__disneygirl
well, all that's left now is the happy ending.
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2005
"Why do you go away?
So that you can come back."
*TAPS MIC*
... Is this thing on?
Hi! Umm. Does anyone remember me?
I'm Lia!!!!!!!! I enjoy getting stuck in Walt Disney World, Flynn Rider, Livin' it Up (love that feeling), Annual Passholding, all-natural lemonade with wildberry foam, resort hopping, paying higher and higher prices in larger and larger crowds to do the same things over and over, refusing to accept that #MissonSinise now lacks the Sinise, taking photos of my feet, refilling my mug, Stacey, Evie Starlight, Bob Jackson, Josh D'Amaro, walking during a race, bursting into tears at any moment, Rapunzel, sleeping in beds that come out of the wall, dancing with Prince Phillip, Violent Lemonade - Quentin Tarantino's drink of choice, the Crest O' the Wave, feeling comforted as soon as the screams from The Hollywood Tower Hotel are in earshot, kissing Mickey Mouse on the nose, Haunted Mansion ballroom dancers, and not requiring a defecation bag while riding the Skyliner.
Whew... close one.
I'm an actress, character performer, and small business owner living just outside of New York City and I used to write Trip Reports here on the DIS.
Actually, I wrote six extremely long winded, exciting, thoughtful, and uproarious detailed accounts of my trips to Walt Disney World. One of them, in fact, was the most popular Trip Report that entire year... except for my friend Jess's College Program report, of course. I'm actually really proud of that one - it's about when I got *stuck* in Disney during Hurricane Sandy. Literally. (Find the link below!)
If you remember me, YAY! Thank you. That new haircut.... looks.... um, great on you! Really! It's... no, no I couldn't even tell you did it yourself! Wow. Looking great. Wow.
If you DON'T remember me... you may be new(ish) here. But that's all good, we have plenty of time to get to know each other!
This will be a long one. As usual. I don't know why I even felt the need to mention that as if every Trip Report I've done hasn't been an unnecessarily extensive diatribe about my life-changing passion for Disney. However... I've never done a 3-in-1 Trip Report before!
Disney, Walt Disney World, The DIS, Trip Reports, Disney Characters, The Disney College Program, and everything all of this is related to has shaped, changed and continues to be a huge part of my life.
If you're here, reading about a stranger's trip to Disney World on the internet, you know exactly what I am talking about.
You know how special it is. You're well aware that it isn't just a fun place to go or something to suffer through for your children. You realize it is not just entertainment, a money grab, or a vacation destination. You go back time and time again because to you, it's real magic, or the closest thing to it. You know that there is some strange tear in the space-time continuum that kicks in as soon as you sail under the gilded arches. There is something - some combination of design, detail, technology, storytelling, and innovation that has gripped you; whether it started when you were just a young child or appeared later in life. You believe in Walt's ideals and dreams of a place where parents and children could truly enjoy their time together, feeling a deep sense of joy and inspiration along the way. Sure, you have to reserve a spot on your favorite ride 741 days in advance and will most likely experience the wrath of multiple "Karens" during your trip, but ultimately, the complications and annoyances are deeply outweighed by the moments where you look around and truly feel a specific sense of enchanted contentment that you really can't experience outside of a Disney park.
My passion for Disney has guided me in more ways than I could ever really explain, but I will try as I go through the events of the three trips I took during the period of a year: March 2019, November 2019, and February 2020: just before the longest "See ya real soon" Disney Parks has ever experienced. We now have a re-opening date, but it's safe to say that the parks will not be the same anytime soon, so I'm insanely thankful I spent so much time in the World just before everything went down the rabbit hole.
Prior to that first trip back, I had not been to Disney World in 3.5 years, and not written a Trip Report since our cruise in Spring 2014. Since then, my life has completely changed. All for the better... and heavily, heavily because of inspiration from Disney. This has just reaffirmed my belief that you should ALWAYS follow your passions, even if the symbol of your passion is a large rodent that demands you be fully aware of what you will consume during each meal six months in advance. We all have a Rome-style fire that burns inside of us for certain things, and I think it's important to follow where that light leads us.
Disney Magic is like Merida's wisp. It floated around me before disappearing down a path... and I had to go too. Long story short, I just needed to experience other adventures for awhile and build my life into what I had always dreamed of it being before returning to my happy place.
At times, it seemed like following my passion for Disney was silly and irresponsible, until it turned into a lifeline that reached into deep and dark water to pull me back to the surface. All the trips I went on and the time I spent being obsessed with Disney actually inspired me to do so many things that I'm not sure I would have done without it. Some of them weren't even directly related to Disney parks or movies, and in many ways you would never even know that the inspiration for it came from Disney. However, I think for those of us who "get" the magic, it really goes beyond the surface level and causes us to think in bigger ways. For me, Walt's messages of following your dreams just rings 100% authentic and the creativity and attention to detail in the parks has deeply affected me.
There are a lot of dark things going on in the world right now and I hope this TR can be a bit of relief from all of the anxiety-inducing news. With all of this free time in quarantine, it's finally time for me to sit down and share some new stories with you. However, I highly recommend (if you are not familiar with my reports) to at least skim some of the following links to have a vague idea of what you are getting yourself info. Just TRY not to become addicted!!!
April 2010: The McLovins Hit the World - HARD!!!!
December 2011: This is the Dawning of the Rest of Our Lives... AT DISNEY WORLD!
Oct/Nov 2012: "I'M STUCK IN DISNEY!!!!!" A Delightfully Unliveable TR
May 2013: Young At Heart: The #BirthdayFestivus13 Adventure!
Oct/Nov 2013: Lia & Jess's Hot and Fancy Halloween & Christmas Party Trip!
April 2014: A Whole New World of Disney: Lia's Shore & Sea Dream Trip!
CAST
The iconic co-stars of this report should be pretty familiar to you, since they are my ride or dies.
In addition to myself, there are two major players here. We all know them, we all love them:
JESS AND GINA!!!!!!!!
Jess is one of my favorite people in the world. I'm so thankful that almost 10 years ago, she found my first TR and, astutely recognizing that we would be best friends, reached out. Before I met her, I had never encountered anyone who was more passionate about Disney than I. In fact, I'm always the weird one: that fiery intense psycho who just can't shut up about whatever she loves? That's me. But Jess... whew. I met my match and then some. Not only could she keep up with me, but was planning a Disney LIFE, not just her next Disney trip. Since then, she has had too many incredible jobs within the Walt Disney Company to name and is currently killing it in VIP Tours. By "currently" I mean, before the pandemic. I could go on and on about the amazing person that she is, but here's a great example: when we were planning her birthday surprise this year, there had to be two separate group chats because Jess has too many friends for one. We've been in Disney together many many times from 2011 til just a few months ago, and I know for a fact that someday we will be there together in our ECVs as old ladies. Some of her favorite Disney things include: the Peoplemover, Yacht Club, Sanaa, being hot and fancy, Aladdin & Jasmine, Epcot (are there other parks?), and basically all merchandise.
Gina is my BBFFAEAEAE, oldest friend, and has been there through it all! She is the person I can be my silliest, realest self around. We have known each other so long that often I don't even have to explain what I'm about to say because she already knows. If we both see something weird, we just look at each other burst out laughing because we don't need to point out what is funny - it is simply understood. I swear, we can have an entire conversation with no one else around having any clue what we are saying. Like Jess & myself, Gina is a lifelong Disney fan, but didn't get to go much during her childhood. We first went to Disney together on our Birthday Festivus trip in 2013, and she has been a part of every trip since then - plus more! Gina has lived in Florida for years now, and even did a DCP herself in 2015 where she worked in Sunset Merchandise at Hollywood Studios. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Health Sciences. Some of her favorite Disney things include: All things Cinderella and Pocahontas, Dole Whips, Ichabod (especially when he is on pins), getting tattooed in front of Rock n Rollercoaster, Port Orleans: Riverside, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Obviously, there is SO MUCH story we have to unfold here over these three trips. For someone like me who went to Disney so often to take over three years off and then go three times in a year.... GIRL! There are a LOT of firsts on all of these trips, so get ready to hear my hard-hitting hot takes on exciting topics such as themed ice cream cones, warring stars, and walking vs. running during a 5k. Yes, we did the Princess 5k this year! It was quite the experience and in approximately 738 chapters, we will get to that. Another fun fact: over the course of these three trips, I stayed in 10 different resort rooms (including Jessica Faye's Jungle Cruise Suite). I hop so flawlessly, bunnies envy me!
Slather on some sun screen, grab a snack, glue pixie dust onto each and every one of your fingertips, move all the way forward and fill in all available space, pull on that yellow tab for me, push down on that lap bar, and get ready for a CA-LASS-IC Lia, Jess, and Gina DISNEY experience!
* * *
Table of Contents
THE LOST TRIPS
SEPTEMBER 2014: Part 1
SEPTEMBER 2014: Part 2
NOVEMBER 2015: Part 1
NOVEMBER 2015: Part 2
NOVEMBER 2015: Part 3
NOVEMBER 2015: Part 4
NOVEMBER 2015: Food Bonus
TRIP #1:
DAY 1: MARCH 24, 2019
Day 1, Part 1 in Which I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!????!!!
Day 1 Part 2 In Which I Find Zero Pascals
Day 1 Part 3 In Which I'm Queen of the King Suite
Day 1, Part 4 In Which I Walk Around in A Daze Saying "Tarnation!"
Day 1 Part 5 In Which There Is A Painfully Small Amount Of Sleeping in Disney
DAY 2: MARCH 25, 2019
Day 2, Part 1 In Which Like All You Lovely Folks I've Got A Dream
Day 2 Part 2 In Which The Mermaid is Missing
Day 2 Part 3 In Which Timon and Pumbaa Are Reunited!!
Day 2, Part 4 In Which Snow White Screams
TRIP #2: NOVEMBER 2-9, 2019
TRIP #3: FEBRUARY 19-26, 2020
So that you can come back."
*TAPS MIC*
... Is this thing on?
Hi! Umm. Does anyone remember me?
I'm Lia!!!!!!!! I enjoy getting stuck in Walt Disney World, Flynn Rider, Livin' it Up (love that feeling), Annual Passholding, all-natural lemonade with wildberry foam, resort hopping, paying higher and higher prices in larger and larger crowds to do the same things over and over, refusing to accept that #MissonSinise now lacks the Sinise, taking photos of my feet, refilling my mug, Stacey, Evie Starlight, Bob Jackson, Josh D'Amaro, walking during a race, bursting into tears at any moment, Rapunzel, sleeping in beds that come out of the wall, dancing with Prince Phillip, Violent Lemonade - Quentin Tarantino's drink of choice, the Crest O' the Wave, feeling comforted as soon as the screams from The Hollywood Tower Hotel are in earshot, kissing Mickey Mouse on the nose, Haunted Mansion ballroom dancers, and not requiring a defecation bag while riding the Skyliner.
Whew... close one.
I'm an actress, character performer, and small business owner living just outside of New York City and I used to write Trip Reports here on the DIS.
Actually, I wrote six extremely long winded, exciting, thoughtful, and uproarious detailed accounts of my trips to Walt Disney World. One of them, in fact, was the most popular Trip Report that entire year... except for my friend Jess's College Program report, of course. I'm actually really proud of that one - it's about when I got *stuck* in Disney during Hurricane Sandy. Literally. (Find the link below!)
If you remember me, YAY! Thank you. That new haircut.... looks.... um, great on you! Really! It's... no, no I couldn't even tell you did it yourself! Wow. Looking great. Wow.
If you DON'T remember me... you may be new(ish) here. But that's all good, we have plenty of time to get to know each other!
This will be a long one. As usual. I don't know why I even felt the need to mention that as if every Trip Report I've done hasn't been an unnecessarily extensive diatribe about my life-changing passion for Disney. However... I've never done a 3-in-1 Trip Report before!
Disney, Walt Disney World, The DIS, Trip Reports, Disney Characters, The Disney College Program, and everything all of this is related to has shaped, changed and continues to be a huge part of my life.
If you're here, reading about a stranger's trip to Disney World on the internet, you know exactly what I am talking about.
You know how special it is. You're well aware that it isn't just a fun place to go or something to suffer through for your children. You realize it is not just entertainment, a money grab, or a vacation destination. You go back time and time again because to you, it's real magic, or the closest thing to it. You know that there is some strange tear in the space-time continuum that kicks in as soon as you sail under the gilded arches. There is something - some combination of design, detail, technology, storytelling, and innovation that has gripped you; whether it started when you were just a young child or appeared later in life. You believe in Walt's ideals and dreams of a place where parents and children could truly enjoy their time together, feeling a deep sense of joy and inspiration along the way. Sure, you have to reserve a spot on your favorite ride 741 days in advance and will most likely experience the wrath of multiple "Karens" during your trip, but ultimately, the complications and annoyances are deeply outweighed by the moments where you look around and truly feel a specific sense of enchanted contentment that you really can't experience outside of a Disney park.
My passion for Disney has guided me in more ways than I could ever really explain, but I will try as I go through the events of the three trips I took during the period of a year: March 2019, November 2019, and February 2020: just before the longest "See ya real soon" Disney Parks has ever experienced. We now have a re-opening date, but it's safe to say that the parks will not be the same anytime soon, so I'm insanely thankful I spent so much time in the World just before everything went down the rabbit hole.
Prior to that first trip back, I had not been to Disney World in 3.5 years, and not written a Trip Report since our cruise in Spring 2014. Since then, my life has completely changed. All for the better... and heavily, heavily because of inspiration from Disney. This has just reaffirmed my belief that you should ALWAYS follow your passions, even if the symbol of your passion is a large rodent that demands you be fully aware of what you will consume during each meal six months in advance. We all have a Rome-style fire that burns inside of us for certain things, and I think it's important to follow where that light leads us.
Disney Magic is like Merida's wisp. It floated around me before disappearing down a path... and I had to go too. Long story short, I just needed to experience other adventures for awhile and build my life into what I had always dreamed of it being before returning to my happy place.
At times, it seemed like following my passion for Disney was silly and irresponsible, until it turned into a lifeline that reached into deep and dark water to pull me back to the surface. All the trips I went on and the time I spent being obsessed with Disney actually inspired me to do so many things that I'm not sure I would have done without it. Some of them weren't even directly related to Disney parks or movies, and in many ways you would never even know that the inspiration for it came from Disney. However, I think for those of us who "get" the magic, it really goes beyond the surface level and causes us to think in bigger ways. For me, Walt's messages of following your dreams just rings 100% authentic and the creativity and attention to detail in the parks has deeply affected me.
There are a lot of dark things going on in the world right now and I hope this TR can be a bit of relief from all of the anxiety-inducing news. With all of this free time in quarantine, it's finally time for me to sit down and share some new stories with you. However, I highly recommend (if you are not familiar with my reports) to at least skim some of the following links to have a vague idea of what you are getting yourself info. Just TRY not to become addicted!!!
April 2010: The McLovins Hit the World - HARD!!!!
December 2011: This is the Dawning of the Rest of Our Lives... AT DISNEY WORLD!
Oct/Nov 2012: "I'M STUCK IN DISNEY!!!!!" A Delightfully Unliveable TR
May 2013: Young At Heart: The #BirthdayFestivus13 Adventure!
Oct/Nov 2013: Lia & Jess's Hot and Fancy Halloween & Christmas Party Trip!
April 2014: A Whole New World of Disney: Lia's Shore & Sea Dream Trip!
CAST
The iconic co-stars of this report should be pretty familiar to you, since they are my ride or dies.
In addition to myself, there are two major players here. We all know them, we all love them:
JESS AND GINA!!!!!!!!
Jess is one of my favorite people in the world. I'm so thankful that almost 10 years ago, she found my first TR and, astutely recognizing that we would be best friends, reached out. Before I met her, I had never encountered anyone who was more passionate about Disney than I. In fact, I'm always the weird one: that fiery intense psycho who just can't shut up about whatever she loves? That's me. But Jess... whew. I met my match and then some. Not only could she keep up with me, but was planning a Disney LIFE, not just her next Disney trip. Since then, she has had too many incredible jobs within the Walt Disney Company to name and is currently killing it in VIP Tours. By "currently" I mean, before the pandemic. I could go on and on about the amazing person that she is, but here's a great example: when we were planning her birthday surprise this year, there had to be two separate group chats because Jess has too many friends for one. We've been in Disney together many many times from 2011 til just a few months ago, and I know for a fact that someday we will be there together in our ECVs as old ladies. Some of her favorite Disney things include: the Peoplemover, Yacht Club, Sanaa, being hot and fancy, Aladdin & Jasmine, Epcot (are there other parks?), and basically all merchandise.
Gina is my BBFFAEAEAE, oldest friend, and has been there through it all! She is the person I can be my silliest, realest self around. We have known each other so long that often I don't even have to explain what I'm about to say because she already knows. If we both see something weird, we just look at each other burst out laughing because we don't need to point out what is funny - it is simply understood. I swear, we can have an entire conversation with no one else around having any clue what we are saying. Like Jess & myself, Gina is a lifelong Disney fan, but didn't get to go much during her childhood. We first went to Disney together on our Birthday Festivus trip in 2013, and she has been a part of every trip since then - plus more! Gina has lived in Florida for years now, and even did a DCP herself in 2015 where she worked in Sunset Merchandise at Hollywood Studios. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Health Sciences. Some of her favorite Disney things include: All things Cinderella and Pocahontas, Dole Whips, Ichabod (especially when he is on pins), getting tattooed in front of Rock n Rollercoaster, Port Orleans: Riverside, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Obviously, there is SO MUCH story we have to unfold here over these three trips. For someone like me who went to Disney so often to take over three years off and then go three times in a year.... GIRL! There are a LOT of firsts on all of these trips, so get ready to hear my hard-hitting hot takes on exciting topics such as themed ice cream cones, warring stars, and walking vs. running during a 5k. Yes, we did the Princess 5k this year! It was quite the experience and in approximately 738 chapters, we will get to that. Another fun fact: over the course of these three trips, I stayed in 10 different resort rooms (including Jessica Faye's Jungle Cruise Suite). I hop so flawlessly, bunnies envy me!
Slather on some sun screen, grab a snack, glue pixie dust onto each and every one of your fingertips, move all the way forward and fill in all available space, pull on that yellow tab for me, push down on that lap bar, and get ready for a CA-LASS-IC Lia, Jess, and Gina DISNEY experience!
* * *
Table of Contents
THE LOST TRIPS
SEPTEMBER 2014: Part 1
SEPTEMBER 2014: Part 2
NOVEMBER 2015: Part 1
NOVEMBER 2015: Part 2
NOVEMBER 2015: Part 3
NOVEMBER 2015: Part 4
NOVEMBER 2015: Food Bonus
TRIP #1:
DAY 1: MARCH 24, 2019
Day 1, Part 1 in Which I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!????!!!
Day 1 Part 2 In Which I Find Zero Pascals
Day 1 Part 3 In Which I'm Queen of the King Suite
Day 1, Part 4 In Which I Walk Around in A Daze Saying "Tarnation!"
Day 1 Part 5 In Which There Is A Painfully Small Amount Of Sleeping in Disney
DAY 2: MARCH 25, 2019
Day 2, Part 1 In Which Like All You Lovely Folks I've Got A Dream
Day 2 Part 2 In Which The Mermaid is Missing
Day 2 Part 3 In Which Timon and Pumbaa Are Reunited!!
Day 2, Part 4 In Which Snow White Screams
TRIP #2: NOVEMBER 2-9, 2019
TRIP #3: FEBRUARY 19-26, 2020
Last edited: