Trip Report Livin' La Vida Local

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

For those of you that have been following my adventures for awhile now, welcome back! 😊 For those of you that are just joining my adventures, I'll do some quick introductions before we jump on in!

I'm Brittany and this is my prince, Dylan. ❤️ We are from Pennsylvania and got engaged at MK a little over a year ago. We took a page from Walt's book shortly thereafter and chased our dreams, leading us to central Florida. I teach 1st grade and Dylan works at the Magnolia/Palm (Disney) golf courses located across from the Poly and Grand Floridian. After living in FL for a full year now, we are 100% certain that we won't be moving back to PA. We are Floridians through and through and can't imagine living our crazy life together anywhere else. ☺️
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You'll see lots of faces in my report (including some of yours!), but this is the one you'll see most often. 😉 This is my very best Disney friend, Brooke (@wishes2013)! We met through this site and were brought together when we realized that we would both be teaching 1st grade at the same school. I'm not exaggerating when I say that you can either find us at school or Disney... we're together more often than we're not. 😋
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You can find the ongoing trip report that chronicles our first year living in FL and being passholders here. 😊 This report will serve as more of a "highlight reel," rather than detailing every moment of every trip we take to the parks. But fear not, there will still be lots of report to read! If you're looking for your Disney fix or a way to chase those Disney blues away, you can most certainly find it here. 🤗

To all who come to this happy place, welcome!
 
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Longers

Well-Known Member
Friday, July 20

My family was in town and my mom had one day left on the ticket she had bought a few months prior, so a day at HS was in order! From left to right... My brother (Michael), his girlfriend (Hope), her daughter (Karlee), my mom (Robin), my nephew (Peyton), and yours truly. 🤗
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Hope's favorite Disney movie is The Little Mermaid, so we popped in for an under the sea show first!
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We walked through a few shops and I found these adorable socks. 😍@becca_ they would look great with that magic band I'm still trying to not buy. 😝
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We had fast passes for Star Tours next.
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After our ride, I left the group for a few minutes for a very important meet up outside of Indiana Jones. 😊
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We look like we've been friends forever! ☺️
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It was so fun getting to finally meet @LisaBelle and her sweet family! We stood and talked for awhile and it really was like old friends getting back together after time apart. 🙂


So glad you two got to meet :)

@LisaBelle - only last Sunday we were at the Harry Potter London tour and I thought of you all day as we wandered looking around the great hall where the movies were filmed and we got to see costumes and props etc.
I even had a butterbeer ice cream (that probably comes as no surprise!)
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Friday, July 20 cont.

Next, we stopped by to see the Muppets. We watched a girl who was probably around my age have a "photo shoot" on the fountain for an obnoxious amount of time.. you can see her in this picture. 🙄
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I had seen on Instagram earlier that Ben was performing at the Frozen show so that was our next destination! FYI to those of you who shared in my sadness over him deleting his Instagram awhile ago... HE'S BACK! 😁
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We walked through another shop where I found these adorable things that I don't need. 🙃
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We headed for Toy Story Land and used our Mania fast pass first. I got best in car, though it's not my best score.
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We stopped to use the bathroom and I snapped this picture to send @wdisney9000. He agreed that it didn't appear to be a legitimate service dog. 😏
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We walked around Toy Story Land for a little while longer so they could check things out, but the lines for the other rides were a little longer than we cared to wait. The sky was also looking ominous so I didn't think getting in line for Slinky was a smart choice (it ended up storming not long after, so good thing we didn't!)

We were getting hungry so decided to grab lunch at PizzeRizzo.
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Our last fast pass window was open so we went to check in. My brother and Karlee rode a second time using my mom and Dylan's magic bands (he had to work but I had made him fast passes just in case). My nephew is afraid of rides but we somehow managed to get him to go when they went back on.. he claims he didn't like it but my brother said otherwise. 😉
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Some pretty lights for @Doc Disney!
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Friday, July 20 cont.

We made it just in time for the last Beauty and the Beast show of the day. 🌹😍
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Dylan had gotten off work and met us as we exited Beauty and the Beast. We waited in the single rider line for RnRC.. My brother, Karlee, and I ended up in the same car somehow, but Dylan got separated. 🙁
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When we exited, we watched a bunch of girls in one of the Brazilian tour groups take turns standing up on the ledge and take very non-Disney like pictures in front of the guitar. I mean, we stood there making fun of them for a sold 10 minutes. There was a guy with a fancy looking camera taking hundreds of pictures of them as they changed poses and faces. My brother decided to mess with them as we all watching in horror. 😂🤦🏻‍♀️ He walked right up beside them, pulled his shirt up (revealing his dad bod belly) and made a stupid face while his girlfriend and my mom snapped pictures of him. The girls were not amused. 😂

Karlee is a big Star Wars fan and was wanting to meet all of the characters, so we headed toward Launch Bay next. I've never been in this building, nor have I ever met a Star Wars character, so this was a new experience for me as well. 🙃 We basically walked right in to meet all of them.

He was terrifying and I have nothing else to say about it lol.
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Next up was Chewy, and he was the only one I even remotely cared about meeting. I just wanted to see if his hugs are as good as everybody says.

They are. 😍 He was actually pretty entertaining!
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BB8 was last.. Peyton was pretty excited to meet him but I thought it was a little odd lol.
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We finished up and then went to grab a snack before getting a seat for Fantasmic.
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It's been over 2 years since I've seen Fantasmic and I forgot how much I love it! This was Dylan's first time seeing it and he loved it as well!
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Dylan and I headed out after the show, but everybody else stayed for the fireworks. It was a fun day and we accomplished mostly everything there is to do at HS. 😊
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday, July 26

An evening in MK with my prince. 😘 I've been trying really hard to just "be" and not take so many pictures of the same things when I'm at the parks, so I can't remember everything we did this evening.
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I know that it included a visit to my favorite ghosts and some dinner at Columbia Harbor House. 👻😋
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We had a fast pass for Big Thunder and ended up getting to see part of Happily Ever After while we did!
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We started walking out and watched the show sans crowds on the way. 😉 We paused outside of Hall of Presidents and watched for a few minutes.
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"The flower that blooms in adversity is the more rare and beautiful of all." This is one of my favorite fireworks of the whole show.. so colorful! 😍
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We took the back way out of MK and made it to the monorail just before the rest of the crowds made their way out!
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, July 29

One last early morning on the hub grass before going back to school. 😭 I'm already looking forward to Thanksgiving break so I can do this again!
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I had a fast pass for Little Mermaid and saw this little cutie swimming around by himself in the queue. 😍
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I've never noticed this beautiful painting on the wall before!
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*sigh*
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Longers

Well-Known Member
Friday, July 20 cont.

We made it just in time for the last Beauty and the Beast show of the day. 🌹😍
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Dylan had gotten off work and met us as we exited Beauty and the Beast. We waited in the single rider line for RnRC.. My brother, Karlee, and I ended up in the same car somehow, but Dylan got separated. 🙁
View attachment 306263

When we exited, we watched a bunch of girls in one of the Brazilian tour groups take turns standing up on the ledge and take very non-Disney like pictures in front of the guitar. I mean, we stood there making fun of them for a sold 10 minutes. There was a guy with a fancy looking camera taking hundreds of pictures of them as they changed poses and faces. My brother decided to mess with them as we all watching in horror. 😂🤦🏻‍♀️ He walked right up beside them, pulled his shirt up (revealing his dad bod belly) and made a stupid face while his girlfriend and my mom snapped pictures of him. The girls were not amused. 😂

Karlee is a big Star Wars fan and was wanting to meet all of the characters, so we headed toward Launch Bay next. I've never been in this building, nor have I ever met a Star Wars character, so this was a new experience for me as well. 🙃 We basically walked right in to meet all of them.

He was terrifying and I have nothing else to say about it lol.
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Next up was Chewy, and he was the only one I even remotely cared about meeting. I just wanted to see if his hugs are as good as everybody says.

They are. 😍 He was actually pretty entertaining!
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BB8 was last.. Peyton was pretty excited to meet him but I thought it was a little odd lol.
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We finished up and then went to grab a snack before getting a seat for Fantasmic.
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It's been over 2 years since I've seen Fantasmic and I forgot how much I love it! This was Dylan's first time seeing it and he loved it as well!
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Dylan and I headed out after the show, but everybody else stayed for the fireworks. It was a fun day and we accomplished mostly everything there is to do at HS. 😊


Craving a chocolate brownie sundae right now :(
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday, August 4

Dylan and I popped into Epcot for quick couple of hours! We rode Test Track, ate dinner at Sunshine Seasons, and Spaceship Earth on the way out. I mentioned that I love the smell in Spaceship Earth and he pointed out that it smells like crayons... I can't unsmell it. 😂
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We were SO excited to test this design against the others in our car, but nobody else scanned their bands. 🙄
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The water is back! So much prettier than the rocks that are underneath. 😉
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krisri18

Well-Known Member
Friday, July 20 cont.

Next, we stopped by to see the Muppets. We watched a girl who was probably around my age have a "photo shoot" on the fountain for an obnoxious amount of time.. you can see her in this picture. 🙄
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I had seen on Instagram earlier that Ben was performing at the Frozen show so that was our next destination! FYI to those of you who shared in my sadness over him deleting his Instagram awhile ago... HE'S BACK! 😁
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We walked through another shop where I found these adorable things that I don't need. 🙃
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We headed for Toy Story Land and used our Mania fast pass first. I got best in car, though it's not my best score.
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We stopped to use the bathroom and I snapped this picture to send @wdisney9000. He agreed that it didn't appear to be a legitimate service dog. 😏
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We walked around Toy Story Land for a little while longer so they could check things out, but the lines for the other rides were a little longer than we cared to wait. The sky was also looking ominous so I didn't think getting in line for Slinky was a smart choice (it ended up storming not long after, so good thing we didn't!)

We were getting hungry so decided to grab lunch at PizzeRizzo.
View attachment 306251

Our last fast pass window was open so we went to check in. My brother and Karlee rode a second time using my mom and Dylan's magic bands (he had to work but I had made him fast passes just in case). My nephew is afraid of rides but we somehow managed to get him to go when they went back on.. he claims he didn't like it but my brother said otherwise. 😉
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Some pretty lights for @Doc Disney!
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How does one find the infamous Ben of Frozen?
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday, August 11

Lunch at the Poly for some Pulled Pork Nachos! I really wish there was a side dish portion of these because I never come close to eating them all and hate being wasteful! But they are sooooo good! 🤤
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Sweet babies that wanted to ride the People Mover. 😉
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It was so hot and I felt so bad for this little guy. 🙁
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I grabbed an All American Sundae from the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor and sat on the rocking chairs beside Hall of Presidents to enjoy it. 😊
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While I was sitting there, I heard the loudest crack of thunder I've ever heard. The lightning was so close and I'm positive it struck a building somewhere in MK. People scattered EVERYWHERE when it happened, and I was grateful that I was already under cover! It never rained, but it continued to thunder and lightning for awhile.

I saw this on my way into the park but didn't take a picture, so I was glad it was still there when I left. 🤨😂
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday, August 18

Dylan and I were on our way to MK, but popped into the Poly for some drinks first. 🤗 Pina Colava for the win! I've never noticed this beautiful view from Tamboooooooo before, but 😍
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Fall is technically still a month away and the temperature is still in the 90's but when MK says it's fall... IT'S FALL YA'LL. 🎃
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We dropped by my favorite mansion for a quick visit with some old friends! 👻 We also had dinner at Columbia Harbor House and looked around in Momento Mori.
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We had a fast pass for Small World and then another for Space Mountain!
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We got Fanta slushies for the road and then made our way out of the park. 😊
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday, August 25

@wishes2013 and I popped in MK for a little while last night! We had fast passes for Peter Pan and Buzz (where I finally managed to hit a few of the big targets). 🙃

Here is my sole picture from the night! Lol. We were standing next to this family with a little boy who was probably about a year old... every time fireworks exploded he would yell "YAY!!!!" in the happiest little voice. We were cracking up! 😂
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