Trip Report COMPLETED: "What is Mickey hiding from anyway?" ACE GANG REUNION

Hello, all! I'm Abby.

Welcome to what is sure to be a long TR!!

I’ve finally returned to the real world after a fantastic reunion with my very best friends from college. I live in Florida these days and I have a pass but I haven’t done more than 3 consecutive days at Disney since I went with my family in 2008. So, for that reason and for the fact that I would get to spend plenty of time with the best besties ever, I was incredibly excited for this trip.​

Here we are! I'm on the left then there's Kelsey, Cassie, Megan, and Val. We call ourselves the Ace Gang.

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We had all been talking about this trip since we graduated, and the hotel was booked a year out. Val and I did most of the planning. She’s from California and always seems to be at Disneyland. I’ve visited her 3 times there and it was finally time for her to come over to this side of the country. Since we were the planners (and we got the separate bedroom in our Finding Nemo suite), the rest of the girls took to calling us Mom and Dad. I was Dad since I did the driving and paid for a bunch of things so I could use my Tables in Wonderland card and everyone else could just pay me back later. We really cracked ourselves up throughout the trip, getting carried away with our inside joke and constantly trying to decide who was our favorite daughter.

We stayed at Art of Animation for 7 nights. Val and I had some extra time, and we did extra days at Disney and elsewhere in Florida. I didn’t take all too many photos on this trip. So I’ll include a bunch of photos I stole from Val, as it is probably more interesting to see WDW through the eyes of a first-timer anyway. Also, a number of these will be Memory Maker photos (We split the cost of this 5 ways and definitely got our money’s worth).​

Wednesday, October 15.
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I left work about 3pm and drove down to Orlando. Waited in the MCO cell phone lot and then it was time to go grab Val!! We headed immediately to Magic Kingdom upon her arrival by way of TTC and a pretty crowded monorail and soon enough we were entering the park.

Here we gooo!
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Val was worried that her magic band wasn’t going to work but everything went completely smoothly. We were in! We left today and headed into the lands of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy. Tears were shed as Val took it all in.
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Huzzah! More adventures to come...

 

[mrdrift]

What a great start to the report. Sorry to hear about Kelsey getting sick in such a magical place, hopefully she feels better soon. Loving the pictures with all the different expressions from everyone. Following along.

 

[Bama14]

After BatB, we went for another show at Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, which I also haven’t done in a very long time. Figured it was necessary since it probably won’t last much longer. We enjoyed it.

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After Indy, we headed in the direction of Star Tours. Val got a wait time red card and was super excited about it. The shade in the queue was pretty great since it was getting pretty hot.

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Kelsey sat this one out and the rest of us got in the standby line. It is definitely a good choice to skip Star Tours when you’re feeling sick to your stomach since that ride makes me feel queasy on a good day. Val liked the queue but once you get inside, it’s pretty identical to Disneyland. This was actually my very first time riding Star Tours in Hollywood Studios. I’ve done it each of the 3 times I’ve been to Disneyland but never make time for it down here. And I could never get my sister to ride (She’s my usual park companion). As great as they may be, simulated rides just aren’t my thing (*cough* Universal *cough*).

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At this point we split up. Not all of us could get FP+ for TSMM since some of the girls in our group did not get tickets until after the 30day mark so 2 of the FP+ for the same window were for Rock n Roller Coaster. Val let Megan have her TSMM FP since Megan was a little hesitant about the coaster and we figured that we'd all ride as a group later in the week (Spoiler: That didn't end up happening). So Megan, Kelsey, and I headed towards Pixar Place. Kelsey ended up sitting out though. Poor sicky Kelsey. We got in line 5 minutes before our FP time and the wait was longer than it should have been for fastpass. I ended up winning.

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It looks like you ladies had so much fun! Sorry your friend got sick though. The worst is knowing you are sick and should go rest, but not wanting to miss a moment in the World! I got food poisoning one year in the middle of my trip and it took me out pretty much for an entire day. So sad to be sick at Disney!

 

[abzoo]

What a great start to the report. Sorry to hear about Kelsey getting sick in such a magical place, hopefully she feels better soon. Loving the pictures with all the different expressions from everyone. Following along.

Thanks for following! She did end up getting better soon... but not quite as soon as we all hoped.

It looks like you ladies had so much fun! Sorry your friend got sick though. The worst is knowing you are sick and should go rest, but not wanting to miss a moment in the World! I got food poisoning one year in the middle of my trip and it took me out pretty much for an entire day. So sad to be sick at Disney!

It is so sad to be sick at Disney! And we couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong. At least my friend didn't miss out on any full days. She really pushed herself to keep going and probably didn't really let us know exactly how bad she was feeling.

 

[abzoo]

Monday, October 20.

We got a better start this morning than yesterday, although we didn’t leave quite as early as we had planned. We got to Animal Kingdom at about 8:30, halfway through their EMH, and went over to Asia first to ride Expedition Everest. Kelsey was cautiously feeling a little better this morning but she sat this ride out because she was didn't want to push it. We walked right on and then had to go a second time. It's pretty much a rule that you can't ride it just once! I, personally, could have spent the whole EMH riding EE. Love it!

Round 1...

Megan's reaction faces to this ride were hilarious.

And Round 2... We asked to sit in the front.

 

[abzoo]

On Kelsey’s must-do list was Kali River Rapids. That’s why she didn’t want to mess anything up by going on EE, lest the ride made her feel any sicker. So that’s where we headed next. We wore ponchos because we’re cool (or wimpy… whatever). It figures that we weren’t sitting in the worst splash zone on the raft. Kelsey wanted to go for a round two (I mean we already had our ponchos on so why not) but no one else really wanted to.

Such beautiful things to see in the queue.

I went with her and we got right back on. This time we were with a couple who had a very young little daughter. They were the ones who got absolutely soaked and the little girl started to cry, “I’M ALL WET.” The parents (and everyone else on the raft) were trying to hold in their laughter and they reminded her that that was the whole point of the ride. They really turned it around and started saying “YAY we’re all wet!!” and cheering.And everyone else on there with us followed along. It was really adorable and some smart parenting since the girl stopped crying and got a little more excited. Val took pics of us from the bridge.

 

[abzoo]

After KRR, we went straight to Maharajah Jungle Trek.

We compared wing spans.

sleepy kitty.

so statuesque. ha.​

 

[abzoo]

Hi there!
No updates for the next couple days because I'm going back to WDW this weekend!! I've been playing tour guide for a few students in my department who are from Thailand. We're mainly going to be at Epcot on Saturday and Hollywood Studios on Sunday (to see the Osborne lights) and staying offsite (meh). It's fun to see their reactions to everything and they always act amazed at my Disney knowledge. ha.

Leaving to drive down in 30 minutes! Let's go!!

 

[LisaBelle]

So jealous you are back at WDW already! Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip !

 

[abzoo]

A few pics from my past weekend at Disney before I get back to the TR...

Christmastime in the parks. Such a great excuse to make the trip down to the World! This was my first time seeing the Osborne lights... so beautiful! So difficult to tear myself away from the Disney Christmas magic!​

 

[FlaggNL]

Great pictures! And wow am I jealous you are going back to WDW so soon At least we are going back also

When looking at your pic:

My thought was.... why do people wear poncho's on this ride? Isn't getting wet just part of the fun Ok I know, you will be wet and might get soaked...... the sun will dry you up instandly

 

[abzoo]

My thought was.... why do people wear poncho's on this ride? Isn't getting wet just part of the fun Ok I know, you will be wet and might get soaked...... the sun will dry you up instandly

I know!! I'm a little ashamed that we cheated and wore ponchos on the ride. Ponchos are a little more necessary during cooler months but, as you know, it was pretty warm when we were both there in October. Not quite as hot as summer, but pretty warm. None of my friends wanted to walk around wet.

 

[abzoo]

Alright, back to October...

We left Asia and went looking for something else to do before our safari FP+ so we got in line to meet Mickey and Minnie. But then Kelsey said she really needed to sit down so we went over to Tough to be a Bug instead. We admired the Tree of Life and took photos.

Then we started toward Africa and admired the Tree of Life even more...

We walked through Harambe and made our way to our fastpass. Safari time!

Rhino butt.

 

[FlaggNL]

I know!! I'm a little ashamed that we cheated and wore ponchos on the ride. Ponchos are a little more necessary during cooler months but, as you know, it was pretty warm when we were both there in October. Not quite as hot as summer, but pretty warm. None of my friends wanted to walk around wet.

you don't have to explain yourself And yeah October was pretty warm. From what I understand warmer than usual and the fact that there was no rain was even special!! Still a great report With or without ponchos!!

 

[abzoo]

Kilimanjaro Safaris continued...

Once we were done safari-ing, we convinced Kelsey to go to First Aid to rest a little bit. We dropped her off there and told her that we were going to eat and would come back for her to see Festival of the Lion King. At First Aid they gave her some sweet syrup to calm her stomach and pepto bismol tablets, but Kelsey was still feeling crappy.

The rest of the group headed over to Dinoland, U.S.A. On the way, we were stopped by a middle-aged alumna of our alma mater who saw the back of Val's shirt. She said that she usually has a competition with her siblings when they're at Disney where they each wear a shirt from their university and whoever has the most people come up to them and say something about their shirt wins. She was so glad to have found us because she says she always loses so she took a picture with us as proof. That was fun!

Next stop was Dinosaur standby (practically a walk-on), which everyone enjoyed. But we all agree that the photo spot is probably the dumbest place they could have it. I remember that it used to be scarier because lately it's looking really bad with just the dino head on a stick. We have pictures from the past of my sister looking terrified and then a couple years ago, a photo of a random woman clutching onto my sister's arm for dear life. That was a hilarious pic.

We headed over to Flame Tree for lunch but Val wanted something else so she went all the way over to Yak and Yeti quick service to grab some food and brought it back over to the seating area at FT. Megan and I split the pulled pork sandwich and beans. Mmmm I love those baked beans and their spicy BBQ sauce. It was a little bit crowded at Flame Tree so we weren't able to sit by the unobstructed view of EE but I went over to take a picture. Still so beautiful! And it's cool to see the construction for Rivers of Light.

 

[abzoo]

you don't have to explain yourself And yeah October was pretty warm. From what I understand warmer than usual and the fact that there was no rain was even special!! Still a great report With or without ponchos!!

Haha thanks!! We were lucky not to see any rain that week! Especially during the Halloween party-- I would have been worried about my costume!

 

[mrdrift]

Great report, love the facial expressions during the Everest ride. My family loves the Kali rapids ride when everyone get wet especially on hot days, but it doesn't seem to hot when you were there. Seems like the group is having a wonderful time. Following along.

 

[FlaggNL]

Haha thanks!! We were lucky not to see any rain that week! Especially during the Halloween party-- I would have been worried about my costume!

Yeah a whole week without rain! The weather was really marvelous! We also did the Halloween party, both Universal and MK. But we did it without the costums Universal was great, but the Not so scary party was marvelous!!

 

[abzoo]

Then we went back to check on Kelsey. She was resting in her little cubicle with her paper blanket. I took a picture to document her diseased state because I am a mean friend . We told her it would be no problem if she wanted to stay and rest a little more, we would just come back in about half an hour.

So we headed back to Asia since we had a FP+ for EE! A great Round 3!

So many Everest pictures. Oops.

We walked back to the other continent via Discovery Island trails and each of us ended taking almost the exact same picture and posting it to Instagram. We're embarrassing. But it's beautiful! The owl is my favorite!

I can't remember if we picked Kelsey up before or after this but we headed to the Pagnani Trail and saw some gorillas before it was time to get to Festival of the Lion King.

some meerkats too!​

 

[Tiggerish]

Love this trip report. You girls are having so much fun! Girls trips are the best (I just did a girls trip with my crew two weeks ago) Such a shame that Kelsey got sick.

 

[abzoo]

Love this trip report. You girls are having so much fun! Girls trips are the best (I just did a girls trip with my crew two weeks ago) Such a shame that Kelsey got sick.

Thanks! Girls trips seriously are the best! It was a huge bummer that Kelsey got sick but she had lots of fun anyway