SOOZE Return of the Band Geeks! What's Next Update! p.25 10/10

[micandminforever]

The Ohana pictures were great. It was nice to see Tyson had someone to cut up with and that they still joined in with the dance around the restaurant. The food looked wonderful especially the dessert.

 

[Sooze]

Sooze:

I am sitting at my desk drooling over your pictures! I can't wait for dinner at O'hana's. In response to a prior post, yes, we have ate at O'hana's for breakfast but not dinner. It looks sooooo good! We have breakfast and dinner booked this trip.

Your daughter is toooo cute. I loved the pictures of her and the towels.

So nice you get to enjoy the World with friends. I can't wait to hear all about your evening at the Magic Kingdom.

I am glad you are out of school. I had been missing your updates!

Erika

Hope you didn't get any saliva on your keyboard! Hoping you love O'Hana's dinner as much as we do! We always leave COMPLETELY stuffed and happy!!

Thanks... I think she's pretty cute, too!

My first time at Sci Fi goes down in the Disney annals as one of the coolest experiences ever!

We really enjoyed it! Definitely going back!

Every Disney parent's mantra, right?!

Susie? You're torturing me with the bread pudding!

Glad I could help!!

hey susie! Great pics of Ohana...that food looks delish right about now!!

Yup, I believe it was matthew fox. I work at a hotel and he stayed with us a couple times. Nope...didn't get any pictures. I get a little shy when it comes to celebrities! LOL! Can't wait for more!!

That is awesome! I think I would've passed out if I saw him.. I just love him... and will miss seeing him each week. Guess I'll resort to the DVDs!

Mmmmmmm..... the bread pudding.... so. good.

We won't be heading to Ohana on our July trip, but I'll be hitting it on my Girls-Only Trip in October!

Yes... SOOOOO good!!! Glad you'll get some O'Hana SOMETIME this year!

Yum! Ohana is one of our favorites! We are eating there on our next trip. The start of the trip is always exciting. Are you done with school yet? I still have 4 student days and 1 teacher day left. I can't wait for Disney!

We finished school on May 24!! SOOOO glad to be done. You are just about there, no?

mmmm pot stickers, i am so pumped for those bad boys.

The Ohana pictures were great. It was nice to see Tyson had someone to cut up with and that they still joined in with the dance around the restaurant. The food looked wonderful especially the dessert.

 

[Sooze]

We were having such a great time with our friends, that we decided to head over to Magic Kingdom to continue the laughs and magic! On our way around on the monorail, Tyson and Abby got into a heated game of 'monorail surfing'.

Here is a video clip of the fun. You can hear Dean explain monorail surfing, and if you listen real close, you'll hear us conversing about how Tyson and Abby will be getting married in Disney someday. Just our little family joke!

My favorite part of that video is when Dean explains how monorail surfing ends. "Only when civilians enter the car" That's what we'd call people outside of our 'band geek' family.... civilians!

And if you like that, here is another (shorter) clip, in which Dean joins in on the action! Good stuff:


Our first stop, once we entered the magical gates of Magic Kingdom, was the Indy Car ride. Of course! We are from Indy... it just kind of fits!

We let Tyson and Abby have their own car (and, yes, we made plenty of comments about them getting used to it!)

Tyson looks focused. Abby... not so much!

We continued walking and ended up at the teacups. The line was very short, so Dean, the kids, and I all hopped in line while Matt and Adrianna sat out (too much O'Hana in the belly!). We decided that the 5 of us could fit into one teacup. BOY were we WRONG!!! Dean is easily 6ft. 4in. and he has some LOOOONNNGGG legs! Mine aren't too short either. But we were committed...so we sucked it up and crammed our legs and 3 little bodies in that dang cup. It was the LONGEST teacup ride EVER!!!

Of course, the kids LOVED it, and were laughing at us the whole time!!

Next stop was It's A Small World. This is a fun ride to go on with a big group. But we had a fun event happen on the way in! You all know the stroller parking area for IASW?! You know how you have to PASS the ride to find it? (When coming from Fantasyland) You also know how there are chains with signs all around IASW that say "NO STROLLER PARKING?!" Yeah.... check it out:

See those 3 strollers there? That was just a fraction of the MOB of strollers parked blatantly in front of the no parking signs. A Cast Member saw me take a picture of it and heard us complaining about people breaking Disney rules. She came over and chatted with us about it, and asked me to email her that picture! So funny! Poor thing had to move all of those strollers... and I'm SURE the people who parked them there were NOT friendly about having them moved, even though the signs are so obviously there. GRRRR!!!

We enjoyed our leisurely ride through the continents of the world:

We finished the night with Wishes. We found a spot in front of Crystal Palace that looked pretty decent. Unfortunately, we didn't really think about the fact that the CP was a RESTAURANT, and didn't close, turn of lights, or get remotely quieter for the show. So, even though we were enjoying the magic of the fireworks, we were pretty disappointed with our location. Lesson learned!!

We had a WONDERFUL night with friends, and were looking forward to another glorious Disney day!!

Coming up: An interesting encounter at VoL!

 

[jenniferkeala808]

Hey Susie! Great update! Tyson and Abby are sooo cute together...wouldn't that be something if they got married at Disney one day?! LOL! I also took notice of the no stroller parking...isn't that irritating?! Ugh! LOL!! Can't wait for more!!

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Sooze:

Another great update! That is too cute about Tyson and Abby. We do that a lot with a friend of Jeremy's! He gets soooo embarrassed.

Too funny about the strollers. I bet that would get old every day having to move someones stroller.

Thanks for the tip at Crystal Palace. I have often thought it would be a good place to sit and watch the fireworks but never took into account the noise.

Look forward to another update!

Erika

 

[JenSop]

Great update!

Haha - we singers often refer to non-singers as "civilians" as well! (I got that from my teacher....)

Kudos to you for braving the teacups - it's one of the few places on Disney property that my motion sickness keeps me from visiting.

 

[micandminforever]

I loved the video's on the monorail. It is great Tyson has someone his age to share Disney silliness with.

 

[Sooze]

Hey Susie! Great update! Tyson and Abby are sooo cute together...wouldn't that be something if they got married at Disney one day?! LOL! I also took notice of the no stroller parking...isn't that irritating?! Ugh! LOL!! Can't wait for more!!

Thanks Keala! I don't know if Abby and Tyson will get married at Disney, but I can pretty much guarantee that ONE of my children WILL get married there someday. I guess we better start saving!!

The stroller thing irritates me so much! Just like people who leave their grocery carts in the parking lot instead of taking 45 seconds to park it in the darn corral!!

Sooze:

Another great update! That is too cute about Tyson and Abby. We do that a lot with a friend of Jeremy's! He gets soooo embarrassed.

Too funny about the strollers. I bet that would get old every day having to move someones stroller.

Thanks for the tip at Crystal Palace. I have often thought it would be a good place to sit and watch the fireworks but never took into account the noise.

Look forward to another update!

Erika

You know, I think what would be worse than having to move strollers ever day.... would be dealing with the reaction of those rude guests when they find that their strollers had been moved! Can't be pleasant...

Glad I could help with the CP tip!

Great update!

Haha - we singers often refer to non-singers as "civilians" as well! (I got that from my teacher....)

Kudos to you for braving the teacups - it's one of the few places on Disney property that my motion sickness keeps me from visiting.

We can use 'civilians' in SO many different ways, can't we?

The teacups don't bother me, thankfully! I'm pretty good on all kinds of rides! This had to be the MOST uncomfortable round of teacups, EVER, though!

I loved the video's on the monorail. It is great Tyson has someone his age to share Disney silliness with.

Having Abby around is SO much fun. We don't even think about those two... they just entertain themselves!

 

[Sooze]

We began our next day in Epcot, splitting up immediately. The boys took on the big, big kid rides (Mission: Space and Test Track... again). Shaelyn and I were ready to explore the Fairy Garden, that was set up as a part of the Flower and Garden Festival.

We began by walking through the butterfly building... and we were immediately disappointed that there were hardly ANY butterflies out and about. TONS of cocoons, but very few flying beauties. Oh, well. At least we got a glimpse of this flying beauty on our way inside:

Don't you love the rainbow of flowers around Iridessa? SOOO beautiful!

It seemed like they had added a WHOLE bunch more to the Fairy display this year, that they didn't have last year. Including this famous mode of transportation for Tink:

We continued our tour around Pixie Hollow, and had a wonderful, relaxing, experience. Hope you enjoy the pictures! By the way, Shae was trying to make the same pose as the Fairy topiaries... just in case you were wondering.

Fawn and Shae:

Tink and Shae:

Vidia and Shae (a new topiary this year):

Another newcomer... Terrance!

Silvermist and Shae:

Shae taking a rest in the little Fairy house:

Rosetta and Shae (This is her favorite because they both have red hair!):

Not sure how many of you listen to the DisUnplugged, but on one episode, Pete went OFF on the Princess and the Frog display at the F&G Festival. We stumbled upon it just on the other side of the Fairy display. It's hilarious because the Fairy Garden is just SO beautiful, detailed, painstakingly put together... then right across the walkway is a CARDBOARD cutout of Tiana and Naveen. Pete was on the money with this pathetic display. Oh well, at least they had a little nod to the newest Princess!

Something I WISHED I would've taken more pictures of were the Fairy HOUSES. Last year, they had a display with Tink's home. It was adorable and beautifully detailed. This year, they had all kinds of houses for each fairy. They were so fancy and intriguing to look at. As we were walking around to see VoL, we passed a F&G booth and noticed that these fairy homes were on display. And there was the artist that had created them! She was just sitting in this little covered-tent-like booth with her magical creations all around her. Shaelyn and I stopped and talked to her for a while and admired her creative little homes. Sure wish I would've taken a picture of her and her booth, too.

Shaelyn and I continued our wonderful walk around to American Adventure. I was itching for some VoL, and she was very willing to go watch them with me. My FAVORITE Bass was there singing. He is SO young and just amazing to listen to. The voice that comes out of him just doesn't seem to fit what he looks like. Not sure why? But he is truly blessed with a special gift. Here he is with some talented ladies as well:

After several rounds of goosebumps and lumps in my throat (you know... just the normal reaction to VoL!), Shaelyn and I stood up to meet Matt, Tyson and our Band Geek friends out front. As I started walking towards the door, I noticed a couple that were approaching Shae and me.... I was a bit creeped out, until I looked at their faces.... I KNEW THEM!! And I hadn't seen them in, oh... about 18 years!!

You know... Facebook is a marvelous thing!! I have reconnected with SO many people from my past. One person I found was the sister of my high school boyfriend. I know... I know... finding exes on FB is bit shady. But, honestly, I have remained friends with the few ex-boyfriends I have, and Matt is cool with it. But I digress. Back in HS, my boyfriend had parents that took him and his sister to Disney ALL THE TIME!! I never understood how. Now I know, that they were DVC members... I learned through Facebook, that my HS Boyfriend's parents were going to be in Disney the same week we were. I didn't really think much about it... since I hadn't seen them in almost two decades and I didn't figure we'd be craving to meet up for lunch or anything! But THERE THEY WERE! By total coincidence! And, OF COURSE, we stumble on each other at Voices of Liberty. Why does that make sense? Well... DUH... my HS Boyfriend and his whole family were BAND GEEKS TOO!!

Here we are!

It was SO nice to see them and have a mini-catch-up session. It's so bizarre how you can NOT see people in so many years, but feel just as comfortable with them as you did all those years ago. Pretty cool...

Up next was our lunch date with our friends in Germany. We enjoyed some time exploring the miniature train stuff:

And I had to take a picture of the goats..... Adrianna had a thing with goats this whole week. She made a point in showing us all of the goats in Disney. I bet YOU'VE never thought about how many GOATS there are in Disney... but maybe you should. They are EVERYWHERE!

We were seated almost immediately at the Biergarten. We had AMAZING seats right in front of the stage!!

Dean got comfy right away:

I have GREAT video footage of this experience on my actual HD video camera. Still haven't taken time to hook that up to the computer and make it work... but it IS on my summer to do list! Just know that, as BAND GEEKS, we were in HEAVEN with the entertainment here! All kinds of musical instruments and dancing... we LOVED IT!

What we didn't love (and I'm speaking mostly for MY family, not necessarily our friends) was the food. Don't get me wrong, we found plenty to eat on the buffet... but we are NOT big fans of brats, sausages, cabbage, beer... yeah, I said it... no one in my family drinks beer... at ALL! So we got by, and filled our bellies. But we were limited to a few items that we enjoyed!

We finished our afternoon back home at the Boardwalk, with a long and relaxing nap in the rain:

Ahhh... can't you just hear it? The pounding of monsoon Florida rain on your patio... the rumbling of distant thunder... as you doze off with visions of lederhosen in your head.... ?

We needed this nap badly... we had 9:30 Hoop Dee Doo reservations for tonight, and MK was open til 3am!! Stay tuned to find out how it all went down!

 

[JenSop]

Loved the update! (And I really like your awesome Mickey Tee, Sooze. You might remember, that I have a thing about finding the perfect Disney tees, and yours is fabulous.)

The Fairy houses sound really cool! How great that you got to meet the woman who designed them!

 

[Sooze]

Loved the update! (And I really like your awesome Mickey Tee, Sooze. You might remember, that I have a thing about finding the perfect Disney tees, and yours is fabulous.)

The Fairy houses sound really cool! How great that you got to meet the woman who designed them!

Thanks Jen! Glad you're still here with me

That T-shirt came off the $5 WalMart table! WalMart always has Disney tees. I have soooo many of them. The problem is, they are all made SO differently. Sometimes you catch a good one that fits well, and most of the time, you don't! This one happened to be a good catch!

I'm so bummed I didn't take pictures of the fairy house artist. We really spent a lot of time talking to her and looking at all of her fairy houses. She actually had sold quite a few, too!

 

[Blueyed Girl]

Great update and pics!! I loved the Fairy Garden when we went in 2008. I would love to go back again during Flower time!

How funny that you ran into people you knew. I always think that's really cool. We've never ran into anyone we know from home but we've seen people from our town before.

I love the Monorail surfing!! Too funny. We do that too.

I also love that Tyson has someone to ride rides with. They look TOO CUTE in the little indy car together. You better watch out!!

 

[renegade7]

After several rounds of goosebumps and lumps in my throat (you know... just the normal reaction to VoL!), Shaelyn and I stood up to meet Matt, Tyson and our Band Geek friends out front. As I started walking towards the door, I noticed a couple that were approaching Shae and me.... I was a bit creeped out, until I looked at their faces.... I KNEW THEM!! And I hadn't seen them in, oh... about 18 years!!

You know... Facebook is a marvelous thing!! I have reconnected with SO many people from my past. One person I found was the sister of my high school boyfriend. I know... I know... finding exes on FB is bit shady. But, honestly, I have remained friends with the few ex-boyfriends I have, and Matt is cool with it. But I digress. Back in HS, my boyfriend had parents that took him and his sister to Disney ALL THE TIME!! I never understood how. Now I know, that they were DVC members... I learned through Facebook, that my HS Boyfriend's parents were going to be in Disney the same week we were. I didn't really think much about it... since I hadn't seen them in almost two decades and I didn't figure we'd be craving to meet up for lunch or anything! But THERE THEY WERE! By total coincidence! And, OF COURSE, we stumble on each other at Voices of Liberty. Why does that make sense? Well... DUH... my HS Boyfriend and his whole family were BAND GEEKS TOO!!

It was SO nice to see them and have a mini-catch-up session. It's so bizarre how you can NOT see people in so many years, but feel just as comfortable with them as you did all those years ago. Pretty cool...

How wonderful to run into the T's. I went over to thier house for Christmas a few years ago when I was home (they always seems to be in FL when I was in years prior) and we talked for hours catching up.

 

[Native NYer]

Great update!
The fairy topiaries are so cute!

 

[belle8306]

I love the pictures of the flower and garden festival. You and Pete were both right about the Princess and the Frog display. It is always funny to run into someone you know at Disney.

 

[micandminforever]

I enjoyed seeing Shae's poises with the fairies. I agree the VOL are always a highlight of a EPCOT visit. It is great to run into people you know at Disney World.

 

[Sooze]

Great update and pics!! I loved the Fairy Garden when we went in 2008. I would love to go back again during Flower time!

How funny that you ran into people you knew. I always think that's really cool. We've never ran into anyone we know from home but we've seen people from our town before.

I love the Monorail surfing!! Too funny. We do that too.

I also love that Tyson has someone to ride rides with. They look TOO CUTE in the little indy car together. You better watch out!!

It's going to be hard going back when it's NOT Flower time! The park just looks so amazing with all of the displays!
We've run into people on a few occasions, but this had to be the most interesting!
OF COURSE you monorail surf, too!!

How wonderful to run into the T's. I went over to thier house for Christmas a few years ago when I was home (they always seems to be in FL when I was in years prior) and we talked for hours catching up.

I knew you'd like this update, J!!! Do they still live in the same house on Deer Hill Dr.? (I think that's the street!)

Great update!
The fairy topiaries are so cute!

Thanks so much! I should've taken more pictures of the area AROUND the topiaries... so beautiful too!

I love the pictures of the flower and garden festival. You and Pete were both right about the Princess and the Frog display. It is always funny to run into someone you know at Disney.

I was going to give Disney the benefit of the doubt after hearing Pete's rant, and before I saw the display. But once I saw it.... boy, he was dead on!!

I enjoyed seeing Shae's poises with the fairies. I agree the VOL are always a highlight of a EPCOT visit. It is great to run into people you know at Disney World.

Thanks! She had fun posing... and I enjoyed her great sense of body-awareness as she matched each pose quickly!
VoL!!!! I'm sure you know that about me by now!!

 

[renegade7]

I knew you'd like this update, J!!! Do they still live in the same house on Deer Hill Dr.? (I think that's the street!)

Yep still there, less than 10 min from where I lived.

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Love your update. Shae is so adorable posing as the fairies and with her princess ears on at that! The flower and garden festival is on my must do list for the future.

I have got to check out the Voices of Liberty this trip. We missed them last year but did get to see the American Adventure for the first time. Jeremy would probably love it! He has been singing God Bless the USA for the last month thanks to the music teacher at school. It is tooo cute!

Looking forward to another update!

Erika

 

[PrincessV]

We began by walking through the butterfly building... and we were immediately disappointed that there were hardly ANY butterflies out and about. TONS of cocoons, but very few flying beauties.

Darn! I wonder if the unusually cold winter delayed them somehow?

It seemed like they had added a WHOLE bunch more to the Fairy display this year, that they didn't have last year.

So THIS is where they did some updating! Sadly, my DS sped us past the area so fast, I saw nothing.

It's hilarious because the Fairy Garden is just SO beautiful, detailed, painstakingly put together... then right across the walkway is a CARDBOARD cutout of Tiana and Naveen. Pete was on the money with this pathetic display.

YES YES YES YES!!! I completely forgot to mention my displeasure on that subject in my TR; I'm glad you brought it up! What in tarnation heck were they thinking?!

As I started walking towards the door, I noticed a couple that were approaching Shae and me.... I was a bit creeped out, until I looked at their faces.... I KNEW THEM!! And I hadn't seen them in, oh... about 18 years!!

Shut the front door! That's just craziness! But very, very cool craziness

And, OF COURSE, we stumble on each other at Voices of Liberty. Why does that make sense? Well... DUH... my HS Boyfriend and his whole family were BAND GEEKS TOO!!

I bet YOU'VE never thought about how many GOATS there are in Disney...

Guilty as charged. But, just for you, I'm making a point of finding goats on the Big Trip!

Ahhh... can't you just hear it? The pounding of monsoon Florida rain on your patio... the rumbling of distant thunder...

Now that you mention it... but swap "patio" for office window.