Sisters Reunion at the "Magical Kingdom" [Update 3/1 "And all before lunchtime

[laurainsem]

I've decided it is time for me to sort through all the pictures and write a trip report. We'll see how it goes!

So, before I go any further, I shall introduce you to the cast:

Me (Laura): I am a 28 year old newby Lutheran pastor living in Pennsylvania. It has been my dream for many, many years to go to Disneyworld. Life has been a bit chaotic lately with some major transitions and personal struggles. This trip was important to me for so many reasons. Relaxation, connecting with my sisters, being a kid again, seeing the mouse... it doesn't get any better!

Brenda: Brenda is my 31 year old sister. She is an amazing person that I really do look up to. She lives in Alaska and works in pediatric home health. Brenda is overdue for a real vacation and is counting down the days with us. I regularly receive phone calls and emails about things she discovers she wants to do. While Jamie and I weren't totally on board, Brenda was ready for T&T (tower of terror)!!

Jamie: Jamie, our baby sister, is 23 years old. She, like Brenda, is my best friend and confidant. She lives in Seattle at the moment and is a dedicated volunteer at the Children's Hospital. During her most recent visit, she helped me build a trip plan which we will of course share with you. Jamie has held on to the excitement of this trip from my first crazy vision and helped me count down the days. Her #1 goal was to ride Dumbo, and she didn't care if people thought she looked silly doing so! I must admit, I was right there with her!

 

[laurainsem]

Since we live all over the country, our arrivals varied depending on our flights. Poor Brenda had a twelve hour flight from Anchorage, Alaska. Thankfully her original flight was changed so she ended up arriving the day before Jamie and I. We booked her a room at the Pop so she was able to recover with a good nights sleep before we started with all our exciting plans.

Jamie and I were scheduled to arrive in Orlando at the same time. We organized it this way so we could take the magical express together. This was amazing as I was coming from Baltimore and she was coming from Seattle. Thrilled does not even begin to describe how we felt about being able to do this together!

Well.... as we all know with the wonderful world of flying, nothing ever goes as planned. Jamie's flight got delayed and then delayed some more. No, this had nothing to do with weather. It didn't even have to do with a mechanical. The problem was the crew was late. Like, really late. By the time they had arrived, Jamie's connecting flight in Houston would be impossible to catch. Then, to top it all off, they had to de-ice the plane but had no de-icer. Seriously. So, by the time Jamie arrived in Orlando, she was tired, not feeling good, and just wanted to chill. Really, who could blame her?! If it had been me, I would have been a crabby, nasty mess. Not the way she (or we) wanted to start off, but she handled it like a champ.

I, on the other hand, had a fantastic flight. My plane even ended up arriving 30 minutes early much to my delight. The weather in Pennsylvania was snowy and gloomy so the sun of Florida was exactly what I was craving! While there was a chill in the air, it still felt like a glorious spring day!

I couldn't of been more excited to see this:

We all found the Magical Express a wonderful way to begin our vacation. The video added to the excitement. So, we were all off on our way to the happiest place on earth!

So exciting to see exit signs with Disney on them!

Through the gate, we're there!

While not the best picture, can you tell we were excited about arriving. You wouldn't believe how many pictures the three of us have combined of ones just like this. With three separate bus trips, it's a little nuts!

Since Brenda had checked in the night before, Jamie and I both did not have to even worry about it. Our Travel Agent worked it out to where Brenda would be assigned the same room we would have the rest of the trip, even though it was booked outside of our package deal. Our TA was truly amazing and I would recommend her to anyone else in a heartbeat!

Here's the check-in area I didn't have to worry about! Sorry it's so dark, it's not the best lit area.

While we had requested the 80's building of the hotel, we were upgraded to a preferred room. We were a little bummed until we saw how close we would be to the main building. It was great and oh so convenient. Plus, we had a nice view of the lake and it was SO quiet! Our room was in the 60's Playdoh building. So fun!

Our building:

View from the stairs/elevator; so cute!

Hallway leading to our room:

Such a great room!

The view. We could see the lights from Hollywood Studios and fireworks from Fantasmic. Pretty cool!

Our very messy room. I forgot to get pics prior to our packing. Oops!

 

[topdog]

Sounds like fun time.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Great start!

Count me in!

 

[laurainsem]

After we rested and got unpacked a bit, we decided to head on over to Downtown Disney. This was an extra-special trip, as our Aunt and Uncle from Utah would be in town! As it turns out, our trips overlapped by one day. Jamie and I had last seen them about 5 years prior, but Brenda hadn't seen them in over 15 years! So, this was a really cool opportunity to visit even if only for a few hours.

When we arrived, they were still out at Gator World (still makes me crack up ) so we had some time to kill. We visited a few shops and ended up buying things. I had promised myself I would have some restraint until the end of the trip, but that lasted only a few minutes! We loved the Christmas store and probably spent more money there than any other that day.

After around an hour, it was time for our visit!

My Aunt and Uncle don't look happy in the picture but I promise, the evening was filled with smiles and laughs!

Here's another picture of the three sisters in front of Stitch. I so wish Brenda or Jamie would have been spit on!

We decided to ditch our original plans for Earl of Sandwich and went with T-Rex. You can read more about the food in my Dining Review, but I will say it's yummy food and the perfect atmosphere for Dino lovers! Here's a couple pictures of the inside of the restaurant:

My buddy for the evening:

After that, it was a few more shops. Jamie wasn't feeling well after her long, drawn out day of delays on the plane so she went back early. Brenda and I did a few more shops and then decided to call it an evening. It was a great first day and we couldn't wait to receive our wake up call and head out to the Magic Kingdom (or as Jamie says, "The Magical Kingdom)!

 

[Nicole786]

What a great start! Thats awesome that your TA was able to combine the two rooms very hassle-free!

 

[pamouselover]

Great start! Looks like you are going to have a awesome time!

 

[laurainsem]

What a great start! Thats awesome that your TA was able to combine the two rooms very hassle-free!

She is pretty awesome. I'll always use her for our Disney vacations. She genuinely cares and helped lay everything out for me to understand (not always the easiest task)! Plus, she answered my millions of questions without ever getting annoyed. Amazing lady!

Great start! Looks like you are going to have a awesome time!

Thanks! We really did have an awesome time and are soooo looking forward to going back. Already i'm counting down the days!

 

[laurainsem]

Thanks to my fellow DISers, I knew to set the alarm with my happy wake up call from Mickey, Stitch, and the gang! We were up and at 'em ready to get our mugs filled, danishes eaten, and stroll on over to the buses.

We got to the Magic Kingdom a good half hour or so before the rope drop. Yeah, I guess I overplanned just a bit. Next time I don't think we need to get there THAT early! Oh well, it left us plenty of time to take pictures.

Our Pal Mickey (thanks Ebay!). Jamie and I loved him but he drove Brenda nuts. All the more reason to bring him along in my opinion!

Before we knew it, more people were arriving and rope drop was approaching. I'm so glad I read these boards as otherwise I never would have planned to be here. It was a great show and we were right up in front so could videotape the whole thing. I'd share it with you but Jamie has the DVD's in Seattle. Sadness...

Yay, it's the mayor!

Could you imagine being THIS energetic every morning? No way, love my sleep!

This was a great way to see so many of our favorite characters right away.

Then, we were off to enter (sorry it's blurry)...

 

[Monny2AE]

I love the pic of you and your sisters at rope drop

Great TR so far

 

[pezheadmeg]

I'm so in. Looked like the trip will be a blast.

 

[ohsoblessed]

Our family will be at WDW in 14 days. Spent most of my morning packing already. Can you tell how excited I am? Btw we will also be eating at TRex glad to hear you had good food and a good time.

Your TR is great, can't wait to hear more. Keep it coming

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Yippee! Another great TR! I love these things! I really need to get started on mine! Can't wait to read more of yours!

 

[laurainsem]

I love the pic of you and your sisters at rope drop

Great TR so far

Thanks, it's one of our favorites! I miss them so much already; I can't wait to see them both again. Hopefully all three of us can do a trip together again soon.

I'm so in. Looked like the trip will be a blast.

It was! There are some crazy surprises at the end, but I won't spill the beans just yet.

Our family will be at WDW in 14 days. Spent most of my morning packing already. Can you tell how excited I am? Btw we will also be eating at TRex glad to hear you had good food and a good time.

Your TR is great, can't wait to hear more. Keep it coming

Yay for a trip! I'm so jealous, I can't wait to go back! Isn't the DIS great? These TR helped me so much when I was eagerly awaiting the trip. It's nice to have one to write this time!

BTW, The TRex was great. If we had kiddos with us, I know it would have been even more fun. Good thing we're such kids at heart!

Oh my, I just noticed that was your first post! I'm so honored it's on my TR!!!

Yippee! Another great TR! I love these things! I really need to get started on mine! Can't wait to read more of yours!

Isn't this fun?! You need to get yours started, I want to read it!!!

 

[laurainsem]

So I finished writing my sermon for tomorrow (finally) so thought i'd get another entry in. This is so FUN!!!!

It is amazing how upon entering the park, you feel like you are literally entering a whole new world. Walt really knew what he was doing when he created Main Street. I love all of the details, from City Hall to the fire station, to the people standing on street corners welcoming you with Mickey gloves!

The park really wasn't that full at opening, much to our delight. I used a combo of the DIS, TGM, and the UG for planning. It really seemed to work well our entire trip.

We took some time to just take it all in, videotaping the sites and looking at the smaller details. Slowly, we migrated our way towards the castle. Thankfully we ran into a nice lady. I offered to take her family's pictures and she offered to take ours! Here is our first picture with Cinderella's Castle!

She learned it was our first trip to WDW and told us where to get the 1st visit buttons. Soooo, we walked back to City Hall as we just HAD to have our buttons, now didn't we?!

After picking up our buttons, it was time to make our way to some rides. As children, we went to Disneyland a few times (3 or 4, can't remember) and it was always the tradition to ride It's a Small World first. We are not ones to break traditions so it was a must. It was kind of hard to walk by no lines with things like Peter Pan's Flight knowing what a rarity that is, but we kept going. We had a mission!

There was no line for Small World which was great. We practically ran the way down to the lone boat! Yup, we were the only ones! Here are a few pics of our very first ride at WDW...ever!

We were bowing back to some of the dolls. I know, we're weird and giddy!

It was everything we remembered, except we were a bit older and taller this time! There was also a bunch that we had never noticed. It's so different experiencing things for the first time as an adult, isn't it? I know the DL and WDW versions have differences, but I think alot of the things we noticed was simply because we're all grown up now. Amazing.

More to come but the pup is calling to use the potty. Will be back!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Your pictures are great!

 

[laurainsem]

So now that the dog's bladder is empty, I can continue!

When I left off, we had just finished our most wonderful ride through Small World. As the line was still oh so short at Peter Pan, we took the opportunity to say we literally walked on to it.

This ride was much more adventurous than we had planned. As you know, it is truly a kiddy ride and IASW paced. My younger sister Jamie has gone on pretty incredible rides with me at Hershey Park yet had turned into such a pansy since! She literally yelped over and over again on Peter Pan! She said it was scary since it was up in the air. What a yahoo, we couldn't stand it. I seriously thought Brenda and I were going to wet ourselves!

Next up was the teacups. I know, it would've made more sense to continue down to the Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, and the like. We really didn't care too much and decided we'd rather get some of our favorites out of the way. We just love to do kiddy rides first!

The teacups were so much fun. Brenda and I love spinning rides, poor Jamie I think was ready to vomit!

Looking a bit leary....

The great news? The line was sooo short, the dude let us stay on and go again! Brenda and I wanted to take him up on his offer for a third time, but we felt a teensy bit bad for Jamie so got off. Next up, the Haunted Mansion!!

 

[mrskckitty]

I'm really enjoying reading your report and your pictures are great! Can't wait to read about The Haunted Mansion (my favorite ride)!

 

[redlight]

How wonderful that you and your sisters get to vacation together. I am enjoying your pictures and stories, and look forward to more.

 

[laurainsem]

I'm really enjoying reading your report and your pictures are great! Can't wait to read about The Haunted Mansion (my favorite ride)!

Thank you for joining in on the fun! We love the Haunted Mansion; it's one of our favorites as well. Promise i'll get on the update later today!

How wonderful that you and your sisters get to vacation together. I am enjoying your pictures and stories, and look forward to more.

It was wonderful to get together. It is rare the three of us are ever in the same room simply because of distance and schedules. Hopefully we'll be able to do this much more often!