"We Ain't From Around Here!"-The South Does Disney! A Dec PTR Update 1/11-Prizes!

[DisneyFirefly]

The only place I've ever eaten at City Walk was the Hard Rock Cafe, and it was pretty cool. On my first CP, our entire apartment went there during our first week to get to know one another and have dinner that we didn't have to cook

 

[shelbys mommy]

YAY!! Joni's here! Thank you for reading my PTR! OMG...I can't believe we have so much in common!! This is just beyond cool!!

And thank you so much for saying that! You are really sweet!

Well of course I would be here! Us Joni's have to stick together!!!!!

 

[therussells08]

The only place I've ever eaten at City Walk was the Hard Rock Cafe, and it was pretty cool. On my first CP, our entire apartment went there during our first week to get to know one another and have dinner that we didn't have to cook

That sounds like a good plan to avoid cooking! I think we might try Hard Rock. I love those theme restaurants! But honestly I don't really care where we eat as long as I get to go to the Harry Potter park!

 

[DisneyFirefly]

That sounds like a good plan to avoid cooking! I think we might try Hard Rock. I love those theme restaurants! But honestly I don't really care where we eat as long as I get to go to the Harry Potter park!

Well, at the time, none of us could cook That was before I learned how to cook. We really want to hit up the HP park as well, but it's more economical for us to just do another day at a WDW park. Right now, Jacquie and I are thinking about going down again later in 2011, so we'll probably do it then, as long as the reviews are good

 

[therussells08]

Well of course I would be here! Us Joni's have to stick together!!!!!

That's right, we do! I am so excited that I met you and we have so much in common! This is one of the many reasons why I love the DIS!

 

[shelbys mommy]

That's right, we do! I am so excited that I met you and we have so much in common! This is one of the many reasons why I love the DIS!

I know! It's great! What middle name did you have picked for Shelby, cause Lisa-Ann was not what it was supposed to be!

 

[therussells08]

I know! It's great! What middle name did you have picked for Shelby, cause Lisa-Ann was not what it was supposed to be!

I have always loved the middle name "May" because it was my grandmother's and we were very close. Plus I just think Shelby May Russell had a nice ring! I love that you gave Shelby your mother's name. Was was the other name you were thinking of?

 

[shelbys mommy]

PM me your facebook link!!!

 

[therussells08]

PM me your facebook link!!!

Okay this really is turning into the twilight zone...I just wrote on your PTR about being friends on Facebook at the same time you wrote this... I will send you mine right now but if it doesn't work let me know! I'm not sure if people can add me because I have mine set really private. So if it doesn't work I will add you!

 

[shelbys mommy]

I have always loved the middle name "May" because it was my grandmother's and we were very close. Plus I just think Shelby May Russell had a nice ring! I love that you gave Shelby your mother's name. Was was the other name you were thinking of?

It was supposed to be Shelby Elizabeth

 

[therussells08]

it was supposed to be shelby elizabeth

ahhh! Joni! That's my middle name!

 

[shelbys mommy]

ahhh! Joni! That's my middle name!

omg!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Nermel9]

Hey, I'm joining! I don't know what took me so long, I know you've been to my tr a few times, so I'm here now! I'm all caught up with your ptr, I love it, it's so much fun! Can't wait to read more!

Ok I gotta keep this short, I'm at work, but I love full house too! And Tot-best ride ever!!

 

[therussells08]

Hey, I'm joining! I don't know what took me so long, I know you've been to my tr a few times, so I'm here now! I'm all caught up with your ptr, I love it, it's so much fun! Can't wait to read more!

Ok I gotta keep this short, I'm at work, but I love full house too! And Tot-best ride ever!!

Thank you for reading my PTR! I'm so glad you like it! I worry that I ramble too much sometimes!

I'm watching Full House right now as I type this! That is the best show. And YES...ToT is so great!! I'm so happy you agree!

 

[Disneylove1228]

Hello!!!

I saw your link from my TR and now I'm very captivated by yours!!! I love love love all your plans!! You have amazing ressies! You and your DH are SO cute!!!! I can't wait to hear more!! I love hearing about your past trip.. and I look forward to seeing what's going to happen for this one!!

 

[therussells08]

Happy June, everybody! My first day of June has been spent wiping my nose, sneezing, and itching all over my face. Darn allergies. It's been a few days since I posted so I think I will continue my previous look back at my first trip to WDW! When I left off I had finished describing my very first day at the Happiest Place on Earth!

Forgive me, but from here on with this mini TR I will not be writing in quite as much detail. The reason for this is I don't have a very clear memory of our day by day adventures. Instead, I will go over each remaining park and the truly memorable things that happened at each one! Starting with....

The Magic Kingdom!
I was so excited about this park because it is the one that started it all for WDW. And let me just say, my first trip there did NOT disappoint! Here is my first picture of my dream home :

We loved everything at this park (of course)! Our favorite rides there were, as Stacy calls them, the TRIPLE MOUNTAIN WHAMMY! We also loved the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean. It was so cool to finally ride those classic rides I had always heard about! It was also very cool to do something else I have always heard about:

MEETING MICKEY MOUSE! That was such a magical moment for both of us! And I love that DH is holding his hand! So cute!

But the most magical moment of our whole day came that night. It was another cool one, so DH and I found a cozy spot near the castle and snuggled up together as best as we could to watch these fireworks we had heard so much about. I was excited, but words cannot describe how I felt when that music started and I saw the sky above the castle light up with the most beautiful fireworks display I had ever seen.

Forgive me, my camera didn't do them justice, so I'm not going to post any pictures. But I can tell you that being there in that moment, with my true love home from Iraq and me safe in his arms watching this magical display and Disney music filling my ears and tears of joy spilling down my cheeks was a moment I will never forget. I still get chills thinking about it. That is probably the happiest I've ever been (after my wedding) and I hold that memory close to my heart.

Epcot!
Our first trip to Epcot was a day filled with pleasant surprises! Our first surprise came when we realized we were there during the Flower and Garden Festival. We didn't even know what this was, so when we started seeing all of the topiaries around we were so excited! Here is a topiary of my favorite doggy:

We had so much fun at Epcot! Being there for the first time was so overwhelming! We loved Test Track and DH became instantly obsessed with Mission: Space. I was excited because I got to see Gary Sinise! We rode Soarin' and The Seas With Nemo and Friends and then headed to the World Showcase, which is where we ended up spending the rest of our day. I was blown away by it! I spent so much time simply wondering around in amazement. I saw this and nearly fell out:

The attention to detail there was so amazing! It was during our time in the World Showcase that we got our next big surprise. We were sitting in the American Pavilion trying to take break from the heat when I heard an announcement over at the American Gardens Theater behind me that said, "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, IN JUST FIVE MINUTES WE WILL PROUDLY PRESENT DAVY JONES!" I looked at DH and I just said, "No way." I love love love oldies music and my favorites are The Patridge Family and THE MONKEES! I thought it was probably a Davy Jones impersonator or something, so we wandered over to check it out. Five minutes later, here he comes:

It really was Davy Jones! I almost passed out I was so excited. He put on the best show, and we managed to get right up front for it! I called my mom and let her listen to him over the phone. This was another moment that helped me realize that Disney World truly is like no other place on Earth!

After enjoying our surprise concert experience we watched Illuminations and decided to head back to the resort. It was another perfect day! On our way out we got this awesome picture:

Animal Kingdom!
DH and I are both huge animal lovers so we were really excited about going to Animal Kingdom! Once again, we had no idea just how great it really was! When we got there we got this really great picture in front of the Tree of Life:

I had no clue what the photographer was up to, so when I saw this picture later I loved it! I am a huge Lion King fan! This is the picture I gave out to everyone when we got home!

Our first day ever at Animal Kingdom was amazing! We loved seeing all of the animals. I probably took over 1,000 pictures that day. I had to drag DH away from the gorillas! Kiliminjaro Safaris was amazing and we got so many great shots. My sister is obsessed with giraffes so when I got a close up shot of one I couldn't wait to show it to her! My favorite animal picture from the whole day, however, was this one:

I called them my love birds! I thought they were so cute cuddling together.

Who could have guessed that we had a few suprises in store for us at Animal Kingdom, too? Now remember, we were here in 2007 which means it was The Year of a Million Dreams. We had seen people walking around with the special Mickey ears and we were really hoping that we would get a dream come true! Well, while we were waiting in line for Dinosaur, it happened! After watching the intro video, before we went into the loading area the CM said something about being in the right place at the right time and then he gave us all DREAM FASTPASSES! DH and I were so excited we were literally jumping for joy.

But wait...there's more! After riding Dinosaur (more on that momentarily ) we decided to use our Dream Fastpasses to ride Expedition Everest for the second time. As we were getting off, we saw a CM waiting for everyone unloading from our train. She began to give us the same speech about being in the right place at the right time and then she gave us a pin and lanyard set for the Year of a Million Dreams! We couldn't believe it! We got TWO DREAMS EACH in a matter of ten minutes!! What are the odds?

So let's talk rides at Animal Kingdom. We LOVED them! We had so much fun riding It's Tough to Be a Bug and Expedition Everest. But perhaps the most memorable ride for both of us was Dinosaur. Remember at the beginning of this mini TR when I told you there was a hilarious picture of me on a terrifying ride? This was it! When I saw that giant dinosaur at the end of that ride I was so scared that I...well, I'll just let the picture do the talking:

When DH saw this picture he laughed for a solid twenty minutes, then proceeded to buy a copy for every member of our family. Thanks a lot, Honey! But after I got over my initial embarassment and really looked at it, I realized this picture was a true comedic gem and a great way to remember our trip.

So there you have it, folks! An extremely condensed account of our first ever trip to Walt Disney World! It was everything I had ever dreamed of and so much more. After having a literally perfect vacation, I couldn't wait to go back!!

Up Next: How soon did I go back, exactly? Stay tuned for a roundup of my other trips to WDW and a picture or two from each trip!

 

[therussells08]

Hello!!!

I saw your link from my TR and now I'm very captivated by yours!!! I love love love all your plans!! You have amazing ressies! You and your DH are SO cute!!!! I can't wait to hear more!! I love hearing about your past trip.. and I look forward to seeing what's going to happen for this one!!

Thank you for reading my PTR! I'm glad you are enjoying it! I have a long time before my trip so I'm trying my best to keep it interesting! Thank you so much for saying that about DH and me. You are very sweet!

We are working very hard on planning out or day by day schedule and once we make our definite ADRs I will have that ready to post!

 

[Nermel9]

I loved your mini TR of your first trip!!! I loved reading your experience of seeing the fireworks for the first time, it's definitely emotional, and it's not like it's something you ever get used to seeing no matter how many times you see it! I cry in my car listening to Wishes on my Ipod!

I loved seeing the F & G festival from a few years ago, that Peter Pan topiary near Spaceship Earth is amazing! I'm so jealous you got a Baby Simba picture, I want one of those soooo bad, I don't even know if they do it anymore!

Your Dinosaur picture is hysterical!!!

 

[shelbys mommy]

I LOVE the pic of you holding Simba! That is adorable! And about the Dinosaur ride. I almost jumped in Ben's lap when we rode it!!!!

 

[therussells08]

I loved your mini TR of your first trip!!! I loved reading your experience of seeing the fireworks for the first time, it's definitely emotional, and it's not like it's something you ever get used to seeing no matter how many times you see it! I cry in my car listening to Wishes on my Ipod!

I loved seeing the F & G festival from a few years ago, that Peter Pan topiary near Spaceship Earth is amazing! I'm so jealous you got a Baby Simba picture, I want one of those soooo bad, I don't even know if they do it anymore!

Your Dinosaur picture is hysterical!!!

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it!! I wish I had been a member of the DIS then so I could have made a real TR, but I will have to do that when I get back in December!

When I saw that picture of us with the Peter Pan topiary I LOVED it. And the Simba one, too! I cannot even begin to tell you how much money I spent ordering Photopass stuff from that trip! I swear by Photopass! It's THE BEST!

DH still makes fun of me over that picture! Everytime I look at it I can't help but laugh.

I LOVE the pic of you holding Simba! That is adorable! And about the Dinosaur ride. I almost jumped in Ben's lap when we rode it!!!!

Thanks girl! We have one of us holding Tink too, I need to put that one on here sometime! I just love The Lion King so much, so that one is my favorite!

I still freak out everytime I ride Dinosaur. I got to the point where I usually just close my eyes, so all of the pictures of us look like I'm blinking!