Last Day at Disney Recap

I hate the last day of vacation. Even when it’s only a mini-break. I woke up pretty early on Sunday and was able to get Alex motivated relatively early. We packed, he arranged a town car to pick us up at 5pm and bring us to the airport and then called bell services to come get our bags. We were checked out and on our way to the Magic Kingdom by 10:30am.

For some reason, we decided to take the bus to the Magic Kingdom rather than walk through Epcot and catch the monorail as we’d usually go. The bus was pretty crowded and we had to stand, but the trip wasn’t that long. A little girl got on the bus wearing a Princess gown. The bus driver flipped a switch and an announcement started that sounded at first like one of the regular recorded announcements… “Ladies and Gentlemen, please remember to be on your best royal behavior in the coach, we’re traveling with a Disney Princess today!” It was so cute!

We started our day with a “breakfast” of corn dog nuggets and french fries with plenty of cheese sauce at Casey’s on the corner at the end of Main Street. Eating at Casey’s on our last day is a sort of tradition for us. We’ve been doing it since we first went together in 2004. We watched some kids feed the ducks that were surrounding the outdoor tables. Right next to the kids was a sign that said, “Please do not feed the birds” but their parents seemed to not care. After we were finished eating, we headed over to Adventureland. I took a picture of Alex in front of the entrance because I’d taken one of him there on our first day in the Magic Kingdom in 04:

Heading to Adventureland in 2004 and in 2007.

Alex was suffering from his lack of planning in the shoe department - he’d only brought shoes for the conference and nothing comfortable to walk around the parks in. He ended up breaking down and buying a pair of Disney Crocs. I was laughing soooo hard at him. He’s not exactly the type of guy that would wear Crocs on a normal basis, and here he was buying Disney Crocs with Mickey Mouse heads on them. Hilarious. I had to snap a couple of pictures of him in his crocks.

Comfy, but really gay shoes.

We didn’t have much time in the Magic Kingdom and it was pretty crowded, but we were able to hit a lot of things in a short amount of time because we knew how to work the FastPasses. We got one for the Jungle Cruise and then headed over to Fantasyland to see Mickey’s PhilharMagic (again), which was just about a walk on. We waited in line for the Haunted Mansion, which was about a 30 minute wait. We were entertained by the bust on the gravestone of Madame Leota that periodically opened it’s eyes and looked around. After the Haunted Mansion, we were able to get another FastPass, which we did for Splash Mountain.

We rode the Jungle Cruise and then went and took some pictures in the hub in front of the Castle and browsed some shops. Then it was time to ride Splash Mountain! This would be the 3rd time for me this trip and both previous times I was in a barely filled boat sitting in the front row. Well, this time we were placed in the front row again but the boat was packed. Yeah, that made a difference. We got soaked! Every single little dip the boat took caused water to splash over the front and all over us. We took a picture afterwards to commemorate our big Splash:

Soaking Wet after Splash Mountain

We headed over to Epcot next where we had a late lunch/early dinner at the Biergarten. We drank Beck’s Dark from humongous mugs and were entertained by the band while we ate plenty of tasty German food. When we were finished there, we headed over to “France” where we watched some street performers doing a show where they stacked and climbed chairs. Then it was time to head back to the hotel to meet our town car. We took one last picture on the way out of Epcot:

Our “Farewell to Disney” picture on the way out of Epcot.

Our trip back home was uneventful. We arrived back in Albany about 20 minutes early (go Southwest!) and came home and fell into bed. It was a great trip and a welcome break. I’ve been so stressed with work and working so much that I didn’t realize until we were there that I really needed a break. Alex said at dinner one night, “This has been great! You haven’t talked about work once during this trip!” Unfortunately, when I got back to work this week, I immediately fell back into the cycle of working until 7pm and being exhausted and stressed… Not sure what to do about that…

Time to Go Home :(

We’re packing up the room this morning. Our flight isn’t until 8pm tonight, so we have some time to wonder around the parks. I hate going home. Waa. Depressing.

Friday Recap

Friday was a loooong day! I was up relatively early posting my pictures and my recap and made it “on the road” by about 10am. I went to Animal Kingdom first. I rode Expedition Everest first. The standby line said that it would take about 20 minutes, but I think it took less than 10. No Single Rider line on that one. Luckily I didn’t need it. After Everest, I walked over to Africa where I was going to try and get on the Kilimanjaro Safari, but it was already after 11 and the standby line said 40 minutes and I wanted to be back to Epcot by 12:15 or so to meet Alex, so I skipped it. I spent a few minutes watching a “Crazy Limbo-Dance Troupe” in Africa - even shot a little video, but it’s still uploading so I’ll have to link to that later. I went to “Dinoland USA” and rode Dinosaur. As you can see from my mobile post below, the loud large dino near the end of the ride still manages to freak me out every time. After wandering around for a bit, I headed back to the Swan and met Alex for lunch.

Alex and I strolled over to Epcot and had sushi in Japan for lunch. Epcot is our favorite park because there’s so much strolling and eating and drinking to be done. After Alex returned to the conference, I relaxed in France for a bit, made some dinner reservations at Guest Services, checked out the Imagination Pavilion and then headed over to the Magic Kingdom.

I got into Main Street just in time to watch the end of “Mickey’s Dreams Come True” Parade. I took a few pictures and then headed back to Frontier Land. I rode Splash Mountain with the two old guy Muppets that usually sit in the balcony. Well, not really, but it was just me and two old men in the boat. I sat in the very front of the “log boat” and the two old men shared the very back seat. “We sat back here so that you’d keep us from getting wet! Oh ho ho ho!” After we went down the big drop and I got pretty well sprayed, they laughed again. “You did your job - we didn’t get wet! Oh ho ho!” I got a kick out of them. I wanted to do the Haunted Mansion next, but didn’t want to wait in the line (20 minutes) so I went to Fantasy Land and saw Mickey’s PhilharMagic. Still my favorite thing in all the “world”. Alex called me to let me know that he was done with his conference for the day, so I hopped on a monorail and met him in Epcot.

Alex, of course, was waiting for me in a pub. The Rose and Crown pub in “England”. We each had a Guinness and then strolled over to the International Gateway exit and crossed the Boardwalk area then took the path to Disney Studios. We got to the studios around 6pm when everyone was piling into the “Hollywood Bowl” to watch Fantasmic. We weren’t interested, so we went on Tower of Terror. Still my 2nd favorite thing in all the “world”. We went over to Streets of America after that to see the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. I was impressed. Alex was Grinchy. I took some pics and some videos and then we walked back to the Swan to get ready for dinner.

Alex was very excited for dinner because I’d gotten us reservations at the Yachtsman Steakhouse in the Yacht Club. He’d heard that it used to be one of Michael Eisner’s favorite restaurants on property and that the steaks were phenomenal. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to its reputation. I mean, it was OK, but frankly I’ve liked my filet better at Outback. My appetizer was really good - a tomato salad - and the rolls with butter and roasted garlic were pretty good. Oh, and my mashed potatoes were very good. But my steak. Meh. Alex felt the same way. We skipped dessert and headed over to Epcot for their Evening Extra Magic hours.

We took our time strolling through Epcot which had very few guests. We had our picture taken in front of a giant Christmas tree (will link to that later) and then rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends. That wasn’t open the last time we were here and I was very excited to ride it because I’d heard it was pretty cool. Again, I was slightly disappointed. I felt there should have been more of a cohesive story to the ride. Instead, it was sort of a bunch of scenes. Still pretty cool that they successfully projected the digital fish seamlessly onto the tanks of a real aquarium. We were going to ride Soarin’ next, but there were no more fast passes and the standby line was 30 minutes and all I could think of was last year when the sign said 20 minutes and we were in line for over an hour and Alex was VERY grumpy, so we just left.

We finally made it to Jellyroll’s last night. We’ve been so tired every previous night but last night we fought the sleepiness and boy were we happy we did! It’s really one of our favorite bars in the world. It’s just too much fun to sing along and it’s amazing that the “piano men” know just about ANY song you request. I’m fond of requesting super cheesey music - stuff that Adam would call a “gay guilty pleasure” song - so I requested Journey, “Separate Ways”. The one guy did it and he was amazing. I was afraid that he wasn’t going to do it at first because he referred to it as “Obscure Journey” but I think he really enjoyed doing that song. We had an awesome time and didn’t get to bed until around 2am. Consequently, Alex is dragging today but he’s only got a 1/2 day at his conference and we won’t be back to Disney for a loooooooong time so I just told him to suck it up.

OK. Well, it’s my last “full day” here so I have to get out to the parks!!!

Thursday at the World

Yesterday was my first time visiting a Disney park on my own and it was a unique experience. Kids stared at me. “Where is her mom? Or her kids?” Ride operators were slightly surprised when I’d say I was a party of one. I had no one with me to hug when the “Disney” got to me. There were some benefits, though. I went to the Disney Studios first, and because I was a single rider, got right to the front of the line on Aerosmith’s Rockin’ Roller Coaster. That ride reminded me how old I am, though, because I had a headache coming off of it. (Waaaaa! I’m OLD!) I rode Tower of Terror a couple of times and then saw the Beauty and the Beast Stage Show, something that Alex would have never gone to see with me. I saw the Indiana Jones Stunt show and then bypassed Star Tours because apparently I’m old and jerky rides give me headaches. (Waaaaa! I’m OLD!) I didn’t have to wait by the bathrooms. I didn’t have to eat when I wasn’t hungry. I didn’t have to buy lunch, in fact, because I brought some ready made tuna salad in a can with crackers and that was my very cheap lunch.

I did meet Alex during his lunch break from the conference and strolled around the boardwalk with him, which was very nice.

After that, I strolled through Epcot, where I saw Off Kilter, a Celtic Rock act (who were nowhere near as good as ETH, GMT, 7N or GB, but still fun) and had the most expensive Guinness in the land. I headed over to the Magic Kingdom, where I saw Mickey’s PhilharMagic, which is my favorite thing in all of Disney World. I rode It’s a Small World after that because apparently I’m a sadist or something. I never have to go on the ride again. Alex met me in the park then, since his conference was over for the day and we saw the 6pm show of Wishes, then went to the Grand Floridian where we had dinner at Citrico’s. Our meal was fabulous! I’d read mixed reviews on Citrico’s and was a little apprehensive about making reservations there, but we had great service and excellent food. Yay!

After dinner, we went back to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party. We had a great time riding the rides with no lines, enjoying complimentary hot cocoa and sugar cookies, watching the Special Holiday Wishes Fireworks show and the Christmas Parade. Well, I had a great time watching the parade while someone grinched it up next to me. We headed back to our hotel around 11:30 where we totally crashed.

Today, I’m off to the Animal Kingdom in the morning, then back to meet Alex for lunch on the Boardwalk, and then I think I’ll either go back to Disney Studios for a bit (Tower of Terror is my 2nd favorite thing in all of Disney World) or go back to Epcot. And I’m off!!

I’m Going to Disney World!

It’s been A LONG, LONG while since I posted but I had to jump on quickly and share my exciting news: we’re going back to Disney! The plan is still up in the air, but Alex’s job is sending him to a conference at the Disney Swan & Dolphin Resorts Nov 15-17th. We figured that since the hotel room would already be paid for by his company and all I’d need to pay for were airline tickets, park tickets, and meals it’d be a very cheap (AND VERY NEEDED ALREADY) vacation for me. I’ll even be able to pay for my park tickets with Disney Dollars that I earned by using my Disney Visa. Rock!! It sucks that Alex will be busy during the day with his conference - but that’s why it gets to be such a cheap vaca for me… And we’ll be able to hit the world showcase at Epcot at night. OH!! And since we’ll be staying at the Swalphin (Swan or Dolphin) we’ll be able to cruise the Boardwalk and hit Jellyrolls EVERY night!! That’s the dueling piano bar which was totally our favorite place to be late at night last trip. I’m very, very excited!!!

Engaged!!

My intuition was right - Alex proposed to me while we were on vacation in Disney World last week! He actually had me all screwed up… I was confident for about a year that it would happen there, but during the week before we left he started to take me ring shopping again to throw me off. He kept telling me that he had no idea what kind of ring he should get me and that even if he bought one, it wouldn’t be ready in time to take along on vacation. He was driving me absolutely crazy!!! He even sat me down on the couch and hugged me and told me that he was sorry that it wasn’t going to happen in Disney World. What I didn’t know was that he’d had the ring for about two or three weeks at that point! He totally knows how to play me. He even took it along to Tara’s wedding and showed it off to his entire family and I was clueless. Beck told me that she actually had it in her hand at one point when I was talking to her. I had no clue.

So, the proposal was awesome - very much “us”. We went to dinner our first night at Disney World at the California Grill - the restaurant that sits on the 15th floor of the Contemporary Resort and has amazing views of the Magic Kingdom. We had a great dinner and went out to the observation deck to watch the fireworks go off over the castle. After dinner, Alex suggested that we go to the Polynesian Resort and go to the beach and find the hammock that we’d found the last time we were at Disney World. When we got to the resort, we grabbed drinks at the bar and went down to the beach and found the hammock - but this time there were people nearby and it didn’t seem quite as awesome as the first time we were there. We walked down the beach until we came to the opposite end, which was more secluded and also had a hammock… This hammock was even better because we could see Cinderella’s Castle across the lake as we were laying in it. After the fireworks, they put different color lights on the castle so we lounged in the hammock and watched the castle change colors and chatted. Then, Alex said to me, “So…” and I looked over at him and sitting on his chest was an open ring box with the most sparkly ring I’d ever seen in my life in it. I couldn’t believe it - he had me so convinced that it wasn’t going to happen that I was having a hard time believing that it actually was happening. The ring was so sparkly in the moonlight, it almost looked fake. “…Will you be my wife?” I don’t think that I said yes right away because I was so shocked and too busy staring at the ring. I finally did say yes and he helped me put the ring on my finger and I spent the rest of the trip staring at it and trying to get it in every picture anyone took of me or us. It’s actually quite obnoxious to look at my photo album from the trip and see my obsessivness. Also, my fatness. Ew, I’m so freaking huge. Gotta get back on that…

Of course, we don’t have a date yet. I’m thinking it’ll be next October, though. Depends on where there are still openings… I’m super nervous that everywhere I want is going to be booked already – I checked the availability calendar on the Appel Inn website and their first Saturday opening in the fall isn’t until October 27th!

Anyway, I’m just so happy that we’re getting married! I’m so excited!!

Disney Freak

I just read this on the DISboards under the heading, “I am addicted to the DIS which is why I…” and it cracked me up that I could understand all of it: “… give advice like, ‘Take ME to get from MCO to POFQ. Go to AK for AM EMH and ride EE and see FotLK and ITTBAB, then hop to MK and enjoy IASW, BTMR, SM, PotC, and HM before your ADR at LTT (1 DDP TS) and MNSSHP.’”

Hahahahahahahaha!!

Ok, I know that the only one out there who might read my page who got that joke was Danielle, so here’s the translation, for the non-Disney-freaks out there: “Take the Magical Express service to get from Orlando International Airport to the Port Orleans French Quarter resort. Go to Animal Kingdom for morning Extra Magic Hours and ride Expedition Everest and see Festival of the Lion King and It’s Tough to be a Bug, then hop to the Magic Kingdom and enjoy It’s a Small World, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Carribean, and Haunted Mansion before your Advance Dining Reservation at the Liberty Tree Tavern (which is 1 Table Service Credit on the Disney Dining Plan) and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.”

I just calculated up the “free Disney money” that I have for the trip. Since I’ve been using my Disney Visa card for my everyday purchases (and paying it off every month) I’ve accumulated $187 Disney Dollars from that. Then, I signed up for Sunshine Rewards in August and by completing online surveys and making my online purchases through their portal and clicking on paid links every day, I earned $45 Disney Dollars through that. So I’ll have $232 in free Disney money for our trip - how much does that rock?!

Less than 2 weeks!!!!

Disney Dreamin’

6 Weeks to Go!! Six weeks! Six weeks from right now we’ll be there!!

I’m so excited I could pee my pants.

So, because Disney is all I can think about right now, I figured I’d post my planned itinerary for our trip. Keep in mind that I don’t actually expect that we’ll be really following this to the letter, but planning has been fun.

Sunday, Oct 1
4:30 am. Wake up. 0430 - what does the “O” stand for? Oh my God, it’s early. Get in the car and drive to the airport.
5:00 am. We should get to the airport by this time… Check in at the Delta counter. Grab a oh-so-healthy McDonald’s breakfast at the airport.
6:00 am. Our flight takes off!!
11:07 am. Our flight lands in Orlando!! Go find the line for Disney’s Magical Express. The shuttle service is free for Disney Resort guests right now and it’s pretty cool because they totally take care of your bags for you: you check them at the airport you’re departing from and they deliver them right to your hotel room. Then, when you go home, you can check your bags at the resort and you don’t have to deal with them again until you get to baggage claim at home.
12:30 pm. Arrive at Board Walk Villas (BWV) and check in. Room won’t be ready yet, so we’ll leave our bags and head into the parks. We’ll probably go to Epcot first since we can walk to the International Gateway entrance (the back door of the park). We might jump on the monorail and head over to the Magic Kingdom.
4:00 pm. Go back to BWV where room should be ready. Shower, clean up, and get ready for dinner. Probably also nap as we got up at the ass-crack of dawn.
7:30 pm. Dinner reservations at the California Grill. This restaurant is at the top of the Contemporary Resort and has awesome views of the Magic Kingdom. We ate there last time and saw Wishes the fireworks show from the Magic Kingdom during dinner. The food is awesome and this was Alex’s one request for our trip this year.
10:00 pm. I dunno. There are Extra Magic Hours (EMH) at the Magic Kingdom that night, so we might go back and do the Magic Kingdom at night. Or we might go to the Board Walk and go to Jellyrolls - a dueling piano bar that was awesome last time we were there.

Monday, October 2
9:00 am. Get up. I don’t get up and go all crazy park-Nazi touring of the parks.
10:00 am Head over to MGM so that we can ride Tower of Terror and Rock and Roller Coaster. Have lunch in the park. See a bunch of stuff…
5:00 pm Head back to the BWV and rest/clean up for dinner.
7:30 pm Dinner reservations at Le Cellier, which is the steakhouse in the Canada pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase. People on the Disney Boards are all freaking out about how great this place is, so I really want to try it. Also, they have Maple Creme Brulee and that combines two of my favorite things ever (OMG, maple… mmmm….) so I really can’t wait for that.
9:30 pm If we’re done with dinner by this time, we’ll watch IllumiNations, the fireworks show over the lagoon in the World Showcase in Epcot. It’s awesome. After that… I dunno. Downtown Disney to go to DisneyQuest (a huge “indoor interactive theme park” [fancy arcade] that Alex was enthralled with last time)? Back to Jellyrolls?

Tuesday, October 3
9:00 am. Wake up…
10:00 am. Head to Animal Kingdom. Can’t wait to ride Expedition Everest, which is the brand new coaster there that sounds awesome. Do the Kilimanjaro Safari and the animal trails and grab lunch.
4:30 pm. I dunno. We might head back to the BWV now to clean up before dinner because we’re going to a “signature” restaurant tonight and we’ll probably get all sweaty-nasty at the Animal Kingdom. But, dinner is at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and it takes so long to travel between places by the resort buses… so I’m not sure.
6:00 pm. Dinner reservations at Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Haven’t dined here yet, but have heard great things about it, so I’m pretty excited for it.
9:00 pm. Maybe hit the Magic Kingdom to see Wishes from Main St. Or go to Downtown Disney or Jellyrolls. Good times.

Wednesday, Oct 4
9:00 am. Wake up…
10:00 am. Head to Epcot. Hit Soarin’ which is the newest attraction at Epcot and is supposed to simulate hanggliding - and is supposedly very cool. Ride Test Track and Mission Space and check out some of the other pavilions in Future World (the front part of Epcot). Grab lunch at some of the Food and Wine Festival booths as we tour the World Showcase.
7:40 pm. Dinner reservations at the Rose & Crown. We’ll try and get a patio seat so that we can watch IllumiNations from our table. If not, they apparently let you go to their patio to watch it during dinner. Should be awesome.
9:30 pm. There are EMH at Epcot tonight, so we might hang out for a while and do some rides over again. Or, again, we might head to Downtown Disney or Jellyrolls.

Thursday, Oct 5
It’s our last full day in Disney. No real plan for the day here. Alex keeps mentioning golfing, so if he wants to do that I’ll head to Downtown Disney to shop or go resort hopping.
5:50 pm. Dinner reservations at Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge. Another place that I haven’t tried yet but is supposed to be awesome.
8:00 pm. Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Actually, I wish we could get here a little earlier than that because if we get here at 8, we’ll miss the Headless Horseman riding through before the parade. Should be a fun time, no matter what. There are two parades and a special Halloween themed Wishes show. Oh, and we can go trick-or-treating if we want.

Friday, Oct 6
9:00 am. Wake up…
10:45 am. Check out of BWV. Do resort airline check-in so that we can leave our bags and not worry about them again until we get home.
11:30 am. Head to Magic Kingdom and do whatever. Get lunch at Casey’s Corner before we head back to the BWV to catch the Magical Express back to the airport. We had lunch there on our last day last time and Alex suggested it could be a tradition for us. We shared mini corn dogs dipped in cheese sauce. Mmmm…
3:30 pm. Get on Magical Express and head to airport.
6:24 pm. Our flight departs Orlando.
11:31 pm. Arrive back in Albany.

Well. That was obsessive. But I can’t wait!!!!

Countdown Mania!!

So… There are 23 days until my Spa Day at Kimberley’s.

There are 53 days until our fabulous Disney Vacation.

There are 138 days until Christmas.

Rock. I love the second half of the year.

My Old Pal Mickey Burned…

Poor Pal Mickey. I want another one. He was the cutest thing ever and so very much fun to walk around the parks with!