Are you twins?! - August, family, and magical memories.

Hey all my lovelies –

What a trip! I’m back at school, but the magic is still hanging around – in the form of magnets, travel mugs, and really amazing Disney Couture deals at Winners!

Ready to hear about it? Hereeee we go!

Friday, August 26

Talk about an early morning – the family was up at 2AM for quick showers and packing up the car. We hit the road at 230AM, with Carly and I napping along the way. After our ritual stop at Tims in Truro, we were at the airport and through security by 515AM. The flight was uneventful, and customs in Toronto was a breeze, though the plane was delayed by half an hour – boo.

TOO EARLY FOR PICS

DISNEY DAYS AHEAD!

EEYEORE IS RETURNING TO HIS HOMELAND - NOW 11 YEARS OLD

It always seems like the LONGEST flight – even though it’s only about 2h45 - but I watched Soul Surfer (Carrie Underwood – disappointment) and we landed at 1230PM Mouse Standard Time!

We found the DME right away, and surprisingly there was a bus waiting for us. Magical! There was a slight hiccup, an engine warning light – but we did well, all things considered. Howev, as we were staying at All Star Movies, we were in the back of the bus as far as stops go – ah, the downside of cheapie rooms (but worth it not to share a bed with sista C).

OMG DME!

THIS ISN'T OUR FIRST RODEO

 

[tiaragirl]

Great tr so far, I love your sense of humor, looking foward to more.:ROFLOL::

Thank you! I write like I talk, sometimes it gets me in trouble - but if you want a scholarly essay, I can do that too!

What an awesome TR! Having a great time reading it. :wave:

Yay, I'm glad! I hope you continue to enjoy!

You two looked like you were having so much fun.

I call my daughter "sparky" I don't know why, I just always have. I've never heard about the rings. Tell me more about them, I'm curious. They sound like something I might buy her.

Can't wait to read the rest!!

We have a great time at Disney together - we're practiced, but it's always great bonding time. That's the first time we ever went to the parks alone though - and it went pretty well!

We're not quite sure why Dad called C "Sparky".. it's just one of those things. You can get the rings carved in Adventureland outside Pirates, and in DTD (and possibly EPCOT, can someone confirm?). You pick your size/type of metal and they can carve your name out or whatever you want.

Here's mine, Carly got it for me for my birthday a few years ago - sterling silver, I don't take it off! (apologies thaat I look terrifying)

So excited to be reading your trip report. You are so funny and do a great job writing! Can't believe you were up almost 24 hours and had the energy to do what you did.

Love the "manhandled" picture. Fortunately the kid only looked about 3 otherwise Aurora would have had to report him to the authorities!

Can't wait to read more!

Aw, I'm really happy you like reading along! When there's fun to be had at MK, it's hard not to find the energy - though we were flagging hard at 1AM.

Poor Aurora.. she was a good sport about it though!

Yaaaayyyyy!!!! You got started on your TR!!!! I went back & checked your cruise dates to see if you were the cruise that missed CC. In the middle of all that hullabaloo I remembered you were supposed to be sailing/livin' the Dream!

Yeah, we really lucked out acutally - our day at Castaway was delayed, we had our sea day first, because they had to dredge to get the Dream in port. Argh!

Y'all are adorable!

As are youuuuuu, my love!

Love the family programming! And lookit y'all! Hubba-hubba!

We did our bestttt.

O.M.G. I think I just snorted some coffee! That's frickin' funny! I looked again and thought, "Please tell me that's TWO children!!!"

Hahha two kids, gettin' all up in her business. They must be sooo used to it, but it looks so funny, hey? I teach swimming lessons and when kids grab random parts of me I have to do my best not to throttle them..

More coffee snortin'! Carly is total eye-candy for that kid in the carousel shot! I bet that kid had a whoooole new appreciation for Walt Disney World. LOL! Funny and almost cute now...future creepster for sure! ROFLMAO!

Hahahahahha I felt a little bit bad fore him. There are more, similar pictures - when Carly gets sleepy she can get a little bit out of control. We had a hilarious time, though - teacups are another good example (L)

And look at y'all! You DO look twin-ish! You look more alike than you do different. The pic with Carly, you, and Ariel from your dinner you look veeeery twin-ish. Still, if I see 2 people who appear to be twins I would never approach them or ask "Are you twins?" What a silly question. Correct in the assumption or not, it's kinda a dumb question to ask. IMO.

I don't know if it was the hair down + Ray Bans thing, but we got it EVERYWHERE we went. Disney, malls, busses, Chip and Dale loved us.. the funny thing is, we really don't see it. Carly looks like Mom's side of the family, and I'm MacDowell all the way - it's weird. Maybe from the outside looking in!

Carrots?!?! Yessssss!!! I know this! Looooooove! Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea are a couple of my favoritest movies! Love Meagan Followes! I "found" the movies when I was a teenager and still feeling very much like Anne (that's Anne with an 'e' like Katherine with a 'K' because Catherine with a 'C' is so much more smug) with the unfortunate red hair and freckles. Little did we know that even the mean boys really did like our odd red hair.

Aw! The Anne movies are really well done - Meagan Follows did an amazing job capturing her spirit! The books are so good - classic Canadian stuff! They were written by a women in PEI, another one of the Maritime provinces, so it was almost a required read growing up! Lauren has the most MASSIVE crush on Gilbert.. he's such a cutie! (and Catherine with a "C" does sound a little stuck up, now that you mention it..)

Okay, and the bit about the little girl who wanted you to autograph her book...that is so precious! Did you do it? Did you take a pic with her?! If I had a daughter so sweet who made friends with 2 real life princesses I would insist you signed her book and took your pic. Just so sweet! **siiiigh** I think I want your autographs and a pic with you now, too!

It was realllllly cute - she had one of those autograph books that had like the pictures on one side and the signature place on the other so we didn't think that was really fair. Her Mom took a couple creeper pictures and then a nice one after Wishes.. not sure where they're at now, but I'm sure someone is laughing at us in Espanol.

It looks like the two of you had a blast. Can't wait to read more.

As a father of DD5, I can understand why I do not want her to grow up. We have a neighbor that has identical triplet girls turning 14. I think he has a Portable Defibrillator. What young ladies have to go through even at Disney is ridiculous.

Thanks for the compliment, first off - second, it's not always that bad, it just drives me nuts.. somewhere a long the way, guys got misled into thinking that public displays like that get you places. Someone needs to inform them they're wrong.

Fabulous pictures...especially Family Programming! Love the classy outfits. Can't wait for more!

Thanks! I'll keep it coming - hard to balance roomies, boyfriend, school, and pool, but it's coming - hopefully HS will be up tonight!

 

[tiaragirl]

OMG. I can't contain my excitement for this trip report. First, love for Eeyore, I think I "awwwwed" out loud when I saw that shot of him returning to his homeland! And the Aurora picture... classic. I mean, there's groping, and then there's GROPING! :lol: I think your fave may be my fave - that shot of you on the carousel is beautiful! And much appreciation for the mirror shot, here's to hoping there's more where that came from!

Eeyore is an old friend - he's come to Disney with us ever since his induction into the family in 2000! Poor Aurora got some hands on magic - they must be used to it, definitely why those dresses go up so high (except Jasmine, she's always ready for action?).

You're toooo sweet re: carousel picture! I need to figure out FB profile pic, it's definitely in the running hahhaa.

SO many mirror shots.. including one coming up in HS, can you guess which?

Woo Hoo I'm so excited for the rest of this TR. You always do Disney with class and I loves it. Can't lie. But now I'm terribly craving a giant cinammon roll from main st bakery. (sigh) I'll go eat my granola bar now...

You're too sweet - I see you've got an impressive TR yourself lined up. After I'm done mine I'll be reading that in full.. it'll make up for the withdrawals!

And now I want a cinnamon roll.. I should eat an apple though, I had a rough time squeezing into my skinnies this morning after cruisin', ahhahaa.

Looks like you had a great time. I love the teacup pictures! :sohappy:

Looking forward to more!

The teacups were priceless! Such a good photo op, even when the lighting is brutal. Embrace it! More coming soon =)

Great start to yet another AWESOME trip report! Can't wait for more...

I'm glad you enjoy them! I'm going to try to stay on top of it, hopefully have some more done tonight =)

I hear that one. I hate the angled photo. I don't understand the point, pictures of things on even levels have been taken without angles for about a century and a half, what's with the hipsters, scenesters and emo kids of the past ten years thinking they can reinvent the way photographs are taken?

I just don't understand - wear your sunglasses with the sticker still on them, pull your socks up to your calves, I don't care - but take my darn picture of the Castle right side up! I'm not innocent in the angled photo thing, but I'd never take someone elses like that, hahah.

 

[Ariel484]

Thanks! I'll keep it coming - hard to balance roomies, boyfriend, school, and pool, but it's coming - hopefully HS will be up tonight!

Priorities, woman! :lol:

 

[HollyBelle]

SO many mirror shots.. including one coming up in HS, can you guess which?

Oooh, oooh, oooh... Scary Apothecary!!! Seriously, my love for your trip report knows no bounds. :sohappy:

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Loving the TR so far!!!

Eeyore is def in my top 5 Disney characters. I have a Skippy alien plush and he joins us on many trips. I got him back in 2001. Though, as much as I love Skippy, it pains me to sit through SGE just to see him!!!

Can't wait to read more!!! :wave:

 

[tiaragirl]

Saturday, August 27

Now, I’m a girl who likes her sleep. Give me 8 hours, give me 10 hours.. give me a big ‘ol nap in the middle of the day. Remember what time I went to bed – 121AM. Guess what time the magical adjoining door opened up on Saturday morning..

657AM.

No joke.

But, what are you going to do really – we were there to live the dream! We were out the door by 744 (impressive, because Carly is a lazy bones) and arrived at Hollywood Studios just after rope drop. Hollywood is our favourite family place for some reason – we feel the love there.

AW SHOOT, SOMEONE GOT "THE ENVELOPE" - BUT NOT US!

WORKIN' IT ON THE WAY IN!

We took a quick second to regroup and decide where we were headed. It was decided by Mom – “we’re going to drop!”.

LOVE. MY. LIFE.

The Tower was a walk on. It was so empty that we were seated with another couple – that’s it. So we all sat in the front seat and loved our lives on an empty stomach. TOT is my favourite ride of all time, so I was pretty much the happiest girl in the world.

 

[diddy_mouse]

Mouse standard time? I LOVE it! :lol:

The pictures around the resort were just too cute and I love how you and Carly got all dolled up to see Cinderella. :king: Also j'adore the mirror shot of you two with your sparkly wands!

Couldn't agree more with you about the feeling that happens during Wishes. I always get chills when I hear "Go The Distance" during the show and can't help but wipe away a few tears.

I'm so excited to read more...can't wait to hear about the cruise!

 

[bmarkelon]

Love your trip report, so much fun....great Disney energy pouring out in your writing. I love the ring idea! I have never stopped there but definitely will check that out, DD would love one!

 

[WishIWasAtWDW]

loving the trip report! and there are already so many cute pictures! i love the one of you and your sister on btmrr! and that carousel picture is great. can't wait to read more!!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

POOR AURORA WAS GETTING MANHANDLED - WHAT'S WORSE, A DRAGON OR TWO CHILDREN?

Seeing this pic totally reminded me of a discussion we had last month prompted by our own kids manhandling the characters :lookaroun:lol: No matter how many times we coached them, the still put their hands in inappropriate places.

Loving the TR!!! Can't wait to read more. Looks like you guys are having a total blast!!! :wave:

 

[Sarabell]

yaaay! you´re back and bussy writing your TR! I loved your pics and l´m glad you had a great time with your sis.

can´t wait for more :wave:

 

[Raven66]

Thanks for the picture of your ring. I love it. I'm going to have to get one for my daughter. We can never find anything with her name on it. I'm excited now. Sad, it doesn't take much.:lol:

I call my daughter sparky because she has always had the most sparkley personality. More so when she was a kid, now she is 14 and not much sparkles anymore. :lookaroun

 

[tiaragirl]

Sorry this is delayed - my Prince Charming surprised me last night with A&W (DOLL!)

Jamming out to Aerosmith was next – the pre-ride show amuses me – “How ‘do, people?”. I couldn’t even tell you what song was playing the first time around, just enjoying the thrill of being back. There was a boyfriend trying to talk his girlfriend out of using the chicken door – it was pretty funny. He wasn’t doing a very good job.. it’s probably not a good idea to say “Baby, really, it’s no worse than that time that Dave held you upside down.. and definitely not as bad as when he dropped you”. Wiiiiiiinner?

WE CAN'T LEAVE THESE PEOPLE HERE LIKE THIS

Starring Rolls was next on the agenda. Mom and Dad ordered some breakfast while Carly and I ran to get FPs for Toy Story Midway Mania. We saw Eeyore and Tigger hanging out by the Hat, but we just missed the cut off line – sad, because Tigger is my fav and I think, by now, we’ve all deduced that Eeyore is Carly’s special friend.

When we got back, there were some yummy cinnamon rolls waiting for us – Mickey really knows how to work that cinnamon and icing combo.

Kenzie: It’s like, the trip of cinnamon rolls!
Mom: You’re going to come back with rolls.

She’s a doll.

SPECIAL LOVE FOR A CERTAIN SOMEONE..

After we inhaled some calories we headed to Star Wars. First time riding since the refurb, and Dad was little-kid excited. So cute. I have to say, it was really neat the way they did it – we were in the front row, too, which was a first (somehow?), so Momma J was happy because she always gives herself massive bruises on the armrests – so cool. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to ride it again, but I’d love to see some of the variations – I missed the pre-show, though.. some things will never be the same.

LOVE IT

 

[tiaragirl]

WISHIN'S

Wandering around HS always proves interesting. Carly went to NYC as a school trip last April and was anxious to go to the Streets of America, so we sauntered over in that direction and thoroughly embarrassed ourselves. Dad’s picture taking timing was poor, so it took about eight tries before we were both airbourne at the same time, but hey.. how many people have this picture?

SWEET AIRRRR

Mom works at a daycare at home, and thus taking a picture with Lightening McQueen is a must! We somehow managed to convince Dad that it was a perfect family photo opportunity – which turned out very nice indeed!

NEW FRIENDS

I got my little visit to the Writers Stop in – Castle has grown to be one of my absolute favourite shows. It actually bypassed my all time favourite, NCIS (Mark Harmon = hot old guy of choice who isn’t Jon Bon Jovi drrrroooooooolz), last year. Anyone else stressed about Kate? I NEED it to come back on!

LOVE IT TOO MUCH

I’m always surprised how little Castle related stuff there is in that store though – and by “little” I mean “any”. You think they’d be selling the “books” Castle wrote, or even the mugs – you can get it all online on ABC, and I feel like usually Disney takes advantage of that stuff? Perhaps someone can enlighten me. However, we did find “Anne of Avonlea” (Kelly, buy it next time!).

 

[tiaragirl]

Muppets was next. Such a great little show – the preshow is so fun! Carly was not about the Spirit of 3D, however. She “doesn’t like stuff like that”. I love her, most of the time, but she was in one of those moods where you just want to push the other person’s face in.. little sisters, what can you do.

ALL THOSE CINNAMON ROLLS WILL TURN ME INTO MISS PIGGY

We grabbed some water quickly, and then strolled back up Sunset (probably my favourite place in the World/world) – the wait for TOT was 13 minutes , so we jumped in line. It was an excellent sequence, drop first, lots of rides to the top.. Loving my life.

Beauty and the Beast – all time favourite show? Likely. We got there a little later than we normally would, 11:10 or so, and the only close-ish spots were in the direct sun on the right side of the theatre. Mom and I sat down there, but Carly and Dad opted for shade. We had a great Gaston – it made me wish the girls were there, though.. BATB is Paige’s favourite, but Mom and I cried together anyway. We like to be emotional at Disney.

KILL THE BEAST - THE BEST PART OF THE SHOW YES PLEASE

We got a lot accomplished by 12PM, and we were still going strong. We made our way through the shops (Carly bought her Disney paraphernalia) and toward TSMM for our fast passes. A solid detour was made to One Man’s Dream – what an awesome place. It’s so hard to comprehend the leaps and bounds they were making when they first started animating – especially since we don’t have to go to those lengths now. The world has housed some incredibly talented people.

MICKEY ALIEN SHOPPERS

I was dying for a bathroom break, so the family waited for me as I wandered around trying to locate one. Of course, there are bathrooms by the Backlot food place thing (not up for exact names tonight lovelies, it’s been a long first day of classes) but I had to go SO BAD that I somehow was blinded and missed them. So, where did I go? Allllll the way down by Lights, Motors, Action! That is a long-a$$ haul when you’re doing the dance. It is in these moments that you realize how big the parks are.

 

[tiaragirl]

Anyway. Toy Story FPs were for 1PM on the dot – our lunch reservations at the 50s Prime Time Café were for 115PM.. so, we pulled a major faux-pas, did the ride at risk of being majorly late for our reservations. We would have been, too, except I noticed that the CM was letting groups of 2 in a separate, faster line – so we went as two groups of two instead of one group of four - I just shared an amazing secret for your Disney arsenal, use it!

Mom and I paired up and I beat her, naturally. But Carly won in the end, with 114k. Not too impressive, and Les Johnson (AKA Dad AKA varmint hunter on Wild TV – I promise we aren’t THAT hick) was thoroughly unimpressed with himself.

On our job to 50s Prime Time there was some solid thunder action, and the sky was definitely threatening. We were happy to get out of the impending gloom, and into the craziness of Prime Time. Our cousin wasn’t good, and he gave a much harder time to the people beside us because they were first timers – love the elbows off the table and no hats allowed rules, people look so bewildered!

LOVE THE CURTAINS

I had the chicken pot pie (so much chicken!), C and Mom both had the fried chicken, and Dadder had the pot roast. We were all pleased, but what we really go for are the malts – choooocolate malt, I could go for one right now. Could someone whip me up one? That would be great.

DAD DRANK ONE AND A HALF...

We were tired puppies after all that food. Especially me, you know, the one that needs 9 hours of sleep? We headed back to Movies to take a few cat naps. When we got off the bus, it started to POUR – we could not have timed it better!

SO MUCH LOVE FOR WALT

LET IT RAIN!

Up next: return to HS (hopefully tonight!)

 

[tiaragirl]

Priorities, woman! :lol:

I know, right?! I'm sorry, I'm shamed.

Oooh, oooh, oooh... Scary Apothecary!!! Seriously, my love for your trip report knows no bounds. :sohappy:

Heheh, all for you babes!

Loving the TR so far!!!

Eeyore is def in my top 5 Disney characters. I have a Skippy alien plush and he joins us on many trips. I got him back in 2001. Though, as much as I love Skippy, it pains me to sit through SGE just to see him!!!

Can't wait to read more!!! :wave:

Winnie the Pooh characters in general are just amazing - SGE *shudders*, I feel for you, sweet thang.

Hopefully I'll get more done soon! =)

Mouse standard time? I LOVE it! :lol:

It's my favourite kind of time!

The pictures around the resort were just too cute and I love how you and Carly got all dolled up to see Cinderella. :king: Also j'adore the mirror shot of you two with your sparkly wands!

Thanks =) We had a ton of fun, and the wishing wands were a surprise and such a nice little keepsake. I have mine pinned up on my bulletin board now =)

Couldn't agree more with you about the feeling that happens during Wishes. I always get chills when I hear "Go The Distance" during the show and can't help but wipe away a few tears.

Herc is so magical - that movie is one of my favourites. I love when they incorporate the music into things - they did it in the Golden Mickey's on the boat. Insta-tears.

I'm so excited to read more...can't wait to hear about the cruise!

Coming up so soon!

Love your trip report, so much fun....great Disney energy pouring out in your writing. I love the ring idea! I have never stopped there but definitely will check that out, DD would love one!

I always have Disney energy, it's a little bit embarrassing but I love it. You just have to embrace it!

The rings are really cute - totally underrated for sure. The hard part is figuring out what to put on it..

loving the trip report! and there are already so many cute pictures! i love the one of you and your sister on btmrr! and that carousel picture is great. can't wait to read more!!

Thank you! We had the best time, random pictures are the best - I'm all about people pictures, even if they're random and awful.

Seeing this pic totally reminded me of a discussion we had last month prompted by our own kids manhandling the characters :lookaroun:lol: No matter how many times we coached them, the still put their hands in inappropriate places.

Loving the TR!!! Can't wait to read more. Looks like you guys are having a total blast!!! :wave:

Hahah, that was very thoughtful of you - trying to train your kids not to be grabby. Could save them in the future from some trouble - like jail! Ahaha.

 

[tiaragirl]

yaaay! you´re back and bussy writing your TR! I loved your pics and l´m glad you had a great time with your sis.

can´t wait for more :wave:

Is it sad that I was super excited to write this? Magic-extension? I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Thanks for the picture of your ring. I love it. I'm going to have to get one for my daughter. We can never find anything with her name on it. I'm excited now. Sad, it doesn't take much.:lol:

I call my daughter sparky because she has always had the most sparkley personality. More so when she was a kid, now she is 14 and not much sparkles anymore. :lookaroun

I can never get anything with my name either, it's always MacKenzie - definitely a nice thing to have. Be excited!

Hey, 14 is a rough age. You don't listen to your parents, even when they tell you that you shouldn't grow your bangs out but you do - and then you have a five-head instead of a forehead for three years.. just embrace that you're right, she'll come around eventually!

 

[Ariel484]

I know, right?! I'm sorry, I'm shamed.

No prob Bob.

Sorry you had a less-than-stellar cousin at 50s. That's no fun. But wow, a chocolate malt sounds sooooooo good right now. :slurp:

And the RNR pre-show cracks me up Every. Single. Time. :lol: Love it.

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Great Trip Report!!!! I looooove ToT too!!! My favorite ride in all of Disney!

And all those Cinnamon rolls you two are having...hmmm it's making me want one right now and I will now have to have one when I'm there in 19 days! I will think of you guys of course :lol:

Love the pic of the two of you in front of the cinderella fountain too cute
And couldn't help but laugh at the creepo kid in the background on the carousel

And thanks for the tip on TSM, its just me and my mom on the trip and they didn't have that back in January so we'll definitely use that to our advantage!!!

Can't wait to hear more!!!