DECEMBER 8, 2011
Day 4, Part 4 In Which We Venture To Uncharted Territory
Even though my camera was broken and we were going to have to leave Disney to buy a new one (an expense I was *not* expecting on this trip... yeeeouch), the
Livin It Up had to continue.
The one thing you need to know about my mom and I is that the
Livin It Up will never cease for us. One of our favorite sayings is "If I don't laugh, I'll cry." Meaning: When things go wrong you just have to laugh about it because who cares. In the grand scheme of things, almost nothing is really that big a deal, so you really shouldn't waste your time being sad, upset, or frustrated.
Disappointing candlelight processionals and broken cameras are really no match for us. We laugh in the face of these things and just carry on
Livin It Up!
I find one of the best ways to
Live It Up is to eat cupcakes. I was really hoping that one of my BELOVED Safari cupcakes would finally be available! I had waited 18 months to sink my teeth into another one and I just could not wait any longer.
Back at Kusafiri Bakery, I was not denied!
YUM! The cupcake was EVEN BETTER than it was in 2010! The pieces of chocolate were thicker, whereas before they were more like giant chocolate shavings. Now they're just big ol' honkin pieces of DELICIOUS chocolate stuck right there in your cupcake. Oh, it was heaven!
Just for comparison, this is what the Safari Cupcake I got in 2010 looked like:
Oh how I love when Disney makes things even MORE magical!
Btw, when I got this cupcake in 2010 it was called the Zebra Cupcake. Which made sense. But then on this trip it was called the Safari Cupcake. HOWEVER, yesterday, my friend Jess got the cupcake and it's called the Zebra Cupcake again! Make up your mind, Disney! And also: BRING BACK THE ORIGINAL MONORAIL VOICE GUY aka THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!
Sigh.
I ate about half of the cupcake, and put the rest away for later cause it was time to head back over to Dinoland for Finding Nemo: The Musical!
I don't have many notes or pictures, so forgive me as I breeze through the rest of our time at AK...
Nemo was incredible, as per usual. Sadly, my mom left her sunglasses in there, which she realized once we were pretty far away. So we ventured back to the theatre where they were prepping for the next show. A bunch of CMs helped us, but alas, the sunglasses were gone. Sheesh, we were not doing too well with personal items today!
Even with my broken camera and the sun in my mom's eyes, the
Livin It Up couldnot be stopped. Again, the best way to
Live It Up was eating, so we got a Turkey Leg!
Turkey Legs are one of those things that after I eat them I am just not thrilled with myself. They do not make you feel good. Actually, halfway through, most of the time I'm like "Am I seriously ripping meat off this giant bone? With my teeth? Smearing grease across my face? In public?"
There's just no way to do it without looking like a caveman.
But they're delicious! So every once in awhile, I
Live It Up caveman style. Ooh, that rhymed!! I should make up a rap. AAAAAALLLL YOUUUUU sucka MCs ain't got nothin' on me.... you know what? Nevermind.
It was nearing time for Mickey's Jammin' Jingle Jungle Parade, which is the same as Mickey's Plain Old Jammin' Jungle Parade, just with some decorations and a more festive soundtrack. I really enjoyed the normal parade the last time we saw it (2006), so I definitely knew we had to catch the holiday version.
We grabbed some delicious cinnamon glazed pecans (YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM) from a snack cart in Harambe and sat down along the bridge.
The parade was a lot of fun, but like I said, not very different from the usual one, so you aren't missing much if you don't get to see it during the holidays. However, it was really cute. My favorite Holiday addition was Naughty and Nice lists with certain characters names on them. Adorable!
Here is the one cell phone pic I took. Mickey waving at me!
Aww.
Precious. It was so annoying not having my camera for this, usually I take a ton of pictures during parades.
There was one last Festival of the Lion King for that day that we had to rush over to Camp Minnie Mickey for. We made it just in time! The rushing was worth it because as all of you know, that show is mind blowingly, overwhelmingly incredible! My mom and I ALWAYS cry. I actually prefer it to the Broadway version of the Lion King, even. It's just
that good!
After FOTLK, the park was about to close and so we headed out and back to Pop.
Ok so if you don't care to hear about the whole LEAVING DISNEY PROPERTY ordeal of doom, just skip over this. I'm including it just in case people are curious about the whole fright enducing process, but I don't mind if you skip it! At the bottom of this update, there will be food pictures, so I understand if you would like to skip all the boring non-Disney details!
I went up to the concierge and asked (just in case) if they sold digital cameras anywhere on property. The CM said no. I think this is a missed opportunity. They should really sell big obnoxious Mickey head shaped cameras. I would buy one. Gimmicky cameras are awesome. I mean, I know I'm not the only one who had a
Spice Girls polaroid camera. Oh, the 90's!
I asked the CM to please direct me to the nearest Target since my friend Kara (MarieTheCat24) was helping me out and said she found some cheap but decent cameras on their website (Thanks again, Kara!) The CM was very sweet and helpful, giving me a map and the address. She also told me the estimated cab fare and I was right, it was $20 each way.
From reading the DIS all these years I knew Mears was the cab company to call and had written down their number, so I called them and they said a cab would be there very soon. They texted about a minute after I hung up with them saying that they had contacted dispatch and a cab was on its way. The cab arrived insanely fast, it was honestly less than 5 minutes. Our cab driver asked which Target we wanted to go to and I gave him the specific address b/c I didn't want him to trick us and act like a further away Target was the nearest one (drivers in NYC try to drive you out of your way for more money sometimes). He was very polite and even turned down his music for us, but we told him we didn't mind the music and it was fine if he played it..
I posted on Twitter:
Cab driver had crazy music on and he turned it off and we were all like hey its cool, we're weird too.
When we left Disney Property, I felt sick. The Target is in that area of Orlando that is super touristy and filled with signs that have giant oranges and unauthorized paintings of Mickey on them and there are too many fast food restaurants and chain hotels and I just hate it. I mean, it's fine... it's normal for a tourist area. It's not like it's terrible, it's just not anywhere I want to be. Disney is so pristine that you really forget the real world is a couple of miles away. I was annoyed and just wanted to get the whole thing over with.
I posted on Twitter:
I absolutely hate leaving Disney Property. Loathe. Abhor.
We arrived at Target and my mom and I split up. I went straight to the camera section and she went to look for some new sunglasses.
It took me less than 5 minutes to choose one, a Canon Powershot A1200. I wasn't looking for a perfect new camera, obviously I didn't have time to research, I just wanted something good yet not too expensive to hold me over for the rest of our trip.
I paid for it at the electronics counter and then went to find my mom in the Women's Accessories area. She had found some cute sunglasses for only $10... gotta love Target!
We then went to the drink aisle to get a pack of water, a pack of Coca Cola, and some Vitamin Water, so that we didn't have to buy them at the parks. We were going to get snacks but then I realized that eating snacks from Target would fill us up and leave less room for Disney snacks, so we quickly squashed that idea. It's allll about the Disney food, folks.
I called Mears again to get a cab back to Pop and we went to check out. Once again they texted me right away after to tell me dispatch had contacted a driver who was on his way. It took about 5-10 minutes for the cab to arrive. It was another nice guy who immediately got out of the cab, opened the doors, and took our bags out of our cart and put them into the car.
As we arrived back on Disney Property I screamed "YAAAY!!" and clapped and did a little dance. I can't even tell you what a relief it was to be back.
I posted on Twitter:
Just got back to Disney World. Thank God. I can't stand being out of the bubble. Reality has no place in my life.
Overall our experience with Mears raised no complaints from me. I've heard mixed reviews in the past but both drivers arrived within minutes and were polite and helpful. I was annoyed to begin with that my camera had broken and we had to leave Disney, so it would have been easy to tick me off, but there were no problems.
When we arrived back at Pop I almost kissed the ground. DISNEY, I'LL NEVER LEAVE YOU AGAIN!
We briefly went back to the room to drop off our stuff. I got my new camera out and tested a bit before we headed back out to the busses. We were hungry for one of our FAVORITE Disney restaurants:
WOLFGANG PUCK EXPRESS!!!!!!
Ever since I ate here on a whim during my 2008 solo trip, it has been a must do. You know, one of those must dos that we really WANT to do! B/c, a la Stacey, not all must dos are things you really WANT to do. Or something.
The point is: We always want to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express. I introduced it to my mom during my
20th birthday trip in 2010 and she also fell head over heels in love. She brings it up to me often and we always talk about how much we wish we could eat there all the time.
This restaurant is categorized by Disney as counter service, but it is table service quality. Actually, it's better than some of the table service restaurants. If you haven't tried it, OH MY GOD, GO!
We ordered our usual: Four Cheese Pesto Pizza with a side of Macaroni & Cheese and split both.
They have changed this dish a bit and increased the size. This a side, but it is enough for one person's whole meal.
My mom was in heaven at this point! I think this was one of her favorite moments of the trip. It was such a relief to be back at Disney after the little bump in the road we had, eating one of our favorite meals. We took some of the pizza back to Pop like always, we can never finish it because it's so huge. Honestly... if you have never tried this place... your next trip is the time!
After this, we started acting really silly. We were so tired and stuffed. My mom was being especially hilarious. She kept telling me to take her picture in front of various stores. She would get all giddy and giggly and pose like an overexcited child about to meet Mickey. I wish I could show you the pics, but she would kill me. It was too funny. I was cracking up. I love that I have a mom who can get silly like this and pose for stupid pictures and crack up laughing at nothing and basically just act like a moron with me.
My mom decided she wanted Ghiradelli for dessert. I was too stuffed but she got a chocolate cone, her favorite. She said it was delicious, as usual. I definitely have to try something here next time. I was never crazy about it, but lately getting a bar of Ghiradelli chocolate has become a thing for me. It's my new vice. Like any time I'm really tired and still have a long day ahead of me I go get one and OH GOD IT JUST MAKES ME FEEL SO MUCH BETTER!
After wandering around for awhile, we headed back to Pop Century and actually got to bed at a reasonable time. I didn't even watch that many loops of Stacey before I went to sleep, I think it was only about 14 times, so you can tell I was tired!
Up next: Minnie Mouse freaks out!
AHHH ELEPHANTS. I LOVE elephants!!! (Okay, sorry about all THAT randomness...)
Sigh. Well, I wouldn't say it was HARD to get a new one... just annoying. You know, an inconvenience. But the Livin It Up continued as usual.)
And having to leave property? Well that's just unfair.
(I like this smiley. I have friends just like it.)
I became fb friends with the awesome bellhop from my last trip and he has SO MANY pics of him and the fellow CMs with pictures of almost all of them or just 2 of them riding it. Can you imagine riding it all you want if we worked there? Although...I don't know if I would be a good CM there. I'm too happy, I'm not good at NOT smiling and giving off the eerie vibes they give! 
