about having my request fulfilled. When we arrived in the room, my checked bag was waiting for me. Before I let DBF set anything out, I had to take pictures of our room:

DBF headed out on the balcony while I took some Ibuprofen for my headache. He came back inside and said how much he liked our room and that he was glad we’d chosen to stay here. I hadn’t seen our balcony yet so I headed outside. You couldn’t really see anything since it was so late but I took these pictures anyway:

DBF joined me on the balcony and told me again how much he liked our hotel and went on about how peaceful and relaxing our balcony was. It really was nice. It was nice just standing there listening to the sounds and doing our best to peer through the darkness to try and spot an animal. We were pretty sure we could see something moving off in the distance but it was too hard to tell in the darkness what it was. I was about to head back inside to get ready for bed when DBF wrapped his arms around me and hugged me. I hugged him back and we stood there for a moment before having the following conversation:

DBF: “Thank you for inviting me on this trip”
Me: “Thank you for feeding my (Disney) addiction”
DBF: “There’s no one I’d rather be here with”
Me: “Me too”
DBF: “And there’s no one else I want to spend the rest of my life with”
Me: “Me too”

This wasn’t the first time we’d had a conversation like this.

DBF: “And you’ve been very patient with me”

At this point, I pulled away slightly and turned to look at him funny because I wasn’t sure where he was going with all of this…

As I did so, DBF reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box as he got down on one knee…

DBF: “So, I have one more question for you… Will you marry me and make me the happiest man in the world?”

Between the crying and laughing and shock, I did my best to say “yes” as he slipped the most beautiful ring I’d ever seen on to my left ring finger. And right there on our balcony, DBF became my DF! Once I managed to calm down, DF asked which family I wanted to call first. I said mine. DF had asked my dad’s permission two months prior so they had an idea that it was coming but were very excited! Then we called DF’s parents followed by each of his three brothers. Then it was onto my grandparents followed by all of our close friends. By the time we finished calling everyone, it was already 12:30am. It had been such a long but amazing day. I hopped in the shower quickly to rinse off because after flying and walking around in the heat all day I felt gross. Then, despite being overly excited, we headed to bed and fell quickly to sleep.

DF had been carrying the ring with him all day waiting for the perfect moment. He had wanted to propose at Epcot after Illuminations but when “our spot” was occupied by a private party and then we had trouble with the rude people at the second spot and then ended up standing with a bunch of people at our final stop, he had decided to wait till we were back at the hotel and could have a more intimate and private moment to propose. I was happy that he waited. It was nice to not have to ride the bus back afterwards and be able to just focus on sharing the good news with everyone. I was completely shocked and had no clue it was coming but I couldn’t have been happier than to now be able to say, I got engaged at Walt Disney World!!!

Here’s some pictures we took of my ring…

It's 14k white gold with a 1 carat diamond in middle and 4 - 1/8 carat diamonds on either side. I love it so much!

 

[jenseib]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How exciting. I totally didn't expect that coming!

Congrats!! That is so awesome! And the ring is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!

 

[amazingact21]

Congratulations! What a wonderful suprise!!!
Your DF did a great job choosing a ring; it's gorgeous!!

No wonder he was pushed you to stay at a Deluxe resort; he knew you guys would be celebrating something special.

 

[Shannon84]

OMG!!! CONGRATS!! I am so happy for you guys!! Engaged at Disney, thats awesome!!

What a beautiful ring...DF did a great job picking that out, it is amazing What a sweet proposal too!! I just knew it was going to be something good when you said you were having trouble waiting to share the surprise

 

[Dsnygrl1205]

Oh My God!! I Litterally just squealed while I was reading this post! The others in the office are looking at me funny now...

I am so happy for you Whitney! And the ring is gorgeous! He has great taste.

 

[20thingamabobs]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How exciting. I totally didn't expect that coming!

Congrats!! That is so awesome! And the ring is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!

Thank You! I was so surprised and so excited!

Congratulations! What a wonderful suprise!!!
Your DF did a great job choosing a ring; it's gorgeous!!

No wonder he was pushed you to stay at a Deluxe resort; he knew you guys would be celebrating something special.

Thank you! I love everything about it! He actually hadn't decided to propose in Disney when we booked the room. He had just picked up the ring and was actually planning to propose sooner but then he didn't like any of the ideas he came up with so he decided to hold onto it for two MONTHS till we went to Disney.

OMG!!! CONGRATS!! I am so happy for you guys!! Engaged at Disney, thats awesome!!

What a beautiful ring...DF did a great job picking that out, it is amazing What a sweet proposal too!! I just knew it was going to be something good when you said you were having trouble waiting to share the surprise

Thank You! I think DF did a great job too! I was so surprised and I thought everything was very cute and romantic! I had a horrible time not just shouting it out when I got back but I thought it would be better just to wait and reveal it the same way it was "revealed" to me!

Oh My God!! I Litterally just squealed while I was reading this post! The others in the office are looking at me funny now...

I am so happy for you Whitney! And the ring is gorgeous! He has great taste.

Haha that's so funny that you squeled out loud! Thank you so much! Also, I can't wait to hear details about your Disney Wedding! Have you made any official decisions yet? Date?

 

[20thingamabobs]

Day 2: May 7, 2011 – Hollywood Studios / Relaxation / Race Day

Despite our exciting late night, I had no trouble getting out of bed when my alarm went off at 5:30am. It was so fun and amazing to wake up with that ring on my finger and be at my favorite place in the world! I got up and headed to bathroom to shower and start getting ready while DF stayed asleep for a little longer. After I showered, I fixed my hair and put on my make-up before waking up DF. He got up quickly too and showered and got dressed. Must be nice being a guy and being able to get ready in 15 minutes… While DF was showering, etc. I had finished getting ready as well. Once we were both ready, we headed out of room. On our way through the lobby, I asked the CM at the desk if we could have Just Engaged buttons and asked her to write May 6th, 2011 on them:

DF didn’t want to wear his so I put mine on and then placed his in my park bag. Then it was time to head out. I knew it was a little early for the buses to be coming frequently so we decided to just walk over to Jambo house. It’s a fairly short walk and wouldn’t have been bad except for the fact that it was FREEZING… I’m not sure why it was so cold this morning but I was really regretting not bringing my long sleeve tee. When we made it over to Jambo, we stopped briefly to take some pics of the hotel:

Then, I followed Cara’s (Dsnygrl1205) directions and found Mara pretty quickly. When we arrived, it was about 6:30am and we were informed that they weren’t serving “hot breakfasts” until 7am. I didn’t want to wait a half hour so we opted to just get something from the bakery. DF had a bagel while I ordered a blueberry muffin. We sat at one of the tables to eat and I asked DF all kinds of questions about the proposal and various things like that. When we finished eating, we made our way back through the main lobby and out to the bus stop. There was hardly anyone waiting and I was worried that we’d just missed a bus. We grabbed a seat to wait and I called my aunt to inform her of the good news. It had been too late to call her the night before but I knew she’d already be up because her sons had a baseball game this day and I wanted to call her and tell her before she heard from anyone else. I was only on the phone for a few minutes and right as I was getting off, a bus pulled up! It was practically empty despite having picked people up at Kidani first. We hopped on and found a seat and just enjoyed the semi-short ride to Hollywood Studios. By the time we arrived, it was only about 7:25am. DF asked what time the park opened and when I said 8am, he didn’t seem too thrilled about standing around… Oh well, I stuck him in line (we were second) and then I headed over to guest services. I was having trouble with the turnstiles and fast pass machines reading my annual pass and I wanted to get it fixed. Well, they ended up giving me a whole new pass. I was kind of bummed about this because I really liked my orange Goofy Let’s Celebrate pass and wasn’t as big of a fan of my new blue “let the memories begin” Donald one. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just not as fun . I also grabbed a map and times guide before joining DF in line again. We waited about 10-15 minutes before they let us through the turnstiles. We got through quickly and joined everyone in the mad dash towards more waiting. DF grabbed this pic while we were standing there:

Here's the crowds joining us:

We were stopped at the rope where the road splits off towards Sunset Blvd and waited about 10 more minutes. We spent some time talking with the families around us and they didn’t do any type of welcome ceremony this morning though. Then, it was finally time for the REAL mad dash. We were pretty close to the front so as we made our way towards Toy Story Mania, I took both tickets and was headed for the Fast Pass line. DF snapped these pictures along the way:

I thought he did pretty good getting pics while everyone else was just pushing their way to get to the FP machines or the line. Once I got the FPs, I joined DF again and we hopped in line to ride. DF took some more pictures as we moved through the line. We were going the perfect speed that we weren’t really “waiting” in line but it was slow enough to still get pictures without holding anyone up. Here are the ones he took:

We grabbed our 3D glasses and made it to the first CM. When we said we were a party of 2, they directed us through a gate and up the set of stairs to the right instead of the usual ones to the left (this happened to my mom and I in March as well – something about parties of 2). That cut our “wait” down even more and we were quickly on the ride. Here we are getting ready to go:

I was dominating throughout the first few games and DF complained that I had more practice. In the second to last game, he pulled ahead, so that final game was the decision maker… I just barely pulled ahead to win by 3,900:

I may or may not have gloated on the way to our next attraction. After our TSM fun, we headed back towards the front of the park and then up Sunset Blvd. The wait time for Tower of Terror was 13 minutes so I knew it probably wasn’t too bad and headed to Rock ‘n Roller Coaster instead:

 

[20thingamabobs]

We hopped in line and had about a 10 minute wait before we were getting into our Limo to hit the streets of L.A. It was an awesome ride as usual and when we got off, DF looks at me and goes “yea, I like that one”. This really says something since DF doesn’t usually comment on many of the rides. After our “concert”, we headed back to ToT:

The wait time still read 13 minutes but it was actually a walk on. We walked through the line, were assigned to a preview room, watched the video, and were let into the boiler room. I could see the line to the right and knew it was sort of long so I followed my “when there’s two lines always head to the left” rule and it worked perfectly. The line was much shorter and we were assigned to an elevator immediately.

I used to hate this ride but now I love it! I really wanted to ride again but DF said he’d rather ride RnRC so we headed over there. The line was sort of long so we just grabbed a FP for later instead. Since we hadn’t rode, I asked DF if we could ride ToT again and he said sure so we got in line again. It was basically a walk on again and it was just as fun as the first time!

By this point, it was only about 9:30am and we only had one more thing on the agenda that we didn’t have a FP for so I knew we probably wouldn’t make it until our 1:30pm reservation but we decided to play it by ear for a little longer. We headed back over to the Animation Courtyard and cut through the gift shop to get to the Animation Academy the back way. There was only one other person waiting for the first show to start. It was going to be about a 30 wait because they don’t open until 10am so we walked down the steps and decided to play the little interactive game where you answer questions and they tell you which Disney Character you’re most like. Here were our results:

DF:

Me:

I was so excited I was Tinker Bell since she’s my favorite! Once done, we walked back up the little staircase and joined a few other people waiting for the class. Over the next 15 minutes several others joined us and finally at 10am, we were welcomed into the room. The CM doesn’t like for anyone in the class to have to draw the same character twice so he went through the list of possibilities and asked people to raise their hands if they’d drawn that character before. I raised my hand so many times (and was often 1 of only 2) that DF finally told me not to raise my hand in anymore because he just wanted them to choose a character. In the end, there were 3 characters that only 1-2 people had drawn so the class voted between Goofy, Uncle Scrooge, and Louis. Goofy won! This is one of the characters that I haven’t done so I was excited about that. I’ll have to post our drawings later because I haven’t taken the picture yet.

After the class, we were both starting to feel hungry and tired so we decided that after we used our fast passes, we would just head out and have lunch at our hotel. Since we were so close to Toy Story Mania, we headed over to use that Fast Pass first. I think DF was winning after the first two games but then I pulled ahead and never looked back. I won again by a lot more this time and once again may or may not have gloated on the way back over to RnRc to use our Fast Passes (I even got the high score in our vehicle!):

We took one last spin through the streets of L.A.:

We had another awesome trip to the concert and then decided to call it a day. I cancelled our Hollywood & Vine reservation and we headed out of the park around 11:45am:

Our bus came quickly and we made our way back to the hotel.

Stay tuned for our first taste of Engagement Pixie Dust, an interesting lunch choice, and relaxing…

 

[Shannon84]

Wow the pictures of the resort are beautiful!!

Sounds like you guys had a great time in DHS and thats awesome that DF commented about how much he liked the ride!!

I am hoping to walk through the regular queue for TSM next trip, I haven't been able to do that yet

I am excited to hear about your engagement pixie dust!!