Taking on the World 45 lbs lighter! With PICS!! *Updated!*

[belledreamer]

So I've come to the conclusion that if I don't go ahead and write this down, this TR will never happen and I'm determined to finish one of these things for once in my life!!!

Besides, this is a special occasion! Well at least for me anyway.

You see, the last time I was in this magical place, almost one year ago, I was near my heaviest weight of 225 lbs...

I'm not proud of that pic...

But thanks to diet, exercise, and the support of my fellow 'losers' on the 'Biggest Loser' thread, I'm taking off on this trip 45 lbs lighter at 180 lbs and in the best shape I've ever been in!

So let me introduce you to the crew!

First off, there's me:

A crazy Disney-luvin' girl in her mid-20's who is also a self-proclaimed Beauty and the Beast enthusiast and ALWAYS sees the Live on Stage show at least twice when she goes to Disney. I'll be mentioning this more later on...

And my DMom and DDad who wonderfully humor me by agreeing to do it all over again.

DM's actually the one who usually starts the Disney bug biting, (Can you believe it's not me?!) and is more of a fan for going to Disney than DDad. So usually, these short trips consist of just me and her. But every once in a while, he'll come along and join the madness.

Our plan for our Oct 31-Nov 5 trip is as follows:

Wednesday: Free day at Downtown Disney
Thursday: Magic Kingdom
Friday: Epcot
Saturday: Hollywood Studios
Sunday: Animal Kingdom
Monday: Free day and going home...

But a dark cloud looms on the horizon...and no, I don't mean the weather. For the past 4 trips to Disney, I've been violently ill during our stay to a point where my diet consists of an apple and a pack of peanut butter crackers because it was the only thing I could keep down... But I'm taking every precaution to make sure that I'm not praying to the porcelain god on this trip.

So come along with me as I share my story, give some of my tips for getting the most out of your trip, try to see everything I planned to, try to not gain any extra weight and keep out of the bathroom! Enjoy!

 

[belledreamer]

Day 1 - Arrival and Free Day at Downtown Disney : Post 9
Day 2 - pt 1: Magic Kingdom 'We're REALLY going to Rope Drop?!': Post 16
Day 2 - pt 2: 'We get to see the Fantasyland Expansion?!' : Post 18
Day 2 - pt 3: 'I'll always believe in you, Peter Pan...' : Post 25

 

[DisneyEhCA]

Hopping on board for your updates! Congratulations on the weight loss! I am in the same boat as you...will be returning to WDW in January about 45 pounds lighter than last time. Feels great, doesn't it!?

Looking forward to your TR!

 

[MissManda]

Congrats on your weight loss! I too am trying to lose weight and I think I've made up my mind that when I reach my goal, I will treat myself to a solo trip to WDW!!!

Hope your trip is wonderful and you avoided any past "issues". Can't wait to read about it.

 

[bigsis1970]

Yay I'm here! Nice start

 

[MomToPrincePhillip]

Joining in too! Looking forward to see if you have any tips on the "not gaining weight while at WDW!" I've got a new gull bladder problem and my doctor has put me on a low fat high fiber diet, so I'm wondering how that will work out when we go in May...

Looking forward to your up dates!

 

[belledreamer]

Hopping on board for your updates! Congratulations on the weight loss! I am in the same boat as you...will be returning to WDW in January about 45 pounds lighter than last time. Feels great, doesn't it!?

Looking forward to your TR!

That's awesome for your trip! And it feels wonderful! It was so nice to walk around Disney and the only thing that was sore was my feet.

Hope you'll enjoy the TR!

Congrats on your weight loss! I too am trying to lose weight and I think I've made up my mind that when I reach my goal, I will treat myself to a solo trip to WDW!!!

Hope your trip is wonderful and you avoided any past "issues". Can't wait to read about it.

That's a great idea for a weight-loss reward! Now to convince my parents that that should be my reward for getting to my goal weight...

Yay I'm here! Nice start

Joining in too! Looking forward to see if you have any tips on the "not gaining weight while at WDW!" I've got a new gull bladder problem and my doctor has put me on a low fat high fiber diet, so I'm wondering how that will work out when we go in May...

Looking forward to your up dates!

Disney is unfortunately fairly hard to find healthy food in. (As you'll soon see in the TR.) But I managed to make it through without gaining any weight so something must have worked! Are you staying on the grounds or off-site?

 

[FancyNancy]

Congratulations on losing so much weight! I certainly know how hard that can be. Three years ago I was a size 18 and now I'm in a 14. So I can really appreciate how hard you have worked Looking forward to reading all about your trip!

 

[belledreamer]

After a night of carefully painting these little guys on my nails

and 'attempting' to get some sleep, my alarm went off at 5 am that morning.
After getting the last minute things together and settling the cat in, we loaded up the car and left for the airport at 6:10 where I had a nutritious breakfast of...peanut butter crackers and chocolate milk.

(My fellow 'losers' are probably ready to kill me about now...)

The drive down was smooth and our flight left on time without a hitch; to which I devoured my in-flight snacks and busied myself on making this little origami cicada out of a dollar which I found the directions for in the plane's magazine.

Isn't he cute?!

After that, I thumbed through my copy of 'Much Ado About Nothing' until we landed and after a quick bathroom stop, we made our way to the Magical Express with no wait and our bus barely half full. Our bus driver was the awesome Henry Colyer, who was extremely nice and funny and after a bit, we settled in to watch everyone's favorite short film. Next stop, Disney World!

After checking in at POP!, (out of the value resorts, we recommend this one to everybody) we took off to Downtown Disney...

and no one was on the bus!

Hopefully it's a preview of what's to come! We stopped at the Earl of Sandwich for lunch where Ddad got the Holiday Sandwich w/ a cookie and Dmom and I split the Club Sandwich with a side of grapes. We ended up doing this alot during this trip since Dmom and I are not big eaters and really, there was more than enough food on the Quick Service plan for us to be satisfied. Having done 'Regular Dining' and the 'Quick Service' plan, I honestly preferred doing Quick Service simply because we never had to worry about getting to a reservation on time or eating when we really weren't hungry. So if you're trying to decide between one or the other, I'd definitely go with the Quick Service plan.

Also, for those on the Quick Service plan who don't want to get the dessert with their meal, Disney is willing to sub out fruit or even another drink in place of dessert. Since DM and I were splitting most of our meals, this worked out great when we were in the Parks and couldn't use our refillable mugs.

Anyways, back to the trip!

Afterwards, we decided to split up for shopping and I managed to find the two things I was looking to buy this trip; a stuffed Bolt to go with my Penny costume for Comic-Con (Ddad rolled his eyes at this one.) and a Monorail t-shirt to match Ddad's (This comes into play later.) I also stopped to pick up a few souvenirs for a couple of my co-workers too.

We walked around for a bit and snapped a few pictures:

After about three hours, we were starting to wear out, so in the spirit of having a 'relaxing' vacation, (You mean you can actually have that at Disney?!) we decided to make our way back to the hotel for dinner. There I made the unwise decision of having this little meal.

(Really delicious, but I dread to think of the calories... )

And then the bottom fell out...


I've mentioned before of how the past 4 trips, I've spent part of it 'praying to the porcelain god' and unfortunately...this trip was no exception... At that point, I probably reached my all time low for that trip, swearing up and down that this was the last time I was ever going to go to Disney again. The idea that I was going to be doing this for the 5 time in a row had put me to my limit; I had tried so hard NOT to be sick on this trip and it was happening all over again...

But it did make me come to a realization about myself.

I had taken every precaution not to be sick and was so nervous about the possibility of it happening again...that I made myself sick in the process.

How that for an epiphany?!

So after a round of dry Rice Krispies and Pepto, I saw finally able to settle my stomach enough where I could sleep. But with the knowledge that if I couldn't get this under control, this could possibly be the last Disney trip...

Wow...drama...

 

[DisneyEhCA]

Okay, seriously, how cool are your Mickey nails!? You went all out.

I cannot believe you got sick AGAIN on this trip. Oh no!! I hope you started to feel better very quickly.

Looking forward to the next update!

 

[Mom23Disneybelievers]

Congratulations on the weight loss! What an accomplishment.

 

[MomToPrincePhillip]

Great up date, Belledreamer!

To answer your question, we are staying on site. I'm really starting to get anxious about this low fat high fiber thing because I know its going to be hard to not only control myself but to find this stuff over the course of 6 days.

 

[bigsis1970]

Oh no! glad your belly settled down eventually.. funny story my DD for about 5 years every birthday and christmas would be so excited it was coming would make herself sick as a dog in the day or two before the event then be fine a day or two after it.. crazy kid! hope it's something like mind over matter for you vs. something being seriously wrong.


PS CUTE NAIL!!!!

 

[maggiemoos]

Congrats on the weight loss I had lost about 53 pounds before I went to Disney. Then I got back and that's another story

 

[belledreamer]

Congratulations on losing so much weight! I certainly know how hard that can be. Three years ago I was a size 18 and now I'm in a 14. So I can really appreciate how hard you have worked Looking forward to reading all about your trip!

Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy the TR!

Okay, seriously, how cool are your Mickey nails!? You went all out.

I cannot believe you got sick AGAIN on this trip. Oh no!! I hope you started to feel better very quickly.

Looking forward to the next update!

I promise it gets much better. Once I realized it was my nerves causing it, it did start to get alot better.

I loved my Mickey nails! And they were super easy to do; just black nail polish and a q-tip!

Congratulations on the weight loss! What an accomplishment.

Thanks so much!

Great up date, Belledreamer!

To answer your question, we are staying on site. I'm really starting to get anxious about this low fat high fiber thing because I know its going to be hard to not only control myself but to find this stuff over the course of 6 days.

True. We stayed at POP where they actually did have some low fat options, like salad with grilled chicken, shrimp, or beef and they also had sushi which really wasn't half bad and sushi's low cal (if you even like sushi )

Oh no! glad your belly settled down eventually.. funny story my DD for about 5 years every birthday and christmas would be so excited it was coming would make herself sick as a dog in the day or two before the event then be fine a day or two after it.. crazy kid! hope it's something like mind over matter for you vs. something being seriously wrong.


PS CUTE NAIL!!!!

Yeah, it kind of hit me when I realized it was only happening at Disney, while a trip to NY earlier this year didn't cause any problems. Guess Disney just makes me nervous...

Congrats on the weight loss I had lost about 53 pounds before I went to Disney. Then I got back and that's another story

I know that feeling.

 

[belledreamer]

After a long sleepless night, (Not from being sick; Ddad and I snored each other out...) we got up at a quarter to 6, looked at each other and decided that since we were already up, why not go to rope drop for Extra Magic Hours?! We dressed quickly, (Ddad and I wearing our matching Monorail shirts) and were able to catch the first bus going to Magic Kingdom by 6:30 while it was still dark out. I do remember looking at DM at one point while we were on the bus and asked if we were crazy to which she simply replied

'Yes. Yes we are.'

We managed to be one of the first people at the turnstile,

watched my first Rope Drop, (which was pretty cool)

took the 'customary picture of the castle that everyone takes even though you have 6 more like it already.'

and then took off towards Peter Pan because we knew we wanted to get that done before it got too crowded. But we didn't need to worry. Not only was it not crowded,

but we walked on Peter Pan!! Walked...on...Peter...Pan!! I've never done that in the 20+ times I've been to Disney! And the pattern continued all morning with us walking on pretty much every ride and seeing everything we wanted to see before noon. Although we did stop for breakfast at the Main Street Bakery where Dmom and Ddad split a Cinnamon Roll. I opted for a fruit and yogurt parfait which was just okay.

While Dmom and Ddad went on Splash Mountain (I didn't feel like getting wet) and Country Bear Jamboree (Just not my thing...) I ended up waiting for them in a rocking chair outside of the Frontier Traders Post to work on the TR and people-watch, which was probably the most relaxed I was the whole trip. I seriously could have spent the next hour in that chair...

We then stopped at a place in Liberty Square called Sleepy Hollow which was a place Ddad looked up and wanted to try for their waffle sandwiches. They recommended that I not eat the Chicken one since it was a little on the spicy side and my stomach was still recovering, (I've heard it was very good ) but I did get to try the one with Nutella and fresh strawberries which was delicious! I'd definitely get that one again.

After that, we took off for my personal favorite ride, the Haunted Mansion!! I honestly don't know why I love this ride so much. Maybe it's the air conditioning, maybe it's the slight creepiness of it all, maybe it's the awesomeness that happens when the person working the ride that day 'really loves their job.'

(Totally unrelated story: Once when I was at Disney with one of my friends, we rode HM and there was a really cute guy (are we sensing a theme here?) working at the end of the ride who was wearing really nice cologne and since there was NO ONE in the park that day, we ended up riding HM about 7 times in a row to get a sniff of his cologne when we got off the ride...)



ANYWAY...

One of the reasons I love when Ddad comes with us is because 9 times out of 10, he'll do his hilarious 'Goofy Yell' in the 'stretching room.' (If there's someone who's completely freaked out about this ride, that only increases the chances that he'll do it.) And he didn't disappoint.

I didn't take any video of him doing it this trip, but I do have a video of him doing it from a previous trip.

http://youtu.be/fndOLBVllss

Coming up next: Pt 2 - “We get to see the Fantasyland Expansion?!”

 

[FancyNancy]

That looks like the perfect morning in MK! Haunted Mansion is one of my faves as well

 

[belledreamer]

Going into this trip, I had heard several rumors about a soft opening of the new Fantasyland Expansion and I was more than a little excited of the possibility that we'd get to see it. I've honestly wanted to see this ever since we heard that it was coming. Of course, I hate that Mickey's Toontown had to go in it's place. But I was sure that it would be a change for the better.

I was a little concerned though when I started reading on the DISboards of how people were complaining how crowded it was because of the soft opening, and that it was a 'invite only' thing or something of that nature where not everyone could get in. So I had pretty much resigned myself to the possibility that we wouldn't get to see it, but it wasn't a deal for me. There would always be more trips to Disney.

After doing HM, we walked a bit through Fantasyland and noting that there were people walking around in the expansion, decided that we'd just ask the CM's standing at the entrance to the area. So in talking to the CM, they told us that some of the attractions were open and that we could come in and check it out, provided that we weren't going in only to just walk around; we had to be willing to play along.

Well who could resist an offer like that?!

First off, we were directed to 'Belle's Cottage' where they had the new 'Storytime with Belle.' (The area where they used to have it is now used for a character meet-and-greet) Now, being a Belle fan, this was right up my alley even though it is meant for the younger set. Although I was surprised that my parents even agreed to check it out. What they do for their Belle-loving daughter... It's still very much the same format as the original 'Storytime with Belle' although on a much grander scale.

Before you go in, you actually wait in Belle's cottage, which had the most incredible attention to detail; from 'Belle's growth chart' on the wall (we're just about the same height!), to the book that she got from the bookkeeper (complete with bite-mark missing from the sheep), to a portrait of Belle and her mother when she was little which I thought was a nice touch. (This I did get a picture of.)

Next, groups of about 15 or so are lead into 'Maurice's Workshop' which has all sorts of tools, sketches, and on a wall, a mirror given to Maurice by the Beast/Prince so that he could visit Belle whenever he wanted. After saying the words 'Take me back to the night Belle and the Beast fell in love' the mirror stretches to the floor (Ddad and I were really impressed by the effects) and splits, leading us into Belle's room where the Wardrobe waits.

There, we're told be the Wardrobe (again, REALLY COOL effects) that we're going to perform the story of how Belle and the Beast met before she goes to have dinner with him so now we have to decide who will play who by doing several different actions. One thing I appreciated was that they didn't keep roles just to the kids; several middle aged kids and adults got parts and my Ddad, for using his 'opera voice' (Trust me, you don't want to know...) got the part of the Wardrobe!!

I will NEVER watch Beauty and the Beast the same way again...

Then it was time for the main event which was pretty much the same as it was originally, except now Lumiere tells the story and Belle is in her gown instead of the usual blue dress.

Afterwards, all the 'cast' were able to get a picture with Belle, along with a bookmark (which I quickly confiscated. )

After that, we checked out the Little Mermaid ride which basically was a mix of Peter Pan's Flight and the Nemo ride at Epcot, but with only a 5 minute wait time, it was still a two-rider for me.

After getting a picture with Ariel in her Grotto (I could have done without this) we browsed through some of the shops and took some pics of the architecture which really is amazing. Just the attention to detail is nothing short of astounding.

So my final thoughts on the expansion is that Disney has really outdone themselves this time. I definitely prefer this over Toontown (no offense to the Toontown fans, I just never really liked it) and I can't wait to see it finished product next time we go.

Although I do dread to think of the crowds that will come for it...

By the time we finished touring the Fantasyland Expansion, Dmom and Ddad were getting tired, so we decided to split up. They headed to the Poly in search of a hammock while I was about to get the thrill I never knew I wanted.

Ooh! Suspense!

 

[FancyNancy]

Yay for getting into the new Fantasyland! I'm excited to see this on my trip in Sept!

 

[steph5377]

Congrats on your weight loss! That is so awesome. How did you lose the 45lbs? Any tips? I need to lose about 40, so I'm always looking for advice and inspiration from others. Loved the pics and your report.