~When I First Felt The Magic...FINALLY!~ April 2010 Trip Report

[PlutosRHM55]

So I guess this laptop situation got fixed up a little bit quicker than I expected. Sadly, my laptop is a goner, but the memory is safe and is currently being transferred to an external hard drive to upload onto here. I did upload all the photos again so I can update and my dad gave me his old work laptop that I'll be using until I get a new one. So, I can update now! Let's get to that now, shall we...

CHAPTER 20: HIDDEN MICKEYS AND 3D GLASSES HAVE ALWAYS GONE HAND-IN-HAND

I left off at us going to Fantasyland. We entered from the Tomorrowland end, so the first ride we passed by was Winnie the Pooh! I really enjoyed this ride the first day, so I really wanted to ride it again. Alyssa and my mom weren't in the mood for riding for some reason, so Siobhan and I rode with Leslie and her two daughters.

It was really cool while riding with Leslie, as she introduced us to some Hidden Mickey's as well as the little homage to the late Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. It added a whole new perspective to the ride.

When we got off, we headed deeper into Fantasyland into and found ourselves by Mickey's PhilharMagic. Leslie had yet to check out this ride for Hidden Mickeys, so she headed straight towards it, camera at the ready.

There wasn't much of a wait getting in, but we did wait in the lobby area where the doors to the theater open up to us are, though we got in soon enough. As we got into the theater, Leslie noticed right off the bat, the Hidden Mickey Horn around the screen. She, of course, dropped everything in her seat and got a picture taking all the pictures she could, just as the show started, when she noticed her 3D glasses weren't near her, so there was a lot of movement in the middle of the show to find him. I ignored it, too immersed in the show. I think they found them, but I know all the movement stopped before the show ended. It was just really funny how stuff like that happens to the DisFreaks

When we got out of the theater, we decided to head our separate ways, they to enjoy their day and us to enjoy ours. We bid Leslie and the girls farewell and headed into Frontierland. I'm pretty sure this is the one land we spent the most time in during our trip. It is just such a fun place to be, it also seems to be close to a lot of our favorite rides which everyone will go on, so another plus.

Today, I really wanted to ride Splash a few more times before we left and so did DOS. DYS hadn't been a huge fan of the ride, it was the only ride the entire trip, she had gone on, but had a little meltdown before so (though she did on ITTBAB, but she pulled out then :/) So DOS and I went on by ourselves and it being so early, there was a barely even a line. The first time we practically got a boat to ourselves, but we still had the silent couple in front of us, darn them for taking our reserved front row seats!

You can see DOS waving in this one if you look real close. And if you look behind her, NO PEOPLE! *gasp*

My mom also tried to get some pictures of us going down the drop. I think she got the tale end of us, but never us perfectly. Why must you be so fast Splash?

So close, so close...

We rode it a few more times after, getting the front row, of course It was really fun riding it those many times. I think it is fair to say Splash Mountain is the best attraction in MK and WDW, not exactly my favorite anymore, but I love it just the same. Splash Mountain will always have a special place in my heart

After Splash... uhhh... I can't say I remember what we did after. There is a gap between the last photo of Splash and our next endeavor, but I'm not sure if that's from other rides we did, since my mom and DYS rode BTMRR once while we were on Splash, but I can't be sure. Oh well, but I know after we went to what has come to be my favorite Disney Quick Service... GOLDEN OAK OUTPOST!

Like with Sanaa, I love love love LOOOOVVEEE this place so much! It is so neglected. I know most DISers on here don't really come this time of year like I've done on my past few trips and probably will do on future ones and don't have to deal with the harsh Florida heat, but if you don't go during the summer, check out this place and you won't regret it. It is in Frontierland, of course, and is right next to Splash, along the pathway between Frontierland and Adventureland. It is just a little shack and there are always seats open and there is never a line and the food is awesome! It is a lot like the regular Disney CS, but all the CMs seem more eager to work, not having to deal with the heat so much and only getting a few customers. So pay a visit sometime!

Okay, away from my long, long praising paragraph on this place, I had chicken fingers here as well as everyone else did. I think my mom got a veggie wrap or something along those lines. Everyone enjoyed the meal and it was definitely one of the better remembered CS meals.

DYS and I enjoying our food. You can see where I'm talking about with the Adventureland sign in the background.

Here is the miniature French Fry DOS found in her fries, it seriously was tiny. Of course, I had to get a picture before it entered one of our digestive systems (Or of the birds looming above).

During this time, we started discussing our plans for what we would do next. DYS wanted It's A Small World and I piped in with the Haunted Mansion. If you haven't noticed by now, my sisters and I are a VERY stubborn bunch, it's amazing how that quality is consistent throughout the three kids in my family. We had a little argument there, but DOS made a compromise and would come with me to the Haunted Mansion. We decided after we would all meet up back at Frontierland since it was the place that we'd gotten the most out of. So after, the meal, we all went back into Frontierland.

Of course, we were delayed again, when we hit into the Hoedown again. People always say this is hard to catch during a trip, but we had just ran into it TWICE over a six days time. What are the chances? DYS was pulled in, of course, but look by who this time...

Yup, one of the Country Bears (I don't know his name, humor me anyone if you could). I think Alyssa had a lot of fun with this guy. My mom went even crazier with the camera this time around. I'll try to narrow it down, but that's a bit hard for me

This is one of my favorites. I don't know what was going on, but I think it was one of the few times where DYS was really getting into it. So adorable

After all that, we made our way to Liberty Square to the Haunted Mansion since it was the closest and there was a pathway right by to get to Small World. I helped direct DYS and my mom in that direction, when they finally found their way and DOS and I headed straight for HM.

The wait was a bit longer than we expected, but it wasn't crazy long, so we still got through the line fairly quickly, but of course, the doors shut just before we could go into the fireplace room. I loved the Leota stone near the doors since I thought it was just so cool with my phone. I think I got it with her eyes opened

And I'll leave you off there. Yeah, cliffy heh heh! Just stay tuned for the True Account of DOS's ride on the Haunted Mansion... This is going to get mind-blowing...

CHAPTER 21: THE REAL STORY & SOME OTHERS coming soon!

 

[cindianne320]

Loving your outlook on the Magic! I hope my son enjoys Disney just as much as you do!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Loving your outlook on the Magic! I hope my son enjoys Disney just as much as you do!

Thanks! And

I'm sure he will enjoy it just as much as I do

 

[PlutosRHM55]

CHAPTER 21: THE REAL STORY & SOME OTHERS

So, I left you off with DOS and I just entering into the Haunted Mansion. I won't bore you with a whole narrative of the ride, but I'll just give you the real juicy story of what really happened on the ride. So... DOS says to everyone now whenever I bring up The Haunted Mansion, "It wasn't scary, but it was cool..." She's even lost the cool part to it, after my friend Jocelyn ranted about how boring it is (Where did I go wrong? ) Well, it wasn't such a way when I went on with her.

From the Stretching Rooms all the way to the end, she wouldn't let go of me. She was quite on-edge or, more appropriately, scared. She wouldn't let go of me the whole ride. She had been on it before of course, but said she was too distracted by Leslie's daughter to really see everything (and she even said she preferred it that way). Yeah, she totally gets creeped out on the Haunted Mansion.

Yep, so that was our Haunted Mansion experience. Once we got off the ride, we left a message with my mom then went back to Frontierland to find neither my mom or DYS there. We decided to go on SM one last time then went to Tom Sawyer Island.

Since I don't have any pictures until my mom and DYS show back up again. I'll just show you exactly what they were doing about now:

So, we had to wait in line a little to get on the boat to Tom Sawyer. It seems a lot of people wanted to go over there today for some weird reason. Even when there was nobody behind us, the queue line filled up fairly quickly. I mean, we got squished on the raft and had to wait a bit since more people were slowly making their way over. It wasn't fun especially on a raft with nothing to sit on, but we got across soon enough.

We didn't spend a huge amount of time over there, but just enough for DYS and my mom get over to Frontierland and start riding BTMRR without us. DOS and I had gone through a cave and made our way over to the play fort when I got the text about their whereabouts. We, then got back down to the dock just as the last boat floated off without us. We weren't having good luck with the transportation to and from this place, but we got on the next raft and were finally back on more solid, connected ground.

I texted my mom again when I got off the raft and she texted back saying she was just getting on BTMRR. DOS and I rushed over to the area near the exit where you can see the train come around that last turn and see if we can see my mom and DYS. I luckily had the camera on my phone on and got a picture of them. Can you see the crazy lady with the hair blowing all over the place waving at us (my mom)?

You can't? Okay, let's zoom in a little...

Sorry it won't let me zoom in just cut it up, but I think you can see her and if you look under her left arm, you can see DYS right next to her.

After this ride, they both came right off. It sounded like my mom was very tired. She asked if either of DOS or I would bring DYS on the ride again and I really enjoyed BTMRR, but DOS... not so much, so I went on. I think we probably rode this one more times than expected. DYS really enjoyed it and we had a lot of fun. Then, one time we came out and my mom said it was almost time to leave and could only fit in one or two more rides.

Chancing it, we all went on BTMRR one last time and as chance would have it, we still had time for one more ride. DOS and I had really enjoyed Splash Mountain earlier in the day so we hoped to ride it just one last time. DYS was still hesitant, so we tried to coax her and... it worked! She said she would do it, so we got in the long standby queue.

It was a bit longer queue than I anticipated, but we didn't wait too long, though we did get stuck behind an uproarious group of 20 year old guys. They luckily didn't end up in our log, still our log was filled. DOS and I were in the front row with my mom and DYS in the row behind us. Then, the two rows behind us were filled by some other kids.

Now, I might have explained this before, but DOS and I (and our friends) like to take some pretty crazy on-ride photos. At home, the nearby theme park only has the log flume that takes photos, but we've always took time and care to come up with some crazy photos or at least fun-looking pictures, so we always have our hands up and since we saw some kids near our age in our log, we thought they would follow suit, but look at the ride photo:

Look it, we were the ONLY ones with our hands up. Even asking our mom and DYS to do so, we were the only ones. Geez people, you are NOT going to come flying out of Splash, if you were, there WOULD be lap bars. Urrrggghhh... oh well, at least we showed them all up

After getting off the ride, taking a picture of our on-ride photo, we continued out, when my mom thought she saw another one of her friends, but she disappeared as soon as she saw her. We then went for a quick bathroom break before making that fateful last walk out of Disney.

When we re-convened, my mom had found her friend inside the restroom and got to talk with her, but she had walked by us apparently as we began to exit the park, our final walk down through the most magical place on Earth...

CHAPTER 22: JUST WON'T LET GO THAT EASILY! coming soon!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

HELLO EVERYONE!

I just wanted to let everyone know I haven't forgotten about this TR and I'm still alive and well. Schoolwork has become very tiring so it doesn't give me a great deal of time to finish it, so I try to get on here as much as I can. There are only two updates left, so I will try to get them up this week since I have Friday off from school for Parent-Teacher Conferences and the homework is starting to lighten up a little especially with my Math Tests. I will try to update ASAP, even though it most likely will happen on Thursday or Friday.

Thanks for staying with me, those few of you, I promise this TR WILL be finished

 

[Tink2Day]

Don't blame you for prolonging it. Seems more like you just left if you keep the memories fresh! That picture of your Mom is so cute! Too bad you can't enlarge it, it would make a great framed photo or scrapbook page!

Life has a way of interrupting our Dis Fun! As you get older, life gets in the way of a lot of Dis fun so hold onto those memories of your childhood and ALL of the great things you've done at Disney!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Don't blame you for prolonging it. Seems more like you just left if you keep the memories fresh! That picture of your Mom is so cute! Too bad you can't enlarge it, it would make a great framed photo or scrapbook page!

Yeah, totally, so glad we stayed longer. Thanks! Yeah, I really wish I had a bigger picture of that. I zoom in on it on my phone, since I still have it there and it looks so awesome. How I wish I had my own camera then and gotten a better picture Well, now I have my own so maybe I can get a re-take when I go back... someday lol

Life has a way of interrupting our Dis Fun! As you get older, life gets in the way of a lot of Dis fun so hold onto those memories of your childhood and ALL of the great things you've done at Disney!

It really does. Hopefully, it can give me some slack so I can have more DIS Fun, because as of this moment... I DESPERATELY need it. Maybe, I'll have to look through Disney pictures again, I need something to really make me smile this week

 

[PlutosRHM55]

CHAPTER 22: JUST WON'T LET GO THAT EASILY!

It is here... the last update of this TR. Sadly, but inevitably it has come. I tried to prolong this for awhile, but I didn't want to leave you hanging, so let's get this finale on the road (Don't worry, there is one last encore )

When I last left off, we were making our final stroll through the most magical place on Earth, the Magic Kingdom! We went right through every land in MK, waving goodbye to a place we won't see for awhile. We got to Main Street and instead of walking right out, we just had to stay a bit longer, so we detoured into the Emporium for some last minute souvenir shopping. Of course, we did play around a bit, but sadly no pictures this time of our goofiness. But I can show you what we bought.

I first got a 2010 t-shirt, to commemorate the year I went. It also has the list of attractions during that time on the back. Here is a back and front picture:

I also got a Dopey pin, my very first pin! I guess this was what started my pin trading obsession:

DOS got this pink t-shirt with all the characters drawn in, in front of Cinderella castle. I think DYS got a shirt too, but I guess she just hasn't worn it enough for me to know if she really did buy that, but I know she got a nice 2010 pin with Sorcerer Mickey My mom didn't get a shirt, she found this pink Mickey book bag. I am proud to say she still uses the bag for all her work papers today. Lastly, my dad, wasn't there, so my mom just ended up getting him a shirt as well. His was for 2010 as well, just not as cool as mine I've been trying to get my own pictures of these, but sadly can't find them anywhere, so if I find them I can show you the picture personally or I'll post it in the last update when that's all prepared

After we had paid for everything, we left the Emporium and continued our last walk down Main Street USA. I took one last look at the Castle and bid it a heartfelt goodbye. Nobody wanted to leave, but I think I was the one who wanted to stay the most. It was so obvious I was a DISer before I even joined the site

Once we had left the park, the camera went away, so I won't bore you with the details of our last moments in the Happiest Place on Earth. So once we had gotten out of the park and through the gates, we got on the bus back to our resort (Of course!) My dad had texted us that he had checked us out and was waiting in the main lobby with our luggage. When we had finally gotten to the resort, he was already there waiting for us, our luggage all crammed into one corner of the kid area.

We had a bit of time, so we all decided to do some last minute things before the flight. Of course, the ever-important restroom break, refilling our mugs and then just walking around our home for the past week one last time. The bus was scheduled to come soon, so all of us grabbed our carry-ons and luggage and headed out the door. We waited for a few minutes when the Magical Express bus came to take us back to the airport away from my true home :'(

The bus ride was uneventful but it was great to watch that movie and see a glimpse of Disney for the ride back. Really softened the blow, if you know what I mean. But of course, we had to get to the airport.

Understanding what we had to do this time, it was pretty easy getting to our terminal. We all had basically finished up drinking our mugs, so we did go to McDonald's for some food. Our plane was delayed for some unknown reason, so we had time to eat it. We also stopped at some of the shops and I found another pin, so before we left I had two Disney pins (though the second one really wasn't an official one, so it's no longer part of my collection).

Nothing really happened in the hour after all that. We just sat around and waited for our flight. I think I texted my friends and played on my iPod to pass the time, along with another restroom break. Finally, our plane arrived and we were on our way home, straight after another great vacation. Some pictures of our last flight, just to hold on to the memories for a little longer (don't let our smiles fool you, we were just... *sniffle* trying to hold it in):

Pretty Clouds...

We landed back in lovely New England at around 12 o'clock midnight, thus ending our vacation. I still have one last wrap-up update. It may be awhile before I get it up since I'm putting something together for it, but stay tuned!

CHAPTER 23: WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR... DREAMS DO COME TRUE! coming soon!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

CHAPTER 23: WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR... DREAMS DO COME TRUE!

SOOOOO... unlike what I said before I didn't really get to updating the way I wanted to. School got in the way and now I've ended up with just a big trip review update. There is a lot to this, so I hope you're ready to enjoy a lot of reading material. So, for now, sit back relax and enjoy the last update of When I First Felt the Magic: A TR by PlutosRHM55 (or Timmy, for the simpler people).

As you may have noticed this was a trip of firsts. It was my first trip to Disney World for crying out loud! But really, everything became a first on this trip. I rode my first roller coaster as did DYS and not just one, but FOUR, FOUR ROLLERCOASTERS, talk about insanity! I also got to see Cinderella castle for the first time, live through my first Florida storm, actually clear my plate at a restaurant... I could go on and on, it was just one of those memorable and life-changing trips you remember forever.

Now, I'm going to list my reviews of all the restaurants we went to (with a score out of 10):

SANAA

10/10!

I've probably said this time and time again, but... BEST RESTAURANT EVER! I just loved this place, everything about it. Our waitress was wonderful, our food was fantastic and even the chef came out to see how we liked our meal. Oh and that Salmon... if I was dying and had one last meal, that's what I would order, it was really that good. A return visit? Yes and I will be ordering something different, see if they can wow me again.

CRYSTAL PALACE

8/10

I really enjoyed this place too. It was our first character meal (see a first!) and was one of the coolest buffets I've been to. I mean, it had a self-serve soft-serve ice cream machine. I think it deserves major props for that Also, the food was good enough to enjoy and swallow, it wasn't as amazing of course as some of the other restaurants we visited, but we enjoyed it. We also had some great character interactions like the whole Eeyore incident. Good times, good times... I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a good character meal.

SCI-FI DINE-IN THEATER

6/10

I'm being a bit generous on this score. This place really didn't live up to expectations. When we were first going through what our DHS restaurant would be, we were stuck between this and 50's. I ended up choosing this because it looked so cool, but besides that, it just didn't have anything else. I enjoyed my pasta, but after this, we were all cranky, whiny and just not in good moods. I don't know, maybe those milkshakes people rave about would change my mind or a shorter meal but ADRs are supposed to be long and this just wasn't the place to have those. Also, we had a very amateur and boring waitress As a CS, I would like it better, but TS, not at all. If you ever have the decision we had when picking a restaurant at DHS DON'T PICK THIS PLACE!

YAK & YETI

9/10

My family really enjoys exotic food and this place served it up quite well. I wasn't a huge fan of my dish, but still it was very good. After Sanaa, this one had a tough act to follow, but it still was a great meal. We had one of the best waitresses all trip and the shrimp most of my family had really got us through the rest of our Animal Kingdom adventure. If we had the choice, I think a return visit may be in order and I recommend it to anyone who likes to try new things.

GARDEN GRILL

10/10!

Two 10/10s! Are ya crazy? Well, no. Even though I will love Sanaa forever, Garden Grill had more and delivered one of the best experiences we ever had at Disney. I mean, it's the only Disney thing I can talk about with my dad. He loved the place! Also, we had the best waitress ever, Lisa, and she was from New England! She was so into her job and was the only waitress to interact with a character. Also, the food was SUPERB! It was family style and every dish was better than the last. And we such fun with the characters, it was the place I declared my username from. This place will probably always remain on our ADR list whether we go or not

Overall, a lot of great dining experiences.

Now, I want to go through each day and pick out the best memories...

ARRIVAL DAY

-Sanaa
-Enjoying the Savannah
-The Rainstorm

Even though we didn't go to the parks, we sure had a lot of fun and that rainstorm... wow, I was amazed we never lost power. OH Disney how impermeable you are!

FIRST PARK DAY

-Seeing the Castle
-First Ride on Snow White
-First Ride on a Rollercoaster: Space Mountain
-The Scaredy Cats on HM
-Multiple rides on BTMRR
-Meeting up with all our friends
-Eeyore at Crystal Palace
-My dad's surprise birthday

This was a great day and I don't think we'll ever have such a fun day like this. I also think we really yanked out the Disney Fan in my dad, I mean we were up and running for 12 hours straight I'm sure. Too bad we didn't get to see Rope Drop on this day

SECOND PARK DAY

-Seeing all the Citizens of Hollywood
-Fantasmic
-My mom's phone call during American Idol
-DOS losing her phone
-The handprints outside the Great Movie Ride
-Our first Great Movie Ride Ride (lol)

DHS... while it never turned out to be a family favorite, it was our longest day and we did have a lot of fun. Too bad Muppet Vision was closed this time around, really want to ride that *sigh* And the phone comment by the MC at American Idol to my mom was one of the trip's funniest moments.

THIRD PARK DAY

-Expedition Everest
-Stoicness on DINOSAUR
-Meeting up with more friends
-It's Tough to be a Bug (always a good laugh)

FOURTH PARK DAY

-The Queen of Hearts
-Garden Grill
-Surprise Meet-Up with My Cousin
-Test Track with shy kid
-World Showcase with my dad
-Mexico
-IllumiNations
-Annoying Teenagers
-Riding Spaceship Earth over and over again (and playing in Project Tomorrow)

We had a fun day on our last full park day. EPCOT will always remain my second favorite park because of this day. We did so much and just had a lot of wonderful memories this day (the good and the bad). I hope we don't run into those teenagers again, seriously be civil like your fellow DISTeen.

FIFTH PARK DAY/DEPARTURE DAY

-First Rope Drop
-My Bailing out on Space Mountain
-The 3D Glasses search during PhilharMagic
-Golden Oak Outpost
-Lonesome Riding on Splash Mountain
-Continuous Riding with DYS on BTMRR
-DOS terrified on HM

This was a great way to end our trip. Our last day was full of a lot of lasting memories and some last moments. We sadly didn't get the chance to go to Toontown (though it was weird because I don't recall finding places to get to Toontown), especially how right before I went on my second trip, they announced its closing. RIP Toontown

So... all's well that ends well and this trip flew by, but I enjoyed it a lot

For those of you who are still wanting to hear more from me on my Disney ventures, I have two "buddy" PTRs running currently and another finished TR, links in my signature. Now, I'll just leave you with some of my favorite pictures from the trip and extra commentary:

Have A Magical Day!