The Tower of Happiness and Other Adventures! First Ever TR!

[PrincessHeather'sMom]

Day 1, Sat., Oct. 2, 2010

DD, age 15 and I, left from STL to ORD on time and arrived in 2 hrs. Because it had been a couple of years since our last trip, we 'couldn't find' Magical Express initially, but we finally did. We arrived at CBR, checked in and got our KTW, got a map to our room, Room 2615, and took an internal bus to our island, Martinique. Our room was in building 26, and we wandered around aimlessly for what seemed like forever in the FL heat, until we asked a random stranger if he knew where building 26 was, which he did, and he pointed us in the right direction. We finally found our room and collapsed briefly soaking up the AC. After gathering our things, we left for DTD for dinner. We didn't have any plans where to eat, so we just winged it, and ended up at T-Rex Cafe. The T-Rex Cafe was disorganized getting people in, but once we were at our table we fully enjoyed our surroundings. I don't know if we were really hungry or if the food was really good, but I prefer to think the food was really good. We both ordered the Guacosaurus Burger with waffle fries. Luckily we were sitting in the vegetarian dinosaur area so they wouldn't eat our burgers!

DD did a little shopping to start the trip and picked up her lanyard and some pins. After that we went to the bus stop and waited in line. A CM gave out little bottles of bubbles to the children, DD included, to keep them entertained in line. We we got back to our room, we discovered our luggage hadn't arrived yet. Trying not to panic, I called the front desk and they had our luggage. They just hadn't delivered it yet. This was 9:30 p.m. and we had arrived at ORD at 2:30 p.m. They brought our luggage right away, and then we unpacked and went to bed.

Stay tuned for Day 2!

 

[PrincessHeather'sMom]

Day 2, Sun., Oct. 3, 2010

In the DD (15) perspective

After a good nights sleep in our Nemo themed room we woke up with the rooster and got ready for the first day in the parks! We were headed for EPCOT! We arrived just before opening so we only waited a few minutes outside the turnstiles. After shuffling through the gates we stopped and took pictures of the Food & Wine Festival displays.

After a few quick pictures we moved on - only to hit the next rope where we waited just a few more minutes. When the rope was finally dropped my mom and I headed to Test Track we had only done it once and the last time we did it the wait was almost 2 hours but we hopped in line anyways. So Test Track was the first ride we rode of the trip! We couldn’t help but think back to the newest Kingdom Keepers book and think about how the dummies came to life (we thought about this a lot during this trip). After we finished at Test Track we headed over to the neighboring attraction - Mission Space! Of course it was my first time on Mission Space so we did the green side! Overall I think it was a pretty cool experience. After words we headed over to Soarin’ where there was only a 20 minute wait so we jumped on that and then headed next door to Journey Into Imagination with Figment where there was literally no wait as usual. Poor Figment never gets the credit that he disserves. We had our four major ride “MUST- Dos” done within a hour so we kind of just wandered around and wound up in Club Cool. Of course in honor of the DisBoards I drank the famous Beverly. GROSS! I’ve had it before but I decided to try it again. Big mistake!

 

[PrincessHeather'sMom]

By the time we were done with all of the above it was time to start eating for the day so we headed to the World Showcase where we started eating our way about the world! This is the order in which we sampled delicious foods from:
Ireland: Mom had the Lobster and Scallop Fisherman’s Pie - Verdict: Yummy!
Belgium: Mom had the Godiva Chocolate Ice Coffee - Verdict: OMG! Yum!
Morocco: Beef in a Pita Pocket - My mother and I both got this one. I think we both agree that it was kind of like a well spiced meatball and a nice cold lettuce and carrot “salad” (that complemented the beef nicely) stuffed into a pita pocket it was kind of a mess to eat but overall good.
Morocco: Mom and I shared a piece of Baklava - Very good, but Mom said she had better.
Australia: Grilled Lamb Chop with Grilled Potato Salad - The lamb was cooked perfectly and had a good flavor, I thought the potato salad was going to be warm sense it was grilled but it was surprisingly chilled it was defiantly not an ordinary potato salad that your grandma would make! But meal overall was very, very good!
Japan: Spicy Tuna Roll - This one was a no-brainer for my mother and I because we both have a love for sushi. It had a great flavor - probably the best we have ever had! Note: They also offered a California Roll so if you are not familiar with sushi but want to try it I would start with that then work your way up to the Spicy Tuna Roll.


Somewhere along the way we were wondering around in the countries and found - in Canda - a perfect photo opp!

Also when strolling through France I was taking pictures of the Beauty and the Beast topiaries

and Aurora magically appeared! So I got picture with her and she complemented me on my “gown”!

Then we stumbled upon Belle so of course I got an autograph and picture with her!

We ended our EPCOT adventures in Norway

where mom found the perfume she heard about here on DisBoards! It’s called Laila? She loves it! Well we scurried our way back the way we came through the countries and stopped in Greece on the way out to get some Baklava. We ended up putting it in a Ziploc baggie we had with us and stuffing it in my purse! Well then we headed back to CBR at about 2:30pm to get ready for our first ever MNSSHP!

 

[PrincessHeather'sMom]

I decided to wear shorts instead of my jeans with my Jessie costume because we knew it was going to be a warm night! And mom also wore her lighter outfit for the party she wore her “Creature of the Night” shirt with shorts. We arrived at Magic Kingdom a little after 4:00pm! We walked through the turnstiles and got our party wristbands, Trick or Treat bags, and maps! Well as soon as we got in we were starving! I don’t know what is with us! I guess we walk all the food off because we defiantly ate our way through Disney! So we decided to eat at the Plaza on Main Street we checked in and there was about a 20 minute wait so we waited around and got to watch the beginning of the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party but then we were buzzed in to eat. We were sat just inside the restaurant and we couldn’t understand why there was a wait because there were many open tables but anyways these were our orders:
Mom: Tuna Salad Sandwich - tuna salad with lettuce and tomato of a freshly baked croissant
Me: Turkey Sandwich - smoked turkey, bacon, lettuce, vine ripened tomato and mayonnaise on multi-grain bread (hold the mayo)
We have eaten here once before and now we are happy to say that we have enjoyed both of our experiences eating at the Plaza. Well after stuffing our faces we headed over the the Haunted Mansion and then the Jungle Cruise! Afterwards is when the party OFFICIALLY started!
We were casually strolling through Fantasyland heading to Toon Town when all of the sudden out of the corner of my eye I see Lady Termaine & the Two Ugly Step-Sisters strut by and I startled my Mom by doing a quick U-turn (which then became the joke of the night!) and followed them to their Character Spot! We were the first in line! We chatted a little bit - Anastasia and Drizella kept yelling at each other “Look! Look! She likes ME better she’s standing closer to ME!” and Lady Termaine asked “Darling, do you know any princes? Dukes? Lords? -” and Drizella interrupted “Anyone with money!”. Goodness I love these girls! I’m so glad I got to meet them!

Afterwards we made our way back to Toon Town where we met Donald and Daisy in front of the Toon Town “Welcome” sign! Donald was dressed up as a pumpkin and Daisy as a beautiful princess!

Afterwards we traveled farther into Toon Town and stumbled upon the Alice & Mad Hatter’s Treat Trail which all together has 3 candy stops. We didn’t do many Treat stops this Party because we knew we would be back on Thursday. But at the beginning of the trail we got in line and met 2 of my favorite characters Alice and the Mad Hatter!

The Treat Trail ends at Space Mountain so we decided to jump on Space Mountain while we were there. Afterwards we headed back over to Fantasyland and ran into the Queen of Hearts so of course I had to get and autograph and picture!

Then we headed over to get in line for the 7 Dwarfs! That was probably the longest line we stood in all evening! But it was defiantly worth it!

We strolled to Adventureland looking for things to do we decided to relax our feet so we jumped into a boat at Pirates of the Caribbean and relaxed as cannonballs shot past us and hit the water. After relaxing with the pirates we decided to go meet Tarzan, Jane, and Terk. I was so excited!

 

[PrincessHeather'sMom]

Then it was about time for the 2nd parade of the night so we went back through the lands trying to find a decent spot to sit we ended up on front the steps Liberty Tree Tavern! We watched the parade in pain our feet were throbbing but the whole experience was definitely worth it!

Then we waddled over to the castle where we sat and watched the Villains Mix & Mingle - that show is a lot shorter than I thought it would be! But once it was over (after a little confusion) I raced over and took pictures with the biggest, badest villain out there! Maleficent!

After we headed down Main Street and stopped in the bakery where I bought a cinnamon roll because well, I was starving! We also stopped the hat shop where I bought my classic black Mouse ears embroidered with hot pink thread which I ended up wearing the rest of the trip.
We slowly walked to our bus stop which of course seemed like it took FOREVER! But I think the buses where on top of there game because they just kept coming on after another! We finally arrived back “home” and collapsed - it was a long day!


Stay tuned for Day 3!