The Crazy Life of a New Floridian & Ongoing TRs

[jmskinner]

So as they turned to head to RnR, I made my way to TSM. Or so I thought. And I got lost. And then loster. And then Jeff called me to tell me that RnR was shut down, and I STILL hadn't found TSM!

Now I know this is a new attraction, but I've been by here a million times. OK, maybe not a million, but at least 72,849 times!!!!! For some reason this is the only park that does this to me.

So I did my best husband/father/boyfriend/bachelor/grandfather/brother/boynextdoor/cuteguysitsnexttomeinchemistryclass/nephew/uncle/averagejoe/joesixpack/joetheplumber impression. I avoided any CM who could direct me to TSM. Cause that might be like asking for directions. And I would NOT ask for directions.

Cause I'm a Disney pro. A legend in my own mind. A know-it-all DISer. And I do NOT ask for directions while at Disney.

So before you know it, I see Jeff and Ally walking towards me, and then I see it! The holy grail! It's Toy Story Mania! And I have to get there and get our FPs before Jeff and Ally see me. Or they will KNOW! They will KNOW that I got lost! Oh the shame!!!!!!

Just then, I hear, "Mommyyyyyyyyy!" I look the other way. I duck behind a trash can. I do my best OJ and leap over park benches and small children, and there it is!!!!!! Right - over - there!

But then it happened. A tug on my shirt. The child would not let go, and when I turned around I see the love of my life, so sad that RnR was not open. I look up and see the other love of my life, with THAT smirk on his face, as he says, "ya got lost, huh?"

"Lost? No way, I just stopped for a muffin on my way."

AARRGGHH!!!!! Busted

Oh no, too funny. DH would never let me live that down. He thought he was being smart one time when I mentioned what a hard time we had getting from Epcot to DTD. He said we could take a boat. I haven't explained to him yet that the boats from Epcot only go to resorts. He would say I was only trying to prove hime wrong. Guess he would be correct.

And I was fascinated by the mother daughter team at the next table. Reapplying their makeup. Adjusting their painted on jeans. And their stilletos. They seriously looked like they were on a man hunt, not a day at an amusement park. Craziness!

People that get all dressed up for the parks crack me up. One day at AK I saw this girl applying makeup, only the most humid park. I'm sure it melted off as soon as she stepped out of the bathroom.

Love your Christmas decorations. Especially the stairway. Those lighted palm trees are great also.

 

[karajeboo]

Oh no, too funny. DH would never let me live that down. He thought he was being smart one time when I mentioned what a hard time we had getting from Epcot to DTD. He said we could take a boat. I haven't explained to him yet that the boats from Epcot only go to resorts. He would say I was only trying to prove hime wrong. Guess he would be correct.



People that get all dressed up for the parks crack me up. One day at AK I saw this girl applying makeup, only the most humid park. I'm sure it melted off as soon as she stepped out of the bathroom.

Love your Christmas decorations. Especially the stairway. Those lighted palm trees are great also.

Oh, I'm sure the next time we're at DHS, Jeff will ask me to find TSM!

Jeff and I both love to walk around the parks and comment on "appropriate" park attire. Seriously. It's a sickness I have. The heels are what crack me up. Have these people never gone anywhere but clubbing??? I can only imagine what their feet feel like the next morning!

Honest - we bought this house because of the staircase. I loved it when we saw this house the first time. Now all I see is an extra set of stairs to be vacuumed!

 

[jmskinner]

Oh, I'm sure the next time we're at DHS, Jeff will ask me to find TSM!

Jeff and I both love to walk around the parks and comment on "appropriate" park attire. Seriously. It's a sickness I have. The heels are what crack me up. Have these people never gone anywhere but clubbing??? I can only imagine what their feet feel like the next morning!

Honest - we bought this house because of the staircase. I loved it when we saw this house the first time. Now all I see is an extra set of stairs to be vacuumed!

Now see, anytime we saw stairs, I could see was climbing up the things. But seriously, all the homes we looked at that were two story didn't have pretty staircases like that.

Oh, and you should have seen the pair of heels I saw on someone at MK last night.

 

[karajeboo]

I'm baaaaack! FINALLY!

Life seems to have gotten in the way of this little TR, but I'm back with our day at Hollywood STudios!

And that's what I get for waiting so long in between updates. I just typed out 5 long paragraphs about the cool weather, etc, and then realized I'd already reported on all that!

So it's time for Block Party Bash....

This was so much fun and I'm so glad we waited for it. Jeff is not a big parade fan, so I was left to scout out our spot. Just to the left Mann's Chinese Theater, on a corner, so I just nuzzled up in the corner, plopped my bag down to save spots for Jeff and Ally, and waited.

Now this "corner" was actually a taped off corner, since I was right by a little pathway heading back into the park. It was a great spot though. Execpt for all those people who kept trying to weazle their way into MY corner! They tried to extend the corner out to fit them. But Broom Hilda was there and was NOT going to allow that to happen!

Jeff and Ally got back about 15 minutes before we heard the music, so I didn't feel like one of "those" people that holds spots right up to the last minute. "Those" people drive me nuts!

The parade came up the main street, and stopped. Just stopped. A long way from us. We could hear the music, and see a little bit of action, but there was no action for us. I was confused. Then the lightbulb came on when I looked at the map. Aha! The "parade" was not really a "parade!" It was more like a show on wheels and made two stops. Whew!

So while we were feeling like Mick Jagger and not getting any satisfaction, the CMs came out with a big parachute for the kids. Oh! Flashbacks to elementary PE class!

It was a little unnerving with Ally out there, mixed in with all the other children, and parents were pretty casual about it. I made sure I kept her in my sights at all times, even though I knew she could find her way back to us (heck, she could probably have found TSM a lot quicker than I did!!!), but the mama bear in me doesn't like being separated from her in crowds.

After the fun with parachutes, we heard the music pick up and the parade that's not really a parade started to move in our direction.

I got so excited to see the Toy Story characters - I wanted to meet Mr Potato Head soooo bad! But they kept on walking....

Oh, Monsters Inc, how cute they all look - even Boo was there!

Then I see A Bug's Life - oh, stop here, stop here! But no. Toy Story goes on by, Monsters Inc goes on by. A Bugs Life and The Incredibles haven't made it here yet. So we get.....

And don't try to tell me he's from Toy Story. I know that! But the Green Army Men were everywhere. Including right in front of us. I guess they were there to keep order. They need to be at the HSM show when it's under the hat - THAT is where they need to keep order!

So once they stopped, the floats all opened up to become trampolines, and lots of fun stuff came out! We had little acrobats, dancers, cheerleaders, it was so much fun! We did the YMCA, the Macarena, and every other stupid dance from our childhood!

Here's Ally showing everyone her little white girl moves she gets from her daddy!

After about 10 or 15 minutes of dancing, singing, cheering, it was time to pack up and "Move Out Troops!" or so that's what Green ARmy Man hollered.

More characters coming by....

See? Green Army Man is here too!!!! Security is TIGHT at Disney these days!

What a fun, fun parade that isn't a parade! I can hardly wait for next time! And we discovered so many CMs that were also in the HSM show! In fact, throughout the day we discovered them everywhere! Jeff even swears he saw a guy from both HSM and BPB that was parking cars for a wedding at Coronado Springs later!

After Block Party BAsh, we wandered around a bit more, made some more pin trades, and headed for the exit.

We ran into these guys in the Soap Stars little parade...

Walking toward the bus back to CSR, I cried. Like I do every time we leave. And Ally cried. Like she does when she sees me cry every time we leave.

And Jeff rolled his eyes and laughed at us. Like he does every time he sees us cry every time we leave.

Even though I knew we'd be back within a couple of months, I just hate leaving. It is the one place on earth where in my opinion, life is truly good.

So until next time, which as of right now is booked for the first weekend in March, another girls weekend, because Jeff has another golf weekend planned. We are staying at POFQ this time, and plan to spend a day at Epcot, and wherever else Ally wants to go. But I get my day at Epcot.

And who knows if Jeff will join us again. He says his friends still haven't committed to the golf weekend, so it maybe another girls weekend with daddy crashing!

 

[jmskinner]

Love the pics! Can you believe I still have not seen the day time parades at any of the parks, or the parades that are not parades.

I understand how you feel when leaving. I am the same way. I just want to keep going back. Jacob doesn't have school next Friday (they get the day off for the State Fair), so I am thinking of going then. Figured the parks would be really slow.

Has the latest cold front hit you yet? Not supposed to be as cold here as it was last week. I enjoyed getting the winter clothes out though.

Have a good weekend!
Melissa

 

[askelton]

You're right. This was my favourite day in PE. Wonder why?

 

[podsnel]

I'm glad the parade worked out ok- I was a little nervous there...

OK- back to Superbowl cooking. What are you doing tomorrow?

 

[karajeboo]

Love the pics! Can you believe I still have not seen the day time parades at any of the parks, or the parades that are not parades.

I understand how you feel when leaving. I am the same way. I just want to keep going back. Jacob doesn't have school next Friday (they get the day off for the State Fair), so I am thinking of going then. Figured the parks would be really slow.

Has the latest cold front hit you yet? Not supposed to be as cold here as it was last week. I enjoyed getting the winter clothes out though.

Have a good weekend!
Melissa

Oh, I hate getting winter clothes out here! It's a different kind of cold than when I lived in Ohio. It's so damp and I'm not used to electric heat. I miss my toasty gas heat, which actually WARMED the house! I jsut can't get warm down here in the winter.

I've already got a weekend planned for early March, then one in early May to meet my SIL and her family. Gonna stay POFQ in March and I think I'm changing our reservation from CBR to AKL in May. I just can't get enough!

You're right. This was my favourite day in PE. Wonder why?

I'm glad the parade worked out ok- I was a little nervous there...

OK- back to Superbowl cooking. What are you doing tomorrow?

 

[karajeboo]

Love the pics! Can you believe I still have not seen the day time parades at any of the parks, or the parades that are not parades.

I understand how you feel when leaving. I am the same way. I just want to keep going back. Jacob doesn't have school next Friday (they get the day off for the State Fair), so I am thinking of going then. Figured the parks would be really slow.

Has the latest cold front hit you yet? Not supposed to be as cold here as it was last week. I enjoyed getting the winter clothes out though.

Have a good weekend!
Melissa

Oh, I hate getting winter clothes out here! It's a different kind of cold than when I lived in Ohio. It's so damp and I'm not used to electric heat. I miss my toasty gas heat, which actually WARMED the house! I jsut can't get warm down here in the winter.

I've already got a weekend planned for early March, then one in early May to meet my SIL and her family. Gonna stay POFQ in March and I think I'm changing our reservation from CBR to AKL in May. I just can't get enough!

A friend from high school lives in Orlando - her DH works for Disney security and she said she's gonna start asking ME questions about Disney instead of her DH! It really is an obsession.

You're right. This was my favourite day in PE. Wonder why?

Funny thing is that Ally comes home from school some days telling me about the parachute in PE. Brings back memories...

I'm glad the parade worked out ok- I was a little nervous there...

OK- back to Superbowl cooking. What are you doing tomorrow?

Oh, Jeff is golfing in a Super Bowl tournament, then we're meeting him at the clubhouse for the Super Bowl - all u can eat wings, snacky stuff, drinks..... I'm so not into the super bowl this year. Just no teams I care about - even though Jeff grew up a Steelers fan. He admitted that if Carolina would have done what they were expected to do, and it would have been a Carolina/Steelers SB, he would have definitely been rooting for the Panthers. I'm still very bitter about that loss.

We thought we could become Jags fans, living here, but they had such a crappy year that we just couldn't get excited about it. It's fun to live in a city that actually HAS a pro sports team - when we lived in SC, we had no pro sports right there, we had to go to Charlotte, NC for football and ATlanta for football, baseball or basketball. So hopefully we can get excited about Jags football next year - of course, the Panthers will always be my #1 team.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Kara! I'm finally caught up! I've stayed up til 1am to read your TR! Okay, actually I drank too much coffee during Super Bowl, then had to write a training for tomorrow.

I love your parade pics! That Block Party Bash is alot like the parade at CA - can't remember the catchy name... really FUN

 

[karajeboo]

OK, so I've booked two more weekend jaunts!!! First I booked March 6-8 at POFQ, and May 1-3 at CBR. Of course I can't leave it alone, so NOW we're at All Star Movies in March and AKL in May!

First, Jeff was planning a golf outing here and his mother was going to join Ally and I in March, but she's having surgery today so she won't be up for running around the World, so I figured I'd downgrade to All STars so we can stay at AKL in May when we're meeting Jeff's sister and her family.

So in March, I only made one ADR, Sci Fi for lunch one day. We have never eaten here and my goal is to try all TS restaurants as well as stay in all resorts, so each time we try to eat somewhere new and stay somewhere new.

In May we are meeting my SIL and her family at Boma for dinner one night (another nice convenience of staying at AKL!), and Kona for breakfast one morning. Must try Tonga toast!!!

So of course I'll have tons of pics from each trip, including extensive resort photos. I always forget those but I've made a mental note to take lots these trips.

AND later in May I'm meeting my DISbud Ellen (podsnel) for a night at AKL concierge and joining her and her friend on the sunset safari at AK and dinner at Jiko!!! I'm soooo excited for this! This will be my first adult girls only trip! And I'm sure we'll have so much fun - and Ally is already mad that I"m not taking her!

 

[podsnel]

Sorry, Ally! But momma's going to be having grown-up girlie fun that night!

Kara, did you know the sunset safari is at AKL? Not AK? The giraffes come right up to the jeep- As in, 2 inches from your face!

 

[karajeboo]

GET OUT!!!! (more Seinfeld....) That will be so cool! I'm so pumped! Instead of a swim up bar like in the Caribbean, we get the Jeep drive up bar in the savannah, right??? Or is there just a bar strapped to the back of the jeep? I'm okay with either one!

 

[jmskinner]

That sounds like a blast. I'm so jealous right now.

 

[podsnel]

GET OUT!!!! (more Seinfeld....) That will be so cool! I'm so pumped! Instead of a swim up bar like in the Caribbean, we get the Jeep drive up bar in the savannah, right??? Or is there just a bar strapped to the back of the jeep? I'm okay with either one!

Actually, there are monkeys with Beer bongs waiting in strategic trees throughout the safari, and on cue from the naturalist they jump down onto the roof of the jeep and FILLER UP!! Be sure to bring your camera!!

 

[jmskinner]

Actually, there are monkeys with Beer bongs waiting in strategic trees throughout the safari, and on cue from the naturalist they jump down onto the roof of the jeep and FILLER UP!! Be sure to bring your camera!!

 

[karajeboo]

Actually, there are monkeys with Beer bongs waiting in strategic trees throughout the safari, and on cue from the naturalist they jump down onto the roof of the jeep and FILLER UP!! Be sure to bring your camera!!

See? THIS is why I'm excited for this trip! Frightened, but excited!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Actually, there are monkeys with Beer bongs waiting in strategic trees throughout the safari, and on cue from the naturalist they jump down onto the roof of the jeep and FILLER UP!! Be sure to bring your camera!!

I think there are monkeys in Kara's back yard - maybe she can bring her own monkeys!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

OK, so I've booked two more weekend jaunts!!! First I booked March 6-8 at POFQ, and May 1-3 at CBR. Of course I can't leave it alone, so NOW we're at All Star Movies in March and AKL in May!

First, Jeff was planning a golf outing here and his mother was going to join Ally and I in March, but she's having surgery today so she won't be up for running around the World, so I figured I'd downgrade to All STars so we can stay at AKL in May when we're meeting Jeff's sister and her family.

So in March, I only made one ADR, Sci Fi for lunch one day. We have never eaten here and my goal is to try all TS restaurants as well as stay in all resorts, so each time we try to eat somewhere new and stay somewhere new.

In May we are meeting my SIL and her family at Boma for dinner one night (another nice convenience of staying at AKL!), and Kona for breakfast one morning. Must try Tonga toast!!!

So of course I'll have tons of pics from each trip, including extensive resort photos. I always forget those but I've made a mental note to take lots these trips.

AND later in May I'm meeting my DISbud Ellen (podsnel) for a night at AKL concierge and joining her and her friend on the sunset safari at AK and dinner at Jiko!!! I'm soooo excited for this! This will be my first adult girls only trip! And I'm sure we'll have so much fun - and Ally is already mad that I"m not taking her!

Kara, does this mean you won't be there when we are, after all? March 22 - 29.

 

[karajeboo]

It depends how my mom is feeling. She's just had double knee replacement this week - so if she's up for it when they come down for Ally's bday at the end of March, then we'll come down for a couple of days. But if she's still hurting, then we'll hold off until the fall.

Darn parents, ruining my Disney plans!