It Was Worth The Shots! Trip Video Updated 1/1

Swimming Right Down Main Street

After a night at jellyrolls we were able to get ourselves up at 8 to get over to MK for the morning.

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With a quick stop at the lounge to grab some breakfast we were ready to go and got to the boat dock before 9am. I appreciated the hazy morning because we weren’t in the mood to be melting to death while we waited for the boat.
Today I was getting on Splash mountain, that was my main goal with it being down the other day. And while we were on the boat ride to the kingdom we all got a lovely message from Disney experience saying that space was down so our FP wouldn't work.
Space was our first thing so we weren’t in a rush once we got to MK.
Since we had no plans the second we entered the park everyone split off. Danielle was under the weather and headed to first aid to get medicine, Erin headed to the bathroom and I headed to the mickey pumpkins because THEY WERE FINALLY UP!

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As I made my way down Main Street fall trolley was making its way down as well. So I stopped to watch while we waited for our group to regroup.
HAPPY FALL Y’ALL!

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Erin found us while the trolley show ended so we headed down to the hub grass to wait for Danielle. While we waited for her we decided to grab some castle pics because why not.

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Danielle found us and we were gravitated towards tomorrowland and to our surprise Space was up and running. So we took no time at all before jumping into that standby line.

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Then with one ride down we were able to use those Fps that we were told wouldn't work because space was down earlier.

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And because I can never leave tomorrowland without going on people mover, that was our next stop. This trip around tomorrowland was personally just to see Tron.

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Once getting of the people mover we noticed that the sun decided to makes its way out and join the party. So our great idea was to walk across the park over to frontier land. Did we melt…absolutely! As we got closer to the castle we could hear the start of the castle show starting and honestly singing along to the friendship faire was the only thing getting me through my current heatstroke.
Now the only FP I ever get at MK are the three mountains and today was just that. So next up for thunder and just like the other day the FP line was a sweaty hot death, and unlike the walk here there was no castle show to sing along too. It was a 15 minute pure death trap that we made it out of alive. And luckily for us we had splash up next.

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The idea of splash is always a great idea until the log in front of you leaves for its journey down stream and the man in the back FREAKS out because his lap bar doesn't lock. Apparently he wasn't around when the lap bars didn't exist.
We made it .5 seconds before briar bear was causing commotion down stream and we stopped for a good 10 minutes. We watched a poor CM run up and down stairs to find the broken log and restart the ride. Poor girl….in this heat.
The ride finally got started and by the time we went down the big one the sky opened and the rain came down.

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Danielle and Kiss got on the log in front of us so we met up with them under shelter before hitting the road. Danielle was the only one who didn’t have rain gear so there I was being the good sister and gave her my umbrella so she didn’t get her outfit wet. And I took my fake rain jacket and let myself get soaked from head to toe while I embraced playing in the rain.

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Did we even need those splash FP when we were just gonna play in the rain?

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The rain didn’t run us out of the park but it wasn’t holding us there either. Since we got through our FP we decided to head out and back to the resort.

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Main street was flooded and those puddles were hot!
Swimming right down the middle of main street USA.

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As soon as we walked out of the park the rain stopped, love that. And we caught a boat back to the lodge.
 
Ohana With The Ohana

When we got back to WL we made the usual stop to old faithful to get some snacks. We had early reservations at Ohana tonight so we weren’t trying to eat a huge lunch, gotta save all the room for the noodles.

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Since it was a dreary day a pool afternoon was out of the picture because we all only here for the tan. So instead we all just laid around/ napped for the next 2 hours. This is the point in the trip that Kiss believed would not happen, the lay around and not being running constantly. Apparently its hard for him to believe that I don’t need to be running in the parks 10 days straight and actually enjoy the resort and the club level.
2 hours of lounging and of course I decide to sleep the last 20 minutes of that….was it a good idea? never is. But Alish texted me saying she was almost to the lodge. So I headed out to the gate and thats when I remembered that they were having a fire drill for the resort so those alarms were going off in the lobby.
Alish arrived and we headed back to the room and got ready for the night ahead of us.
Then around 3 we were ready for our ohana feast

ITS YOUR FIRST DAY AT OHANA NEMO…(Erin was nemo in this situation)

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We headed down to the lobby where once again we ran into the character meet and greets. The fun thing about this was seeing which characters were making a guest appearance each day. Today was your basic fab four, so we weren’t in need of pictures. As we heading out we saw Mr Smee with no line so Danielle got a pic

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And then the character attendant suckered me into a picture because there was a group of us and only one wanted a picture.

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We finally headed off with uber alish and got to the Poly super quick.
We headed upstairs and checked in for our reservation. We found a spot to sit as we waited and thats when we somehow got sucked into a fake DVC conversation with CM Michael from NJ. I call this a fake DVC conversation because while he was meant to go around and sell DVC to guests he found out Alish was a CM and it ended up with him telling us how he had to choose between entertainment and DVC and he decided to go with the DVC job.
After a side conversation of alish and his mutual friends and going to Hoop Dee Doo, he decided that we should play a game. Disney trivia… DVC disney trivia and he wasn’t expecting me to know anything about DVC but there I was crushing the game. The question was easy, Name the four DVC only resorts. He wanted me to name one, I could name all. But honestly is that even a hard question?
This then led to him saying how I should buy into DVC for the amount that I’m here. And honestly once Alish decides to leave the company I probably will have too.

Our table was ready so we ditched Michael and headed into one of the best meals we will ever eat. This was Erin’s first time, so we were all ready to see how much she would enjoy this.
First up one of my favorites, the BREAD! The salad…I’ll eat it but not a lot because I’m not filling up on that.
“Why does this bread taste like my rum?” -Erin
Well we love that

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Soon they came out with the best part of the meal. Noodles and Potstickers that is what I’m here for.

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The noodles will forever be a hit with my family so we needed to order more. Our next order were fake noodles. There was more cabbage mixed into the noodles, these are actually noodles and I don’t want it.

Then came on the meats. The main reason everyone comes here. But for me I’m good with a piece or two. They came around multiple times with the skewers and every time Erin asked for more even when she still had a plate full. It got so bad that her meats ended up piling up into the middle skillet. But don’t you fret she ate every single piece.

Then it came to the part where no one wanted shrimp except kiss. We saw how much they were giving with the other meats so Kiss asked at least one of us to ask for shrimp so he could have that. Alish agreed and thats when the lady split the skewer between the two of them….enjoy all those shrimps kiss.

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“I’m already drunk on chicken” -Alish
But that did not stop us from ordering another round of noodles. Did we need them, no. Did we eat them all, yes!
Then lastly was the bread pudding! I made sure to save enough for this. 10 out of 10 every time. Alish and Erin didn’t have it which left more for me too eat and I’m not complaining. However after this day Alish went again and asked me why she never had the bread pudding because it was so good. So what we learned was try it you might like it.

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We hit the ohana food como and had to stop before we popped.
While we waited for our check, I was just doing your casual social media browsing when I saw that Disney put out concept art for the new Reflections resort and with Poca as the statue in the lobby I was sold.

Before leaving Ohana we had to take some ohana photos in front of the ohana sign because we knew how much our mother would love it. As she would say “It makes me so happy seeing you all together”

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And we’re lucky if we can take at least one nice photo

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Running Around The World

The plan for tonight was to head over to Epcot to enjoy some night EMHs. We decided to leave Alish’s car at the Poly and walk over to the TTC to get a monorail over to Epcot. Walking around the grounds of the Poly I came to the realization that I have no clue where I was going, besides the main ceremonial house this resort is foreign to me.
We found the DVC building before reaching the walkway to the TTC and there I found a bench

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Yes it may be a DVC bench but the view was of the parking lot. Definitely not a 10 out of 10. But if you're being weighed down from all the noodles you have consumed at Ohana this is the bench for you. A nice half way break to the TTC.

We made it to TTC shortly after and there we had to go through bag check.
There the security guard was trying to make small talk with Erin he noticed the lei in her bag and asked if she went to the luau. For some reason I heard her say “yes” and after we got through the line I asked why she lied. Her response was that she didn't hear him…wow love that.

We hopped on the highway in the sky and we were at Epcot in no time.
As we got off the monorail I was right away reminded that we had to go through another bag check. Danielle tried telling me we didn’t since we already did it but I knew better. So we waiting in another bag check line.

Brittany surprisingly beat us to Epcot and was waiting for us right outside of spaceship earth. Now that the whole gang is together we headed off to find something for Brittany to eat. We headed to sunshine seasons and nothing was calling to her. So we decided to head straight for the showcase. At this point everyone had something they wanted to do.

Once making it to the showcase we headed to the right and the first thing was poutine for Erin, we literally just had a feast at Ohana so how she was eating beats me. We kept walking, Kiss stopped in the UK for some beer. Then we headed over to the France bakery so Brittany could finally get something to eat.

Next up was Morocco, we casual passed by when Erin decided to stop and get herself a strawberry daiquiri. When she walked back to the group we saw her very liquid-y not at all frozen daiquiri. When asked about it she told us the machine was down but she decided to get it anyways. So we headed to Japan where we all got lost in the gift shop. Erin Brittany and I ended up in the Kawaii room and waited for everyone to maybe find us in there. Somehow the topic of a movie I watched growing up came up….Timmy the tooth. Both literally thought I was crazy but as soon as we found my siblings I went straight up to Alish and asked her to sing the timmy the tooth song. She did it without any hesitation and Brittany looked at her like we were crazy.

Before we left Japan we grabbed a Tokyo Sunset and bypassed America to head straight to Germany.

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Brittany wanted some dessert so the Germany bakeshop it was. Honestly never have really been in here but she insisted that I would love the snickerdoodle cookie there. Well I do love snickerdoodles. And she wasn’t wrong. 10 out of 10.

With her cookie in hand we backtracked back to America because the only thing on my list was to see the mixtape. Loved it last year, so I needed to see it again before it was gone.

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Guardians is the only Marvel series I actually watch and this short show is great. The music is great. If you don’t leave that theater singing any of the catchy tunes did you even go see it? The rest of this trip I was constantly singing Hooked On a Feeling.

By the time the show ended the sun had gone down which was not a good thing for Alish. As she would say her purpose of coming to Epcot was to get pictures at the china pavilion and with the sun down that could be a bit tricky.
 
THROW ME SOME CHIPS!!!

We got to China and tried the best we could with what we had. Erin and Kiss had there phone flashlights on hoping to light her up to some extent.
And after maybe only 5 minutes we decided that she would join us for the next time we come to Epcot.

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We then headed into the pavilion to see if there was another photo we could take for her announcement. We walked around the whole pavilion with no luck. So instead we hung out in the Shanghai exhibit.

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We all found ourselves all standing in front of the tv watching the video on Shanghai Disney. The thought of going there soon was very exciting. As we watched all the cool things Shanghai has to offer Erin blurts out “I want to go!” And now I shall hold her too it because the thought of a solo trip to China can be a bit over whelming.

We headed out of China and over to Norway to grab a school bread before we found ourselves at our last stop for the night, Mexico. We were all ready for some chips, and some were ready for some margaritas. Jose was great with dealing with our group and not knowing what we wanted at all. We ended up going with the chips and queso for the table. Kiss and I got the Wild One margarita, which Brittany says is just POG juice with tequila. I opted out of the black ant salt rim because I wasn’t really in the mood to eat some ants tonight.

While waited for everything Danielle decided to run outside and watch Illuminations for her last time. And while so many people loved this firework show it honestly didn’t hold anything special to me. The soundtrack was great, the show itself was just ok. I will however miss scream singing We Go On after the show ends.

Jose tried to photobomb but kiss didn’t really capture the moment

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We hung out for a while in here before paying the bill. Right after we headed for Panchito, because when in Mexico you ride the ride. One thing about Brittany and mine’s friendship is that we randomly state things from the passed, and with that being said Brittany shouted out “Kiss I met you when you were just starting high school…how crazy”

When on the ride I was discussing how we should be the 3 caballeros for the wine and dine 10k, basically because I want to be Panchito. We decided not to though because they are the half marathon medal and we aren’t crazy enough to run that. So instead we will be doing a Frozen theme for our frozen themed run. Brittany shouted out that she wanted to be sven and be a moose….this is one of her favorite characters and the fact that she called him a moose had me dying.
Like every other time I’m on the boat, I yelled for people to throw chips to us even though we just had some of our own. No luck, everyone was greedy with their chips tonight.

We decided to call it a night at Epcot and not even participate for all the EMHs. Brittany had work in the morning so we decided to just leave the park with her. Danielle wanted to do Spaceship earth, so we left her at the park. But before we left we stopped in the front to take a picture because thats just what Erin and I do, we need at least one photo before leaving a park.

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We headed to the monorail to head back to the Poly to get Alish’s car. The whole way back to the car Erin and I were trying to be detectives and do a little bit of social media tracking/stalking. We however hit a road block and have yet to finish the case.

Alish dropped us off at the lodge around 11. Once getting back to the room we laid around and waited for Danielle to come back after her night riding spaceship earth over and over apparently.
Once Danielle got back to the room it wasn’t long before Erin and I were raiding our mini fridge for all our shot bottles we brought with us. After grabbing a few different options we headed to the CL lounge area and waited for the fam bam to come up. We told mother Krista to come up for the shot we never took last night after Jellyrolls. So her Amelia and Mike came up to hang out for a bit. They all brought up snacks which made me feel like I should have brought my school bread to this party.

A short visit ended up with us talking until 1am and before they left we couldn’t forget the shots. Mike decided to opt out and said only if it was last night would he. Krista is the fun one and decided to join us and this is why she is our favorite.

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Hallelujah, It's Just Water!

I woke up a little bit before 8, Erin had snapped me a picture letting me know it was ham day. And this that isn’t true friendship I don’t know what is. Also the fact that Erin had been the one first up most days was strange, since I’m normally that person.
We love a ham morning

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Today we were headed off to AK because if I’m not at MK you can find me at AK. This is what happens when I’m the one to plan the days, MK and AK are the only places we will be spending our time at.

It was a regular morning we headed to the bus stop around 8:30. We followed behind 2 girls who were also heading to the buses. The one seemed like she was telling an over the top story because next thing we know she swings her arms back smashing her hand right into Erin’s face. It was a HARD hit to the face, and her having her sunglasses on also did not help as the nose pieces went into her side of her nose. I’m surprised she didn’t get a nice bruise as a battle wound.

We headed to the bus and got to the park a little after 9. We weren’t planning on running to Pandora and decided to head the opposite direction as the rest of the crowd. So first up for us…Dinosaur. Typical.

We followed behind a cute little family with a son who was about 4. When he walked into the main waiting area his face lit up once seeing the dinosaur in the middle of the room. He was amazed and his mother made sure to remember the moment of “Is this the ride” as she snapped some pictures. Danielle was unimpressed with all of this while I gushed over how cute it was and how I want a kid. Sam things, compared to Danielle things.

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After Dinosaur is always Everest, so we headed over there.
Another day, another track break, same yeti

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As we were getting off of Everest Alish texted me saying that she was at the park headed over to starbucks. This was perfect timing because we planned on going to see the first show of FotLK. So we did that none disney rule listening and saved a spot for Alish. The theater however was not crowded at all so we didn’t even need to save a seat.

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After the show we headed to were the rest of the crowds were, and the second we hit the bridge to Pandora those bugs were making SO MUCH noise. The main purpose was to ride on a banshee and head out of this land.

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We came we conquered and we had to deal with hearing a lot of “ummmms…” in our waiting chamber.

When we came out of the dark chambers of flight, we got stuck in a sun shower. I won’t complain about that. The sun was still out so we knew that it wouldn’t last forever. We did however have Kali Fps and in a time like this they seemed to be very pointless. However we still managed to make our way to the back of the park.

On our way we heard a girl say “I don’t care if I get wet. Hallelujah. It’s just water” I died because how true, rain never hurt anyone. If anything it keeps me from dying in the hot florida summers. By the time we made it to the back we were early….of course. So we browsed the little shops as long as we could.

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As we walked through the queue us siblings reminisced on the time we got stuck here. Way back when on a family trip we were so close to getting on a raft when a storm decided to pass through florida. This causing us to just wait it out and when we did this we met a family who also stayed for shelter and we ended up playing uno with them while we waited for it too pass.

Finally it was our turn and no storm seemed like it was going to pass. When we got on the raft Danielle noticed that there was no bag holder in the middle anymore, it seems like she hasn’t been on this in quite some time because those have been gone for a while now.

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And just like that we were soaked!
 
Guzzling In The Grotto

After Kali and walking off soaked we decided to call it a day at the park and head back to the resort for a pool afternoon. Once we made it to the parking lot out Uber…AKA ALish, said no one who was wet could get her in car. That was a funny joke as we all piled in not really listening to her.

When we got back to the resort it was snack time in the lounge so of course we had to grab some before we headed down to the pool. The amount of sugar cookies I was collecting was getting a little extreme but those practically half baked cookies are everything.
And with that we were off to the pool

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Once we got to the main pool we saw the lifeguards standing outside of the gate, meaning nothing good for us. The pool was closed because of some poor chemicals added to the pool. The stream going into the pool was super cloudy, almost looking like water down milk. So that can not be good.

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So with that we headed over to the crowded copper creek pool. Finding a chair was a nightmare but we managed to find at least three together. Once getting to the pool I saw the recreation CM literally in the pool shoulder deep hanging out with guests. Casual things.

Pool bingo started, but I was just there for the sun. The sun didn’t want to stay out and play for very long and because of that we didn’t stay too long. Was the sun looked like it wasn't going to be coming out Kiss and I headed over to Geyser point. He wanted to get the bison burger while I was planning on just headed up to the room. While we were waiting for his food the rest of the group came walking over because the pool was 101.

By this time it was about 2, meaning we had the perfect amount of time to get a nap in before we head out for the night. Around 3:30 we were about to head out and head over the the Poly. Right before we left the room I asked Erin what the weather was like outside of the window. It was fine, just a normal night.

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By the time we got outside it was pouring! The idea too take a boat to MK was out of the question. So instead we stood under shelter and waited for a bus instead. The rain was coming down hard, my mother was texting me saying that their flight was delayed, and the bus seemed like it was never coming.

At this point we asked one another if we should just take an Uber to the Poly instead of waiting for a bus, going through bag check, and waiting for a monorail, when its just down the street and I could walk there if it wasn’t pouring. We decided to get that Uber and it was already at WL.

When we got to the Poly we waited outside of Captain Cooks for the rest of the gang. It has always been a thing when we find ourselves in Disney at the same time as Miss Barb and Miss Sue to have Wednesday trader Sam’s night (because wed nights are EMH at the kingdom). Yesterday we invited Krista, so her and Amelia planned on joining in the fun as well.

When everyone arrived it was a little after 4 so we headed to the grotto. To my surprise the hours changed after all these years coming and it now opened at 3 instead of 4 and it was packed. Cute. We put out name down and ran when we got our text saying they were ready for us. They weren’t really ready for us and we all squished at one little table…7 of us at a small corner table made for 4. This wouldn't do so we waited longer for the 3 people at the Walt table to be done. Once we snagged that table it was still a while till our orders were taken.

And when we did I decided to go for the Uh-oa because the idea of getting a 2 in 1 drink sounded like a better idea with all the waiting we had been doing. And as soon as it came out the Skipper asked who the thirsty ones were….me, that would be me

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Erin also went big by getting the nautilus

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Everyone got their first round of drinks, even baby Amelia who got that famous skipper sipper and we would not let her live that down. And with everyone having their drinks the photos were never ending.

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Like every other time spent in the grotto it was filled with laughter and some good conversations.
Soon it was time for a second round and when our skipper shared some secret menu drinks Kiss took her up on the one. What it was I have no clue. All I know was that I switched over to the zombie life

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After the second round, our plans to head to the Kingdom was still a go so we knew it would be best to cut everyone off…and by that I mean Miss Barb and Miss Sue because the next thing I knew we were out on the terrance buying more zombies and Erin was dropping drinks on me.

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Prior to our trip here Erin said she didn’t want to eat after but while we were working on our 4th drink of the night I knew we needed to make a pit stop at Captain Cooks. But more importantly have my favorite meal on property. Those nachos are the best.

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During our meal I was to engrossed in deep conversation with Krista that I didn’t even know Erin was dropping pizza and ice down her shirt. And before we headed to the kingdom for the night Amelia was handing me her mothers phone to re-add her on mydisneyexperience.

We all finished our meals and drinks and were ready to head off to the park. But before we did I had to follow in my traditions and grab a picture with the picker.

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Romping Around The Kingdom

Leaving the Poly should have been easier than it was. All I remember is walking through the lobby to get to the elevators, Erin and Amelia took off running to get leis and I the next thing I know Miss Barb is driving in her scooter making circles around me. We all managed to get leis and headed too the monorail.

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We managed to make it to the kingdom and was ready to romp around for the rest of the night.

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Before we went into the park we decided to get some pictures in front of the train station. Once it was our turn we all couldn't help but laugh when Miss Barb couldn’t get her purse untangled from her leg, and so the purse wrapped around her leg made the picture

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Once entering the park main street was packed for fireworks so lucky for us they had the side walkway open to get us over to tomorrowland with less crowds. Our first stop of the night a bathroom…classy

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And then we aimlessly walked to tomorrowland where no one could decide so we ended up on people mover because this will forever be my go to ride. You can’t not love it, plus it having a small wait all the time is always nice.

We were lucky enough to be on it while HEA started and we love a good attraction with a good fireworks view

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Now this is something I would never condone but it happened….Pulling out a zombie head wishing there was an actual drink in it.

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Since tonight was EMHs in the kingdom it seemed like the whole dance studio was at the park that night. With that being said we just started collecting more people with each attraction we did. So after people mover we rushed over to Buzz before the fireworks ended.

Tonight my skills sucked… but honestly when don’t they? Is being a galactic hero too much to ask for? Apparently it is and I will just accept my annoyance for this ride.

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After Buzz and being very disappointed in my lack of skills we managed to loose Miss barb and Miss sue. And at this point what I learned is the more people you have in a group the harder it is to decide what to do. While I waited to just follow someones lead (because honestly it was refreshing not having to always decide) I just tested benches around tomorrowland.

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At this point I got a text from miss sue telling me she was at Test Track…right away I knew it was the zombies talking and I couldn't help but laugh. The group headed to Speedway aka Test track, then over to Little mermaid. When we told miss barb and miss sue that we were heading to Little mermaid Miss barb said “oh by muppets” and she lost me there. Test track - speedway I can see, what muppets had to do with fantasyland? I had no clue.

Post fireworks is never fun and actually having to wait for little mermaid is such a new experience since its normally a walk on. It wasn’t an awful wait since its a constant moving attraction.

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After our voyage under the sea we collected more people in fantasyland before we took our caravan over to Frontierland for a ride on the wildest ride in the wilderness.
 


Closing Down The Kingdom

On the way over to frontierland we probably looked like a parade of people, we seemed to just keep gaining people as the night went. As we made it to the frontier land bridge walkway Amelia and I took off running to country bears ahead of the group to grab a picture before they ditched us for good.

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We blended back into the group without anyone really noticing we were gone. When we got to thunder we got to use the handicap entrance thanks to the scooters in our big parade. New experience. Once we got into the holding area before they lined us up the CM came up to us and asked how many. She wasn’t really prepared for the number and asked if any of us would be going 3 to a row. Efficiency, a four key basic for disney CM to follower…so there I was agreeing to being in a row of 3. Already regretting the decision but it was too late to turn back now.

The joy of being squished in the middle, is not actually joyous at all. However I will be thankful that I wasn’t the one stuck on the right side because when the goat effect is in full swing you will get smushed…sorry Mike.

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After a wild ride…which honestly it was. I came off telling myself I would never sit 3 in a row ever again. Or not until another CM peer pressures me into it again.
Miss Sue suggested Country Bears and we all clearly know I would never not accept that sort of suggestion.

Here’s to the OG country bear crew!

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When we finally made it inside, we just missed the next show. So we made ourselves comfy and waited the 15 minutes for the next show. More people joined our group and I knew more than half of this group would be very confused or annoyed that they were spending their night at MK here, at country bears.

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Once the show ended, most people questioned what they just watched. And thats the magic of country bears. Entertaining to say the least.
From there someone said Pirates so we headed off to adventureland.
Let all appreciate Amelia’s skipper sipper

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There our large group was split, in different boats. Kids and Adults.

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After pirates it was a big agreement that we should finish off our night with Space mountain. So we headed over to the other side of the park and while we were crossing through the hub we decided to grab a picture in front of the castle with everyone. Because by the time we got off of space the park would be closed and the photo pass CM would be gone.

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Once this picture was taken everyone grabbed there things and before I know it they are running for tomorrowland before they close down the line for Space. I was still standing in front of the castle processing what was happening before I took a major sprint to catch up with them. Who knew we would be training for a run disney event tonight?

We made it to space before it closed and we all could take a minute to breathe.
Everyone split into their groups of three so when we made it too the front we would be ready. At this point I just went where they told me too go.

Everyone get your BAE- noculars out. Oh wait…Amelia already had a bae at this point

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Once we all walked that dreaded walkway called the space exit, the park was officially closed and everyone dispersed. When we got to Main Street we were happy to see some Photopass CMs still out so we were lucky enough to jump in line before they closed it off.

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You would think we would be done and could leave but that just wasn’t the case and we spent the next 10-15 minutes taking more pictures after the CMs left.

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And we couldn’t end the night without Sam creating a scene. Literally every guest passing by were confused but welcome to my life.

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We finally called it a night, mostly because we kept joking how we had to leave because they needed to run Boo to You. And its not like we were lying because Alish had her last overnight rehearsal before MNSSHP season started in 2 days. The park might have closed at midnight but we didn’t make it back to WL until 1.
 
RIP Epcot Future World

We only got at most 6 hours of sleep before another fun filled day. And too our surprise it was another ham day…2 hams days in a row, how magical!
We’re off on another Epcot day of fun Nemo!

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Danielle stayed back at the resort, her shoe broke so she went in search of a sewing kit. The struggle of only bringing one pair of shoes with you. We headed off to Epcot around 8:30 and man was it packed today!

The bag check line was AWFUL! They ended up opening more and when they opened up the extra gate it was a mad house. We decided to stay put because the herd of people fighting to get through was not how I wanted to start my morning.

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Once we got through security it was totally fine. I just don’t think they were ready for the amount of people to be waiting for bag check.
But we made it into the park and we were ready to go

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As soon as we entered we saw the sectioned off groups all dressed in their Disney looks. Looks too me like new CMs were getting their home park tour training today.

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Since we opted to skip spaceship earth the other night we decided to head straight there this morning.

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I would be lying if I said I didn’t want too dose off at points during this ride. The beginning with the mammoth, when you make it to the top and see earth, or those dang blue lights. These are the parts where I find myself struggling not to sleep.

As we were leaving spaceship earth Danielle texted me saying she was on her way over to Soarin, turns out our plan to wait for her to arrive didn't work. Because she went on Soarin without us. So we headed over to the land pavilion and too Soarin to use our FP. There a family did not get the memo of seating arrangements and just decided to buckle themselves in the middle of the row. Love that.

At the end of our flight around the world we headed over to the Land to meet up with Danielle and pretend we were a tiny little seed.

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Before we headed over to the showcase we had one last FP to use on the other side of Future world. But before we could head off to space we needed to appreciate a few of Epcot’s finest as they would be leaving us pretty soon. First stop…Club cool. I had no intentions of saying my goodbyes to Beverly, and I didn’t because I honestly don’t need that in my life. Instead I realized that none of the pops offered really stuck with me. So RIP to those sticky floors, by shoes wont be missing you.

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After Club Cool we passed by the fountains of nations…an actually masterpiece that we will miss. Because whats Epcot with that fountain? Honestly it is super weird with a wall blocking all of Epcot, not a cute look.

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When we got to Mission Space I made sure this time I would be the engineer. My sleepy blood was in full effect and I needed the job of putting us to sleep. The only downfall to my job was that my number I was suppose to stand on was taken up by the door, was this safe Disney? I guess if I wasn’t standing there while it opened.

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The exit of Mission Space is always a long process, the walk always seems never-ending. As we made it back into the Florida heat Alish texted me saying she was on her way over from the Beach Club. She decided to park over there instead of the park because the International Gateway is just more efficient.

And with that we all met up in Italy because today we were eating at Kiss’s pick of the trip and I have been dreaming of the pizza since I was last there.

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All caught up now.

Epcot future world does look pretty sad right now with all the construction walls.
 
Do I Need A Banshee?!

Its always a refreshing moment when you walk through the doors with the AC blasting after walk the showcase in the summer. Alish was already waiting for us, so I quickly checked in and within a few minutes we were headed off to our table.

I already knew what I wanted, like I said before I’ve been dreaming of this pizza every time I leave this place. So with that being said it was all on Danielle and what she wanted before we figured out how to order said pizza. The nice thing about Via Napoli is that you can order a large pizza and do half of one and half of another. This helps when you have picky eaters. In the long run Danielle decided to try something new and not go with your everyday pepperoni pizza. So we got a large quattro formaggi and it did not disappoint!

But before the pizza came out Kiss started with the risotto balls.

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Then the real meals came out
Erin got her usual chicken parm

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Alish got a personal margarita pizza
and the 3 of us shared the large pizza

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We appreciate when one slice itself is the size of your head

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Lunch was a 10 out of 10 and I will always dream of this pizza when I am not here.
After lunch we headed back out into the hot summer day, Alish wanted to get daytime photos in china so we headed straight over there.

And with new pictures in the sunlight she finally got what she wanted and was ready to tell the world that she signed a contract with Hong Kong Disney.

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Even though we had just eaten that didn’t stop Erin from wanting to get poutine…minus the cheese curds. So we headed over to the outpost to grab that before heading out.
Danielle decided to stay behind and walk around Epcot. For the rest of us, we headed out of the international gateway and over to the beach club. There I showed Alish and Erin the “secret” not so secret door so we could walk in the AC.

The plan for the afternoon was to see how much we could spend at cast connections. And while we didn’t plan it, it was good that Danielle decided to stay behind because Alish can only get 3 people in at a time.

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Erin was kind enough to take some photos…well a photo. It’s basically just a big warehouse of retired merchandise thats at discounted prices for CM. The real winner is property control which only CMs are allowed in, it has “damaged” goods and its dirt cheap.

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Its always a gamble on how well your trip to this store will be. Once arriving, it didn’t seem all that promising but we ended up coming out with some good deals.

Prior to our trip here Brittany told me how she made a new friend at work who has the DVC Dooney print she wants and I thought I found the bag she wanted, but it wasn’t the correct DVC logo, apparently there is a new one that she likes.

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The main talk was the $9 banshees. Did we need one? No but we all questioned if we should get one just because it was so cheap. That question was brought up maybe a hundred times before we left. But in the long run we decided not too, which was probably for the best.

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But the best thing we found was Snow white…the airport bench with snow white.

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It wouldn’t be a trip to Cast connections if it didn’t pour when we decided to leave. We quickly ran to the car and was proud of the haul we got today. Erin was more excited about getting a cruise line bag.

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We headed back to the resort to meet our fan bam. They arrived the night prior to Fort wilderness. While we were shopping my mother asked if she could go to our room, with all the magic and problems we were having with our door I warned her ahead of time. I left one of my hundred of bands at home for her to take if they wanted to hang out in the lounge when we were running around the parks.

When we got back to the room they were no where to be found and apparently they were hiding from the rain at Geyser point. So while we waited for them I took this time to lay out everything I got. The best deal was the $1 rack I found, and I snagged the last thunder mountain shirt for a dollar.

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But the big sellers were the over sized shirts

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The family came a knocking and we all crammed into our small room. Erin got to enjoy being stuck in a room with the whole family so that must have been a real treat for her.​
 
Wow a $1 shirt!
Congrats to Alicia for signing with Hong Kong Disney. I'm hoping you'll be able to make a visit there and write all about it in another trip report.
 
Finally caught up because I was on the other side of the world!
We all found ourselves all standing in front of the tv watching the video on Shanghai Disney. The thought of going there soon was very exciting. As we watched all the cool things Shanghai has to offer Erin blurts out “I want to go!” And now I shall hold her too it because the thought of a solo trip to China can be a bit over whelming.
So, this is what I did. But I threw in HK and Tokyo, all by myself! A bit crazy and for 3-weeks a bit overwhelming and lonely at times... when I finally had a long conversation with someone I ended up having coughing fits because I hadn't spoken more than a few words for weeks!

Anyways, my point - Shanghai was really awesome! It totally exceeded my expectations and I didn't feel weird doing it solo at all. I didn't go into the city though - just did Disney. I also feel like so many of the reviews are older from soon after they opened, and the ops there has really improved the guest experience. The on-site guests get the 1-hour early entry which meant I was in the first 10 people in the park each day and had a very relaxing start! I also went ahead and paid for the FPs, which I didn't regret for a second, as I got to do what I wanted, when I wanted to do it, without having to fit in FPs and hop all around the park. Because that park is HUGE! Even with that benefit, I still did over 25,000 steps the first day!

As for being solo, I didn't feel anything weird about it. You're already going to get stares from being a Westerner, so being alone isn't anything extra. Language wasn't a huge issue because they made sure to station someone who spoke enough English pretty much everywhere I went. And all the signs were in English too.
And with new pictures in the sunlight she finally got what she wanted and was ready to tell the world that she signed a contract with Hong Kong Disney.

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And sounds like she's having the time of her life! We tried to get Disney dimsum together but her rehearsal schedule got in the way.
 
Finally caught up because I was on the other side of the world!

So, this is what I did. But I threw in HK and Tokyo, all by myself! A bit crazy and for 3-weeks a bit overwhelming and lonely at times... when I finally had a long conversation with someone I ended up having coughing fits because I hadn't spoken more than a few words for weeks!

Anyways, my point - Shanghai was really awesome! It totally exceeded my expectations and I didn't feel weird doing it solo at all. I didn't go into the city though - just did Disney. I also feel like so many of the reviews are older from soon after they opened, and the ops there has really improved the guest experience. The on-site guests get the 1-hour early entry which meant I was in the first 10 people in the park each day and had a very relaxing start! I also went ahead and paid for the FPs, which I didn't regret for a second, as I got to do what I wanted, when I wanted to do it, without having to fit in FPs and hop all around the park. Because that park is HUGE! Even with that benefit, I still did over 25,000 steps the first day!

As for being solo, I didn't feel anything weird about it. You're already going to get stares from being a Westerner, so being alone isn't anything extra. Language wasn't a huge issue because they made sure to station someone who spoke enough English pretty much everywhere I went. And all the signs were in English too.

And sounds like she's having the time of her life! We tried to get Disney dimsum together but her rehearsal schedule got in the way.


A 3 week trip sounds like a dream! Especially when its exploring so many new places.
If I do Shanghai which honestly I want too just so I can accomplish going to all the over seas parks. It would probably be for 2 days and just to go to the park. My list of must dos is Tron, Pirates and the ropes course. So I feel like just a stop over in Shanghai before Hong Kong could get all that completed.
That's why I feel like going solo wouldn't be so bad. Mostly because I would just be doing the Disney parks which from Tokyo and Paris I learned that the language barrier is nothing to fear.

Man dumb rehearsal schedule. Did you end up going to the crystal lotus for dim sum? It all looks so cute that I feel like I wouldn't be able to eat any of it.
 
Swimming All Night Long

The big party room didn’t last long, they just wanted to stop by and say hi and too check out the room. They headed back to their cabin shortly after to get ready for our night of fun at Typhoon. When they left we probably had a little over an hour till we really had to get moving. I refused to let my sleepy blood get to me because I didn’t want to wake up crabby.

Brittany arrived to the lodge shortly after, she raved about how much she loved us staying here because it was only 10 minutes from her work. Once she got to the resort we all headed to the club to get some dinner. And guys it was a big hit all around. Tonight there was ribs, pasta and broccoli soup and we were living our best lives.

After dinner we all changed and got ready to leave around 5:30. Both Alish and Brittany were driving, since Brittany planned to leave the party early since she had work in the morning. So with that Brittany asked “Who’s going with me…. and with that I mean Sam is…..and Erin is coming with Sam” That made the riding situation simple.

On our way over to typhoon we were a little worried because the sky didn’t look all to promising.
But there was nothing we could do about it, so we hopped it would hold off for a bit and not cancel the whole night.

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Erin, Kiss and I did an H2O glow party last year and loved it. So when they announced them again this year we were all about going. My mother planned her trip just for this party….typhoon is her favorite part of Disney and would rather be there than a park.

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The party started at 8pm but you could get into the park 2 hours early. They changed this from last year when you could only get in an hour early. And even with just that extra hour we were able to get everything done.

So first up we had to pick a spot to put our stuff. We found a little nook near where the music would be later that night with a water view.

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Before we headed out to be fishies for the rest of the night we decided to take precaution and cover all our belongings under rain ponchos. Then we were off to the wave pool. Our main goal was to get as much stuff done before the party started, that way we can focus on only party things later.

With that being said we didn’t last long in the wave pool before we headed out. But before we did we had to catch one wave on the bench because who doesn’t like to be pelted with water and laugh about it?

Then it was time to hit up the front corner of the park, where we first did crush n gusher. Erin was not a fan of this because she felt like she was going to “fall out”
From there we headed over to the family raft which had to be my favorite out of the two of them. Our “family” was too big so we had to split up in 2 groups. Downfall is right from the start the rollers to get you on the raft and not at all gentle and I do not approve.

We still had so much time at this point so we hopped into the lazy river and took it to the back

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When we made it to the back it was the struggle of remember where anything is in this place. Which slides are which, and which ones will hurt you? We found our ways to the basic slides, Brittany questioned if these hurt your back. No!
We all picked our line and the second I went down I lied and the slide hurts your back! Where the pieces connected, there are indents and it was not a pleasant feeling going over them.

We decided to try out one more slide before headed back to meet up with the adults. We played it safe with the single tube ride. Turns out we just couldn’t win with any of these slides. This time it was great up until the end, practically all of us slowed down and got stuck near the end causing panic before the next person crashed into us.

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It was almost party time so we rushed back to our seats and met up with the fam.​
 
A 3 week trip sounds like a dream! Especially when its exploring so many new places.
If I do Shanghai which honestly I want too just so I can accomplish going to all the over seas parks. It would probably be for 2 days and just to go to the park. My list of must dos is Tron, Pirates and the ropes course. So I feel like just a stop over in Shanghai before Hong Kong could get all that completed.
That's why I feel like going solo wouldn't be so bad. Mostly because I would just be doing the Disney parks which from Tokyo and Paris I learned that the language barrier is nothing to fear.

Man dumb rehearsal schedule. Did you end up going to the crystal lotus for dim sum? It all looks so cute that I feel like I wouldn't be able to eat any of it.
I absolutely went to get dim sum! The waiters were like - do you still want all this food even if you are alone? I was like - absolutely! They wrapped up some of the last buns and I ate them as a snack on the plane from HK to Tokyo that evening!

For Shanghai that's pretty much what I did (I'm going to get to writing a full TR, but as you know, it takes time to get all organized). Arrived Sunday mid-day, which I used to just go to shop in Disneytown and get settled in hotel a bit. Then Monday and Tuesday did parks. Left Wednesday for HK. Thurs and Fri at HK Disney. Left Saturday afternoon for Tokyo, then 2 weeks in Japan (1/2 TDR, 1/2 Kyoto and Tokyo itself)! At Shanghai my favs were definitely Tron (did it 6x), Pirates (5x), ropes course (2x, but there are 3 routes so I wish I could have done it a third time), Voyage to Crystal Grotto (wasn't expecting this, but it was super cute), Peter Pan, and Buzz (you can see the laser so I actually did really well). So I think 2 days is a very good estimate for SHDL!
 
I absolutely went to get dim sum! The waiters were like - do you still want all this food even if you are alone? I was like - absolutely! They wrapped up some of the last buns and I ate them as a snack on the plane from HK to Tokyo that evening!

For Shanghai that's pretty much what I did (I'm going to get to writing a full TR, but as you know, it takes time to get all organized). Arrived Sunday mid-day, which I used to just go to shop in Disneytown and get settled in hotel a bit. Then Monday and Tuesday did parks. Left Wednesday for HK. Thurs and Fri at HK Disney. Left Saturday afternoon for Tokyo, then 2 weeks in Japan (1/2 TDR, 1/2 Kyoto and Tokyo itself)! At Shanghai my favs were definitely Tron (did it 6x), Pirates (5x), ropes course (2x, but there are 3 routes so I wish I could have done it a third time), Voyage to Crystal Grotto (wasn't expecting this, but it was super cute), Peter Pan, and Buzz (you can see the laser so I actually did really well). So I think 2 days is a very good estimate for SHDL!

The dim sum just looks too cute that I feel like I need one of each!
2 weeks in Japan, that sounds like a dream. So out of all of the Asia Parks which one was your favorite?
 

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