"We'll always have Baymax!" and I guess the memories too! - Nov 2014 TR *FINISHED 9/24!!

[jwjulie]

"We'll always have Baymax! ... oh, and I guess the memories, too!"
A November 2014 Trip Report!

Hello, hello! Welcome to my first ever actually written trip report! This wasn’t my first trip by a long shot, but for one in my group it was, and for another it was close enough since she hadn’t been since the 80’s! Let’s introduce you to the ( main ) group :

I’m Julie, your narrator and resident Disney nerd. Over the trip I learned that I’m 28 going on 12 with the bladder of a toddler. Let’s keep in mind here that I didn’t intend to write a trip report. We were going to vlog it! But when half of our group didn’t want to appear in it or didn’t seem interested, we just enjoyed the trip through memories and documented with pictures. Which gives me a timestamp because of my habit of not using my good camera and using my phone instead… and checking in on swarm gives me an update as to where we were most of the time ( because I’m obsessed with my phone, okay? ). I love going to Disney World. I love walking around and taking in all of the little details, but I also love hardcore park touring and getting from place to place in the quickest way possible. I’ve always loved Belle and will stop to meet her every chance I get, but I’m going to admit that I have such a weak spot for Gaston that it’s not even funny. I could ride ToT over and over again, and enjoy taking a nice leisurely ride on the Peoplemover. This report will basically be my recollection of the trip, my opinions on things that happened, and I’m not going to sugarcoat things either. Oh, and I also love instagram, so be prepared to see a bunch of pictures straight from my account ( which, if you want it, feel free to ask! )

This is my best friend, Bren. We met due to a mutual musical interest in 2007, which led to us realizing that we have a lot of other likes in common. She lives in a different city than I do, and we first met when I made a trip out there for a concert. After that, we went on a cruise together and spent a week in Disney following the cruise. We became fast friends, and I’ll always be thankful for her. Some of these pictures are hers / courtesy of her. She loves the Haunted Mansion, the Disney Villains, and harassing the skippers on the Jungle Cruise. Oh, and Blood, Sweat, and Shears, but that’ll come later! She doesn’t, on the other hand, like fish. This came into play a few times!

This is Bill. He’s known Bren for years. I hadn’t met him prior to this trip, and was a little worried about how we’d get along. He likes to do things his own way, and would constantly repeat what he wanted to do until we actually went and did it. If he wanted to meet Ariel, and we went on It’s A Small World, he’d ask right away when we were done how long the wait was for Ariel. All in all, we did get along. Sometimes it was a little pressing, but we got along. He also turned into quite the avid pin trader during the duration of this trip. So much so, that it became a running gag to ask him if he had ‘seen those pins’ or wanted to trade with a cast member. For going in pin-less, he had three lanyards full by the time we left, I believe, and that was probably by day three.

And finally, this is Kim. I’d never met her either, but she was a friend of Bren when they were younger and when she was invited on the trip, she thought it would be a nice getaway. I always worry when I meet new people, thinking they won’t like me, and this was no different. She turned out being the Mom of the trip, and we ended up getting along very well. Maybe it helped that we ended up sharing a bed and she’d get up early to walk or jog and take some time for herself which let me starfish out on the bed haha. But I digress.

So let’s get things started, okay? This trip was decided on, well, shortly after we returned from our boyband cruise / WDW madness in October of 2013. I started a trip report for that, and well, it didn’t go over very well. AKA, I started it as a PTR and it never quite made it to a TR ( oops! ). After deciding that we wanted to go for some pre-Christmas fun, we settled on the week before Thanksgiving and then a resort. My big thing when I go to Disney is that I’m always on the run. I’m up early in the morning ( most days ) and out late at night, because I want to get my money’s worth of my time in the parks. Because of that, I’ve only stayed at a moderate once ( and that was because we had gotten a good deal at the time ) and usually choose a value. We wanted to change that this time around, if only to spoil ourselves - but some of it was due to the fact we’d have two more people on this trip so we could split it a few more ways! After looking into renting some DVC points, we settled in with a 9 day stay at Disney’s Old Key West, which was our second choice. The first had been Boardwalk, but it was booked full. It was a little bit of a downer when we learned that we weren’t getting it, but I grew to love OKW almost as soon as I stepped off of the bus. But, back to the beginning!

I have a very big Disney addiction. This trip turned out to not be my only trip to the World in 2014, but the one that really opened my eyes to things that Disney had to offer that I previously overlooked. I turned 28 about a month before this trip, and decided that I was going to make this one to remember. Because of it being my second long trip of the year, I bought myself an annual pass. The dance studio that I danced with / worked for performed in DTD in late July as part of their Performing Arts Program ( we also did a three hour workshop in a rehearsal facility in Epcot where we went through the ‘audition’ process, from a basic audition to callbacks and through to rehearsals and a performance. We learned actual choreography that was used / being used, and part of the Circle of Life routine from the FotLK show in AK! But that’s another story. ) so I had picked up my AP then. That meant this trip, I would need money for souvenirs, food, and to pay for the hotel. Between the four of us, everything went rather smoothly leading up to the trip.

So we've got : Disney's Old Key West Resort, November 14th - 23rd, with one MVMCP, on our arrival day. All set!

Of course, things couldn’t stay smooth as the trip became closer. My parents decided that they were going to take the time I was gone and go visit some of my father’s family in Ohio. My grandmother had recently moved back there from living in Sebring, FL for years. It’s been a tough year for my family, as my mom is on dialysis and my father has been fighting Hodgkin’s Lymphoma for the majority of the year, so this was my trip to relax and unwind while they took time to do the same. That meant I was home alone, by myself, to finish packing and making sure that I had all of the things I needed ( usually, mom and I will do a last minute run down, and I always forget something! ). Spoiler alert : I packed everything that I needed. This also meant that I was alone in the house when I decided to do something fun with my hair.

I dyed it three colors.

I also dyed part of the bathroom floor a bright aqua, because I dropped the container while trying to carefully open it.

But I cleaned it, and bleached it, and mom will never know…………

Besides, I got comments for the first few days on the trip about my ‘mermaid hair’ ( before the color began to wash out ), so it was all worth it.

Anyway, once the mess was cleaned, I crawled into bed for a few hours before my early morning pick-up to go to the airport. Morning came quickly! After saying a tearful goodbye to my two-year old yorkie, Toby, ( a family friend and her daughter were staying at the house to watch him for a few days until my parents returned ), I was out the door! Security was a breeze, the flight was on time, I got a nap in, and before I knew it, I was in Orlando riding the fake monorail on the way to DME.

But wait! Aren’t there other people on this trip?!

That’s right! I was flying in solo, while the other three came in from Chicago. Their flight was to land about an hour after mine, so I went in the Earport store, bought some Mickey pretzels, called my mom to tell her that I’d made it safely, and sat down by some big trees and a fountain to wait. And wait. And wait.

I checked their flight status, and they’d landed a bit ago, but I was still waiting.

When they finally appeared, I ran over and gave Bren a huge hug. Then, she informed me as to why I was waiting for so long. She’d been the one to book the trip, so our DME tags were sent to her house. She’d mailed mine ( I got them the day before I left! ), and the others were given theirs. They didn’t realize what they were for, and didn’t put them on their luggage! So that had to be taken care of. They did that while Bren and I exchanged gifts. Some pins, a button, and some bows, and we were all happy. ( Spoiler alert : they might have ended up being the smart ones for keeping their luggage. )

I had some issues putting my magicband on, and decided it would be easier without the grey part… like a small child.

We had a good laugh at my ‘child sized passholder wrist’. Before long, we were in line for the bus! It took a while for a bus to get there for us, and we kept watching and hoping that we weren’t being put on a Mears bus. Buses that had ads for the water parks kept showing up, and Bren kept saying ‘Nobody wants to take the water park bus!’ which I found to be more funny than it probably was. Eventually, our bus came. I sat with Bren, and Bill and Kim sat together. We all chatted, and before long, we were there! According to the timestamp on my phone, we pulled in at 1:13pm, haha.

Upon stepping off of the bus, I was immediately in love. Upon checking in, I was even MORE in love. The building we were in was a very short walk across the street to both the main bus stop and the main building, and right through the building was the pool!

Building fourteen!

I couldn't resist the water landscape!

Since we had a ground floor room, our balcony wasn't that great, but it was our request anyway. This wasn't too bad to look at, but if you turned to the right, it was all of the air conditioner units!!

Bren didn't notice this at first...

I was in love with the resort already, even if I knew we wouldn’t be spending a lot of time there.

----

Thank you for tagging along so far! I'll keep this post updated with my updates as I get them typed and get my photos uploaded and sorted! I hope I can be half as entertaining as some of you on here!



Table of Contents :

Day One, Part Two : "It really does feel like Christmas! Back home, in the cold."
Day One, Part Three : "I'm here for the hot chocolate. All of the hot chocolate."
Day Two, this is simple : "Who needs the parks when they party's right here?"
Day Three : "Downtown Disney, part two!"
Day Four : "Oh, Epcot, I tried SO hard to like you!"
Day Five : "For the first time in... four months!"
Day Six : Solo Time in the Magic Kingdom, Apology Cupcakes, and a Freezing Fireworks Dessert Party!
Day Seven : The Day We Wandered Elsewhere
Day Eight : "I much prefer life in my Disney bubble."
Day Nine : All good things must come to an end...​

 

[jwjulie]

Day One, Part Two :
"It really does feel like Christmas! Back home, in the cold."

Nobody may be reading this, but I'm continuing on anyway! And to those that are, hello! Feel free to say hi!

After checking out the room, we went to get our refill mugs ( they had four colors, which was perfect! We were all able to get different colors and avoid confusion ) and walk around, had a quick lunch, and decided to freshen up a little before we were going to head out for our first big event, one that I was SUPER excited for…

MICKEY’S VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS PARTY!

Unfortunately, our luggage hadn’t arrived yet, so I was forced to go in the clothes I’d worn on the plane because I wasn’t smart enough to pack what I wanted to wear to the party in my carry-on. My first mistake. My second mistake turned out to be wearing flip-flops, but I won’t go there just yet. I will however say that I was very glad I had changed into leggings and a sweater before leaving my house opposed to my original plan to wear a maxi-skirt because the weather was cold back home. Kim was able to wear her jacket, and I believe Bill did as well. I had to tough it out and take it! The cold never bothered me anyway?

Anyway, we headed out and were on the bus by 4pm, knowing we could get into the parks with our party tickets early. We were there and through security by 4:20, and I was already enamored by the decorations! I’d always wanted to see it at Christmas.

I felt like I could cry. But I kept it in and cried on the inside.

We made our way up Main Street towards the castle, and went straight through it. Bill wanted to go on Peter Pan, but the line was 60 minutes so we bypassed it. He didn’t like that idea, but he’d never been on it, and we insisted it wasn’t worth that long of a wait ( to Bren and I anyway ). We ended up going through the Tangled bathrooms and toward Liberty Square. Being from Philly, I have absolutely zero interest in this area, so we trudged on, saying hello to Bren’s second home…

and deciding that we’d take the Liberty Belle boat! You’ll see throughout this trip that we have no sense of, well, planning. We criss-cross a LOT. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been on it, and since Bill had never been to WDW before, and Kim hadn’t been in a long time, there was no wait, so we decided to kill some time! It was also prime selfie time.

This happens a lot.

We ran back and forth following Bren while she took photos of everything.

Once it was over, we headed towards Tomorrowland!

We checked out the Laugh Floor, and one of Bren’s jokes was featured ( she’d stolen it from a CM on a previous visit to 50’s Prime Time, shh! ). Bill was also spotlighted, which he didn’t enjoy that much because he’s not one for being pointed out in public ( I believe this is why we didn’t do Enchanted Tales during this trip ). All in all, the rest of us thought it was hilarious. Upon exiting, we decided to go get a spot for the Castle lighting, which was something I was looking forward to.

Now, I’m short. I’m 4’11”, even if my license says I’m five foot even ( the guy felt bad for me ). So, I couldn’t see anything that was going on onstage. I kept holding my camera up to try to get at least one photo of my boy Kristoff.

Hey hey hey now, what’s going on here?

But let me tell you, when the castle finally lit up, it must have gotten a little dusty.

Or a lot dusty.

And very, very crowded.

Also, pretty cold. The temperatures had dropped significantly and I had a thin sweater and flip-flops on, so I wasn't prepared. I was determined to not let it make me miserable.

Now that the party was going to begin shortly, we headed back to Storybook Circus with one thing in mind - Bren’s major character meet request : Jack Skellington as Sandy Claws. When we got in line a little after 6:30pm, he was already out and the line was already pretty deep. I knew how much she wanted it, and I knew how this was pretty much a once-in-a-lifetime type thing for us, so I eagerly jumped in. Bill and Kim took some convincing.

I’ll be honest : for the first few days, I didn’t think Kim really understood Disney. Or the way we do Disney. And I didn’t think she liked me very much.

She didn’t want to wait in line for characters, even when we said they were rare. I did.

She wanted to go to Wal-Mart for her souvenirs, I wanted to stay in my Disney bubble.

She didn’t really seem to understand that MVMCP has things that aren’t there other times. It was then, or not at all.

She did, however, get in the line. ( And eventually, I think she started to really get it. )

We waited in a two hour line, which I thought wasn’t too bad. Bren agreed. The other two, however… they called us out on it all night!

I think I was a little… taken back by how animated he was!

If the wait was more than 20 minutes, we tended to want to pass. We had more days to go back, and things that weren’t party exclusive didn’t weigh heavily for us.

Bill insisted that we go meet Ariel. And go on her ride. He wore multiple necklaces and bracelets with TLM things on them, and said she ~needed to see it. ( Bill LOVES the Little Mermaid, which was kind of a breaking point for me further in the week, spoiler alert! )

After making sure I grabbed a ( free! ) cookie, we relented, wanting to get it out of the way. A 15 minute grotto wait turned out to be about 25, but I figured once it was done, it was done. ( Hint : I was wrong. )

Ariel spent a LONG time with Bill, fawning over everything and chatting, and I was inching my way out of the door before it was really over. Looking next at ride times, the mermaid ride was a ten minute wait, which anyone that’s gone in line with that understands it’s ten minutes to walk through the queue line to the actual ride.

I requested a shell for myself. And although it’s not my favorite ride, I danced through the Under the Sea portion. Bren still hates fish.

Ah, plenty of room.

After that, we went to grab spots for Wishes, and Kim ended up moving us up closer ( she inched up in front of us, and then turned around and came back yelling “I found them!! Come on guys, they’re up here!” which, she didn’t find anyone……. ) which was AMAZING and I could see!

I’m glad she took this for me, because I realized upon returning home I had not stopped to get a photopass picture in front of the lit up castle!! Once it was over, we made the first big decision of the trip. We'd told the others earlier in the night that we didn't expect to stick together the entire time. Everyone agreed!

So, up next? A split decision.
​

 

[disneyguy4life]

I like your honest opinion and fun nature. I can't wait to read all your trip report. I really want to stay at Old Key West someday. It looks really great!! Any suggestions on which building to stay in?

 

[Biggie Smalls]

Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!

 

[MarieGrace]

I love your trip report so far!! . I really love your candid opinions on everything. Looking very much forward to the next part! (And I'm subscribing. )

 

[coffeecassie]

Love your trip report! Can't wait to read more!

 

[sea3668rn]

Following- we were there the same week! And I love your hair!

 

[jwjulie]

I like your honest opinion and fun nature. I can't wait to read all your trip report. I really want to stay at Old Key West someday. It looks really great!! Any suggestions on which building to stay in?

Thank you! We rented DVC points, so it really worked out! We were in building 14 which was directly across from Hospitality and the bus loop! The only problem - which I could see anyway, was that there were no clear walking paths from this building across the traffic ( buses and the occasional car ) unless you walked a little further down and then across. We had no issues, but I could see someone with small children having to be super careful. It's a beautiful resort though!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of the trip!

I can't wait to share it with you!

I love your trip report so far!! . I really love your candid opinions on everything. Looking very much forward to the next part! (And I'm subscribing. )

Thank you very much! I wanted to keep it honest. I had a great time, but we did have our moments! My first subscriber!

Love your trip report! Can't wait to read more!

Thank you! I'll be working on it shortly!

Following- we were there the same week! And I love your hair!

It was quite a week, that's for sure! And thank you! I love having fun hair!

 

[MaterializedHaunt]

I am so enjoying this read! Such a fun... and interesting trip so far! Cant wait to see what the rest of the night was like and day 2!!!

 

[jwjulie]

I am so enjoying this read! Such a fun... and interesting trip so far! Cant wait to see what the rest of the night was like and day 2!!!

Yay! It should be up soon! I had to proof-read and upload!

 

[jwjulie]

Day One, Part Three :
“I’m here for the hot chocolate. All of the hot chocolate.”

Isn't she beautiful?

When we last left off, a decision was being made, the castle was lit, snoap was flurrying down Main Street, and my poor little piggies were ice cold thanks to that Cinderella fountain that was leaking water all over Fantasyland. Gee, thanks.

While one of my major character meets was Flynn Rider ( for reasons ), only Bren wanted to go in. Kim wanted food, and Bill wanted to walk around a bit more and do some rides ( and maybe go back into the Grotto ). So we split for that, and said we would meet up following the parade somewhere along Main Street. Bill and Kim took off by themselves back into Storybook Circus, while Bren and I headed off as well. By this point, my feet were freezing and I just wanted to get indoors.

With some expert maneuvering around preparations for Wishes, we made it into the FP+ entrance at Princess Fairytale Hall. I’ll be honest with you, I love PFH. I love waiting in line and looking at the paintings on the wall and staring at the glass slipper at the head of the line. However, I really hate the FP+ entrance. No, not the entrance itself, it’s a doorway… I hate the hallway that you’re placed in while you wait your turn to be let into the room. Granted it’s a short wait, but it’s a dimly lit hallway with maybe a flag on the wall and nothing really to look at unless you’re trying to fix yo’ face ( like me, because duh, princes… ) on your phone while some random little five year old stares at you ( even though it didn’t help, I was tired from travel and looked a hot mess anyway! ).

The interaction was adorable. Rapunzel LOVED my hair and was amazed that I had painted it myself. Flynn asked if I thought we should do that to her hair, and when I mentioned it took a long time so hers was probably longer, he insisted we’d hire some townspeople to help. While the suggestion was appreciated, it seemed an awful lot like slave labor to me. It wasn’t as epic as my MNSSHP Flynn encounter where he noticed my leather bag ( “Hey! You have a satchel!” ) and asked what was inside ( I told him “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”( sorry, Disney ) before I even thought twice because I wanted to see Rapunzel’s crown, which resulted in TONS of awkward laughter and a super red face on my part. He pulled out the crown, and I opened mine to reveal… trick or treat bags. He was impressed with my satchel of satchels. But ANYWAY, onward! ) but it was nice.

Punzie and I are NOT impressed with Flynn's idea.

On to Cindy and Charming, who were A-frickin’-DORABLE together. She was hiding in the curtains at one point, which Bren and I were laughing at… and Charming had her makeup all over his gloves ( wash those things, boy! ). I still don’t understand why she was hiding in the curtain, it was after the family in front of us and before we made our way over. Maybe she’s wishing for another makeover?

I love the way he's looking at her. And how am I just now realizing that he was holding my hand? Someday, my Prince will come!

You can SEE the exhaustion on my face.

I believe he's looking at her shirt.

While we were doing this, Bill and Kim were off having some character time of their own!

Then, it was off to find spots for the parade. We were running out of time, so we walked the entirety of the route through Liberty Square and towards Frontierland. We ended up securing a location in Frontierland near where the parade begins. It was small enough for me to stand and Bren to see over my head. Plus side! Downside? It was extremely dark, and hard to take photos. Oh well, I still watched it and enjoyed every moment of it!

When I realized that Kristoff had his own float, I had a mini-freak out. I believe the question of the trip became : "So, Disney, when are you giving me my Kristoff meet and greet?"

When the last float went by, we knew we wanted to get back towards Main Street, so… we followed it. That’s right, we followed the parade, waving to people and dancing a little and a very nice cast member let us hold the rope for a little bit. We chatted with some of them, talked about getting waffles, and made our way to Main Street, where we hung out in the snoap ( snow soap! ), did a little shopping because I HAD to get a shirt, and headed back to the resort. I’m kind of sad that I wasn’t able to snag a pin, but I wasn’t about to spend the money for the entire set on my first night!

As we were leaving, some cast members were up on the landing of the train station dancing and singing. So Bren and I started clapping and cheering them on, which they enjoyed. Bill and Kim told us of their adventures on their own, where they’d watched the parade from, and listened to ours as we made our way out.

Turning to look back at the lit up castle, I let out a happy sigh. Dreams were already coming true and I couldn’t resist one more picture of Main Street.

Day one was already an adventure!

This is my step tracker, and this was only really half of a day! I kept track via my phone so it’s not super accurate, but I was curious! I didn’t save my progress every day, but it was pretty cool to look at. I was also, very tired, and, as it said, 146% DONE.

Fun fact : I was able to wiggle my hand out of my bracelet without cutting it, so I kept it as a souvenir.

Up next, we try to avoid some fish!​

 

[jwjulie]

Day Two, this is simple :
“Who needs the parks when they party’s right here?”

Day two started later than day one. When first making trip plans, Bill wanted to go to Sea World for a day. Bren doesn’t do fish, and I was concerned with transportation ( I don’t fare well on public buses ), so Kim said she would go since she wanted to see it anyway and it was best that Bill didn’t go alone. They made plans to go on our second day in Orlando, which left Bren and I to go have some BFF fun! Plus, we are AP holders while the other two bought day tickets, so we could do whatever we wanted without having to worry about using a park day.

We got up around nine or so, after the other two had left the room early in the morning and I was able to starfish out, got ready, and headed over to Olivia’s ( which was still decorated for Halloween / Thanksgiving ) for breakfast.

Our server, Jason, was the absolute best, even if he was an enabler. Bren ordered a bellini to start the morning off right ( He talked her into it! I refrained ), and while I ordered the adult waffle platter, I was PLEASANTLY surprised when he brought out Mickey waffles!!!

Mickey waffles are the way to my heart.

Bren ordered a banana french toast-type thing. When unable to finish it, she brought it back to the room ( along with one of my waffles ) to eat later on. We never ate them, because as many of you know, Disney is just SO. MUCH. FOOD.

After going back to the room and really getting ready for the day, we waited. Erika, one of our local friends was coming to visit and spend some time with us!

Our pathway was right next to the white van, and our room behind those bushes in the corner! Convenient in the mornings and late nights.

Erika joined us at the resort ( we gave her our parking pass ), and we took the ferry boat over to Downtown Disney!

At first, we were a little confused, but we figured it out.

Another selfie, what else were you expecting?

I loved being able to see the resort this way. The sky was blue, the sun was out, it was warm, and just beautiful. Plus, it was nice to take the boat past the golf courses while singing along to some Christmas music that was playing onboard.

Now I was excited, because I knew what was coming : T-REX AND MY FAVORITE STEAK IN ALL OF DISNEY.

I am not a big meat eater. But when we had free dining on a previous trip, I had made the decision to try something new… and I became obsessed with this steak. I’m not kidding, I made my parents take me when we were there in July… and we’re going again when I’m there in May for their anniversary dinner…

It was a short wait… but then they put us in Coral! Which means…

I had this guy behind me…

and Bren had to face her fear. Actually, she decided not to FACE it, but to rather FACE AWAY from it.

But I got my steak.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Also, I’d asked for a double order of fries because fries and mashed potatoes doesn’t really make sense, but apparently our waiter didn’t hear me… this is awkward.

After that, we walked around and took silly pictures.

I have a feeling this is as close as I’m getting to a Kristoff M&G.

We tried replicating the photo : Look! I’m Olaf! I really do like warm hugs…

I wanted all of it. ALL. OF. IT.

We spent quite some time just walking around and catching up, looking in stores and scoping things out since we knew that we would be back to do some shopping at another time.

After heading back to the resort, and after my first Goofy’s Glacier of the trip ( I’m obsessed, but sadly this was more of an Icee consistency and not the slushie type that they have in the parks. Weird. ), we found out that the movie by the big tree that night would be… FROZEN! So, we went. It was cold being right off of the water, but I had hot chocolate in my refillable mug and I was good for a while.

“Okay, byeeeee…”

All of the families that were there at the start, left. People came and went, realizing how cold it was.

Or maybe it was because we were singing along.

And yoo-hoo’ing with Oaken.

And having FUN.

( and kind of being obnoxious off in our corner. )

Anyway, we watched the entire movie and dance partied to the Demi Lovato version of Let It Go when we realized that we were the only ones left, along with the cast member who was folding towels.

Then, it was back to the room. Bill and Kim came back not long after.

There was one thing Bren wanted to make sure that we did on this trip, and that was a trip to Port Orleans Riverside to see Yeehaa Bob. This was the perfect night to do it, too. Kim decided to stay back because she’d had a long day with Bill and needed a break. We listened to their stories and looked at souvenirs and photos, and they listened to our day. Then we made it out to made the connection for POR through DTD. I realized that I spent quite some time there this trip.

After watching the 8pm show from the back ( which is more suitable for children - but let’s face it, I sang along just as loudly to the Oscar Meyer Bologna song while Bill looked in the store for what? PINS! ), we secured a table closer to the bar when a family left. The later shows are more adult oriented song-wise and I didn’t realize what a BLAST I was going to have.

I don’t drink very much, and I’m a worrier about getting lost, so I ordered a strawberry lemonade with a lemon lime foam so at least I’d be sober enough to get us back to the right resort in once piece. VERY good, but VERY sour. And being the dummy that I am, I stared at it for a while wondering why they put a strawberry and a lemon on the side of my glass ( Duh, Julie… ). I sipped it all night.

I’ve never laughed so much, or sang along so loudly, and I was left with a hoarse voice by the time we left a little after midnight.

It was a little funny when he asked where we were from and we all stared at each other. Two from Chicago, one from Philly, and one from the Orlando area. We stuck around all night and he’d randomly yell ‘Chicago!’ while looking at our table and trying to get us to participate ( we did! ). The three girls all got up to do the hand jive, and we almost had Bill get up to join the Y.M.C.A. ( okay, not almost, he didn’t look as amused as we were by then ). I had a wonderful time, and I’m hoping to get back there again because it was just so much fun.

Getting to the bus stop, we had a decision to make : take the DTD bus to make the connection or go to MK because they were open until 3am ( I think? It was EMH for sure, so 2am at least! ). The first bus that pulled up was a Magic Kingdom bus, so we hopped on along with two other young guys. A Sam Smith joke was made that broke the ice, and we deemed it our ‘12am MK Party Bus’. The driver must have thought we were crazy, we were playing music from our phones ( non-Disney music! ) and dancing, and we made him hold the doors when we pulled up so we could take a selfie with our new friends. We never even learned their names, which makes me super sad!

But, you know, I’m short.

So it’s only my forehead in the picture.

I was a little upset until I realized how hilarious this is.

They wanted us to go in and play with them, which Bren, Erika, and I were all for, but Bill didn’t want to use a day ticket for two hours. Part of me hoped he’d just get on the bus to the resort and tell us to go have fun, but he didn’t, so we said goodbye to our friends and went to the resort to get some sleep. Erika drove herself home and promised to hang out again later in the week. I hope those guys had an absolute blast in the park that night and rode Space Mountain until they almost puked.​

 

[jwjulie]

I don't even know if anyone is still reading this, but...
it's taking a short hiatus from today until Feb 6th...
because it's time for me to head back to Disney for a few days
and then get my behind on the Disney Wonder!


I spent all day yesterday praying the snow would hold off here in Philly
and when I woke up this morning, we had 1.2 inches at the airport and 2.5 inches here at home.

I still didn't go to work ( I was supposed to... but took a day because yesterday everyone kept asking if I'd be able to leave and teasing me that I wouldn't...) so I'm getting the last of my bags together for my flight!

Yay for Southwest not pulling the plug early!

See ya real soon!​

 

[disneyguy4life]

They got to see Scrooge McDuck!! WHAT!! That is awesome. Clearly I need to go during the Christmas season!! I just got DuckTales the movie on DVD... Yeah, I'm a fan!

 

[disneyguy4life]

My wife and I stayed at POR in Sept and didn't get a chance to see Yee-haw Bob. After reading your post, I wish we had. I'll make a point to go do it next time we are out there. Lame sauce that you guys didn't get to go to MK after the show. Dang it BILL!!

 

[jwjulie]

They got to see Scrooge McDuck!! WHAT!! That is awesome. Clearly I need to go during the Christmas season!! I just got DuckTales the movie on DVD... Yeah, I'm a fan!

My wife and I stayed at POR in Sept and didn't get a chance to see Yee-haw Bob. After reading your post, I wish we had. I'll make a point to go do it next time we are out there. Lame sauce that you guys didn't get to go to MK after the show. Dang it BILL!!

Bill was pretty excited to get Scrooge!

Definitely go to see Bob, he puts on an amazing show! We ended up there again on this last trip, and had even more fun. I'm planning on making my parents go in May.

 

[jwjulie]

Day Three :
"Downtown Disney, part two!"

The next day wasn't going to be a park day either, because we figured Bill and Kim would need a bit of a break before we went into hardcore park touring after their adventures at Sea World.

Instead, the four of us grabbed something quick to eat at the resort and headed to Downtown Disney again to do some shopping. After walking around and realizing we were pretty hungry still and it was well after noon, we decided to do something we'd never done : Splitsville! Bill wasn't really into the idea ( SHOCKER ), but we overruled him ( 3 vs. 1! We win! )

It was very empty, so we were given a lane quickly and ordered some food. Pizza, nachos, fries, and drinks, and it was SO much food! The nachos were piled high and the plate was huge. We could have honestly gotten away with just the nachos, but I ordered the fries. Bill ordered some kind of grilled cheese from the kids menu after complaining about food options. Sigh.

At one point, this really obnoxious group came in with about 15 kids and 4 adults ( I'm exaggerating, it was bad though ) and they put them right next to us. The kids had no bowlers etiquette and the adults didn't stop them from grabbing and using our bowling balls which were way too heavy for them, and running up the approach when one of us was trying to bowl. I guess it showed that we were a little more than annoyed by this, and soon after, the workers moved the group to the opposite end of the lanes. Crisis avoided.​

And for the record, I won. Not that it mattered… I just thought I'd share. We danced around to the music, bowled two games - the staff added more time onto our lane because we were so close to finishing the second when the timer was running out. And then we were off!

"Get one of me looking at my boyfriend!" - Bren

For some reason, this is one of my favorite pictures of me from this trip.

I guess it was because it's from before the stress set in.

We walked around a little more, goofed off in the Lego store, and spent some money in World of Disney before stopping in Ghirardelli to get some ice cream. I'm rather tiny, so I was able to pick up a cute Olaf sweater from the boys section at WoD. At Ghirardelli, I opted for a frozen hot chocolate and INHALED it.

I couldn't even tell you what it tasted like because it was gone so fast...

After a stop back at the resort to drop our things off, we had to figure out what we were doing next. Bren, Bill, and I ended up back at Downtown Disney because we wanted to see Big Hero 6! Kim didn't want to, so she stayed behind to watch some of her shows.

I fell in love with this display.

Bought this in the children's section. I've worn it once, sadly, but now the Holiday Season is over.

Took the easy way, and ferry-boated it over towards the movies!

This is when something amazing happened. No, not that I was asked if I was a CM when paying for my ticket ( because I'm not, but I'd love to be ). Bill is an AMC Stubs card member. When I was paying, he handed me his card to scan so he got points. When the girl handed over my ticket, she handed me a little pouch, that said it was a Stubs member exclusive. When I opened it, I SCREAMED. It was a Baymax PIN! They don't even sell those in the parks ( at least, they didn't while we were there )! None of us had any idea that they were doing this promotion. All of us ended up with this pin, and not the armor one. I was more than okay with that. I thought for a moment that maybe having Bill around wouldn't be so bad after all…

ISN'T HE CUTE?!?!

Each of us got one, which I later attached to my lanyard with a locking pin back. I'll never trade it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and the curly fries I bought to eat during it. I laughed, I cried, I laughed some more, and I made sure that we stayed for the after credit surprise.

We were back at the resort by 11pm and in bed shortly after, because we had a full day ahead of us come morning. It would be our first full day in the parks and we were going to… Epcot? WHY?!

Not that I have a problem with Epcot, but it’s not my favorite place. And it quickly became the bane of my existence and a long running joke.


Read on and you'll see why!​

 

[jwjulie]

Day Four :
"Oh, Epcot, I tried SO hard to like you."

Ah, Epcot. We did not get along this trip.

Our arrival at Epcot in the morning set the tone for the day. Clouds were looming, and I was worried we wouldn’t make it to test track to use our FP+ before the rain started. But let's not jump ahead just yet.

We walked through the gates at around 10am and were at our first fastpass within ten minutes :

Mission Space! I don't remember much of the ride, just tons of laughter from our car and a bit of screaming... and a celebratory dance when I pushed my button. Everyone enjoyed it. Yes, even Bill!

After the ride, we made our way over to our next FP+, the Character Spot!

We couldn't get into line yet since we had some time to kill, so Bren, Kim, and I went into Fountain View Starbucks while we waited. I inhaled a Vanilla bean Frap and a chocolate croissant, Kim got some kind of caramel something, and I have no idea what Bren ended up with. We sat on some benches, took a Disney survey about the app ( Kim did, she has the rare and elusive Android phone ), and waited before heading in.

We had a small wait inside, during which, we taught Kim how to take a selfie on her phone! I wasn't kidding when I said she was the mom of the trip.

Goofy won my heart here. He noticed I had a lot of Alex and Ani bangles and sorted through them, upset when he wasn't there, so I promised I would get one with him on it. He loved that idea.

I like taller men.

I'm almost positive this was the only day that I was in shorts and flip-flops on this trip. The other days I had layers on and boots. Sigh.

We made the rounds, Goofy, Mickey, and Minnie! Kim was having a hard time getting Mickey in the photo due to his, well, rather large head, and she was frustrated. The character attendant asked if she was new at selfies, and we laughed as we told the lady we had just taught her how to take them while in line! We promised she'd get a lot of practice during the trip ( she was a pro by the end! ).

The clouds had intensified by the time we left, and my anxiety got worse.

Our Test Track FP+ window opened up and we darted in, hoping to get on before the rain.

Bren and Kim built a car, while Bill and I built some sort of strange villain-mobile thing.

I don’t remember who won. The photo is pretty great though!

As you can see, we're the type of people that ruin your ride photo. Oops?

Almost as soon as we got off of the ride, it started to sprinkle. I dreaded using a poncho, so I stuck it out because it was only a little bit. We made our way towards World Showcase to grab lunch, ending up at Nine Dragons. It was one of Bren's choices and everyone kind of figured they could eat there.

Anyone that knows me, knows I'm a picky eater, but as long as there is chicken on the menu, I can usually find something.

I opted for the sesame chicken, with the sauce on the side.

I ended up with my sauce, and three more sauces that came with the food that Kim had ordered.

Sauce buffet! I did try them all, though, which is a big deal for this picky eater.

I still ate the chicken plain.

By the time we were finished with our meal, it was an absolute downpour outside. Bren and I donned our ponchos, Bill bought a rather large umbrella, and Kim put on her raincoat. Bren hates ponchos with a passion. Gigantic plastic bags. I need to invest in a raincoat.

Bren went into the store in Japan and bought a purse, and spoke broken Japanese to a bunch of the employees and I tried to pay attention, haha.

While it rained, we also killed time by going into the American Adventure… or whatever it is that it's called… and while I didn't really understand what 'Let It Go' had to do with America, the Voices of Liberty are TRULY entertaining. It's the rest of it I could have done without. I think Kim used this time to nap ( wisely ). Now don't get me wrong, I love my country, but I took advanced placement American History classes in high school and I felt like I was in school all over again. Plus, being from Philly, this kind of thing is engrained into my head.

Sometime around this time, Bill and Kim went to do The Seas with Nemo and Friends ( I opted out, and stayed with Ms. No-Fish, and we went in Innoventions and played with things! ). We all met back up and ended up going into the Land Pavilion, laughed at the wait time for Soarin', and decided to check out the Circle of Life movie. It was mainly to waste time during the rain and I wanted to nap until they showed a huge screen of fish and Bren practically screamed. Couldn't. Stop. Laughing.

We killed time walking around, ducking into stores, and wandering around with no direction going back and forth until Bill decided he wanted to meet Aladdin.

Soooo… we had to meet Aladdin.

Right then.

Okay, it got us out of the rain for a little while, and I had a moment where I couldn't figure out how to work my phone, which Aladdin cracked up at. I went to take a selfie of the three of us ( Aladdin, Jasmine, and I ) and it was the ceiling and my finger instead. I was like "Oh! That's not us! That's my finger…" and he just bust out laughing. Sorry, Aladdin.

Photopass captured the moment. Thanks, Lady.

Bill really wanted photos with every prince he could find.

This is actually really cute!

By now, I was over Epcot, but we still had another meal reservation, at Via Napoli! When we had the meal plan, I fell in love with their pizza and wanted to go back. So we had to wait around, because I wanted pizza.

While we waited for our table, I shamelessly stared down the bus boys. Another reason I love that restaurant? Those bus boys. Here's where I made my joke of the day : "Stefano? More like StefanYES." which Bren would not let me live down.

I ordered my pizza, Bren and Bill also had some sort of pizza, and Kim had a white lasagna dish that she didn’t really care for and I felt kind of bad. After our meal, we found that the rain had started to stop! Finally!

So we walked towards Mexico, Kim debated on getting tacos ( ultimately passed ) and Bren and I took a picture next to the really large Christmas tree while Bill stopped in a shop. What you can’t see is that we were holding our ponchos over the railing behind each others backs.

I also took a video with me saying "That's a REALLY BIG TREE…" but I won't subject you to that!

Continuing our walk once Bill joined us, we decided to stop for some photopass pictures with the ball behind us.

This is actually really cute!

Okay, so this is REALLY cute. A great group photo.

As we waited for another family to take theirs, Bren noticed that in a hallway off to the side, she saw Mr. Smee! Now, of course I realized that you don't just see him anywhere… and then we noticed Stitch and Daisy Duck! So of COURSE once our pictures were taken we ran over! There was nobody else in there aside from the attendants and they had about ten minutes before they had to go. While I loved Smee and Daisy, while everyone else was with them, I had the most FUN interaction with Stitch ever.

He was kind of staring out the window by his lonesome, so I called out to him and when he turned around I held my arms out for a hug and asked if he was lonely. He nodded, held his arms out, and we kind of stamped our way over to one another and hugged for what felt like forever. I asked if he'd been behaving and he shook his head yes, but his attendant said no, and it was just really, really cute.

As we made our way out, another family was making their way in, and we figured we'd get one more ride in : Spaceship Earth.

We walked right on the ride, but as I went to hit the option for English, the timer ran out! Bren and I endured the entire ride in… JAPANESE! And at one point we got stuck.

Yes, this is a snapchat capture...

When we were done, we managed to send the video to my email even though the screen was in Japanese, took a few more pictures from the OTHER side of 'the ball' and made our way out to return to the resort because we were heading to my favorite park in the morning … but not before wrangling in some more photopass pictures!

Up next... never ( ALWAYS ) sit with Julie & Bren at the Frozen Singalong! That's right, we tackle Hollywood Studios!​

 

[disneyguy4life]

Bill was pretty excited to get Scrooge!

Definitely go to see Bob, he puts on an amazing show! We ended up there again on this last trip, and had even more fun. I'm planning on making my parents go in May.

Done and done! I'll make it a point to go see him. I love your TR. Keep it coming!!

 

[akasten23]

Were you able to use a FP to meet Flynn and Rapunzel during the Christmas Party (and if so what time did you make it for? We are going to next December and just wanted to keep it in mind. Thanks