Whose Bright Idea Was it to Drive to Disney Anyway? Oh wait - that was me.

[Spacemonkaay]

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[JenSop]

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Welcome!

 

[JenSop]

Since I don't have the next TR update ready, I though I'd post about another type of update!

I can't remember if I already announced it, as it's really late right now and I've had a LONG day, but we have exciting Disney news in relation to our Christmas Caroling business!

I own and run a professional Christmas Caroling business in eastern PA called "Olde Towne Carolers." (www.oldetownecarolers.com) We send out Victorian Carolers for holiday parties and events (along with other acts and even Santa.)

Some of you may know that Disney is doing a 40 city train tour to promote their new "Christmas Carol" movie starring Jim Carrey. In each city, they have hired a Christmas caroling group to be a part of the all-day event. We are happy to report that we are the group for Philadelphia!

The event will be at 30th Street Station in Philly on Tuesday, October 27th. It starts at 7am and goes until 8pm. (We have two quartets splitting the day. I'll be singing with the morning quartet, as I'll have a dress rehearsal for HMS Pinafore that night.) The whole thing will be open and free to the public and covered by the local media.

I'm super excited because it'll be great exposure for our business, PLUS - IT'S FOR DISNEY!!!! YAY!

We also just ordered our photopass CD - so I'll have more pics for the report!

 

[SLM]

Congratulations! What great news! I think it's wonderful how you and your husband are able to do what you love (music) and make it work for you-and as a parent whose child went through a music program all through her school years Thank You! to your DH-you make such an impact on their lives-to give children the gift of music and open their minds to different kinds of music, the joy of playing together as a group-and I really believe knowing how to read and play music helped her in her other subjects as well. Sorry for the ramble, and again-Congratulations to you and hope to see the performance when they come to Philly!

 

[Moonstorm]

We live in eastern PA, about an hour north of Philly. I’d done the long drive a couple times in the past, and didn’t remember it to be that bad. However, those times were as a passenger when I was eight, as a H.S. senior going on the band trip in a comfy bus, and as a college student going with my family and only having to drive a total of five hours. All the other visits, I’ve flown.

I will fly from now on....

Hey there! I'm in eastern PA too - in the Lehigh Valley

We drove to WDW twice now. Once in 2008 - me, my mom, my 85 year old grandma, my husband and our 3 kids, ages 5, 2 and 18 months at the time!

We drove again this year, minus the mom and grandma. It really wasn't all that bad. We usually wound up in SC or GA overnight and then continued on.

2008 Trip Report

2009 Trip Report in progress!


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[luckylady]

Wow that's wonderful news for your group. Have fun. Ae they sending you songs they want sung or do you pick them out?

 

[mla1977]

How exciting! I was telling DBF about this last week. I'll definitely have to go now!

 

[JenSop]

Wow - thanks to everyone for the congratulatory messages! I'm really proud of the business I started. Now if it could only be Christmas year round, I'd never have to worry about money! But I'll have my hands full this fall with not only the Disney gig - I'll be singing the female lead in HMS Pinafore in the Philly area, along with a concert version of a little-known operetta for a one time show at Merkin Hall in NYC. (Near Lincoln Center.) After Christmas is over, though, my gig list is empty. So I'll need to do TONS of auditioning before then to try to line something up.

luckylady: they didn't send us a specific list; we just have to include a good variety of different stuff. Although we've already been obsessing that perhaps we need to buy more song arrangements....

mla1977 & SLM: how wonderful it would be to have disers out in the crowd when we sing! I hope you can make it!

SLM - thank your for the extra kind words. Music definitely is a calling, but a very tough road to follow. And I will definitely pass the kind words along to Brian. It means alot. If any of you reading have kids in the music programs at your schools and are happy with how things are going, please let it be known. Music programs are ALWAYS in jeopardy and music teachers are often overlooked. They work SO hard and always put in extra time!

Moonstorm: hi neighbor! You did it the smart way - stopping overnight. I think that's the only way I would do the drive again!

And as promised..... the next update to follow!............

 

[JenSop]

PART EIGHT: UM...WOW, THANKS FOR ALL THE FREE BOOZE!

We decided to try a signature restaurant on our actual anniversary, and since we ended up not making it to our Artist Point ADR last year, we decided to make it a definite this year.

We took the bus to Animal Kingdom and transferred to a Wilderness Lodge bus. Wilderness Lodge is really beautiful. I think one of these days we’ll stay at the DVC there, but for the next few years, we’ll be enjoying our home resort of AKV - just cause we love it so much! (And ya gotta love the point savings with the value size rooms! )

Neither of us had ever been to Artist Point and after reading really good reviews, we were very much looking forward to it!

You’ll remember me saying that the CM who booked our dining made a note on all of our ADR’s that we were celebrating our anniversary. And Artist Point made a very nice gesture by printing out personalized anniversary menus for us.

HOWEVER...... in this day and age, people shouldn’t assume that married couples have the same last name. I won’t go into a whole tirade here, but I’m VERY much against the whole name change thing. My name is my identity and I don’t give that up for anyone. When we got married, I told Brian I’d hyphenate my name if he did the same, otherwise, if he kept his name, I was keeping mine. And being that my career is in the performing arts, it would have been career suicide to change to the most common last name in the english speaking world.

Anyway, at least they used MY last name! Haha!!

They just should’ve written Happy Anniversary Jen and Brian. But like I said, it was a kind and thoughtful gesture on their part, so I don’t want to come off as sounding ungrateful - just wanting to educate!

Because of the rave reviews of their signature dish - the salmon - we both decided to go with that. We also each got a glass of wine to start the evening.

Here’s the salmon: (We both started eating it before remembering to take a picture. Fortunately, Brian only had a couple bites, which we were able to hide around the back. oops!)

It was very tasty all around. And I really liked the gnocchi that came with it.

For dessert, we both ordered the berry cobbler:

We also got dessert drinks. Brian ordered the Irish Coffee. I had never had any before, so I foolishly asked if I could try his. Mistake! I don’t like coffee and I don’t like Whiskey, so I’m not sure what I was thinking on that one.

I ordered something with Kahlua (not an actual coffee though.) However, mine tasted really coffee-ish, so I didn’t drink it all.

So after they brought my cobbler, we waited and waited for Brian’s. No sign of the other cobbler....

Our server was great, but it happened to be a manager checking in on us just as we were ready to ask where Brian’s dessert was. Apparently they messed up putting the order in the computer, and only one cobbler had been entered.

I guess I should mention that I started eating my cobbler before Brian got his. Especially since everyone decided to joke about it (server, manager....Brian) BUT it had ice cream on it people! And it was melting! There was no time to lose!

Once Brian's cobbler came out, the manager also brought us out some complimentary limoncello. (Hope I spelled that right.) From what I understand, they make it homemade - it’s vodka distilled with lemons??? (Someone please correct me if I’m getting that wrong.)

They were very tasty:

Then suddenly our server comes out carrying a bottle and glasses. He was bringing us some kind of red champagne drink. This was also very good. (And complimentary!)

So here we are with a table full of alcoholic beverages. But they were gifts, so of course we had to drink them!

Overall, our meal at Artist Point was very good; along with excellent service. (Although we still thought Sanaa was a bit better.)

We saw a photopass CM in the Wilderness Lodge lobby, so we decided to get some pics taken. However, we just ordered our photopass last night, so I’ll be putting up some of the photopass pictures later.

The CM took a shot of us with our own camera:

And here’s a full shot of the new dress I was wearing from my store (Ann Taylor Loft). Love it!:

We knew it was too late to catch a bus to AK for transferring, so we decided to hop on an Epcot bus. HUGE mistake. We just should have caught the bus to MK - less resort sharing, perhaps? We'll have to try it next time. The bus first went to Fort Wilderness, then took a VERY LONG way to get over to Epcot. It took almost an hour to get back to our resort!

But we were off to get some rest, as our next morning was going to be AM EMH at Animal Kingdom!! AND we were going to have an AMAZING afternoon on the Wanyama Safari at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Wait till you see those pictures, folks!!! But that’s for next time!

 

[mla1977]

I love your dress. Dinner sounds good and looks really good, even though I don't eat Salmon.

 

[renegade7]

PART EIGHT: UM...WOW, THANKS FOR ALL THE FREE BOOZE!

Then suddenly our server comes out carrying a bottle and glasses. He was bringing us some kind of red champagne drink. This was also very good. (And complimentary!)

Magical - YUM!

I drank lots of this at the Food & Wine Festival at Disneyland in May this year. I had it for the first time on the Panama Canal Cruise. It is similar (possibly the same) as something Banfi makes.

 

[katmittens]

Love readin your trip report. We live in Northeaster Pa. near Scranton, and we drive to Disney all the time. We have driven at least 25 times. We do enjoy it and we do stay over one nite down and two nites coming home. DH and I are going in Oct. for our anniversary and we are staying at AKV at Jambo but in a standard view. We are looking forward to it. Then we will be back with the kids in January in a 2 bedroom at VWL. We can't wait.

 

[JenSop]

Love readin your trip report. We live in Northeaster Pa. near Scranton, and we drive to Disney all the time. We have driven at least 25 times. We do enjoy it and we do stay over one nite down and two nites coming home. DH and I are going in Oct. for our anniversary and we are staying at AKV at Jambo but in a standard view. We are looking forward to it. Then we will be back with the kids in January in a 2 bedroom at VWL. We can't wait.

Wow! 25 times! Well, I'm certainly impressed! And you have more than an hour longer than we do. Where do you usually stay over along the way?

Have a great time on your anniversary trip in October!

 

[DWGal210]

Great report so far!

I was interested to read about your drive. I am considering driving down next year, but I'm on the fence. We're in Iowa so it's a for sure 2 day drive. We lucked out this trip and the plane tickets were reasonable, but if they're not in the future, then I think I'll be looking at driving.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[JenSop]

Great report so far!

I was interested to read about your drive. I am considering driving down next year, but I'm on the fence. We're in Iowa so it's a for sure 2 day drive. We lucked out this trip and the plane tickets were reasonable, but if they're not in the future, then I think I'll be looking at driving.

Can't wait to read more!

Welcome to my TR! That would definitely be a long drive!

The more I think about it, I MIGHT do it again - BUT, I would stay over somewhere and maybe not do too much night driving. That part was also really hard. At least if we drove during the day, we'd be able to see the countryside.

 

[katmittens]

We usually stay over in Georgia, either Savannah or Kingsland. Alot depends on what time of day we can leave. In Oct. we are leaving on a Thurs nite after DH leaves work, and will stay in Va and then arrive the next day. In Jan I have reservations made from Va to Georgia depending on when we leave. DS starts a job in Sept and we're not sure if he will be able to have off NYE or just leave from work early that day, so plans are up in the air for that trip. We do enjoy the drive, sometimes it can get to you but overall we don't mind it. On a good trip we have done it in 19 hours of driving, but usually it is 20, or 20 and 1/2.

 

[JenSop]

Hi everyone!

I'm in the process of putting more of our photos into photobucket as I type this.

I'm currently working on the Wanyama Safari pics, then I have the photo pass pics that came! I have the newest update typed up already, I just have to copy it into a new message!

 

[JenSop]

PART NINE:
Today is all about the animals!

6/24/09

It was very foggy when we got up in the morning, so we didn’t know what kind of weather was in store for us.

And we were up early because we planned to do morning EMH at Animal Kingdom.

We left the room at 7:30am, but still missed rope drop. We went straight to the safari (our usual plan) and had no wait. It was fabulous! Our driver this time was wonderful AND we actually saw the cheetah!!! I’m excited about this because I’ve been on that safari so many times and until this day, I didn’t even KNOW there was a cheetah! It was in the distance, so it’s kind of hard to see, but that was truly one of the morning’s highlights!

After the safari, I did the fast pass run over to Expedition Everest, then went back to do the Africa Trek with Brian.

On our trip last year, we got some FABULOUS shots of the male gorilla hanging out near the bridge. But this time, several of the gorillas were relaxing by the glass observation area. The biggest problem with that is that the glass kept fogging up and it was hard to see them. The CM kept using a squeegie to get rid of the condensation, but it built up within seconds.

We did see a female up in the open area of the habitat a bit in the distance. But I can't seem to find any of those pictures....

I have to say that the heat was not as oppressive this day. It was still hot, but not nearly as bad. I could be in the shade and NOT sweating. (That’s a big deal, people!)

After our little walking trek, we headed to India and picked up FP’s for Kali River Rapids. I was glad I convinced Brian to do another water ride!

We walked through the India Jungle Trek just to see the Tigers, but alas, they were again sleeping. (Hey, they are cats after all.)

During all our walking around, we got some photopass pictures taken. (I finally got the Photopass CD loaded! haha!)

We then headed over to EE. Here I am counting down the minutes until our FP time is ready (and here comes the train behind me!):

It’s funny, Animal Kingdom is the one park that has no nostalgia for me (it wasn’t there when I was a kid), but I still love it. But I love anything having to do with animals. Can’t remember if I mentioned it here before, but I’ve always said that if I hadn’t had the musical calling, I would have gone into some kind of career with animals. I just want to help them and help people understand how wonderful they are. So I guess it’s no surprise that AK has become so dear to me.

We still had awhile before our FP return time for Kali River Rapids, so we walked around some of the trails on Discovery Island for awhile. I like the talking parrots. I usually have decent luck getting them to say “Hi” and “Hello.”

Some of the carvings below the Tree of Life:

Then it was time for lunch. We decided to try the counter service option at Yak & Yeti. We ate at the table service part last year and enjoyed it, so we figured it was a much better choice than pizza or burgers. (I’m not really a burger person anyway - and I can get pizza ANY day at home.)

We both got the honey chicken entrees. They’re served up in a chinese food container; crispy breaded chicken pieces in a sweet sauce with rice and veggies. Not bad, but WAY too much!

After lunch was over, it was time for Kali!

There’s always that anticipation of just how wet you’re going to get. Just a little? Drenched to the bone?

We got in to a boat with another family who seemed to get most of the soaking. Brian got wetter than I did, but neither of us got drenched. No where NEAR the sopping wet we got on Splash Mountain the other night! haha!

Afterwards, we went into the little hut/store next to Yak and Yeti. They had some cute stuff in there, and I picked me up a cute silk wrap skirt with our DVC discount!

I took a pic of it later on:

Even though the heat wasn’t as bad as the other days, it was time to head back to the resort and relax and get ready for our special Wanyama Safari that afternoon and evening.

On our way out, crossing the bridge:

Once getting back, we relaxed on the balcony for awhile looking at all the animals, plus my bad ankle was swelling up a little, so I needed to keep it raised. In the meantime, Brian was practicing with the SLR camera my dad had given him. Daddy got a digital SLR last year, so Brian got the 35mm one that Daddy used to use. Brian was practicing with the camera since he was planning on using it for the afternoon’s safari.

We finished getting ready and headed out the door to meet up at Jiko with the other safari guests........

We checked in at the Jiko desk at 3:45 and we ended up with 12 people total for the safari. They took us out into an open sided safari type vehicle and drove us to the backstage entrance into the safari. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures while we were in the actual backstage area, but once we were on the savanah, we could take as many as we wanted. There was one rule they really asked us to abide by: no touching the animals. They told us that the giraffes and ostriches are especially curious and will come right up to the vehicle. It was SO difficult to not touch the giraffes! I wanted to pet them so bad!

Because we took SO MANY pictures, and each Disboard post only allows 25 images, I’m going to put the safari pics on their own updates.
So now I have to load the Wanyama Safari pictures on to Photobucket. (And there’s alot!)

 

[JenSop]

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the delay in getting a new update up here. I'm super busy with recording my CD right now, but I'll have an update up this week! That's a promise!

 

[JenSop]

Okay, so I'm a little later than promised, but here's some pics from the Wanyama Safari. This is round one.

Like I said, we weren't allowed to touch the animals. That rule was a difficult one, but I stuck to it. But they were so close! The animals were right next to the vehicle, so when they look like they're right next to us, they are!

You'll notice some of the zebras have brown stripes instead of black. The brown ones are mountain zebras and they are much more playful and energetic (and sometimes aggressive) than the regular zebras.

We also took a few shots of our room from the outside. When you get to the obvious balcony shots, our room is on the top floor, farthest to the left of that chunk of rooms.

I believe in these following shots, there are pictures of the Reticulated Giraffe, the Eland (our buddy who always hung around outside of our room), Wildebeest, Ostrich, and Roan Antelope.

Here we go!: