Mixing Business and Magic - A Solo Adventure * UPDATED 11/3*

[missangelalexis]

Love your Mad Tea Party pictures And hooray for getting on JC without any distractions

 

[scrpbookr]

I have some fun news! I've been watching for a Human Resources conference that catches my interest, works with my schedule and offers the continuing education credits that I need. Last weekend I found one and was crazy excited that it is being held at the Swan and Dolphin! It is just under a month away and the timing of the conference is allowing me to take a long weekend at Disney World before the conference and a long weekend after to go on a three night cruise. I was starting to have my fill of winter weather and having this trip to look forward to and plan has put the spring right back in my step! Some of the plans include:

• Staying in a Royal Guest Room at Port Orleans Riverside for the time before the conference
• 3 park days before the conference- DHS, Epcot and Magic Kingdom. I have a couple of new restaurants reserved in the parks to try... Biergarten, Mama Melrose and Be Our Guest will be a repeat for me but I love it! Flower and Garden will be going on. LOVE That! And I think I might be able to hit Characterpalooza for the first time!
• Easter activities! (which seem to be hard to track down for 2015) I have my fingers crossed that the egg display at Grand Floridian will be happening again and the Egg Hunt in Epcot. I'm also hoping for some spring / Easter costumes in the parks....like spring colors for the Trolley show and if I'm lucky meeting Mr and Mrs Easter Bunny in Magic Kingdom. If anyone knows can you share any Easter details you may have for this year?
• I'm adding some fun to the conference days by scheduling breakfast and dinner reservations. Several will be first times for me... Whispering Canyon, Raglan Road.
• I have two dinner shows scheduled..... Hoop de Doo and the Luau. Both are firsts for me.
• For the conference I'm staying at the Buena Vista Palace with a fireworks view. I don't know exactly what to expect but I'm excited anyway. If anyone has any feedback to offer on this hotel, its location, etc I'd love to hear from you.
• The cruise is with NCL and will give me a few days to soak in some sea and get a bit of pool and beach time. I so need this! Winter is getting to me.

Anyway..... so excited about this bonus trip!

That said I really need to get working on the two trip reports I have in progress! But, I seem to be spending my Disney internet time planning for the March and June trips. I hope to be back a bit later this morning with the next trip update.

 

[scrpbookr]

In my usual scrpbookr style I photographed the next attraction in excess. I just can't get enough Disney detail!

So, where was I headed next? Splash Mountain! This was my first time on the Magic Kingdom version and it has been many years since I rode Disneyland CA's version. It had been awhile becaus Reagan has not been quite ready to tackle this one yet though I suspect he will be this summer when we visit.

On to Splash Mountain picture overload!

Hi Brer!

Brer's store..

The line was pretty manageable...

I thought the birdhouses along the way were great details!

Artwork along the way....

A good 'ol country crossstitch!

Last Chance!

Water warning...

Every log should have a good hood ornament and this one is adorable!

Here we go!

Down around the front of the mountain...

Need and Critter Elixir?

Some critter's garden, tree house and wash line...

Muskrat Moonshine......

Brer Bear's front porch....

I'm guessing this is Brer Bull Frog and Miss Goose..... althought the goose might not look like a miss or maybe even a goose. Not sure...

"How Do you Do?"

Brer Bear and Brer Fox!

Brer Rabbit's tree house...

Love the turtle shell drum....

Cuteness overload!

One last peek and Brer Bear and Brer Fox before I need to continue in the next post! (I warned you I got carried away with pictures!) What are these two up to anyway!?

 

[scrpbookr]

Continuing on with Splash Mountain.... Along came Brer Rabbit.....

Brer Yalligater and Brer Bullfrog...

Brer Roadrunner's house.... these pictures are amusing me more than I should admit.... Oh Disney!

The home of another Brer Critter.... I can't make out the writing on the mail box.....

Porky Pine's home...

And Brer Beaver....

The suspense is building....

And time for the big drop...

Outsmarted by a rabbit again!

The riverboat scene is my favorite part of the ride!

Brer Buzzard...

And he lived happily ever after.... Maybe that is only applicable when you're a Brer Princess....

Now this song is going to be stuck in our heads....

Next on the "to do" list was a sweet treat in Adventureland....

This is a hint about where I'm headed....

Sunshine Tree Terrace!

Hello, Orange Bird

Yum!

Because I was in Disney I was having dessert before dinner! My cone and I happily made our way along to my dinner pick. Unfortunately, I could not get a reservation here but having lunch there earlier pretty much made up for that. I did eat dinner in the neighborhood though.....

More on that coming up....

 

[scrpbookr]

My Dinner pick was Gaston's...

Love this manly room!

A simple but fulfilling turkey leg was my pick... Very yummy!

Tummy satisfied I was on my way again. A pretty Fantasyland at dusk...

I had a very important Fast Pass to use!

This was my first time to ride SDMT. The cottage...

Most of my pictures did not turn out.... here is the best of the bad...

As I exited I snapped a pic of the ride vehicle...

Still in a Snow White mood I spotted this in a nearby store...

I must have been in the Princess Fairytale Hall dump shop. I was admiring the ears. These are a favorite but I prefer the headband rendition of ears. I have an idea and some supplies gathered to make my own mermaid ears for the March trip.

These Belle ears are special, too!

Princess Minnie!

One last peek at the carousel and castle before heading to the hotel...

I was in Orlando this trip for a work conference and booked a conference hotel. It was the Wyndham that is next door to Downtown Disney on the Marketplace side. It is about a block to walk from the hotel to the Disney Bus location on that side of DTD. I did have a rental car but if I didn't the Disney transtportation would have been pretty convenient. This is what the inside of the room looked like...

Vanity area...

My accessories and steps at the end of the day...

And some pin trades.... The top three are from a ride set that was popular this visit. I liked it and worked to collect it over the trip.

Here is a hotel pool view the next morning...

....and lobby

and I'll stop here for now.....

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

It's become increasingly clear to me Brenda that I need your job!!! Congratulations on your upcoming "conference".

Wonderful Splash photos. One of my all time favourites. I particularly enjoy the ride photo. A lot of chaos in those first three rows offset by you looking pretty darn calm.

 

[missangelalexis]

Congrats on the upcoming trip! That sounds like a lot of fun! I hear ya on wanting to get away from this winter!!

Great Splash pics, they came out amazing! And I love your nighttime shots.

 

[scrpbookr]

The following morning I woke early and did a bit of resort hopping before heading to a park. I began at The Grand Floridian where I thoroughly enjoyed taking it all in.

Welcome!

Seems like the perfect resort for a Disney wedding!

Love this!

Disney Hotel Lobbies are the best! Can you even call this a lobby? Grand Atrium maybe?

Impressive!

This was my first visit and I think it's SO lovely!

This reminds me of a section of Paradise Pier at California Adventure....

I had planned on breakfast here and had reached my destination. Grand Floridian Cafe....

I had a perfect meal. This is a favorite cruise meal for me! Next week I'm back in Disney World and have a morning reservation here again and might be tempted to have the same. I'll cruise for a few days following Disney World so if something else looks better I'll try it knowing I can enjoy a salmon bagel soon on the cruise.

Following breakfast I was back on my photo tour! Looking back at the Cafe...

I headed outside where all was washed with morning light....

I don't recall the exact angles but I bet this is a GREAT place to watch Magic Kingdom fireworks from!

The Alice inspired pool is to die for!

A slice of Disney perfection!

I'll pause briefly here and pick up with my second stop of the day in the next entry.

 

[scrpbookr]

When I finished at Grand Floridian there was still some time to pass before parks opened so I resort hopped some more. Have I mentioned that I'm a morning girl? Actually at Disney and on vacation I can do later nights, too but my usual everyday pattern is more of an early to rise, early to bed one.

Next up! The Polynesian... My first peek, complete with a smidgen of monorail, from the parking lot...

The little pockets of paradise like this next one won me over quickly!

During my visit next week I'll return to this resort one evening for the Luau and then in June when we celebrate Reagan's 8th birthday we have a morning date with Lilo, Stitch and Mickey at O'hana. SO looking forward to both! I loved these little touches...

I really liked the display of Poly merchandise in this window, too.

All I can think of in this photo is how a couple of my favorite trip reporters would find Donald "hot and fancy" here!

The pool area had me tempted to put up my feet and stay awhile!

And there is my new friend the Grand Flo in the distance. I forgot to mention when I was posting those pics how excited I am to see the Easter Eggs on display at Grand Floridian! *squeels*

Poly's beach...

I found the luau area out this direction and then headed back towards the parking lot. Hello, Orange!

The cutest little palm tree ever!

A very well themed map!

I found Gold!

That ends my time at Poly! Up next the second park of the trip!

 

[missangelalexis]

Beautiful pics of the Grand, I so need to visit there one day!

 

[scrpbookr]

After being away WAY too long from this TR I'm back to give it a bit of attention. I've made two trips to DW since my last post so I'm up to my (Minnie) ears in wonderful, magical Disney memories to share. We won't talk about how I'm a year behind in actually getting trips posted here. Continuing to share here just prolongs the magic, right?

So, my second park of this trip was Epcot. I never get tired of this view!

I headed to Test Track to ride for the first time....

I jumped in the single rider line and it was so quick that I barely had time to take in the queue...

along the way...

Ride time!

The ride was a good experience! I haven't made it back on the last two trips since then but I'm looking forward to Reagan's first time on this ride on a future trip!

back safely!

The Test Track ride photo. AND like most of my ride photos there's my camera trying to capture it all!

I liked how the Test Track dump shop had Disney car accessories like antenna toppers and license plates...

Mission Space was next up for me.... another first!

Green Team for me!

Which luckily only had a 5 minute Stand By.... score!

It all felt very authentic!

Great Mission Space Cast Member Costumes!

Spacesuits!

In the cockpit...

I had a bit of a scare after the ride when I exited and realized I completely left my belongings in the storage compartment in the cockpit. Luckily after one more group rode all of my belongings were still there and safely delivered to me. I was feeling very thankful for honest park guests!

While I was on a role with first time rides I headed over to Sum of all Thrills. I LOVED THIS!

I created a Frozen Wonderland coaster!

The test equipment!

The beautiful Fountain Plaza!

More Epcot fun coming up!

 

[scrpbookr]

It looks like I continued on with a visit to the Character Spot.

Hello Goofy!

Love him!

Sweet Mickey was up next!

Big Hugs!

Time with Minnie!

Up next I indulged the 80's girl in me just a bit with some Captain EO. I saw this several times at Disneyland while growing up in CA but had not seen it in FL before...

Several of MJ's works have this theme to them. I really like a lot of his stuff but this quote reminds me of Man in the Mirror.

Views like this just make you want to squeal with an "I'M AT DISNEY!"

Entering the lovely World Showcase...

Canada...

Across to Japan....

A Mary Poppins topiary in the UK...

London icon...

I usually try to pop in here to check out the pin trading board...

Meeting Gepetto was an awesome surprise!

Alice was in the area, too!

She's so cute!

Lunch time was fast approaching so I grabbed some fish n chips in the UK. Disneylicous! I ate on the water overlooking World Showcase. Life doesn't get much better!

 

[scrpbookr]

You may have noticed the autograph book as I'm meeting characters. I created a photo book on Shutterfly following a promotion email they sent me for a free photo book. I did something similar for Reagan's 8th birthday surprise trip that we just returned from. It's worked well for us. As I ate my fish and chips I was checking it out and snapped a few pics to share...

This book had photos of the characters I hoped to meet and then they signed along side.

These books usually have 4 or 6 blank pages in the beginning where you can have others sign as well...

In the more recent book I made for Reagan's 8th birthday surprise I took all of his Disney trips... about 5.... and included all the times he has met Mickey on one page where then Mickey could sign. It's super cute to see him at all the different ages all on one page. I did this for about 30ish pages of characters. It's a great keepsake that I will eventually share if I ever get to that trip report. I'm SO behind.

The Yorkshire Fish Shop where I enjoyed lunch...

Meeting the practically perfect Mary!

just one magic moment after another!

The King Arthur Holy Grail show was taking place as I finished with Mary...

Next up.... Soarin!

Soarin' is always a pleasure!

I headed back towards World Showcase when I finished to take in the other half. Along the way I spotted a friend I could not pass by!

Bear Hug!

I just adore him!

It was a gorgeous Florida day!

China...

Germany...

Performers in America...

I still have yet to time it right for Voices of Liberty..... still on the Disney bucket list!

I'll stop here and pick up in Morocco next time.

 

[missangelalexis]

Glad to see you back to your TR, and hope to hear about those other trips as well!

So many great pictures at Epcot. Wow, so lucky to have met Gepetto!

Love the autograph book!

 

[RDawn]

What a nice Epcot day! Don't worry about being behind in writing your trip report because I got far behind in reading too. Our catching up is in synch

 

[scrpbookr]

I think I missed sharing a few of the photo pass pics in order.... A few with Paris in the background....

In Morocco I decided the line looked decent to meet Jasmine. While waiting I took in all the details of her queue....
Just how many genie lamps does one princess need?

A crafting bench....

ornate Moroccan bottles...

I can never get enough of all the cool Disney details!

The Legend of the Magic Lamp....

More cool treasures in the queue...

The Lovely Jasmine...

Taking in more of Morroco....

Hidden Mickey!

Time for a cool drink! That was the theme of this June trip.... Don't go too long without something cool and refreshing....

Moraccarita for me!

I wandered through the World while I enjoyed my drink... Art in France...

Belle was nearby, too...

The beautiful French fountain...

Casually ran into Aurora while there, too!

I found myself in Christopher Robin's Room....

Big Hugs from Tigger and Pooh while there!

And kisses! *blush*

Love them!

The weather must have been threatening rain because Mary was now greeting inside the Toy Soldier shop....

Cute Store Window...

The Toy Soldier is a good place to pin trade btw.... they have a pin board on a foam toy shield behind the register...

 

[scrpbookr]

At this point I decided to venture out of EPCOT and towards the EPCOT resort area....

The very first time we visitied WDW we stayed at the Swan & Dolphin.... Reagan was just a baby.... sweet memories!

Beautiful resort views!

A peek of Boardwalk...

The Bakery...

Here's a chance for another Margarita!

Pretty Disney Flowers!

Seashore Sweets...

adorable Boardwalk surreys!

I just love the look of this area!

I have really fond memories of Wyland's gallery in Laguna Beach from going there while growing up. I love that he's incorporated some Disney into his art and has a Disney presence at Boardwalk!

Little friends!

A closer view of the Dolphin...

Heading towards the Beach and Yacht clubs....

More lovely views....

It is too fun that the pool has a sandy area! Does the Poly pool have that? I'm staying there in Sept....

The cutest tables in WDW are at Beaches and Cream!

Ice Cream time!

Great costumes!

I told you I wasn't going long between cool, refreshing treats....

Until we meet again!

Great beach umbrella decor....

These draperies are perfect!

Another fantastic Disney pool!

Looks like a great movie line up!

Okay... enough time away from parks. Time to head back to EPCOT!

 

[scrpbookr]

I made my way back through World Showcase and photopassed when opportunity arose...

Look at these beautiful blooms in France!

I met Mulan in China along the way....

And as I continued on I stopped for some girl talk with Snow White in Germany!

She's precious!

This went on and on.... we were catching up on the lives of each of the Dwarfs. There are seven so it took awhile!

Perfect Meet!

And you know I love the well as a backdrop!

Many picture perfect World Showcase views....

Japan...

America...

Mexico...

Time to check out Club Cool!

I was pleasantly surprised that my next cool, refreshing treat came in the form of a free sample!! They should have paid me to try Beverly though.....

Not as cute as Beaches N Cream's tables but pretty cute none the less!

A highly recommended stop!

The Art of Disney...

Huey, Dewey and Louie were hard at work in the windows...

I always try to remember to stop in at the Disney Visa photo site. There is rarely a line and you get a free 5X7 if you're a card holder... Plus....

HUGS!

He liked my Pluto earrings!

Very fun!

Hello Monorail!

One last pic of EPCOT'S icon...

Stay tuned.... big dinner plans at Fort Wilderness coming up!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like such a fun time at Epcot! Love all the character meets you were able to do So many beautiful pictures as well!

 

[scrpbookr]

I was so excited for this evening's plans!!

I was headed to....

It was my first time to visit the campground. I'd love to stay there sometime! I studied the map and got my bearings...

I quickly checked out the lobby.

Checkers are a nice touch!

I caught the bus that took me back towards the settlement.

Circle D Ranch...

Cabins!

Carriage rides! This would be especially magical at Christmas time!

Clementine's Beach

I had a real destination in mind....

So excited!

It was a delicious, classic BBQ meal!

With great entertainment!

AND Cowboy Mickey! *melts*

More friends joined soon...

Those boots!

It was a great big Ho-Down!

Goofy!

Next came the roper act!

And just when you think things can't get any more magical..... you have a Mickey bar for dessert!

More entertainment...

We took a break to meet the hosts with the most...

There was a nice farewell performance...

Some great cast members in the BBQ costumes...

I really, really loved this character meal! Since I was all the way out at the Settlement I figured I should check out the shop!

Love this!

The End... (for this entry)