7/2/14
Today we went to Typhoon Lagoon! We rode Crushin Gusher and Keelhaul Falls. My Dad and I did the wave pool for most of the day while my mom and Courtney were in the lazy river. We joined them in the lazy river where we saw our friend Frankie who is a lifeguard at Typhoon Lagoon.
We ate lunch at Leaning Palms, took a picture with Stitch, and had Dippin' Dots ice cream before heading back to hotel.
We chilled and got ready for dinner at the Plaza in Magic Kingdom. We took Courtney's roommates out to dinner, then we all walked back to Bay Lake Tower to watch Wishes fireworks from the Top of the World.
Tomorrow we are off to Animal Kingdom!
7/3/14
We are up for a challenge today! We are going to go to all 4 parks in one day!!
We started off at Animal Kingdom for the Festival of the Lion King show, then rode Expedition Everest! We then ate a snack and took a bus from Animal Kingdom to Hollywood Studios. I rode Rock n Roller Coaster then we headed back to hotel for lunch at the Contemporary Cafe.
My parents went on to Epcot first to see "Don't Look Back" - a Boston tribute band (idk who the heck they are, but apparently they had good music "back in the day"). Courtney and I came shortly after.
We met up with Mitch and Tina for dinner at Nine Dragons! Mitch is my dad's fraternity brother from UT, and Tina is his wife! We saw our friend Nichole on our way out for a quick hello before heading to Magic Kingdom for 360 circumference fireworks.
Magic Kingdom has their 4th of July fireworks both on the 3rd and 4th to help with crowd control! These fireworks were the most amazing thing EVER!!!!
7/4/14
Happy 4th of July!!!!
We walked to Magic Kingdom and found the Mayor and his friends! Then we had Starbucks for breakfast and watched the Enchanted Tiki Room show! We watched The Festival of Fantasy parade and met Anna and Elsa with our fast passes, because who would want to wait in the 4 hour line?!?!?! Then we went back to the hotel for lunch at Contempo Cafe.
After lunch we had fastpasses for Space Mountain and 7 Dwarfs Mine Train so my dad and I walked there, rode those 2 rides, and then to the Monorail, back to Bay Lake Tower within an hour!!! I love this resort!!!
Courtney met us at the Hotel and we went BACK to Magic Kingdom!! Yes, this is the 3rd time today for my dad and I! But I mean, when you are 100 feet away, who wouldn't?
We found ourselves a spot right in the hub for fireworks and I went and got dinner for us from Harbor House! Some of Courtney's CP friends came to the hub and we got to meet them and watch the special 4th of July fireworks! They were AMAZING.
7/5/14
Today we started off at Epcot! We went to ride Test Track and Soarin' and then ate breakfast at Starbucks! As we were walking out, we stopped to see Courtney in her Vacation Planner Booth! We got on the bus and headed to Hollywood Studios for some Frozen Fun!
Once at Hollywood, we got in line for ice skating!! Yes! Ice skating IN the park!! The Frozen takeover started today and one of the events is ice skating! First you go through a line of lots of photo ops, or at least to the Suchart's, EVERYTHING is a photo op!! Then you get in line to get your skates and super cute helmet! Gotta stay safe!! You get about 30 minutes of skate time on a real ice rink! Skating was really fun! And I didn't even fall! They also have an area of real snow so that you can build your own Olaf!
When you finish skating, you go into a HUGE store of every Frozen item possible!!! I bought a Frozen themed brownie pop and a Frozen lollipop. After that we went to ABC Commissary for lunch, then back to the hotel!
We met up with Courtney and went back to Hollywood Studios for dinner at Mama Melrose. Then we watched the Frozen Fireworks!!! All the fireworks were set to Frozen songs which was really cool! There was a pre show with Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and OLAF!!! That part was really cute!! They even included guest pictures from the Instagram hashtag! The rain kinda got in the way of the fireworks, but we will definitely watch them again because from what we saw, they were really really cute!!!!
7/6/14
Today we started out by watching the Magic Kingdom opening show! We then rushed to Space Mountain while mom rode Buzz Lightyear by herself. While we were in line my dad, Courtney and I were talking about how cool it would be to ride Space Mountain with the lights on! Well, we got stuck!!!! For those who know the ride, we were past the blue tunnel and on the way up the ramp when all of a sudden we stopped..... Then the lights came on..... We had no idea what was going on!!! The cast members came on the speakers saying the that they would be coming to get us all shortly. In the mean time, we started talking with a group of people that were near us when the ride stopped!! Once the cast members helped us get out of the rocket, we got to walk down the stairs through the ride, under tracks, and we even got to walk through the blue tunnel!!! It seems like an awful thing, being on a ride that breaks down, but it was really cool seeing the lights on! The cast member gave us a fast pass to come back and ride it later, or any other ride, and it doesn't expire until July 31.
After that, we rode Winnie the Pooh and ate breakfast, I had a Nutella waffle! My not so adventurous family had Starbucks! My mom, dad, and Courtney went to go ride Pirates of the Caribbean, while I went to go watch in The Confectionery (because I spend like over half my vacation there!). While I was watching, a cast member gave me a free cookie.
Courtney went back to Bay Lake Tower to get ready for work, and we did some pin trading and hung out in the Confectionery a little while. My mom went back to Bay Lake, and my dad and I ate lunch at Tony's. Then it started POURING! Like really bad lighting and thunder! So instead of waiting, like normal people, my dad and I decided to head back to the hotel room where my mom was. We started to walk to the monorail, when my dad decided to walk.... In the rain..... So we started walking! We were sharing one umbrella, until we kept seeing so much lightning near us that we decided to put it down and just walk in the rain....
After getting dried off and changed for dinner, we met Courtney at Epcot for a few pictures and dinner at Teppen Edo! When we were there, we started talking with the other family at our table. They are also Disney Vacation Club members as well as cousins of someone we know in Houston! After dinner, we made it back to the hotel just in time to watch Wishes fireworks from the balcony in our room!!
7/714
Today we shopped at the Cast Connection store again! It's a special store only for Disney cast members (and their guests). We headed to Downtown Disney and ate lunch at Earl of Sandwich and Wolfgang Puck's before Courtney went on to work. Dad, mom, and I stayed and walked around Downtown Disney taking LOTS of pictures! We went to Disney Quest and I did Cyber Space Mountain.
We headed back to the hotel to change before meeting Courtney at Epcot after she got off work. After she was off, we went to Via Napoli for dinner!! As you can tell from this being our 3rd time to go there to eat, it's a favorite restaurant of ours!
We watched Illuminations at Epcot and then watched Wishes fireworks from our balcony at Bay Lake Tower!!
7/8/14
Today we headed to Hollywood Studios for breakfast at Starring Rolls and more Frozen Ice Skating!! While we were ice skating, my sister's dream came true when Lou Mongello happened to be in the ice skating area at the same time as us!!! Lou Mongello is VERY popular for his podcasts that Courtney has listened to for YEARS!!! She has always wanted to meet him in person and today was the day! He was very very nice and talked to us for a long time and yes, of course we got pictures with him!!!!
We then headed over to the Magic Kingdom, and of course, the first place I went was The Confectionery, like always!!! When we got there our friend, the manager, was there! He and another manager set up my magical moment in December, of making a Mickey caramel apple!!! And today, he did it again!!! He asked what kind of apple I wanted to make, so I said OLAF!! Another Cast Member helped me and Courtney with each step of how to make Olaf!! All of the managers and Cast Members at the confectionery are SO kind and they don't even know how much I enjoyed both today, and December!!!
After making the Olaf apples, we ate lunch at Tortuga Tavern, and did ALOT of shopping at the Emporium!! Then we headed back to the hotel!
We went to Downtown Disney where I customized my own Disney phone case! Then we met up with Kylie, our cousin who is the Events Manager at Splitsville Bowling!! We had a fun dinner with her and loved catching up!! We left and did some more shopping, then stopped at Ghiradelli's for an ice cream treat. After leaving Downtown Disney, we headed to Hollywood Studios for the Frozen Fireworks!!! This time, there was wind so we could actually see the fireworks!!! It really is an amazing show!!
Well you would think the day ended there, but as we were walking into Bay Lake Tower, the scent of the lobby (yes, it DOES smell AMAZING!!!!) just smelled so good, so my dad, joking with the Manager in the lobby, asked what scent it is, and where can we buy it..... Expected and answer of hahaha, but instead he said "green clover and aloe" and pulled out a business card of where we can buy some!!! Now if you think I'm crazy for talking so much about some scent in a lobby, you CLEARLY have not smelled it! But if you're at our house anytime soon, you'll definitely smell it because I know what the next thing is that we will buy!!!
7/9/14
Today we went to Typhoon Lagoon water park. Lilo was waiting to greet us and take a picture with us! First, my mom was in relaxing in the lazy river while dad and I were in the Typhoon Lagoon wave pool. Then we went and rode the Gangplank Falls family raft ride. We ate lunch at the Leaning Palms, and then headed back to the hotel to chill.
Courtney met us in time for dinner. The four of us took the boat from the Contemporary docks to Fort Wilderness Campground and ate dinner at Trail's End! It's an "all you can eat country style buffet" and it was delicious! In the gift shop, they have a huge pin trading board, so we all found 2 new pins that we needed. Courtney and I played a game of checkers outside on the porch after dinner.
We took the boat to Magic Kingdom where we saw my friend Jessie, who graduated from Bellaire this year and was on Belles with me! She just moved to Florida for school and 3 of her friends flew in for her birthday which is tomorrow!! Courtney, Dad, and I rode Space Mountain before claiming our spots for Wishes Fireworks!!! I found a great place to get a perfect video of Tinkerbell as she flew down from the castle. After fireworks, my dad and I rode Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, which was really cool to ride at night! We stopped by the Confectionery before heading back to the hotel!
Tomorrow morning, we head to Epcot for lunch and to see Courtney at work. Check out our photos from the trip!
7/10/14
Today we started off at Epcot! We took the Boat back to Italy for..... wait for it..... Via Napoli!!! You know we have to eat there on our last day! We did some pin trading and shopping in Mouse gears before heading back to the hotel! Once Courtney got here, we went to Magic Kingdom!!
We ate dinner at the Plaza! Then we shopped and pin traded before meeting up with our friend from Scotland! Mirren and her mom Evelyn! We hung out with them for a little while!! They have really cool accents!! They thought it was funny we said y'all in like every sentence!
We watched the electrical light parade, the projection show on the castle, and wishes fireworks!!
7/11/14
Today is our last day :( we took our luggage down to the lobby where they take it to the airport, check it in, and we don't have to deal with it until we get to Houston!! We took a few last pictures in front of Bay Lake Tower, like who wasn't expecting that one! Then we headed to Magic Kingdom!!!
We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space Mountain, Peter Pan, and ate lots!!! We said goodbye to Courtney :( Mom, dad, and I had a little snack at Tony's Town Square and then watched the Festival of Fantasy parade. We walked back to the hotel and then got on the Magical Express bus to take us back to the airport :(
I think you can figure out the rest - We got to the airport, went through security, boarded the plane- blah blah blahhh anyways, our trip is over :(
Thanks for reading!! Now you can email me how great of a job I did on writing the blog every day! YOU'RE WELCOME :)
Check back on the first weekend of OCTOBER when we go to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!!!
