Stuck on Splash, Swimming in Sewage, & Still Laughing! A "Classy" 6/11 TR- 5/6 DONE!

[mousetravel]

Love your updates!

Cracking up at your animal commentaries. I love how the animals were "talking behind your back".

And where is that outlet store where you found all those good deals?
I am also known to drive an hour & half to the nearest Disney Store.... in Atlanta!

 

[therussells08]

I just caught up on your TR, so catchy!! I love that you surprised your hubby, that's so sweet

Cannot wait to read more!

I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Thanks! It was so fun surprising him!

Oh that pool old couple. That is too funny.

Yay for T-Rex! Your fish commentary was cracking me up! "Here he comes... aaaaand there he goes."

I know right! I felt so bad for them, but it was SO funny!

Haha I'm glad you enjoyed my commentary! I couldn't get over that little fish!

Oh my gosh those shirts are ADORABLE!! Especially the Mickey's Drive In one. I LOVE that! And for $1.99?! What a steal!

AHHHH YOU HAVE THE BEST STUDENTS EVER! That's so nice omg! I always brought Kristen back school bread after my Disney trips last year

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA OH MY GOD I'm literally laughing out loud right now. That poor old couple, they didn't know what they were in for.

Oooh the underwater room! That's so cool! I love how there are so many different rooms in T-Rex. Ahh I miss that place so much!

Oh wow that appetizer sounds RIGHT up my alley. Yum, yum, YUM!

I couldn't believe how cheap those shirts were! I was so excited!

I seriously do have the most amazing students. They're so thoughtful! Haha that's so sweet that you brought Kristen schoolbread! I'm sure she loved that!

HAHAHA I know, they were seriously innocent bystanders who were in the wrong place at the wrong time for sure!

Hahahaha...you and John are Brandon and I! Can I tell you how many times he does that in elevators in classy deluxe Disney resorts and we have to run out of there laughing??? Ahhhh when are the 4 of us going to be in Disney at the same time? We would have a blast!!!

HAHAHA that's so funny that Brandon does that too! Boys!

Oh my gosh, the four of us would have a blast!! We seriously need to make that happen, Jen! It would be so much fun!

Love your updates!

Cracking up at your animal commentaries. I love how the animals were "talking behind your back".

And where is that outlet store where you found all those good deals?
I am also known to drive an hour & half to the nearest Disney Store.... in Atlanta!

Haha thanks! Those animals were mean!

The outlet I'm talking about is in Concord, NC, which is about ten minutes away from Charlotte. But I think all east coast outlets sell Disneyland stuff, so I would definitely check out the one closest to you!

 

[therussells08]

Hi everyone! Before I post my update, I just wanted to let y’all know that I started my December/January TR! I think it’s going to be a pretty fun report, so if you’d like to check it out, you can find it here: Snow White Does the Creep on The Trip That Almost Wasnt! A Dec '11/Jan '12 TR!

Okay, now back to business! When I left off we were heading to an evening at DHS so John could get his nerd on at Star Wars Weekends! I’m not a big fan of Star Wars (okay…that’s an understatement. I literally know nothing about it) but I love DHS at night, and I love seeing my hubby have a good time! So here we were! Hooray for HOLLYWOOD!

When we got into the park we realized pretty quickly that the place was PACKED. I mean like, 4th of July packed. Okay maybe not that bad, but it was pretty bad. (Okay Joni, we get it…it was crowded. Move on please.)

We decided to try our luck on one of our favorites, Tower of Terror!

The wait said like 40 minutes, but we figured it wouldn’t be that long so we decided to wait in the standby line. Had I known who would get in line behind me I never would have made that decision. As we got in line a group of seemingly innocent tweenage girls got in line behind us. I would say they were around 13-14, and there was like six of them. I’m around people this age all day, so it was relatively easy at first for me to ignore their chatter. AT FIRST. But the longer I stood there waiting, the more I realized there was this one super loud girl who was dominating the conversation and basically being completely obnoxious. Everytime one of the other girls would try to talk this girl would interrupt her with a story of her own. If you watch SNL I’m sure you’re familiar with the “one upper” skit (I GAVE BIRTH TO MY CAT, SO…) . If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a skit with this woman who has to “one up” what everyone says, so she always has a story that’s a little bit more exciting/more dramatic. THAT WAS THIS GIRL. Ugh she was so annoying! One of her friends was telling some story about her hamster getting out of its cage, and One Upper launched into this hour long story that went a little something like this:

"OH MAH GAWD, so I had this rat who was white and I named him Houdini…you know, cause he was a white rat HAW HAW HAW…So one day he got out of his cage and like OH MAH GAWD we couldn’t find him anywhere…and that night I was like so totally like asleep and I woke up and I was like OH MAH GAWD something is biting me and I looked down and Houdini was like CHEWING ON ME and there was like, blood like EVERYWHERE. HAW HAW HAW HAW…."

Say whaaa…? Her rat was chewing on her?! This is supposed to be a funny story?! Homegirl took a sweet innocent story about a hamster escaping from its cage and twisted it into some nightmarish Stephen King story. I snuck a glance over my shoulder and saw all of her poor friends recoiling slightly, but trying to laugh through their disgust just so she would stop screaming/laughing in their faces. Poor girls.

Anyway, once we got into the room with the video I dragged John as far away from Tales from the Crypt as I could. For the rest of the time until we got into our elevator we were both looking over our shoulders for her frantically like we were in a horror movie or something.

When we got off ToT I really wanted to do the Animation Academy (my favorite non-ride activity, just saying) so we headed that way. Unfortunately we had just missed the start of a class, and I didn’t feel like waiting thirty minutes, so we wandered around The Art of Animation for a few minutes and I took some stalker pictures of a few characters.

I really wanted to go meet Jasmine, but my hair was all kinds of nasty and I didn’t want to stand next to her beauty. I’m such a loser.

While we were in the Art of Animation gift shop John had to use the bathroom. While he was gone I snuck away and bought him the Hidden Mickey book. He had been wanting it for a while, and he was so excited when I gave it to him!

We decided to ride the Great Movie Ride and see if we could NOT get the gangster.

John immediately put his new book to use and found a hidden Mickey! This was in someone’s shoe print outside the theater, but I can’t remember whose it was!

Another one inside the western movie room. It’s really blurry, but if you look to your left when you enter the room it’s way up high in a window!

YAY! We got the cowboy! I think in all the times I have ridden The Great Movie Ride, I’ve only gotten the cowboy twice. I get so tired of the gangster!

I got so excited at the end of the ride when they show all the movie clips because I got to see my other true love, Patrick Swayze. I think I explained my obsession with Patrick Swayze in a PTR I wrote a looong time ago, but I haven’t mentioned it lately. In a nutshell, I have been completely in love with him since I was three years old. In 1990 (when I was three) my mom took me to see Ghost in theaters. I was sitting on her lap, and toward the end when Sam (Patrick Swayze) is going to Heaven and he kisses Molly (Demi Moore), my mom looked at me and I was leaning toward the screen with my eyes closed and my lips puckered like he was kissing me. She thought that was adorable and she’s told everyone my whole life that my first kiss was Patrick Swayze. Anyway, I LOVE LOVE LOVE him and all his movies/shows. I even went on vacation to two of his filming locations: Boonehall Plantation, where he filmed the North and South miniseries, and Lake Lure, where he filmed Dirty Dancing. I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but now I’ve typed it all and I don’t want to delete it. R.I.P, Patrick. I love you!

Okay moving on! After The Great Movie Ride we were both feeling snacky so we decided to go get a cupcake from…*drumroll*…STARRING ROLLS! I was shocked to see that it was open because it was already like 7:00, but I guess they were staying open late for Star Wars Weekends? I dunno, but I wasn’t complaining!

This was before Jess (DisneyFreak508) turned me onto the heavenly red velvet cupcake, so I went with my other favorite- the also heavenly Butterfinger cupcake!

John got super excited when he saw they had a special Star Wars cupcake. I love that boy.

Imagine his overwhelming joy when he realized the Darth Vader on top was EDIBLE. It was precious.

After we ate our cupcakes John was all fired up for Star Wars stuff, so we tried to make our way over to Star Tours. WOW, it was crazy crowded. We realized quickly that we would not be riding Star Tours today. John was a little bummed, but not too bad because we were planning on coming back to DHS first thing in the morning! We decided to try the Animation Academy one more time.

This time we timed it perfectly, and only had to wait about five minutes! We got in and drew Minnie Mouse! I’ve only had an artist let us choose our character once, and it was in December 2010 when we drew Scrooge McDuck. I always wish they would let us choose again, but they never have since. Oh well, drawing Minnie was still fun, even though her bow was super hard to draw!

John refused a picture of his Minnie because he said she looked “unfortunate.” LOL!

Even though we couldn’t ride Star Tours, we could still immerse ourselves in nerdtastic Star Wars fun! They had this huge merchandise tent set up near Tower of Terror, so we went over there for John to do some shopping. He drooled over the really expensive collectible stuff, and ended up buying of the Star Wars Weekends 2011 shirts.

After we left the shop (I want to say they called it ‘Jabba’s Hut’ but I’m probably totally wrong) we decided to right Tower of Terror again! It was almost Fantasmic time so the wait wasn’t too bad!

Thankfully this ride was devoid of any weird Elvira’s talking about rodents and gushing blood, so we had a wonderful ride!

We were both getting really tired and John was anxious to turn in early so we could get up at dawn and come back, but before we left we had to ride my all-time favorite!

Goooooing dooowwwwn….!

Oh man, I love that ride! After we finished hanging out back stage with Aerosmith we decided to head back to the resort. We needed an early night to prepare for an early morning! When we got back I updated my trip journal a little, watched a little Stacey, and went right to sleep!

Up Next: A much more productive morning at DHS! Stay tuned!

 

[Nermel9]

I can't believe you don't know anything about Star Wars! I LOVE Star Wars, and I'm not into that kind of stuff at ALL! Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, though...OMG. I'm obsessed. Have you seen any of the movies? I really thought I would hate them when I saw them, but they are so good! (Don't bother with the new Natalie Portman disasters, though, just stick with the 70's classics! ) I'd DIE to go to Star Wars weekends someday! I thought about doing it this year,but I don't want to deal with the crowds.

Ughhh...that One Upper chick sounds so annoying!!! Don't you hate when you get stuck near obnoxious people in long lines?

Haha...you not meeting Jasmine because of your hair is exactly why I won't meet any princess. I mean, I'm afraid to talk to them, yeah that's one reason...but even if I could get over it, I'd feel like such a fat frump next to any of them! They're just so intimidating to me, with all their beauty and perfection!

I keep hearing such great things about the red velvet cupcake at Starring Roles! I really want to try one, but I want to try the Butterfinger cupcake too! Ahhh, problems. (I was thisclose to quoting Jersey Shore right there, but decided against it!)

I love your Minnie! I love the drawing class! And RnRC...OMG just reading about it just made me SO excited to be going back there in 52 days!!!

 

[Tracy161]

Oh my gosh, I had fallen behind a little and just caught up on a few updates: hysterical!!! I was literally laughing OUT LOUD over the old couple story. Way too funny! You have a very entertaining writing style and I love it!

 

[mousetravel]

Haha thanks! Those animals were mean!

The outlet I'm talking about is in Concord, NC, which is about ten minutes away from Charlotte. But I think all east coast outlets sell Disneyland stuff, so I would definitely check out the one closest to you!

Ok, I think Concord is almost 4 hours from me!
I think we're going to go back to the Disney store an a couple of weeks, so I'll have to see if they have any of those great deals!!

Funny story about the "One Upper" girl!! Those situations definately irritate me! Thank goodness I have a "semi-quiet" teen that isn't so outrageous!

I like how you said all your students know how much you love Disney.
My DD has the opposite situation. Most of the teachers at ther high school knows she loves going to Disney, because she usually brings her teachers back little things from there. When we went in December, she picked out some Disney baby stuff to give to her pregnant teacher!

 

[JessicaFaye508]

Yay the new trip report!! I subscribed... obviously.

LOL I'm glad we're on the same page with this whole Star Wars thing. I have no idea what it's about.

Oh my GAWD what an obnoxious girl hahaha

You got the cowboy!?! YAYYY awesome! I still have never gotten him yet!

See!? Late night cupcakes are a great idea! They should keep starring rolls open later more often!

I never have tried one of those butterfinger cupcakes because I can't pull myself away from the Red Velvet

Aww your Minnie is so cute!

Yay for more star wars in the morning!

 

[__disneygirl]

You got such awesome clothes! I LOVE the Mickey's Drive In one, that is so original! I live for the Disney Outlet near my house. I got a Jessie & Bullseye sweatshirt for $6 there the other day and a Snow White Evil Queen tee for $4. At the parks, those probably would have been like $50 and $30, it's just such a steal!

You must be the best teacher ever, your students obviously love you so much! What could be better than School Bread and Chocolate Frogs? YUM!

OH MY GOD that story about the old people... that is the funniest thing I have heard lately!

Yuuum, T-Rex is so good. We fell in love with it on our last trip, so much so that we went twice! "Cheesier than Ryan Seacrest" I did not know that was possible!

I love that Hidden Mickey book! I need to get the updated version, mine is from like 2002. I still haven't found them all, though. The Great Movie Ride has SO many great ones! Like Mickey's feet under the Public Enemy Poster, the Mickey & Donald hieroglyphics, and THE ELUSIVE HIDDEN MINNIE AT THE BEGINNING! In 10 years I have not been able to find her... I am determined to do it without a CM showing me... It will happen next trip if I have to go on a thousand times, I swear!

That is such an adorable Patrick Swayze story!! I myself am crazy for Swayze...every time I watch Dirty Dancing I just endlessly sigh. He is one of the most gorgeous men to ever live!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

All caught up! I was excited to see that you were updating again. We just got back from our trip and reading your updates helped to ease the post-Disney blues. Headed over to check out your new TR!

 

[Torrance]

Hi Joni! I just wanted to say hello, and let you know how I'm enjoying your TR so far. I've been laughing quite a bit! DH and I are headed to WDW this year for the first time thanks to Disney's awesome Military Salute discount (we live in CA, so go to DL yearly, but are so excited for WDW! ). I'm glad to read about how it worked out so well for you and John, AKL looks AWESOME!

Looking forward to your next update!

 

[marDgreen88]

Okay umm... ew. Why were those other girls even friends with the one upper? That's the creepiest thing ever. Any why would you go to sleep in your room with your rat loose? Life's mysteries...

That cupcake looks GOOD. What does it look like on the inside?

Your Minnie Mouse is so cute!

 

[therussells08]

I can't believe you don't know anything about Star Wars! I LOVE Star Wars, and I'm not into that kind of stuff at ALL! Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, though...OMG. I'm obsessed. Have you seen any of the movies? I really thought I would hate them when I saw them, but they are so good! (Don't bother with the new Natalie Portman disasters, though, just stick with the 70's classics! ) I'd DIE to go to Star Wars weekends someday! I thought about doing it this year,but I don't want to deal with the crowds.

Ughhh...that One Upper chick sounds so annoying!!! Don't you hate when you get stuck near obnoxious people in long lines?

Haha...you not meeting Jasmine because of your hair is exactly why I won't meet any princess. I mean, I'm afraid to talk to them, yeah that's one reason...but even if I could get over it, I'd feel like such a fat frump next to any of them! They're just so intimidating to me, with all their beauty and perfection!

I keep hearing such great things about the red velvet cupcake at Starring Roles! I really want to try one, but I want to try the Butterfinger cupcake too! Ahhh, problems. (I was thisclose to quoting Jersey Shore right there, but decided against it!)

I love your Minnie! I love the drawing class! And RnRC...OMG just reading about it just made me SO excited to be going back there in 52 days!!!

Haha I admit it- I'm totally clueless about Star Wars! The weird thing is, I feel like if I gave it a chance I really would like it. I think I watched the movies with John after our first Disney trip in 2007, but I can't remember much about them because I really wasn't paying attention. I need to give it a chance!

YES obnoxious people in lines are the worst. Ugh this girl was their queen.

I get very nervous about meeting any character not wearing a mask! My sister and I met Prince Caspian in 2009, and he was super cute and I got ridiculously nervous. I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets like that! I think those princesses can make anyone feel frumpy...they're so gorgeous!

You need to try both of them- they're amazing! Although I will say, I like the red velvet better. HAHAHA I know exactly which quote you're talking about! Hilarious!

The drawing class is my favorite! I could do that all day. AHH I can't believe how close your trip is! I'm so jealous! We still have well over 100 days!

Oh my gosh, I had fallen behind a little and just caught up on a few updates: hysterical!!! I was literally laughing OUT LOUD over the old couple story. Way too funny! You have a very entertaining writing style and I love it!

Yay! I'm glad you're caught up and I'm glad I could make you laugh! Hahaha, John and I are so immature! Stuff like that always happens to us!

Thank you so much! I really appreciate that. I love writing, but it seems like I'm only good at writing trip reports!

Ok, I think Concord is almost 4 hours from me!
I think we're going to go back to the Disney store an a couple of weeks, so I'll have to see if they have any of those great deals!!

Funny story about the "One Upper" girl!! Those situations definately irritate me! Thank goodness I have a "semi-quiet" teen that isn't so outrageous!

I like how you said all your students know how much you love Disney.
My DD has the opposite situation. Most of the teachers at ther high school knows she loves going to Disney, because she usually brings her teachers back little things from there. When we went in December, she picked out some Disney baby stuff to give to her pregnant teacher!

I hope you find something great at your Disney store!

Haha that's great that you have a non-outrageous teen! This girl took the cake for being obnoxious, that's for sure!

That's so sweet that your DD brought her teacher a Disney souvenir. I wish she was in my class!

 

[therussells08]

Yay the new trip report!! I subscribed... obviously.

LOL I'm glad we're on the same page with this whole Star Wars thing. I have no idea what it's about.

Oh my GAWD what an obnoxious girl hahaha

You got the cowboy!?! YAYYY awesome! I still have never gotten him yet!

See!? Late night cupcakes are a great idea! They should keep starring rolls open later more often!

I never have tried one of those butterfinger cupcakes because I can't pull myself away from the Red Velvet

Aww your Minnie is so cute!

Yay for more star wars in the morning!

Yay! Thanks for subbing!

HAHA yes we are definitely on the same page! I'm clueless!

Ugh that girl was like, so totally ANNOYING!

I love the cowboy! It's so weird that he's like the "rare" one. It seems like people would get both evenly, but it never seems to happen! Hopefully you'll get him next time!

I agree- Starring Rolls should be open late all the time!

The Butterfinger cupcakes are good, but stick with the red velvet! It's way better!

Thanks! I love Animation Academy!

John was SO excited the next morning! I can't wait to post that update! It's a fun one.

You got such awesome clothes! I LOVE the Mickey's Drive In one, that is so original! I live for the Disney Outlet near my house. I got a Jessie & Bullseye sweatshirt for $6 there the other day and a Snow White Evil Queen tee for $4. At the parks, those probably would have been like $50 and $30, it's just such a steal!

You must be the best teacher ever, your students obviously love you so much! What could be better than School Bread and Chocolate Frogs? YUM!

OH MY GOD that story about the old people... that is the funniest thing I have heard lately!

Yuuum, T-Rex is so good. We fell in love with it on our last trip, so much so that we went twice! "Cheesier than Ryan Seacrest" I did not know that was possible!

I love that Hidden Mickey book! I need to get the updated version, mine is from like 2002. I still haven't found them all, though. The Great Movie Ride has SO many great ones! Like Mickey's feet under the Public Enemy Poster, the Mickey & Donald hieroglyphics, and THE ELUSIVE HIDDEN MINNIE AT THE BEGINNING! In 10 years I have not been able to find her... I am determined to do it without a CM showing me... It will happen next trip if I have to go on a thousand times, I swear!

That is such an adorable Patrick Swayze story!! I myself am crazy for Swayze...every time I watch Dirty Dancing I just endlessly sigh. He is one of the most gorgeous men to ever live!

Can't wait to read more!

Thanks! I was so excited about those shirts! Wow, those are amazing deals that you got too! I wanted something with my boyfriend Woody on it, but they didn't have anything. Still, I was thrilled about the Disneyland shirts. You're right, they would be outrageous in the parks!

Haha thank you! I think I'm just lucky enough that I have the nicest students ever. Seriously, I can't believe how sweet they are sometimes. They are great!

I'm glad you enjoyed the old people story! That still cracks me up!

T-Rex is so wonderful! I totally understand why you ate there twice!

I've never seen the hidden Minnie at the beginning, and we can't find the one in the Wizard of Oz room either! We've looked like ten times and just can't see it! I have faith in you! I know you will find it!

Ohh Patrick Swayze...he's so wonderful. I'm so glad you agree with me about his gorgeousness! *sigh* Perfection!

All caught up! I was excited to see that you were updating again. We just got back from our trip and reading your updates helped to ease the post-Disney blues. Headed over to check out your new TR!

Yay for being caught up! Thanks, I'm so happy to be back to updating! I'm glad I have helped with your post-Disney blues! Are you going to do a TR? I would love to see pics of your DS and see how much your DD has grown!

Hi Joni! I just wanted to say hello, and let you know how I'm enjoying your TR so far. I've been laughing quite a bit! DH and I are headed to WDW this year for the first time thanks to Disney's awesome Military Salute discount (we live in CA, so go to DL yearly, but are so excited for WDW! ). I'm glad to read about how it worked out so well for you and John, AKL looks AWESOME!

Looking forward to your next update!

Hi and I'm so glad you're enjoying my TR!

YAY! I'm so happy you're able to utilize that amazing military discount! And DOUBLE YAY for your first trip to WDW! How exciting! Where will you be staying? I'd love to hear about your plans!

Okay umm... ew. Why were those other girls even friends with the one upper? That's the creepiest thing ever. Any why would you go to sleep in your room with your rat loose? Life's mysteries...

That cupcake looks GOOD. What does it look like on the inside?

Your Minnie Mouse is so cute!

Seriously, I have no idea. I guess they were gluttons for punishment because that girl was a nightmare! Haha yeah, I think if there was vermin loose in my house I would probably try to stay awake until I found it...

Here's a picture I found on Google images of the inside:

The one thing I don't love about it is how much frosting it has, but the chocolate in the middle is AMAZING!

Thanks! I love drawing the characters!

 

[Torrance]

Hi and I'm so glad you're enjoying my TR!

YAY! I'm so happy you're able to utilize that amazing military discount! And DOUBLE YAY for your first trip to WDW! How exciting! Where will you be staying? I'd love to hear about your plans!

Thanks for the welcome!

The military discount is so awesome -- and we're so grateful for it! We're going to splurge with a deluxe resort, Boardwalk Inn. We're both so excited about EPCOT! I don't want to hijack your TR, but will be following along for advice for our upcoming trip!

 

[Disneyfreak616]

Ahhh YAYYY a new trip report!!! I am headed over there now!

But first..WOW. What obnoxious people. I just don't get it.

YOU GOT THE COWBOY!?! Ahh lucky! I want him!

MMMMM that cupcake looks amazing! I really need to try it!!

 

[marDgreen88]

Here's a picture I found on Google images of the inside:

The one thing I don't love about it is how much frosting it has, but the chocolate in the middle is AMAZING!

AWW thank you for posting that photo! I don't know why I didn't think to look for it myself. But YUM! And yes... that is a LOT of frosting haha. Thanks!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Yay, glad to see you back on here Joni!

Love the animal pics and haha your face on Dinosaur is absolutely priceless!!!

 

[therussells08]

Thanks for the welcome!

The military discount is so awesome -- and we're so grateful for it! We're going to splurge with a deluxe resort, Boardwalk Inn. We're both so excited about EPCOT! I don't want to hijack your TR, but will be following along for advice for our upcoming trip!

YAY! That's so exciting that you're staying at Boardwalk! It's such a beautiful resort!

Please, you aren't hijacking my TR! I love hearing about your trip plans! Feel free to post as much about your trip as you'd like! I hope my report gives you some helpful insight!

Ahhh YAYYY a new trip report!!! I am headed over there now!

But first..WOW. What obnoxious people. I just don't get it.

YOU GOT THE COWBOY!?! Ahh lucky! I want him!

MMMMM that cupcake looks amazing! I really need to try it!!

YAY! Thanks for subbing to my other report!

Haha seriously, that girl was SO annoying!

YES! I loved the cowboy! It was so cool. Waay better than the gangster! Maybe because he's so elusive!

AWW thank you for posting that photo! I don't know why I didn't think to look for it myself. But YUM! And yes... that is a LOT of frosting haha. Thanks!

No problem! I didn't mind posting it at all- it gave me an excuse to look at food pics!

Yay, glad to see you back on here Joni!

Love the animal pics and haha your face on Dinosaur is absolutely priceless!!!

Thanks Tanz! I'm so glad to be back!

Haha I know, my face is ridiculous in that picture!

 

[therussells08]

The next morning, for the first time on the entire trip, John was out of bed before me! He was so excited to go to DHS for Star Wars Weekends that he practically blow dried my hair for me! That was fine with me, though, because I wanted to get there early for the TSM Mad Dash! We were out of AKL and on our way to DHS with about twenty minutes until park opening! Would we make it to rope drop??

Unfortunately…not quite. Parking took FOREVER, but we were still in within five minutes of park opening. John almost lost his mind when he was these guys on the roof of the entrance:

Storm troopers! I’ve got to admit, even as a Star Wars non-believer, I was pretty impressed by these guys. They looked so intimidating, like the Secret Service or something!

Like I said, the park had just opened, so we were still there in time for the mad dash! John, being the leggier of the two of us, followed our usual strategy, taking our KTTW and leaving me in the dust!

This left me with ample time to mosey and take a picture of the most stylish hat in the world!

By the time I caught up with John he already had our FPs, and the standby line for TSM was only about 20 minutes so we decided to go for it!

Before long I was seeing this:

Oh my gosh, I love that feeling of sheer joy that you get when you’ve been waiting in line for a ride and you finally see the loading area. It’s like getting your first glimpse of the promise land! Okay, maybe not that intense, but we’re all Disney nerds here, so it’s pretty spot on for us!

I always love seeing which character we get on our ride vehicle. As the previous passengers were unloading I got a picture so we could remember that we would be riding in…

Slinky!

AHHH I LOVE THIS RIDE SO MUCH. I am so insanely competitive on it. I really wish they took a ride photo because I guarantee my face would be hilarious. Imagine “Eye of the Tiger” playing the entire time I’m riding, and that pretty much sums up my level of intensity. All of that psychotic competitiveness paid off though, because I got best in vehicle!

Not my personal best, but still pretty good! And I beat John, which was all I was really concerned with!

At this point I was afraid John was going to have a conniption if I didn’t get him on Star Tours soon. Star Wars Weekends was already in full swing for the day and the area around Star Tours was packed, but the wait was only about 20 minutes.

This was our first experience on the new Star Tours, and we were both really impressed! I don’t know the stories or characters, but I still thought it was way cooler than before! I can’t remember our story, but I do know that Chewbacca was involved somehow. John was thrilled! After our ride we wandered around the gift shop for a while but John couldn’t pick what he wanted so we decided to come back later. Besides, it was time to use our TSM Fast Passes!

We were through the FP line within five minutes, and then I was seeing this again!

Speaking of TSM, I’m watching Toy Story 2 right now and I just had to stop typing so I could laugh at Woody saying, “What's that? Jessie and Prospector are trapped in the old abandoned mine and Prospector just lit a stick of dynamite thinking it was a candle and now they're about to be blown to smithereens?” Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Woody?

Anyway, back to our ride! Where was I…oh that’s right, I was beating John AGAIN!

Muah ha ha! I’m amazing! It looks like eight years in the Army aren’t enough to help him beat my mad ring toss skills!

After his second defeat on TSM John was itching to see more Star Wars stuff. We knew there would be Star Wars characters out and about, and sure enough, we found this guy!

John got so excited, and he really really wanted to go meet him, but the line was SO long! I couldn’t believe how many people were in line to meet James Earl Jones! I mean, Mufasa...or wait, the Bible on tape…NO! Darth Vader! Sorry! (Just kidding!)

I told John I really didn’t mind waiting in line, but he said he wasn’t up for it. It was getting pretty hot and we were both getting kind of hungry. So, we settled for the next best thing: PHOTO BOMBING! Now, if you’re not familiar with photo bombing, don’t be sad. I happen to be an expert (You should see the yearbook for the high school where I work. I’m in like half the pictures.) so I will be happy to instruct you. Photo bombing is when you insert yourself into pictures that you weren’t necessarily invited to be in. You can be obvious about it (like jumping right in front of the intended photo subject) or you can be sneaky. John went with sneaky, so here is his photo bombed Darth Vader picture:

See? Perfect! John got his picture with Darth Vader; Vader just wasn’t entirely aware that he was having his picture made with John. Problem solved!

I wasn’t ready to move on just yet because this guy looked so impressive, so I had to take a few more pictures.

A few seconds later I guess it was time for his break, because a CM led him away from the line and right by us.

Haha look at all the star struck people standing around staring at him! I totally do that when I see a character walking around one of the parks. I’m the exact same way when I see Santa Claus walking around the mall at Christmas time! I feel like I’ve just spotted a celebrity, so I have no choice but to stop and stare, mouth slightly ajar.

We had lunch reservations at Sci Fi Dine in Theater, but we still had some time to kill so we decided to try and spot more Hidden Mickey’s on the Great Movie Ride. John wanted to operate the camera this time so if he spotted any he could take a quick picture of them. Here’s the series of photos that he went with:

Unfortunately this time we got the gangster and we didn’t have any luck with new HMs! We spent about five seconds being disappointed, until we realized it was time to go eat at one of our favorite Disney restaurants!

Up Next: A drive-in lunch and more Star Wars fun! Stay tuned!

 

[ChildAtHeart82]

Enjoyed your update! I was really impressed with the new Star Tours. I liked the old one but the updates are a big improvement. Sadly it makes DW even more motion sick than the old one did which means it's another ride that I do alone at DHS. She won't ride RNR or TOT. With the exception of TSM, I feel like our DHS day always involves me doing rides alone while DW enjoys the atmosphere with the kids.

I should be starting my TR sometime this week. Notes are compiled and pics are uploaded. Once there's a pause in the basketball action I might have time.