A Kinda Short Surprise Report! - March 7-13 Staycation ft. F&GF, Galaxy's Edge, and Family! *NEW 6/15*

[disneyAndi14]

How fun to have your family surprise you in Fairytale Hall!
I bet you were shocked!
Wonderful pictures!

 

[lvcourtneyy]

... Little did I know she was actually in the car with dad, just arriving in Florida!

Wow how sneaky mom!

Love it!

So things are going smoothly in Princess Fairytale Hall when my captain opens the door.

"You have some special guests!" She tells me.

With a smile, I walk over to the door, expecting to see Heather and her family.

...Imagine how shocked I am to see my own family running towards me!

Omg I would die! What an amazing way to surprise you! I also have tears now.

My captain tells me to enjoy a few minutes with my family, that she'll make sure things are running smooth while I catch up and that I can take some photos with them.

What a great captain!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Omg I'm literally crying with y'all right now. That is the best and sweetest surprise and especially when you're with the best royals. I'm so gagged. And ugh, what a Fantasyland QUEEN in that costume. Also, yes shoutout to Miss Hannah for being the savior of everything omg

 

[missangelalexis]

Aww what a beautiful surprise! I definitely teared up reading about it!

 

[Newsies]

That wonderful sneaky woman!

She REALLY pulled off a heist this time]!!

That's so cool, and neat that you have cool pictures like that to remember those visits! Did you have a lot of friends come see you on shift?

I actually don't have a lot of photos to commemorate all of my visits! I saw maybe 10 friends over the course of my 17 shifts post-training. I saw a few from my first Program, a few from my current Program, and even a few people from the DIS, including @Lesley Wake !!

Oh my gosh I can't even imagine. I would be melted on the floor. Just a puddle of Ann.

I CRIEDDDD

Girl I'M crying.

SAME

What a great way to surprise you !

It was a crazy night!

How fun to have your family surprise you in Fairytale Hall!
I bet you were shocked!
Wonderful pictures!

I was definitely shocked-- it was a moment I'll never forget!

Wow how sneaky mom!

SO sneaky!!!

Love it!

Omg I would die! What an amazing way to surprise you! I also have tears now.

It was genuinely one of the most amazing moments of my life, definitely the highlight of my Program!

What a great captain!

She was the sweetest. I was blessed with some really great leadership this time around, the MK Entertainment department is a class-act and I hope one day I can return!

Omg I'm literally crying with y'all right now. That is the best and sweetest surprise and especially when you're with the best royals. I'm so gagged. And ugh, what a Fantasyland QUEEN in that costume. Also, yes shoutout to Miss Hannah for being the savior of everything omg

Timmy I'M crying because I miss you SO MUCH!! I love you!!! #DLRCP2021 let's go

Aww what a beautiful surprise! I definitely teared up reading about it!

It was the most magical moment of my entire Program!!

 

[tinkerbell1991]

Awww loving this so far

 

[Lesley Wake]

It was fun to get to see you in person, albeit briefly! And also an awesome surprise from your mom!

 

[the2ndstar2theright]

Okay so somehow I am just now realizing that you had started this TR, but I am here now!! What a fun surprise! I'm honestly impressed that they managed to keep it a secret--if it had been my family, someone would have spilled the beans for sure!

Hope you all are staying safe and well!

 

[Newsies]

Awww loving this so far

Thank you so much!!

It was fun to get to see you in person, albeit briefly! And also an awesome surprise from your mom!

You as well-- so great meeting you! Really hope our paths will cross again someday, would love to do a park day with you once everything settles!

Okay so somehow I am just now realizing that you had started this TR, but I am here now!! What a fun surprise! I'm honestly impressed that they managed to keep it a secret--if it had been my family, someone would have spilled the beans for sure!

Hope you all are staying safe and well!

It was a crazy, last-minute surprise and it took a loooot of teamwork to keep it a secret from me!

I hope you and your family are safe and well, too! Sending virtual love from NJ!

 

[Newsies]

Hi friends! Let's talk.

As you can see, I am back after a 2-month hiatus from this report and from the DIS in general. I'll be very honest and say that my mental health got really bad in the middle of April, and I just couldn't find the energy to continue writing this report. As much as I love TRs, this particular one has been taking a lot out of me given the circumstances surrounding it. I had to put it on the back burner for a little while. My birthday came and went and things started looking better for a while. I started playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and I started writing again for my personal projects. I thought about abandoning this TR completely, but I really really really hate abandoning my TRs, so I decided to give it one more chance. Just when I was about to continue this report, America came to a halt. I've been spending the past two weeks putting a lot of effort into the Black Lives Matter movement. I, personally, spent a good five or six days working solely on a campaign to get my sorority's national board to address racism in our chapters. It ended up being very successful, and we got our national board to a) put an action plan in place for making our chapters actively anti-racist spaces, and b) installing a brand new national board position, the chair of an all-new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. We did really great work, and I'm really proud of us.

Before I start the update, I really want to keep the momentum going for BLM, so I'm also going to drop a few more resources here in this post that I've found helpful in the past two weeks. Here's a carrd with just a few of the petitions I've signed. If you have the resources to donate, I highly recommend donating to The Bail Fund, which will split your donation between several great organizations. Lastly, I made a purchase from a black-owned beauty business that I really love! I purchased some homemade lipgloss from PrideLips, and I love them. I highly recommend PrideLips, and I also recommend checking out this black-owned Etsy shop master list for those of you who want to further assist black creators and the black community during this movement in American history.

That's all I got to say. Back to the TR!

Sunday, 3/8: The Circus, Dinner at the Poly
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I had an opening shift the next day, so I was up super early, especially since I needed to get to work with ample time to talk to a leader about giving a few shifts away for the week. I had some really great shifts scheduled for me this week that I had to give away-- namely, Jack Sparrow and Buzz Lightyear . I got dressed, grabbed an overnight bag I had packed, and headed off to the MK cast parking lot.

There's a cast service building at MK with a cafeteria that has a "Starbucks" kiosk, so I grabbed some much-needed coffee before heading off to work. I was working at Storybook Circus for the second time that day! Today, I would be working as a "breaker," so I would get to work with all of the characters in Storybook Circus, including Pluto, giving my fellow Attendants their breaks when necessary.

So I got to work and the first thing I did was put my name on a list to be sent home early. They can't guarantee that I'll go home early, but it was worth a shot since I wanted to spend as much time with the family as possible! Then, I went to the office to get some shifts taken away from me. As a CP, I technically was not allowed to give away shifts, but they can make special exceptions for things like this. Thankfully, my leaders were really amazing and understanding and gave my shifts away so I'd have two more days off with my family in the middle of the week! That meant I'd have a total of three days off with them-- Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Really great stuff already.

So I head over to the circus and my morning starts off great with Pluto! He was such a good boy. We crawled around with a baby. So much fun. I worked with Minnie and Daisy for a bit, then got my first break. Then, I went over to the boys side. While I was there, one of my captains came up to me and told me that my request to be sent home early had been approved!

It was a truly amazing moment for someone who never got approved to be sent home early on her first Program

So when the Character Attendant who took over for me came along, I clocked out and zoomed to the CP bus stop. My family wasn't at MK, so I just decided to go home, get changed, and hop on a bus to Pop Century and meet them at our room. It took a while to get back to the complex, then I changed out of my costume and ran right back out to another bus. There was an accident near my complex, so it took about 2 hours for me to get from work to Pop Century

All's well that ends well. I eventually made it to our home away from home for the week, Pop Century! We were in the 70s section, building 6, I want to say room 63__? We were facing the Skyliner for sure.

By the time I had reached the room, two days into everyone else's vacation, there was stuff scattered everywhere, so I couldn't get any pictures-- here are some pictures from Disney Tourist Blog.

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The layout was very similar to the room I had stayed in just a month earlier at All-Star Sports. The only discernable difference was that instead of two plain old queen beds, there was a queen bed and a pull-down bed.

My parents ended up liking Pop Century more than they thought they would, but this room was still a struggle for four adults. Not a ton of space to move around, not enough storage for the four of us for a week. I did like our location a lot, though! We were very close to the Skyliner, which we ended up using multiple times this trip. While the Hippy Dippy Pool was closed during our vacation (booo!!!), we were relatively close to Hippy Dippy AND the main building, so this would have been a perfect location for a summer trip as well.

Once I arrived, I set my bag down and we headed back out. We drove to the Polynesian Village Resort for a drink and dinner! I always love seeing my dad's reaction to arriving at the Poly-- it really is his happy place!

Our first stop? Pineapple Lanai! A few weeks before their trip, the Poly started serving a "Polynesian Lava You" Dole Whip that my parents insisted on trying. It was a Dole Whip with POG juice and coconut rum. Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE POG juice-- the special blend of Pineapple, Orange, and Guava juice that Disney serves on property!-- so I was eager to try this one, too. Technically, there are supposed to be Pop Rocks as well, but they didn't have Pop Rocks when we went. Truthfully, I would have asked for mine sans-Pop Rocks anyway, so it was no big deal.

Here's mine:

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The blue shot is the coconut rum-- it's given to you on its own, rather than pre-mixed in the Dole Whip, probably for some odd liability reason. Disney be like that sometimes.

And here are everyone's favorites lovebirds with their own Polynesian Lava You!

​

We all liked it. I even liked the coconut rum, and I don't like rum in general! It wasn't groundbreaking, but for a tropical Disney treat, you can't beat a boozy Dole Whip with POG juice. It's an instant classic. If it returns when Pineapple Lanai is back up and running, do yourself a favor and grab one before it disappears.

For dinner, we had a reservation at one of our favorite restaurants on property, Kona Cafe. I will also be stealing photos for this section of the TR. My bad! I didn't take a lot of photos throughout this night because I really wanted to enjoy my time with my family.

I started things off with another drink ( ), one of my favorite drinks on property, the Piña Colava. It's a Piña Colada with raspberry puree mixed in with it. At the Grand Floridian pool last summer, this was DEEEEEELICIOUS! It didn't "hit" the same at Kona Cafe, but it was still pretty good.

For an appetizer, we had the Pot Stickers. Here's a photo from Disney Food Blog.

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These are always great! They serve similar ones at 'Ohana (maybe identical ones?). They're delicious little pockets of chicken and vegetables served with some type of sauce that my family really enjoys. Many people refer to these as the best potstickers on property. You can't really go wrong with them.

For dinner, I had an entree that I had been eyeing up since the menu here changed-- duck fried rice with a duck leg and an egg roll! Picture from fancy voyage.

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This was just an OK meal. It wasn't anything I'd write home about, but there are certainly worse meals on property. The duck leg was really great! But the fried rice was kind of cold and reminded me of the rice they serve at Cap'n Cooks, and the egg roll was just OK. All in all-- I don't think I'd reorder this, especially since mom got a burger she really loved that I'd probably love, too.

We finished up our dinner and went back to Pop Century! I was really excited for the next day: my first day at the Flower & Garden Festival!

(Click here to continue!)​

 

[PlutosRHM55]

YAAAASSS!!! I'm so glad you're back to keep it going. I was afraid you had abandoned it, but I think this is such a good time to look back on. Also, so so proud of you for what you're doing for your sorority chapter right now. An absolute legend and so inspiring for the rest of us to do more.

Oh goodness, that quick throwback to Fall 2016... YIKES ON BIKES. Gosh, that program really needs to stay in the past. But WOW you really had the best leadership team out there for all they did for you this week. SWGE would never willingly do that unless we had some super dire reason. You really lucked out.

That Polynesian Lava You looks and sounds divine! I wish I had gotten on that. That would've been perfect for my depresso moments at the Poly, but ya know, more reason to make my grand return. Also, we stan Kona 5ever.

So excited to hear about the rest of this week!

 

[rdkeim]

Great to see you back! The last 3 months have been rough. Hope you're feeling better and have found a path forward.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

I thought about abandoning this TR completely, but I really really really hate abandoning my TRs, so I decided to give it one more chance.

As much as that would totally bum me out, you gotta do what's best for you girl <3

I've been spending the past two weeks putting a lot of effort into the Black Lives Matter movement. I, personally, spent a good five or six days working solely on a campaign to get my sorority's national board to address racism in our chapters.

That's awesome, it's stuff like this that's going to make a difference!

Lastly, I made a purchase from a black-owned beauty business that I really love! I purchased some homemade lipgloss from PrideLips, and I love them

Just checked them out and those are so cute! Thanks for that and the list of Etsy sellers.

As a CP, I technically was not allowed to give away shifts, but they can make special exceptions for things like this.

Huh that's a strange rule, but glad that they were able to bend it for you this time!

It was a Dole Whip with POG juice and coconut rum.

Shut. The. Front. Door. My favorite Disney treat with my favorite tropical juice AND my alcohol of choice? Holy SNACK batman I need that in my life.

If it returns when Pineapple Lanai is back up and running, do yourself a favor and grab one before it disappears

I've got a couple of nights at the Poly reserved for my birthday trip in Oct so now I know where I'll be that entire time.

one of my favorite drinks on property, the Piña Colava

YUM. Tried my first one on Castaway Cay back in February (which I think was like 7 years ago? IDK) because I saw how much you loved the one you got at the GF. I am forever grateful to you for that.

 

[Newsies]

YAAAASSS!!! I'm so glad you're back to keep it going. I was afraid you had abandoned it, but I think this is such a good time to look back on. Also, so so proud of you for what you're doing for your sorority chapter right now. An absolute legend and so inspiring for the rest of us to do more.

❤❤❤

Oh goodness, that quick throwback to Fall 2016... YIKES ON BIKES. Gosh, that program really needs to stay in the past. But WOW you really had the best leadership team out there for all they did for you this week. SWGE would never willingly do that unless we had some super dire reason. You really lucked out.

LOOOOOL true we don't have to talk about F16 anymore.... she is DONE

That Polynesian Lava You looks and sounds divine! I wish I had gotten on that. That would've been perfect for my depresso moments at the Poly, but ya know, more reason to make my grand return. Also, we stan Kona 5ever.

It was so good!!! When we make our grand return, we'll share one ❤

So excited to hear about the rest of this week!

It was so much fun!!

Great to see you back! The last 3 months have been rough. Hope you're feeling better and have found a path forward.

Thank you so much Things are getting a little better for me everyday. Hope you and your family are safe and well!

As much as that would totally bum me out, you gotta do what's best for you girl <3

We're back and better than ever now!

That's awesome, it's stuff like this that's going to make a difference!

Thank you so much

Just checked them out and those are so cute! Thanks for that and the list of Etsy sellers.

Of course!! I love my glosses-- they're not super sticky and the color is really nice!

Huh that's a strange rule, but glad that they were able to bend it for you this time!

So the STORY GOES... they stopped allowing CPs to give away shifts before Spring 2017 because CPs would give too many shifts away and then they wouldn't be able to pay their rent. The rent from CP housing comes right out of the paycheck, so if you give away too many shifts in one week, you won't be able to make rent.

Shut. The. Front. Door. My favorite Disney treat with my favorite tropical juice AND my alcohol of choice? Holy SNACK batman I need that in my life.

IT WAS SO GOOD!!! Next time you head to WDW I highly recommend it!

I've got a couple of nights at the Poly reserved for my birthday trip in Oct so now I know where I'll be that entire time.

You have to try it!! For sure!!

YUM. Tried my first one on Castaway Cay back in February (which I think was like 7 years ago? IDK) because I saw how much you loved the one you got at the GF. I am forever grateful to you for that.

OMG!!! I'm so glad you hopped on the Colava bandwagon!! Crazy how February was almost a decade ago!!!

 

[cajunfan]

Thanks for continuing on in writing this report. I can only imagine how difficult everything that has been going on has impacted you!
Great start! Wow on them being able to actually surprise you!! Can't wait to read more!

 

[Lesley Wake]

I've been spending the past two weeks putting a lot of effort into the Black Lives Matter movement. I, personally, spent a good five or six days working solely on a campaign to get my sorority's national board to address racism in our chapters. It ended up being very successful, and we got our national board to a) put an action plan in place for making our chapters actively anti-racist spaces, and b) installing a brand new national board position, the chair of an all-new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. We did really great work, and I'm really proud of us.

That is so awesome! I'm really proud of you!

 

[Newsies]

Thanks for continuing on in writing this report. I can only imagine how difficult everything that has been going on has impacted you!
Great start! Wow on them being able to actually surprise you!! Can't wait to read more!

Thank you for joining along-- I really appreciate it!!

That is so awesome! I'm really proud of you!

Thank you so much Lesley!!

 

[Newsies]

Monday, 3/9: Our Morning at F&G
​

We slept in the next morning. Around 10:00, we decided we'd finally head out to our destination for the day: Epcot! I hadn't been to the Flower & Garden festival yet, and neither had my family-- so this was going to be a great day for us!

We decided to head out to Epcot and get breakfast in France. Our building was really close to the Skyliner, which my parents couldn't have been more excited to use! All my dad had been talking about since, like, August was being able to use the Skyliner. In true Thomas Victor fashion, he FB-lived our trip on the Gondolas and said "wheeee" at every available chance. Even my sister liked the Gondolas! I wasn't sure if she did, since she was anxious about the Skyliner before the trip, but she was in the kitchen while I was writing this chapter so I asked her for a direct quote. She said,

"Get ready... I really, liked, the Gondolas. Exclamation point. Question mark? Wait. I meant, like, the actual.... exclamation point. You don't need to be typing that I'm saying that I want the exclamation point. Please don't publish this, I have a reputation to uphold."

There you have it! The Skyliner was a 10/10 from everyone. I'm mildly afraid of heights, but the Skyliner did a great job at not triggering that fear. The cars were pretty steady and moved at a great pace. There was great ventilation in the cars as well! It's a lovely ride and I can't wait to return.


Moving on, we eventually made our way to the International Gateway entrance and scanned in, then headed towards Les Halles for a bakery treat. Everyone in my family got the same late breakfast/early lunch pick-me-up. You know what treat I'm talking about, I know what treat I'm talking about, it needs no introduction but I'll introduce it anyway... the Roule Lard et Fromage.

​

(This was my image from a previous report. Apologies for the lack of photos so far-- this sadly wasn't a trip I imagined I'd do a report for!)

This is the bacon and cheese roll from Les Halles Boulangerie et Patisserie that I have sung my praises for over the past few years. It was my favorite snack in Disney for years, and continues to be a favorite of mine. A rich dough is rolled up with a light layer of gruyere cheese and bacon bits, and the end result is nothing short of perfect. When baked in the oven for a little while, it is an amazing, filling treat that you can essentially substitute for a meal at $4.25! You really can't go wrong here.

I normally would grab a cappuccino with breakfast, but I had my eye on a different drink that we would be making our way towards shortly, so I grabbed a bottle of water with it. We ate our breakfasts happily and I scored a FP+ for Spaceship Earth.

We left Les Halles and started making our way towards the front of the park.

On our way over, nestled between Canada and France, I found the one topiary I wanted to see more than anything this trip!

​

I LOVE Miss Piggy and this gorgeous pink and purple topiary does her true justice! Truly a star.

As we approached the World Showcase Plaza area, I asked if we could stop at The Citrus Blossom booth so that I could grab the Little Orange Bird sipper. LOB was the star of last year's Flower and Garden festival and I was very jealous of those who were able to grab him! The line this year was still pretty long, even at 11:30 in the morning or so, but I had to grab him. I was very excited.

​

He's just a perfect little ANGEL. I adore him so much.

The drink that he was served with was an Orange Cream Shake. It's your typical orange-creamsicle smoothie creation, and it was pretty delicious! The consistency of the slush can be pretty spotty, though, since these Festival drink machines are not the greatest.

Anyway, I took a photo with him and we started making our way towards the front of the Park again. We stopped to get some topiary photos:

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I was really in love with the topiaries this year. I had been dying to go to the F&G festival for years, so I was really delighted to finally see all of the gorgeous flowers in bloom! And they all smelled so nice when you walked past them! They really are a gorgeous sight to see. I don't think I ultimately loved the F&G festival more than I loved the F&W festival, but it was nonetheless a fun change of pace with some good limited-edition offerings.

As we made our way over to Spaceship Earth, we stopped at the make-shift temporary "MouseGears" location to grab our festival magnets! Sadly, I forgot my Donald magnet-- as well as my Christmas Goofy from last year-- and my Mickey iFArt magnet in my College Program apartment. They were clinging to my metal locker and I forgot about them when I was forced to rush out of there such is life.

Finally we arrived at Spaceship Earth! This would be my family's last time thanking the Phoenicians, which meant this is the last silly photo Grace and I ever took on Spaceship Earth:

​

The future of the refurb is now up in the air, so unless they scrapped the refurb plans for another good 2-3 years, it's possible that Grace and I will never get to take another silly "Future" photo again. Very sad.

Moving past our sadness, we decided to head to a festival-exclusive offering, the Goodness Garden Butterfly House!

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I absolutely adored the butterfly house!! There were so many beautiful varieties of flowers and endless butterflies fluttering around! Mom, Grace, and I all thought this was the highlight of the Festival offerings we saw that day. So sweet.

While we were there, we ran into our camp friend, Heather! Remember Heather, the girl who I thought was the "special visitor" at Princess Fairytale Hall? She was at the Butterfly House while we were there, too! She taught me how to get butterflies to land on my finger, then took this photo.

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We caught up, gave each other a hug, and then went on our separate ways. Next up: my family was ready to explore the rest of World Showcase!

(Click here to continue!)



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[PlutosRHM55]

I'm so glad to hear you all loved the Skyliner! Especially Grace. That commentary is on-point. Also that Thomas Victor live stream, I need a screen recording of it because that must be GOLD. Lowkey, need to friend him on facebook. Might do that right now because WHY NOT hehe

That Roule Lard Et Fromage does look and sound delightful. How did you not drag me to get one when we hung out in World Showcase? Oh yeah, because we had dining reservations. DARNIT TIMMY!

Pouring one out and wheeping a little over all those lost magnets. I would've been devastated if I hadn't gotten all my little magnet babies out of my apartment. This is why I triple check EVERYTHING.

Never got to visit the Butterfly Garden. I'm not even sure I knew where it was. Sad face. I love your photo of one of those gorgeous little gay icons sitting on your finger. Truly said "Gay rights!" with that photo. Also, LOB is a precious angel and she must be protected at all costs .

 

[dolewhipdreams]

In true Thomas Victor fashion, he FB-lived our trip on the Gondolas and said "wheeee" at every available chance.

There are no words to describe the size of the gaping hole in my life because I didn't see this video

"Get ready... I really, liked, the Gondolas. Exclamation point. Question mark? Wait. I meant, like, the actual.... exclamation point. You don't need to be typing that I'm saying that I want the exclamation point. Please don't publish this, I have a reputation to uphold."

This is the bacon and cheese roll from Les Halles Boulangerie et Patisserie that I have sung my praises for over the past few years. It was my favorite snack in Disney for years, and continues to be a favorite of mine. A rich dough is rolled up with a light layer of gruyere cheese and bacon bits, and the end result is nothing short of perfect. When baked in the oven for a little while, it is an amazing, filling treat that you can essentially substitute for a meal at $4.25! You really can't go wrong here.

I'm drooling. Literally drooling.

I LOVE Miss Piggy and this gorgeous pink and purple topiary does her true justice! Truly a star.

All the love to Miss Piggy but obviously YOU are the star there.

While we were there, we ran into our camp friend, Heather! Remember Heather, the girl who I thought was the "special visitor" at Princess Fairytale Hall? She was at the Butterfly House while we were there, too! She taught me how to get butterflies to land on my finger, then took this photo.

SO jel! It is my life's desire to get a butterfly to land on me and of all the butterfly gardens I've been to, I have yet to be #blessed

This update gave me all the Epcot feels. Your day certainly looked like it started off so well and so magically Epcot-y. Can't wait to see what else was in store!