"GET AWAY, SCURVY!!" – A May 2017 Whirlwind Long Weekend TR

They told us about how the elephants were stripping farms because of how much produce they eat a day, and so the farmers were hunting them, so there was an initiative to put beehives in the farms and it's currently in its pilot phase with really great results. Elephants aren't scared of mice, but research corroborated the stories from the locals that they're scared of bees! The bees keep the elephants away, and the farmers also get to sell the honey and increase their livelihood.

They also told us about a former CM who returned to Africa and wanted to continue to help with conservation, so he started a project where they collect the metal from poachers' snares and use it to make elephant sculptures that they sell, and profits go toward conservation.

This is fascinating to me!!

I had considered this tour for departure day in May, but after reviews decided to pass. I really loved hearing your experience with it!! I think it's cool that you could see the safari vehicles from the paddock area you were touring.

but the last cupcake I'd had there was kind of dry and bland.

that makes me sad! We have a cupcake bakery here that does gluten free options every day and you can barely tell them apart from the "regular" cupcakes. I'm glad your tasters were good!!

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Aww!!

so I think it was a successful afternoon!

Any day with cake is a success!!

I have zero pictures of our meet with RevKev...but I have multiple photos of my trip to the super fancy GF bathrooms! What's the matter with me!?

:rotfl:priorities! When you're at the GF, everything else is secondary to its beauty!!


unreasonably amused by the lady leaning in to take pics through the window.

I love looking around in Basin but I have an aversion to bar soap for hand washing, so even though the soaps there are ADORABLE times a million, I don't know what I'd ever do with them in my house! I could maybe keep one by my bathtub, but I couldn't handle them being by the sinks or in the shower. I am weird, I admit it!!

The scrubby stuff is awesome though!!

This sounds like such a productive day, especially wedding-wise. I had another friend down there around this time who had lots of days interrupted by rain, I'm sorry you guys got rained on so often too!
 
We left the #luxurysedan and took a monorail to the GF, reasoning that since we had plans to go to Epcot that night we'd just travel by monorail the rest of the day and pick up the #luxurysedan from the TTC at the end of the night.
Choosing public transportation over your #luxurysedan??? You're not nearly as snobby as your wheels would imply! :rotfl2:

It's astounding how much I now feel I need the waffle cone scented soap in my life. ::yes::
And I'm astounded that I just read that sentence. :lmao:

I'm glad you got to check the place out. I've heard about it, never been inside the place, and I had no idea they had such an array of soap scents.

two kisses (I already forget where the second kiss is supposed to go. Does that mean we'll fail the ceremony?)
Well you have to return his kiss at the end of the ceremony, otherwise it is just awkward. So that makes 2, kind of, right?

He told us a little about himself, too. And we were happy to hear that he went to seminary school, was ordained, and had served in several churches, since there are aspects of our faith that are very important to us. We liked him a lot, and we thought N's parents would like him too, which was a nice bonus that made me relax a little. When we described N's parents to him, he joked about how we'd better not tell them about his earrings and his neck tattoos! (He has none.) N's parents are fairly traditional and "religious," but they also like to tease and joke around, especially his dad, so Kevin was the perfect balance! We found he had a really nice calming way about him, a good/cheesey sense of humor, and a nice speaking voice
I'm glad that you guys seemed to have hit it off with him so well. That's got to be a good feeling!

It turns out they had ended up leaving Epcot early to go back to MK because they had had a FP for 7DMT and Steve didn't want to miss out so they went back to use it. We were sad to miss them, but totally understood.
Yeah, you might be pretty cool, Meghan, but you're not 7DMT FP cool!

I asked N and he seemed confused. We did have plans to go to Epcot, after all. But Ariane and Steve were just minutes away in the MK, and we had no idea how long we'd be stuck on the monorail...N got on board with the idea pretty quickly (he's MUCH more open to spontaneity than I usually am,) and we switched monorails. I messaged Ariane back that we'd had a change of plans and were on our way, and in minutes we were entering the Magic Kingdom for the first time of the trip... :jumping3:
...and the monorail doors promptly closed and it took off.

Good call. You're on a short trip. No sense wasting time waiting on a monorail when you could actually be doing something fun.
 
Typically I am more of a lurker than one to comment but seeing as this is the second trip report of yours I am reading I wanted to say Hello as a fellow Canadian following along. :):)

I also wanted to say congratulations on the engagement! It was such a great proposal and not too over the top which is super important. Bonus points for N, also extra bonus points because his art is great :love:

I can't wait to read all about your Disney wedding!!

:thanks:
 
"I Really Liked Meeting Those Strangers"
Disney Day 1 - Part 5


When we last left off, we were on our way in to the Magic Kingdom to meet Ariane and Steve. I had been messaging @ariane37 and she said that they were in line for Pirates when it broke down, (#DisneyIsBroken) so now they were heading out and we planned to meet them in the area by the washrooms there.

It was great to have a chance to meet and chat with them both. I don't think N or I really knew what to expect with our first Dismeet, but they were so lovely and friendly and made it seem perfectly easy and normal for two couples to meet for the first time and hang out with each other on vacation. We both talked a bit about how our trips had been going so far, and the conversation included the pros and cons of going bagless in the parks. (Something we don't typically do unless at Universal because of my habit of traveling with my entire life in my bag everywhere I go.)

They were killing time until the FP they had later, so Ariane suggested we go on a ride together. We checked wait times and ended up choosing Laugh Floor so we could all sit together. The show was really cute, and there were a few new jokes added fairly recently. There was a couple on their honeymoon that got singled out in the show, and the monster told the husband that he was about to attempt to do something that the husband would be trying to do the rest of his life: "Read Danielle's mind." I really enjoyed it.

After the show we were close by, so they suggested we ride the people mover. While we were on it something cool happened that I'd only seen once before and Ariane and Steve got to see in person for the first time:

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The lights were on in Space Mountain! It really puts into perspective how crazy the track is, and how close together everything is in there. *shudder*

Being good Disers like we were, we all took pictures of it at the same time. And looking back now, apparently being the creepy new friend I am, I even snapped a quick picture of everyone taking pictures.

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Sorry about that, guys. But it was a funny moment worth preserving. :P

Once we got off, the rain clouds were looking ominous again. N was debating getting a turkey leg, but we decided to save it for our full MK day the next day (spoiler alert: the turkey leg never happened) and to save room for Epcot food. Our Dismeet had come to an end, but not before we snapped a few quick pictures. You'll notice that I look kinda silly in this picture, but that's ok. Ariane described my look in the pictures we took as something like a perky teenager, which is actually totally accurate to how I feel most of the time in real life.

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Our attempt at a selfie:

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I actually love and cherish this picture.

N and I decided we'd take the monorail to the TTC, pick up our car there, and then drive to Epcot so we could just drive away at the end of the evening. As we were sitting down on the monorail I got a message from Ariane that they were about to have the rainy day parade if we were near Main St. I was sad to have just missed it since we'd never seen it, but we were on our way to park #3 of the day!

N and I both agreed that it was a fun experience having our first Dismeet. He'd gone along with it for my benefit, but we both really enjoyed meeting Ariane and Steve. (So thank you both for entertaining us for the afternoon and being the wonderful folks that you are! Hopefully our trips will cross paths again someday soon. :hug:) It was around this point, silly and sleep-deprived, that I told Nathan that "I really liked meeting those strangers!"

We picked up our car and were on our way. At this point in the day it was getting hard to believe that it was still the same day that we'd started in Animal Kingdom...(I know, how am I still reporting about day 1!!? That's how we felt living it!)...but we weren't done yet!
 
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"Hey, We're Bagless!"
AKA: "I Love How You Can Smell It." "Yeah, the Burning...."
AKA: "We're Winging it Today! We're Spontaneous!"
Disney Day 1 - Part 6


Being tired makes everything suddenly funnier. (Until it makes everything crankier! Fortunately I wouldn't reach that point until the next evening...) So suddenly a lot of what was said that night was making me giggle.

We parked at Epcot and I think we were close enough that we just ended up walking to the gate. Upon arrival, I scarfed down the last of the Erin McKenna's cake-tasting-little-cake-things that I'd stowed away for later. N—who I think had been impacted by our earlier conversation with Ariane and Steve about the pros and cons of going bagless—was asking what we absolutely needed to take with us and what we could do without. In an effort to please him and prove that I didn't need to cart around a backpack for such a short park visit, I took my phone, credit card, magic band, and left everything else locked in the #luxurysedan.

As we were about to go through security, I had a moment where I was like, wait a minute..."Hey, we're bagless!" We had never been bagless before! We blew through security.

Our first order of business was to take a ride on Spaceship Earth (which I believe I'd secured a day-of FP for.) As we were riding through the fall-of-Rome fire scene I was thoroughly appreciating the little touches Disney adds with things like scent in rides, and I leaned over to N and said "I love how you can smell it!" He responded in the most unintentionally creepy voice ever, "yeah...the burning..." Not exactly how I meant it! ...also, N loves the smell of a burning empire. I'm a little concerned.

I tried, and failed (as always!) to take SE photos. This one ended up captioned: "#ThankThePhonenicians"

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We got to the "building our future" bit, and when it asked us "What kind of person are you?" I thought over our spur of the moment decisions today and selected "I like to wing it," crying, "We're Winging it Today! We're Spontaneous!" It's not often I get to say things like that.

It was at this point, as I tried to take pictures/video of our futures, that my phone died. And suddenly this TR has fewer photos. This is the last photo of the day from my phone:

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I was so angry at myself for not noticing how low the battery had gotten because I love taking photos to document trips. I kept trying to problem-solve a solution, only to remember..."It's in the bag." I could take photos with my actual camera...which is in the bag. I could just give it some juice from my external battery charger that is...in the bag. And suddenly, my new mantra was born: "Bagless Sucks."

At this point I decided we could go get a DAS for Frozen Ever After (there was no way I'd be able to stand in that long line at this point in the night without neuro symtoms, but the DAS would work perfectly)...we checked the app, and the ride was down. #DisneyIsBroken. N offered a compromise, that we go get DAS for Test Track instead. I wasn't sure if I'd be up for such a fast-moving ride, but I thought I might try. On our way over there, we noticed that Mission Space had a short line (only 10-15 minutes I think?). N had been wanting to try the orange side again sometime when he didn't have a tummy full of steak (some may remember this from my last TR), so I told him we could split up. He could go ride MS, and I'd complete a couple of missions of my own. We would meet back at a particular time "at the entrance to world showcase," which I indicated by pointing my finger in that direction as I said it. N quickly agreed and promptly turned and ran away. As he was turning, I had a brief moment where I was positive that he didn't understand where I was going to meet him, and I almost ran after him to confirm...but then I shook it off and headed off in the direction of Guest Relations.
 
I'm so glad you had such a nice DISmeet and a fun afternoon with your new friends! So cool seeing Space Mountain with the lights on!

I could never ever go bagless to Disney! Kudos to you for trying!

Uh oh...I don't like the way you ended that update! Dead phone...possibly confusing instructions...dun dun dun!!
 
The lights were on in Space Mountain! It really puts into perspective how crazy the track is, and how close together everything is in there. *shudder*

I had to scroll by that quickly or I'd never ride Space Mt again :rotfl:

Being good Disers like we were, we all took pictures of it at the same time. And looking back now, apparently being the creepy new friend I am, I even snapped a quick picture of everyone taking pictures.

:rotfl: I'm glad you got to meet @ariane37 and creepily take pictures of her.

It was around this point, silly and sleep-deprived, that I told Nathan that "I really liked meeting those strangers!"

:rotfl:

It was at this point, as I tried to take pictures/video of our futures, that my phone died. And suddenly this TR has fewer photos. This is the last photo of the day from my phone:

You look so excited!

He could go ride MS, and I'd complete a couple of missions of my own. We would meet back at a particular time "at the entrance to world showcase," which I indicated by pointing my finger in that direction as I said it. N quickly agreed and promptly turned and ran away. As he was turning, I had a brief moment where I was positive that he didn't understand where I was going to meet him, and I almost ran after him to confirm...but then I shook it off and headed off in the direction of Guest Relations.

Uh oh. Something like this happened to Josh and I. He doesn't have a cell phone (personal preference, but I think it's strange haha), and it makes splitting up really hard because I can't contact him. I went to TT he went to MS, and the single rider line was longer than I thought. He ended up not being where we were going to meet and I had to circle the area a bunch until we found each other after.

He also used to have a cell phone, but he was on a plan with his brother who stopped paying for his share, and they canceled it. I guess he ended up liking not having one, but uses Google voice now at home and his Kindle at work for reading and games. I have been telling him he needs a tracfone or something for emergencies, or something like that though.
 


I'm so glad you had such a nice DISmeet and a fun afternoon with your new friends! So cool seeing Space Mountain with the lights on!

I could never ever go bagless to Disney! Kudos to you for trying!

Uh oh...I don't like the way you ended that update! Dead phone...possibly confusing instructions...dun dun dun!!

Yeah, a truly sucessful first Dismeet I think! Bagless apparently does NOT work for me. It gets worse. The next updates are expected to be called "Bagless Sucks Part 2" and "Bagless Sucks Part 3" aahahaa

The suspense!! ...our splitting up may not have exactly worked the way it was supposed to...

:rotfl: I'm glad you got to meet @ariane37 and creepily take pictures of her.

:angel:

Uh oh. Something like this happened to Josh and I. He doesn't have a cell phone (personal preference, but I think it's strange haha), and it makes splitting up really hard because I can't contact him. I went to TT he went to MS, and the single rider line was longer than I thought. He ended up not being where we were going to meet and I had to circle the area a bunch until we found each other after.

He also used to have a cell phone, but he was on a plan with his brother who stopped paying for his share, and they canceled it. I guess he ended up liking not having one, but uses Google voice now at home and his Kindle at work for reading and games. I have been telling him he needs a tracfone or something for emergencies, or something like that though.

Yeah, it's so easy to do! That's interesting that Josh doesn't have a cell phone. It's rare in this day and age for sure. But good for him. It's not a bad thing to be unplugged sometimes. But I can see how it would make coordinating things like that on trips much more complicated. I got a taste of what that's like when my phone died that night.
 
We checked wait times and ended up choosing Laugh Floor so we could all sit together. The show was really cute, and there were a few new jokes added fairly recently.
I've never done Laugh Floor. It just never appealed to me. But I've read good things about it. I should just do it sometime.

The lights were on in Space Mountain! It really puts into perspective how crazy the track is, and how close together everything is in there. *shudder*
Yeah it looks a bit crazy. I've never seen it in person but the next time I'm there and hear that Space Mountain is down, it's off to the Peoplemover!

Being good Disers like we were, we all took pictures of it at the same time.
:rotfl2: That would be me too.

.."Hey, we're bagless!" We had never been bagless before! We blew through security.
I don't think I've ever gone bagless at Disney, but it might be a nice change. It's almost essential at Universal.

As he was turning, I had a brief moment where I was positive that he didn't understand where I was going to meet him, and I almost ran after him to confirm...but then I shook it off and headed off in the direction of Guest Relations.
Oh come on, men are awesome with directions and remembering things, I'm sure you had no reason to worry. :rolleyes1
 
"Bagless Sucks" Part 2
Disney Day 1 - Part 7


Real talk here: Photobucket is dumb. I noticed some of my Dis friends having issues with their photos disappearing because they'd taken up too much bandwidth (were too large, viewed too many times, etc.) and so I decided I'd switch and stop using Photobucket. Well, now it's also happened to me! I've already started using Imgur for my new images, but at some point hopefully I'll have time to go back and switch over all the pictures in my previous updates so I won't have to worry about you not being able to see them.

Now...where was I...

While N was saving planets or whatever they make you do on Mission Space, I went to Guest Relations for my first button-collecting mission! We wanted to get enough "I'm Celebrating" buttons to put them in our wedding welcome bags for our guests. I picked up a few and shoved them in my too-small pockets...since I had no bag.

Next I went to Mouse Gear (since the festival center was closed by that point) to check out Flower and Garden merch. Backing up for a second here: when we decided we'd be going to WDW this weekend during F&G, I started looking at merchandise online and got so excited because I wanted to buy two of pretty much everything! I loved it all so much! But I talked myself way down since it was a "budget" trip, and I was only going to look for some of the F&G pins. However...

...there was a loophole. I had already set aside money for our August honeymoon for me to purchase my first Dooney and Bourke bag. I had been wanting one for a long time, and I wanted to purchase it before the 20% discount for annual passholders ended this Fall. When I saw the limited edition Dooneys for F&G I got more excited about them than I had been about any of the other styles I'd seen, so I wanted to go check them out. If I loved them as much in person, I would buy my bag on this trip instead of waiting till August. I found them in Mouse Gear and was really into them, but I wanted N's opinion before I pulled the trigger.

It was almost time to meet N, so I went to the entrance to WS (where the Christmas tree is during the holidays) and waited. And waited. And waited and waited and waited. My fears were coming true: there was no way he was actually this late and he just didn't know where to meet me.

I started troubleshooting the situation. I could call him...if my phone weren't dead. Soo I could see if there was some kind of payphone somewhere...that I had no money to use because all I had was my credit card, not my wallet. Bagless sucked.

For a long time I took the "hug a tree" approach and stayed in one spot, smack dab in the middle of the path to the entrance to WS, scanning the faces of every person who walked by. Eventually I risked it and started walking back to MS, where I glanced to my left and happened to see N, who had just made the decision to leave his post and try to find me. When I told him where to meet me, he had seen me point, didn't bother listening to any of the words I had said, and assumed I had said something like "over there," which happened to be a seating area close to MS. We just caught each other this time. And we made a promise to never split up again without making the other person repeat the exact words of the meeting location back to them out-loud and be sure we both understood.

I'd been thinking we'd tour WS that evening, but this mix-up had eaten up some of our time, and there was also something new in the plans for this evening that I hadn't anciticpated... somewhere between checking in for our SE FP and my phone dying, I'd been able to make us a last-minute FP for Soarin (more on this later) and didn't want us to miss it.

But there was one place at the edge of WS I just had to go first...

Northern Bloom! We really wanted to get at least one food booth in, and I'd been researching where I could eat gluten free and came across the scallop dish at Northern Bloom! I was psyched about it! After some frustrating allergy-related questions (they had a terrible system for handling dietary restrictions since they're not run by Disney which included the guy calling a chef on his cell phone to ask questions that he wouldn't let me know the answers to or clarify things until after he hung up the phone!) I got my safe-to-eat scallops...which were tasty and cooked really nicely...even though they left off my potatoes for no reason in the confusion of the allergy thing... N got the Beef tenderloin tips and the non-alcoholic maple popcorn shake. He liked both, though I don't think the shake had a particularly strong maple taste. I made him take a picture on his phone (classily on top of a garbage can!) for all of you:

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Satisfied with our snack, we made our way toward the Land...
 
Real talk here: Photobucket is dumb. I noticed some of my Dis friends having issues with their photos disappearing because they'd taken up too much bandwidth (were too large, viewed too many times, etc.) and so I decided I'd switch and stop using Photobucket. Well, now it's also happened to me! I've already started using Imgur for my new images, but at some point hopefully I'll have time to go back and switch over all the pictures in my previous updates so I won't have to worry about you not being able to see them.

So dumb! I hate Photobucket.

I picked up a few and shoved them in my too-small pockets...since I had no bag.

:rolleyes1

For a long time I took the "hug a tree" approach and stayed in one spot, smack dab in the middle of the path to the entrance to WS, scanning the faces of every person who walked by. Eventually I risked it and started walking back to MS, where I glanced to my left and happened to see N, who had just made the decision to leave his post and try to find me

I have to do this. Josh eventually finds me, but I'm terrible at picking people out in crowds so I'd never see him :rotfl:
 
After the show we were close by, so they suggested we ride the people mover. While we were on it something cool happened that I'd only seen once before and Ariane and Steve got to see in person for the first time:
Awesome!! I've never seen Space Mountain with the lights on. Definitely on my Disney bucket list.

Sorry about that, guys. But it was a funny moment worth preserving. :P
::yes::

Ariane described my look in the pictures we took as something like a perky teenager, which is actually totally accurate to how I feel most of the time in real life.
Well, I guess there are worse things you could look/feel like. Nothing wrong with some youthful exuberance.

"I love how you can smell it!" He responded in the most unintentionally creepy voice ever, "yeah...the burning..." Not exactly how I meant it! ...also, N loves the smell of a burning empire. I'm a little concerned.
So he's a pyro? :rotfl:

I could take photos with my actual camera...which is in the bag. I could just give it some juice from my external battery charger that is...in the bag. And suddenly, my new mantra was born: "Bagless Sucks."
Don't blame the bag, blame the lack of planning!!!!!

I'll be bagless once again as soon as the kids are old enough that I don't need to be a pack mule. If I can't carry it in a pocket, I don't need it.

I know that they're not "cool" anymore, but I always wear cargo shorts in the parks. Plenty of pockets for phone, wallet, external battery, poncho, whatever else I'll need and I don't have to carry a bag!

We would meet back at a particular time "at the entrance to world showcase," which I indicated by pointing my finger in that direction as I said it.
I took this the wrong way entirely... my first thought was "which entrance?" There's the back way in by the odyssey, there's the spot that you apparently meant and then there's the back way in near Canada that comes from over by the Land.

I picked up a few and shoved them in my too-small pockets...since I had no bag
You know, it's a good thing that this was a "so tired it's humorous" night rather than a "tired and cranky" night.

We just caught each other this time. And we made a promise to never split up again without making the other person repeat the exact words of the meeting location back to them out-loud and be sure we both understood.
:rotfl2::rotfl::lmao:
 
Wow what a day! I'm tired just reading about it lol. But sounded like a lot of fun. You got so much done, AND a Dismeet to boot!!

Basin White!

This is my absolute fave - though I do also like the Basin store in DS...which I think is a bit different than Basin White in what they sell though it's sort of the same..but different!

The scallops looked really good. Weird about the potatoes.
 
So I totally missed that you had started this TR! I had lots of catching up to do!
And some of the updates I won't quote b/c I feel like they make more sense w/ the pictures and stupid Photobucket isn't showing your pictures!
Maybe someday you'll be able to fix them...I'd be to lazy to go back and fix it :rotfl:

It was great to have a chance to meet and chat with them both. I don't think N or I really knew what to expect with our first Dismeet, but they were so lovely and friendly and made it seem perfectly easy and normal for two couples to meet for the first time and hang out with each other on vacation.

That's so awesome! I have met so many people on DIS over the years and have become Instagram/FB friends but so far none of my trips have aligned with any other DIS-ers. Maybe some day! So glad your meet was so enjoyable!

After the show we were close by, so they suggested we ride the people mover. While we were on it something cool happened that I'd only seen once before and Ariane and Steve got to see in person for the first time:

KlGIClQ.jpg

This totally freaked me out the first time I ever saw it with the lights on. It looks much scarier :scared1:

Being good Disers like we were, we all took pictures of it at the same time. And looking back now, apparently being the creepy new friend I am, I even snapped a quick picture of everyone taking pictures.

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I love this :rotfl2:


Awww, what a great picture of both of you!!!

He responded in the most unintentionally creepy voice ever, "yeah...the burning..." Not exactly how I meant it! ...also, N loves the smell of a burning empire. I'm a little concerned.

Ummmmm
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:rotfl2::rotfl2:

It was at this point, as I tried to take pictures/video of our futures, that my phone died. And suddenly this TR has fewer photos. This is the last photo of the day from my phone:

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At least you look VERY ENTHUSIASTIC in your last photo of the day :rotfl:

At this point I decided we could go get a DAS for Frozen Ever After (there was no way I'd be able to stand in that long line at this point in the night without neuro symtoms, but the DAS would work perfectly)...we checked the app, and the ride was down. #DisneyIsBroken.

Man, your #disneyisbroken hashtag ain't no lie!

For a long time I took the "hug a tree" approach and stayed in one spot, smack dab in the middle of the path to the entrance to WS, scanning the faces of every person who walked by. Eventually I risked it and started walking back to MS, where I glanced to my left and happened to see N, who had just made the decision to leave his post and try to find me. When I told him where to meet me, he had seen me point, didn't bother listening to any of the words I had said, and assumed I had said something like "over there," which happened to be a seating area close to MS. We just caught each other this time. And we made a promise to never split up again without making the other person repeat the exact words of the meeting location back to them out-loud and be sure we both understood.

Ughhh this happened to John and I once - not at WDW but at our local Six Flags. And my phone had died so I couldn't call him. He was NOT waiting where I told him to wait for the record. I was so frustrated!
 
The lights were on in Space Mountain! It really puts into perspective how crazy the track is, and how close together everything is in there. *shudder*

YIKES!! I am so torn between wanting to see this in person and never ever being able to ride Space Mountain again once I've seen it!

(spoiler alert: the turkey leg never happened)

Has he had one before?? I don't like turkey, but my husband LOVES it--like in their family you have turkey for everything: Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, someone's birthday. UGH. Rob was SO excited for his first turkey leg at DHS and it was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. He kept asking if it was supposed to be pink. That was his first and last turkey leg!

I told Nathan that "I really liked meeting those strangers!"

My first DisMeet was such a whirlwind, quickie fly by in the middle of World Showcase!! We forgot to take a picture and then later regretted it so much!! I wish I had spent more time with my new friends! This December/January, we're setting it right!! :) I think you guys did it right spending some actual time together!!
 
"Bagless Sucks" Part 3
Disney Day 1 - Part 8


As we were making our way toward the Land, I was beginning to notice my scallops not sitting right. I have a finicky tummy, so this isn't ever a shock. But it made me nervous for what we were about to do next...

So a little backstory here: I have always had motion sickness all my life, made worse the last few years due to the increase in brain condition symptoms and my neurosurgery. Due to this, I'd NEVER ridden Soarin'. Like, ever. I knew it was a slow gentle ride, but I do terribly on motion simulators. Sometimes I even feel sick watching certain scenes in movies. But then a couple of years ago (pre-neurosurgery) I rode Forbidden Journey at Universal, and I was soo wrapped up in the chance to live out my Harry Potter dreams that I didn't have enough brain space to let myself feel very sick. I figured if I could do that, surely I could do Soarin'. I'd just convince myself I was really enthused about it, and then I'd close my eyes if I had to.

But now that my tummy was feeling off, I was having second thoughts...I was getting nervous, which of course made me feel even worse due to anxiety. We got in line, and N suggested he snap my picture for the momentous occasion.

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I went to reach for one of the little queasy lozenges I always carry with me (same ones pregnant people sometimes use) and realized that they were, of course...in the bag. Bagless sucked. By this point I was getting pretty testy with N about his decision to go bagless, and he promised that he'd only encouraged it because he thought we would find it less stressful and that since that was definitely not proving to be the case he wouldn't suggest it again. I'm not bagless people.

When we rode we were given the middle section without even asking for it, so I was thrilled. I didn't want my first ride ever to be marred by a drunk Eiffel Tower! As we "ascended," I immediately felt nauseous and closed my eyes, figuring that's how I would spend the entire ride. But once we got "up," I allowed myself to peek for a second...and I was so excited! It didn't make me sick! I started to feel less nervous, and I managed to do the entire ride with only a couple of short queasy moments. (The end of the China scene gets me, but most of the rest was fine!)

The verdict? I LOVED Soarin'! I wish I'd been able to see it when it was Soarin' Over California, because I know many people liked that version a lot better. And I don't think it's the best ride ever made or anything, or that it necessarily deserves the crazy hype it sometimes gets. But I just found it such a fun, pleasant ride, amplified by the fact that I never thought I'd ride it, and I just had!

My stomach was still off at this point, but I realized that other than our stop at Northern Bloom we'd never really eaten supper, which probably wasn't helping. We ducked into Sunshine Seasons to get some real actual food. I got the chicken and started to feel a bit better, and N got the pork tenderloin. As far as quick service goes, we were both perfectly happy with our meals.

On our way out I showed N the Dooney bags and he agreed with my choice and encouraged me to get it. I couldn't take a picture since my phone was dead, but here's one I've taken since getting home. I love it soo much. I usually get buyer's remorse about expensive purchases. Not this one.

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I also stopped in to try to get a F&G pin. They didn't have any of the passholder ones left which was what I'd truly wanted, but they did have this regular-people limited release one that I also really liked:

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Originally we were going to stay for Illuminations, but we were wiped out! It seemed impossible to think that we had only arrived less than 24 hours ago. Just think about how tired you are now, having read the last 8 boring updates all about one single park day, and then imagine how tired you'd be if you'd actually been doing it all on less than 5 hours of sleep! I love to sleep, so we decided to beat the Illuminations rush, reasoning that we'd see it in August, and head back early.

On the way out we paused briefly for photopass:

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Once we got to the timeshare we did our laundry before bed. This had been the plan: wear one travel outfit and pack one park outfit. After park day #1, wash both outfits and wear in reverse for following two days. It's part of how we could pack so lightly, and it worked out well.

My Fitbit stats for the day were pretty impressive compared to my typical days working in an office:

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Then it was lights out! Our MK day was right around the corner, and I was so excited!
 
Awesome!! I've never seen Space Mountain with the lights on. Definitely on my Disney bucket list.

So cool! Next time it breaks down while you're there you'll have to take a run over to the people mover.

So he's a pyro? :rotfl:

Hmmm. I always wondered why he enjoyed campfires so much...

I know that they're not "cool" anymore, but I always wear cargo shorts in the parks. Plenty of pockets for phone, wallet, external battery, poncho, whatever else I'll need and I don't have to carry a bag!

I really ought to get me a ladies' version of these magical shorts. I don't understand why women's clothes tend to have nonexistent pockets.

I took this the wrong way entirely... my first thought was "which entrance?" There's the back way in by the odyssey, there's the spot that you apparently meant and then there's the back way in near Canada that comes from over by the Land.

Yeah, it really was just a combination of bad! I didn't give him clear direction. It could have been interpreted many different ways. And then he also didn't end up hearing a word I said, so it didn't matter. :P Better planning next time for sure...

You know, it's a good thing that this was a "so tired it's humorous" night rather than a "tired and cranky" night.

:laughing:

How lucky that you guys were able to find each other! Crisis averted!

Very lucky! I figured I'd be meeting him at the car at the end of the night!

This is my absolute fave - though I do also like the Basin store in DS...which I think is a bit different than Basin White in what they sell though it's sort of the same..but different!

Ooh now I need to go shopping at both!
 
So I totally missed that you had started this TR! I had lots of catching up to do!
And some of the updates I won't quote b/c I feel like they make more sense w/ the pictures and stupid Photobucket isn't showing your pictures!
Maybe someday you'll be able to fix them...I'd be to lazy to go back and fix it :rotfl:

Welcome! Thanks for making the jump over here!

And yeah, the goal is to go back and fix them eventually. Now that I'm leaving my job earlier this summer, maybe I'll have more time for silly things like that soon...

That's so awesome! I have met so many people on DIS over the years and have become Instagram/FB friends but so far none of my trips have aligned with any other DIS-ers. Maybe some day! So glad your meet was so enjoyable!

I hope sometime it works out for you! It was so nice to meet face to face and spend some time with someone I felt like I already kind of "knew." Great experience!

Awww, what a great picture of both of you!!!

Thank you!!

At least you look VERY ENTHUSIASTIC in your last photo of the day :rotfl:

Yeah, I'm really bad at the silly face thing on SE. But it's funny to look back on. :)

Has he had one before?? I don't like turkey, but my husband LOVES it--like in their family you have turkey for everything: Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, someone's birthday. UGH. Rob was SO excited for his first turkey leg at DHS and it was the most disgusting thing I've ever seen. He kept asking if it was supposed to be pink. That was his first and last turkey leg!

He's never had one, no. I've been told they taste more like ham than turkey...which kind of weirds me out...a lot. But I guess Nathan also likes ham, so maybe there's hope for him. I certainly don't think it would be my cup of tea...

My first DisMeet was such a whirlwind, quickie fly by in the middle of World Showcase!! We forgot to take a picture and then later regretted it so much!! I wish I had spent more time with my new friends! This December/January, we're setting it right!! :) I think you guys did it right spending some actual time together!!

So nice you get a chance for a do-over! Dismeets are great! (Also, if you're going in December/January, maybe I'll also see you there! We don't have our dates quite sorted yet, but we're going for the 5k.) Having the chance to have some time to get to know each other face to face and spend some time together was a real treat
 
I rode Forbidden Journey at Universal, and I was soo wrapped up in the chance to live out my Harry Potter dreams that I didn't have enough brain space to let myself feel very sick.

That's good to hear! I've never ridden it just in case, but recently watched a video and realized it's less screens than I thought so I'm thinking of trying it this time. I try to avoid rides because I get motion sickness, but I technically haven't really felt bad on anything I've tried so far except Transformers at USO. I can't do G force rides though because they give me a headache. I felt fine on FOP though.

But now that my tummy was feeling off, I was having second thoughts...I was getting nervous, which of course made me feel even worse due to anxiety.

Ugh I make myself so nervous before rides too. Even if I've been on them before sometimes. I do sometimes have to briefly close my eyes for certain motions too. I've also never tried Soarin, and I'm a little nervous, but I think I will next time. Josh has always said I'd be fine on it, but the last few times it's been more a case of the lines being too long and preferring TT for a FP.

I'm not bagless people.

I'm not either!
 

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