Why I now despise Stitch- ***Updated 5/17*** Museum of Pintiquites_June 2009

[noogagirl]

The Cast of Characters

• Jordan- me, 26, Disney researcher and lover when we're home, lover of the Maelstrom
• Sean- hubby, 29, most often located in Germany drinking a Spaten or trying to drag me onto Misson Space: orange

Wow, this was an exhausting trip- both physically and mentally. We now know that we are definitely casual pin traders, and you'll find out soon why I despise Stitch...

We started off our trip on June 24th. I worked an almost full day of work and came home to finish gathering all of our luggage. We're horrible about being last minute packers and usually have a few meltdowns between us before getting on the road. I was determined to avoid that this time.

We were on the road around 7:30 or so after stopping at the Wal-marts to grab snacks and pre-made salads to munch on. I actually bought healthy snacks (and managed to eat fairly healthy while we were there). It does wonders for my mood and stomach while traveling.

Here we are on the drive down:

And here we are after stopping for gas (and my switch to glasses):

We made it to the Econo Lodge (with only a quick call 2 hours out for a room) around 2 am. The hotel was eerily quiet, but the guy working the desk was super nice and actually from the Chattanooga area. He said he really wanted to bring his Florida-born wife "back home" because she had never seen mountains before!

We settled into our average, yet accommodating room for the night and actually slept well.

I had no idea what this little step thing was under the clothes rack in the bathroom. I assume it's a spot to put suitcases, but with a few blankets and a pillow it would be a great spot for a little one to sleep.

Day .5: Driving Down to Stop in Lake City, FL
Day 1: The Day of Hotness, Disappointment b/c I don't pay attention, and FF, MJ and BM die!
Day 2: Tonga Toast, Rain and Stitch is a Jerk
Day 3: Stitch Still Sucks and Avoid Downtown Disney Saturday Nights
Day 4: Time to Leave

 

[noogagirl]

**Warning: I'm not fanatical about pictures. I hate the hassle of carrying the camera around as we race from ride to ride.**

So we began our "first official day" of our vacation by a somewhat paltry continental breakfast. But hey it was free, so I couldn't complain. We were off and hitting the road by 10.

Here we are happy and ready to get to the World!!

We made it to All-Star Sports around 1ish, and *surprise, surprise*, our room was actually ready. We hauled all of our junk up to the room in Touchdown, and were off to find some lunch. Me needing food on a regular basis to avoid being cranky and nauseous is a theme of this trip. I felt like we were always eating. However, it was dang hot and we walked/sweated off most of it.

Our view:

The food court was jamming at this point, but we slid in there and made a quick decision on what we wanted (and bought a refillable mug).

I had a yummy sandwich, and DH had nuggets/wings. He said his was just ok and ended up eating some of my sandwich.

After we finished eating, we decided to mosey on over to Epcot and the Beach Club to check in for the pin event. Of course, I thought I knew what was going on and caused a bit of a crisis between the two of us. No, it wasn't that bad. I'm always in a hurry and doing a million things and never pay attention to any type of instructions.

Before we left, we laid our boards out on the bed to assess the damage(of what we were about to do on our bank account/credit cards). This is a selection of our pins. We're not professional traders by any means, so I'm sure some people will laugh.

We headed toward the convention center. After standing in line for what seemed like forever, we got to the table and pulled out our credentials to get our packets. DH was snapping away on me signing everything and the woman that was fetching our stuff. Then she looked at me and said, "Since you indicated you would check in TOMORROW when you bought your tickets, your pre-bought pins will be available tomorrow at the event."

At that point, I thought DH was going to kill me. There was a little discussion about me not paying attention, etc etc. We were really excited about getting our pins and made the trip there earlier b/c I didn't think about it! Oh well, all was forgiven as we walked back into World Showcase and DH stopped for a frosty beverage (ie. a Bass at the stand in front of Rose & Crown).

We've been spoiled by trips during milder times (September, October, December and March- 2008 and 2009) and were in for a rude awakening on this sweltering June day. This was the wrong day to wear a long, cotton maxi dress. I thought I was going to melt. We took our time walking aimlessly through World Showcase and finally decided our our first ride- Maelstrom! Though it's a simple one, it's still one of my favorites.

More later. It's 1 AM here and I'm supposed to go to the gym early in the morning...

 

[vikkii19]

Great start so far, I can't wait to read more.

 

[jojo05]

Love it so far! I'm joining in!

 

[noogagirl]

Love it so far! I'm joining in!

Great start so far, I can't wait to read more.

Thanks for reading! I'll try to post more today.

 

[TinkLovinMomma]

Hi! I followed you over from Cafemom! I just wanted to let you know that i'm here and I'm in!!!!

 

[My2Qtz0205]

I also followed you over here from CafeMom! Hello, fellow CafeMom'ers!

 

[PalmettoPrincess]

I'm here too! Can't wait to find out why you now despise Stitch! LOL :]

 

[noogagirl]

Thanks for tuning in! Now where were we....?

So, we're a bit disappointed and making our way through Epcot. What do we do now??? Drink!!!

We stopped for a frozen colada in Morocco and slowly made our way to Japan. Buying Pocky and panda bear cookies are a must for every trip. Even though they sell them at World Market at home. And I didn't even get any on this trip.

It was a sweltering day outside, and everyone and their mom was crowded around the tasting bar at the back of the Japan gift shop. I picked out a sparkling sake, paid the ridiculous cost, and was in heaven. I don't remember the name of it, but it's in a girly pink bottle. We skipped out of there and tried to figure out what our next move was.

Of course, I was hungry. So we stopped in China and had our usual: Orange Chicken. Seriously, this must be eaten on every trip.

The heat was killing us on this trip, so we made our way over to The Land to see if Soaring would be a short line (haha, yeah right). We ended up on our good ol' standby- Living with the Land.

As we're relaxing, and DH and I instantly get on the Internets and Facebook on our Blackberrys, I learn of the celebrity deaths. Farrah, Michael Jackson, and Billy Mays. Wow. That was a total shock. Surreal to be at such a magical place and learn of such tragedy. By this time, we were wiped out and started walking towards the exit. Spaceship Earth was a short wait (as always) and we figured we would ride.

The future?

We made it back to the room, relaxed, showered and decided to try Earl of Sandwich for dinner at Downtown Disney. No pictures but the food was actually good and we were there so late that there wasn't much of a crowd. Before going to bed, we put the pins on the bed that we had just bought THAT DAY to survey the damage. Wow. This is when I start ignoring the receipts piling up.

 

[MickeyisBeast]

I'm in! I love all of your pins :]

 

[noogagirl]

I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth yet! I just started grad school and DH and DSS started back to school recently. We're also spending time at DSS football practice.

Trip Report will continue soon...

 

[MICKEY4EVER!]

I'm in, too. I will have to pop in again at home b/c I can't see your photos. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[noogagirl]

Day 2: Tonga Toast, Rain and Stitch is a Jerk

Sorry, I've been MIA for so long. DH and I just started back to school, DSS is playing football (and it's a serious sport here in the south ya'll so multiple practices, games, etc.). And we're considering buying a house and renting out ours. Decisions, decisions...and we do everything at one time around here. No spreading out the stress.

So, on to Day 2 of our trip - which btw we're trying to work out an October trip around 3 different fall breaks. Sigh. Adding to the stress.

So....I was super excited to wake up on Day 2 because the first thing we would experience is TONGA TOAST and the Polynesian. I had never been there before and was excited about seeing other resorts. We decided to take the car over to the Poly and just leave it there while we rode the monorail around to MK and Epcot. It actually worked out pretty well for us and we'll definitely do this again.

Walking in...

We headed up to Kona Cafe and were seated within 10 minutes. Here are DH and I before ordering. He was such a sweetie to humor me and pose for my pictures. This was also before the jerk dad and his family set down behind us. There was quite an age gap between their oldest son and their set of twins. Oldest son has quite a mouth on him and mom was very frazzled with the twins. Dad wasn't a big help. Was glad to get away from him.

I, of course, ordered tonga toast and the french press of kona coffee. The coffee was awesome, and I even got DH to try some. (Jerk dad complained that there were some coffee grinds in his cup. Duh- a french press won't stop everything). Anyways... DH had steak and eggs (don't remember exactly what this meal was called). His potatoes were tasty, and the tiny slices of pineapple were refreshing after scarfing down the tonga toast. We'll definitely eat here again.

After we finished eating, we decided to wander around to the pin kiosk and gift shop upstairs. DH came across another hat to add to our "stupid hat picture" collection. So cute! What's funny is that a little boy came around the corner wearing the same hat, and his mom said, "Look, you're twins!". I was cracking up, and I couldn't tell if DH was amused or not.

We were getting close to pick-up time for our pins at the Museum of Pin-tiquities, so we hoped on the monorail towards Epcot. We made a plan to try and hit Soarin for FP...and that was about it. The sky was starting to turn dark and the wind was picking up- and I was freaking out. I HATE HATE storms and really HATE HATE walking around Disney with wet clothes. I was getting a bit (ahem) pissy at this point because DH wanted to keep walking towards World Showcase. I wasn't having any of that, and we just barely made it into the Character Meet/Greet Spot before it started pouring down rain. We didn't realize it until afterward, but we ended up cutting in front of EVERYONE and got our pictures with Marie from the Aristocats. Apparently, she was the end of the line. Oops.

I took this opportunity to type notes into my Blackberry of what we had done so far and stalled as long as I could before we went back outside. We finally made it over to the pin event as DH was ready to trade and spend our hard earned $$$ on even more pins.

I'll have to stop here for now, because it's 12 AM and I need a fresh entry to really talk about our experience at the pin trading event.

 

[jojo05]

Great update! Loved the pictures!

 

[noogagirl]

Day 2: Tonga Toast, Rain and Stitch is a Jerk continued...

The Story of Stitch...part 1

Oh where did I leave off? We had finally arrived at the much anticipated Museum of Pintiquites. DH was dying to see the pins we selected for the RSP. We stood in line for probably 15 minutes and finally tore into the boxes. The pins DH loved was from the Mystery Ancient Coin collection. (Here is an example of the Kermit one. Total of 15 in the set.)

These coins were special to this event and there were certain ones that were released in more limited quantities than the others. We ended up trading for several of these with the woman in front of us as we waited to trade a few pins from the boards set up. I don't think this is proper pin trading etiquette, but we were both happy to get the coins we wanted. She even traded away a coin that she only had one of because she didn't really care for that character.

I'll have to add a picture of our set here.

Anyways, we proceeded to "work the room" at the event and find the one dang pin we needed- you guessed it- freaking Stitch! These pin traders were serious. And protective of their collection. And really freaking proud of what they had. This is the part where I got really frustrated - not really at my DH - but at the ridiculousness (not really a word) that was pin trading. I don't give a crap if you've been collecting for eleventy-billion years or that you always get invited to exclusive CM events in Disneyland and you are so awesome awesome awesome. I felt like a Barbie doll collector at a Star Wars convention. Just out of place and really annoyed at everyone's fervor for PINS. OMG. (BTW I do love both Barbie and Star Wars).

DH had SOME KID that was trading (or watching his parent's pins?) that was probably 13 or 14 years old that ended up with that stupid Stitch pin. DH basically offered him everything but our first born child to get that pin. He just wanted a full set to display and show from our trip. And this kid asked my DH, "How long have you been trading?" Why the heck does that matter? DH got a little mad at this point and asked, "Why does that matter? Am I doing something wrong?" The kid said no and just laughed. He then tracked down another person to "make a deal" with them on a pin he wanted which would take the Stitch pin further from us. I know he's just a kid, but some shady business going on. Just trying to screw someone out of something he wanted for fun?

I forgot to mention that we had gone back to the event store several times and bought several packs of the mystery coins to see if we could get Stitch ourselves. I don't want to think about how much money we spent, and those receipts went right in the garbage before we came back home.

Well my rant is over for now. I need to get back to work. I'll finish tonight.

 

[noogagirl]

Soooo... tensions are running high at the pin event for DH and I. We're spending money, trying to chase down 1 freaking pin, and I'm getting hungry. I'm a 'eat every three hours or you will see a complete demon' type person. Not to mention that I reach a certain point of hunger where I am nauseous and feel gross for the remainder of the day even if I eat.

So, I convince DH to take a break for some food so we had toward Sunshine Seasons. At this point, we are both trying to remain calm and not snap at each other, because it would seriously be a ridiculous and silly fight over a freaking pin. But weirder things have happened on our Disney trips. It's funny that the happiest place on Earth can bring out the worst in people sometimes. I was quite proud of our restraint and respective relaxation techniques. And there was no alcohol in involved.

While I ordered food at Sunshine Seasons (the same sandwich already mentioned that we had at the resort and grapes), DH went to get FP for Soarin'. They were for 8-9 pm, and it was only around 1 pm at this time! Good grief, we may not make it back for that.

We decided to go back to the pin event one more time for the day, and we FINALLY locate a nice guy that says he will trade the Stitch pin with us if we end up with one of the limited edition pins we wants after the RSP (basically a raffle type drawing where you rank what you want and you may/may not get it) the next day. We decided to head to the monorail after this. We still had another full day to attend the pin event and weren't in a rush. This was definitely a more laid back trip. And it was so hot outside anyways, so we didn't want to rush around.

Here we are headed towards the monorail:

Since we had already visited the Polynesian that day, we hopped off at the Grand Floridian to peruse the gift shops and then went back to the Contemporary. Made an obligatory gift shop stop to buy my first Vinlymation figure (What can I say? O'Malley's are collectors- I married into it!)

Here is Sean trying to open the inner package w/ a plastic knife! Notice the Stitch pins on his lanyard. Those are his "traders". We don't care for Stitch to begin with and didn't give a crap about those pins. It's ironic that we were chasing a Stitch pin. DH said we should just buy every Stitch (and Figment) item from now on to make sure we have everything!

And here I am w/ the figure:

Funny story, I ordered a Vinylmation a couple of months ago to get ahead in collecting for our October trip. I GOT THE SAME DANG ONE. NOT TOO RANDOM, HUH?

DH with Chef Mickey's in the background. He looks tired.

Since DH wanted to make sure I stayed well fed and in a good mood, we shared a flatbread and green beans. This was SO GOOD. The flatbread had marinated beef, roasted tomatoes, goat cheese, caramelized onions and arugula. I recreated this for dinner last week and it was yummy.

More later as my bed is calling.

 

[OhMari]

It's been awhile since you updated.
Did you abandone this?

 

[noogagirl]

Not completely. I've just been busy with work and school. Is it going to be deleted?

 

[noogagirl]

I believe I left off with us eating at the Contemporary.

We decided to head back to MK and see what we could ride. We're tired and moving VERY slowly at this point. It was kind of nice to move at our own pace and not have DS trailing behind saying that he is bored.

Rode the train:

Tried on silly hats:

And called it a night...

The next morning, we were bound and determined to be up early to get TSM FastPasses. We skipped breakfast at the resort and headed to DHS.

We stopped by Starring Rolls to order breakfast, and Sean RAN over to get FPs. The muffin and danish were huge! We will definitely eat here again. I drooled over the cupcakes and other goodies. I had intended to grab a treat on the way out of the park, but I realized we probably wouldn't go straight to the room at that point.

More later. Must find my trip notes that I typed into my Blackberry. That I don't use anymore. It's around here somewhere.... and probably dead.

 

[Raecheal]

I believe I left off with us eating at the Contemporary.

We decided to head back to MK and see what we could ride. We're tired and moving VERY slowly at this point. It was kind of nice to move at our own pace and not have DS trailing behind saying that he is bored.

Rode the train:

Tried on silly hats:

And called it a night...

The next morning, we were bound and determined to be up early to get TSM FastPasses. We skipped breakfast at the resort and headed to DHS.

We stopped by Starring Rolls to order breakfast, and Sean RAN over to get FPs. The muffin and danish were huge! We will definitely eat here again. I drooled over the cupcakes and other goodies. I had intended to grab a treat on the way out of the park, but I realized we probably wouldn't go straight to the room at that point.

More later. Must find my trip notes that I typed into my Blackberry. That I don't use anymore. It's around here somewhere.... and probably dead.

Found your TR, I love it so far... Dbf and I always take pictures with random hats!