Yes, I really am 22... Chaperoning around the World March 2012-April 2012~9/1 update!

[msmandapanda]

Hey Amanda! Thanks to Marissa, I found my way over to your trip report. I'm excited to read about your trip!

Hey! One of the kids from my school works at Captain EO/Journey to Imagination with Figment!!! He's on the college program right now and his name is Bobby. Your friend Jenelle probably knows him!

Hi Jess! Thanks for coming on over!

I mentioned Bobby to Jenelle the other day and she was like "Oh my gosh! Yes, I know him! I love that kid!" Haha, so there you have it ​

 

[msmandapanda]

Hi folks! Sorry it's been a little while since my last update but you understand, life gets busy. Anyways, on with the show!​

Chapter 4: Lions, Tigers, and...Dinosaurs?​

As we made our way to the Tree of Life, I snapped this crowd photo:

Not too busy, but more so than it was in December.

We also took this pic:

We then noticed a character meet & greet with 2 characters whom we've never met before, Doug and Russell from Up! It was kind of a long line to wait through, but worth it for a first time picture. While we waited, there was this really awesome CM named Steve:

It was pretty hot out by this point, but Steve kept us all distracted and entertained with some jokes:

"What time does the 3:45 parade start?"
To which we reply: "3:45"
"Oh, I thought it was at a quarter to 4"

Then he came directly over to me and said:

"See that lady in the GAP shirt?...Know what it stands for?...Goofy And Pluto!"

Oh, Steve Needless to say, he had us cracking up. I wonder if they give them any kind of material or if they come up with that stuff on their own? Actually, now that I think about Jenelle, I'm pretty sure what she comes up with is on her own. Not gonna lie, that's gotta be kind of awesome!

So we waited in the really long line and then it was our turn, right? Wrong Doug and Russell had to go take a 5 minute break. Or as Steve put it, "Doug needs to go get a biscuit and Russell needs to go get some chocolate to feed Kevin." I like Steve's version better.

While we waited, I decided to take a picture of Doug's wagon because I noticed this:

It's a Squirrel! And the only reason it makes me happy (besides the fact that Doug's all like "Squirrel!" in the movie) is that this is a real dog toy that my dog Dixie actually has in her collection! It may not seem like much, but it reminded me of how awesome Disney can get with the little details.

Literally after 5 minutes, Doug and Russell came right out. We then proceeded with the meeting and greeting and took this photo:

By now, it was 11:00am. Shannon had never seen Finding Nemo The Musical and had always wanted to ever since I got her hooked on the soundtrack, so off we went for the 11:30am show. The park was a little more crowded by now. We passed Expedition Everest along the way and there was a 50 minute stand-by line. Even if I did like riding this ride, I would not be waiting in a 50 minute line. How can people choose that over a FP you know? I suppose it makes sense if they already had a FP in their possesion, but still.

We made it to the theater and actually got pretty decent seats in the middle section. Once we succeeded at talking like a turtle and were welcomed to the show, (I swear that chick sounds like Claire Littleton from Lost. That could just be me placing her Australian accent with the first Australian chick I could think of though) the lights dimmed and it was was time to begin!

My camera is pretty awful with pictures as is, but you add darkness and moving objects, and there's just no hope really. However, I did manage to snap this decent pic:

I often tell Kristen that she reminds me of Mr. Ray with her science knowledge and that that's how she'll be when she's a teacher. That, or like Bill Nye.

So the show was AMAZING! This show is really growing on me. The first time I saw anything about it was when I used to watch all the Disney World specials on the Travel Channel. In fact, for those of you who probably didn't know, is where I got this chapter title from. Speaking of those specials, what's up with them now? I haven't seen one on there in about 2 years. Nothing at all! They better not have done away with them because that's gonna make me really sad. Anyways, when I learned that there was a Finding Nemo show, I thought it looked really lame. However, I have this plan of doing/seeing everything in Disney at least once, so I made our group go see it this past December and I was instantly 'hooked'!

Our next plan was to catch the 12:30pm Festival of the Lion King, another show that Shannon had yet to see. However, we were cutting it pretty close on time because we had to be at a different park by 1:00pm. Now in our family, we've decided to live by the "if we don't get to it this time, there's always our next trip" rule. So that's what we went with and causually made our way to the park entrance. I texted the girls in my group to make sure they were making their way to the front, only to find out that apparently Shannon and I were the only ones left. Everyone else had made their way to the bus stop.

We bid Animal Kindgom farewell, and made our way onto the next destination!
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Continued in Next Post​

 

[marDgreen88]

Aww, cute pictures of you and Shannon! I LOVE DUG AND RUSSELL! I actually just watched UP, last night (dude, I COULD NOT SLEEP FOR ANYTHING last night. I was awake UNTIL 6:00 AM. Then I woke up at 9:30. Seriously. Let's move on though.) SQUIRREL!

You didn't have to convince me in December! (since I got you hooked on the soundtrack in the first place... JUST GO WITH THE FLOW!)

I still can't believe yall had never seen Festival of the Lion King! I can't go to AK and NOT see it (but you already knew that since I've dragged you there two years in a row hahah). YAY can't wait for more!!

 

[flyergrad09]

Hi there! I'm subscribing. I've also chaperoned high school groups on Disney trips before, and it's always interesting, so I can't wait to read more!

 

[CandleontheWater]

How fun that you ran into Dug and Russel! We saw them out on our last trip, but didn't stop for photos. They are pretty cute though!

Glad you made it into Nemo, I actually prefer it to the Lion King show, I think the music is just so catchy!

I wonder what park you are headed to next?

 

[marDgreen88]

 

[PopArtGal]

Hi! I'm here from the other TR "You guys are cast members right". I think you are very brave. I'm a high school teacher. I've done school outings but no trips. I know how patient you have to be.

 

[msmandapanda]

Hello fellow readers! Sorry it’s been so long! To sum up what's been going on, my sister Kristen and I have been in preparation for a medical missions trip to Quito, Ecuador! We leave July 8th and will be gone for about 3 weeks. Until then, I'll try to get in as many updates as I can. Here we go! (p.s. I apologize for the severe lack of pictures this round)​

Chapter 5: Hooray for Hollywood!​

It was time to hop on over to Hollywood Studios or for those of you who are rebels like me, MGM! (I don't know if I'll ever be able to make the change) And guess what? We got to take the Disney buses!!! Needless to say, I was really excited for a change in transportation.

When we reached the bus station, it quickly dawned on me just how inexperienced these high school kids were. You know how the bus lines work, right? Like how they weave around and such? Yeah, well instead of properly weaving around the railings, these kids were single file lined up at that gap beside the front of the line. In other words, not properly standing where they should be. Poor things. They probably didn't know better but come on, I would hope it honestly can't be that hard to observe a couple of winding railings and conclude that you are supposed to follow them Anyways, I made Shannon come through the line with me because I knew the folks that were actually waiting in line would get to go on first. And wouldn't ya know it? The bus pulled up and when all the others were trying to get on, the bus driver was like, "hold up, let these folks go first" and Shannon and I, along with the families who'd been following the rules correctly got to get on! I did actually end up feeling bad for the others though because a good number of them didn't get to get on and they had been waiting there longer than we had. It was also pretty hot out. Ah well, such is life.

I honestly can't remember the bus ride other than the fact that I was standing up and the air conditioning felt really nice. Once we disembarked, we power walked to the bag check, looked for the shortest line at the turnstiles, and then made our way inside!

Now, I'm not too familiar with MGM (just accept the name ) when it comes to like "lands" and stuff, but we were walking down "Main Street" towards the big Sorcerer's Hat. We stopped to have our picture taken in front of it and actually ended up carrying on a conversation with the CM. His name was Chino and he was from Puerto Rico. We somehow got on the subject of how I'm a vocal major and he told me that I should audition for The American Idol Experience. Yeah, that won't be happening anytime soon. It was really sweet having him try to convince me though. And it wasn't in a creepy way either because he was a nicer older gentleman. After we got our picture taken and as soon as we were out of earshot, Shannon turns to me and in her Puerto Rican accent is all like "He killed your brother!" to which I reply, "Chino! Why do you lie to me! Chino!" Haha! We couldn't resist!

We had our list of what we wanted to get done, and first up was Voyage of The Little Mermaid. We had seen this once before back in 2002, but didn't really remember that much about it other than the fact that our youngest sister Melissa was crying the whole time because it was dark and there were laser effects. Haha, poor thing. So we decided, why not give it another chance? The wait wasn't that bad at all because apparently it shows every 15 minutes. Last time, we sat all the way in the back. So this time, we picked the 2nd row. Here's one decent pic that I got:

After our adventure under the sea, I can honestly say this: once is all you need. It's not awful or anything, it's just not that great. I mean, come on, when Ariel gets to say her lines live but Eric has to mouth along to the recording, ya know it's not gonna be the best. I have to hand it to that Ariel though, she did a pretty good job at singing. I've been avoiding the Beauty and the Beast stage show for a while now because the actors make me mad with their inability to sing in rhythm. With that being said, I'm always a little worried I'll be disappointed with other live stage show singers. Ariel however, did a great job!

Our next stop was Star Tours! ...which turned out to have a 50 minute stand by so we opted for FP instead We then headed over to visit the Muppets This show is another one that's been growing on me. I remember seeing it on my very first trip to Disney World when I was 4 years old, but my family has since then avoided it. So naturally, I had just assumed it wasn't worth returning to. All that changed this past December when Sally and I went to see it. I absolutely loved it! It's just too funny! Ya just gotta love the preshow with Rizzo when he's dressed as Mickey and is like "Hi, welcome to my park". I love those old dudes, Bean Bunny, and of course, my favorite Muppet, Sam the Eagle! I just love his patriotism! My favorite lines have to be when he's talking about the finale and he says "It's a salute to all nations, but mostly America" and then later, "It's a glorious 3 hour finale". Here's a pic of Shannon and I:

Shannon's casually rocking the glasses under glasses look

During this show, I observed 3 things this time that I've never noticed before:

1) the eagle statue that is wearing 3D glasses
2) You can clearly see Miss Piggy's butt when she gets jerked away by the ski boat
3) During the "glorious finale", the "salute to all nations" part is them singing "It's a Small World"

Those Muppets crack me up! The only thing I don't like? Waldo, the worlds first living 3D effect. He kind of scares me. Like, a lot actually. And the way he turns into Mickey at the end, so not cool.

We still had time to wait for our FP return and we were starting to get hungry sow we grabbed some delicious Disney popcorn! Here's Shannon posing for us:

Wish I had some Disney popcorn right about now. I'd totally be like this -->

50 minutes had finally passed and it was time to venture into a galaxy far far away. I was excited for Shannon because this was her first time experiencing Star Tours since the refurbishment. It was pretty awesome as usual Shannon and I agree that the revamped version is a must do. Go check it out if you haven't!

It was ridiculously hot out at this point so we decided to grab some ice cream from:

Gertie's! I honestly don't believe I've ever gotten ice cream from here before. Yay for first time experiences! And remember how I have a thing for Disney details? Well here's a little something I observed:

Ha! Footprints within a footprint! (and a napkin. Not mine btw!)

I find this sandy foot print to be a lovely little detailed touch. Think about the maintenance that must go into it. Ya have to freshen up the sand and make sure that the grass doesn't try to grow through. Just for one "little" footprint too!

We then purchased some lovely little Mickey premium bars :

and after ice cream, it was time to hop to another park. We stopped so I could get this pic real quick (ha, rhyme!):

Oh Walt, if only I could've met you in real life. Maybe in Heaven

Then we met up with the crew and made our way out. Next stop? Somewhere behind the scenes
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Continued in Next Post​

 

[midwesternbelle]

AWESOME TR! I am totally joining in!

 

[marDgreen88]

HAHAHA um yall, this winding thing is a LINE... not a maze made for your enjoyment. Sigh.

"Main Street" is Hollywood Boulevard! Hahah yeah, we're not so good with the directions at Hollywood Studios... remember how long it took us to find Pizza Planet?

Omg... Voyage of the Little Mermaid is so lame. And I HATE saying that because duh, Little Mermaid is my FAVE. When I saw it (on my first trip) I was so annoyed with it... our Ariel wasn't very good, and they skipped like... the entire story, and where the heck was King Triton? ALSO. When we saw it, Eric was like four feet tall. Just... no. Sounds like you had a much better experience with it than I did! hahaha

Was anyone good the Rebel Spy? YAY I'M SO HAPPY YOU FINALLY UPDATED!!

 

[msmandapanda]

AWESOME TR! I am totally joining in!

Hi! Thanks for joining!​

HAHAHA um yall, this winding thing is a LINE... not a maze made for your enjoyment. Sigh.

Yeah, I seriously had a hard time figuring out why they couldn't figure it out, haha.​

"Main Street" is Hollywood Boulevard! Hahah yeah, we're not so good with the directions at Hollywood Studios... remember how long it took us to find Pizza Planet? !!

Oh yeah! That sounds about right. I'm pretty sure that even now I wouldn't be able to find Pizza Planet too easily.​

Omg... Voyage of the Little Mermaid is so lame. And I HATE saying that because duh, Little Mermaid is my FAVE. When I saw it (on my first trip) I was so annoyed with it... our Ariel wasn't very good, and they skipped like... the entire story, and where the heck was King Triton? ALSO. When we saw it, Eric was like four feet tall. Just... no. Sounds like you had a much better experience with it than I did! hahaha!!

Oh good! I'm not the only one disappointed with this show. They really do skip through the whole story. Guess it makes sense though if they're shooting to get it in under 15 minutes.​

Was anyone good the Rebel Spy? YAY I'M SO HAPPY YOU FINALLY UPDATED!!!!

Sadly, this time around it wasn't either of us. One day though!​

 

[PopArtGal]

Great update!

You're making me hungry for WDW treats!

 

[msmandapanda]

Hi folks! A long overdue update is coming your way. Once again, I apologize for the lack of pictures.​

Chapter 6: a backstage tour, a magical performance, and a hop back to Hollywood​

We hopped on a different charter bus and made our way to backstage Epcot. As soon as we got to the gates, a security guard came on board and checked our bags. Meanwhile, the band director made a speech that went something along the lines of “Ladies and gentlemen, be sure to take advantage of this moment. This is a very expensive tour and you’re getting it for free right now.”

Now, seeing as I’m a good rules follower and completely 100% against folks ruining the magic for others, you won’t be finding anything out about the backstage area from me Sorry. That, and the fact that I believe Disney has eyes everywhere and would somehow find out if I told you and then they might not let me in a backstage area ever again!

So, while the students went to get ready for their performance, we chaperones got to go in the park early. We entered in through World Showcase, somewhere in Italy I believe. We had an hour to kill until show time, so the CM suggested we grab a bite to eat or browse in a shop or something. It was me and like 5 kid’s parents…so what did I do? I told them a little white lie about meeting up with my friend who’s a CM and went on my own little merry way. I knew that they all wanted to stick together and I did not want to be “free to do whatever I wanted in Epcot” for the next hour with a group of folks who were easily 25 years my senior. Plus, Jenelle is a CM in Epcot and she was working that day, I just didn’t get around to seeing her right then and there on the trip. It had also literally just dawned on me that I had been handed an opportunity to roam Epcot by MYSELF! You don’t know how cool this was for me! I’ve never been alone at anytime in WDW, so I wanted to take advantage of it! Sadly, I only had an hour and it takes like 20 minutes to make it back to Future World from the middle of World Showcase, so I booked it on over to Test Track!

There was a 30 minute Single Rider stand-by and I went for it. Thankfully, the folks I ended up riding with were pretty cool and not at all awkward about the fact that I was the only one not really in their group. Afterwards, I ran to Melody Gardens in time to grab a good spot on the bench and hear the performance. In case you were wondering, Melody Gardens is a new little outdoor stage area in Future World West. If you’re looking from The Land Pavilion, it’s across and to the right a little. Here’s a picture of Shannon’s chorus group:

This is where my whole “One day I’ll be doing this and I’ll take my students to sing at Disney” thing kicked in. It’s so going happen too! You just wait!

They sang their little hearts out and did a pretty good job at it too. Then we made a grand exit via a different gate than the one we entered through. This one was located by the Journey into Imagination ride building. We were greeted with a cooler of water and Dixie cups (yes, even Disney can go cheap) and then the kids went to change for our return to MGM!

When we got back inside the park, it was about 8:00pm and Fantasmic was showing at 8:30pm. So Shannon and I decided to grab a couple of Mickey Rice Krispy Treats (our first ones ever!), and made the long hike to the amphitheater. Would you believe that it was ridiculously crowded?! Like, crazy crowded. You’re probably tired of hearing this, but it was not this bad in December. Like, it hasn’t even been this bad on my family vacations in the summer and early March either. But as soon as we got there, they directed us all the way down to that end section that’s practically not even facing the stage it was ok though, we were there to enjoy the show and by golly we were gonna enjoy it!

We got situated and then nibbled on our Mickey Rice Krispy treats:

My honest opinion on these little babies? Gross. Sorry to all of you lovers out there, but they were straight up blugh. I’ve had better Rice Krispy treats from a vending machine for 0.75 cents. These bad boys were $4 and stale as the day is long. The chocolate dipped parts were pretty good though, I’ll give them that. Maybe they’re better when they’re fresh. I’ll wait until I watch them being made before I decide to take another chance on them.

Ok, enough complaining. Let’s get to Fantasmic! Yeah! I love this show! I have a bunch of favorite parts in this show, the first being the beginning. Picture it with me: narration as the lights go out, the music starts, “IMAGINATION” then the doot doots start while the light towers come up, then “Dream a fantastic DREAM!”, Enter: Mickey Mouse! Claps and shouts of joy erupt amidst “Use your imagination” and we’re off! I love Mickey’s little number, especially his fireworks from his fingers. It always reminds me of growing up and watching the Disneyland Fun Sing Along Songs video at this part: skip ahead to 1:49 Then there’s his cute little pose at the end. Ah, just love it!

I really like the Pocahontas part, with the exception of the cannon. We had a mom and her little girl beside us so I gave her the common courtesy of warning her ahead of time. Needless to say, they were both grateful for the heads up. When Pocahontas shows up and it leads into the princesses’ part, ya might as well go on and hand me a box of tissues right then and there.

Let’s skip ahead to when Mickey takes back over and pulls the sword from the stone. Then there's the finale! Tinkerbell lights up the mountain, and then comes the riverboat with Steamboat Willie and all of your favorite Disney friends doing a ribbon dance. But my absolutely favorite part is Sorcerer Mickey with the climactic music! Then how he poofs to the bottom of the stage so quickly, so cool! (Yes, I know, I’m 23)

So we finished the night with a bang, li-ter-al-ly (Eugene Fitzherbert style) and made our way back to the parking lot with the rest of the mob. Once we secured our busses, we headed back to our off property hotel.

I watched a little Stacy, checked on the girls around 11:15pm, and then it was lights out!
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Continued in Next Post​

 

[Merida]

How cool to be backstage in Epcot! We did our band thing in MK, but I don't really remember most of it.

I've never seen Melody Gardens, I'll have to look for it next time I'm down! Do you know if there are a lot of groups that perform there?

 

[marDgreen88]

YOU LIE!!!!! Shame, shame, shame.



Being in Disney by yourself is cool... for like an hour or two. Then it gets weird and lonely!

You need to try a fresh rice crispy because they are AWESOME.

 

[msmandapanda]

How cool to be backstage in Epcot! We did our band thing in MK, but I don't really remember most of it.

I've never seen Melody Gardens, I'll have to look for it next time I'm down! Do you know if there are a lot of groups that perform there?

Hi! Thanks for coming along!

I heard the bands get to march down Main Street, is that correct? If so, that's so cool! As far as performances in Melody Gardens, I'm not sure about other groups but I'm almost certain that this is the permanent spot for chorus groups to come and perform.​

YOU LIE!!!!! Shame, shame, shame.



Being in Disney by yourself is cool... for like an hour or two. Then it gets weird and lonely!

You need to try a fresh rice crispy because they are AWESOME.

Haha, yes, I did indeed lie. But just a little And yes, I figure that a fresh rice crispy will taste a whole lot better than that packaged one. Maybe I'll get to try it in December? *crosses fingers*​

 

[marDgreen88]

I figure that a fresh rice crispy will taste a whole lot better than that packaged one. Maybe I'll get to try it in December? *crosses fingers*​

I'm crossing a lot more than my fingers! OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE.

PS I have a lot to discuss about that. There are some possibilities!

 

[msmandapanda]

Saturday, March 31st, 2012​

Chapter 7: Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow​

This morning I woke up at 6:00am and had the hardest time getting one of my groups to wake up. I had to literally stand over them and make them get out of the door on time for our breakfast at Downtown Disney. Oh, the joys of working with high school girls sometimes . So where were we heading? Planet Hollywood. Ok, honest confession time right here: I've eaten here twice before and sadly their food has been kind of disappointing. That being said, I was a little concerned about our breakfast. Thankfully though, it turned out to be pretty good! Here's my plate:​

I made sure to note that I really liked the pancakes, hashbrowns, and that coffee! There's nothing quite like a strong cup of Disney coffee to start your day off right!

It was loud in there because they had several school groups having breakfast together, but they had a DJ who kept the tunes pumping so I was content. After eating, they had a dance party. While Shannon went off with her friends, I used this time to catch up on my journal. It only lasted about 30 minutes and then they nicely kept trying to get everyone to leave. It was quite humorous really! Seeing that it's kind of a museum too, the DJ would keep getting on the microphone and be like "feel free to look around and make sure to take your belongings with you." Shannon and I were so ready to get going though because today was Epcot day!

We hopped on our charter bus and drove on over. As were were approaching the gates, I overheard a conversation from one of the groups of girls sitting near us. One girl was like "What's 'Epcot' mean anyways?" I swear there was like a 30 second pause where Shannon looked over at me in dread knowing that I was going to pipe in...and I did. In my very best "I'm going to be a teacher one day" voice, I chimed in and said, "Well I can answer that for you. Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow"....They just kind of stared at me for a moment and then the girl said, "How did you know that?" Now I could have tried to come up with an answer that wouldn't make me look as super lame as I probably already did, but that rarely works for me. So, I just told the truth. My response? "I love all things Disney and have done my research" To which she replies "You've been here before, haven't you". I felt like Phineas in that moment: "Why yes, yes I have".

As we were walking towards the bach check area, this really cute guy friend of Shannon's came up and started talking to her. So naturally, I backed off a bit and let the two of them continue on. It was so cute! You could definitely tell that he was interested in her (remember this little fella for later). When I finally got her back, I tried to explain this to her. She still remains in denial about it to this day.

The bag check lines were crazy long! it then dawned on me that it was Saturday though and I had heard that a bunch of the Southern schools were out on their Spring Break, so it made sense. While we waited, I noticed that the picture on the bag check sign looks like they're inspecting a left-overs box. It was kinda really funny and I so wish I had a picture to show you. Check it out the next time your down there!

Once our bags were thoroughly checked (and I do mean thoroughly, sheesh) we headed to the shortest turnstile line which this time actually happened to be way down on the right side. Seriously though, there were like 2 people in front of us whereas the other lines were ridiculously backed up. Yay for us!

Once we got in, we stopped to take some lovely Spaceship Earth and fountain pics:

and then it was time to get things started!

Continued in Next Post
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[marDgreen88]

Can't wait to hear about Epcottttttttttt!

The more I think about it, the more I think it has become my favorite. It's kinda insane but whatever.