The Sea Witch Stole My Voice! Our Two Week Land and Sea Adventure! COMPLETE 4/12

[englishrose47]

Originally Posted by Lifelong_Dreamer

This was the only day that we took the buses, as you know the bus ride back was fine, that ride over though, very uncomfortable!

The bros haven't chimed in yet probably b/c I haven't given them the link yet.

Oh!! Now I understand !! No Link No Pranks !!!

[blue_river]

Finally!! The TR I've been waiting to read!!!

I'm glad you made it back without getting the swine flu

Just reading about your trip through customs gave me the shivers...I always dread that part of travelling.


Can't believe you forgot your purse on the counter


We'll have to try POP someday! Did you know we cancelled our trip this fall?

Great posting Lessa!
Looking forward to reading more!!!

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Originally Posted by blue_river

I'm glad you made it back without getting the swine flu

I may not have caught the swine flu but I did catch this nasty cold which I have been suffering from since last Tuesday! It seems Mom may be coming down with it now too. Thankfully my voice is almost back to normal though I still sound a bit off.

We'll have to try POP someday! Did you know we cancelled our trip this fall?

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

After the parade we sort of scratched our heads wondering what the heck it was and then moved on up the street. We stopped for our first photopass picture of the year, of course I can't post it as I don't have the cd yet.

Insert photopass picture here

Mom was really thirsty and needed a drink so we headed into Casey's and ordered a large coke. We asked for very little ice in the drink, what did we get? We got a coke with the normal amount of ice and another cup half-full with just ice in it. Ummm, okay..... We just went with it and split the drink between the two cups and headed on our way.

We decided to head on over to Buzz to get our ride on. Tomorrowland looked like a zoo despite the fact that the main attraction in that area, Space Mountain was down for refurbishment. Despite the crazy amounts of people the Buzz line moved quickly and we were on the ride in about five minutes.





I of course beat Mom by a couple hundred thousand points. She would later get her revenge....





Next we decided to ride the Carousel of Progress. I know what you all are thinking but it is a WDW classic and we had never been on it. Got to do everything at least once! Definitely a one-time experience.

It was approaching 7pm and the Dole Whip meet was at 8pm. We decided to head over to Adventureland and go on some of the rides over there. First we had to stop for a bathroom break. While I waited I snapped some photos.







Mom rejoined me and our trek to Adventureland continued



I decided that I wanted to do a quick trip up into the Swiss Family Treehouse to see what kind of view I could get for pictures, to my surprise Mom came with me. For those of you who don't know Mom suffers from MS and humidity plus climbing can be really painful for her. She seemed to do okay this night though.











After the treehouse we decided to go ride Pirates. We went into the queue on the right and there was no line! Walked right on, the queue on the other side had quite a few people waiting. Suckers!

Once done with Pirates we had a little bit of time to kill so we just decided to stroll around and soak everything in. We are past the phase where we have to rush everywhere and cram all the rides in. We have already done everything and know that we will be back for future trips so no need to stress.









With 8pm quickly approaching we made our way over to Aloha Isle for the Dole Whip meet. It was not quite yet 8pm and we were looking around and I did not see anybody I recognized. On a second sweep of the area I did spot somebody, it was Rosie! I waved hello and headed over and she greeted me with a smile and a big hug. She also presented us with lime green Focker Watch lanyards, thanks Rosie!

Soon the others started to arrive, I'm sorry but I don't remember all the screen names, you know who you are! I know for sure that at the meet were Colinsdad, Kristi (bound2travel), JohnEric, Nicole and her brother, Rosie, Angela. Sorry if I am forgetting you! The meet is sort of a blur in my mind.

It was great fun getting to meet everybody while we partook in a delicious Dole Whip. At one point we got a group picture. People seem to be missing from my picture though as I know there were others there that are not in this shot.



I think it must have been around 8:20/8:30 so we decided that we should try and find our Spectro viewing spot. Somehow I ended up leading the group to our spot. No idea how that happened.

We ended up in Frontierland across from the passageway that leads into Adventureland near the Country Bears. There was a nice open spot so our group grabbed it and plopped ourselves down to wait for the parade.



We got another group shot of those who continued on to see Spectro after the Dole Whip meet. I am borrowing this picture from diser Colinsdad as I did not get a group shot on my camera, hope you don't mind!



You can see me peeking out from behind Rosie

We all sat around chatting away while waiting. It was lots of fun getting to know everybody.

Now this part is going to shock and amaze most of you but I do not have a single picture from Spectro. I didn't feel like fiddling around with the settings on the camera to find one that would allow a decent shot so I just didn't take pictures. Instead I sat back and relaxed and took in the show, something I rarely do.

Spectro is one of my favourite things at WDW, it is just so beautiful and I love the music, it is simply magical! Mom says that there were some changes to the parade but I didn't notice anything so it must not have been anything big.

After the parade there was a debate on what to do next. We ultimately decided to head over to the castle for Wishes and then after that to ride the Haunted Mansion.



Again I am going to shock you all, I did not take a single picture of Wishes. Don't worry I would be my regular snaphappy self the rest of the trip.

Wishes was great as usual and once it was over we headed towards Haunted Mansion. The group broke up at this point. The smokers took a smoke break in Liberty Square while the others went ahead and said that they would meet us at the Haunted Mansion. Mom and I are not smokers but we did not want to separate from the group so we hung around in Liberty Square and then went over to Haunted Mansion together. When we got there we found out that a couple of the people who went ahead of us had decided to head over to Casey's to get something to eat instead.

With the group back together again we headed into the Haunted Mansion. I like this ride, it is fun and cheesy and I find the hitchhiking ghost bit hilarious. Once everybody was off the ride we stood outside chatting for a bit. After a while I think people were starting to get tired so our group headed on out of the park.

We were leaving at the same time that Spectro was starting up for a second time. I was afraid that we were going to be trapped on Main St until it passed us by but they actually had CM's who would wave people across the street to the train station whenever there was a small break in the parade.

Kristi, Rosie, Mom and I were all staying at Pop so we rode the bus back together. This was a much more pleasant bus ride for me than the one to the park that day. In fact with the lights on the bus turned off I sort of nodded off for a bit in my seat.

Once back at Pop we said goodnight and headed off to bed. I took a few minutes to write my notes in my trip journal and then it was sweet sleep for me. I think we didn't get to sleep that night until almost midnight, that was one looooong day!

Click here to continue

[FauntleroyFAN07]

Originally Posted by Lifelong_Dreamer

After the treehouse we decided to go ride Pirates. We went into the queue on the right and there was no line! Walked right on, the queue on the other side had quite a few people waiting. Suckers!

this looks strangly familiar to what i wrote in my TR about waiting in line at Pirates...i will go and get it and copy it here hold on dont go anywhere.


Dans Comments.
Taken right out of my report:
Now as you can see from this picture, the lady next to candi is the CM that was standing at the line entrance, as we were walking up, she kept saying both sides open folks, both lines open, please use both the right and the let hand sides. so we go off to the right side.[/COLOR]



Well no one else is in front of us, or follows behind us. they all keep going to the left, there lose.

[COLOR=#000000]as we are walking all the way up to the front, we get to te point where both lines are right next to each other about 10 minutes away from the ride, well that side is stopped, our side still no one in front of us, i am videoing our walk up as it is a first ther is no one that we are behind, and it catches me saying right as we are next to all of these people, "hey hun, look at those suckers over there waiting" and i keep going, fearing to look at them and lock eyes. Candi just laughs, and keeps walking, we hope right into the next boat with even stopping

see good minds think alike

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Originally Posted by FauntleroyFAN07

this looks strangly familiar to what i wrote in my TR about waiting in line at Pirates...i will go and get it and copy it here hold on dont go anywhere.


Dans Comments.

[k_reile]

I the carosel of progress! Don;t know why...but it has always been my favorite ride ever since my 1st trip back in 1991 when i was 10! I drag my family back through it every trip!

[FauntleroyFAN07]

Originally Posted by Lifelong_Dreamer

i found it and posted it.

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Originally Posted by k_reile

I the carosel of progress! Don;t know why...but it has always been my favorite ride ever since my 1st trip back in 1991 when i was 10! I drag my family back through it every trip!

They must love you for that. I liked the song.....

Originally Posted by FauntleroyFAN07

i found it and posted it.

You are right, great minds

[momrek06]

Great Update, Lessa!!! Wow, what an amazing FIRST day you had at WDW!!!!!!!!!!!! The MEET sounds like it was a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I absolutely LOVE COP!!! Very sad that it is not here in DL. I have been riding COP since my first trip to WDW in 1980. I love it yet I find it a bit cheesy but I love the music AND have found at times it is a great spot for a quick nap if you need it!!!

[cmp1111]

Sounds like a lovely meet and a nice evening! Good for you for enjoying the show - your pictures are always fantastic, but it's good for you to get to just enjoy every once in a while.

[clomahony]

I have to agree with you that the lack of pressure to see and do everything at Disney because you've already done it or will do it in the future helps make the trip so much more fun. I know that I go to Disney to get away from pressure so I'm right with you on that sentiment.

[wvdislover]

Great update! Your DISmeet sounds like fun...the one on our cruise last year didn't work out very well (only a few people showed up, then we didn't really see each other any more ). Your pictures of the castle at sunset and at night are BEAUTIFUL!!! Finally, you got some sleep, too!

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Originally Posted by momrek06

Great Update, Lessa!!! Wow, what an amazing FIRST day you had at WDW!!!!!!!!!!!! The MEET sounds like it was a blast!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The meet was a lot of fun. I didn't know a lot of the people who were going to be there beforehand but that didn't seem to matter as we all got along great, it felt like we already knew each other.

Originally Posted by cmp1111

Sounds like a lovely meet and a nice evening! Good for you for enjoying the show - your pictures are always fantastic, but it's good for you to get to just enjoy every once in a while.

Yep, it was nice to watch the show without worrying about pictures. I also told myself it didn't matter as I could always get pictures later on in the week when we would be seeing it again.....

Originally Posted by clomahony

I have to agree with you that the lack of pressure to see and do everything at Disney because you've already done it or will do it in the future helps make the trip so much more fun. I know that I go to Disney to get away from pressure so I'm right with you on that sentiment.

Yes, it is very nice to be able to just enjoy the parks without worrying about getting everything in. Makes it much more relaxing. I think the only day when I felt the pressure was when we were at DHS for Star Wars Weekend.

Originally Posted by wvdislover

Great update! Your DISmeet sounds like fun...the one on our cruise last year didn't work out very well (only a few people showed up, then we didn't really see each other any more ). Your pictures of the castle at sunset and at night are BEAUTIFUL!!! Finally, you got some sleep, too!

We actually didn't participate at all in any meets on the cruise. The sail group from the Dis didn't plan much and we didn't really connect with them online beforehand. We did have some unplanned Dis encounters onboard though!

[Disneyland_Mama]

CoP is my favorite MK ride!

Great update, Lessa.