(***Looking for J.T.? Wait 'till you see the pictures, then you'll get it. At least that's what we've been told...***)
Allow me to re-introduce myself.(Quoting Jay-Z there, btw. I realize I might lose some of you at this instant.
Be strong... stay with me!)
I say "re-introduce" because 1) it's the proper quote from Jay-Z's Public Service Announcement (Interlude) and 2) though I've read MANY trip reports and visited the World countless times, I've never had the pleasure of writing my own TP.
SO, here we go. Please bear with me, I'm still learning. All of my photos and videos are from my iPhone, and I'm still learning the in's and out's of formatting, etc.
It seems it's commonplace to begin by introducing myself and my trip companions. More often than not, I'm traveling the World with my BF of 7 years, Phillip. We both have AP's and live in Florida, so we're here almost once a month. (I know, isn't it grand?!)
Here we are in front of TOT: (this picture sums us up pretty well. Phil in his Grateful Dead t-shirt and Phish sunglasses, me in my...uh... tank top and jeans? And oh yeah, here's where Justin comes in. Phil is told ALL THE TIME that he looks like J.T. I guess I can see it...
Intro pics by GatorAsh11, on Flickr
And a close-up (with EE in the background)
Intro pics by GatorAsh11, on Flickr
These pictures are from our first trip as APers. A little background for you...
I was born and raised outside of Houston, Texas and moved to West Palm Beach, Florida in 1996. While living there, I visited WDW a handful of times. My family and I then moved a bit north to Melbourne, Florida. While here, we had Season Passes.This was in high school and my friends and I had just gotten our driver's licenses, so we would jet over to Disney pretty often. I went to the University of Florida (Go Gators!) where I met my honey. After I graduated, my family moved up north to Connecticut (while still owning our Florida house, but renting it out). BF had another year of college left, so I followed my parents northward to see what life above the Mason-Dixon line had to offer. We ended up being there for four years; the winters really began to take their toll on me and my mom, so we came back to our place in Melbourne.
While living up there, I realized just how much I LOVED WDW and missed it so. I didn't visit WDW once during those four years (from 2006-2010), so you can imagine how surprised I was at all of the changes that took place at the parks in that time. Upon our return to Florida in August 2010, I made reservations for BF and me to go to MNNSHP. One night at one of the All-Stars, and just the party. Ha, who was I kidding! Once I had a taste, I needed more, MORE!! (insert crazy scientist evil laughter here)
I remember waking up the morning after MNSSHP, while Phil was still asleep, and beginning to brainstorm a grand scheme. When he woke up, I started by suggesting we visit another park that day. When he agreed to that, I mentioned how we could apply the price of that day's admission to an AP, and how Florida Residents had the option of doing a monthly payment plan. Phil is a 'numbers guy,' so we discussed how we could get our money's worth (how often we'd need to visit, parking included in the pass, discounts for APers, etc.) Once he saw the value of it (I mean really, with a single day one park ticket pushing $90, we'd just have to park hop to all four parks in a weekend and it would more than pay for itself.)
I was giddy with excitement. We called Reservations and extended our stay for another night, then headed off to Animal Kingdom to begin our year of magic. Maybe that's why AK holds such a special place in my heart
Now that I've rambled on, here's another picture of us without our shades.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/92113941@N05/8374525287/]
[/url]
Intro pics by GatorAsh11, on Flickr
BF grew up in Florida, and therefor visited the World a couple of times as a kid. But he'd never gotten to know and love it like I did. I'd been for Night of Joy, Grad Night (did you know that Florida high school seniors get to go to Disney for a special night of fun? Oh man, it was awesome!) and just plain ol' Disney trips, so I knew all it had to offer. Plus, while living in CT, I read Disney travel books to get my fix and learned more about the parks and such.
Has he turned into a Disney lover? Well, hard to say. He enjoys going. He really does. But the crowds frustrate him, along with the 'drink-the-Kool Aid' mentality that can surround Disney. You know, the "everything's great because it's Disney don't ever say a bad thing about it and oh yeah, send a lot of money while you're at it" mindset that some Disney-philes have? Come on, I know you know what I'm talkin' about (and remember, I'm a HUGE fan!) But cynicism aside, he really likes it. I guess I should add that he lives in Tallahassee and I'm in Melbourne, so another reason he enjoys it is because it's often when we see each other. It's kind of a meet-in-the-middle point for us (although, MUCH closer to me), but it's where we often rendezvous for a long weekend. So if Disney = seeing me, he likes Disney.
Our touring style is to play it by ear and do what we feel like doing. We often sleep in (because we keep late nights, especially when EMH's allow us to do so.) We stroll through parks (LOVE to have a beer while walking AK's Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, or Resort-hop and test out the lounges, or sit at GF with a drink and people watch, or traverse World Showcase at a leisurely pace) and rarely make ADR's. I guess our thinking is that'd we'd better enjoy this freedom and flexibility before we have children and begin making the trips with them, when we're going to have to bring a lot more stuff and schedule our day around a small human being and it's needs when that time comes (P.S.- I teach Kindergarten and LOVE kids. I'm responsible for meeting the needs of 18 five-year-olds, 8 hours a day, 10 months of the year. I love what I do and can't wait to have a family, but I appreciate the down time that I have now. )
Another thing you might notice is that there is often an adult beverage in many of our pictures. Like I said, we went to the University of Florida, affectionately known as "a drinking town with a football problem." Look, they even make shirts that say so!
$(KGrHqRHJE0FB5SHlJU7BQke44!Bgg~~60_57 by GatorAsh11, on Flickr
Needless to say, we enjoyed our college years, and have a fairly high tolerance for alcohol. We're not as young as we used to be, and we're not stupid. We don't party hearty and get wasted in the parks- we respect the families and CM's and would never jeopardize ourselves or others. BUT we also know that WDW has a fantastic selection of drinks, and it's a great place to try new things. BF is a beer and wine aficionado, so we enjoy seeing what we can find. And anyway, have you ever been to the Food and Wine Festival? Talk about people who over-indulge! So what I guess I'm saying is, don't judge. Like I said, we're young and enjoying the World at this time of our lives before moving on to the next phase and enjoying what that has to offer.
Okay, you're still with me? You must really like me! I'm going to start with our most recent trip and work back from there. We also have a trip planned for February, so hopefully I'm get a few completed before gearing up for that one.
Thanks for reading, and thanks to all of you for your inspiration to write these. It's good to know I'm not alone in my Disney obsession.
Cheers!
Allow me to re-introduce myself.(Quoting Jay-Z there, btw. I realize I might lose some of you at this instant.
Be strong... stay with me!)I say "re-introduce" because 1) it's the proper quote from Jay-Z's Public Service Announcement (Interlude) and 2) though I've read MANY trip reports and visited the World countless times, I've never had the pleasure of writing my own TP.
SO, here we go. Please bear with me, I'm still learning. All of my photos and videos are from my iPhone, and I'm still learning the in's and out's of formatting, etc.
It seems it's commonplace to begin by introducing myself and my trip companions. More often than not, I'm traveling the World with my BF of 7 years, Phillip. We both have AP's and live in Florida, so we're here almost once a month. (I know, isn't it grand?!)
Here we are in front of TOT: (this picture sums us up pretty well. Phil in his Grateful Dead t-shirt and Phish sunglasses, me in my...uh... tank top and jeans?
And oh yeah, here's where Justin comes in. Phil is told ALL THE TIME that he looks like J.T. I guess I can see it...Intro pics by GatorAsh11, on Flickr
And a close-up (with EE in the background)
Intro pics by GatorAsh11, on Flickr
These pictures are from our first trip as APers. A little background for you...
I was born and raised outside of Houston, Texas and moved to West Palm Beach, Florida in 1996. While living there, I visited WDW a handful of times. My family and I then moved a bit north to Melbourne, Florida. While here, we had Season Passes.This was in high school and my friends and I had just gotten our driver's licenses, so we would jet over to Disney pretty often. I went to the University of Florida (Go Gators!) where I met my honey. After I graduated, my family moved up north to Connecticut (while still owning our Florida house, but renting it out). BF had another year of college left, so I followed my parents northward to see what life above the Mason-Dixon line had to offer. We ended up being there for four years; the winters really began to take their toll on me and my mom, so we came back to our place in Melbourne.
While living up there, I realized just how much I LOVED WDW and missed it so. I didn't visit WDW once during those four years (from 2006-2010), so you can imagine how surprised I was at all of the changes that took place at the parks in that time. Upon our return to Florida in August 2010, I made reservations for BF and me to go to MNNSHP. One night at one of the All-Stars, and just the party. Ha, who was I kidding! Once I had a taste, I needed more, MORE!! (insert crazy scientist evil laughter here)
I remember waking up the morning after MNSSHP, while Phil was still asleep, and beginning to brainstorm a grand scheme. When he woke up, I started by suggesting we visit another park that day. When he agreed to that, I mentioned how we could apply the price of that day's admission to an AP, and how Florida Residents had the option of doing a monthly payment plan. Phil is a 'numbers guy,' so we discussed how we could get our money's worth (how often we'd need to visit, parking included in the pass, discounts for APers, etc.) Once he saw the value of it (I mean really, with a single day one park ticket pushing $90, we'd just have to park hop to all four parks in a weekend and it would more than pay for itself.)
I was giddy with excitement. We called Reservations and extended our stay for another night, then headed off to Animal Kingdom to begin our year of magic. Maybe that's why AK holds such a special place in my heart
Now that I've rambled on, here's another picture of us without our shades.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/92113941@N05/8374525287/]
Intro pics by GatorAsh11, on Flickr
BF grew up in Florida, and therefor visited the World a couple of times as a kid. But he'd never gotten to know and love it like I did. I'd been for Night of Joy, Grad Night (did you know that Florida high school seniors get to go to Disney for a special night of fun? Oh man, it was awesome!) and just plain ol' Disney trips, so I knew all it had to offer. Plus, while living in CT, I read Disney travel books to get my fix and learned more about the parks and such.
Has he turned into a Disney lover? Well, hard to say. He enjoys going. He really does. But the crowds frustrate him, along with the 'drink-the-Kool Aid' mentality that can surround Disney. You know, the "everything's great because it's Disney don't ever say a bad thing about it and oh yeah, send a lot of money while you're at it" mindset that some Disney-philes have? Come on, I know you know what I'm talkin' about (and remember, I'm a HUGE fan!) But cynicism aside, he really likes it. I guess I should add that he lives in Tallahassee and I'm in Melbourne, so another reason he enjoys it is because it's often when we see each other. It's kind of a meet-in-the-middle point for us (although, MUCH closer to me), but it's where we often rendezvous for a long weekend. So if Disney = seeing me, he likes Disney.
Our touring style is to play it by ear and do what we feel like doing. We often sleep in (because we keep late nights, especially when EMH's allow us to do so.) We stroll through parks (LOVE to have a beer while walking AK's Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, or Resort-hop and test out the lounges, or sit at GF with a drink and people watch, or traverse World Showcase at a leisurely pace) and rarely make ADR's. I guess our thinking is that'd we'd better enjoy this freedom and flexibility before we have children and begin making the trips with them, when we're going to have to bring a lot more stuff and schedule our day around a small human being and it's needs when that time comes
(P.S.- I teach Kindergarten and LOVE kids. I'm responsible for meeting the needs of 18 five-year-olds, 8 hours a day, 10 months of the year. I love what I do and can't wait to have a family, but I appreciate the down time that I have now. )Another thing you might notice is that there is often an adult beverage in many of our pictures. Like I said, we went to the University of Florida, affectionately known as "a drinking town with a football problem." Look, they even make shirts that say so!
$(KGrHqRHJE0FB5SHlJU7BQke44!Bgg~~60_57 by GatorAsh11, on Flickr
Needless to say, we enjoyed our college years, and have a fairly high tolerance for alcohol. We're not as young as we used to be, and we're not stupid. We don't party hearty and get wasted in the parks- we respect the families and CM's and would never jeopardize ourselves or others. BUT we also know that WDW has a fantastic selection of drinks, and it's a great place to try new things. BF is a beer and wine aficionado, so we enjoy seeing what we can find. And anyway, have you ever been to the Food and Wine Festival? Talk about people who over-indulge! So what I guess I'm saying is, don't judge. Like I said, we're young and enjoying the World at this time of our lives before moving on to the next phase and enjoying what that has to offer.
Okay, you're still with me? You must really like me!
I'm going to start with our most recent trip and work back from there. We also have a trip planned for February, so hopefully I'm get a few completed before gearing up for that one. Thanks for reading, and thanks to all of you for your inspiration to write these. It's good to know I'm not alone in my Disney obsession.
Cheers!
