A Pink Pixie Princess - Complete!

[Ariel484]

Since you are a Lego enabler thought I'd show you the big bag purchase I made on Saturday!
View attachment 189182

This beauty cost me .75 cents at the disneystore because I got up sold at the register (kiddo had to get a princess Elena doll and I'm a softy)

It's my current lean cuisine carrying vessel for work now.

So cute!! I've seen Princess bags like that for sale in my area but I like yours better!

Awww Mr. A looks so cute with his Legos all spread out in front of him - kid at Christmas kind of happiness right there!

Yes, that is a genuine smile! He was super excited!

Definitely sounds like you had some kind of sickness going on with that much sleep. Hope you are feeling better.

I am, just really thirsty? It's not uncommon for me to get a cold or something when the weather changes (we went from REALLY HOT to not quite as hot over night) so maybe that's what it was.

Yay that your Disney trip is coming up so soon. I'm jealous!!!

EEEEEK

Congrats on completing another week of training. I'm sorry a couple of the runs didn't go as well as you hoped, but I'm glad you felt like Friday was decent.

Yeah, I'm hoping to get more good ones in as the weather gets cooler! That's my answer for everything - running is hard because it's too hot! If they're still bad when it's cooler then I've got other issues...

That Lego Cinderella Castle looks so cool! Please post a picture of it when it's completed!

I forgot to get a progress shot but there's one wall complete right now. The guidebook is like 500 pages or something! Seriously nuts. School started back up again for Mr. A so the construction has slowed down. I'm guessing I'll come home from Disney to a fully completed castle...maybe that'll take away the sting of having to leave the REAL castle.

Also, I remembered that I never referenced the comment you made in last week's update about the diving commentators for the Olympics. They get on my nerves too, especially the lady. I don't doubt that she knows a lot about diving, but her comments a lot of the time just rub me the wrong way.

Yep, I know just who you are talking about! That's one thing I liked about using the NBC streaming, that they had a different team of commentators. This pair was from (I think) Australia and I didn't really think they had many insightful things to say ("ohhhh, a bit heavy on the entry on that one!" etc.) but whenever there was a really great dive they just seemed absolutely delighted. It was pretty cute! I think I'm extra picky with the diving and gymnastics commentary since those were my two main sports throughout high school and college. I feel like especially with the diving they wouldn't explain WHY a dive went wrong (where I could normally tell if it was going to be a less-than-great one before they left the board/platform), they'd just say the entry wasn't good or whatever. Or Cynthia Potter would say a dive was "poetry" or something. I actually think her technical explanations are better but the other stuff she says is annoying.

ANYWAY. Sorry for the rambling!

Have tons of fun on your Disney trip with your friends!!!

Thank you!!

This is me with every trip, thinking that the late arrival will be totally fine and then hating my life the next morning at work. Glad AA is forcing you into adulting!

Right? I have that late arrival on Sunday so I'm pretty sure I'm going to be dying on Monday!

This looks amazing! My dog would eat the pieces.

Haha, I know! Thankfully the pieces arrive bagged up, so no snack for Archie. He likes to lurk under our dining room table (the Lego construction site) in case anything gets dropped though!

Wow! Big props for making it 100 minutes in that kind of heat!

I really don't think I felt that bad until I actually saw how hot it was outside...knowing the temperature made it so much harder all of a sudden! [/QUOTE]

 

[Ariel484]

Running Blind - Week 8
Monday, August 22 - Sunday, August 28, 2016

Monday, August 22 (45 minutes @ Effort 1)
DISNEY WEEK WOOOO! 3 sleeps!

But first, running - this one was not great! My legs were still crazy sore from Saturday's run, and I think I actually started out a little too quickly. It felt cool outside, which was exciting, so I think that just made me naturally lower my pace. I was paying for it during the last 15 minutes of the run! Blech.

Tuesday, August 23 (45-minute run @ Effort 1/Effort 3/Effort 1 pace)
Oh man - SO did not want to get out of bed for this run! Lately I have been doing this thing where I wake up about 20 minutes before my alarm is due to go off, and then I can't get back to sleep. I'd appreciate those extra 20 minutes, ya know? It happened again today and I was just thinking, "maybe I could just skip this one...that would be okay, right?"

Eventually I decided it would NOT be okay since I'm planning on skipping my long run this week, so I got out of bed and got going. It was, again, chilly outside (!!) - 55 degrees! And as usual with runs where I REALLY don’t feel like doing them, this one went pretty well. I felt good the entire time (even though I still don't feel like I made it very far?) and talked to 1 bunny and 5 deer - 3 of them babies! Solid morning.

Wednesday, August 24 (45 minutes @ Effort 1)
Who cares?! DISNEY TOMORROW!!!




Thursday, August 25 - Sunday, August 28 (DISNEY)
EEEEK

TEARS CHILLS GOOSEBUMPS SQUEEEEEE

BYE.

Mini WDW Trip Report here!

 

[abbybeth]

and talked to 1 bunny and 5 deer - 3 of them babies! Solid morning.

hahaha, THIS. I get pumped when I see kitties in the neighborhood when I run. The kitties aren't necessarily similarly enthused...

 

[Ariel484]

hahaha, THIS. I get pumped when I see kitties in the neighborhood when I run. The kitties aren't necessarily similarly enthused...

Yeah I would say the animals were not happy to see me either...but I was happy to see them!

 

[SarahDisney]

OMG Disney time!! Have an awesome trip!!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Wednesday, August 24 (45 minutes @ Effort 1)
Who cares?! DISNEY TOMORROW!!!




Thursday, August 25 - Sunday, August 28 (DISNEY)
EEEEK

TEARS CHILLS GOOSEBUMPS SQUEEEEEE

BYE.

Continued in Next Post

Hahaha 'BYE'

Love it!!


I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! DIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

I think I find it easier to be excited for you because I'm also excited for me too... usually I'm like 'yah you're going to disney I'm so excited for you'

Very jealous that you're departure day is here though, two more sleeps for us! Although I am flying home to Ireland tonight so that's cool too!

I hope you have a fabulous time with your friends! You've been doing so well with all of your training and so you definitely deserve this break.

See ya real soon....

 

[rteetz]

So jealous! Have a great time!

 

[BigEeyore]

Just getting caught up...hope you have an awesome Disney trip! Can't wait to hear all about it! Great job on the 10K. You really seem to be back on track now, getting in some decently long runs and being consistent. Keep on building on your solid foundation!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Enjoy vacation!

 

[Sailormoon2]

and talked to 1 bunny and 5 deer - 3 of them babies! Solid morning.

Animals on the run, fills with you such a sense of joy and peace <3

 

[LindseyJo22]

I've been Instagram stalking and your trip looks so fabulous!!

We make our Princess weekend ADRs tomorrow and I'm super happy about it.

And I'm jealous of your lego castle - we thought about ordering it, but are waiting for October when they usually do a bonus VIP points promo so we can apply the bonus to our Black Friday lego purchase (we always get the Christmas set). I have this irrational fear that they will sell out that I am trying to not listen to I have to have the castle!

 

[roxymama]

I'm just back from my mouse-free vacation so I'll be thoroughly stalking this thread and Instagram for my mouse-fix. Squeeeeeeeeeee

 

[Ariel484]

OMG Disney time!! Have an awesome trip!!

Thanks! It's over, sadly, but I had a great time!

Hahaha 'BYE'

Love it!!


I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! DIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!

And I'm excited for you because you're still there (and a little jealous)! Sorry I didn't run into you!

I think I find it easier to be excited for you because I'm also excited for me too... usually I'm like 'yah you're going to disney I'm so excited for you'

Very jealous that you're departure day is here though, two more sleeps for us! Although I am flying home to Ireland tonight so that's cool too!

Yeah, that always makes it easier! And like I said - I'm jealous of you now as I sit here at work.

I hope you have a fabulous time with your friends! You've been doing so well with all of your training and so you definitely deserve this break.

See ya real soon....

I really did. Hope you and your sister are having a blast!

So jealous! Have a great time!

Thanks!

Just getting caught up...hope you have an awesome Disney trip! Can't wait to hear all about it! Great job on the 10K. You really seem to be back on track now, getting in some decently long runs and being consistent. Keep on building on your solid foundation!

I did! Thanks so much.

Enjoy vacation!

Thanks!!

Animals on the run, fills with you such a sense of joy and peace <3

I agree! Such a fun way to start the day.

I've been Instagram stalking and your trip looks so fabulous!!

It was! It was short, but we really did a lot.

We make our Princess weekend ADRs tomorrow and I'm super happy about it.

OMG - I TOTALLY forgot about Princess ADRs! I happened to check that thread at some point during the trip and was just like "@#$^!" Luckily I got everything I wanted! I hope you did too!

And I'm jealous of your lego castle - we thought about ordering it, but are waiting for October when they usually do a bonus VIP points promo so we can apply the bonus to our Black Friday lego purchase (we always get the Christmas set). I have this irrational fear that they will sell out that I am trying to not listen to I have to have the castle!

Mr. A was SO mad that he could have been earning Lego VIP points this whole time! We have 2 Simpsons sets and the Lego WALL-E. Now we know better!

Seems like they would want to have good stock leading up to Christmas, ya know? I hope you get one!!

I'm just back from my mouse-free vacation so I'll be thoroughly stalking this thread and Instagram for my mouse-fix. Squeeeeeeeeeee

SQUEEEE! Hope you had a fabulous vacation! I hear those can be good even if they don't involve the Mouse!

 

[Ariel484]

I'm back.

WAHHHH!

Fabulous weekend with my friends! For the first time in a long time (in forever?) I actually did FULL park days with no break, and it was fun but exhausting! But the four of us haven't been together in over a year, and we got a LOT done, so it was totally worth it!

I'm not gonna do a full trip report - I'll just post some highlights and pictures from each day (speaking of pictures - I took my new point-and-shoot camera with me and NEVER used it. I think I see an eBay listing in my future...).

Thursday, August 25
Easy flight and airport experiences. Connected through Charlotte, fast Magical Express.

At French Quarter by noon...so hot out! I can't really give a thorough review of French Quarter since we were barely there, but when we were, it was great!

Headed to Epcot to meet one of my BFFs!

SIDENOTE: I brought non-INKnBURN tops to wear for this weekend, but I didn't actually wear them. It was way too hot for non-moisture wicking tops. So glad I brought my INKnBURN!

Good-bye, my friend...

Lunch...sandwich from Norway...

...and ice cream from France!

These were already up! Got me excited for Wine & Dine weekend!

We had FP+ for Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth and Frozen Ever After.

For, I think, the first time ever, I waited in the stand-by line for Soarin'. The line was 45 minutes, which is normally WAY past my threshold for waiting in a line (normally I won't go in a line longer than 10-15 minutes), but we both really wanted to ride this ride and it was SO hot out that we didn't mind waiting in the air conditioning. It went by quickly since we were talking the entire time.

My review - AWESOME! I hadn't read/seen anything about it beforehand (except I knew it was "around the world" now), and I loved it!

We had dinner at Sunshine Seasons - Mongolian beef with lo mein noodles. Mickey cheesecake tart for dessert. This (plus a Coke) was $20!! We are normally pixie dust snorters but even we could not help but notice (and discuss multiple times over the course of the weekend) the high food costs!

Having said that - this was SO good. Highly recommend!

Next up - our Frozen FP+. It took us about 15 minutes to get on the ride, and I wouldn't wait any longer for it than that (though I did later in the trip...haha). This ride was really well-done, I thought. Of course, I don't hate Frozen...so I enjoyed it. It would be so much better in the Magic Kingdom though!

After that we RAN to Hollywood Studios to make it to Fantasmic! We both LOVE this show! We were late but arrived just as the Lion King section began. And we felt ALLL the feels. <3

Day 1 done!

 

[Ariel484]

Friday, August 26
BFF #2 arrived last night/this morning around midnight! She had rented a car and we used it to drive to Old Key West for breakfast at Olivia's.

This was sort of a revelation to me - it was SO easy to drive around property and it saved us a lot of time. I want to rent a car for every trip now! Though I'm not sure we'd get much use out of it for our Wine & Dine trip with us staying at the Poly and having the monorail...

Olivia's was not a revelation. It was okay - I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there again.

We were hoping to make it to Epcot for rope drop but were late.

One of my favorite pictures from the trip!

Time stamp on this picture - 9:20AM (we'd gotten in line at 9:07). Sigh, so much for my "no waits over 10-15 minutes" rule!

We met up with BFF #3 after Frozen - she's a local and has 2 kiddos (ages 4 and 1) - my first time meeting the baby and I want to steal her!

We took the 4-year-old on Soarin' using FP+.

I made the mistake of mentioning I'd never been on Imagination, so they decided this ride had to happen. Friggin' weird.

Then it was back to SSE! Sad news - the picture feature for the "future video" never worked all weekend. We always got random animated people acting out our futures. wahh!!

At this point, our local BFF needed to leave to take the kiddos for naps. The rest of us had lunch at Captain Cook's at my future home...the Polynesian!

On the way to the resort, I checked the DIS and saw that people were making Princess ADRs...ACK. I'd totally forgotten that my ADR day was here! So I made my ADRs on my phone and got everything I wanted. Still not sure what I will keep...

Some kind of chicken sandwich for lunch...this was okay.

After lunch, we ventured off-property to the Disney outlets! This was part of the reason for the car. There were actually discounted Dooneys, Vera Bradley and Harveys bags! I retrained myself purse-wise, but I did get a Disneyland 60 Christmas ornament (regular price $50, I paid $15), an Adventureland coffee mug and an Animal Kingdom CD of background music (Tree of Life loop - which I love to stream but cannot find a location to download). My BFFs cleaned up a little better than I did - they each got a Harveys DL60 poster wallet like I have (regular price close to $100, they each paid $44), and one got the Jungle Cruise tote that I have (for 50% off), while the other got a Vera Bradley crossbody ($20!!). Parking was annoying, but overall it was fun, and a good break from the heat.

Dinner this evening was at Yak & Yeti!

I got a side of the garlic noodles as my meal, and it was huge! And only like $10! Carb-errific!

And some Blueberry ale...I do not recommend. It was weird.

We headed back to the Studios!

Star Wars fireworks! These were pretty cool, and thanks to recently watching The Force Awakens and the original trilogy, I actually knew what was going on (can't say the same for the prequel portions...)!

Toy Story didn't have a terrible wait, so we went there next. I think 131K is a record for me!

Tower of Terror was listed at a 30-minute wait, but was actually a walk-on. My favorite! <3 So glad it's not getting the GoTG overlay...and I hope it stays that way!

 

[Ariel484]

Saturday, August 27

Today we slept in a bit and had breakfast at the resort. Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory was being refurbished but there were still counter service options and indoor seating at the resort.

We ordered 6 beignets to split. I got an order of the kids Mickey waffles, which came with bacon and a small drink (I chose apple juice). The waffles were $5 and my portion of the beignets was $2...bargain!

We headed to Magic Kingdom!

VACATION RUINED. (J/K!)

Lemme say...after 3 consecutive trips to Disneyland, this castle looked HUGE to me!

Up first - the World Famous Jungle Cruise, followed by the TTA!

Momentous occasion - today was my first-ever ride on Dumbo!

Next up was Splash, which looked fantastic. WDW's Splash is so much better than Disneyland's! I got pretty wet but it felt very good on this hot day!

My BFFs wanted lunch at Pecos Bill's. Nothing on the menu appealed to me so I got chicken nuggets and waffle fries from the Outpost!

We went on Peter Pan's Flight, Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion after lunch.

Lots of work being done to the exterior of the Mansion!

And then we got some ice cream from the Plaza!

And then it was back to Epcot for dinner!

We had an ADR at La Hacienda. We started with an order of the queso fundido ("fun cheese"?!) to split. This was pretty good, not the texture that I expected, but it's cheese, so you know it was tasty.

I got the ensalada de la Haciena (Spinach salad with queso fresco, tomatoes, pomegranate, pine nuts and avocado, with mustard vinaigrette dressing - I had them hold the tomatoes), and the gorditas (Corn cakes, stuffed with chorizo, potatoes and arugula, topped with Chipotle sauce and sour cream). The salad was really good, but I would NOT recommend the gorditas. They were so bland and the texture was weird. I forced down most of one and didn't eat the other.

One of my BFFs got the corn soup - OH MAN was this good! If I go back to La Hacienda (and that is a BIG "if"...see below) I would get the fun cheese, the salad and this soup and call it a meal.

Other two BFFs got the shrimp tacos. I don't do seafood, but they really liked these.

Then the trouble started. Our waitress had been SO great up until this point - we really liked her. We passed on dessert and she brought the check - one check. Since La Hacienda didn't take Tables in Wonterland (my one BFF has it, so we'd normally all pay on one check and give her our share of the bill later), we decided it would be easier to do separate checks, so we asked our waitress to split the check and she got pretty annoyed with us. I understand that we should have asked earlier, but she was acting like this was SUCH a huge task for her. It was really jarring since she had been so nice to us!

Then we got our separate checks and she ran our cards right there at the table with a handheld device. So we had to pick our tip amounts right there in front of her! And first she ran my card and then gave the machine to another BFF without asking whose it was. It was just a weird end to the meal.

And then we headed out...and my stomach quickly let me know that something about the meal was NOT agreeing with me - big time! Eventually I did feel better, but I think it's safe to say that La Hacienda is off my list for awhile!

After a bit of walking, we headed out. We were planning on taking the monorail to the Magic Kingdom to see Celebrate the Magic and Wishes.

Well, the monorail was down. And there were no buses to the MK resorts, just to the TTC, which had a HUGE line. We hadn't brought the car today (I forget why) and were tight on time, so we ended up taking a cab to the Contemporary and walking to the MK. We made it in time for Wishes, but Celebrate the Magic wasn't happening this evening...?!?!!?!? I was so bummed, I love that show!

While waiting for the crowds to leave, we headed back to Fantasyland to do Philharmagic <3 And then headed back to the resort!

 

[Ariel484]

Sunday, August 28

Last day already! WHAT?!

We packed up and took our bags to airline check-in/bell services. We had a light breakfast.

We took the car to the TTC (I was eyeing the Poly again!! ) and took the ferry to the Magic Kingdom.

Rides for this morning: Winnie the Pooh, Under the Sea and Haunted Mansion. So...here's a Punzie pic!

We had an early lunch ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern! I was the only one who didn't get the pot roast...it was just so hot out all weekend that pot roast didn't appeal to me (but I've had it before and it is scrumptious!). I got the Colony Salad...it was so good!

And Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake split 4 ways. SO good! Really solid lunch

Tiki Room was next.

And then we started saying good-bye...wahhh! Local BFF had to go home to her kiddos. I'm so happy I'll get to see her again in November!

The rest of us headed to Monsters Inc. And then BFF #2 had to leave.

Remaining BFF and I went on the TTA before it was my time to leave. I got some ice cream from the Plaza and walked through the Emporium...basically heading out of the Magic Kingdom as slowly as possible.

I headed back to Riverside around 3PM. I walked through the store there and then caught my DME bus at 4:10. My travel day was SUPER easy and uneventful, and I was in bed by 1:30AM!

We were 1-for-3 on good travel days, though - one BFF's flight was delayed 4 hours, while the other had her connecting flight canceled. She ended up renting a car to drive home! Yikes!

So - very short trip, but we did a ton and I got great quality time with my BFFs, whom I love SO much. I was sad to come home, but at the same time, I was ready - we really made the most of the weekend and I couldn't have asked for much more.* Having said that...I'm so excited to go back with Mr. A in just over 2 months! EEEEEK


* Regrets from the trip: no Celebrate the Magic and NO CUPCAKES CONSUMED. WHAT EVEN.

End of mini trip report! I love WDW so much.

Continued in Next Post

 

[ZellyB]

You packed a lot into a short trip!! I'm so jealous and can't wait to get back there myself in January. Sorry to hear about your waitress at La Hacienda. I get that redoing the tickets makes it a bit of a pain, but seriously in this day it's not THAT big of a deal to redo them. Glad that whatever didn't sit well in your stomach didn't last for long.

We always rent a car when we go and it honestly is super convenient. In January will be our first time not renting and relying solely on Disney transportation and shuttles so I'll be curious to see how the experience compares.

 

[Ariel484]

You packed a lot into a short trip!! I'm so jealous and can't wait to get back there myself in January. Sorry to hear about your waitress at La Hacienda. I get that redoing the tickets makes it a bit of a pain, but seriously in this day it's not THAT big of a deal to redo them. Glad that whatever didn't sit well in your stomach didn't last for long.

Yeah, I think we just caught her at a pretty busy time, maybe - so I could see how that was overwhelming. It was just such an odd end to the meal - really I was more bugged by having to choose my tip amount when she was right there! I'm a pretty good tipper (in my opinion) but I just find that so awkward!

We always rent a car when we go and it honestly is super convenient. In January will be our first time not renting and relying solely on Disney transportation and shuttles so I'll be curious to see how the experience compares.

So, as someone who had never really had a car for most of a trip - I just felt like it saved us SO much time, and it really freed us up to do things we otherwise wouldn't have - going to the outlets, going to OKW for breakfast (driving from French Quarter to OKW took minutes...where if we had to rely on buses, we would have had to transfer somewhere and it would have taken FOREVER. So we wouldn't have eaten at OKW if not for the car), not having to wait for the next bus to come...going from resort to resort would be big for me and Mr. A, because a lot of our favorite restaurants are at the resorts. And instead of it being, like, 1.5 hours to go from resort to resort, we could just drive. And I'm not sure if you're using Magical Express, but I think having my bag with me would be nice (if I rented a car I'd want to do it at the airport). I think DME is really great for what it is - it's SUCH a big operation! - but you ARE separated for your bags for a bit, unless you go to claim them (a small issue for me this time - there was something in my checked bag I realized I wanted, but I had to wait for DME to bring it. Obviously my fault and not DME's), and sometimes you have to wait for a bus or what for your bus to make stops.

I think I just always assumed it would be really hard/confusing to drive because we won't know our way around, but since we all have phones with GPS, it was super easy to navigate. I'm still not sure I'd want to drive for a race, but I'm starting to think more about it. It was really a huge revelation for me! And the buses were mostly pretty good on the trip when we did use them, I will say that.

 

[FFigawi]

Driving for a race is super easy. I highly recommend it. Wait, no I don't. I don't want anyone else to know how easy it is.