"We're the Chosen Ones of Disney!" British accents, first timers, & 20-yr-olds unite! - UPDATE 6/7 X2

aggieabby20

Earning My Ears
Joined
May 9, 2018
HELLO!!!

Welcome to my TR! If you followed along last time, welcome back. If you're new around here: HI! I hope you're prepared for a whole lot of energy, laughs, and fun that will ultimately culminate into:

"We're the Chosen Ones of Disney!" British accents, first timers, & twenty-year olds unite!

~~~Link to chapter shortcuts!~~~

If you want to get a taste of the gang and our style before reading this one, feel free to read my completed past TR here:
"This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things": Aggie Girls Take on the World


This past winter break, three of my friends, along with my family, and little brother's GF took a trip to WDW. The logistics:
When: January 6-12, 2019
Where: Walt Disney World, Pop Century
Why: I'm not justifying this with an answer because do we need one?
What: A seven-day whirlwind of a winter trip to introduce the most magical place on Earth to some of my closest friends who have never been!
Who: Glad you asked :teeth:

Abigail (me!)



Hi! I'm Abigail, a twenty-year-old junior at Texas A&M University! I'm studying political science which loosely translates over to me being over-patriotic and prone to cry during the American Adventure. And by prone...I mean guaranteed. I hope to be president one day (you think I'm kidding), but in the mean time, I'm going to be a government teacher for high schoolers and eventually (hopefully) go to law school to study constitutional law.
- I have been to Disney about 20 times and rode Tower of Terror for the first time on this trip. Someone give me a cookie!!
- I can quote Dinosaur from "I'm Dr. Marsh, Director of the Dino Institute" to "I better find him before security does! Thanks for everything!"
- I'm currently in the midst of the application process for the Disney College Program! Yay! (I was accepted for this current Spring, but had to decline because of academic constraints.) So wish me luck!


Lexie



Lexie is the only gal we brought with us who has actually been before! In fact, she was there from December 28th-January 3rd and then turned around and came with us three days later, hahaha. If you've ever been in college, I think you can understand the "why not?" thought process that resulted in this decision. ;) She is our most camera-shy gal, but an absolute hoot. She is a junior at Mississippi College studying Social Work, so she's basically a world-changer in training.
- Her final form is an Avatar.
-She will physically fight anyone who disparages Stitch's name (including my dad).
- She bawled her eyes out when Sorcerer Mickey appeared during Fantasmic.


Megan



Our residential CRAZY GIRL. This girl literally got herself (and normally the rest of us) volunteered for every single show at Walt Disney World. Not an exaggeration. She is an international studies major at Mississippi College! If you can take any one type of person to Disney, you should try to take someone like Megan. She is easy to impress and overly-expressionable, so you will never be disappointed.
- She got so many things discounted or for free because she flirted with the cast members. :sad2:
- She forced us to stop for every dance party (not that we complained).
- She screamed "SIVAKO!" approximately 32,761 times through the duration of our trip.


McCall



The old one of the bunch! McCall is a senior Spanish major at Texas Tech University. She made the trip especially fun because of her appreciation for the details of Disney--ie. hidden Mickeys, windows of Main Street, etc. It has been her dream to go to Disney her entire life, but never got the chance, so she was the main fuel for the making of this trip. We talked about it all summer at the camp where all four of us girls worked together and finally made it happen!!

- She has visited almost every world showcase country in real life.
- She carried a couple decks of cards with her and insisted we play every possible opportunity which made for some fun memories of playing by the waterfalls in Canada and the flight deck of Soarin'!
- She has very impressive character impressions when singing Disney songs.


Blake and Morgan



This is my 17-year old brother and his girlfriend! Blake goes to Texas A&M with me where he studies engineering and Morgan goes to Texas Tech where she studies Diatetics. Morgan (or Mo for short) had never been to Disney before, either, so it was really fun to see it through her eyes! I don't have as many pics as I would like to have of them because my friends and I often adventured ahead of the group, haha, but they were very present on our trip and oh-so-fun!
- Blake's scores on Toy Story Mania are scary good.
- Mo's favourite attraction was Kilimanjaro Safaris which makes her a girl after my own heart!!
- Mo got some incredibl(y embarrassing) GoPro videos of us on various Splash Mountain, Everest, etc. drops that I hope never surface.

Mom and Dad



Brad and Kristi--aka Mom and Dad! The people I have to thank for my Disney passion. Every detail they have put into our trips over the years has paid off because look! They successfully created a monster :flower: They were our photographers, enablers, and supporters for the whole trip which we can only be thankful for!
- Mom makes colour-coded, laminated pocket-sized schedules for each person every trip and they are beautiful.
- Bubbles being blown around the parks can make my Dad turn into a five-year-old...something I learned this trip.
- My Dad is actually here not he DIS, too!

So, that's our gang for the week!

I hope you're all prepared, properly seat-belted, and well-caffeinated. We're in for a wild ride!

 
Last edited:
Here! I love your infectious smile and I loved your last TR!
 
Joining in! :mickeyjum

Seems like a fun bunch. Best of luck on applying for a CP! I'm a two-time alum and I can wholeheartedly say that making the effort to do it will pay off. :thumbsup2
 


Ahhhh, I am excited for your report! I totally thought I saw you at the HEB in college station last week! Maybe! Gig`em!
 


Alright! Let's get this thing started.

...

First off: How did this trip come to be?

McCall, Meg, Lexie, and I all work at a summer camp together! If you followed along on my last TR, you know about this camp because I had to take a brief (ten week hahaha oops) hiatus to work at camp in the middle of finishing up that TR.

Being the dis-nerd I am, I talked about Disney non-stop and eventually my excitement became contagious. We started dreaming about how we could make a trip together a reality. I texted my Dad on a weekend when I had phone access to toss the idea to him and he got to work. In one of my last weeks of the summer, he hammered out the details and sent me a text with a summary of the trip information.

It was tough because none of us had our phones except for 24 hours on Saturday and none of us had face-to-face access to our parents. Getting the other girls' parents to agree to an expensive trip with a family they had never met was a bit tough to do through phone calls and texts but somehow it HAPPENED!

We booked a trip!

...

Since all of us kids go to a variety of colleges spread out a good way across the south-east, traveling was no easy feat! We weighed different options but ultimately decided everyone would kind of do their own thing and end up in Orlando by 10am Sunday morning.

Lexie and Megan drove to Orlando from Lexie's house in Gulfport, MS.

Morgan lives in Houston (where my fam lives) normally so she was already home for the holidays.

McCall flew in to Houston from Lubbock to stay with my family for a couple days and fly with us.

So, my fam + Morgan and McCall took a 6am :-)scared:) flight out of Houston to Orlando Sunday morning!!

46315496864_aab9cc59e2_c.jpg


We had a 3:30am wake-up call. Which would have been fine and all if our bodies didn't rebel against us and stay up a l l night long.

McCall and I got in bed at 9pm in an effort to get a full night sleep but that only began the start of the worst night of our life. I did not fall asleep until 2:45 that next morning...and was woken up about half an hour later. So fun times indeed!

The good news is I had something to look forward to and provide me energy because:

WE WERE GOING TO DISNEY.

Our flight was relatively easy (even though it felt so loooong on account of our grogginess). I can't really sleep on planes but I think I got a good twenty minute nap in.

46315496734_6bb5a331d9_c.jpg


46315496344_7d1e9f612a_c.jpg


Magical Express was painless and we ended up at Pop Century by 10 am!!

Now: if you recall, Lexie and Megan were driving themselves. And know pretty much nothing about the Orlando area. :upsidedow

When Disney made their new "pay to park" rule (boooooo!!!), they decided it would be cheaper to park somewhere in the city dan Uber in. We are aware that this was not the safest, smartest plan...but we're in college and so risks like this are kind of our thing. :rainbow:

It took an hour or so of driving around and a couple teary phone calls (haha we're girls) but they eventually landed on an Applebee's parking lot being the best place to leave their car for the week.

Again...looking back, I can see the flaw in this plan. Oops.

REGARDLESS...they made it to Pop Century!!

The reunion was super sweet because we had not all seen each other in months! I'm excited to report that this is the only photo we got of the moment.

46315537684_52d155d463_c.jpg


Sidenote: within ten minutes of arriving at the resort, Megan realized that she left all of her toiletries in Mississippi and Lexie dropped her phone into a couch cushion in the Pop lobby and we had to break the entire couch to fish it out...

BUT MOVING ON.

We had a full day ahead of us and our stomachs were grumbling so we headed OFF TO EPCOT.

46315496084_0fed2121ee_c.jpg


47039379301_9484526c4e_c.jpg


46315494914_eba5438b09_c.jpg


Our first order of business was getting some food in our dang bellies so we headed off to Sunshine Seasons: my personal favourite quick service, for the desserts alone.

Because: HELLOOOOOO STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE.

I may or may not have had this multiple times on the trip. :teeth:

Our first fastpass was for Soarin' (one of my faves) so we jetted on over there!

46315494654_67c3442b80_c.jpg


Let me tell you...never in my life have I had a Soarin' experience that fun. The first-timer girls were blown awaaaaay. Absolutely shell-shocked by the technology. A scream of "THIS IS THE BEST MOMENT OF MY ENTIRE LIFE" was heard by all in Concourse B. :rolleyes1

The newbies:

47039378761_4d57e46604_c.jpg


Next, we headed over to Living With the Land: probably my least favourite attraction in all of WDW (sorry not sorry). But who doesn't love some good...plants?

46315493834_039029305e_c.jpg


47039377791_1ea36a2186_c.jpg


We did get to introduce the idea of Hidden Mickeys to the new girls at this point, though, so that was really fun! They started keeping a points system of who could find the most Mickeys that we promptly lost track of an hour later when we hit about 30 points each because things like "loosely-configured cups" and "freckle configurations on Abigail's face" started counting as points.

I tried to explain that wasn't how Hidden Mickeys worked but I was immediately shut down with a "don't be bitter just because you're losing, Abigail. We can't help the fact that we're jus better at spotting Mickeys than you!"

...welp...

(Here's some proof that we all still love each other in the form of a random hug occurring in front of LWTL.)

47039375391_62995b61fc_c.jpg


...

to be continued
 
That is so wild how you got this trip to work. Personally I know with my friends that that would never happen even with how well we know each other. Nobody's parents would be willing to support and no way we could support ourselves financially (granted I have but that was DLR not WDW and I had friends to house me heaven bless and I was broke af after paying for what I did pay for... anyways...).

Love how happy y'all are to be together for this trip. You already look like you were having the best time even on the fake-o-rail at MCO.

I love the excitement for Soarin'. She deserves all the love in the world and more. We love a worldly iconic queen. But let's not drag Miss Living with the Land too too much, she does her best and she relaxing af so you gotta give credit for that.

WOW, the sass about hidden Mickeys. They would not have won that argument with me so easily, nuh-uh. You should've just kept going on and really let them know how it's truly done.
 
Following! I can't imagine all the work that went into coordinating this trip. Just planning for 3-4 of us is crazy, and I love planning!
 
Here! I love your infectious smile and I loved your last TR!

Hello and welcome back!! :flower1:
Joining in! :mickeyjum

Seems like a fun bunch. Best of luck on applying for a CP! I'm a two-time alum and I can wholeheartedly say that making the effort to do it will pay off. :thumbsup2

Eep!! I have my PI tomorrow evening so please keep sending all the good vibes my way!

Joining in

Yay! :welcome:

Ahhhh, I am excited for your report! I totally thought I saw you at the HEB in college station last week! Maybe! Gig`em!

Hello and gig em! You definitely may have if it was the new one on Wellborn!!! Wow, small world!

Joining in! :flower1:

Yay!! Hi! So happy to have you!

That is so wild how you got this trip to work. Personally I know with my friends that that would never happen even with how well we know each other. Nobody's parents would be willing to support and no way we could support ourselves financially (granted I have but that was DLR not WDW and I had friends to house me heaven bless and I was broke af after paying for what I did pay for... anyways...).

Love how happy y'all are to be together for this trip. You already look like you were having the best time even on the fake-o-rail at MCO.

I love the excitement for Soarin'. She deserves all the love in the world and more. We love a worldly iconic queen. But let's not drag Miss Living with the Land too too much, she does her best and she relaxing af so you gotta give credit for that.

WOW, the sass about hidden Mickeys. They would not have won that argument with me so easily, nuh-uh. You should've just kept going on and really let them know how it's truly done.

For the first-timers, they used that as leverage to get some help from parents for the funding! But there was definitely a lot of penny-pinching going on for the months leading up to the trip, that's for sure. And you know what, you are absolutely right about Living with the Land. I would have been a bit kinder to her if she had come after a long day when I could fully appreciate the relaxing opportunities she presents. Going from Soarin' to her just made it difficult for my compassion to abound. And no worries--my passive aggression was on full alert for the rest of the trip with the Mickeys. I used my Disney superiority to put them int heir place time and time again, however unfair that may be. I'm far too competitive to let their lack of experience render me weak. :rolleyes1

Hi !! Following along.

So fun introducing people to Disney.

So happy you're joining in! :welcome:

Following! I can't imagine all the work that went into coordinating this trip. Just planning for 3-4 of us is crazy, and I love planning!

It was definitely tough, but I have amazing parents who do the hard stuff for me. I have no doubt that they will still be assisting me wen I am middle-aged with a family of my own. :teeth:
 
Those early morning wake up calls are the absolute worst lol

I'm anxious to hear how the whole parking for a week in a restaurant parking lot turned out lol
 
Following along! This trip sounds like so fun and I already need to know if the car was still at Applebee's when they got back to it popcorn::
 
Those early morning wake up calls are the absolute worst lol

I'm anxious to hear how the whole parking for a week in a restaurant parking lot turned out lol

The early morning would have been a lot worse if it was a sad one on the way home...thankfully we had a little added pep in our step because we knew we were headed to Disney!!

Following along! This trip sounds like so fun and I already need to know if the car was still at Applebee's when they got back to it popcorn::

Sounds how we felt the whole trip haha! Several times a day, one of us would say out loud, "Do you think the car is still there?" Haha!

Sounds like a fun trip!

Happy you joined in!! It was a fun trip indeed!
 
After leaving the Land, we started heading back a bit further into the park.

We caught a showing of Pixar Shorts and each of us girls cried at a different short hahaha, then we moved on over to an absolute classic. It's my favourite, it's your favourite. The song you love to hate. The dragon you want to kill.

Figment, our king.

47039375081_566a9ff8a4_c.jpg


47039374871_db75c994b8_c.jpg


^^that is my dad, not Figment. Just wanted to avoid confusion and accusations of identity theft. :thumbsup2

The girls were very concerned with finding the PERFECT pair of ears, so we started our search early at the best place: MouseGears!! It was so fun leading up to the trip talking about Disney because McCall and Megan truly had no idea what to expect, haha!

They knew there were a lot of Ears options and, for some reason, that just really really excited them. I mean, rightfully so--ears are a rite of passage. But it was almost humourous to hear them talk about them. A very "the wand chooses the wizard" Harry Potter approach. I think they expected to place a pair of ears on their head and Mickey himself would walk around the corner and say, "THOSE ARE THE ONES, PAL!"

Apparently, that moment was not adequately fulfilled because they left ear-less. But no fears: the search continued.

47039374001_1f4beeeaef_c.jpg


Lexie in all of her Stitch glory.

Also note on her Stitch obsession: Lex LOVES HIM, right? My family had a group text message with my friends for a few months leading up to the trip where my dad would send daily Disney fun facts and trivia. One day, he asked our fave and least fave characters. Lexie's is obviously Stitch. My dad's LEAST fave is Stitch. So tensions were high.

This picture was taken right after my dad pretended to strangle a Stitch plush and Lexie almost cried.

And those Stitch ears are in fact children's size (because they did not have adults) that she bought on the previous trip. She wore them shamelessly throughout the trip and we roasted her consistently as any good friends would do. :littleangel:

We had a Mission Space fastness with our name on it, so we jetted over there. Blake and I have been forced to take a picture with these UGLY hats every year of our lives. Over time, our response has changed from crying to arguing to just plain acceptance and numbness.

47039373641_e7af64b95e_c.jpg


We are obviously very dead inside.

We all rode green team and then the teenagers (can I say that if we are 20/21/22???)...er young adults...(?) went back and did standby for orange.

Oh, minus me. Because I am a wimp who lives in fear of nausea. :goodvibes

My camera had been given me some problems so I made Mom act as my model while everyone else rode MS...and I mean CMON, she's so pretty so who is the real winner here!!!

47039372161_87fde3021b_c.jpg


After everyone was sufficiently nauseated and gravity-less, we started to head back toward World Showcase. Now, I feel like this is not a common fave around the early-twenties crowd and if you find yourself falling into this, I would like to take a moment to lovingly tell you that you, my dear friend, are wrong.

World Showcase is a beautiful, brilliant display of culture and art and detail and architecture and all the wonderful things, and if you find yourself snoozing, I really implore you to do some self-evaluation. Questions to guide you:
Do I understand joy?
Have I ever felt joy?
Am I even really fully human if I do not appreciate beauties like WS?

Thank you.

32097771917_2c46556f17_c.jpg


Our residential Spanish major has a love for latin cultures, so she was very pumped for the Mexico pavilion and loved showing off her knowledge of the language...and Mexican candy.

32097771807_37b85a0b39_c.jpg


32097771417_d9e5688743_c.jpg


It made my heart leap because this particular area ended up being McCall's favourite corner of all of Disney!! A fellow WS lover!! EEP!

Cutie Lexie and Cutie McCall being all lovey and sweet on the very-necessary and very-neglected Gran Fiesta Tour.

32097771107_3ba85185cf_c.jpg


As we continued to make our way back, we were in a bit of hurry because our Teppan Edo reservation was upcoming, but we got to enjoy a few things a long the way.

Highlights:

- Acrobat show in China (wow those men and women are talented and also very brave)
- Drumming along to the Aggie War Hymn in the African outpost area
- A full performance of So Long, Farewell (from the Sound of Music) in Germany and a lot of discussion over schnitzel exclusively existing as a noun and the potential that exists with the creation of the verb: schnitzeling
- Pretty snowflake art in Norway
- Tearing up while walking through the American Adventure because I just love our country so much
- EPCOT golden hour!!

40074641433_3592dd19ac_c.jpg


32097770847_6c0ebae68d_c.jpg


32097770237_431d2220cc_c.jpg


40074638053_622d60ae83_c.jpg


Originally, we took this photo:

40074637373_6d15d03cf3_c.jpg


But we were told by Megan that Blake and I looked like random orphans who had just walked up and joined in the happy couple's picture, so we got a little more cozy. ;)

40074636503_68dcc792d6_c.jpg


32097768527_4f43dae6a7_c.jpg


33164250358_d2307c9f06_c.jpg


We finally made it to our destination: Teppan Edo!!!!

AKA the restaurant with the best cast members in all of Disney (personal opinion only, of course) and some dang good food, too.

Our chef's name was Nagatoshi and he was phenomenal!! We've been here several times and Nagatoshi was definitely the best chef we have ever had. So creative and genuinely funny.

33164248298_711251a38e_c.jpg


47039364541_4c069c0b23_c.jpg


46125781355_05bba5cf54_c.jpg


33164246018_8549c1b8c9_c.jpg


I want you all to know that as I type this, I am sitting in my bedroom at college eating a microwaveable pasta, so thinking about the wonders of Teppan Edo is a true challenge and I hope you all adequately appreciate that. ;););)

After we finished up (I had scallops YUM!!!), Mom and Dad were feeling a bit stuffed and a bit ready to catch up on some sleep after our early morning. You would think that McCall and I (those of us who got negative hours of sleep) would feel the desire to follow suit, but YOU WOULD BE WRONG.

Us kiddos all hopped on a monorail and headed over to Magic Kingdom! THE NIGHT WAS STILL YOUNG! (Actually, it was not. We only had an hour until the park closed.)

But first, I would like to share with you all this beautiful picture of Lexie in the bathroom of the United Kingdom pavilion where she completely knocked a trashcan off the wall and into the toilet and handled the situation by screaming and shouting, "I'M SO SORRY, WALT. It was an accident!!!!" because y'know...that fixes things.

You're welcome, Lexie. Hate me later.

46315537994_8b9df88d29_c.jpg


We got to MK with very little time to spare BUT we were on a mission. Peter Pan's Flight went under maintenance that night, so this was our only chance to ride this!! Its a classic so we knew it had to be done, rationality be danged.

We entered the park during Happily Ever After and got a good laugh and some GOOD CARDIO while we made our way back toward Fantasyland.

Just to set the stage of our manic run:
Keep in mind that three of our girls had never seen the Castle before yet we were expecting them to sprint right on down Main Street without giving it a glance. Happily Ever After was at its climax (Trashin' the Camp, Go the Distance, etc--you know the part!!) so the temptation to stop and watch was REAL, y'all. But we. had. a. mission.

Now, I am not a runner. In fact, I am not an anything-exercise-oriented-er. But I would have defied Olympic standards if my sprint to PPF would have been observed. I'm sure everyone else hated me in the moment, but I'm very serious about making sure each possible attraction is experienced and this was our ONLY chance!!!

We made it from the front of the park to Fantasyland (looping all the way through liberty Square because fireworks=insanity) in about six minutes and it was IMPRESSIVE.

Best news: our dinner from Teppan Edo stayed down!! :woohoo:

We did standby for PPF (first time I have ever done standby and WOW this queue is so cute and fun!) and when we got off, we realized we had about fifteen minutes until the park closed so we decided to take our chances and jet over to Space Mountain.

Somehow, by the grace of God and also some really sweet cast members (who honestly probably took pity on our disheveled, heavy breathing appearances), we were one of the last groups allowed in to the queue!

I had spent the entire evening talking about how fun Space was because of the darkness. Like...I hyped this thing up, y'all. "You can't see anything!" "It's so dark!" "You don't see the track in front of you!!"

So, of course...we got in and ended up riding it with the lights on :rotfl: Good ol' Space Mountain; making a liar of me.

After Space, it was well after official park closing, so we made our way to the front and got to see the kiss goodnight :blush: I cried.

And of course, only have this picture from the whole adventure because of the fast-paced nature of the night (but I think it sums up my sentiments):

46315537674_15379e727b_c.jpg
 
Love love love your energy! This seems like a super fun group you went with- following along! It's CRAZY impressive you all pulled this together. This would have been tough in college, but now especially as a later-than-mid-20-something getting my ladies together for a trip only a few months away would be basically impossible. Can't wait for more!
 
The amount of hot takes made in this update. Whew, gurl...

giphy.gif


"The song you love to hate. The dragon you want to kill." One Little Spark is a SHERMAN BROTHERS MASTERPIECE. Do not disrespect it nor the same to Tony Baxter's pride and joy, Figment.

And how is it possible to be ok with someone who doesn't like Stitch? HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE STITCH?

Ugh.

*UNSUBSCRIBING*

Just kidding!

Also, I don't know if you're being sarcastic or you got really REALLY wrong information about early twenty somethings but we all love World Showcase. It's the saving grace of the once sparkling cruise ship now sinking that is Epcot imo. If not for how stunning it is but also BOOZE. We stan. But a love letter is always appreciated.

That was quite some journey of y'all running through MK to make it to Peter Pan's Flight before the park closed. I've done similar things and I can only imagine how frantic and wild that was with a group as big as yours. And with Teppan Edo intact? Y'all got skills.

Lol, Space Mountain with lights on after all that hype of it being dark, I can't. Just to help quell the bitterness over Space's petty that night, it wasn't until the end of my first CP when I was invited to ride Space with the lights on on one of my last nights so you got to see something a rather rare few get to see. Enjoy relishing in that.
 
Joining in! And can I just say, your group is one I would totally join in a heartbeat! Parents, friends, brother - the whole shebang! I don’t think I’ve ever seen such pure joy on so many people’s face! :D
Quick question-how long did the lights and X-Mas stay up whilst you were there? We are taking my parents for the 1st time in November but I REALLY wanted that week after New Year’s but since it’s their 1st time, having them see everywhere decked out in all their glory was/is crucial to me.
PS. I have video of me videoing the Kiss Goodnight(our 1st time seeing it)and I was BAWLING. I was watching my kids and seeing their faces light up, GAH!! I’m crying just thinking about it :P
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!










Top