You Guys Ready to Let the Dogs Out? (A Sept '11 PTR/TR)

[katt789]

"What?"

"Like, who let the dogs out, who? who? who? who?"

"Who brought this guy?"

The last line there, bound to be repeated many a time on our upcoming trip! (5 points to whoever knows where it's from without google-ing it!)

BUT, enough with the quotes, let's get on with the show!! We are taking a 6 day/7night journey down to Orlando in 3, count 'em THREE days!! (and a half technically..but ssshh). Who is we, you may ask? Well, we, is:

Me! Katt:

I'm a 22 year old server at a dinner theatre in real life, or a 6 year old princess in the land of imagination. I've gone to film school & performing arts school, and hope to someday make it in either acting or dance. (And I do have plans on auditioning for Disney at some point, whether a park or Cruise line, we'll figure it out!)

I've been to Disneyland once before (I was 7!) and DisneyWorld once as well (which was just this past May), and I absolutely LOVE the magic of the whole experience. You become a kid again, and this time, the people around you don't care that you're acting like you're 6.

My favorite Disney movie is a 3 way tie right now, between:
1.) Lady & the Tramp
2.) Lion King
3.) The Little Mermaid.
Ariel's my favorite princesses, and Tigger's my favorite character. When I was little, I used to call him my boyfriend, no joke.

Next: we have Nick!

He's become my Disney travel buddy, we had a lot of mishaps with our 4th travel mate last trip, and he was the one who just ended up filling the spot. We used to work together at the theater in Edmonton before I moved down to Calgary, and barely knew each other. Give it a week after we had gotten back from our May trip & we were already talking about when we could go back!

His favorite Princess is Belle (as you can see the excitement in his face in the pic), I'm pretty sure he's determined to marry her at one point or another. One thing we told each other/ourselves we would do this trip: to tackle our fears/motion sickness & go on all the rides (as I backed out of most, and he backed out of some) but this time, we're gonna do it!!

I'm super glad he ended up coming on our last trip, as we did become great friends & now I have someone to share the Disney obsession with. I figure I'd share a couple other travel pics from last time with you, here, I had been taking some dance shots around Epcot, and Nick decided to show off his skills

Coming up next, we have Amy:

When Nick & I started to plan going back, we starting recruiting to find 2 more travel mates, and Nick got his friend Amy to join in on the fun. I haven't met her, and honestly couldn't tell ya anymore than I can get from her fbook page! Nick says he thinks we'll get along great & that she's a cool chick, so here's hoping!

She's been to Disney World before, and seems to be a thrill ride junkie as most of the captions on the pics are "best ride at ____ park". Good to know there's at least one daredevil in the group!

Now here comes the gong show of the trip (and we haven't even left yet!). I had a friend from summer camp lined up to come, and she ended up bailing..AFTER we had booked the trip & flight...in her name...now, anyone that has had something like this happen, knows that you can't just change a name on a ticket. So, after going through many possible 4th options, we finally found someone who was committed to go, and I was able to cancel her flight & rebook one for Tyler. Who...didn't have a passport.

WELL, times have changed! I remember a day when it took upwards of 6 months to get a passport, it took 2 weeks. So now, I introduce Tyler to you:

He's the big one. The little one with him there is his nephew Jackson:

Baby J will, of course, be the reciepiant of one too many souvineers this trip, but, back to Tyler. I work with him at the theatre, though on the opposite side, he's a chef:

And also my roomate, and "big brother". He's never been to Disney before, and since I have now fully roped him into everything, he seems to be getting very excited. He's been all over the Disbaords, and read through the Unofficial Guide & Idiot's Guide. I'm not sure what he's most excited for, Mission Space, anything Lion King, and probably drinking around the world at Epcot.

Now that I've given you a VERY lengthy introduction of everyone, I'm going to leave you be, and start getting ready for work, and then pop back on later for a how & why & other details of how the trip came to be!!

 

[kokotg]

Wow--you're almost there already! You'd better get writing and fill us in on all the details before it's time to leave

We leave in 6 days, so we'll be there at the same time as you (I'm assuming. Unless you're only staying 2 days!)

 

[katt789]

I know right?! Luckily I'm a quick typer, so I should be able to pump it all out before Tuesday morning when we leave!
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Alright, so when I left off I had just told you who all was coming, so now, onto more details of the trip!

When: Sept 13th to 19th.

Where: Staying at Pop Century. We stayed here last time, and did really like it. I would LOOOOVVEEE to stay at the Polynesian, or Animal Kingdom Lodge, but really don't have that kind of money quite yet So, we stick with Pop, it's nice, it's cheap, and hey, you don't spend a lot of time at the resort anyway, right?

We've got 5 days of Disney tickets, with park hoppers this time. Last time, we didn't get them, and I know we were thinking we should have a couple of times, but I have a feeling they might not get used all that much this time either. I feel like they'll come in useful when there's evening extra magic hours that we want to attend at a different park, and thats really it.
We've also got ticket's to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party on the 16th!

Plan for the week:
Sept 13: Fly in, relax, early to bed.

W. Sept 14: Magic Kingdom

Thurs 15: Disney's Hollywood Studios

Fri: 16th: Animal Kingdom/MNSSHP

Sat 17: Epcot

Sun 18th: Epcot x2. (or wherever really)/Eve EMH @ Magic Kingdom

Mon 19th: Departure.

 

[katt789]

These past couple of days have been crazy hectic for me. I just moved last week, and have been attempting to "unpack", go through everything to get rid of half of it & then pack for Disney, and I didn't have a closet! So, now that we've got that all together, I've managed that.

The theatre I work at has also just changed over the show, so I've been costume shopping, figuring out characters & all that. Luckily, my character for this show is a green fairy, and I'm being Tink for halloween, so it was a double hit!

I've managed to get most, if not all, of my shopping done!! Thanks to being run down, I've been a little sick, so this was def in order:

Along with some games to play on the plane/in downtime:

(sorry about the sideways)

A little while ago, I got this cute Travel Journal, so I figured I'll be bringing it along to jot down notes & such!

The inside:

For the night before we leave, I've also got some Trivial Pursuit!

And now that everything's sorted out, and work has started up, but calmed down, I've had some downtime! I've started packing:

And apparently lil Hendrix wants to come along too!

I've had some time to watch some movies & do some coloring too!
(If you can't see, that's the Brave Little Toaster! I JUST found it on dvd, SUCH a good movie haha, but there are definitely some parts that I was amazed to see in a kids movie!)

I've finally made my LGMH! (At home laminating! Packing tape does it's best work!)

AND! I've done the online check in! In which, I tried to make a room request, but it said it couldn't do it at the moment. Who knows, we'll hope for the best! *fingers crossed* I'm honestly hoping for a 90's room again. They were pretty convienient last time!

 

[Terkina]

Your Travel Journal looks great
I enjoy Disney Trivial Pursuit sadly I don't have many people who like to play it with me

 

[katt789]

DAY 1!! SEPT 13TH:

We have an eaaarrrrlllyyyy morning today! Nick & Amy are driving down from Edmonton to Calgary on Monday evening. We're planning on just having a big group dinner, playing some games, watching some movies, and attempting to sleep.

Our flight leaves around 8:30, meaning we should get to the airport aroud 6:30, which will mean up by 5:50. Yes, that's right, we live SUPER close to the airport, and it will take around 15 mins to get there.

Hopefully we'll breeze through security, Nick will remember to keep his boarding pass in plain sight & not lose it this time, and before you know it, we'll be on one of these:

And then THIS:

Which is when the excitement will hit FULL FORCE.

The plans for that evening are just to hang out around the resort. We have the quick service dining plan, and don't want to waste too much time/money in sit down resturants. Thus, our plans will probably involve these:

And then we'll be off for the night, as we have to make rope drop the next morning!

 

[katt789]

Sorry about all the huuuuge pictures, I've completely forgotten to resize them, I promise this is the last update with them being this big!!

****************************************

After a quick breakfast at the foodcourt/in the hotel room, we'll jump on the bus and head out to:

Where we hope to make the rope drop. I'm sure that Space Mtn will be the ultimate goal for first ride of the day. Then we'll make our way around the park. Probably finish up in Tomorrowland, then head through Fantasy and make our way counter clockwise around. Some of the things we MUST hit up:

(one of my faves)
Winnie the Pooh!

I'm sure all of the Mountains will be included in there.

And of course:

Yup, that's right. Hall of Presidents. This was one we missed last time, and as leaving the park, Nick began to "whine" about missing it, and it's kind of become a joke since then. Although, it is something we actually want to see.

I'm a pretty big character hunter, so I'll want to meet the Mouse & the Princesses. I'm making a special trip to MAKE SURE we get to meet Ariel haha.

I think that everything is a "must do" on our list, except for the Speedway, and Stitch's Great Escape. No thank you!!

After a full day in the park, we'll be heading to an 8:30 dinner at:

It was one I REALLY wanted to hit up last time, I mean, what person doesn't want to eat in Cinderella's castle, while being visited by Princesses?!
When I was originally making all of our ADR's, Nick asked if we could make one for CRT, which I was hesitant about, as it was so pricey & had to be paid upfront, but we decided it was worth it!

I'm really hoping that we get to meet these two ladies:

We didn't get to meet Jasmine last time. Everytime they were out in Adventureland, the line was horrendous, and while we were at Akershus, she wasn't in the rotation, so I'd like to meet her.

As for Ariel, well, she's my favorite Princess, and she's with my favorite prince haha. Specifically *this* Ariel, that we met at Akershus last year was just amazing, completely looked the park, and was Ariel to a T!

Something I didn't realize until a couple of days ago was that with an 8:30 dinner ressie, and Wishes at 9, there's a very good chance we will get to see the fireworks from inside! Which I think is aweeeesssooommmee. However, getting out of the parks afterwards, not so much.

Places I'd like to eat:
-Aloha Isle (duh...dole whips!!)
-Possibly Columbia Harbour House
-Pecos Bills (taco salad)
-Main St Bakery (snacks, or the turkey sandwich, saw a picture of it, WOW)

Obviously we won't be eating at all of these, but they're places on the DDP that I'd like to try!

 

[katt789]

Aww!! I don't honestly have a lot of people who like to play board games anymore either. I think it's a hidden thing, people would "rather" go to the bar haha.

 

[katt789]

Thursday will be our Disney's Hollywood Studio's day!!
Originally we were to be taking off to Epcot on Thurs, but due to looking at some crowd calanders/forecasts, I decided to change it to DHS, luckily, thanks to the QSDP, we don't have any ADR's to worry about!

Most likely, I hope to be there by rope drop. I find that this park, takes the longest to do everything, even though there isn't neccisarily that much to do. Thanks to all the shows, and other things that take upwards of 20 mins to complete. What I'll most likely do, is join the alarmingly large amount of people going to Toy Story Mania to grab fast passes, while the rest of the group runs off to ride:

At this point, I'm unsure if I will be riding this one. I had a bad head injury last winter, and have had problems with flashing lights since, and the last thing I want is something serious to happen on a ride. I've heard this one has flashing lights, anyone know anything else about it?

Since we'll be down Sunset Blvd, we'll check the time for the next B&B show, and do it & Tower of Terror next!!

Then, really, the rest of the park is really just shows. It'll be a lot of checking times & wandering back & forth across the parks. I definitely want to hit up character palooza again, that was incredible last time.

And of course!! Star Tours!!! Can't believe I almost forgot that one!!

I'd like to try Starring Rolls or Fairfax Fare for food this time!!

 

[katt789]

Gotta get down on Friday!! (this became one of our songs last trip...)

Today! We have a morning/early afternoon of fun times over at:

We start off early with a 8:30am breakfast at this guy's house:

(Ok, so I know it's not his "house", but it's his breakfast, right?!)

I chose to keep this breakfast because it's an easy way to get the fab 5 out of the way, get into the parks early (although I would rather do that at MK), and they've got more than just traditional breakfast fare.

As we'll already be in Africa, the Safari will be up next, and we'll continue in a clockwise circle around the park.

Stopping at Kali River Rapids before tackling the YETI!

I'm pretty sure we have plans to skip the Finding Nemo show this time, it may have been the time of day, but none of us found it very good last time.

Passing it by, we'll meander into DinoLand & face our next biggest challenge! The Katt-a-sorous Rex!

...ok maybe not...and now I'm just going crazy . BUT seriously! We will face the T-Rex, before heading around to Camp Minnie Mickey to finish off our Circle of Life with:

The BEST. show of the park. Seriously, my absolute favorite, I think it makes Animal Kingdom just a little more awesome. I absolutely adore it, Lion King's amazing, and so is this show. So excited!

Places I'd like to eat/try:
-Flame Tree BBQ (HALF A CHICKEN?!)
-Yak & Yeti Cafe

Depending on the time, and how everyone's feeling, we'll probably be taking off back to Pop around this time, to rest up, swim, etc. Because: we have a full evening ahead of ourselves!!

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!!

I'm dressing up as Tink, Amy's going as a dark fairy, Nick's going as a pirate, and Tyler's changing his mind every 10 minutes haha.

Thanks to the greatly handy Disboards, I've found lists of characters, etc that I'd love to see during the party. My priority is the stuff not readily available, not riding rides I can do another day.

So, I want to see the villian stage show
-the parade
-Meet villians: GASTON! The Tremaines, and Facilier
-Tarzan & friends
-Tink (I know shes readily available, but as I will be tink as well, I want to get a picture!)

Hopefully we'll get some time to ride some rides as well & do some shopping, and then it'll be back to bed!

 

[katt789]

Our plans for Saturday will include a full day meandering around:
EPCOT!

This is the park that we missed the MOST of last time, even though it span across 2 days. The first day we had done the Wizarding World over at Unviersal in the morning, so we just did world showcase. The next day, started at Akershus, then we road Test Track & the Seas, wandered through one of the Innoventions, and then we decided it was time for another Grey Goose slushie & thus we wandered around World Showcase for far too many hours before we were all hangry (hungry/angry) and decided it was best to leave.


SO, we have lots of plans for this park, including:
RIDING EVERYTHING
(well, Tyler plans on everything) I'm definitely not doing Mission Space, so we'll see who else does it.

The day will probably start with me grabbing fast passes for Test Track/Soarin, depending on wait times while Tyler & maybe Amy do Mission Space. We'd pop through Spaceship Earth, Captain EO, and then make our way through the countries.

Places to Eat/Snack at:
-Grey Goose Slushies...of course
-Fiesta Margarita in Mexico
-School Bread in Norway
-Possibly Yakitori House for some sushi
-OR Yorkshire Country Fish Shop

I'll most likely end up eating the sushi, after living in Australia for 3 months, fish & chips is just never as epic as it once was haha.

At the end of the day, we'll DEFINITELY be staying for Illuminations, as we also missed that last time.

 

[katt789]

For this day, we'll most likely be headed back to Epcot for the morning, probably have a little sleep in & head into the parks later in the day.

I say Epcot as I think it's the one we'll most likely want to go back to, it's the biggest, and hey, they've got these:

My guess is that we'll end up taking a vote, and go to the park that most people want to return to for the morning/early afternoon. Who knows, maybe we'll try and hit all 4 parks in 1 day?!

I'd totally do it! Hit up AK first, watch FOTLK, maybe ride everest, then head out to DHS, watch B & B show, ride ToT, then over to Epcot, grab a slushie or 2, ride Soarin, and then spend the evening at Magic Kingdom.

Either way, we will be ending our day at the Magic Kingdom, as they have evening EMH hours that night, and hey, who doesn't like spending a little extra time around this:

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For Sept 19th, we'll be having a lazy get up, sleep in most likely. Hang around the pool & hotel, maybe spend some time at DTD/BW if we wanted to. Then we're off to the airport to head back home.

THAT, concludes our pre-trip report!

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It's now Sunday night @ 11:53pm (in our time zone at least) so in exactly 7 minutes, we have 1 day until our trip begins. I personally, am going to spend tomorrow morning sleeping in, as Monday Tuesdays are my weekends, and I'm trying to fend off the last little bit of sickness that I have. (Although today at work, anytime I got overheated I felt like I was going to die! Which is SO not good for someone headed into plus 30 degrees weather).

After some rest, I'll pack everything up but my toothbrush, spend some time by the pool with some friends, then Nick & Amy get into town, we'll get some food, possibly watch some movies & play some trivial pursuit, and then attempt to sleep. However, like the commercial in the Lion King VHS (yeah...the original one, with the 2 boys & the suitcase) we won't be able to, then we'll be taking off to the magical world of DIIISSSSNNEEEYYYY

 

[katt789]

Ok, so I just had to youtube the video from the Lion King VHS, and it totally wasn't what I remembered. THIS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b95oyhSd5ls&feature=related

is how we'll be tomorrow night..
THIS: is the adorable commercial from the Lion King:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x3poLxJjzw