okay, here's a long one coming up! all about my trip to disney world, with dave :)

Saturday January 3 - I was sick on the plane ride, and I ran out of gum, so i ended up with this *HUGE* ear ache after i got off the plane, and we thought it might be symptoms of an ear infection, so that kinda worried me. We arrived late-morning, and rented a car. Drove down the I-4, and i got us somewhat lost by saying that we should go down International Drive (because you can get to all the parks from there, but if you travel further down, there are actual exits for disney world) but anyway. we went down International Drive, and stopped at Checkers for lunch (my favourite florida fast food place... it turned out that it was the "world's largest Checkers" too, which was pretty cool)

So, then we ended up hitting a little mall on International Drive, and there was this HUGE F.A.O. Schwartz store (the toy store) and it was having a closing down sale too... there were *SO* many toys in there that i wanted to buy... but i didn't. I did, however, end up buying Mickey Mouse car dice at the World Of Disney store, in the same mall. LOL

Then, we decided to try and find the hotel, since check-in opened at 3, and it was around that time. Driving around disney world was pretty difficult to navigage... we kept going in circles, but eventually, we found the Pop Century Resort.

This place looked SO FRIGGIN COOL. It's separated by decades, from the 50's through the 90's, and each building has different things from the era to set it apart from the others. On the first night, we got a room in the 50's... the stairs were encased in a big bowling pin. LOL. But, they gave us 2 double beds, when we requested one king... so the next night, we ended up moving into the 70s (which was actually a much cooler room) but i'm getting ahead of myself.

So, after we checked in, we decided to drive around some more, since we would only have the car for that day. We hit a liquor store, and i made my first legal alcohol purchase. We bought a bottle of bailey's for dave, and raspberry twist Smirnoff for me, which the girl suggested that i mix with mountain dew for an awesome tasting drink. There was a grocery store right near the liquor store, but *everything* was written in spanish, or maybe some other language, i can't remember... and it was so ghetto. everyone looked at us pretty weird... and, the oddest part was that we couldn't find peanut butter *anywhere* or name brand pop, like the Mountain Dew that i was looking for. So we had a pretty good laugh about that... then we ended up driving some more, and we found a Publix (the regular grocery store, that my parents normally go to when we go to florida) so we bought some stuff to try and tide us over for the week. Then we ended up splitting some pretty expensive pizza at this Italian restaurant in the same plaza.

Went back to disney world, gassed up the car, and tried to return it, but the car rental place was closed, so we decided that we would wake up early the next morning to return it.

Sunday January 4 - This was the day that our park hopper passes kicked in (the first day had been booked separately from the rest of the week) so, we woke up early, returned the car, and then hit the Animal Kingdom for "Breakfastosaurus" where we had a buffet breakfast with Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy and Mickey Mouse! It was so awesome! We were like, the only people in that place without children... but whatever.

After that, we decided to hit the Magic Kingdom park. I think we started out in Tomorrowland, and Dave actually convinced me to go on Space Mountain. I was pretty scared! i hate roller coasters. I can't remember if we went on just then, or if that was the day that they needed to fix something, so we had to return later with our fast passes to get on. but anyway. we went on. it actually wasn't so bad. none of the rides were *that* bad really. i'm just super scared of drops. and there were none!

we watched the parade, it made me cry! they had all the characters in like, snow globe type things, and when the princesses came by, it made me cryyyyy. first was cinderella and prince charming, then belle and beast, and then ariel and eric... and they would like, dance together, and kiss, and wave to the crowds 'n stuff. there's going to be quite a few pictures of the parade in upcoming days :)

Monday January 5 - I think we went to Epcot this day. It's a pretty cool place. I think the first thing we did was go into a shop, where we both bought Mickey feet-slippers. they are the most comfortable things ever. LOL (i'm wearing them right now). The first thing we went on was this ride that takes you through the communication stages through all the different ages, from Egypt to Greece, to Rome, and finally to the present. It was *REALLY* cool, because it really intertwined with a lot of the stuff that i've been learning in school over the past few years.

Walking through the worlds' showcase section was also pretty cool, because you got to see the essense of so many countries, without even leaving home. OH! and i found somewhere that made a funnel cake! it was so yummy... especially since i didn't get to have one at Wonderland this year. LOL

We also decided to visit first aid this day, to tell them about my ear problem... they gave me two sudafed pills, and that seemed to be doing the trick, so we later bought some of our own, and my ear seemed to be better.

i think this night, we decided to go to downtown disney, and redeem one of the coupons we got with our package, which let us have off food at planet hollywood. however, when we got our bill, we discovered that we didn't come in the times specified, so we had a bill. that kinda sucked. but the food was pretty decent, as was the alcohol ;)

Tuesday January 6 - I believe this was the day that we went to MGM studios. This place is so frikkin cool. There's so much to see and do here, especially for fans of movies, and hollywood in general. I think this was also the day that Dave convinced me to go on the Tower Of Terror. This ride absolutely freaked me out. It takes you up 13 stories, then it serves up "random ride sequences" so you'll like, drop 5 stories, then go up another 2, then drop one story, then go up 4, and so on... you never know when or how long you're going to be falling. i screamed my face off. LOL.... we were going to go on the Rock 'n Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith this day too, but when we went, they were fixing something, and it wouldn't be operational for another hour, so we skipped it.

i think on the first day we went to MGM, we missed the parade, but we ended up catching it later on in the week. But we did get to see them perform Beauty and the Beast on stage, and it was *SO* good. this is one of my absolute favourite movies of all time. by the end of the show, i was trying so hard to stop myself from bawling my eyes out... this movie always made me cry.

One of the coolest parts of MGM was the animation centre. Dave and I went back to this place over and over... they have these like, 10 minute classes, where a Disney Animator teaches you how to draw different characters. Throughout the week, we drew Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Pooh and Tigger. (we got the first 3 signed too!)

I think that day we stopped off in the afternoon for this *HUGE* ice cream sundae at the Prime Time Cafe, which is a 50s style restaurant, but it's more like you're walking into a house, where the waitresses are your aunts, and the other guests are your cousins. it was fun times.

I think that night, we started checking out the other resorts... we decided to take a trip to the All-Star Music resort... it was alright, but ours was WAAAAY cooler. the best part about their resort was that they had raspberry iced tea available in the fountain drinks section. LOL

I think it was also on this night that we met Brian/Alex (or it might've been the night after, i can't quite remember now). Anyway, he's a dude that works at the front desk, and he was so super cool. We ended up talking to him for like, more than half an hour. He told us that we had to take a sheet of paper and design our own mickey mouse for him, like the ones that are outside Magic Kingdom. So we did that, and brought it to him the next day, but he wasn't around, so we left it for him at the desk.

Wednesday January 7 - We went to the Animal Kingdom this day, also known as "nahtazu!" (not a zoo... say it, it's fun! LOL) The safari was definitely the coolest part of this day. We got to see giraffes, hippos, elephants, crocs, and more! i hope the pictures turn out good. it was sort of difficult to snap them while we were moving.

We also saw this 3-D "A Bug's Life" movie, and it was really creepy, because at one point, these bugs run across your back and your butt... i screamed when i felt them! LOL

We also saw this live performance of The Lion King... it was really cool, there was all kinds of acrobatics, and singing and dancing 'n stuff. very neat. i believe we were allowed to take pictures in this one, so there'll probably be a couple in the next week.

That night, we took a trip to disney's Port Orleans resort, and we had dinner at Boatwright's dining hall. Food was pretty decent, but expensive.

Thursday January 8 - We went back to Magic Kingdom this day, and we had lunch with Tigger and Pooh and Pigglet and Eeyore!!!!!. I was so excited, because my mom had booked this for us 2 years ago, on new years, but because of horrible circumstances, we didn't get to go. But anyway. it was so frikkin cool. i had such a blast. i took this adorable picture of dave and tigger, where tigger like, takes up half the frame, because he's such a camera hog ;)

Then, we got a spot right in front of cinderella castle for the parade. it was neat being so close! Jafar pointed at me and scared me!

That night we went to the Polonesian Resort, which is one of the deluxe Magic Kingdom resorts. It was pretty neat. We had some drinks in their lounge (yummmm) and then we tried to go out to the luau... we got there, they gave us some lei's, then we got up to the front, only to discover that you needed reservations to eat there, and dinner was /person. so we kept the lei's and snuck out. LOL... then we went back to our resort, and had these drinks called Frozen Grasshoppers. oh man. these things are fucking awesome. they taste like mint chocolate chip milkshakes!

Friday January 9 - We went back to MGM studios this day... Dave convinced me to go on the Rock 'n Roller Coaster and... I actually kinda liked it! even though it does loops! it's pretty scary at first, because it launches you from 0-60mph in 2.8 seconds, i think, and then you go through a corkscrew... i was scared!

We also watched the beauty and the beast show for the second time... it still made me cry.

We went back to the Prime Time Cafe for lunch that day. It was super yummy... and i got our waiter to take a picture of dave and i sipping on a milkshake together :) i've always wanted a picture like that! LOL

This time, we actually got to see the parade, but there were a whole bunch of jerks in front of us, so it was hard to see at times. Rollie-Polie Ollie and Zoey were part of the parade! my god, i love that cartoon. the characters are so cute too! LOL, ooh, and leia and luke and darth vader were part of it too. i think i got a pretty cool shot of darth vader.

That night we went to Chef Mickey's buffet, in the Contemporary resort for dinner. (We also had some drinks in their lounge before we went in to dinner) I must say, the characters were *SO* good this night. Chip and Dale almost made off with our camera bag... Minnie kissed dave, and i got all jealous, and then she gave me a kiss too ;) LOL (she actually kissed me twice, and then kissed my hand a little later) ... Goofy was all surprised when dave and i showed him our pictures of him, and he signed them for us. Mickey gave me a kiss too, and signed my picture! We ate so much that night, it was insane. And i ended up taking some candy from the ice cream toppings, and saving it for the next day. LOL

Saturday January 10 - It was *SOOOOO* cold this day. Dave and i both wore our winter jackets, with sweaters and tshirts underneath. and we were still cold. LOL

We decided to spend the day exploring downtown disney this day. We went back to Planet Hollywood for lunch, to redeem that certificate from the other day. Lunch is so much tastier when it's free (aside from a 5 dollar tip that we left our waiter. LOL)

We went to DisneyQuest for a bit, which is essentially like Playdium, a huge, arcade type place. Dave kicked my ass in air hockey (i can't play under pressure!) and all the fun games were the ones where you get prizes for redeeming tickets, but you had to pay extra for them, so we were just like, fuckit, and we decided to go see a movie.

We saw Cheaper by the Dozen, which is actually a really good movie. everyone should go see it.

Afterwards, we hopped on a bus so that we could get to Epcot, where we had dinner reservations at the Rose and Crown pub (in the England section)... but we ended up being late, and we had to wait *forever* before we were seated. LOL. it was a cool pub though, and it was right on the water, where the fireworks took place. definitely very cool. Dave got this huge beer in a collector glass, i thought i was going to have to carry him home!

Sunday January 11 - our last day :( I think dave was all disney-ed out at this point, but i was pretty sad that it was our last day in the park. We started off the morning in MGM, and hit the Rock 'n Roller Coaster again. Afterwards, we headed over to Magic Kingdom, where we watched the parade again...

at 4pm, we had dinner reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table. After we realized what this entailed, it was kind of a rip off. The view was amazing, and we were actually eating dinner in the castle, which was the best part of it. the food was really good. but, cinderella didn't even dine with us! she just waited for us downstairs after we were done our dinner. and the waiter didn't tell us this until after we were done our dessert. that kinda irked me.

but i was so happy when i walked down the stairs to find cinderella AND belle waiting for us. belle said "bonjour!" and i was just like :O!!!!!!! i was so speechless and starstruck! i love belle so much!

later on, we got back to the hotel, and found a message from brian waiting for us on the phone, calling to tell us to come down and visit him before we leave. LOL. it was so sweet. he ended up being on break when we went down, so we sat in the lounge for a bit and waited for him... LOL, when he saw us in line though, he looked all excited to see us... he said that he has our pictures of mickey on his fridge. i ended up getting his email address so i can email him the pictures when we get them developed. I traded pins with him (oh, did i explain about pin trading? they start you off with one pin and a lanyard, then they have a whole bunch of pins for sale, and you can trade them with anyone in the park) i traded him my pluto for a 75th anniversary mickey. i also have a tigger and a tinkerbell. dave traded the other girl that we ended up talking to with brian (i think her name was maille or something like that) his donald for a mickey, and he also has a jack skellington, and an animal (the animal one is so cool, i wanted it for myself!)

Monday January 12 - home time. the most amusing thing about this day was the limo that was there to pick up "Davis Sudde" LOL, how hard is it to spell David Fudge? the weather was so nice that day too. after like, a weeks worth of COLD weather, it finally got hot on the day we left. how's that for karma?!

The plane ended up being delayed by half an hour... but the flight home seemed so much shorter than the flight there. Dan and Victor came to pick us up from the airport. It was pretty damn cold out.

back to reality, i guess!

Current Music: Pezz - Warmth of Windows