Mickey, Harry Potter, and Shamu Walk Into a Bar

Welcome, y’all, to my trip report. Now some of you may be disappointed in the (somewhat distasteful) name that I chose for this particular trip report, while others may be upset in the lack of actual bars in the trip report. However, you will not be disappointed in the amount of photos, fun, and new adventures that my family went on during our 10 day stay from May 5- 15. I won’t waste too much time on the introductions because I plan on getting into more detail as the report continues.

The cast again, in case you forgot, included: myself (Rachel); husband, Jordan; mom, Disneybird; pops; grandmother; sister, Amanda; brother-in-law, John; nephew, Victor; niece, Julia. Yep, that’s a big ‘ole party to travel with.

Now on with the show.

May 5, 2012

I’m including this day for one very special reason: my husband graduated from college on this day! Three years after returning to school I was very proud to watch my husband walk across the stage to receive his Bachelor’s in Bible and Theology. Many people often ask if I am older than my husband considering that I have my Master’s. He is actually three years older than me, but he lived a much cooler life than I did before he went back to school. He backpacked through Scotland, traveled the country playing music, and traveled to different parts of the world doing missions work. On the other hand, I went to school…fun.

Still, I was very proud to see him receive his diploma, and this entire trip was planned to celebrate his graduation, as well as his new position at the church where we attend. He worked very hard leading right up to graduation. Trust me, writing exegetical papers, memorizing hundreds of years of history from the Nicean Councils, and debating Calvinism vs. Arminianism made for a very exhausting last semester. So, I was excited to spend a relaxing 10 days with a stress free husband.

We were hoping to have an additional reason to celebrate while we were in WDW, as well. Last July I received my Masters of Arts in Teaching. I am certified to teach History 7-12, with an add-on in Language Arts. For the past year I have worked at the high school where I did my year long internship in the testing department and as a tutor in English and U.S. History. Unfortunately, the school did not have a teaching position for me, but I was blessed to have a job regardless. Honestly, the best way to get a job in a school is to stay in the school. Rumors started circulating about three months ago that a position would be opening in the Social Studies Department. The department rallied behind me to be the person to fill the position in case it came open. I even had several meetings with members of the administration to discuss job opportunities. However, as it got closer and closer to our trip it seemed less and less likely that there would be a position open. The week before we left for vacation two different people on two different occasions approached me and suggested that I start looking at other schools for jobs. They were both looking out for my best interests and wanted to make sure that I could find employment. While I appreciated it talk about a devastating blow. On top of it all this came during my busiest week of the year, the week of End of Course testing (I was able to take off the entire next week because my job is based on hours, which I built up enough of during the week of testing.). So, I was so ready to just get out of town and away from the craziness for awhile. I planned on using these 10 days not having to or wanting to think about jobs.

The day and a half leading up to Jordan’s graduation were very hectic in our little household as Jordan’s mother and brother came down from Maryland to stay with us. Packing and resting beforehand became a little rushed. Still, Saturday morning I was ready to pop out of bed and get going with everything. Fortunately, Jordan’s graduation was early in the morning because we had a very long drive ahead of us.

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Blurry but this was the best I could do.

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All smiles afterwards

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Once graduation was over, my parents met us over at our place for lunch before hitting the road. We hit the road around 1:30 for a long journey ahead. The ride down was uneventful, and traffic wasn’t bad at all. We stayed off-site for the night at a Comfort Suites. My mom was nice enough to get Jordan and me our own room for the night. Once we got there we were so excited to be starting our vacation that we literally jumped up and down on the bed.
 

johndoh

Member
What a great way to celebrate your husband's graduation! I love your pictures and I'm bummed we didn't make it to SeaWorld on our recent WDW trip during Easter and your pictures aren't helping me to feel any better. :)
I'm sad to hear about your teaching job situation and I totally sympathize. I'm married to a teacher and the amount of time, effort and energy they put into their work is something most people never understand. Hang in there!
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I am enjoying this TR soooo much!! You look like you had an excellent first day at Sea World! Congrats on your husband also!!

Thanks! We did have a great day there, but it was just the start to a wonderful trip.

Loving the TR...reminding me how much I love Sea World and how we might need to stop by the FL one again since the TX one varies a bit. Also good to hear about Undercover Tourist. I'm debating about rebooking to a room only as we get closer to our 45 day mark and buying through them. I still need to work out some of the other aspects, but good to know they're reputable. The sushi looks YUM :slurp: And boy can I relate to the toddler issues. Can't wait to read more! :wave:

I was very, very happy with Undercover Tourist. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous when we were going through the entrance at Sea World that our tickets wouldn't work, but we had no problems at all. Plus, the price you see on their website is the price that you pay. It includes tax and shipping, so you really are saving quite a bit overall.

Congrats and loving the report so far! Great pics of Sea World. My 10 year old is bugging me constantly to take her there. Oh the pics of Beach Club...sounds like an awesome room location.

Kimonos looks great. Is that at the Dolphin?

Thank you! It is definitely worth spending a day over there. There is a lot to see, and it is a pretty park.

Kimonos is actually at the Swan. It would make more sense for it to be at the Dolphin with, you know, the whole sea theme. It is tucked away in a corner off of the lobby, quiet and secluded.

Big congrats to Jordan! That's definitely good cause for taking a trip to Florida!

Aww...your Sea World pictures remind me of when I went as a kid. We were living in Orlando at the time and I was so happy I got to leave school early that day to go the park with my cousins. :lol:

The Beach Club is tops on my list of "future-resort-visits". The more pictures I see of it, the more I want to stay there.

Kimonos' sushi looks DELICIOUS. Looks like a cool place to hang out for a date-night. :)

Thank you! The Beach Club is definitely one of my favorite resorts there. It is really beautiful.

For that point of our trip after spending several days constantly surrounded by people, Kimonos was the perfect date spot because we were finally alone.
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
yay Rachel you started your TR! Good, I needed another one to read to get me through school. :animwink:

CONGRATS JORDAN! I just got to watch Dan walk for his graduation the other weekend, so I know the feeling you felt! SO flipping proud! :)

And they still have the Clyde and Seamore show? I saw that in 2006 when we went there (or was it 2008? uh oh...). Can't wait for the next update!

I feel like I finally started my trip report. :lol:

Congrats to Dan! We can both be so proud and so stress free now that we've gotten our men through school. One hurdle out of many.

I think Clyde and Seamore has been around for a long time. I vaguely remember it from my trip when I was some much younger age.

First off, congrats to Jordan on graduating! :)

Second, my sister and I both love animals so Sea World is perfect for us. Last tiem we were there Manta was having test runs done so we didn't get to ride it. We were super bummed! The Shamu show though did have the trainers in the water. My sister would have loved Pets Ahoy. She's all about rescue animals.

We did feed the dolphins when we were there and it was at a designated time. I think it was $7 for a tray of food. It was really cool and I'm glad we did it. The manatees are probably my favorite exhibit there. They are so big and gentle. It makes me sad to think how many are getting hurt by boats and such out in the wild :cry: I seriously tear up when I see them...

On a happier note, your room at BC is super cute! :) Can't wait to read more!! :wave:

You will have to head over to Sea World at some point. Manta was so good. It's a shame you couldn't ride it then. I've been on a lot of coasters and that was definitely one of the most unique.

They only had two times that day to feed the dolphins. I don't remember how much it was. I think Jordan kind of forgot about it or either though that when we saw the trainer throwing food out to the dolphins that was the feeding time. Is it bad that I was so hot and had such a headache that I didn't want to remind him otherwise? It is. I'm with you on the manatees. It really is so sad to see some of them really scarred up.

I can't wait to read the TR you have going. I told myself that I was going to get this one up and running before I started reading everyone else's.

I love your report so far, Rachel! Congrats to the husband...you guys look great! :sohappy:

Thank you! I promise I will get over to the diet thread and update on my progress, but I keep putting that off so I can try and update this.

What a great way to celebrate your husband's graduation! I love your pictures and I'm bummed we didn't make it to SeaWorld on our recent WDW trip during Easter and your pictures aren't helping me to feel any better. :)
I'm sad to hear about your teaching job situation and I totally sympathize. I'm married to a teacher and the amount of time, effort and energy they put into their work is something most people never understand. Hang in there!

WDW is my favorite way to celebrate anything! You will have to plan a trip over to SeaWorld to see the beauty of it all yourself.

Teaching really is a full-time plus job. Unfortunately though it is something that supply definitely does not meet demand. Thanks so much for the kind words!
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
May 7, 2012
We woke up early to head over to the Magic Kingdom for breakfast at Crystal Palace. Dad went to Tampa to play poker and my grandmother decided to stay in the room for the morning, so off Jordan, mom, and me went. We went through the proper entrance and were just waved on by once we stated that we have breakfast reservations. They never checked our name or asked where our reservations were. Not that I would ever do this but it would have been pretty easy just to lie and say that we had a reservation to be able to get into the park early.

I just love the Main Street when there is hardly anyone around.


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You can see a crane from the construction site for the Fantasyland Expansion when you are looking at the castle from the front of Crystal Palace. Fortunately it wasn’t the dreaded crane that so many hate to have ruin their photos, and if you were looking at the castle straight on it wasn’t intrusive at all.


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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After we checked in our table was called pretty quickly. Unfortunately not everyone in our party had arrived yet, so we had to wait a few minutes before this cool cat arrived.

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Victor was cracking me up because he thought he was so cool in his sunglasses. He kept telling me that they made him look like Iron Man. He really enjoyed both of the Iron Man films, and of course when he saw The Avengers, Iron Man was his favorite. He even sang the song for us. According to him the words went something like this:
Honoured lost his knife
Nobody likes him
Bam, bam, bam.

There were some more words that I couldn’t figure out what he was saying, but the song ended with:
Iron Man gotted his knife.

We got a good laugh over it.

Once everyone arrived we were on our way for our Friendship Day Celebration.

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Here is a picture of my plate. As you can see I don’t eat very much breakfast.


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Here is the first of Jordan’s many plates.


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We knew Victor would be fine with the characters, but we were curious as to how the little one would do. It is really easy to get her laughing, especially while she is eating for some reason.


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I asked my sister a few months back how she thought Julia would do with the characters. She told me that she would probably admire them from afar, but once they got up close she probably wouldn’t be a fan. The first part definitely proved to be true. Piglet was the first character that she saw, and she was very excited. She watched Piglet go around the entire room. Each time Piglet was close she would scream (delightfully) to get his attention. The story slightly changed once Piglet actually approached her and she sank back in to my sister’s arms.


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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
There were no tears, but that was most definitely not a smile. She did start to warm up to the characters once she realized that they enjoyed giving high-fives and fist bumps.


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She was not a huge fan of Eeyore. He even reached over at one point to hug my mom, and she looked at him, shook her head, and emphatically told him “no!” No means no, Eeyore.


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After breakfast it was time for us to go explore the Magic Kingdom.


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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Our first stop was Space Mountain.


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While we were on Space Mountain mom took the kids on a few rides and headed over to Fantasyland with them. So, while they were off we decided to go on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. Jordan and I are very competitive with one another. We never take it personally, but we are always trying to outdo the other. He is a big gamer. Video games, board games, whatever it may be, he loves to play. While I am not a big gamer at all, if there is anything where we can compete or one of us will come out the winner, I am all over it (although I do get pleasure in blasting away zombies with him and I am very excited that Epic Mickey 2 will be co-op). Of course, I love going on Space Ranger Spin and Midway Mania with him just to see who will win.


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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
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Well, as you can see I got spanked, absolutely, positively, embarrassingly low, spanked. I’m going to blame sabotage on this one as we are both right handed and he had control of the direction we faced. After being (once again) spanked, we headed over to Fantasyland to find my mom.


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JOSHG

Member
Great trip report. Never thought I would see the phrase "Arminianism vs Calvinism" in a WDW Trip Report. lol

Congrats to your husband on graduating. Looking forward to the rest of the report.
 

Disneybird

Member
Okay, it's time to insert my 2 cents. For those who don't know, I'm the mom Rachel is referring too.

I took advantage of online check-in at the Beach Club. One of the questions the check-in asks is what time will you arrive. As I got out of the car upon arrival, a cast member called my name, greeted me, then walked me to the check-in counter. I knew I was home. Ahhh, the magic of Disney.


Great report Rachel.
 
Okay, it's time to insert my 2 cents. For those who don't know, I'm the mom Rachel is referring too.

I took advantage of online check-in at the Beach Club. One of the questions the check-in asks is what time will you arrive. As I got out of the car upon arrival, a cast member called my name, greeted me, then walked me to the check-in counter. I knew I was home. Ahhh, the magic of Disney.


Great report Rachel.

That must've been a great feeling!
Really enjoying this TR! Wondering where you got Victor's Tshirt??
 

Disneybird

Member
That must've been a great feeling!
Really enjoying this TR! Wondering where you got Victor's Tshirt??

Thanks.

I actually bought his shirt from a vendor at a children's consignment sale. Julia had a Minnie Mouse one on also. I will try to find the business card of the lady I ordered it from and let you know if I do.
 
Thanks.

I actually bought his shirt from a vendor at a children's consignment sale. Julia had a Minnie Mouse one on also. I will try to find the business card of the lady I ordered it from and let you know if I do.


Thanks! I'd appreciate that. Our trip is in February, my DH and I celebrating our anniversary. So I'll be wearing a button! but he wont :shrug: My sister and BIL will be with us a few days and I'm wondering if she'd wear a Tshirt like that with me? Is that dumb?? :lookaroun
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great trip report. Never thought I would see the phrase "Arminianism vs Calvinism" in a WDW Trip Report. lol

Congrats to your husband on graduating. Looking forward to the rest of the report.

:lol: Thank you! Glad to see that someone knows what that is.

Okay, it's time to insert my 2 cents. For those who don't know, I'm the mom Rachel is referring too.

I took advantage of online check-in at the Beach Club. One of the questions the check-in asks is what time will you arrive. As I got out of the car upon arrival, a cast member called my name, greeted me, then walked me to the check-in counter. I knew I was home. Ahhh, the magic of Disney.


Great report Rachel.

Thanks, mom! Keep adding your two cents.

Thanks! I'd appreciate that. Our trip is in February, my DH and I celebrating our anniversary. So I'll be wearing a button! but he wont :shrug: My sister and BIL will be with us a few days and I'm wondering if she'd wear a Tshirt like that with me? Is that dumb?? :lookaroun

I don't think so at all. There were several adults, mostly women, that we saw in similar shirts throughout the trip.

Great report so far :) congrats on Jordan graduating, especially in a complicated field :)

Thank you so much! I'll admit that even though I didn't go through the program I did edit all of his papers and it was difficult material.
 

popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Short update for tonight, y'all. It's been a busy day about to be followed by a busy night.


We found my mom and the kids over near the Friar’s Nook. I believe John took Victor to the bathroom or something along those lines, so we hung out for a few minutes. Julia came to me to be picked up, and Jordan took my camera and started taking pictures of us. A CM approached us and asked if we wanted a picture of all of us. Jordan told her no thanks, but the CM insisted and said, “You need at least one picture of all of you.” Jordan handed over the camera and as he was walking towards us said, “It’s not even my kid.” We had a good laugh over that once the CM left and said that she probably thought he was a mean stepdad who wanted nothing to do with her.



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Since we were over here the kids went on the carousel. They were stuck on the inside part of the ride, so it was hard to get any good pictures. This horse stopped in front of us. I found it interesting.


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Next up was “the happiest cruise that ever sailed around the world.”

What a good stepdad. :lol:


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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
While the rest of the park wasn’t too crowded, Fantasyland definitely was. We decided to move on and head over to the Haunted Mansion. We hit up the interactive queue and were the only ones going through.


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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Julia will definitely be an adventurous child. She was fine throughout the whole ride.

We ventured on through Liberty Square over to Frontierland for a ride on Splash Mountain. Victor promised mom that he would ride this with her if he could wear a poncho and wear one he did. This was Jordan’s first ride on Splash Mountain since it was down for refurb during his first and only trip prior to this.


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I love the part of the ride when you are going up the first “hill.” Jordan kept looking at me and asking, “Is this it? Is this it? Are we to the drop already?” I kept looking at him, grinning, and saying, “I don’t know.” Then, the anticipation wears off as you realize that the first drop is an ant hill compared to the mountain.

All smiles afterwards (and during, of course)


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After we got off we did the child swap and let the kids go play on the playground. Victor declared that he was not going on that ride again as he declined an invitation from his parents to ride with them.

There’s half a head I recognize.


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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After this ride mom, Jordan, and I headed back to the resort to rest for a bit and get my grandmother some lunch. As soon as we got back Jordan went to the pool while I grabbed a sandwich for my grandmother in the “food court” of the Beach Club. As much as I love this resort it will definitely never be known for its wide selection of food choices. After relaxing for a bit mom, mamaw, and myself decided to do the best thing ever – go to Beaches & Cream for ice cream!

We went in to the express side, and I felt so bad for the girl working that side because she was by herself and there were a lot of people that came in behind me. We ordered a sundae as there is a limited menu on the express side. It was good and plenty big. Even with three of us we didn’t finish it, and I am a fool for ice cream.

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As soon as Jordan came back my mom and grandmother took off for Epcot. They didn’t get far until my mom called me to let me know that the battery in my grandmother’s scooter was nearly dead and that they were bringing in back to charge it. They dropped off the scooter and headed back out while we charged the battery for about an hour. We knew that they wouldn’t get far, but I still didn’t want my grandmother to have to walk for a long time. After an hour had passed I called my mom to let her know that we were on our way over to Epcot. Of course Jordan drove the scooter back, and by that I mean he turned the speed all the way up, did a couple of figure eights, and banked so hard a few times that he almost flipped. Ladies and gentlemen, this is extreme scootering.


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We had dinner reservations that night at ‘Ohanas, so our time at Epcot was limited. I don’t remember doing too much other than riding SSE in French.


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Fashion Forward


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popsicletrees

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After our ride on SSE we hopped on the monorail and got off at the Ticket & Transportation Center to walk over to the Polynesian.


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This resort definitely ranks up there as one of my favorites. The grounds are so beautiful throughout the resort.


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You can see Jordan carrying Julia again in that last picture. At some point during the day he became her best friend for the trip.
 

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