Trip Report!!!

Finally, I'm going to do my trip report. It's a long one, so settle back with a snack and a drink and dive in. And please comment for the love of God! :)

So, Disney World came upon us FAST. We had a blast. I spent most of that first day in denial and in a daze, but that might have been because I was so darn tired 'cause I couldn’t sleep the night before! (I was excited, but also because I'd left all my packing and organizing to the last minute as I am wont to do.) I didn’t start to feel like it was real until after the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade!

We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter, which is one of the moderate resorts. OK, I got spoiled. The bus stops were close to the parks, the resort was small and quiet, there was a hot tub, and it was just pretty! (Check in was super slow, but we ended up meeting some people from Columbus OH who just happen to be now living in the house that Chris--my ex-husband and good friend--grew up in. How is that for coincidence? Guess who was singing “it’s a small world” all afternoon after that?) Anyway, Adam and I decided that it’s worth the extra $$ a night for all the extras we got out of it. We’ll be staying there this June as well.

(God, imagine if I ever get to stay in the Polynesian! Talk about spoiled rotten, right? But that won’t happen for a long time, not with rooms starting at $400 a night. Yowsa!)

Almost every character I met hugged (or kissed) me, some more than once! I even got a hug from Tinkerbell. The hugs from Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen (the highlight of my trip) were the best, though.

Did I mention that Tiana is my favorite Disney princess? Oh well, now you know. On Sunday, our first day there, we were going around Magic Kingdom, and I’d mentioned to Adam that meeting Tiana and Naveen would make my trip. It would make my YEAR. We couldn’t figure out where their meeting place was, but we’d been planning on hitting MK the next day, so we decided we’d look for them then. Well, Adam and I got to the park at Rope Drop (I highly recommend doing that–it’s awesome so early in the morning!), and we ended up RIGHT BEHIND THEM as they walked down Main Street. When we got to their meet and greet place, they let me take pictures with them and chatted with me and it was like, amazing. I was like this when it was all done:

Yea, that was a pretty awesome day in the Magic Kingdom, even if it did rain quite a lot. It was warm, and I rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad twice (ended up riding it five times total during the trip), and it was the day of the Main Street Electrical Parade, where Adam and I were quite entertained by a total brat who was 11-years old and acting like a spoiled princess (she had visited the Bippity Boppity Boutique at some point during the day–she was ALL done up). Adam and I nicknamed her Veruca Salt.

Although we had a great trip, I don’t know if I’ll go in January again. The crowd level was pretty great for the most part, and soaking in the hot tub in the evening was nice, also. But a couple of days, it got pretty cold, and that’s not what you want to have to deal with when on a vacation in FLORIDA. We only had one day of rain, though, and one day it was absolutely perfect out. So the weather was hit or miss, and a lot of things were being refurbished or fixed up. Tarpilicious! Not that I noticed…too much. I was too busy gawking over the fact that Christmas stuff was still up for the first few days of the trip. I was thrilled, to be honest, because dude, I still had my Christmas decorations up, and I figured if DISNEY didn’t have theirs down, then I shouldn’t feel bad. (Of course, once I came to this conclusion, all the decorations were gone the next day. Even the poinsettias that had been planted were changed to purple and pink and yellow flowers.)

Here are a few picture highlights:

And you can see many more pictures here: Disney World 2011

(YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO LOOK AT THEM!)

It was nice seeing Adam’s family at various times throughout the trip as well. Eli ran the Goofy (in case you don't know, the Goofy is when you run the half-marathon AND the full marathon in the same weekend--we saw a lot of people wearing their marathon medals and limping, let me tell ya), Melissa ran the half-marathon, and Adam’s parents were there for cheers and support. Also, Cassidy brought little Lola which was awesome because she seemed to enjoy the park in the best way a little baby could:

We ate good food (Liberty Tree Tavern, Garden Grill, and Boma FTW), saw parades and shows, rode rides (yea Expedition Everest, Tower of Terror, Rock N Rollercoaster [twice], Space Mountain [twice], and of course, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad), and really had an amazing time. I cannot wait to take Aidan this summer. Because OH YEAH we are going again! Twice in one year for me, and Aidan too, because his father is taking him in August. ROCK.

Oh yeah, I have six words for you: GIANT CHOCOLATE AND M&M COVERED MARSHMALLOW.

So getting another one of those when I go in June. Mouth is watering just thinking about it.

And now, some lists:

New Experiences This Trip

* Port Orleans French Quarter (staying in a moderate resort)

* Expedition Everest

* Country Bear Jamboree

* Meeting Pocahontas, Meeko, and Flik

* It’s Tough to be a Bug

* Captain EO

* Boma

* Flame Tree Barbeque

* Meeting Frozone

* Seeing the JaMMitors

* Mission Space: Green

Things I Wish I’d Done But Didn’t Get Around To

* Buying bath bombs at Basin White

* More of the dark rides

* Visiting the Japan pavilion in Epcot

* Mailing Aidan’s package from Disney World

* Sending Aidan an autographed postcard from Mickey Mouse

* Sending postcards in general

Lessons Learned

* Don’t schedule more than one character breakfast. Too dang early to get up, or they interrupt Rope Drop advantages (little to no ride lines!). Go for character DINNERS instead.

* Crystal Palace > Chef Mickey’s

* Avoid shopping in the Emporium. That place is a mad house!

* I would probably go later in the winter next time. The weather in early January is too unpredictable. I’d go for February. Should still be low crowds as long as I avoid Valentine’s Day or President’s Day.

* Port Orleans French Quarter has pretty good bus placement at the parks! Close bus stops, and bus service is really good. We rarely had to wait for a bus and if we did have to wait, it was never very long.

OK, that’s enough for now. Hope you enjoyed my short recap. Talk to you soon… but first, I leave you with some LOLz for days:

Okee dokee, artichokie. Signing off for now. Hope you enjoyed my trip report. I'll be back soon!

Byeeeeee!

I'm Back!

I had a super magical time at Disney World! We had such a good time that we're already planning to go back in June! This time with Aidan. Kids stay and play free! Say WHAT! :)

So excited!

I loved staying at Port Orleans French Quarter. I enjoyed the small quietness of the resort, and I loved their hot tub. The bus stop was really close to the parks, and the buses came often! We only had to stand once. The weather was all over the place, but it only rained once. We had everything from mid-70s to low 30s. I wore everything from short sleeves to full on winter gear with many layers.

Long updates with lots of pix coming soon. (I don't even have them all uploaded and/or captioned yet.) Here are some highlights from the trip:

• Meeting Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen!!!!!
• Rope Drop at the Magic Kingdom. Walking on rides! Walking down the street with characters! Little or no lines for anything. It was awesome!
• Seeing the looks on little girl's faces as Princess Tiana walked past them on Main Street.
• Doing the Arrested Development chickens in Hollywood Studios.
• Tower of Terror with all the Selzer siblings.
• Riding Expedition Everest for the first time. It was awesome.
• Riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad FIVE TIMES foo.
• Space Mountain.
• The hot tub at Port Orleans French Quarter. So nice after a long day of standing and walking.
• All the nice people and cast members I got to talk to.
• HUGE hugs from most of the characters. Lots and lots of hugs!
• Riding coasters with Cassidy.
• Seeing Adam really enjoy himself and get excited.
• Being able to buy lots of stuff.
• Seeing baby Lola's face when she met Mickey Mouse and the princesses.
• Yummy food at Crystal Palace, Boma, Garden Grill, and Liberty Tree Tavern.

Full trip report(s) coming soon. I've yet to edit the videos, the rest of the pictures, etc.

Talk soon! :)

!!!

Holy crap! In about 36 hours, I'll BE IN ORLANDO!!! Possibly riding the Magical Express! Eeeeeeeeeee!!!

And guess what? I haven't packed a dang thing yet.

I'll get on that tomorrow.

No, really, I WILL!

And I have done some important things. I'm not completely worthless, you know. In addition to Early Bird Check-In and the Photopass pre-order, I've got the cab hailed and memory cards cleared. Tomorrow I will pack, go to the bank, pack, charge camera batteries, pack, review the schedule, pack, and work myself up into a frenzy of excitement. I'm sure I'm forgetting something there, but it'll come to me.

I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!

Weather looks good. High 60s, low 70s. I plan to wear jeans and hoodies mostly. Will take a jacket for cool nights. I also got some cute stretchy thin gloves. Mmm, fewer than two days until Liberty Tree Tavern. Nom. And CASTLE and Mickey Mouse and music and cookies and yummy smells and shows and rides and Princess Tiana (Oh Lord, let me get to meet Princess Tiana!) and parades and pictures and pictures and pictures!

*does the happy bootie dance*

Wow, I'm still very much in denial that it's here and that I need to get on the ball or something!

Less Than A Week!

OK, seriously, this has really snuck up on me. I am so not prepared!

So much has happened since I last posted. I was offered a full-time job and I accepted, with the provision that I'd not have to cancel Disney World, and I've been so busy with work (lots of long days and some weekends), birthdays, and the holidays that I haven't had much time to give Disney World much thought until a couple of weeks ago when Suzy emailed to say that she was ready to send out my travel documents!

So, the documents are here (along with a gift from Suzy--I have mentioned how awesome she is, haven't I?) and I barely had any time to look through them before stashing them in a safe place. I went ahead and did the early-bird check in for our flights (because let's face it: there is no way I'm going to be up at 6:40 am this Saturday), and I pre-ordered our Photopass CD. I've yet to make a packing list, check the weather obsessively, clear off my camera memory cards, recharge the camera batteries, make sure the Flip cams are in order, and check and recheck the crowd calendar. I even have a new Disney Parks Blu-ray Disc™ that I still need to watch. What is wrong with me?

I think I'm in denial, as I always am, when I am this close to the Disney trip. I mean, it's less than a week away, and I'm still kinda like "la la la." I think once Friday rolls around I'll be in full on frenetic Disney mode, but now all I can think is that I have a work week ahead of me, so until *that's* out of the way, there is no need to get all crazy with excitement yet.

What I am doing is praying for warm weather, no rain, no wind, and lots of sunshine. I think I'll have a better idea of what to pack once the end of the week gets here and I have a clearer picture of what it will be like out there.

I am very excited to go, though. Lots of stuff I want to buy, lots of stuff I want to eat, and lots I want to see and do.

I'll try to post more this week. Maybe I'll get more crazy! :)