Where do you want to go for your college grad trip? DISNEY WORLD!

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

TL and some Italians!!


Well after staying at MGM until almost 1am, we decided to sleep in a little bit and head to TL b/c with our tickets we got the free park hopper+ option and decided to try and use the tickets as much as possible. So we headed to TL. I dont have any pics to show at the park b/c they are on my water camera that isnt finished and the Photo Pass CD was ordered last night so I dont have those either, but I got to ride Crushin' Gusher which for me was just eh. I'm not really a water slide girl b/c I wear contacts and fear loosing them but it was pretty cool. My brother and I swam with the sharks and that was much harder than I remember from when I was little. I was having panic attacks thinking I couldnt breathe through the snorkel and the water wasn't very clear so I couldn't see very much so that was not a success. After that I decided to park it on a lounge with my mom and then her and I did the Lazy River which was wonderful and soothing and then the wave pool until we left. Dad and Craig did the water slides and said they walked onto everything.



That night we decided to eat at Epoct once again, and dad and I went to Italy to Alfredos and mom and craig went to Moracco to whatever TS is there. Both meals were good. I understand Moracco was wonderful. Italy was pretty good as well. I had the standard salad, and fet. alfredo. It was good but it was AWESOME 2 yrs ago when we went which seemed to be the trend that developed in the meals we ate at WDW that we ate 2 yrs prior (LTT, Sci-Fi, Alfredos, and Le Cellier). Afterwards we walked around WS and went to America where they had Davy Jones performing. He actually played songs that I knew, and mom looked like she was in heaven! I guess he was like the Justin Timberlake of her generation?? lol. After that we went to England and got pics at a store with Pooh and friends which are also on the Photo Pass. We also caught some of the Britsh Invasion show before Illuminations.

Here are some pics from that day:

Up Next: I swim with Dolphins, mom goes to her first Spa EVER, and dad and craig hit BB!!!!!!

 

[OhMari]

It will be a month tomorrow since you last posted. I really am enjoying your pictures and your TR. So what degree do you have from college, and what are you doing for the summer?

 

[Avivasmom]

Great report with pics. Congrats on your graduation. So what will you do know?

Come on keep it going!!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

ahh i know i hafta finish this thing but i've been super crazy with work that I havent had the time, but maybe I can work on it this week!! For those who asked, i graduated with a degree in history but I'm student teaching in the fall and by dec (hopefully) i'll have a certification in elementary and early childhood education and then I can begin looking for jobs but for the summer I'm working rides at an amusment park and I'll be working security for Steelers Training Camp in late July/Aug. But HOPEFULLY I can finish my TR, maybe tonight after I help clean up from my graduation party but thanks for keeping in touch with it!!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Hey everyone!! sorry its taken me so long, my summer has been very crazy. I was working one job at the amusment park and now I'm working for Steelers Training Camp (security) so I've been working like crazy. I'm not sure why my pictures arent showing up anymore but I'm going to try and work on this TR, I'll be on another trip before it's finished hahaha. Well, I finally have the photo pass cd which I'll have to load at some point. I think it was worth the money but we have yet to take it walmart to get the pics developed.

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Wed May 16, 2007

This was a day of firsts for my mom and I. As one of her mothers day presents, I surprised her with a trip to the spa at GF, and if you read another thread of mine about this whole experience it was really like pulling teeth to get her to go. My mom was VERY against this experience because number one, she thought that it should be something that her and I should do together which I agree with but I had already wanted to do my dolphin experience and did not want to give that up, she was also concerned about going alone, and thought she would not enjoy it. She even got to the point where she told me her and I could do the princess breakfast in Norway or at the Castle so she wouldn't have to go and I said mom, I'm 22, characters are cute but the Princesses are a bit much now (sadly enough ) so i made and excuse and said no she was going to the spa and she would like it so she went AND LOVED IT!!!! She got a 50 min swedish massage and a 20 min aromatheray bath which she said she would skip the bath next time for a longer massage lol needless to say the nearly 200 bucks we paid for this was well worth it and shes currently looking for a massage place by our house lol

As she did that, I did something I always wanted to do, swim with dolphins. It would have cost a ton of money and we didn't have a rental car to go to Discovery Cove so I settled for the Dolphins in Depth at Epoct. It was 120 bucks w/the Disney Visa credit card, and it is an "educational experience" more so than "swimming" which I didnt care, it was close enough!! I got there in the morning to check in and was with a mother and her 2 daughters and a father, mother, daughter and son in law but the families took me in as their own and that was nice. We were taught how they are trained, how they are fed, how to protect them, body parts of the dolphins, and how they are tested. The last 30/45 mins was spent in the water. We got to do hand signal tricks and rub downs, and kiss them, and get a picture with our dolphin. We were split into 2 small groups and the one dolpin from group 2 came right up to me, i had NO idea what to do so the trainer took him after i touched him lol.

After the 3 hour tour, we got a photo of our dolphin, a tshirt, pin, and light refreshments. Overall, great experience w/the dolphins. The best part of the tour was seeing how they are trained w/the testing, and actually interacting with them. The only issue I had was that the trainers almost made me wear a shower cap to cover up my hair ties of my braids but I told them that ur only in waste deep water and they would not come out so they let me go w/o a cap which was a sigh of relief! They also provide lots of towels, shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel for after your in the water.

Here is my picture:

UP NEXT: A Concourse Dinner to remember!!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

After my dolphins, moms spa, and the guys return from BB, we all had lunch at Roaring Forks at WL and stayed at the pool for awhile. At night we had big plans to go to AK for EMH, mainly to ride EE at night which never happened b/c the sun didnt set but we still got a ton of stuff done. We rode dinosaur 3 times and EE about 7 times (in a row!!). We only did that stuff because we had to leave for an 830 adr at Concourse.

We were a little nervous about it because we had never been there before but figured we'd give it a shot and after our experience it was the BEST meal of the whole trip. Our service was a bit on the slow side, they def did not rush us out by any means, and we got to go outside to see Wishes which was pretty sweet!! The noise from Chef Mickeys was very quiet but it was also late at night so that could be why, but the food was AMAZING!!!!!! We all got different things and all were wonderful. We will go back there again!


Next Up: EMH at MK!!!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Thurs May 17, 2007

Today was MK day. We had plans to stay at MK all day and do as much as possible, and it was EMH (am) so we decided to hit up every ride in Fantasyland which we did!!! The morning was soooo relaxing and we never waited more than 10 minutes for a ride (dumbo). We decided to ride the most popular rides first- dumbo and peter pan and we also did rides that we don't normally ride like the tea cups, dumbo, and snow white. WE did them all!!!! At this point, it was my brothers idea to ride everything in the park ugh! lol.

I really wish my pictures would post, I'm not sure why they are loading and they did before??? if anyone has ideas let me know!!

We also had lunch at Tonys. We had dinner ADRs but switched them b/c the lunch menu was better. Overall, nice place to eat but it was nothing to write home about, we like Alfredos much better so I don't think we will eat at Tonys again..oh well!!

Up Next: Surprises at Coral Reef!!!!!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

FRIDAY MAY 18, 2007

I had been looking forward to this day since April. A thread on here gave me tips about the divers sign and menu at CR, so I decided to check it out. I spoke with Debbi, and she set everything up for me. I had a divers sign for my parents anniversary (their 25th was in June 1006) and then i had menus made up for them for mothers/fathers day. All of this was free, and it is an awesome service! I was more excited about all of this than the dolphins, believe it or not!! I was so worried that we would miss the divers b/c they leave at 7/730 and our adr was 630 w/a 20 min wait till our seat.

When we FINALLY got seated (next to the glass), I was soooo nervous if everything would work out, but my parents were given their menus with pictures of my brother and I from when we were babies at WDW until now with the saying "Thanks for all the years of magical memories at WDW, Happy Mothers/ Fathers day" so after that I just prayed that the diver would come. When we got our appetz. a diver came right up to the glass to wave hi and then left, I was like what, wheres the sign?! But he came right back with the sign that said "Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad, love Megan and Craig" and they were thrilled with it and everyone clapped in CR, and we got pics of the sign and diver but then he turned the sign over, and it read "Congrats on your Graduation, from CR"....

After we got pics of the surprise sign, I asked my mom if she called and set it up and she said no she had no idea. Here, when I was emailing Debbi pics for the menus, I mentioned we were going to CR for my college grad dinner and she set up the sign without me knowing!! TALK ABOUT SOME DISNEY MAGIC!!! Needless to say, the dinners were "pretty good" and the desserts were awesome but the sign and menus were the hit of the dinner!!! I have pics of all this and they wont work We will return to CR again, but nothing will top that, that's for sure!! It was an awesome surprise. My only regret is that I did not get to meet Debbi to thank her for all of her help!! I did email her when we got home to thank her and I never got a response but she was very helpful throughout everything!!

After dinner, it rained a little bit but we walked around WS and watched Illuminations and prepared to pack to leave on Sat evening, thus ending the magical trip...or so we thought!!!

Coming up next: So Did We Win Anything??!!!

 

[Nicole786]

Wow the dolphin experience looks GREAT!!! I gotta try that one day...

I'm staying at the WL too for the first time, I can't wait!!! I didn't book the bunk beds, which i'm now regretting, but were you comfortable in them?? We're about the same age, so I was wondering what you thought....(I'm 20) I'm hoping for some pixie dust at check in!

Btw, your brothers kind of cute!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Sat May 19, 2007--WHAT DID WE WIN!?

We decided to spend our last few hours at WDW by going to MGM for EMH (am) and then Epcot for lunch at Le Cellier, and rushing back for DME bus in the late afternoon. We thought that the trip could not have gone any better, except for the bus troubles, but we were wrong...little did we know, but mickey mouse had a surprise waiting for us at MGM!!

when we got to MGM, we had missed the rope drop but decided to head for Muppets ( my brothers favorite lol) and do the backlot tour, and make our way to the front of the park (not having time to do RnR or ToT ) so we made our way to a very empty back of the park to muppets. As we walked in, we were greeted by the usual CMs but there was a Dream Team person standing beside the CM, and jokingly, i asked her "OH DID WE WIN SOMETHING??" and she smiled and pointed into the waiting room, and standing in the doorway was a Dream Team w/dream fast passes

IT HAD FINALLY HAPPENED!!!!!! We got dream fast passes on our last day at WDW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With that, we were able to do everything on the fast passes at MGM and still make it to Epcot for our ADR at Le Cellier!!!!! After the fast passes, we had decided that was prolly the most magical experience we have had on any WDW trip. My brother's life was now complete, we rode every ride at all 4 parks, and got a dream fast pass (although we were pushing for a castle stay lol)

After we used our fast passes, we rode the boat from MGM to Epcot for a Le Cellier lunch and at that point we were getting pressed for time so our meal was not as enjoyable as it was in 2005. We thought the food was just so/so and I ate sooo much pretzel bread, I could barely eat my meal or dessert We decided next time, we might skip Le Cellier and eat at concourse and try another steak place. The food was still pretty good but when ur pressed to get back to catch a bus, you cant really enjoy the food as much!!


Coming Up Next: Stupid DME System ahhh

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

BUT I DONT WANT TO LEAVE WDW!!!!!!!!

After a magical morning and afternoon, we were all sad that we had to leave WDW, and with all the bus troubles we had throughout the week, we thought, nothing else could happen..we were wrong!!

We got all of our luggage and had it taken to the airline check-in at WL and the lady could not call up our flight information and my dad kindly asked her to call the airlines since we had trouble in Pittsburgh and the lady called once and said there was nothing she could do and told us we would have to take our stuff on the bus with us and she would store it until the bus came. My dad was LIVID There was no one else in line and he did not understand why she could not try and call some more but the lady refused so we stored our luggage and walked around WL until the bus came.

As the bus left WL, a little girl sitting beside us started to cry her eyes out saying "BUT I DONT WANT TO LEAVE WDW" I told her mom and grandma i felt the same!!! The little girl cried the whole way to the airport and fell asleep as we entered the drop offs lol.


COMING UP NEXT: 50 lbs is the magic number!!!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

50 lbs, will we make it or will be one of those ppl that unpacks their bags before checking them!!

Well after all the airline trouble we had, we thought geez, if they cant find our flights, we'll hafta stay at WDW for forever!! WRONG, the lady found our flight info almost right away, but then there was the test, 50 lbs per bag..ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

All around us were ppl unpacking bags and buying bags to check their goodies, I prayed, alot, that our bags were under 50 lbs, heres what outcome was:

Mine: 46.5
Dads: 48
Moms: 45
Craigs: 42

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Under 50 lbs, we check them and headed off to our plane back to Pittsburgh!! We had an uneventful flight. We had a connection in Atl, which was actually a close connection b/c we had to walk a long ways and ride the tram, and walk a long ways to the plane but we had time to go potty and grab some fast food. We got into Pittsburgh after 10:30, got all of our bags (yay!) and home by midnight.

Up Next: Closing Comments

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

could you see the pictures? On my screen all I see is a small box with a red X in it I thought maybe I posted too big of pictures or something? But if they work I'll have to go back and post the rest of them lol.

We love WL, the bunk beds are great b/c my brother doesnt like sleeping with anyone so the bunk beds are great for us, except that hes 6 feet + tall so hes gotta curl up in a ball to fit in them but I think they are just fine, the bottom bunk ( my bed) the "ceiling" is really low and I bumped my head a few times but it was our fourth time w/them so I'm quite used to them by now lol.

Have fun on your trip, I wanna go back like now, my friend is going in Sept with her hubby and daughter (for 2 wks!) I'm very jealous of them lol.

 

[scottny]

great report. pics were great up till when it did not work any longer. Sounds like a fun trip.