You can probably walk away now, cause I'm about to start singing! June '12~DONE 12/22

[elphie101]

Well, I did it again. Another two months without an update I've decided that rather than drag this on another 6 months (especially since the remainder of the trip is predominately me working/Kevin on his own, which I don't have a lot of notes about) I'll post a final wrap up installment today, with a nice picture tour of our last 2 1/2 days and a little update about what's coming up next!

The Thrilling Conclusion to Jenn and Kevin's Excellent Adventures

We went to Columbia Harbor House after I got out of work for dinner......such a pretty sky

Also took a quick, relaxing boat ride, amongst other rides, before turning in for the night

Saturday June 30th

The next day was the day when I decided to part my hair a different way........poor scalp

Welcome to Disney's Animal Kingdom!

All I wanted was to ride Kali River Rapids....it had a delayed opening that day so even though we got to the park around 9:30/10, we were still right up front. We got completely, utterly, totally soaked for the first time and avoided it and Splash Mountain for the rest of the trip (even though Splash is in my top 5 favorites)

Finally saw DeVine for the first time!!

Not sure what this is for (character location?) but I thought it would be adorable for a AK wedding

Our best ride photo IMO - if only the redneck wasn't so blurry!

I always have to photo the giraffes for my best friend....we had grabbed Everest FPs on our way to Kali, then ran over to Kiliminjaro for FPs, then BACK to Everest to use those FPs, then BACK to the safari.......the first time we ever really felt the pang of the changed FastPass rules.

Quick lunch at Pizzafari to appease Kevin before I dragged him off to Finding Nemo the Musical instead of Dinosaur as our last thing to do in AK - then it was time for me to go to work! I don't remember what Kevin did this time (probably more Epcot) but I didn't get back to Pop this night until closer to midnight.

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST​

 

[elphie101]

Sunday July 1st

Walking over to Art of Animation for breakfast and exploring! At the time, the Cars section had just opened, and Lion King and Little Mermaid were still closed

I was so excited to be able to glimpse my future favorite section

LOVED their shop

Took a CRAZY amount of photos of this section since it was new/for my Cars-loving cousin......I'll give you all the best ones

Yes, we went inside

The still-unfinished Lion King section

See, Rafiki's still tarped

The lighting fixture in the Mermaid section - obviously my favorite

I promise you I only sat in this part of the lobby by accident....

I loved seeing resort merchandise coming back!

Went to the lobby restroom........and was pleasantly surprised

We had been waiting for the menu to change over to lunch, but after 45 minutes it was time to head to MK for one last day......this was also our longest bus wait of the trip (about half an hour) which docked AoA down a few pegs in Kevin's book

My home sweet home!

We had hit up Buzz to say hi to my friends, ran over to pirates and a little Sorcerer's of the Magic Kingdom, visited Big Thunder and now headed off to Neverland

Just think happy thoughts, and they'll lift us up into the air!

One last Columbia Harbor House meal

Has anyone ever seen the Emporium this empty? During the day parade I believe

A post-work Magic Kingdom - I was hurrying over to meet Kevin at Epcot for EMH so that I could be in a park on my birthday at midnight, even though we had an early flight home (he's a keeper!)

With the monorail not running, I made it to Epcot round 11 (EMH ended at 12) so we scampered over to Mission Space.......passing this sad sight along the way (sigh)

Not a lot of eager astronauts at this time of night!

Ready for liftoff!

This is a face of exhausted excitement.......toting my birthday button of course!

We headed over to Spaceship Earth for a final relaxing ride.......where I turned 23 inside! (Right at the end of Judi Dench's narration, when she says "This, our Spaceship Earth.......it was perfect!)

5 hours later we were back in the Pop lobby waiting for our Magical Express........definitely a whirlwind trip!

Next Post: Conclusion and What's Up Next?​

 

[elphie101]

So............that's all folks! Never did I think in the beginning of July I would be stretching this out till the same day I have to finish my Christmas wrapping! Funny how life works, right? Here's what's up next for us Disney-wise:

-To backtrack, I popped down to the World to work during November.....and got my first peek at New Fantasyland! Riding The Little Mermaid was such a dream (there may have been one teary clamshell that day) and Be Our Guest looks amazing (even though they wouldn't let us in that close). Didn't get to experience Enchanted Tales because the wait was too long, but I intend to do so.......

-.....when Kevin and I go back in 28 days! I'll need an extra 11 hours before March to keep my CM status, so we're popping down for a quick MLK weekend trip, featuring an official (and more crowded) new Fantasyland experience, our first ride on New Test Track, and meals at Le Cellier and Les Chefs de France, as well as an undetermined breakfast. This will probably be my last WDW trip for awhile, as I anticipate I won't be able to keep my CM status past June.

-The big monty is still to come though......we're headed to DisneyLAND in April!! As Kevin has never been within 2 hours of Boston other than to go to WDW, I'm determined to take him other places.......starting with the Happiest Place on Earth. This is also the main reason for my past three WDW trips and why it was so important to stay a CM, in order to make this big West Coast trip more affordable - coast to coast flying aint cheap! We'll be in Anaheim April 10th-15th, staying at a TBD hotel, and we couldn't be more excited! I might try a TR again for this trip, since there's no working on my part/it'll be almost an entirely new experience for both of us (I've been to DLR once on a day trip, but I don't remember much of it, and we didn't visit DCA).

On that note, it's been a joy to have you along for this snails' pace ride. Happy holidays, and see ya real soon!

-Jenn

 

[eandesmom]

So............that's all folks! Never did I think in the beginning of July I would be stretching this out till the same day I have to finish my Christmas wrapping! Funny how life works, right? Here's what's up next for us Disney-wise:

Life gets in the way sometimes, that's ok!

-To backtrack, I popped down to the World to work during November.....and got my first peek at New Fantasyland! Riding The Little Mermaid was such a dream (there may have been one teary clamshell that day) and Be Our Guest looks amazing (even though they wouldn't let us in that close). Didn't get to experience Enchanted Tales because the wait was too long, but I intend to do so.......

-.....when Kevin and I go back in 28 days! I'll need an extra 11 hours before March to keep my CM status, so we're popping down for a quick MLK weekend trip, featuring an official (and more crowded) new Fantasyland experience, our first ride on New Test Track, and meals at Le Cellier and Les Chefs de France, as well as an undetermined breakfast. This will probably be my last WDW trip for awhile, as I anticipate I won't be able to keep my CM status past June.

-The big monty is still to come though......we're headed to DisneyLAND in April!! As Kevin has never been within 2 hours of Boston other than to go to WDW, I'm determined to take him other places.......starting with the Happiest Place on Earth. This is also the main reason for my past three WDW trips and why it was so important to stay a CM, in order to make this big West Coast trip more affordable - coast to coast flying aint cheap! We'll be in Anaheim April 10th-15th, staying at a TBD hotel, and we couldn't be more excited! I might try a TR again for this trip, since there's no working on my part/it'll be almost an entirely new experience for both of us (I've been to DLR once on a day trip, but I don't remember much of it, and we didn't visit DCA).

On that note, it's been a joy to have you along for this snails' pace ride. Happy holidays, and see ya real soon!

-Jenn

YAY for 28 days, YAY for DL. BOO for not being able to keep CM status but I can imagine that is a challenge.

I've enjoyed your report