First Trip to WDW as a Couple!

Betherella · May 2, 2013

1/28/2010 - Day 1 - So Long SoCal; Hello Florida!

Who is going on this trip you might be asking yourselves. Well I am here to introduce you to us!

I'm Beth. I am a long time Disney-Nerd. I've been to Disneyland more times than I can count on account of my Annual Pass. I worked there as a 2nd job back in my youth. At the time of this trip I'm mentioning here I had been WDW a few times but this time I got to go with Steevin. Eeeee!

Steevin is my boyfriend (well now fiance, but I didn't know that when I wrote this so he will be referred to as "boyfriend" in this report) of just over a year and a half. He is... a Disney-Tolerate-er. He has an Annual Pass to Disneyland as well but truth be told, I know he goes because I like it. That's the kind of selfless person he is. Oh sure, he enjoys himself there but that's mostly because we just have a good time being together. However, I was pretty sure he was going to like WDW. I tried to talk him out of going several times because I didn't want him going JUST for me. But he told me "Shut up. We're going and I don't want to hear any more excuses." Out of love of course.

So he left it to me to plan everything. When we were going, where we were staying, what dates we were going to what park, where we were going to eat. So I called around, scoured the internet, found some good deals and the next thing I knew... we were booked for a trip to WDW in just two weeks!

I was really looking forward to this vacation. I had just gotten laid off and it had been a pretty terrible last few months in general. We needed this. I needed this. My sanity needed this!

6am rolled around on Thursday morning and I lept our of bed with the speed of...something really speedy. A cheetah or something. Maybe not that fast but I was definitely ready to get a move on. Steevin is a little more on the slow side in the morning in general. I wouldn't call myself a morning person but compared to Steev I'm practically "perky" by comparison. I was plesantly surprised to see Steevin up and getting dressed by the time I got out of the shower. I wandered around packing up last minute things and came back to find Steevin had crawled back into bed. I knew it was too good to be true! "Come on, Steevin! We have to get ready." I said as I shook him and gave him a poke for good measure. He replied with "Muffle muuurff mufffuff." which I think meant "I aaaaam ready." but like a good sport he got up and helped me get the rest of the last minute stuff together. I put my shoes on and when I looked up again, Steevin was missing. Ugh! Shake, shake, shake. Poke, poke, poke. "Come ON, Steev!" "MUMBLE!" (I won't translate what I think that one meant!) We played our "fun" little hide and seek game two more times before my Uncle arrived to take us to the airport. We kissed our kitty, Mable (quite literally the worlds cutest cat) goodbye, loaded up our arms with luggage and headed to the airport.

Check in with Southwest was quick and easy. Security was okay for me but Steevin somehow managed to bring TWO laptops on an "Internet free" vacation so that took some time. We got muffins at Starbucks for breakfast. But then, after waiting in a mile long line and purchasing said baked-goods, Steevin decided he didn't want a muffin. He twisted and deformed his muffin bag to (as he said) keep it "fresh" and then went to get a breakfast sandwich. Soon it was time to board.

Waiting excitedly for our flight. Wheeeee! Florida!

We almost missed our prime Southwest boarding time because we are noobs at their whole seating arrangement. But luckily a kind fellow passenger directed us to where we were supposed to be and we were soon boarded, seated together and in the air. We had a stop in Albuquerque and no offense to Albuquerquians but that is a place I'd never want to visit. Cold, flat, cold, flat and cold. I didn't even see any homes as we flew over so it seems no one else wants to be there either. After that brief stop we were off again and I napped while Steev finished his drawing (Kick- Tink - click it).

Wheeee! Soon (as soon as a 6 hour flight can be) we were landing! We gathered up our carry-ons, took the airport monorail (woooo, first ride!) and had the quickest and easiest check in at Disney's Magical Express. We hopped on our bus, and two minutes later we were on our way. The Pop Century was were we where staying and it was the first stop. We collected our luggage and checked in. At check in they gave us two "Happy Anniversary" buttons because we were celebrating our year and a half anniversary and they gave Steevin a "first visit" button. It was a sweet touch to have those waiting for us as soon as we got there.

Woo hoo! Anniversary and 1st Visit. Those are some great things to celebrate!

We got all checked in and got our keys. We were in the 80's building. You would think looking for a GIANT lit-up Rubix Cube would be easy, but we somehow managed to get lost. Well... Lost might be a strong word. We'll just say we took the long way to get there. We finally found our PINK building (Oh 80's... you're so radical!) and dropped off our stuff. It was about 8pm so going to a park was out of the question. But that's okay because although Steevin refused to learn anything about where we'd be going or what there was to do there (that was my job to figure that out) he did know that his *favorite* resturant of all time was at Downtown Disney. We took the bus to DTD and headed straight to Earl of Sandwich. When we go to Vegas we have to eat here several times on our trip. We've been know to eat there twice in a day. LOL! Steevin's favorite food is "sandwich" so this was one thing he knew he'd be enjoying.

We've got a hungry Beth on our hands. "Put food here!"

I got The Original 1762 and Steevin got Hawiian BBQ (Eew. Gross. I am not a fan of warm pinapple OR BBQ sauce on my sandwiches.)

Lookin' cute after sandwiches. Go Earl!

We completely enjoyed ourselves and decided we had room for dessert. ICE CREAM! We looked and looked for Ghirardelli's but couldn't find it. Until we turned around and it was literally right behind us. It was super busy but we ordered a hot fudge and caramel brownie sundae to split and found a table. We people watched until they brought us our decadent dessert. Wow. It was SO yummy.

Tell me that doesn't look amazing and I'll call you a liar!

We checked out the Lego store (dude... have lego's always been so expensive?!) and walked through Pleasure Island. I explained to Steev how Pleasure Island used to have a lot of nightclubs and places to dance. Now it has a guy in stilts playing Hannah Montana and teaching kids how to do the Cupid Shuffle... which is actually pretty cute. LOL! Steevin wished that Pleasure Island still had "Pleasure" because we would have loved to go dancing but we managed to entertain ourselves quite nicely and got a few good pictures by the fountain.

Steev and I are a rare breed that can entertain ourselves doing nothing but being goofy.

We did some preview souvineer shopping. LOL! That's where you look ahead of time but don't buy yet. DTD was closing so we got on the bus back to the hotel and I sang Grease along to the radio while Steev shook his head at me like I was a fool. But then Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" came on and Steevin can't help but sing to that song so HA! There may or may not have been a few Rockette leg kicks from him. He looked silly too. We finally figured out the fastest route to our hotel room,found out that our checked luggage had arrived safely while we got our nosh on and went to sleep so that we would be ready for the first park in the morning!

sam_disney · May 2, 2013

loving this- looking forward to reading this

Betherella · May 2, 2013

sam_disney said:
loving this- looking forward to reading this

Thank you! I love writing them, honestly.

Betherella · May 2, 2013

01/29/10 Day 2: We Meet Lumpsalot

I had set up a wake-up call the previous night and Mickey woke me up right on time at 645am. I got up and showered and amazingly Steevin got up shortly behind me and got ready. No Hide and Seek games this morning. We headed to the Everything Pop for breakfast. Two Breakfast croissants later and we were on our way to... EPCOT! It's my favorite park.

Waiting for the bus

Steevin seemed to be having a hard time switching from grumpy mode to vacation mode this morning so I was hoping a little Epcot was just what the doctor ordered. We hopped off the bus and went through Bag Search security. As soon as that big beautiful Spaceship Earth came into view, Steev's spirits seemed to lift. He noted how he already thought this was a very well designed park.

Our first stop was a ride on Spaceship Earth (or Starship Earth as Steevin kept calling it.) Since Steev didn't want to know anything before hand, before we went on I explained to him that Spaceship Earth was a white knuckle thrill ride. LOL! Aaaahh... Spaceship Earth with your delightful BBQ smell in the burning Rome scene and hot afro-haired chicks with awesome boots I wish I owned. We did the little Siemens video and I looked like I had some strange growth erupting from my head because Steevin put his head too close to mine while they were taking the picture. Not that Steevin looks like an erupting growth usually. By the time we finished our trip through history and the future, Steev was in full on Vacation Mode and ready to party. Disney Magic at its finest. We tried the futuristic car driving and operation performing. I'm happy to report that Steevin did save the world through his driving skills and together we helped put together a man's body that's limbs had been torn off by what I can only assume was a wild muskrat or something. Steevin rated the whole Spaceship Earth experience an 8 out of 10 Earl of Sandwiches. That's pretty intense.

See my weird head growth?!

We headed off to Test Track next. I didn't tell Steevin my own distaste for the ride because I didn't want to taint it for him at all. Let me tell you that January/February was such a great time to go to WDW. This was the longest line we had the whole time and it was maybe 25 minutes. Steevin said that he thought the ride was fun but he didn't like the smell of the line. LOL! I guess it does smell rather... industrial. I've never noticed before. He also said all the test dummies all around creeped him out. He gave the ride a 7 but said that he felt his own drive to work was scarier. Having ridden with Steev many times before, I can attest to that. (Just kidding, Babe!) (Psst... guys... no I'm not kidding. Sometimes its scary.) LOL!

We headed to Innoventions and learned how to keep our home safe in the event of a hurricane... which we will probably never have to deal with since we live in San Diego but at least we're prepared. Spanish tiles are not the way to go in a high-wind prone area! Steevin also saw the Kim Possible game there. We signed up and were told to pick up our communicators at 11am. Then we learned how to be engineers and created our very own roller coaster which we then rode with all four of its inversions. Clrearly, we are now fully trained engineers.

With our in-depth training completed we were off to the World Showcase. We first stopped in France to visit with Marie the cat and Cinderella. Then Steevin got to see his all time favorite princess... Belle. She commented that my Prince was hairy like hers, Beast.

Here Kitty kitty!

Cinderella and I shared appreciation for each others headbands.

Steevin and I often argue over who is the Beauty and who is the Beast in our relationship.

Then we got our Kim Possible cell phones so we could once again save the world! The phone would give you clues and then you would use your phone to activate hidden things around the Showcase. It was pretty cute. We didn't actually play through the whole game. Steevin figured out how to change it for whatever Pavilion we were in so we'd do a few before we moved on.

Saving the world is serious stuff

"This would be a lot easier with an iPhone..."

We had lunch plans at the Biergarten in the Germany Pavilion. Its a German buffet with large family style seating. We were seated with a family of four. Steevin and I sat next to each other so we could talk and hear each other. An older couple was then sat at our table and complained that they couldn't sit across from each other. And since Steevin and I are model citizens and hate to hear people whine we were good sports and moved our seats. Our host was an adorable guy named Joshua with an even more adorable accent. I don't remember our waitresses name but she was very sweet. I'll call her Greta. The food was great though Steevin did discover he was not a fan of cold meatballs. The Om Papa Band was fantastic. Oh, and for dessert there was this berry/vanilla cream thing in a cup which was such a yummy dessert. Even Steevin liked it and he has a fear of fruit and berries. (Don't ask me... even he can't explain his fear to me other than to say "Fruits never taste the same so you never know what its going to taste like.)

We headed off to Japan to again save the world for Kim Possible AND to do some shopping in the best shop ever in any Disney park that I've been to. There is always something I want at the shop in the Japan Pavilion. This time was no exception. Japanese candy, sodas and a cool postcard that looks me. And then, of course we got to see the cool drums.

Next we decided to explore Morocco. As soon as we walked past the Tangerine Cafe, Steevin got to hear a man say "gy-ro" instead of "yee-ro". He felt complete. That was another thing he was looking forward to. Hmmm... he's an odd one. Sandwiches and mispronunciation of words are what he wanted to experience in Orlando. LOL! At least he's easy to please. We both loved Morocco. The feel of the open air markets and the smell of incense. Steevin looked at me and said "I really like this park. We could come back here tomorrow too and I'd be okay with that." HURRAY!

After looking at belly dancing gear, we wandered until we got to Norway. YES! Maelstrom! I explained to Steevin that this would be another white knuckle thrill ride. We boarded our viking ship and rode up the hill of twirly lights, past the trolls, backwards down the hill, past the Lost polar bears and past the off-shore oil rig onto a small fishing village and then hopped off the boat. The look of confusion on Steevin's face was priceless. "So" I asked, "What did you think?" He just sputtered for a second and then finally got out, "Kinda dumb." But he scored the ride a 5 out of 10 sandwiches. He said the weirdness of the attraction bumped it up a few points. And since he survived the thrilling Maelstrom, I thought he deserved a treat. Schoolbread! Mmmmm!

We headed to Mexico and decided to relax with some Margaritas. We checked out La Cava del Tequila which was just opened for last years Food and Wine festival. Wow. Steevin got a Pineapple margarita and I tried the Avocado Margarita that the bartender suggested to me. I love margaritas. And this was the best margarita I've ever had. Steevin liked it better than his own pineapple concoction. We got a table for two and just sat and enjoyed each others company. Steevin isn't a big drinker so he was adorably toasty and giggly (I mean that in the manliest of ways...) after his drink. We explored the rest of Mexico and got a good laugh from the "authentic" Tostitos tortilla chips sold at the Pavilion. We rode the Gran Fiesta Tour which Steev gave a 6. He said the score would have been higher but he felt the ride was lacking someone trying to sell him chicle.

We were off to The Seas With Nemo and Friends which we both liked more than Disneyland's Finding Nemo Subs. It was cool because we got to see scuba drivers in the tank too! Steev said this was a 9 sandwich ride and I got to hear the cute little Nemo song at the end. We checked out the aquarium and watched the dolphins. I wanted to see the Blub Blub Manatees but they were apparently asleep. So we did the next best thing which was ride Mission Space on the Orange Team. We knew Orange Team would make Lieutenant Dan proud. This ride freaks me out a little bit because I'm claustrophobic. Okay... if freaks me out a lot. But I wanted Steev to be able to experience everything. Actually, the ride has gotten a lot easier for me to do since I've done it a few times. I even enjoyed myself. Maybe that's because I got to be commander and I loooove being in charge! Steevin loved this ride. He said it got a 10.

After spinning ourselves silly we tried sodas from around the world and then stood in a long line with lots of children to get our pictures taken with multiple characters. And it was well worth it!

Me and two Goofies

"Back off my man, Minnie!"

"Mic, you wouldn't be so friendly to him if you just saw him hitting on your lady."

We headed to the UK for Steevin's first ever Fish and Chips. I guess they don't have Fish and Chips in Colombia (which is where he was born and lived until he was 6). We both enjoyed our fish drenched in malt vinegar and watched the first part of Illuminations. Then while the crowds were entranced by the fireworks we headed into the stores to get some candy from the UK. We decided to try and get candy from each of the Countries on our next visit to Epcot. The Cast Member at the store had such a lovely accent and was super sweet. When we walked out of the store I told Steevin "I was trying to think of more questions to ask her just so I could hear her talk!" and he said he'd been trying to do the same. We headed to another store and fell in love with a stuffed purple heffalump. We got him and made him our trip masscot and named him Humphrey B. Lumpsalot. (The B stands for Bogart)

Lumpsalot enjoys some Schoolbread

Fighting over Lumpsy.

The park was closing (we stayed for Extra Magic Hours as well) so we hopped on our bus and went back to The Pop. When we got to our room there was a cute autographed picture of Mickey and Minnie waiting for us for our anniversary. So far, the trip was a success.... Steevin was loving WDW and I was loving being there with him!

Zortek · May 2, 2013

This was very confusing. I started reading and then I saw industrial test track and Kim Possible and I thought someone had just bumped an old post. Then I get to the bottom and see it was just posted. Then I scroll back up and see that the trip was 3 years ago. You either have a great memory or took really good notes. Enjoying it so far!

Betherella · May 2, 2013

Zortek said:
This was very confusing. I started reading and then I saw industrial test track and Kim Possible and I thought someone had just bumped an old post. Then I get to the bottom and see it was just posted. Then I scroll back up and see that the trip was 3 years ago. You either have a great memory or took really good notes. Enjoying it so far!

Eep! I'm so sorry to be confusing! I was worried about that. I take REALLY good notes... but I also posted this to my personal blog at the time for my family so I just have to make a few little edits here and there.

Zman-ks · May 2, 2013

In for this!

6laurac · May 2, 2013

You two are just so cute..Could be the next Disney commercial couple and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Betherella · May 2, 2013

01/30/10 Day 3: Not-Quite-Disneyland

I learned two things this morning. 1) Whatever detergent Disney uses on their sheets and towels does not agree with my sensitive skin and makes me itch like crazy. After today I would learn to wear something that covers ALL my skin while sleeping and toweling off was kept to a bare minimum (bare... get it? HA!). And 2) Getting Steev to wake up after a long day at a park is harder than getting Steev up after a long night of video games.

I did eventually sooth my skin (I have learned to keep cortizone 10 with me at all times) and got a groggy Steevin down the giant Rubix cube and into the Everything Pop. We had a delightful breakfast of chocolate filled croissants and a shared side of bacon. Don't you just love vacation food! While we were eating, Sleepy Steev watched a show about some sort of crazy green and white Space Panda who was learning to bake on the giant Everything Pop TV. I'm not sure what it was called but Steevin really enjoyed it.

Steevin and Sir. Lumpsalot head to breakfast.

Lumpsy isn't sure how he feels about bacon...

Today I was taking Steevin to the Magic Kingdom. I was interested to see how he felt about it. I think I've dragged him to Disneyland one too many times because he is just over it. I was hoping that since MK was fairly different, he might enjoy it and might enjoy the comparison. So off to the bus we went. We met a little boy on the bus who became quite enthralled by Lumpsalot. By enthralled I mean he LOVED Lumpsy and had to show his love by squeeeeeezing him and twisting his trunk. Sir Limpsalot didn't become a knight for nothing. He's a hearty heffalump and survived his "hugs". When we got off the bus we found ourselves at Magic Kingdom. We entered the gates, walked under the monstrous tunnels and onto the giant Main Street USA EAST. And then we did one of our favorite things to do which is browse the shops.

Lumpsalot and I in front of Cinderella's castle

Steevin and Lumpsy chillaxin' at the Hub

We stopped for some photopass pictures and then Steevin, Sir Lumpsalot and myself headed towards Tomorrowland. Our first stop was Stitches Great Escape. My "chair" didn't even work so most of the time if just felt like I was sitting in the dark for no good reason. (Some may argue that even if my chair had worked, experiencing Stitch is still 'no good reason'.) However, Steevin's chair worked and he enjoyed the show but said he wished he could have experienced the more intense Alien Encounter. Then it was off to MILF... I mean Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. I know its cheesy and doesn't really belong in Tomorrowland at all, I still think its a cute attraction. At least it has the potential to be different each time. Steev really enjoyed it too.

We loves each other.

"Hold on tight, Steevin!"

A Lumpsalot for me?!

It was time for a relaxing whoooosh around the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. I love that ride! After zipping around Tomorrowland Steevin indulged me and we went on Carousel of Progress. I asked him what he thought of it and he said it was "okay." OKAY?! This classic attraction, Walt's baby?! OKAY?! Then he said that he wished it had been longer. Whew! Honestly, I think he just wished it was longer so he could have sat and rested his feet for longer but I'm going to pretend it was because he enjoyed the show so much. We went to Space which it a prerequisite when visiting Tomorrowland and I guess it was nice since its refurbishment but I didn't notice too much of a difference. There is still NO leg room in the rockets... and I'm short! I can't imagine being any taller and still fitting. Steev said his feelings about Space were "meh". Disneyland "won" the Space Mountain round.

It looks... thrilling...

Our chocolate croissants from earlier in the day long gone we decided it was time for lunch. We moseyed our way over to Frontierland to get some grub at Pecos BIll's. Oh how I wish Disneyland had a place like this. Its GOOD and the toppings bar is delish. We both got burgers (though Steevin got his with BBQ sauce... ick). We also smothered our fries with nacho cheese and pepperoncinis. Mmmm!

Makes me hungry just looking at it!

With our tummies no longer rumbling we stopped in for a quick visit with Zeek and Zeb and Ted and Fred and good 'ol Tennessee at the Country Bear Jamboree. Steevin liked it okay but didn't like that he could hear the machinery from the bears. I don't know what he's talking about. Those are real bears aren't they? Either way, I couldn't hear them over my own clapping along.

It was starting to drizzle so we opted for a stop at Philharmagic. That is such a cute show! Steevin loved it. It had some of his favorite Disney movies so he was digging it. After the show we stopped to get Fastpass for Winnie the Pooh. I think Fastpass for Pooh blew Steevin's mind since top wait time for Anaheim's Pooh is 3 minutes max. As the machine dispensed our PoohPass it also gave us a surprise one for... Mickey's Phillharmagic. Oh well. With the drizzle continuing we decided to climb the Swiss Family Robinson's Treehouse and then slosh our way to Dole Whips. Steevin got the float and I got the swirl. Mmmmm! I wish we had the pineapple and vanilla swirl at Disneyland. Dole Whips are great but you add that little bit of vanilla and BAM! That is a treat and a half.

Whew! Steevin saved Sir Lumpsalot!

Drizzle, drizzle, drizzle and off to the Jungle Cruise we went. After our cruise through the jungles of Africa and Asia we decided to drag our damp selves to Pirates of the Caribbean. He asked if it was any different than Disneyland's. I told him "It's like... a clip show. Its like a "best of Pirates". Savvy? Our boat whisked us away and bing, bang, boom... we were done. I looked at Steev and his "That's it?!" face was priceless. I tried to warn him... but when you're used to the epicness of Disneyland's Pirates it is a little hard to swallow the "cliffnotes" version.

At the exit of Pirates we found some awesome sunglasses that we both liked so I got blue and Steevin got pink. The drizzle let up finally and we were re-energized by our new purchases. However that's when I realized that my camera was missing. Nooooooo! Lame! I couldn't remember the last time I'd used it that day. We went to City Hall to check but they didn't have it. I filled out paperwork and called back during out trip but we never did find the camera. I was bummed. Steevin bought it for me and it was my favorite color of blue. But we were determined not to let it dampen the day. I think we became determined to have MORE fun to make up for it. We put on our cool shades and decided to get some jollies at MILF. This proved to be a good idea because one of the guys they were "picking on" was hilarious. It gave us a mad case of the giggles.

We had our PoohPasses so we went off to bounce with Tigger. I think Steevin was feeling bad about my lost camera because he even offered to ride "it's a small world" with me. That has never happened in the history of our relationship. It was an exciting time. We rode and Steevin survived. We decided to ride The Haunted Mansion and Steevin loved it. He said he felt that the first half of Florida's attraction made everything much more cohesive. After going through the attic he said "Oooh, she killed all her husbands!" LOL! I explained that part of the ride was exactly the same as ours. Whatever the reason, The Magic Kingdom version of Haunted Mansion just makes more sense to him. He was a big fan.

Pretty view from Mansion

Where he belongs.

Food time again! Harbor house was nice and close. For some reason when we were ordering Steevin and I were talking totally in sync on accident. The Cast Member thought we were cute and asked "Are you father and daughter? I mean... together?" LOL! Steevin was not pleased because I am older than him by a few years but no one ever thinks so. And that's the way I like it. Steev had fried shrimp and I had a really yummy salad. We sat upstairs and just had a nice sit and relaxed. I really enjoy the upstairs area and looking out over Liberty Square.

We had a full day so we headed back to the Pop (after stopping one more time to see if my camera had been found, which it had not) and shared ice cream in bed. Aren't vacations awesome!?

Classic Magic Kingdom Picture

Betherella · May 2, 2013

6laurac said:
You two are just so cute..Could be the next Disney commercial couple and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Awe, thank you so much! I'm really glad he moved from "boyfriend" to "fiance" at the end of last year.

Betherella · May 3, 2013

01/31/10 Day 4: Bats and Big Cats

Sunday showed up without the drizzle the day before had shown us. But, dang! Was it ever cold. It is a well know scientific fact that the best way to warm a body up (besides tequila) is chocolate chip pancakes. So being the scientific-minded folks that we are, that is was Steevin and I had. Mmmm... pancakey goodness with pops of chocolate. MmmMmmMmm.

Once we were sufficiently warmed we stepped back out into the cold to catch our bus to the Animal Kingdom. Also arriving at the same time as us was some sort of all girl's tour group with about a million kids that we would see throughout the day. We decided to utilize every single Photopass person we could find since we don't get many pictures together. It was like having our own personal paparazzi following us around.

We met up with Flick

We were being trees...

Steevin decided our first stop of the day should be the Kilimanjaro Safari. It was a great idea on his part because there was only a five minute wait. And once we boarded our open aired and numbingly cold safari transport we were whisked off to we all the animals. They were so active. It was great! We saw animals running and playing with each other. We even saw a rhinoceros weightlifting a log with his horn. It was like Rhino Muscle Beach.

Rhino pumping iron...er...log.

"Its the ciiiiiiircle of life...."

We stopped the poachers and then wandered our way through the Pangani Forest Trail. Remember when I said it was cold? Well it still was. And it was windy. Cold and windy. But it wasn't raining. So I just put on my awesome new sunglasses I got the day before and pulled up the hood with the ears on my sweatshirt and all of a sudden... BAM! I became "Goggle Cat"! A brand new superhero. She also came with her own theme song... that I will admit sounds a lot like the theme song for Spiderman.

Oh no! A Steevin in distress!!

Goggle Cat will save you!!

And with another day saved, Goggle Cat reverts back to her alter-ego... Beth.

Anyhoo, Steev and Goggle Cat... I mean, Steevin and myself decided to get some hot tea in Africa but the line was suuuuuper long. We figured we'd skip it and head to Asia because we were going that way anyway. And Asia is known for its tea. But the tea line is Asia wasn't any better. Who cares! Its cold! We stood in line and I got some super hot chai tea and Steevin got some other sort of tea. We decided to try to find a sheltered spot away from the wind to sip our tea.

Steevin relaxes

And Beth decided to bike to Asia.

The sheltered spot we found just happened to be right in front of Expedition: Everest. It was a great spot for people watching. We warmed ourselves from the inside out as we watched the GGG Tour (Giant Gaggle of Girls) try to coordinate their ride on Everest. We could never quite tell where they were from, only that that were from a Spanish speaking place because Steevin could understand what they were saying. They were getting into line in smaller (and I use that term loosely) groups. One American family was there with their two teenage daughters waiting for the GGG Tour to get in line. The older daughter rolled her eyes, sighed loudly and gave the GGG Tour a nasty look for taking up "her" precious spot in line. Her younger sister just gave her and equally nasty look and said "Don't do that! You're such an embarrassment!" There IS hope for the youth of America.

Full of warm tea we wandered through the barely 20 minute line and hopped onto our train. Oh how I wish the yeti still moved. Will that ever be fixed? Either way the ride was freaking fantastic! In fact, Steevin loved it so much that he requested we get a Fastpass for it. So we did. And then we realized his awesome pink sunglasses were missing. Oops... left them on the ride. We went back and they had them at the Photo Pick-up in the shop already. YAY Disney! Sunglasses securely atop Steev's head, we decided it was time for the "tourist trap" that is Dino-land. It was still freezing but little bits of sun were starting to peek through the clouds.

I don't know why, but I love me some Primeval Whirl. I forewarned Steevin that it was cheesy and not the best themed attraction but that it was fun. We rode with two ladies from Canada and we blamed them for the cold weather. And then we swirled our way through the crazy mouse coaster through time and space and whatnot for dino-type-stuff or something... I'm not really sure if there is a story to the ride. After our ride we went to the shop to warm up again... and to look for gloves but it appears that Animal Kingdom only provides gloves for children. LOL! Since there were no adult gloves to be found we decided to ride Indy... I mean Dinosaur. We traversed through the Toaster Oven of Time and past some dino's. Steevin kept tabs on where we SHOULD be in comparison to Indy. Our picture at the end was priceless. I knew where the picture was so I posed and looked "realistically" scared... Steevin just looked grossed out at the dino. "Ew... Dinosaur!"

"w00t! w00t! I survived extinction!"

No Steev! Don't get eaten!!!

"Ew.... dinosaur!"

As we exited Dinosaur we realized we were just in time to see the Nemo show. Being a party of two is great. We were able to find seating close up at lots of shows because we didn't need to try and fit in a family of 12. The show was cute, but we were starving once it was over so we went to the Yack and Yeti quick service. The CM there was great. Steevin accidentally tried to give him our Photopass card to pay for lunch and the CM remarked that he'd only be able to provide us a picture of our food if we paid that way. We had our food very fast, and it was hot and good. We huddled away from the wind at the backside of the restaurant and tried to hold down our napkins. Yum! That certainly hit the spot.

Sir Lumpsalot is excited for food. Check out the napkins blowing away!

We headed back to Everest to use our Fastpass and had another great ride. Then we headed off to the Maharajah Jungle Trek to see the huge bats and sweet big cats. Is it weird that I find the giant bats with wingspans as long as I am tall kind of cute?? Yes, their leather wings are a bit creepy but they have really cute bodies and faces. Yeah. Okay, its weird. Next up were the tigers. They look so regal. I really want to just curl up with one. It was like watching a giant version of Mable (world's cutest cat ever, remember?) out there frolicking and playing. I posed as Goggle Cat next to a wall painting of tigers much to the amusement of an older gentleman who kept talking to us for the rest of the trek because he could tell we were awesome. And I missed this but Steevin told me later that two girls commented to each other that I look like Lady Gaga. LOL

Nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh BATMAN!

RAWR!

Lady Gaga Goggle Cat?

We decided to do the Safari one more time before it was time to leave. There was practically no line and they just sent us through the fastpass line so we wouldn't have to walk as far. It was a good ride but the animals were taking it easy compared to earlier in the morning. We stopped in every shop on the way out and then hopped a bus to... Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had dinner reservations at Boma a little later. We stopped at the bar and had some delightful drinks. I had one called Pineapple Flambe which was pineapple something with a kick of habanero. YUM! And Steevin got a Pina Colava. Then we got a hummus appetizer and I got a Habanero Chilie-Lime Margarita and Steevin liked my Pineapple Flambe so much that he got his own. Both the hummus and the drinks were great. We got our picture taken by a photopass guy who had lots of nice lighting equipment and then it was time to eat.

My man drinks Pina Coladas

Sophistication? Sure... I can pretend!

Hanging out at the Animal Kingdom Lodge

<3

Boma is so delicious with its African inspired food. And the desserts! Eeee! We ordered coffee with our desserts. Steevin really liked this coffee flavored dessert of some kind and WOW! The peanut butter mousse on a peanut brittle crust thing was the most heavenly thing I have ever placed on my mouth. If I didn't like ANYTHING else at that meal (which isn't true... I did)... that dessert alone may have convinced me to go back. Psh... everyone always talks about the damned Zebra Domes. Zebra Domes who? It was ALL about that peanut butter mousse. No kidding. Put down the Zebra and go for the Mousse.

After dinner we had to take the bus back to Downtown Disney where we planned to then hop on the bus to the Pop from there. Except it turned out that it was the SAME bus so we decided (read: I made Steevin because I was embarrassed to get right back on) to browse the shops a bit before heading back to our hotel for the night.

EmmabaRose · May 3, 2013

Haha you guys sound so much like my fiancé and I as a couple, especially the part about him being the Disney tolerated. XD also, we have a trip in 18 days,NAND I kept telling we don't have to do it if he doesn't enjoy it, and got exactly the same response XD men.

We are booking lots of stuff last minute too, hopefully hotel tomorrow! Glad to see you can pull it off, I am stressing less now. XD

WDW_Princess24 · May 4, 2013

I LOVE this! You guys are absolutely adorable and you can tell how much fun you have together as a couple, so awesome!

farrellbarrel · May 4, 2013

This very cute!

Betherella · May 4, 2013

EmmabaRose said:
Haha you guys sound so much like my fiancé and I as a couple, especially the part about him being the Disney tolerated. XD also, we have a trip in 18 days,NAND I kept telling we don't have to do it if he doesn't enjoy it, and got exactly the same response XD men.

We are booking lots of stuff last minute too, hopefully hotel tomorrow! Glad to see you can pull it off, I am stressing less now. XD

I hope you got a good deal! As much as I love planning a WDW trip, I think the last minute surprise trips are some of the best! You'll have to let me know how your fiance liked the trip.

WDW_Princess24 said:
I LOVE this! You guys are absolutely adorable and you can tell how much fun you have together as a couple, so awesome!

Thank you! We do have a lot of fun together and really enjoy spending time together.

farrellbarrel said:
This very cute!

Thank you! I've got more coming.

Betherella · May 4, 2013

02/01/10 Day 5: Rainy Day at the Studios

After three days of go go go, our bodies were ready for a break. We slept in, and it felt good. Real good! Since we had early lunch plans we decided to skip breakfast this morning. Instead we shared a Curly Wurly we had purchased at Epcot on our first day. Breakfast of champions! Our morning sugar rush well under way we headed for MGM... er... Disney's Hollywood Studios. I called it MGM so many times on this trip, that Steevin started calling it that too.

As soon as we stepped off the bus, the clouds just began to dump rain. Oh well, what's a little rain. I lived 13 years of my life in Seattle, I could handle it. Our first ride of the day was Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. We waited no time at all. Soon Steven Tyler was inviting us to see their show. We went out the door and through the "rock-n-roll tough" alley. We stepped into our Stretch Cadillac Limo. Is it just me or is this the MOST uncomfortable roller coaster seat ever? And the most awkward to get out of. Anyway... ZOOOOOM! We were off! Steevin gracelessly climbs out of the ride and proclaims it his "most favorite ride ever"!

Just because its raining doesn't mean we can't wear sunglasses

That look on Steev's face is called "Pure Enjoyment"

We shopped for a bit at the exit gift shop and Steevin got me a pair of super-cool Mickey Dice for Goldie Hyundai (my car). As we left the store, the rains had stopped and there was a little speck of blue peeping from behind the clouds. YES!!! I took off my sweatshirt and stuffed it in the backpack. We posed for a Photopass guy, walked two steps and then it promptly began raining again. UGH! I fumbled around for my sweatshirt again and put it back on. I will just say, a pre-moistened sweatshirt is not comfortable to put back on. LOL! We headed to The Great Movie Ride. Wheee! When we got off, Steevin looked at me like I was crazy for loving it. Psh... he was just mad because I didn't warn him about the Wizard of Oz part and he despises that movie. Well its his fault for refusing to know anything about the rides before going on them. LOL!

Rock on!

As we left the Chinese Theater the "rain" we experienced earlier had turned into a downright monsoon. We darted from shop to shop like everyone else in the whole park to stay dry and mostly just managed to get annoyed by the overcrowding of the stores and rubbing up against other wet tourists. Thankfully it was time for our reservations at the 50's Prime Time cafe. We swam over there and checked in. We sat in the awesome 50's themed living room until "Mom" called us to lunch. I think this place would be SO much fun with a large group... like my noisy family. I'm sure the waitstaff would have an awesome time. Apparently I was very thirsty because I downed my diet coke and our waiter brought me three glasses more at once. We got onion rings for an appetizer. They came with this horseradish sauce that was amazing. I asked for more of it for my pot roast and Steevs had fried chicken that was honestly about half a chicken. It was WAY more food than one person needed.

We walked off our lunch by strolling and wading through the rain all the way to Lights, Motors, Action! THe theater wasn't full but everyone gravitated to the drier seats in the middle. The show was loud and awesome even though they had to drive slower than usual due the the extra slick conditions. Nothing says Disney fun like a man on fire! Am I right?! Yay, fire!! We headed over to the Backlot Tour. I have to say that I think this is one of Disney's weakest attractions. Maybe it was better, you know, when it used to actually be USED as a STUDIO. They need to find a way to keep Catastrophe Canyon and use it for something else because that is prime land that could be used for something a lot more exciting that looking at a costuming warehouse that isn't being used and the old spaceship Max from "Flight of the Navigator". (And I am saying that as someone who loves that movie.) Still, Catastrophe Canyon was as catastrophic as always and again, I do love the fire! The crazy thing was that it was raining so hard it was really difficult to tell when they turned on the "rain" for the set.

Earful Tower!

Goggle Cat and the fountain from Splash which was one of my favorite movies as a kid

Giant Speak and Spell. How fitting because Steev can't speak and I can't spell.

We canoed our way to the Beauty and the Beast stage show. Steevin's favorite Disney Princess ever is Belle. And who doesn't love themselves some Gaston? Steevin and I do, that's for sure. Steevin and Gaston both love to look at themselves in the mirror. If I lose Steev at the Mall, I just go back to the last mirror I remember passing and I usually find Steev there, checking himself out. LOL! The show was cute. You have to adjust from being used to seeing the HUGE productions they put on at Anaheim (like Aladdin) and get used to the smaller scale they do their shows at in Florida but once you do that its enjoyable.

Since we were in the are we hit up Rock 'n' Roller Coaster again and then headed over to Indy. It was a shorter show than usual. Because of the rain they had to cut out the "airplane" scene. As we exited the show, we realized that it had stopped raining again. We spent the next 2 hours on the Streets of America taking pictures of ourselves because we hadn't really gotten to take the camera out much with all the rain. We had the best time just being goofy and hanging out together. There was almost no one there. The rain scared a lot of people away and it was almost closing time (though there was Extra Magic Hours) so it was like we had the whole area to ourselves. When we finally finished, we walked past a Cast Member working at "Youse Guys Moychundice" (my most favorite name for a shop ever!) who asked if we had a good time taking all the pictures. LOL! So we had Cast Member Brandon in a picture with us too.

"Look! I'm a Jedi!"

Chillaxin' on the stoop

Love across a fence

"Carry me!" "Oof, you're heavy!"

Sappy but super-cute heart shot

Awesome Cast Member Shot

On our way out of the park we took a picture of the Big Hat and then rode the Great Movie Ride one more time. We were hungry and it was begining to rain again so we smooshed our wet selves onto the bus to the Pop and ate dinner at the Everything Pop before calling it a night.

A magical day!

awhit066 · May 6, 2013

Great report! Your pics are so fun!

Betherella · May 6, 2013

awhit066 said:
Great report! Your pics are so fun!

Thank you! We love photography and this was early in our relationship so I was hoping the photo's wouldn't be too poor as we hadn't gotten very good yet.

Betherella · May 6, 2013

02/02/10 Day 6: Epcot-tastic!

Yaaawn! We had been playing hard so when today rolled around we just slept in, watched cartoons and snuggled. When we were finally ready to get moving, we skipped breakfast and headed straight for Epcot. Our most favorite park of all! We headed straight for Ellen's Energy Adventure since it had been closed by the time we made it over there on our first day at Epcot. I think this is such a cute ride. Steevin enjoyed how Disney seemed to use so many different attractions to tell the story. He also thinks that on top of all the other guest stars in the attraction that Toby McGuire also makes an appearance. LOL!

Excited to be back at Epcot!

We went to the World Showcase to the Mexican Pavilion because we had seen some rings there on our first day and we wanted to check them out. They were awesome rings that could be engraved. We decided we wanted them but we weren't sure exactly what we wanted on them. Our names? Each others names? Mable's name? (okay that wasn't really ever one of our thoughts) We told the guy working the booth that we'd be back but we had to decide what we wanted. We turned around, walked about 10 steps and then figured it out and ran back to get them. LOL! We decided to buy each other sterling silver rings with "BE(heart)ST" engraved in them. (Its a portmanteau of our names... BEth and STeevin). We placed our orders and paid for them. Woo hoo! Cool! We were told to return later in the day to pick them up. While we were in Mexico we decided to start our tradition of getting candy from each country. I found these wafer thingies with dulce de leche called Obleas that made Steevin very excited because it reminded him of a Colombian dessert very similar. Only Colombians call dulce de leche "arequipe". And now you've learned something for the day. We purchased that treats and stashed them away in the backpack for later.

"Catch me!" I really like sneak attack jumps into Steevin's arms.

We decided to get lunch, since we'd missed breakfast, while we were waiting for our rings. We skipped on over to Morocco where we ran into Aladdin and Jasmine. They both loved our sunglasses so much that they wore them for a picture with us. It was super cute! After we said goodbye to our new friends, Al and Jazz, we went to the Tangerine Cafe. I got the Lamb Wrap and Steevin had the Falafel wrap. Both were delish. After food we explored the area and looked for candy but there was none to be had. So we headed back to Mexico and picked up our rings that were done. Wheeee! They looked awesome! They turned out super cute (or manly in Steevin's case). Money well spent.

Jazz and Al are SO hip in our shades!

We made our way to France. I stopped and got a Kir Royal in honor of my pop's because he loves them so much. Its champagne with kir liqueur drizzled into it. It makes the champagne all yummy and sweet. So I forked over $13 for a pink glass of champagne and then Steevin tasted mine and decided he wanted his own. We toasted to our awesomeness. Steevin thought mine tasted better but they tasted the same to me. I think he just likes what I have. After our $26 with of fancy booze we searched France for candies and they had plenty! Of course! We picked out some that looked like they'd pleasure our palate and stashed them for later.

The city of looooove

Kir Royal is supurb

Colombian in Paris!

Steevin and I needed a little snack so we stopped at a little stand between countries and got empanadas and tostones (which are smashed, fried plantains). It reminded Steevin of Colombia and he said it was like his comfort food. It was really good and very cheap! We just sat, relaxed and people watched for about an hour. There were seagulls everywhere. There was a family with a little girl that walked by. The little girl was holding a giant box of popcorn. The seagulls started following here and swooping around her. She started to shriek and run, but as she ran she dropped more and more popcorn so it was whipping the birds into a frenzy around her which caused her to run more and spill more. Oh my word, it was one of the funniest things we'd ever seen. We both laughed so hard.

Once we were all rested up we went to Norway for School Bread and some other dessert called... something with a V and the word maiden. Velvet? Venetian? Voluptuous? I'm going with Voluptuous Maiden. It had some apple and stuff. It was good but nothing beats School Bread and coffee. As we sat enjoying our treat, the sun finally burst through the clouds. It was gorgeous. Sure it was getting close to sunset but it was SO beautiful. We left the seating area to go stand by the water and soak up the sun.

France aglow.

I felt recharged with uv rays so we headed to Canada where I was super disappointed to discover they no longer sold the delicious maple sugar candy I love so much. Screw you Canada Pavilion! (Though your Cast Members were very nice) We didn't get any candy there because the only other candy they had there was the exact same candy they had in the UK Pavilion and we already had that. After I cried my heart out at not being able to get my maple sugar fix, we ran into Tigger and Pooh!

So we left the World Showcase to ride Nemo again. "In the big blue wooooorld!" We had an awesome time looking at the rest of the sea life after the ride. We learned that seahorses mate for life and that the males carry the babies. I tried to convince Steevin that we should try things that way but he wasn't having it. Pft... doesn't want to be pregnant himself. What a wimp! Steev was especially excited by the sea urchin sitting on top of a giant hermit crab with other smaller hermit crabs on top of the urchin. He talked about it for days. LOL!

Steev's urchin sandwich

We got our pictures taken with Bruce the Shark but Steev had to be a show-off and put himself in a precarious position because he thought it would be funny if he let his legs dangle out of the shark's mouth. And then I couldn't get the stupid camera to focus. And there was a line building. And I started to get a case of the giggles at the whole situation which made focusing even harder. Finally I got a picture and Steevin got a bruise. LOL! At least we entertained the lady next to me who also took a picture of Steevin because she liked our antics so much.

Those shark teeth really do hurt... Just ask Steevin. LOL!

We rode the weird ride I call Figment and the Creepy Eric Idle Moon. Steevin enjoyed conducting the music at the "Kodak area" after the ride. It was just about the only thing that worked in that whole area. The gift shop had some super cute Figment t-shirts but none of them seemed just right for me. Steev said he'd create me one that was perfect so YAY!

It was night time and Steev wanted to get a panoramic photo of the Showcase so we headed back to a spot he saw earlier and commenced picture taking. We met a family there that asked Steevin to take their picture. Steevin took their picture and realized he could read the buttons on the camera even though they weren't in English. LOL! So he asked where they were from and they were Argentinian. So Steevin shared secrets with them in their secret language... Spanish. They could have all been ploting to take over the world together for all I know. This is why I've started taking Spanish. No more secrets from me! LOL

We left Epcot after that and headed to Downtown Disney for one last meal at Earl of Sandwich. Steevin was very excited to learn that he could as Pineapple to ANY sandwich there so he got an Italian with pinapple. (eeeew.... warm pinapple!) and I got a caprese sans any pineapple. After we had sandwiches in our tummies we went souvineer shopping before calling it a night and heading back to the Pop.

We always have so much fun!

<3

First Trip to WDW as a Couple!

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