You Guys Part of the Family? You've Got the Magic In Your Eyes!!->Updated 10/19x3!!!!

[katt789]

Love all of the pictures from the boat! I imagine that wedding pavilion might be on our radar in about 25 years

I CANNOT BELIEVE that you went to see FoLK!

Thanks!! I really enjoyed the ride, it was so peaceful being the only ones on there and being able to wander and just enjoy it!

Lawl, I know right, like me and Mom, why on EARTH would we do something like that?

Your pictures of MK and the resorts are amazing! We've never taken the boat but we'll have to try it!

Ah the Wedding Pavilion. I have dreams of it as well. And omg slightly off topic but not really. Disney weddings totally aren't as insanely expensive as people act. My cousin keeps telling me Disney weddings are too expensive, don't do it. Well she's planning her wedding now at a local venue that's pretty but NOT Disney rotfl and her wedding is costing as much as a Disney wedding if not more! Her venue is charging $300 a person for food alone. Plus the venue charge and everything else!

Sorry rant over now. But yeah a Disney wedding definitely isn't too expensive in my book.

As soon as you said you were going to AK, I knew it was FOTLK! Love it.

Thank you!! The boat really is fantastic! Even if you're just taking a quick trip during the middle of the day it's beautiful! I didn't realize how much until then!

I know right?!!? Like, you'd expect Disney weddings to be super insanely expensive but they're really not that bad. I mean, you've got the downside of having to get everyone down there and book them into hotels and I know a lot of people would say that destination weddings are NOT the way to go because then you lose people, some of them just can't afford it, but honestly, screw it. I'd rather have a smaller wedding with my best friends and closest family than do something I don't really want do and do it big. Plus, it's Disney. Also, the Alfred Angelo princess inspired dresses, yeah, not that expensive either! I've picked out mine already it's a rapunzel one and it's only $1200 Like, that's the price of one Disney trip, people spend three times that much on a dress!! I'm so down!! I'm definitely having a Disney wedding.

Hahahaha there will never be a day that I'm at AK and miss FOTLK, unless of course it's closed or something drastic happens haha

 

[Pluto0809]

I love all of the pictures from the ferry! I haven't ridden it since my Honeymoon in 1998. DH & I took it back from the TTC after we stopped there to visit our brick. My aunt got it for us as a wedding present. I visited it this last solo trip and we've faded quite a bit in 15 years. I took pictures but don't know if I'll post them in my TR or not because it has our last name on it and I'm hopeless when it comes to editing pictures.

Oh and somewhere up there you spelled ferry as "fairy" (believe me I'm not being nitpicky and pointing out a spelling error, I know my spelling is horrible, I just have a story with it). So I read that and I'm like, there was a fairy at TTC? Then I realized you still meant the ferry.

Why am I not surprised you went to FOLK? Oh, and you may be obsessed with dancers? I think you need to change that to I am obsessed because we all know that's true.

 

[ronnmel]

I know I'm in the minority, but I actually prefer to take the boat than the monorail. I mean, I LOVE the monorail, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the ferry. I love feeling the nice breeze as I take in the magnificent view. Your picture of the castle, train station and monorail is simply amazing.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Katt, your photos are always just so awesome.

Despite being a HUGE HUGE HUGE monorail junkie, sometimes when I'm taking it a bit slower, the ferry is just perfect. Everyone should try it at least once. The views are truly spectacular.

That photo with the monorail, castle and train station = perfection.

 

[katt789]

I love all of the pictures from the ferry! I haven't ridden it since my Honeymoon in 1998. DH & I took it back from the TTC after we stopped there to visit our brick. My aunt got it for us as a wedding present. I visited it this last solo trip and we've faded quite a bit in 15 years. I took pictures but don't know if I'll post them in my TR or not because it has our last name on it and I'm hopeless when it comes to editing pictures.

Oh and somewhere up there you spelled ferry as "fairy" (believe me I'm not being nitpicky and pointing out a spelling error, I know my spelling is horrible, I just have a story with it). So I read that and I'm like, there was a fairy at TTC? Then I realized you still meant the ferry.

Why am I not surprised you went to FOLK? Oh, and you may be obsessed with dancers? I think you need to change that to I am obsessed because we all know that's true.

Awesome! Lol. BAHA! Of course I did, everythign is magical in my world, bahahah

Lol, where else would we end up in animal kingdom, and oh yes, I am obsessed with those dancers, they're amazing

I know I'm in the minority, but I actually prefer to take the boat than the monorail. I mean, I LOVE the monorail, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the ferry. I love feeling the nice breeze as I take in the magnificent view. Your picture of the castle, train station and monorail is simply amazing.

I love the monorail, and it's just faster, if I'm not in a huge hurry, I'll take the ferry, but otherwise, it's por favor for me!! Thanks!! It's actually my desktop background right now!

Katt, your photos are always just so awesome.

Despite being a HUGE HUGE HUGE monorail junkie, sometimes when I'm taking it a bit slower, the ferry is just perfect. Everyone should try it at least once. The views are truly spectacular.

That photo with the monorail, castle and train station = perfection.

Thanks!! I try!! It's so amazing from the boat, so pretty!

 

[katt789]

Mom and I jumped onto the bus from Animal Kingdom to head over to Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s for our next stop!

I do like that they moved some of the topiaries from Flower & Garden festival over to DHS, spread the magic! The main purpose of our DHS visit was to hit up Beauty & the Beast, but there was still a half an hour until the theatre even opened, so I asked if Mom wanted to hit up Tower of Terror first, yay!

The wait was posted at 20 minutes, which was totally okay for us, and luckily we got into the elevator in just under 15 minutes, yay, less waiting!!

Look up!

The library is always the bane of my existence, I seriously hate having to wait through that wait and the video, I’m all “just put me on the ride already!!”

Whoop!! The ride was super long and awesome! It was great!! When we arrived back in our own world, we headed over to line up for beauty and the beast!

 

[katt789]

Mom and I managed to get into the “clump” line up for the next view of Beauty and the Beast and thankfully, it wasn’t that crowded yet, so we managed to get some more good seats for the show!

We had a completely different main cast than the last time we had seen it, and a lot of the dancers/chorus were different too! I had seen this Gaston before (I don’t think there are quite as many Gaston’s as Belle’s?) and he really is great.

One of my favorite dancers was back this time though, YAY!

I’ve gotta give huge props to these dancers, (and the rest of the parade/show movers they have in Disney, seriously!). If you see a show more than once, and have a knack for recognizing faces, you’ll notice that a person who dances one role one day, might be dancing a different role the next. Seriously, it’s relatively all the same choreography, but one day, you might be the witch as well, or be dancing in a different formation than the day before. Disney seems to not do “Cast A” and “Cast B” for their shows, it’s kinda all over the place with what you could be doing. Example, in a parade, you could be trained on any section of dancing, and just because you’re in said parade for the week, doesn’t mean you’re doing the same thing every day. Gotta have a good memory for this stuff!

Daaaawww….things could work out in favor of happily ever after in the end after all! ….but wait….there’s still a villain out there!

 

[katt789]

As in all awesome stories…there’s bound to be a wicked fight scene at some point, right?!

Gaston certainly thinks so!

By the looks of things, most of the villagers agree with Gaston, looks like the enchanted castle is in some trouble!

Or maybe not…

Yup! Looks like true love wins over all evil…once again…

And of course the princess of the day gets some loving from Belle & Beast too!

Mom commented that “she even knew what was going to happen but still managed to miss getting a picture of the princess of the day” ahahha, too distracted with everything else going on!

The show was good, Belle was different, and sounded a lot like Paige O Hara (the movie voice of Belle) when she was speaking, but that was about it, and she held notes in wrong places. Like, if you’re a Disney nut like me, and singing along in your head to the movie version of the song, when a note is supposed to be held, and it’s not, or vice versa, well, it’s annoying haha. It seems to happen a lot in these shows too….boo….Gaston was great though!

With the show done, and us both feeling a little tired, we decided to head back to Animal Kingdom Lodge for a little break! You read that right, a BREAK, on a Katt trip! That’s a first (would it be the last?) We were going to rest up, as in a few hours, Paige would be arriving at Disney World !! IIIEEEEEK!! So, we headed out of DHS.

 

[katt789]

Hey team! Just gonna do a little life update up here so no one misses it! Lawls! As you can see, I'm kind of powering through these last couple of updates. Well, it's partially because having one update filled with simply a ride on ToT is boring, and then the next three updates all go together kinda thing. Hope that's okay! I swear, next trip I'll take less show pictures! HA!

-I have another ballroom comp coming up, first weekend in May, dancing latin and standard again, single and multi dance and then I'm dancing for scholarships, woohoo!! Hopefully I win some money this time!

-Audition front: Still the same, just playing the waiting game. Since they've closed DHS's parades, there's no need for parade performers right now, and since that was what I was planning on going for, I should wait til the need for them appears. That being said of course, I will go to another look alike audition sometime soonish, and hope that that can coordinate with auditions for the new characters from Frozen, which comes out in November. If nothing goes through in spring, I'll stay a day longer for an audition in Sept, and if that doesn't work, there's Dream Along in Oct, and FOTLK in Feb. BAHA!

-I'm also into a new workout regime, and making sure I'm trying to focus on eating clean....and drinking less....lawl, and getting my tattoo removed! Hopefully all the work I'm doing is going to pay off! Lawl.

-I will also hopefully be starting a PTR by the time some of my TR's are finished up, but I don't want to start before Kim's paid off some of her trip as I seem cursed to start a PTR and then have someone BAIL on me. So...there's that. I also have a dining review going on over in the dining board if you're interested in that, I'm too lazy to link it right now, but you can find it through my profile or it's called "The one where we discover food drunk is a thing"....something like that.

********************




Mom and I arrived back at AKL, and I believe we checked in at the gift shop to pick up any parcels that may have been sent over, and swung by the Mara to pick up some snacks (Zebra Domes, I think yes!) and then headed back up to the room.

I spent some time uploading photos and just chatting on facebook, and talking to Paige (when our texts would go through) and hanging out. Mom napped, read her book a bit, and just hung out.

Yay for more giraffes! About half an hour into our break, it started raining, and then kept raining, and kept raining, and then was even kind of pouring at a point or two, and it was really amusing to me that there were still animals outside just chillin, in the pouring rain, specifically this little guy;

Reminded me of Eeyore while he was out there in the rain all gloomy looking, ahha.

Clearly the animals don’t mind the rain all that much! And honestly, I don’t either, when I’m inside, and on a break, and have delicious snacks!

I had intended to only eat a couple of the domes and save the rest for later/to share with Paige, but I mean, let’s be serious for a minute, that’s not going to happen! Hahah. While our break continued, the rain continued, and seriously just got WORSE!

Those shots kinda put it into perspective for ya! It’s really hard to capture rain in a photo, but it was seriously storming. It was putting me off wanting to leave the room, but I knew we had to as Paige had LANDED and we had to head on over to the new resort to meet her!

Meanwhile….this little guy was still out in the pouring rain!

He just makes me laugh!

And apparently Mother is amused by vending machines….. I guess they’re cool looking, Ha!

Meanwhile, back in Calgary, bright and early at around 6:00 am, Paige headed off to the Calgary airport for her flight. She was also flying United, and I really hoped that nothing as bad as our arriving flight would happen to her!

The flights were uneventful and she landed a little bit ahead of schedule. I believe when she landed we talked for a bit, and that was when Mom and I began our journey over to our next resort!

Clearly, she was excited! I know she also cried on the Magical Express, and again going under the arches, and arriving at the resort, and let’s be serious, I’m pretty sure she cried like 5 times by the time I met up with her…

UUUUUGGGGFFFHHHHH that video never ceases to make me cry (is that the right word? Lawl) I tear up every time, and sometimes I’ll let go and cry, it just depends who I’m with. After hearing Paige’s arrival stories, I knew that it was going to be an AWESOME week with her in Disney, and I wish I could have been there to share the arrival process with her, I mean, half the time it’s the most magical part! Up next, we finally get to meet up!

 

[Pluto0809]

A lot of that was familiar as I just read your other TR update! Two B&TB updates in one day.

I am surprised that you took a break! Mom and I never did but we didn't stay out late any night either.

Wow that rain looked crazy. Probably good you did take a break, it wouldn't have been fun to be in a park during that.

Yea for Paige finally making it there. I can't wait to see all the pictures from your next resort. I think I remember where you were staying but I won't give it away for any one else reading.

Oh and good luck with your ballroom competition. And good luck with whichever Disney audition you end up at!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Haha for a second there I thought I was on the other TR again with the BATB updates. Nice synchronicity there

I just really wish you all the best in your upcoming comp and of course whenever the next audition comes to pass.
It's great that you have that dream and you're following it. We should all do that.

 

[katt789]

A lot of that was familiar as I just read your other TR update! Two B&TB updates in one day.

I am surprised that you took a break! Mom and I never did but we didn't stay out late any night either.

Wow that rain looked crazy. Probably good you did take a break, it wouldn't have been fun to be in a park during that.

Yea for Paige finally making it there. I can't wait to see all the pictures from your next resort. I think I remember where you were staying but I won't give it away for any one else reading.

Oh and good luck with your ballroom competition. And good luck with whichever Disney audition you end up at!

Bahaha i didnt even realize that when I was posting!!
Honestly, Im surprised we took a break, but being at AKL helped, I wanted to actually spend time in the rooms! Haha Im excited to get to the Paige portion of the trip. It was amazing...
Thanks!!

Haha for a second there I thought I was on the other TR again with the BATB updates. Nice synchronicity there

I just really wish you all the best in your upcoming comp and of course whenever the next audition comes to pass.
It's great that you have that dream and you're following it. We should all do that.

Lawl, didnt mean to do that! Hah

Thank you!! I just really really want to be on the other side of the magic!!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Ah I totally forgot you were switching resorts on this trip! That's so exciting. Also, I love all the little things you notice about the dancers in the show cause I totally don't! I also quit dancing school when I was 13 hahaha.

Good luck in the competitions!! I hope you win some money.

Are the FOTLK auditions including the bird dancer?? How exciting !

Those vending machines do look pretty awesome.

 

[ronnmel]

You did a good job at capturing the rain. I actually like it when it rains that hard. I find it fascinating to look at. I'm like those animals, I'll just chill in the rain.

Good luck at the dance competition. Which type of dance do you prefer?

 

[katt789]

Ah I totally forgot you were switching resorts on this trip! That's so exciting. Also, I love all the little things you notice about the dancers in the show cause I totally don't! I also quit dancing school when I was 13 hahaha.

Good luck in the competitions!! I hope you win some money.

Are the FOTLK auditions including the bird dancer?? How exciting !

Those vending machines do look pretty awesome.

Ahahaha yeah, it was awesome to get to check out two resorts on this trip!

Thanks!! Im super excited and terrified at the same time lol. Ive got a lot to work on in 3 weeks!

Yeah!! They'll be for just the bird, I definitely dont't sing, and the rest of the "movers" are auditioned as "parade/show performers" it'll be interesting!!

 

[katt789]

You did a good job at capturing the rain. I actually like it when it rains that hard. I find it fascinating to look at. I'm like those animals, I'll just chill in the rain.

Good luck at the dance competition. Which type of dance do you prefer?

Thanks!! It was really coming down & I wanted to get that haha. Bahaha! I dont mind Florida rain, its still warm, so you dont get cold fast, after living in Vancouver for a few months cold rain and I are just not friends, lawl.

Thanks!! Fingers crossed. And like, between ballroom and other dance, I dunno, I love them all, I think jazz would be my favorite! Within ballroom, I like standard better, Im more comfortable with it, latin requires so much sass I feel like I need a tequila shot before I go on, bahaha!!

 

[katt789]

ANIMATION HALL! SHE’S HEEEEEERRRREEE!!! Mom and I had gotten to AoA before Paige’s bus arrived, so I checked us in, asked for a first visit/birthday button, and Mom and I went and wandered through the resort, but I’m just going to mash all the resort photo’s together, so we’ll pretend we all arrived and were wandering through the lobby at the same time! I’ll also try to put in as much detail about where things are, etc, in case any of you haven’t seen many pictures or been there yet!

Those are all out front of the resort, like where the big year statues are at Pop! Of course, they’re all the main characters from the movies the resort is based off of!

Inside the main hall, the check in desk is all lit up in a rainbow of colors and is SUPER GORGEOUS! Along the other wall are various stages of sketches from a ton of Disney movies over the years!

Mom and I were nearly back to the lobby when Paige texted me saying she was outside the Ink & Paint shop, so I headed that way to meet her, and as soon as I saw her we both did the girly thing and screamed, jumped up and down and got teary…because we’re that cool. Lovely enough, Mom was there to be able to photograph it!

I of course then endowed her with my other pair of Mickey Ears and showed her the birthday and 1st Visit pins!

Paige talked a bit about her arrival, which I’ve already covered and we just chatted, catching up for a bit. I told her I had already wandered the resort a little bit, but hadn’t gone into the room, I was saving that for the both of us to do! Ha! Since she wanted to see the whole resort, we of course took the long route to the room, and that began in the Nemo section!

Much like Pop Century, the main pool is right outside of the back door to the lobby (on one side, the other side goes out to the bus stops) The three of us took a left hand turn to head through a bit of the Nemo section on the way to our room!

The suites are all in there, have indoor hallways and junk, so there’s just the windows on the outside of the buildings!

 

[katt789]

We continued into the Lion King area next, and it was fantastic! The Nemo section is more, back past the pool, if you kept walking straight out of the lobby, the Cars is to the right, with Lion King to the left, and Little Mermaid even further left! At the front of the LK section, is Rafiki, greeting you to come in!

The first part of the area is all “grassland-ey” with longer grasses and plant life and it looks like what I imagine a savannah would look like! (you think after a week at AKL in a savannah view room I’d know what it’s supposed to look like….)

Mufasa’s on the other side of Pride Rock, and right beside this area is where they have the big blow up movie screen for movie nights! When you go further into the Lion King area, it starts to get all “Jungle like” and the plant life changes to accommodate that, it’s seriously amazing!

When Paige & I saw the log we both commented on how we wanted a friend of ours to take a picture of it and Photoshop us onto it so it looked like we were with Simba and his friends! Ha! We’re cool like that!

The Elephant Graveyard had a little play area (although no climbing is allowed!) and it had that cushy rubber pavement in the area, which was super awesome when you’re walking back to the room after a long day at the parks, it’s just nice for your feet to get a change!

Once we were on the way back home I thought of a hilarious picture here, to pretend you’re being nearly pushed over the ledge by Scar, it’d be funny! Naturally I forgot until we were headed out o the resort for the last time…cause I’m smart!

Zazu bids you farewell at the end of the section as we continue into a land under the sea!

 

[katt789]

The entrance to the Little Mermaid section has simply a pathway with tons of Ariel’s trinkets and thingamabobs along the way!

Dingle hoppers! (p.s. has anyone ever actually combed their hair with one of these?! THEY WORK SO WELL! Seriously, they work really well when you’re backcombing hair, specifically bangs to poof up, or if you want to get that stubborn knot out, amazing!)

Off to your left is King Triton, guarding over the courtyard, and this next pic gives you an idea of the little plants they put in all over the place. They actually look like seaweed! It’s TOTALLY AWESOME!

Directly in the pathway of the courtyard is the statue of Prince Eric that Grimsby gives him for his birthday, then Ariel gets when the ship is wrecked!

He’s so dreamy! Bahaha

The Ariel building, and where we were headed, was directly behind that, along with the Flippin Fins pool, boo ya we had our own quiet pool!

Ursula’s hanging out on the ride hand side of the section, but don’t forget that Triton’s there to keep her in her place!

Ariel’s building 10 (I believe) and Triton (for sure) is building 9. I had been hoping for building 9 at the start, and had requested us close to transportation, however, we were at the moment, in Ariel’s building, on the second floor, and the tour of our room, well, it’s to come!

 

[Pluto0809]

Love all the pictures of AOA!! Disney just know how to do things right that's for sure! I will stay there someday.