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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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Love the new look!
I agree - the length suits you well (and must be so much cooler for the summer!)

Thank you both! It's much better for the FL summers. ;)

Congrats! Love the Disney touches!
Congratulations! Looks like you had an absolutely wonderful day and your photos are just gorgeous! Enjoy your honeymoon!
Congratulations! You looked beautiful and so happy!
Your wedding pictures are beautiful. Happily ever after to go both 💕

Thank you all! It was a happy, happy day.. that's for sure! 🥰
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thursday, June 27

@wishes2013 and I both returned to Florida on Wednesday, so we were off to AK as soon as possible! :joyfull:
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I arrived a little before her, so I found a spot to sit and sip my water while I waited. Pro tip: get a venti cup of water from Starbucks for ultimate refreshment. :joyfull: At AK, you'll be given a cup of ice and then you fill it yourself at one of the water stations near the door. The Starbucks in the other parks typically just give you the full cup of water.
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This is by far my favorite Disney wall. 😍
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We had a safari FP so made our way toward Africa. We saw a lot of giraffes, particularly babies! I think we counted 4 babies? To my knowledge there were only two, but we were proven wrong in the cutest of ways! This is not one of the babies. 😉
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Another cool thing we saw on our safari was either a Wildebeest or Greater Kudu (I can't remember which it was) with a bunch of grass/weeds on its head. Our driver told us that males will do that to attract females. Her exact words:
"He's wearing a flower crown. He looks kind of silly but he thinks he looks great." 😂

Our next FP should come as no surprise to you...
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I MISSED THEM SO MUCH.
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It was a scorcher so we decided that we needed a drink to cool us down before our next FP. We returned to the Thirsty River Bar (next to Everest) for a drink we had previously and LOVED.

The Flying Yak - mango puree, coconut water and pineapple juice; we make it even better by adding a shot of coconut rum. 🙃
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We sipped our drinks as we journeyed to Pandora for our last FP of the day. Ma Eywa, @wdisney9000!
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Friday, June 28

It had been far too long since I'd seen my castle, so it was time to remedy that. I was welcomed home in the best of ways!
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I had a FP for Ariel and it was much needed - that FL sun has been brutal!
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@wishes2013 texted me and said that she had arrived, so we decided to meet at Bonjour Gifts. I am NOT impressed by the fact that this shop has been taken over by other princesses. I mean, Cinderella has an entire section. THIS IS BELLE'S STORE. 😤
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We had a lunch ADR in Adventureland so we headed that way. Our other friend was going to meet us there.

Now, I was not overly excited about this ADR but Brooke and Caitlin had both been wanting to go for awhile. I was forced against my will to eat here :)angelic:;)) and I'll say, I wasn't totally disappointed.
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We were shocked by how large the restaurant is.. there are several rooms and each of them holds a good amount of people. There was SO MUCH to look at and I would go back just for the sake of exploring a little more.
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We were seated here and our server came to greet us shortly thereafter!
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Friday, June 28 cont.

We all started with sangria from the "not so secret menu." Brooke and I both had the Frosty Pineapple, while Caitlin had the Blue Cerulean. At first, none of us were impressed... they basically tasted like wine. But once we got down to the bottom, they were really good and we realized that they had probably just needed mixed up!
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Caitlin also had the Schweitzer Slush - Frozen Apple Juice and Passion Fruit topped with Bursting Green Apple Boba Balls (or frog eggs, as our server referred to them :)).
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Brooke and I split an order of the Brazilian Cheese Bread - hellooooo Food & Wine. IT WAS AMAZING. I would go back just for this.. and it was a much better value than F&W. ;)
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For entrees, I had the "Hardy Har Char" Siu Pork - Char Siu-marinated Pork served with Seasonal Vegetables and Jasmine Rice. The flavor was pretty good, but it was superrrr fatty (which our server had warned me about).
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Caitlin had the "Tastes like Chicken" Because it is! - Crispy-fried Chicken served with Jasmine Rice, Chili Glaze, and Seasonal Vegetables.
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Brooke had the Orinoco Ida's Cachapas - House-made Corn Pancakes, Beer-braised Pork, Roasted Corn, Fresno Pepper Salsa, and Avocado Cream. This was actually from the appetizer menu, but it was a good portion!
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Overall thoughts on Skipper Canteen... It was good! I don't feel like I need to rush back (maybe for cheese bread), but I'm not sad that I tried it. The atmosphere and theming was incredible, but we didn't get an overwhelming sense of "Jungle Cruise" from our interactions with our server. She threw it a few corny jokes, but it wasn't anything major. That could vary from server to server, but I didn't really notice any of the other servers getting into the role either.

When we left the restaurant, we stopped to sit on the porch out front for a few minutes (this is one of the main reasons that Brooke wanted to eat here 😂).
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We had called a nearby CM over to take the picture for us and when we got to talking, we realized that we "knew" her! During the scavenger hunt at my bachelorette party, the other team had asked another CM if she knew anybody working that day named Brittany. She said that she did but she had just gone on break... so she called her in hopes of her being able to come back out for a picture. She didn't end up being able to (something with the process CM's have to go through to take their breaks), but she was super upset about it! The CM that took this picture for us was that same Brittany! Lol.

I present to you... the long lost CM!
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We said our goodbyes to Brittany and then headed out!
 

accord99cutie

Premium Member
Omg your wedding dress is gorgeous!!! Congrats on the wedding!!! And I LOVE following along on all your local adventures! How fun that you accidentally met the Brittany who was on break! Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us!!! It really helps people like me make it from WDW trip to WDW trip!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Omg your wedding dress is gorgeous!!! Congrats on the wedding!!! And I LOVE following along on all your local adventures! How fun that you accidentally met the Brittany who was on break! Thank you so much for sharing all of this with us!!! It really helps people like me make it from WDW trip to WDW trip!

Thank you! Happy to help keep those Disney blues away. :)
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Sunday, June 30

Dylan and I popped into Studios tonight for our first Disney date as Mr. and Mrs. 😉🥰

Oh how I miss you. 😞 The wait was 145 minutes when we arrived. SO ready for this refurb to be finished!
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We had a FP for RnRC, so we headed there first. We only had a short wait before we were boarding our super stretch!

We had some time to kill before our next FP, so Dylan had a beer and I had a slushee from Joffrey’s while we waited.

Soon we were here!
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We are super competitive, and it was time to see which of us would get the first win since starting this new married chapter. 😋 Dylan has been on a winning streak for a solid year.

However, today his winning streak came to an end! 😝🙌🏼
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We exited and decided that we didn’t feel like waiting for anything else so started toward the front of the park.
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Happy 1st birthday TSL! 🎉🎈
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Congratulations!!! 💕 It looks like you guys had a wonderful time and you all looked fantastic! Best wishes to you and Dylan!
Congratulations on your wedding! 💜

Your pictures were beautiful and everyone looked so nice. I loved your gown and your bridesmaid dresses!
Congratulations!!!! ❤❤❤❤ You looked stunning and everything looked perfect! 🌹
Congratulations! I love all the dresses you chose. Wishing you a lifetime of happy memories ahead!
Congratulations!!!

Thank you all so much! We had a perfect day. I would go back and do it all again if I could. ☺️
 

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