Three Weeks in The World and 20 Happy Thoughts: a DTR (During Trip Report!) About This Page:

[elbodans]

thanks for the safe travel wishes everyone! i'll either post from the airport or from home--must head out now as i'm not sure how long it will take to return the rental car and get through security. better safe than sorry, that's what i always say!

[elbodans]

Sadly, I can't get the wifi at the airport to work (grrr!) so no update (too long for thumb typing!) I'll write my final installment--complete with final thoughts--asap. Though that might not be until Monday, as I plan to spend tonight and all of tomorrow staring at my husband and petting my dogs. ;-)

[truenancy]

hope you're home safe and sound as you read this! Enjoy the weekend, and work on that TR wrap-up!

[MelissaSue]

Anxiously waiting for you to get home! Hope your flight is going well. <3

[Suzie-Q]

[QUOTE=

yes, you have to do philharmagic. it makes absolutely no sense, but it is a must-do for any disney movie fan! plus the smell...oh the smell! my mom laughed at me when i said 'i love how this movie smells'...and then she realized what i was talking about![/QUOTE]
okay, I am just getting back on the boards after too long away and I'm trying to remember everything I want to say until I get to the end of the new posts but I'll never make it that far! you just said goodbye to your mom!
First, you asked about our research trip and we can't let the cat out of the bag yet, we are so slow moving and we haven't done our research yet to see if we need to copyright anything so (even though it's hard) we are keeping quiet. I really enjoyed having a trip that was focused on a project, though. Since it wasn't all about the rides, we slowed down a bit and looked at things we hadn't before.
Second, I hear you about the heat in the fall - we have been in Sept and in Oct and both times it was hotter than stink! I imagine at one time that AK was the hottest park because of lack of shade, but now that the trees have grown up there is lots of cover and I agree that WS is the worst. Plus, unless you are eating, there is very little opportunity to sit in A/C unlike other parks that offer movies and rides with seats (I know I should enjoy Oh Canada! being a proud Canadian, and all, but I can't stand standing through it!)
Awww - Mickey's Philharmagic is our favourite smelling movie too. I bought a sense n' spray air freshener and the apple cinnamon is just like the apple pie smell in Philharmagic...makes DH smile everytime I buy it. Try it when you are at home and see if it doesn't bring you right back to the MK!
Okay, now back to your DTR, I have some catching up to do!

[Suzie-Q]

Originally Posted by truenancy

Sounds like you had a couple fabulous days! My favorite little bit was "sat through Country Bear Jamboree." We popped in on our last visit, and I was trying to get my kids to understand the concept of cult classic. As we were leaving, my DD (8 at the time) said, "well, that's 15 minutes of my life I'll never get back."

Again, I tried to explain how cool it will be when she's there with HER kids and it still hasn't changed. No luck...

ha ha! When we first took our kids, DS5, who loves everything and is just so easy to please HATED CBJ so much, he was begging me to leave! I thought I might feel a bit of nostaligia for it because I remember my mom and aunt loving it when I was wee, but no dice...I kind of hated it too and said under my breath to DH as we left "well that's 15 minutes of my life I'll never get back" sound familiar?

[ravensgirl76]

you should be home safe and sound by now...enjoy your day with your hubby and the doggies can't wait to hear about your last day!

[KMB733]

Hope you had a safe flight home and are enjoying time with DH!!

[jennie622]

Holy cow, the new job is killing me and leaving me no time to check in. Anyhow, sounds like a crazy trip. I'm hoping to get all the details soon once you sort out all the info you collected.

[elbodans]

Originally Posted by truenancy

hope you're home safe and sound as you read this! Enjoy the weekend, and work on that TR wrap-up!

i am home, quite safe and sound. the husband even cleaned the house for me on saturday before my plane landed. what a great guy!!!

Originally Posted by Suzie-Q

okay, I am just getting back on the boards after too long away and I'm trying to remember everything I want to say until I get to the end of the new posts but I'll never make it that far! you just said goodbye to your mom!
First, you asked about our research trip and we can't let the cat out of the bag yet, we are so slow moving and we haven't done our research yet to see if we need to copyright anything so (even though it's hard) we are keeping quiet. I really enjoyed having a trip that was focused on a project, though. Since it wasn't all about the rides, we slowed down a bit and looked at things we hadn't before.
Second, I hear you about the heat in the fall - we have been in Sept and in Oct and both times it was hotter than stink! I imagine at one time that AK was the hottest park because of lack of shade, but now that the trees have grown up there is lots of cover and I agree that WS is the worst. Plus, unless you are eating, there is very little opportunity to sit in A/C unlike other parks that offer movies and rides with seats (I know I should enjoy Oh Canada! being a proud Canadian, and all, but I can't stand standing through it!)
Awww - Mickey's Philharmagic is our favourite smelling movie too. I bought a sense n' spray air freshener and the apple cinnamon is just like the apple pie smell in Philharmagic...makes DH smile everytime I buy it. Try it when you are at home and see if it doesn't bring you right back to the MK!
Okay, now back to your DTR, I have some catching up to do!

yes, it was definitely a different type of trip--and i also enjoyed the little details that i would have missed otherwise (though i have to admit, having melissa sue along for a bit was a huge help--she's very all-knowing in a disney info sort of way!)

and, for the record, oh canada is my favorite WS movie. but then again, canada is currently my favorite country to visit! i've been to enough of the places in the movie now that it actually makes me giddy (in the bay of fundy part, i'm like 'i've driven over that covered bridge!!!!' i'm such a nerd!)

Originally Posted by jennie622

Holy cow, the new job is killing me and leaving me no time to check in. Anyhow, sounds like a crazy trip. I'm hoping to get all the details soon once you sort out all the info you collected.

it was definitely a very different trip, that's for sure! and i promise a wrap up before the end of the day today. i spent all of yesterday with the husband--but today he works...until VERY late. so as soon as i unpack and start that exercise plan i promised myself i'd start today...and visit my grandparents and grocery shop and organize all of my notes....i'll be back to finish this (D)TR (that's now more of a regular TR!)

and yes, i plan to do all of those things today. it is all totally going to happen. yes. yes it is. (wish me luck!)

[lexiemom]

Good luck getting everything done today!

[cubfancolleen]

That's a busy agenda for the day! Good luck!

[elbodans]

did i get everything done on monday? nope. it's wednesday evening and it STILL isn't all done. ooops!

oh well--on with the conclusion of this TR...

my last day in WDW started out very well and ended very poorly. i FINALLY made rope drop at MK--on my last day, go figure--and got to see the opening show. i love the opening show! it was really not crowded (again, finally!) so i very calmly walked down main street, taking my time.



i didn't really have any more 'must do' work to do, so i decided to just enjoy the park for the day. it wasn't hard to do at this hour...check it out....



i'm finally all alone in the Magic Kingdom! (don't worry--it didn't last..but it still stayed pretty empty!)

as it was 'fun day', i made my first ride one of my favorites--haunted mansion. i was on the second 'doom buggy' of the day! i also saw the madame leota tombstone move for the very first time--creepy and cool!

after haunted mansion i thought i'd check out fantasyland--since it always gets so crowded--and decided at that point that i'd try to ride EVERYTHING in the park that day because it was so empty. spoiler alert--that didn't happen! but i did go on peter pan, small world, and enjoyed philharmagic before continuing on to tomorrowland.

now, some of you may not know this, but i was originally not a fan of space mountain. melissa sue made me go on it again and it wasn't nearly as scary the second time--so i thought i'd tackle it a third time. well, the third time wasn't scary--but it was a bit painful. i don't like rides that make me think i'm actually going to hurt myself--but then i have 'back issues' (and the sign does clearly state that such people should not ride--so i guess i'm one of those people!)

i then sat at a table and enjoyed a mickey bar as part of a late breakfast. this was a bad idea....you'll learn why in a bit.

i then roamed around some more--i think i did PoTC and walked past BTMRR (a 30 minute wait, so...no.) and then the sugar in the mickey bar wore off and i became RAVENOUS. and hungry me is cranky me...so i headed over to Tortuga Tavern.

this is where the day started going badly. you see, i didn't have lunch here. why? because it seemed that no one wanted to serve me. i stood at one podium for a WHILE while the woman was clearly being trained on how to use the ordering system. and then she helped the woman in front of me. and THEN a family came up to the other side of the podium--a large family, on the meal plan--and she helped them first, despite the fact that i'd been standing there for a good ten minutes and had actual cash in my had (all i wanted was a burrito...) this family had NO idea how the meal plan worked, so she started explaining it...and i gave up and walked away.

now--there's something you should know about me. it's likely a fairly serious character flaw, but there's little i can do about it at this point in my life. you see, i really can't stand not being able to purchase a good or service when i have the money to do so. standing there not being helped really made me mad. but i decided to shake it off and take a walk down main street and play with my camera because i REALLY like MK decorated for halloween. so i did. here are some of the results...







i then wandered back through adventurland and frontierland and took yet more photos. i really like taking photos.

it was now around 1:30 so i thought that i'd finally be able to get some lunch. again, i was wrong! i went to casey's to get a fancy hot dog (i have no idea why i wanted a hot dog--i never eat them 'in real life'!) and again had sort of the same thing happen. it was strange--the park was mostly empty, but EVERYONE was in the CS restaurants. and it seemed like no one knew how to use the dining plan! the line literally did not move for another good ten minutes--and then the husband of the woman in front of me came up to her and was like 'yeah--there's NOWHERE to sit'...so i got out of line again. and left the park.

but not before the parade! i decided that since it was my last few minutes in WDW i was going to enjoy them, darn it, even if i was starving, sweating, and on the verge of passing out. so i watched the parade and waved to mickey, which cheered me considerably. but then i love stilt walkers!



ok...it is thundering again so i'm going to turn off the computer (is it EVER going to stop raining in PA???) but i'll finish the day in my next post--promise! until then--what do you think? do i ever find lunch? and if so--where???

[lexiemom]

You got a lot accomplished at MK...well except for getting something for lunch. We had a horrible experience at Cosmic Rays on our last day and I do not think we will eat there again unless they make some changes in the way they run things there.

I hope the next update will include a meal!

[KMB733]

Love all the fall decorations at MK!