A Jolly Holiday 3/23 - 3/30

One Lil Spark · May 12, 2009

Love your TR! It's not finished, is it?

Fashionista007 · May 15, 2009

Thanks

I haven't gotten around to finishing this TR yet. I've been plagued by a little black rain cloud following me around and bringing bad luck with it. I'll finish it soon!

erstwo · May 15, 2009

I too am really enjoying it! Look forward to more!

Your story about your mom brought tears to my eyes!

sleepybear · May 16, 2009

Great report so far, and what a nice thing for your mother to do for you (and for you to do in return.) I have a question, though: Where in AK is that toroise? I've never seen turtles there before and am astonished there's something at Ak I've missed.

Also, Columbia Harbor House is great, especially the second floor, which has nice views of both Liberty Square and Fantasyland.

DisneyPrincess5 · May 16, 2009

Great report!!!
Glad you had a good time...thanks for the pictures!

Fashionista007 · May 28, 2009

sleepybear said:
Where in AK is that toroise? I've never seen turtles there before and am astonished there's something at Ak I've missed.

I'm can't exactly remember where the tortoise was but I remember it being near the front of the park along the path to the Tree of Life.

Thanks all for your comments. I'm finally getting geared up to finish my TR!

Fashionista007 · May 28, 2009

Day 5 (Friday, March 27, 2009):

On Friday we went back to EPCOT. Jason woke up early and went to the park to get fastpasses for Soarin but we didn’t know that I needed to use my ticket to get into the park in order to get a fastpass. He got there right when the park opened and got a fastpass for 10:30AM. By the time my Mom and I got there at 10:30AM the fastpass times were all the way up to 5:30PM. Jason gave his pass to Mom and the two of us got passes for 5:30PM. Soarin was definitely the most crowded ride. It was even more crowded than TSM! We waited for my Mom to see how she liked it and she came out absolutely beaming. When we rode it later, we knew why! I really wish Disney would sell candles of all the smells. The orange grove and sea smell stand out in my mind the most. Next time I ride it, I want to be in the top row. We rode it twice on our trip; once in the middle, and once on the bottom (worst). I’ve been a big fan of Patrick Warburton since Seinfeld but now I love him even more!! I loved him in The Emperor’s New Groove and I recently found out he’s also a character in Kim Possible.

We spent the morning in Future World and caught the best attractions:
Mission Space with Lieutenant Dan – always enjoyable! I always ride the orange version, I have no need to ever ride the green version.
Spaceship Earth – I loved the update with Dame Judy Dench but at the end our picture didn’t come up so we couldn’t email it to ourselves L Booo!
Innoventions – I did not like the updates to this. I liked it much better the old way. The new attractions were very kiddie and uninteresting to me.

Before we went to World Showcase we picked up our Kim Possible pass. I had heard many good things about that attraction on this forum and I promised Jason it would be fun. He was skeptical to say the least. More on that later in the day…

Some awesome pictures of the Flower & Garden festival:

[FONT=&quot]View of the lagoon from the Canada Pavilion:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Beautiful waterfall in Canada, if you look closely you can see the rainbow at the bottom of the falls:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]As we walked around the showcase, we decided to try some drinks from each country. First I had a Grand Marnier Orange Slush in France (as described on the Travel Channel by Samantha Brown). Worth every penny of my $9. Jason had the Grey Goose Lemon Slush which was also worth every penny of his $9. We sat on a bench in France and watched as a performer climbed up a stack of chairs and did a handstand at the top:[/FONT]

Fashionista007 · May 28, 2009

We made our way to Italy where we began our Kim Possible World Showcase adventure. Our first mission was in Germany so we made our way there and got sidetracked by all the different beers! First we shared a Kronenbourg in France, then a Moretti in Italy. I can’t remember the name of the beer we had in Germany, we were pretty tipsy by then!
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Gotta love the fountain:

[/FONT] Lady And The Tramp in the Italy Pavilion:

I am so glad that you guys influenced me to do the Kim Possible attraction. If I hadn’t read so many good things about it on this site, I would never have done it. It is simply the best attraction in all of WDW right now and the most technologically advanced. I fell in love with it when we were in Germany and had to push a button on the phone to make a set of steins sing and dance! We spent about 4 hours on this attraction and we only did 2 out of the 7 (I think?) missions. At the end of the mission in Germany we couldn’t believe that a simple push of a button on a cell phone made a tower door open up and we saw the villain running around. People around us were wondering what was going on and Jason said (drunkenly) “See that? I did that!” After we completed the Germany mission, we headed off to the Norway mission. During that one, you push the button on your kimmunicator and there’s a hidden camera that takes your picture and SENDS IT TO YOUR PHONE! That blew my mind. We talked to a CM at the end of the Norway mission because we knew we didn’t have time to do any other missions but we wanted to come back later. He said that the missions you have completed are saved on your resort pass so that the next time you come back (on the same trip) you get a different mission. Simply amazing! This is the attraction that we have talked about the most since we’ve been back. I even started TiVo-ing Kim Possible but the show is not as good as the attraction (even though Patrick Warburton is in it!).
Now on to more World Showcase fun! We caught a showing of O Canada (that song always gets stuck in my head!), Grand Fiesta Tour (brand new to me, it was River Of Time the last time I was there), and Maelstrom.

Jason in another funny hat:

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Picture of China:[/FONT]

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Jason is obsessed with ducks. We took many pictures and we sat and watched them for awhile:[/FONT]

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Momma and her babies:[/FONT]

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We did so much in EPCOT that day that we ended up not eating dinner (mistake!). After Illuminations, we went back to the hotel but we didn’t end up staying there long. We’re both big video game fans so we wanted to see Disney Quest. In all the years I’ve been going to WDW, I had never been there because no one else in my family has ever wanted to go. I wish we had more time there because it was AWESOME. When you walk in, you think you’re getting into a normal elevator but then the lights go out and Genie comes on the screen to send you on a magic carpet ride. Everything Disney does amazes me. Their attention to detail is astounding. They could have easily just put a regular elevator there but that just wouldn’t have been as magical!

[FONT=&quot]Getting ready for Cyberspace Mountain with Bill Nye the Science Guy![/FONT]

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I’m not the biggest fan of thrill rides and I don’t normally like to be upside down. Jason programmed our roller coaster with 3 loops and countless barrel rolls. He got a 5 on the thrill meter which is very high. I was about to leave when the CM said that there’s an emergency stop button so I gave it a whirl. I think that since it was a simulator and the upside down movements are in such a confined space I felt safer than I would have on a thrill ride at Six Flags. I loved every minute of it!

We only got to spend about 45 minutes in DQ before it closed but we did the highest rated attractions: Pirates of The Caribbean – wicked awesome from a gaming perspective. I just wish we had more people manning the ship than the two of us. I think we would have gotten more pirate booty!
Jungle Cruise – I don’t think we understood this one. We paddled and paddled but the boat kind of floated along regardless of what we were doing.

Next time I definitely want to spend more time in DQ. I hear they have old school arcade games like Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong!

As I mentioned earlier, we were so busy that we forgot to eat dinner and by this point it was midnight and we were starving. I thought the Contemporary Café was open 24/7 (it used to be!) but it was closed when we got back to the hotel around 12:30AM. We had a vending machine dinner and went to bed pretty hungry

Lesson learned!
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More to follow![/FONT]

Fashionista007 · May 28, 2009

Day 6 (Saturday, March 28, 2009):

I was very excited for Saturday because I had made plans to see an old friend from high school that moved to Orlando in 1997. I hadn’t seen her in 11 years!

We met up at the Contemporary and decided to go to AK for the day. It was so good to see her!

More fun with ducks:

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Cool Caribbean band:[/FONT]

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We had a pretty low key day after our long day at EPCOT and DQ. We rode EE again and I kept my eyes open this time and I saw the Yeti! I love that ride! We also went to see Finding Nemo which I loved. I love all the Disney stage shows and I really miss Tarzan Rocks. Jason would have liked that one.

After a short day, we went back to the Contemporary for a nap. I couldn’t wake Jason up so I ended up going to the MK alone that night. I love being in the parks alone for a bit. It forces you to talk to more strangers and I always seem to meet the nicest people when I’m by myself.

[FONT=&quot]An empty monorail car![/FONT]

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I got to the MK about 2 hours before Spectromagic. Again, I stupidly decided not to eat and I made a beeline for the CoP. I don’t think I was old enough to really appreciate the CoP in my past trips but this time I really loved it. Buzz Lightyear was standing outside of the CoP but he had to leave just as I got up to get a picture with him. He saw I was upset and gave me a high five. I hope I see him again next time, I’ve never gotten a picture with him.

[FONT=&quot]After that, I sat myself down at the car barn with some popcorn and a coke. Ahh heaven :ROFLOL:[/FONT]

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I was pretty tired by this point but I also stayed to watch Wishes. I watched from below the train station so I wouldn’t get stuck in the mad rush of people leaving the park after Wishes:[/FONT]

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And that ends our first (and only) low key day! More to follow…[/FONT]

Fashionista007 · May 28, 2009

Day 7 (Sunday, March 29, 2009):

[FONT=&quot]Sadly this was our last day with park passes. We made the most of it and had another wildly busy day! We started the day off at EPCOT where we got a professional photo of the three of us:

[/FONT] We got fastpasses to Soarin’ again and ate lunch at Sunshine Seasons…again. That is definitely my favorite quick service dining place in all of WDW.

[FONT=&quot]Jason and I went over to the Seas to see the exhibits we hadn’t had a chance to see. We caught the manatees at feeding time, they’re so cute and funny looking![/FONT]

Manatee Stats (they make me feel skinny LOL)

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Real life Crush, sorry pictures were really hard to take in there:[/FONT]

We caught a showing of Turtle Talk which was hilarious. At one point, Crush asked a little girl what her name was and she had to say it 3 times before he said “How about I call you Susan?” What a great show. Before the show, we took Mr. Ray’s Pop Quiz and we emailed certificates to ourselves. I loved coming home to find these certificates in our email:

Fashionista007 · May 28, 2009

[FONT=&quot]After Turtle Talk, we rode Mission Space again. I could ride that all day every day and be happy!

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Our main goal for the day was for Jason to see the British Invasion. He is a hardcore Beatles fan. Most people are Beatles fans but he knows every word to every song, what album the song is from, etc. We ended up going to 2 of their shows. Next time Jason wants to see all of their shows and he wants to bring a video camera! [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]After the first British Invasion show, we had lunch at our second favorite quick dining spot, the Yakitori House in Japan. Guess who we saw there…more ducks![/FONT]

Fashionista007 · May 28, 2009

[FONT=&quot]Cool shot of the globe for RoE:

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Spaceship earth from the other side of the lagoon:[/FONT]

We stopped off in China to see the acrobats and I got to meet Mulan:

She asked Jason how he protects me without a sword and he did a karate pose. I had to get a picture!

[FONT=&quot]Then we caught another show from the British Invasion (obviously from the Sgt. Pepper era LOL):[/FONT]

We stayed to watch RoE one last time

I found a great spot in Italy; however, I didn’t know that it was right next to a fireworks cannon. I think I jumped half a mile the first time it shot off in the MIDDLE of the show. It’s still my new favorite spot though!

[FONT=&quot]One of my favorite memories of our trip happened right after RoE. We decided to linger at EPCOT for awhile so we didn’t get stuck in a monorail car full of people with standing room only. We walked around World Showcase sharing another Moretti and a Kringla Sweet Pretzel singing the RoE theme and the Tapestry Of Nations Theme (which I lovingly call the Wayla song). I have hoped my whole life that I would find someone who was as big of a dork about Disney as I am and this trip proved that I have found him.[/FONT]

Fashionista007 · May 28, 2009

As the day came to a close, we fully intended to go back to the hotel and go to bed. But when we were waiting for the monorail, a group of people were asking how to get to the MK because there were extra magic hours that night. We took one look at each other and decided to go for it.

We requested to sit in the front of the monorail which was easy because it was way after EPCOT had closed so there weren’t many people on the platform. Our driver was Avi and he told us that EPCOT stands for Every Person Comes Out Tired or Every Paycheck Comes On Thursday. I’m really glad he was there for Jason’s first VIP monorail ride, he was hilarious!

Jason chillin’ with Goofy:

We had a great time that night. We rode CoP first which Jason had never ridden. After the first scene, I whispered to him “The stage isn’t moving, we are.” He said SO LOUD “Whoa, we’re moving?” I heard people giggle behind us. He loved every minute of it and I can’t get him to stop singing “There's a great big beautiful tomorrow…”

Extra magic hours are so awesome. We rode PoC, TTA, Space Mountain, MI:LF (I laugh every time I see this abbreviation), Stitch’s Great Escape, Haunted Mansion, and The Jungle Cruise in the span of 2 hours. It was the perfect way to end the last night of our vacation.

Fashionista007 · May 28, 2009

Day 8 (Monday, March 30, 2009):

The saddest day on a WDW vacation is the day you leave. We got up early, packed, and stored our bags for the magical express later that day. It blows my mind that on the way to WDW, you put your bags on your plane and don’t see them again until they are in your room! It further blows my mind that they take care of your bags upon departure too! We didn’t see our bags again until baggage claim that night. The magical express shows that Disney gives the best VIP treatment of any vacation destination. We spent the day hotel hopping, eating, and shopping. It was a short day since we had to be back on the magical express at 3PM.

The worst incident of our entire trip happened at MCO that night. During security screening, my Mom lost a sleeping beauty watch that she bought the first day of our trip. She was incredibly upset because it was the very first thing she bought and she felt like it commemorated our trip. We left our bags with Jason at the gate and we went back to security to check the lost and found. Well, needless to say the security guards are not Disney employees so they are free to be the biggest jerks possible. First they told us that we had to go back through security all over again and we didn’t have our boarding passes so they made us stand there with them like we were criminals. It was getting pretty close to our flight time and my Mom freaked out and had a panic attack right there. I tried to keep her calm while Jason was running back to security from the gate with all of our bags and purses. It was a nightmare. Then, of course the watch was nowhere to be found. We almost missed our flight. When we got back to the gate the flight was already boarding so thankfully we got on and didn’t miss it. But, something magical came of that ordeal. My Mom called WDW guest relations and explained what happened and that she wanted to buy a replacement watch. The CM on the phone was so nice to her and she even shipped the watch for free. It’s really sad to see the contrast between regular miserable people and Disney people. It’s even worse when a security guard is mean to you and he’s the first person you come in contact with after a wonderful WDW vacation. Back to reality!

Post-trip laundry fun for me!

[FONT=&quot]Souvenirs:[/FONT]

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My first attempt at Mickey shaped pancakes:

And so ends the best vacation I’ve had in my entire life. This was my 15th trip to WDW and I hope to be back soon!

Favorite Moments:

My Mom’s face when she opened her gift basket in her room the first day
Every moment of the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure
Singing the Wayla song with Jason after RoE
Singing “Heffalumps and Woozles” with Jason on The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh
Riding Aladdin’s Magic Carpets during the end of Wishes
The British Invasion
New rides/attractions: EE, Soarin’, The Seas w/ Nemo, Finding Nemo musical, LMA
Sunshine Seasons, The Columbia Harbor House – my new favorite quick service dining options!
Telling a family to “have a magical day” after they asked me to take a picture of them
Too many more to list!

Lessons Learned:

Bring a better pair of shoes and thick athletic socks!
Schedule time around extra magic hours. One night at the MK is the only time we took advantage of this!
On the dining plans, you can substitute a second drink for a dessert. You can never have too much water in WDW. It comes in handy.
EPCOT also stands for Every Person Comes Out Tired or Every Paycheck Comes On Thursday

That ends my first TR. I hope you enjoyed it!

Have a magical day!

mouselvrmom · May 28, 2009

I loved reading your trip report! You certainly deserved this trip!

I loved your gift to your mom and her reaction! That is so priceless!

Hope you get back real soon!

Silver Figment · Dec 1, 2011

I found your TR link from your Wedding report, sounds like you had an awesome trip. I enjoyed reading.

Fashionista007 · Dec 1, 2011

Silver Figment said:
I found your TR link from your Wedding report, sounds like you had an awesome trip. I enjoyed reading.

Aww thank you for reading such an old trip report! Funny, I was just looking at pictures from this trip today

I can't believe Jason and I have now been to WDW 4 times together! But this was the trip that started it all :sohappy:

A Jolly Holiday 3/23 - 3/30

One Lil Spark

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Fashionista007

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erstwo

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sleepybear

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DisneyPrincess5

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