All Our Wishes Will Come True-A May 2010 PTR!-Trip Report is Started 7/14

Hey, your room doesn't look so bad. When I moved out of residence, I had bags of stuff EVERYWHERE. As well as a suitcase and a large plastic box for my clothes.

I STILL have a box of junk leftover from first year in my house right now....Need to go through that stuff and throw it out...I'm starting to run out of space in my closet.

I am NOT looking forward to moving out in 2 years =.=
 
Sigh... oh the days of moving out of residence. Those were the days. It's sad when I think about the fact I've been out of school now for 2 years. There are some days when I wish I was still 6 years old :p

I'm super duper excited for you. Only SIX more days. I hope you have a great time!!!! Who am I kidding...it's DISNEY WORLD! You WILL have a FABULOUS time!!! Look forward to your TR when you get back
 
Sigh... oh the days of moving out of residence. Those were the days. It's sad when I think about the fact I've been out of school now for 2 years. There are some days when I wish I was still 6 years old :p

I'm super duper excited for you. Only SIX more days. I hope you have a great time!!!! Who am I kidding...it's DISNEY WORLD! You WILL have a FABULOUS time!!! Look forward to your TR when you get back

OH Jen, you're still young~! In fact, we're all still pretty much kids here anyways :thumbsup2
 
wow the things I would do to be out of school right now and only six days away from disney!
 


So, the weather forecast isn't looking too great right now. :scared1: Scattered thunderstorms Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday, then isolated thunderstorms Wednesday-Friday. It's supposed to be mostly sunny on the following Sunday (the 23rd). High 80s all week though. :goodvibes

Last night after the worst dinner ever at IHOP (the service was awful, we were there nearly an hour before we got our food, and there was a hair in my eggs :eek:) we decided to take a practice run to the airport with grandma, who will be dropping us off and picking us up (I haven't been in 3 years, mom hasn't been in one year, and I don't know when Grandma was last there as she dislikes flying). It was definitely an adventure. I know Jen will appreciate this, as she's probably the only one reading who's been to the Buffalo airport. We decided that dropping us off, Grandma will just drive up to the terminal. Picking us up, she will park in preferred long term, as all long term lots are free under two hours (but short term isn't, what sense does that make?!). So first we got into the lane for the long term lot, got our ticket, and drove around the lot until we got to the exit. Mom pulls up to a manned booth, and says to the guy "we're doing a practice run because we're flying out on Monday. For her to pick us up, she should just park here? And how do we get to the terminal?" Throughout the whole thing, the guy is just nodding his head with a knowing smile, and then tells us in a monotone voice to "follow the signs that say Terminal." You think he gets this question a lot? :rotfl: So we left the lot, and drove back in a big circle but moved over a lane to take us to the terminal. Grandma is reading the skycap booth signs, but of course she misses Southwest because it's the very first one, and even though I said 3-4 times it was back there, she kept asking where it was. :confused3 We then once again drove in a big circle, this time to get to the exit. Just as we pulled out, it started POURING rain. It was also getting dark the whole time because we'd been at IHOP for so long. I pointed out that Monday it will be daylight and sunny, so we should have better luck. :hippie:

I also found out that our flight down is SOLD OUT. :scared1: I'm not looking forward to the T-24 hour check in and mom is so worried that we'll end up with C boarding passes and won't be able to sit together. I told her it would be just like registering for classes: You get on the website 15 minutes before you're allowed to register/check in, then just keep refreshing the page until 12:45pm rolls around. :laughing: I'm definitely glad we purchased the early bird check in for the trip back though. Also, I can't recall whether or not I've mentioned this before but I'm really worried about getting through security. Why? My first name isn't on my license. It's my last name, then first and middle initials. I don't know if it wouldn't fit or what, but I'm hoping it doesn't cause me problems. Stupid me didn't read the airport website closely when it said to put the name your name on the boarding pass exactly like it is on your ID. Oops. So my boarding pass has my full name. I'm not sure what back up ID to bring, as I don't have a passport. I'm probably bringing my school ID, though that only has my full name and photo, no other ID. Perhaps my birth certificate? I'm sure all this worrying is for nothing, but I'd rather be safe than sorry!

I'm almost all packed, just a few last minute things. However, the suitcase I'm currently packed in is not the one I'll be taking. I planned on it, but it's several years old and has been to camp and college with me. It's got holes all over the place and is looking a little shabby. Mom said that if we take it, the hotel isn't going to know what to do with us. It will stand out that we're "poor black children". (Not being offensive, I think it's a line Steve Martin said in "The Jerk" and it's the running joke in our family). So, when we take my brother back to his house on Sunday evening, we're stopping at my cousin's house to get a suitcase from her, then I can just transfer all my stuff to that one, tag it with the ME tags, and we're all set to go! :wizard:

I used up the majority of my meal plan money (still had $8.30 left after this :sad2:) to buy non-perishable snacks for the parks. I bought:
~6-100 calorie packs of Lorna Doone and Chips Ahoy cookies
~6 packs of blueberry pop tarts
~3 Special K Strawberry bars
~4 Strawberry NutriGrain bars
~1 bag of Swedish fish

We plan to just buy lunch at the airports. Buffalo doesn't have any chains, just generic places, but I know when we were at MCO last time, we ate at McDonald's and then got ice cream from Ben & Jerry's (mmmm Chunky Monkey :cloud9:)

Finally, I believe I've made the Dean's List for this semester (one more thing to celebrate!), but I'm still waiting on one more grade. I have an A- in Anatomy & Physiology, and Dance History. I have a B+ in Human bio lab and language acquisition. With those grades, I have a 3.54, and a 3.5 is needed for Dean's List. I had a B in bio lecture, but I think I did well enough on the last test that it may have gone up to a B+ or maybe even an A-, but I'll be sure to post here as soon as I found out.

I'll be posting our final plans over the next few days!

Only 3 days left!! This time next week we'll be heading for Downtown Disney!! :cool1:
 
Oh, Buffalo airport. It was actually pretty easy to navigate but I can understand it being a bit difficult when you haven't been there in a long time and it's getting dark out. When I was there, I just followed the terminal shuttle to figure out where I was going :rotfl: Awww, I wish I could come with. Need help carrying your luggage? ONLY 3 MORE DAYS!!!!!!! SO EXCITED FOR YOU!
 
Aww, those pictures of your packed up room make me kind of sad. When I would drive to school sometimes I'd pass by the college I went to and it always kind of annoyed me because some of the people just cross right in the middle of the street and I was always worried I'd hit someone. Well, then once school let out it was kind of depressing driving home and seeing the streets empty. :guilty: Sorry for my random story...

WOOT for 3 days! :banana::banana::banana:
 


Oh, Buffalo airport. It was actually pretty easy to navigate but I can understand it being a bit difficult when you haven't been there in a long time and it's getting dark out. When I was there, I just followed the terminal shuttle to figure out where I was going :rotfl: Awww, I wish I could come with. Need help carrying your luggage? ONLY 3 MORE DAYS!!!!!!! SO EXCITED FOR YOU!

Heehee I think it was also confusing because we were trying to figure out where so many things were located and we just kept going in a big circle to get to the next thing! I wish you could come too, I think you'd be tons of fun to go on a trip with, judging by you TRs. Yes, only 3 more days!!!

Aww, those pictures of your packed up room make me kind of sad. When I would drive to school sometimes I'd pass by the college I went to and it always kind of annoyed me because some of the people just cross right in the middle of the street and I was always worried I'd hit someone. Well, then once school let out it was kind of depressing driving home and seeing the streets empty. :guilty: Sorry for my random story...

WOOT for 3 days! :banana::banana::banana:

Katie was also very sad that I was gone, her FB status was something like "Oh, Gretchen's side of the room is so empty and less colorfully vibrant than it once was." And I told her "Yeah, now you know how I felt for that month I was by myself after Emily left and before you moved in!" I'm excited to go back next month though. I hear the college is so different in the summer because there are so few people there. Over Columbus day break, the school doesn't close but there are no classes, so people could stay if they wanted and the people that did (I wasn't one of them) said it resembled a ghost town...
 
So, as you know we're going to be celebrating many things on this trip. When I added our "birthday" celebrations to our dining reservations, I added them to each one. Well, when I went back online to confirm the other day, apparently I didn't need to do that because each ADR has SIX birthday notices for EACH of us. :headache::confused3 Anyway, here's a list of our celebrations:

~My (belated) 19th birthday
~Mom's (early) 53rd birthday
~Mom getting a job
~Mom losing 30+ pounds
~Me finishing my first year of college (and hopefully making the Dean's List)
~I think we will also get voluntEAR buttons when I redeem the GAD certificate

Here are our FINAL plans for days 1-4:

DAY 1
• Depart for airport at 10am; arrive around 10:30am
• Flight departs at 12:45pm
• Flight lands at 3:25pm
• Head for Magical Express
• Check in to Kidani Village (5pm?)
• Eat dinner at Mara
• Swim/explore resort

DAY 2
• Breakfast at Crystal Palace at 8:05am
• Adventureland, Frontierland, Liberty Square
• Afternoon Break
• Lunch in room
• Finish what we didn’t earlier
• Dinner at Columbia Harbour House
• Get a Dole Whip and Corn Dog Nuggets to munch on while watching
• Wishes

DAY 3
• Breakfast in room
• Morning at Blizzard Beach
• Lunch in room/bring sandwiches with us
• Leave for Polynesian/MK at 3:30pm
• Boat to Poly
• Dinner at Ohana at 5:00pm
• After dinner monorail to Grand Floridian to explore
• Monorail to MK, bus to Kidani

DAY 4
• Breakfast in room
• Left side of Hollywood Studios (Great Movie Ride, Toy Story Mania, Indiana Jones over)
• Lunch at Backlot Express or Studio Catering Co.
• Meet as many characters as possible
• Leave park around 5pm
• Dinner in room
• Swim/explore resort

I'll post 5-8 tomorrow, and 9-12 on Sunday!

 
*Update: I did not make the Dean's List. My final bio grade was a B+, giving me a final GPA of 3.48. That's right folks, I missed it by .02. :headache: However 3.48 is a .28 raise over last semester. :thumbsup2

Anyway, onto more final plans.

DAY 5
• Breakfast at Mara
• Bus to Downtown Disney
• DisneyQuest (Virtual Jungle Cruise, Cyberspace Mountain, Pirates: Battle for Buccaneer Gold, Buzz Lightyear’s AstroBlasters)
• Shop at West Side
• Lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express
• Boat to Port Orleans, walk around, and get beignets!
• Shop at Marketplace
• Dinner at Earl of Sandwich
• Dessert at Ghirardelli’s
• Goofy’s Candy Co.

DAY 6
• Breakfast in room
• Epcot World Showcase
• Lunch at Le Cellier at 12:55pm
• Catch as many shows/meet as many characters as possible
• Dinner at Kringla Bakeri
• IllumiNations

DAY 7
• Breakfast in room
• Bus to AK
• Redeem GAD Fastpasses
• Bring sandwiches for lunch
• Dinner at Flame Tree Barbecue
• Stay until park close at 7pm
• Swim/explore resort

DAY 8
• Breakfast in room
• Tomorrowland, Toontown, Fantasyland
• Meet fairies (pixies?), possibly princesses
• Lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern at 11:30am
• Afternoon break
• Dinner at Cosmic Ray’s
• SpectroMagic
• Get an ice cream sandwich from Main Street Bakery
• Wishes

 
Wow, it looks like a pretty relaxing trip! Everything is so well spaced out and you can go at your own pace. That's awesome!
 
Just checked us in for our flight and we got A40 & A41 as our boarding numbers-and the flight is sold out!! We are very excited! :woohoo:

Onto our final plans:

DAY 9

• Breakfast in room
• Lunch at 50’s Prime Time Café at 11:05am
• Right side of Hollywood Studios
• Bring sandwiches for dinner
• Snack from Starring Rolls to eat during
• Fantasmic (9pm)
• Leave DHS before second showing of Fantasmic

DAY 10
• Breakfast at Boma at 9:50am
• Explore resort
• Lunch in room
• Afternoon at Typhoon Lagoon
• Dinner at Mara
• Swim/explore resort

DAY 11
• Breakfast in room
• Future World
• Lunch at Sunshine Seasons
• Afternoon Break
• Dinner at Sunshine Seasons (there’s so much good food there!)
• IllumiNations

DAY 12
• Check luggage at RAC desk around 8am
• Breakfast in room
• ME departs around 10am =(
• Flight departs 1pm
• Flight arrives in Buffalo 3:35pm

I'll probably post one more time tomorrow morning before we leave. :goodvibes
 
WE LEAVE TODAY!!

We're heading to the airport in three hours, and our flight takes off at 12:45!! Just a few last minute items to throw in the suitcases & my backpack. For the flight, we're taking:

~Snacks
~Laptop (for movies & GLEE)
~Books
~Word Search
~Coloring Book and Crayons
~iPod

If I didn't know better, I'd say we had children flying with us from the supplies we're taking!!

I plan to take a gajillion photos while we're there. I'll try to post a brief update probably next Tuesday morning (we're getting internet Monday afternoon so Mom can do her unemployment stuff) and when I get back. I'll do my dining reviews as soon as we get back, but I probably won't start my trip report until mid July, because of my OA job. I'll be sure to post a link to that as soon as I start it, as well as to my dining reviews. It's been great having you read and I hoped you enjoyed it-talk to you soon!!
 
Have a great trip! Can't wait to hear all about it when you get back.... even if I have to wait until July :goodvibes
 
We're here! The guy I'm renting from didn't tell them we aren't DVC members, so we get free internet (I hope). I don't know if I will update daily, but I'll start off for now.

We got to the airport at 10:30. The security line looked long, but it moved quickly and we were done by 10:45. The people were pretty friendly-no problem with my license. :thumbsup2 The only rude guy was at the metal detector thing-he kept telling me to hurry-forgive me for not being an experienced traveler. :mad:We got lunch at Which Wich, a sandwich shop which was unique and delicious. The flight was uneventful, just some minor turbulence. We made our way to Magical Express without too much hassle (the way to ME through B-side according to the map was closed so we had to make a tiny detour.) There was really no wait to get on the bus-but it was a cruise bus. :confused: Anyway, we got on the bus around 4:05, and didn't sit for too long. It was less than half full. Of course, right as we got on the bus a torrential downpour thunderstorm started, but cleared up as we got closer. We stopped at Caribbean Beach and Pop Century. Then one couple got off at Jambo House, and we were the only ones for Kidani. :goodvibes Overall, it took about an hour. The staff has been wonderful. All our requests were met-we're on the 5th (top) floor in the first bead to the left of the lobby (looking at the front of the resort). Only two problems-they wouldn't put mom's credit card on her room key and when we got up to the room, our under the kitchenette sink trash was full, but we had two other empty trash cans. We explored the room, then walked over to Mara for dinner;we didn't think the walk was bad at all. We got a refillable mug, african stew and the zebra domes. Everything was delicious-I now understand the hype over the zebra domes. We walked back and went to get our tickets put on our room keys, and bought a few postcards. Mom asked about the groceries at Bell Services, and they said our luggage had also just arrived, so within a few minutes they brought everything up. Then we went to the pool, which was amazing. I love the slide!! We also found the laundry room. One of the coolest things: The elevators talk! I'm linking the facebook album I have. Talk to you all soon.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4196107&id=608588735#!/album.php?aid=169933&id=608588735
 
Our first morning was great! We were at the bus stop at 6:50am, and an Epcot and a DHS bus came before the MK bus, but we only waites about 15 minutes. Of course we were the only ones there. The bus driver was very friendly, and it took us about 20 minutes to get to MK, where we were one of the first families to enter the park. We stopped to get our picture taken by the Photopass guy, and he did a few shots in front of the castle, and a few Tinkerbell ones. Then we headed to Crystal Palace. We waited about 3 minutes to check in and 2 to be seated. Our waiter was awesome. I got pictures & autographs with all the characters, and Tigger was such a flirt-kissing me and holding my hands like we were ballroom dancing. :lovestruc The food was amazing; Mom said the scrambled eggs were outstanding. At the end, our waiter brought us birthday cupcakes and cards signed by all the characters. :thumbsup2 We were in and out in an hour. Then we did Pirates & Jungle Cruise, both of which were walk ons. RideMax has worked great so far. Direct quote from mom while walking through the empty pirates queue and seeing them send off empty boats: "This is nuts!". Our skipper on Jungle Cruise was great. We stopped for a bathroom break and I got a picture and autograph from Frontierland Donald. Then I went on Splash while mom watched Big Thunder to see if she wanted to go on it. Splash was also a walk on-I rode by myself in the front row and the drop wasn't as bad as I remembered. Then we took the raft over to Tom Sawyer Island. Honestly, we found it boring and we only stayed for about 15 minutes. By then our FPs for BTMRR were good, so we both went on. This was the only wait we encountered and it was short-only about 5 minutes. Mom LOVED it! After that we picked up another FP (one per ride) at Splash & BTMRR for me for later. We headed over to the Haunted Mansion-another walk on. Then I wanted to find Tiana & Naveen. We did, and that was the longest line so far-15 minutes. They were definitely worth the wait! They were so in character and got along so well with each other. Tiana asked me if I had a prince back home, and when I said no, Naveen took me over to look behind their gazebo to see if a bullfrog was there, and then Tiana told me not to kiss any toads. A Photopass guy took some pics there too. After that we were ready to head back to Kidani so mom could nap and we could cool off-it's SOOOO hot & humid right now. We got to the MK bus stop at 12pm, and waited 20 minutes for a bus. Not too bad but we were hot and our feet hurt! A few other families joined us. We saw multiple buses go by for POFQ, the All Stars, and Boardwalk, Swan & Dolphin. Mom got off at Kidani and went back to the room, and I stayed on the bus to get condiments from Mara (and to refill my mug with that delicious tea!) The condiments don't come in packets-they're in a dispenser. :headache: So I walked back with a paper cup of mustard. I went in the Zazu elevator just to get out of the heat, though we're closer to the Timon elevator, and really close to the elevators off the lobby. Those hallways are long! Mousekeeping left us a towel cake and a birthday card from Mickey while we were gone. We're heading back around 3-building in travel time. We have a few things left to do:
-Meet Ariel & Prince Eric (that's first-they stop greeting at 4:45, and the rest is in no particular order-no need for a plan because of the attractions we're doing). My friend wants Ariel's autograph, and I do too!
-Tiki Room
-Swiss Family Treehouse
-Liberty Belle
-Hall of Presidents
-Dinner at Columbia Harbour House
-Ride Splash & BTMRR with FPs
-WISHES!! I'm so excited for it!

I think this will be my last update until next Monday or Tuesday, just in case the internet isn't free.

Here's the link to the Facebook album for today.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=170078&id=608588735&saved
 

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