Twirling Through the World: Magic, Memories, & Maladies-Sept. 2011 TR- NEW PTR 6/18!

[katt789]

Yay! Updates!! I love how you guys decided to work through the morning, so that everyone did what they wanted, and you guys got safari fps! Good call! The first time I went through Dinoland, I didn't like the themeing, or any of it, but now, I honestly like it, it's cute! I have yet to do any of the rides in that area though!

How great that Julia loved Everest! It was one of my "biggest ride moments" too, and I actually have yet to get myself something for riding it! Next time! I love the fact that in that family pic,Julia has her dress out in the pefect Disney princess pose!!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Ugh, I'm sorry to hear about those CM's being so mean for no reason! I'm sure you were doing the right thing! They probably have a lot of people trying to jump back in the car for items and get frustrated or something like that. But still, not right to be rude to you!

I love all of Brandon's and your AK pictures! They're gorgeous!

Ugh, it was so sad. I promise I wasn't doing anything wrong, and I have difficulty even seeing how they could have imagined I was doing anything other than walking to that CM. I know they have to be extra careful, but there's just no way they could have thought I was doing something dangerous. And even if they did, rudeness was not necessary. I'm glad they're protecting people and are ultra fast and attentive, but they definitely needed some training in customer relations and assessing situations! Rant over.

Thank you for your compliments of the pictures! We really found Animal Kingdom to be quite beautiful! We earned a new appreciation for AK this trip.

 

[KTgE]

Glad to know I'm not late.

That stinks about the CMs...I'm sorry that they were so rude. Glad that Julia loved Everest! I am ecstatic that I finally get to ride it this trip...the last few times I've been I've been pregnant! Needless to say, there are several rides I'm looking forward to enjoying this trip.

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Yay! Updates!! I love how you guys decided to work through the morning, so that everyone did what they wanted, and you guys got safari fps! Good call! The first time I went through Dinoland, I didn't like the themeing, or any of it, but now, I honestly like it, it's cute! I have yet to do any of the rides in that area though!

How great that Julia loved Everest! It was one of my "biggest ride moments" too, and I actually have yet to get myself something for riding it! Next time! I love the fact that in that family pic,Julia has her dress out in the pefect Disney princess pose!!

I have to admit that Triceratop Spin was the only ride we had ridden in DinoLand at that point. We would add to that this day, though! The theming really is kitchy, but once I accepted that it's supposed to be that way, I started really liking it! No, it probably doesn't go with the rest of AK, but that doesn't bother me.
You totally need to get you a prize for riding Everest! That is definitely earned!
You know, I didn't notice that in the pic until you mentioned it! Truth be told, she poses so often that I've come to expect that of my princess. I love it!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Glad to know I'm not late.

That stinks about the CMs...I'm sorry that they were so rude. Glad that Julia loved Everest! I am ecstatic that I finally get to ride it this trip...the last few times I've been I've been pregnant! Needless to say, there are several rides I'm looking forward to enjoying this trip.

I can completely relate to that! There were so many new rides for me this time since I was hugely pregnant on our last trip! It really made me appreciate it even more, I think.

 

[shan23877]

Ugghhh! I am so sorry that the CMs were rude to you. I would have been really upset too. I hope that you were able to shake it off. (if i understood the foreshadowing though, your MiL was about to do you in)

Hooray for a first ride on EE!! I may have to steal your tactic and promise Maddie a present if she'll try HM and PotC.

You guys got some great photos! I'm excited to read my DSLR for Dummies and learn how to use the new camera before our next trip.

Great family photo! Love that you and the girls were all wearing animal prints!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Ugghhh! I am so sorry that the CMs were rude to you. I would have been really upset too. I hope that you were able to shake it off. (if i understood the foreshadowing though, your MiL was about to do you in)

Hooray for a first ride on EE!! I may have to steal your tactic and promise Maddie a present if she'll try HM and PotC.

You guys got some great photos! I'm excited to read my DSLR for Dummies and learn how to use the new camera before our next trip.

Great family photo! Love that you and the girls were all wearing animal prints!

I was able to shake it off, but you understood the foreshadowing...she was about to do something to put me over the edge! Sadly, even that wasn't the end of the downhill spiral. This trip was about to get a lot more dramatic!
The gift was enough to make sure she'd go on since she had talked about it so long. I have promised Brynn things before, but she still won't go on some rides (PotC included!). Guess it depends on the kid!
That's a book I need! I know nothing about taking photos, but I'll let Brandon know you enjoyed the ones he took!
Thanks! The girls got those dresses as gifts from my mom (Gran, NOT Mamie), and I immediately thought, "ANIMAL KINGDOM!" We made Brandon and Sawyer matching safari Mickey shirts with their names, and I picked up a cheap tank at Kohl's. I *might* be a little obsessive about coordinating outfits at times! I think this is one of the few full family pictures, though, so it might be hard to tell at times! At least I tried!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Our FPs for Kali River Rapids were not ready yet, though they were getting close. It was hot, and we were thirsty and a bit hungry….what to do, what to do…

Frozen Chai Latte!

Jalapeno Cream Cheese Pretzel!

Frozen Pineapple Bars!

We had some waters, as well, and chilled out for a bit at some picnic tables near the ice cream and pretzel carts and next to the bathrooms. Really a great spot for a break, and very shaded. The sidewalks over there were also being sprayed a little, which cooled off our feet.

Now, though, it was time to get really wet! Well, it was time for SOME of us to get wet. The girls opted for ponchos.

That’s right! It was time for KRR!

I’m not sure that Brynn thought it was that great, but the rest of us enjoyed it. It’s short, though, and we really didn’t get wet. A little boy and his dad across from us got drenched, but everyone else in our raft stayed relatively dry. It was a great first experience, though! Do you see how many new things we’re trying today?! We were gaining a whole new appreciation for Animal Kingdom!

Our FP time had arrived for Kilimanjaro Safaris, and we were ready to see some animals!

Hippos were being their usual lazy selves, and who could blame them on this hot day?

These guys were just chillin’, too.

Giraffes were everywhere! Far away and VERY close up and personal!

My kids were the ones yelling out animal facts during the whole thing: “Did you know that giraffes have bluish-purplish or black tongues? Did you know that giraffes have unique spots, kind of like fingerprints?” I’m sure our guide appreciated the input from a 5 and 3 year old.

I was sure Sawyer would LOVE these elephants!

Except…

He decided that it was nap time instead.

Some clouds were beginning to form, but nothing too ominous.

This guy really liked our group.

In fact, he (she?) liked us so much that (s)he decided to walk all along the path with us, which meant we were creeping along for about fifteen minutes until the ostrich tired of our boring human antics and ran off.

The guide pointed out that the flamingos were on a hidden Mickey island. Flamingos are Julia’s favorite animal, so she thought that was especially cool.

As we exited our Safari vehicles after the shortest two weeks of my life, the guide noticed Sawyer sleeping in my arms. He said, “I put the baby to sleep? I really need to work on my spiel!” LOL!

As we made our way to the stroller parking area, I really wanted Sawyer to stay sleeping. Amazingly, he did! I leaned back the seat of the double stroller all the way and pulled down the shade.

Movin' on!

 

[denvergirl]

YAY! More TR!!! You are an awesome storyteller. . .I am really enjoying your trip! The photos are amazing. . .what type of camera and lens does he use?

 

[shan23877]

How nice that you guys found a nice spot to cool off and have a snack! AK always seems so hot to me.

Yay for a first ride on Kali! We did it for the first time last trip (DH has an aversion to water rides) and Maddie and I got soaked. I don't think it's on the must-do list for us in the future...

I'm really curious about he rest of the day. I hope that the day wasn't completely ruined . My MiL may join us for a few days next trip. I'm kind of dreading what she may do.

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

YAY! More TR!!! You are an awesome storyteller. . .I am really enjoying your trip! The photos are amazing. . .what type of camera and lens does he use?

Aw, you just made me blush, and that's no easy task!
I am on the phone with Brandon now. He says our camera is a Canon Rebel T1i, but that the camera body doesn't really matter at all, except that the brand you pick will determine the lenses you pick. The lens will make or break a picture. He thinks Canon lenses are the best and will not upgrade camera bodies until he gets a full frame one (whatever that means) because the differences in camera bodies has to do a lot with automatic settings, but he uses full manual. The lens he used most on this trip was the Canon L Series 24-70mm/f2.8, but it's not his favorite. He says it's a good vacation lens, albeit a bit heavy, but his favorites are fixed focal length lenses and this was a zoom. His absolute favorite lens is the Canon L Series 35mm/f1.4. He also uses the Canon 50mm/f1.4 and Canon 85mm/f1.8 all the time.
Okay, I understood almost none of that, but I did relay the info!

How nice that you guys found a nice spot to cool off and have a snack! AK always seems so hot to me.

Yay for a first ride on Kali! We did it for the first time last trip (DH has an aversion to water rides) and Maddie and I got soaked. I don't think it's on the must-do list for us in the future...

I'm really curious about he rest of the day. I hope that the day wasn't completely ruined . My MiL may join us for a few days next trip. I'm kind of dreading what she may do.

Kali is not a must-do for me, either. There just didn't seem to be much to it! We had FP, but there is no way I'd wait for it in a standby line for even ten minutes.
MILs are notorious for making interesting situations, and mine definitely did not disappoint in that department. Turns out she was not the biggest problem, though...and that all starts later in the evening on this day.

 

[denvergirl]

Aw, you just made me blush, and that's no easy task!
I am on the phone with Brandon now. He says our camera is a Canon Rebel T1i, but that the camera body doesn't really matter at all, except that the brand you pick will determine the lenses you pick. The lens will make or break a picture. He thinks Canon lenses are the best and will not upgrade camera bodies until he gets a full frame one (whatever that means) because the differences in camera bodies has to do a lot with automatic settings, but he uses full manual. The lens he used most on this trip was the Canon L Series 24-70mm/f2.8, but it's not his favorite. He says it's a good vacation lens, albeit a bit heavy, but his favorites are fixed focal length lenses and this was a zoom. His absolute favorite lens is the Canon L Series 35mm/f1.4. He also uses the Canon 50mm/f1.4 and Canon 85mm/f1.8 all the time.
Okay, I understood almost none of that, but I did relay the info!

O.k., I don't know what's worse. . .you having to write it or me having to intrepret Please tell him THANK YOU! I really appreciate any and all advice as I'm about to upgrade from a point and shoot He is very talented and has a great eye! Photos like that might actually get me to scrap something! Can't wait to hear what happens next. . .

 

[Stringbean&Wingnut]

Uh oh...I'm not liking this foreshadowing!!

Seems like you guys had a very nice AK day though! It's funny how you can end up completely soaked or totally dry on Kali! There really isn't a fair balance of water on that ride!

Too funny that the safari driver said he needs to work on his spiel to keep the babies awake!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Uh oh...I'm not liking this foreshadowing!!

Seems like you guys had a very nice AK day though! It's funny how you can end up completely soaked or totally dry on Kali! There really isn't a fair balance of water on that ride!

Too funny that the safari driver said he needs to work on his spiel to keep the babies awake!

It's not good. It gets bad, and then throughout the week it gets worse. I will tell you, though, that even though bad things kept happening, we kept having fun! We still consider this our best trip ever when some might call it their worst! What can I say--we make the best of every situation...and multiple bad situations...

 

[denvergirl]

So glad to hear you look back on the trip as one of your best. . .however, YOU'RE KILLING US. . .WHAT HAPPENED???? I can't wait for the next installment

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

We made our way over to the Festival of the Lion King Show, our first time ever! I think it was the 11:30 show, but I could be wrong. Brandon decided to push a sleeping Sawyer in the stroller while the rest of us went into the show. I thought that was a very nice offer, but I’ve only recently learned that he had something selfish in mind—he ate a Mickey ice cream bar AND another frozen pineapple bar while we were in the show and never told us!!! It’s been nearly six months, and he’s just now letting me in on his secret!

I took Brandon’s camera, though I just kind of held it above my head and pushed the button. A photographer I am not, but some of them came out okay.

What did we think? Well, I liked the bird. The singers and dancers were all talented. Brynn held her ears the whole time because she thought it was too loud. It was neat, but, flame me or not, it is not something I feel the need to see every time. I know that’s going against what everyone on the DIS Boards seems to think, but it’s true. It was gorgeous and everyone was so talented, but I am not obsessed with it or anything. If I have time, I’ll fit it in again. If not, I won’t worry. And I’ll bring Brynn’s earmuffs.

When we exited, we ran into a small problem. Okay, it was a big problem.

We couldn’t find Brandon ANYWHERE. We looked around for a good twenty minutes before we found him! Turns out that there are lots of exits at FOTLK, and he was waiting around the wrong one. Maybe all those ice creams were clouding his memory.

Either way, this guy was awake.

We were absolutely starving!!

I haven’t really enjoyed any CS food very much at AK in the past. Today we’d be trying a new place, one that is known for being really allergy-friendly. We were headed to Restaurantosaurus! The skies were looking a bit more ominous, but we had stupidly left the rain covers in the van! We improvised with ponchos and hoped for the best.

Before we ordered, we looked for a seat and found the best seat in the house was being vacated—we were inside the Airstream trailer, off by ourselves!

Mamie and I went to the front to order. The manager quickly came over and we had our food, including the diary free Enjoy Life cookies for the girls’ dessert, in no time! I think we pretty much had burgers all around, though Brynn might have had chicken. Can’t recall. What I do know is that the burgers were absolutely nothing special and sort of reminded me of cafeteria burgers from school.

The toppings bar definitely helped, though, and anything is good when you’re starving and cover it in toppings! The girls ate their (tiny) cookies, but I didn’t like my chocolate mousse. Julia finished it for me. Meanwhile, Brandon took pictures of the neat atmosphere.

And we had to take some pictures of cuteness!

It was while we were eating that we started discussing plans for the evening. We were going to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and we needed a game plan for the rest of the day. I casually asked if Mamie still had the tickets in her blue bag, fully expecting the answer to be yes.

And then she said, “I never put the tickets in my bag.”

“Um…yes you did. You put them in the outside pocket last night at Epcot.”

“No, I didn’t. I don’t remember doing that.”

Silence as Brandon and I exchanged glances across the table. And then Mamie dropped another bombshell.

“I cleaned out all the papers in that bag last night and threw them away to get the bag ready for today. I would have seen the tickets if they were in there.”

THEY WERE IN THERE! And now she’s telling me she threw away everything in that pocket!?!

Brandon confirmed that they were in there, and Mamie started to panic. I was panicking, too; I didn’t have the money to buy more tickets! We’d spent well over $200 on them already! Mamie conceded that if she was the one who had lost them, she would replace them.

Okay, that was fine, but I was still really frustrated with the whole situation.

Sawyer then grabbed Brynn’s juice box and squeezed it all over his outfit, showing how he felt about it, too. Good thing I had packed an extra! We changed his onesie right there in the booth since we were all alone over there (unless you count the guy sleeping in the other side of the Airstream…not kidding…) and began shifts to use the restroom and change diapers.

My clumsiness came into play here. While grabbing for the toilet paper, I somehow missed and instead scraped my thumb on the “teeth” of the dispenser. For such a little cut, it sure did bleed a lot. In fact, to this day I have a scar there! Not a great scar story, I’ll admit. You might be the only ones to get a non-fabricated version of that story.

Mamie insisted we go out the door near the bathrooms, meaning we had to go the looooong way around to get to our strollers. It had, indeed, rained while we were in there, but our cheap ponchos had saved us. There was still a light mist, but it felt great. We rolled across to The Dig Site and took everyone in, buckets from our kids’ meals in hand.

Here’s the view from the bridge over to The Dig Site.

The place was hoppin’ while they were “Diggin’ in DinoLand” and everybody stopped to “Walk the Dinosaur.”

Brandon and I got everyone settled in.

Sawyer was in a dry outfit and LOVED filling up the bucket and dumping it out again.

(Keep reading; continued below!)

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

With everybody playing nicely and Mamie watching over the three of them, Brandon and I quickly made our way across DinoLand to try yet another new thing: Dinosaur, the ride!

The story behind those goofy pictures is that for the last two years, we’ve had Fastpasses for Dinosaur and even posed next to that sign. One year, the ride broke just as we were about to get on. Last year, I was pregnant and couldn’t ride, and Brandon decided at the last minute that he didn’t want to go without me. Now we were finally going to do it!

Obviously I was scared.

Okay, maybe not. Maybe I was just in a silly mood.

As we made our way to the pre-show area, I begged Clair Huxtable to save me!

Alas, we still had to ride and bring back a dinosaur. My thoughts? It was SO LOUD and SO JERKY! I could not find one fun thing about the whole ride. My ears are pretty sensitive, but this was ridiculous! Our ride photo came out like this, with us in the back row with me literally holding my ears shut to make the pain in my eardrums stop.

Was it scary? No. Not unless you think it’s scary how freaking loud it was! It was no fun at all. But you know what was fun?

This. A CM offered to take a picture of me threatening my husband.

And this whole store was fun!

We made our way out of that ride (NEVER AGAIN!) and into a bright DinoLand.

The rain was stopping and it was getting really humid. Luckily, we were done with Animal Kingdom and ready to head back to the hotel. On our way out, we tried to get a picture. Nobody looked good at this point.

We trekked back across the asphalt, illegally weaving through forbidden parking areas, and made it to our van. The air conditioning has never felt so good.

When we got back to Pop Century, we found these:

I’m not exactly sure what all of them are, but I recognize swans!! Julia always says that’s “The Magic” coming to our room—magically there are towel animals and clean rooms! I wish I had The Magic at my house.

I wanted everyone to rest a bit since we were going to MNSSHP later. I didn’t think they would sleep, especially Sawyer, who had a considerable nap earlier, but I insisted they lie down on the bed. I was still upset about the ticket situation, but I was letting it go—after all, Mamie said she’d buy more…
But she didn’t have to! Randomly, she picked up a stack of receipts she’d put aside for some reason when she was cleaning out her bag the night before. The mousekeeper hadn’t touched them, and in the middle of the trash was an envelope with our tickets inside!! WHEW! We were more than a little excited and relieved! I did kind of want to say a big, “I told you so,” but I restrained myself.

On that high note, Brandon and I went to grab some food from Everything Pop for everyone to snack on before the party. We didn’t want to waste valuable party time by eating, so we were going to have a light dinner now.
I refilled my mug with that wonderful white tea. This was the first time we were meeting with a chef at Pop, and she came out quickly and cheerfully. I told her about Brynn’s dairy allergy, and she asked me what she would like to eat. She’d make anything. I was kind of at a loss for words; Brynn doesn’t usually get many options when we eat out! She started naming things and said the magic word—PIZZA! I knew Brynn would love it! She had a special crust, soy cheese, and pepperonis! Perfect. While we waited for that, I drank another cup of tea and refilled it, and Brandon ordered some other things for us.

Here’s the pizza! The girls shared it. Not sure what that is in the background.

Brandon and I split a Mediterranean Chicken Flatbread and some pita chips with hummus. It was good, and we quickly ate it all!

We ordered some worms and dirt, but nobody ate it because we were too full.

I’m not sure what Mamie ordered, but I know she shared it with Sawyer. I want to say it was some sort of pasta and chicken, but I could be wrong.
We were a little later than I wanted to be. Okay, a lot later. Some of the details I’d wanted to accomplish with our costumes were just not happening. I had planned for hairstyles, but kind of just threw them together. We got dressed and headed out.

Up Next: Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party Gets SCARY!

 

[danimaroo]

Hoookay, so yesterday was a crazy day, and I only had time to reply to people in my TR and then do my update. UGH do not like those kinds of days! But that's okay, because I have some time this morning aaaand your TR is my first stop!

Um, what the heck was up with those EE CMs?! I would've been so annoyed. It's like they made you feel ashamed and embarrassed or something. So lame. I would've been really upset, too, because it's just not something you expect in Disney World, ya know? I kind of felt that way when I went to ask an HM CM a question and she just said I NEED TO SHUT THE DOORS and then I was like, oh okay, sorry, and then she ignored me. Granted that's probably just part of the show but I don't know, it made me feel stupid!

JALAPENO CREAM CHEESE PRETZEL! It's like it sings to me when I see that photo of you with it.

I still have never been on KRR! Since we go in January it's not something we tend to want to go on since you CAN get pretty soaking wet. It looks fun though!!

Hahaha I laughed so hard at Brynn and Julia yelling out animal facts. I would have thought that was the cutest thing EVER.

I DID NOT know that about the flamingo island! That's so cool! YAY FOR HIDDEN MICKEYS!

I love how Brandon snuck in the extra ice cream/fruits bars. Hahahaha that is the best thing ever. For some reason all I can picture is him sitting outside with a sleeping Sawyer like... mowing down the Mickey ice cream before you guys got done.

Your photo of the FotLK where the giraffe is hanging out with the dude with his arms in the air is REALLY awesome. Props to you!

Ummm but don't worry about it because we've NEVER seen FotLK and have no interest! I'm sorry but we don't. Maybe when we have kids? But I don't know, it's just nothing we want to see! I love The Lion King but not big on shows.

HAHAHA What is Julia doing in the booth at Restaurantasaurus in that first photo?! I am dying over here!

I would've panicked about the tickets! OH NO! I hope everything gets worked out and you guys can just get new tickets!!

I'm too much of a wuss to go on Dinosaur! I will admit it, I just am. BUT CLAIR HUXTABLE WILL SAVE THE DAY!! Your experience confirmed why I won't go on it. I think I'd end up with massive bruises and would walk off of it annoyed. Sooo yep, don't feel bad about skipping that one!

Love the photo of you and Brandon together.

I can't WAIT to hear about MNSSHP for you guys!! I love this TR. ALSO can we just make a promise that if we are ever in Disney at the same time that we meet? Because I'm rather positive we would have fun!

 

[shan23877]

That was a roller coaster of an update! At first I wanted to cry for you with the lost tickets, and then I just kinda wanted to shake your MiL for "misplacing" them in the trash. (If I shake your MiL, will you shake mine?). Thank goodness the tickets were found!

We've never done FotLK or Dinosaur! We really just aren't that into AK in general (ducking before the Disers start throwing things at me) This trip, we plan to hit up FoLK as DD is really into musicals right now. I know that you didn't care for Dinosaur, but do you think it's too scary for DD? We skipped it and ITTBaB last trip b/c I thought they might scare her.

Hooray for dairy-free pizza and a great chef

Can't wait to hear about the party!

 

[dara00]

ooh let me in on the mil shaking, lol! so glad she found the tickets.