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
Friday, November 1 cont.

Finishing up!
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I stuck around until the park closed, managing to get more candy and one last ride on Space Mountain in total darkness!
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And that's a wrap on MNSSHP 2019! 🎃

Having the party pass was AMAZING. I loved being able to go as many times as I wanted and being able to space out all of the things I wanted to do, rather than having to stay the entirety of the party every time. I met a lot of characters that I otherwise probably wouldn't have met, and I got to ride the headliners several times with minimal waits. Being able to watch the new fireworks show multiple times, and ESPECIALLY being able to watch the parade as many times as I did, made the pass completely worth it without even factoring everything else in. On the downside, having the pass also made me feel like I HAD to go so I could get my money's worth. There were a few times that I kind of just felt like staying home for the night, but ended up at the party instead. I'm not saying I regret going 7 times, though. 😉

As much as I love Fall, BRING ON CHRISTMAS! 🎅💚
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday, November 2

A quick stop at Epcot for a ride on Soarin' and a spin around WS with Dylan. 🥰 We attempted to get our Remy magnets, but the line was absurdly long. We decided to wait and come back another day.
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We also popped in to see the Epcot Experience show, which was amazing! I highly recommend stopping to see it. Dylan wasn't interested in all the photo ops, so I guess I'll have to go back to do those with Brooke another day. 😉
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blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Friday, November 8

Brooke, Dylan, and I spent the evening at Disney Springs, mostly to grab a bite to eat and trade some pins. We somehow ended up in the Christmas Tree Trail, and I'm not even mad about it. 😍 It was raining so I didn't take a lot of pictures, but I'll be back on a nicer day for that. I did grab one of the new Lion King tree because I'm obsessed with it!
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BUT WHERE ARE THE TUMBLE MONKEYS. 😋
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday, November 9

Brooke, Caitlin, and I started at AK for some tumble monkey and Chip and Dale love! No pictures of the monkeys this time, but I promise we were there. 😉

HOW CUTE ARE THEY. Also, Chip proposed and I'm still trying to figure out how to tell Dylan. 🤷‍♀️ He proposed because I told them that Dylan doesn't allow me to put our Christmas tree up until after Thanksgiving, and we all agreed that it was unfair treatment. Chip promised to let me put the tree up immediately. :joyfull:
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I loveeeeee the AK tree.
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We hopped over to MK because they were taping for the Christmas special. Little did I know how PERFECT of a night it would be for us to attend the taping... FREAKING MR. SHU WAS PERFORMING. I recently starting binging Glee, so this could not have come at a more perfect time. Caitlin and I fangirled over him with no shame. 🤷‍♀️
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I also love the Tomorrowland decorations.. we briefly considered crawling onto the stage for a picture, but thought better of it. ;)
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Goodnight MK!
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Rista1313

Well-Known Member
Though I came with the goal to just meet the dwarfs, I ended up seeing someone much cooler... Equity Ben!

But did I see on instagram that Ben has moved over to Universal? /CRY now I will never get to see him. DH can't ride any of the rides there because of his back, so there is no reason for us to spend the money.
 

Gurt

Well-Known Member
Im gutted we won't see Ben in the Frozen show we have never seen him yet, we do go to Uni though so I am hoping to catch him there however we never seem to be around to see the Citizens performances
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I noticed in the Chip and Dale pictures that you were in a tank top and the others were in long sleeves - so: what was the temperature like that allowed such a drastic difference in clothes? I 💕 the tank top BTW; so cute.

Lol! I had my tumble monkey shirt on but changed into the tank just to go meet the munks! It was actually pretty chilly once the sun went down and I put a sweatshirt on right after the pictures.

I laughed out loud over your "conversation" with the grave diggers. The photos of them were hysterical! :hilarious:

😂😂 I LOVE THEM.

The grave diggers are my favourite part of the parade! I love Brooke's ears they are really cute.

Mine too!

But did I see on instagram that Ben has moved over to Universal? /CRY now I will never get to see him. DH can't ride any of the rides there because of his back, so there is no reason for us to spend the money.

My understanding is that he’s performing both places, at least for now

Im gutted we won't see Ben in the Frozen show we have never seen him yet, we do go to Uni though so I am hoping to catch him there however we never seem to be around to see the Citizens performances

He’s still performing in Frozen. 😊
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Let's get this thing updated! 😋

Friday, November 22 - MVMCP

It's been a little while and I think some of these pictures are out of order, but you'll get the general idea. ;) I was kind of hoping for a Christmas party pass, but had to settle for just going to one since that never came to be. 🙃 We weren't sure what crowds would be like, since this was the weekend before Thanksgiving, but it ended up being a perfect night and we accomplished a lot! We ate lots of cookies, met some characters, rode some rides, and experienced the Space Mountain and Speedway holiday overlays, which were both amazing. I actually think that the Space holiday overlay was more terrifying than the Halloween one because I could see everything with the lights flashing. I've never been more fearful of being decapitated on SM in my life. 😂

Anyway, here's some pictures!
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The new fireworks show was incredible! There were so many unique fireworks that left us both like 🤯 I think my favorite was the one that was in the actual shape of a Mickey head - not a hidden Mickey, the real deal! The projections were super cute, though I was surprised that they weren't more elaborate after seeing the Halloween party projections. I'm not complaining, it just wasn't what I expected. I think it was a smart move though, because the actual fireworks were so intense.
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We both loved the show! I'm disappointed that I have to wait a year to see them again!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Friday, November 22 - MVMCP

We watched Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration, but I refrained from taking a bunch of pictures because we weren't super close and I knew they wouldn't turn out. I put some videos on my Disney Instagram though, if you follow me there. 😉 We had staked out a pretty great spot for the parade, and before we knew it we were getting very merry!
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She spotted me taking her picture and stopped to pose. :joyfull:
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I love these sweet bakers so much!
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I always laugh at the gingerbread men and their flat heads. 🤣
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LOVEEEEE these guys!
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I'm really surprised that I don't have any pictures of the toy soldiers, because they're my favorite part of the parade! I took a few videos of them, so I guess that's why I missed taking any pictures.

We had a little bit of time left after the parade, so went and hit up a few more rides and such. We also popped into Cosmic Ray's so Brooke could get something to eat. The CM gave her one of the eggnog shakes for free (it was closing time) and she ended up passing it off to me. It was really good, but veryyy sweet. I couldn't finish it, but enjoyed what I did drink!
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We had a blast at the party and really lucked into a low crowd night. Every year I tell myself that I'll take a year off from the party, but I know that'll never actually happen. 🤷‍♀️ I just love it so much! Nobody does Christmas like Disney. 😉
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Monday, November 25

Happy birthday to Dylan! I happened upon a Via Napoli reservation, so we got a group together for a great celebratory meal! This was my second time eating at VN.. it's just soooo good. Dylan had chicken parm and I had pepperoni pizza. He said his was fine but my pizza was divine!
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Some evening Epcot views...
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We decided to continue our night with a ride on the Skyliner.. it ended up being quite the adventure because the park was closed, preventing us from getting back to our cars. 🤪 We knew that before we exited, but I don't think we were actually prepared for how much of a process it would end up being to get back to the parking lot lol. The Skyliner was amazing! I want to go back and ride it during the daytime, but the nighttime views were pretty incredible too!
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tuesday, November 26

We joined our friends for a trip to AK - their baby's first trip! It was an absolutely beautiful day and crowds weren't too awfully bad. We had our FPs and managed to accomplish everything that we wanted to without too much trouble! We started with some of the animal trails and walking around Pandora.
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Kevin!
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We had a FP for the safari and saw plenty of wildlife!
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We finally stopped for a picture at this stunning wall!
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We had a FP for Lion King, but I only took a few videos so you'll have to believe me. You should know by now that I can't go to AK without seeing my monkeys. 😉

We popped in to see Mickey and Minnie!
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We stood along the water and watched part of Rivers of Light before heading out for the night.
 

blreinsel

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday, November 30

Some Festival of the Holidays fun! We also picked up our Chip and Dale passholder magnets - they're sooo small compared to the others, but they're still so stinkin' cute!
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Living with the Land looked amazing with all of the holiday decorations! I knew that they were decorating, but I didn't anticipate just how many decorations there would be. 😍 It wasn't quite dark yet when we rode and I was really hoping to make it back to see everything all lit up at night... I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the decorations are still up after blockout dates are over so I can see it!
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