Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, It’s Off To Work We Go: An April/July 2011 Trip Report

Yep. It’s me again! And guess what? This report is going to go up soooo much faster than that last one. Well, Part I is at least. No, really. Promise! Here’s the thing, just three short weeks after returning from our Wedding/Disneymoon extravaganza, I found myself back at the World ready to take on another adventure; unfortunately though, without my husband in tow. Yeah that’s right, I’m such a great wife, so great that I left him behind and went to Disney World without him for our one month anniversary! And then, again, in the middle of the summer. Tsk, tsk. Bad wife.

Part I: Saturday, April 16 – Wednesday, April 20 at Port Orleans Riverside
You see, by day (when I’m not trip reporting :lookaroun) I advise, assist, and mentor engineering students throughout their co-op experiences. One of the perks of my job is that I get to travel around and visit students on all these different assignments. Well, lo and behold, after quite a few years of trying, I was able to hook up two of my students with Disney! Guess what this means?! Yes, smart cookies, this means a site visit to Disney World for Hollybelle! :D The timing of a couple things (the wedding, and work-related events) pretty much dictated when this trip would take place. And it just so happened to be smack dab in the middle of prime spring break time; the week before Easter. This was actually a good thing though, because it meant that my mom, Kim (a teacher), could come along with me for the fun.

Part II: Tuesday, July 12 – Friday, July 15 at Caribbean Beach
I needed to go back to the Central Florida area in July for a site visit with students in Tampa, so of course, being an annual passholder, I couldn't resist combining this short visit with more time at Disney. Unfortunately, Brett couldn't get away from work to join me this time either. So I called up my mom, and she so selflessly gave up a bit of her summer to join me again. :lol: Good thing she got that annual pass.

Because all good reports need an introduction to the cast, here we are slurpin’ down margaritas in the Bahamas:

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For the first trip, I initially had Pop booked because there was no way an AP rate would come out for the weekend before Easter, but oddly enough, my mom came across a surprisingly great rate for POR on one of the non-Disney travel sites, so we upgraded! Woohooo! This was my first time booking a Disney resort through a third party and everything worked out perfectly fine.

Just an aside, both parts of this report will likely be more photo driven and have a lot less text than normal… I also have a May trip to report on and an upcoming trip at the end of September so I'm trying my best to get all caught up with the summer reports as quickly as possible. :lol: Yes, I know, it’s already September. How’d that happen?!
 

HollyBelle

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Original Poster
I was itching to pick up a new Vinylmation (see the Pixar report to read more about my new addiction), so we decided to hop in the car and go over to Westside to check out the Vinylmation store, D Street. Not gonna lie… first time I’d ever been in there!

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HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I picked up one of the “Animation #1” series boxes, and my mom picked out one from the “Have a Laugh” series. Here’s the thing. She had zoned in on her end game character: Hula Minnie Mouse. And she was bound and determined to get her.

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That’s Hula Minnie on the side of the box there… she’s adorable!

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Back in the room we opened our boxes to see who we were going to be starting out with. I had Al… and as much as I like Al, he wasn’t end game material. My mom on the other hand… got a surprise. It was an ostrich from one of the old cartoons. We laughed, and laughed, and laughed. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to what we found to be soooooo funny. :lookaroun :lol: :eek:

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HollyBelle

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Original Poster
Day 2 – Wednesday, July 13: Magic Kingdom

First up… breakfast at Ohana - best character breakfast on property, no question. I don’t know which I was more excited about, Stitch or the pog juice he makes?! :D

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Heaven in a juice glass!

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I love this shot of my mom with Stitch. She may say Minnie Mouse is her favorite character, but Stitch is doing his best to steal the title!

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HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
On to Tomorrowland…

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Where I maxed out my gun on Buzz Lightyear… oh yeah, and in the second room, no less! Seriously, I was so excited that I promptly made my mom text a picture of the score to Brett! Woohooo. He was so proud of me!

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Yet another picture of that beautiful score…

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Oh Evil Emperor Zurg, you are NO match for me! :lol:

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HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Next up… TTA!

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In Mickey’s Star Traders we traded our Vinylmations…

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This guy is supposed to be a hippie… but all I can see when I look at him is a black bra and a pair of high-waisted brown pants. :lookaroun

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Back to BLSRS!

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No maxing out of the score this time. Buzz was still proud of me nonetheless.

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HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Fantasyland was up next… I have no clue what we actually did while we were there though.

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In Frontierland we found another place to trade our vinylmations. We kept subtly hinting to the CMs that we’d love to find a Hula Minnie. This guy was great – he flipped the whole box around and then started whistling and acting like he was cleaning the counter. :animwink: Too bad there wasn’t a Minnie in the box. We walked away with these guys instead!

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Onward to Adventureland!

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HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Back in Tomorrowland I picked up a plush. This was the first time I’d seen Lotso in miniature form – so picking him out was an easy decision to make. Mostly, because I knew Brett was expecting me to bring Tramp home to join Lady. But Lotso would be a complete surprise. I mean, really, how can you not want your very own Lotso Huggin’ Bear? Especially, when he smells like strawberries!

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On Main Street, we grabbed a pastry to go and some of Minnie’s cookies for Brett and then we headed out of the park towards the boat launch back to the Poly.

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It’s true, I have a crush on all the different boats on property – but these are my FAVORITE!

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HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I was craving a dole whip, so I picked one up in Captain Cook’s. Mom already had her pastry, so we just grabbed a table and sat down to enjoy our lunch. Super nutritious, I know! I prefer Poly Dole whips to Adventureland Dole whips. Three reasons… 1) shorter lines, 2) Poly ambiance, 3) fill-your-own cup!

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We enjoyed the Poly a bit more, before heading back to CBR for a little rest and relaxation.

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HollyBelle

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Original Poster
It's so sad that our room was so bad, because the grounds are so picturesque. I think I fell a little bit in love with this fountain just outside of Old Port Royale!

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At the Calypso Trading Place we bartered for some new VMs… nothing too special.

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We walked out front, only to see a DTD bus pull up… so we hopped on!

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HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What did we do at DTD, you ask? More Vinylmation trading and MORE Earl of Sandwich. I know, right? I think this was the first time ever that I repeated a restaurant on the very same trip. It’s not like me to do this. But we were hungry, and it was right there. Sometimes, you just can’t resist the power of the Earl! We grabbed the Earl’s Club and a Caesar salad to split. The salad was good, but the sandwich was better!

The salad:

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The VM trading resulted in some keepers for us. When I asked for # 15 (Brett’s favorite number) and the CM at the Pin Station pulled Wheezy out of the box, I just couldn’t help but keep him. I have a soft spot for Wheezy!

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And mom got Cinderella Castle! We loved this one, and apparently it’s from an older series because we’d not seen it before.

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We spent some more time wandering around DTD before heading over to the buses to catch a bus that would take us to the MK. We hopped on a Contemporary bus and were on our way!

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HollyBelle

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Original Poster
I just love the walkway from the Contemporary to the Magic Kingdom – I really can’t wait to stay there again… someday soon, hopefully.

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The Magic Kingdom was packed when we arrived. People were already snagging spots for the parade – 2 hours early! Crazies. We headed into Tomorrowland to see what the future had in store.

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While there we picked up a coke, took a spin on the TTA, and rode Space Ranger Spin (for the third time that day :lol:).
 

HollyBelle

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Original Poster
We decided to catch the train to Frontierland, rather than fight back down the crowds on Main Street. Eventually, we found ourselves queueing up for It’s a Small World.

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Back in Fantasyland there was a full moon…

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HollyBelle

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Original Poster
The Magic, Memories, and You was about to start so we headed towards Main Street. We stopped on the Tomorrowland bridge, just shy of the hub, and it turned out to be a pretty great viewing location.

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After the show, which still tugs at my heart every single time Stitch appears, we waited around for Tinkerbell’s flight.

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And then, because the trees were blocking our view of Wishes, we headed back into Fantasyland to ride the teacups!

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HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Back in Tomorrowland we picked up some new VMs from the Have a Laugh series… mom was trying desperately to get Hula Minnie, so we figured the best bet was through purchasing from that series. Unfortunately, neither one of us pulled her.

Instead we ended up with Pluto in a sweater and Mickey in a pumpkin. :lol:

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On our way past the Plaza we caught part of the second showing of MMY!

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Stitch! If you squint, you can see him. :lol:

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HollyBelle

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I believe we traded our VMs on Main Street, before catching the second viewing of the Main Street Electrical Parade.

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I’m so over the Main Street Electrical parade. All I can think of when I see it is how much I miss Spectro. BRING BACK SPECTRO! BRING BACK SPECTRO! BRING BACK SPECTRO!

Midway through the parade we headed out to catch a bus and go back to CBR. Overall, it was a very relaxing day!
 

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