It's Our First Thanksgiving Trip (And I'll Start My PTR A Year Early if I Want To!)- COMPLETE 11/16

[PlutosRHM55]

Awwww I'm so glad you had such a nice Christmas this year. Not sure I can say the same (somehow spending half my day playing and half my day working in a clusterduck of a Magic Kingdom was better than this year), but I still got SOOOOO MUCH MONEY for Cali which is all that matters. I'm so jealous you're getting to see Mean Girls I WANT TO SEE IT SO SO BAD. And I love your Lillian & Co. (my Wishes one is essentially attached to my soul)!

Can't wait to hear all about your visit to Arizona while I'm in Cali and wishing you a lovely New Year if we don't get to talk before then!

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm so glad you had a wonderful holiday!!

 

[Newsies]

Awwww I'm so glad you had such a nice Christmas this year. Not sure I can say the same (somehow spending half my day playing and half my day working in a clusterduck of a Magic Kingdom was better than this year), but I still got SOOOOO MUCH MONEY for Cali which is all that matters. I'm so jealous you're getting to see Mean Girls I WANT TO SEE IT SO SO BAD. And I love your Lillian & Co. (my Wishes one is essentially attached to my soul)!

Can't wait to hear all about your visit to Arizona while I'm in Cali and wishing you a lovely New Year if we don't get to talk before then!

Aw, honey sending you love and light for New Years. But that's so good that you got tons of money for Cali because UGH you are going to have such a good time!!! When you visit me in New York City, preferably this semester, we'll get to see Mean Girls together! And I love your Wishes bracelet!!!!

Happy New Year, Timmy! Here's to another year of being shady Disney pals

I'm so glad you had a wonderful holiday!!

Thank you so much! I hope your holiday season was full of cheer and I hope this upcoming year treats you well!

 

[the2ndstar2theright]

OMG I'm not sure how I missed the start of this PTR! Your first DVC stay--how exciting!!! I'm with you on starting the PTR early...it's just so fun to ramble about all the little things! Can't wait to read all about your plans. Happy New Year!

 

[Newsies]

OMG I'm not sure how I missed the start of this PTR! Your first DVC stay--how exciting!!! I'm with you on starting the PTR early...it's just so fun to ramble about all the little things! Can't wait to read all about your plans. Happy New Year!

WELCOME ABOARD!!! SO HAPPY TO HAVE YOU HERE

I'm the worst ever LOL I see you keep updating your May/June TR but I always come on to DIS with an agenda so I'm always like "okay i'll do this this and this and I can't forget to stop by biscuits in the can" and then I always forget. I didn't know you had a Dec 2018 TR going so I'm going to have to check that out as soon as I'm done posting this!!! Happy new year chica!!!!

 

[the2ndstar2theright]

I'm the worst ever LOL I see you keep updating your May/June TR but I always come on to DIS with an agenda so I'm always like "okay i'll do this this and this and I can't forget to stop by biscuits in the can" and then I always forget. I didn't know you had a Dec 2018 TR going so I'm going to have to check that out as soon as I'm done posting this!!! Happy newyear chica!!!!

I've really only been updating since I've been home for Christmas LOL. And you definitely haven't missed much on that PTR because I just started it today! Happy New Year!!

 

[Newsies]

PTR-Ception: The PTR Within A PTR
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First things first: I'm live on fairygodbloggers! A few of my CP gal pals and I are embarking on a new Disney World-based collaborative blog, and I'm the dining and food correspondent. My first post, a bucket list of things to eat at Walt Disney World, went live today. Gimme a click for Disney food pictures!

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Second things second, it's cold in New Jersey. Like, really freakin' cold. And we had like five inches of snow yesterday, so mom, dad, and Grace were all home from work/school. It gave us time to discuss our plans for next trip. We considered trying to switch from Poly to BLT at the 7 month window, but with the Poly almost completely booked for the week we're there, I don't think we're going to take any chances this trip. I really wanna do the California Grill Brunch, but since it's a two-dining credit experience, we'd need to plan that out.

It's been a really relaxing break so far. I've been watching a lot of movies, crafting a lot of canvases, and baking a lot of cookies. But like I said, it is REALLY cold in New Jersey... thankfully, I'm getting out of the cold in just two short days!

Dates: January 7-January 13, 2018
Location: Phoenix, AZ
People: My best friend Austin and I
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So back in June, I bought airfare from NJ to AZ because Austin and I were planning on going to Disneyland Resort together. Even though we're no longer going to Disneyland, I'm going to visit him in his humble home just outside of Phoenix for a fun-filled week of sunshine and warmth with my best friend from school!

Here's the "itinerary" so far:

Sunday: I fly in! My flight leaves at around 11 in the morning. That's not too early, but I've got several long hours of travel ahead. I have a 3 hr flight, an hour layover, then a 4 hour flight to Phoenix! I'll arrive at Phoenix at around 4:26 in the evening, grab dinner with Austin and his family, and then head to sleep.
Monday: A low-key day. We're going to the mall and then to in-and-out for lunch
Tuesday: We're going to see Zoolights at the Pheonix Zoo
Wednesday: We're going to Sedona for the day
Thursday: We're going to see a local production of a show that his friends are in.
Friday: We're going to a Suns game!
Saturday: I fly home This day is a lot better travel wise. I leave Pheonix at around 5 and get home on a direct flight at around 11:30.

I'm all packed and can't wait to leave! I'll see you guys when I come back... with a mini-TR!

-Kaitlyn

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[the2ndstar2theright]

I'm live on fairygodbloggers! A few of my CP gal pals and I are embarking on a new Disney World-based collaborative blog, and I'm the dining and food correspondent. My first post, a bucket list of things to eat at Walt Disney World, went live today. Gimme a click for Disney food pictures!

This is such a cute idea! Loved your first post!

Second things second, it's cold in New Jersey. Like, really freakin' cold.

It's really freaking cold in Alabama too. We're setting record low highs (if that make sense).

I'll see you guys when I come back... with a mini-TR!

Have a great trip!

 

[missangelalexis]

It's too cold to function right now, I can't wait for this weather to pass! Yay for your trip coming up (and thank goodness the snow will have no impact on it)! Have so much fun!!

 

[Newsies]

This is such a cute idea! Loved your first post!



It's really freaking cold in Alabama too. We're setting record low highs (if that make sense).



Have a great trip!

Thank you so much!! Home now, will update soon.

It's too cold to function right now, I can't wait for this weather to pass! Yay for your trip coming up (and thank goodness the snow will have no impact on it)! Have so much fun!!

It was SO cold! Thank you so much, I had a blast and can't wait to update!

 

[Newsies]

Arizona Mini-TR: Travel Day
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I've been SO excited to share this trip with you guys! It was a really relaxed trip so there won't be too many posts about it, but we did get to see and do a lot of things I had never seen/done before!

The trip began last Sunday, Jan 7. I had a 10:52 flight out of Newark, and I woke up at 7 with a knot in my stomach. Flying always, ALWAYS stresses me out because I always have to do it alone, but today was a little more stressful. I was flying connection via O'Hare, which I knew was a madhouse, and I had never flown there before. Fun times.

So I finish packing up the last of my things and get in the car and we leave for the airport around 8:00. We had a quick stop at Dunkin' where I got my usual order (caramel iced latte!), but I was so stressed out that I had maybe 3 sips. I had fun with my insta story along the way.

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We pulled into Newark at around 9:00 and I'm pretty sure my heart was pounding faster than it's ever been before. The check-in line was super long, I was on it for about 25 minutes before I checked my luggage. I found out the night before that American Airlines was going to force me to check my bag because basic economy customers aren't allowed carry-on luggage for the overhead storage. So annoying, especially since Santa got me a nice new bag that fit carry-on regulations just for this trip. Ugh.

The woman at the front desk was very nice (especially so early in the morning) and because my bag was so light, I only had to pay $25 to check it.

Then it was off to security!

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I actually didn't wait too terribly long to go through security. Maybe 15 minutes? It seemed so much longer when I went through MCO and Newark last time.

I passed TSA without incident and then headed to Hudson News for some flight goodies. I grabbed a pack of gum, a bottle of water, and two magazines: allure and Cosmo. I don't normally read Cosmo but Camila Mendes was on the cover and as you'll note throughout this trip, Riverdale was a BIG theme between Austin and I. Sidenote, she looked FLY. Tell me how ONE PERSON is this perfect.

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I sat at my gate for just under an hour before I was able to board.

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The first flight wasn't horrible. It was about two and a half hours long. I didn't have WiFi for any of my flights, but there was no in-flight entertainment at all for this one so all I had was the sad little library I had downloaded on my iPhone for this trip. I had Moana, Hamilton, and Newsies on there, plus some other random assorted songs.

I had a Biscoff cookie and some apple juice along the way.

I also got super confused about time zones along the way. The captain said we'd be pulling into the airport around 1:00, and I was like, that seems really close to my boarding time for my connection? Then I remembered that Chicago was an hour ahead of NYC, so we were really going to there at noon Chicago time and I was a moron!

Here's chicaaaaahgo.

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O'Hare was deserted. Like, almost nobody in the terminal we arrived at. I was honestly a little disappointed? Hello, I had a knot in my stomach because I thought I was preparing to brave the crowds in the most crowded airport in the universe. Sigh. I found my next gate so easily.

I didn't have too long before my boarding time, but I knew I had to eat something so I had some chicken nuggets from McDonalds.

I was getting a stress headache and I knew my next flight, which was scheduled to be 3 hours and 51 minutes long, was going to be rough.

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Again I didn't have WiFi, but as soon as we took off I pulled my laptop out because we did have in-flight movies this time. One of our options was The Help, a movie I had always told myself I needed to see but never had the chance to watch. I got through maybe an hour of it before I fell asleep without realizing it.

When I woke up, the stress headache and stomachache was real. I was done with this travel day. I stared out the window and listened to the music I had on my laptop library, mostly A Chorus Line. I also took some photos with the HUJI app, an app I grew to love throughout the course of this trip. It really was the most beautiful flight I had ever taken.

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We landed in Phoenix about half an hour before we were supposed to and it's a good thing we did because I really thought I was going to throw up. I don't know if it was just stress or a combination of stress and air pressure, but I felt SUPER sick.

I was so happy to be in AZ though!!!

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I ran into Austin's arms and we hugged and went to collect my luggage. Then we were off to his house with one pit stop along the way!

I mentioned probably needing caffeine in my system, so we stopped at Dutch Bros Coffee. That had been one of the things I was super excited to try! I got a Toasted Mellow breve, because that's what sounded the best and it was seriously amazing. Like, for a brief moment, it revitalized me entirely.

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It was around 6:00 when we arrived at Austin's super nice home. I met his beautiful dogs and Austin showed me to my room, where he and his mother had a cute little gift package for me!

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Austin's family saw Britney during her Las Vegas residency for his 21 birthday and I love Britney so he brought me back a cup! Inside was a stuffed Biggie holding Mr. Dinkles. We love Trolls, so this was perfect! You can't see it, but inside the cup was also a T-shirt that said Arizona on it!

We had a really lowkey rest of the night, which was good because my body was starting the slow process of getting un-sick. We watched the golden globes as we had dinner, his mom made amazing pasta.

It was 8:45 when I finally went to bed because I still had a little bit of a headache and my body thought it was 11:45. Thankfully I was well-rested the next day for a big day with my best friend!

 

[missangelalexis]

Oh no I'm sorry the travel day got to you! I'm sure it was a long day and you just couldn't wait to be in AZ! Your little welcome gift was so cute! SOunds like a nice night!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Yay! The mini-TR is here! Sorry to hear it started on a rough note. Bless the fact I got two non-stop flights between LAX and Logan for my West coast journey, no need to deal with other crazy international airports. What a cute little gift basket you got when you got to Phoenix though! It's too bad Britney is leaving Vegas :'( I'm so excited to hear about everything else, update soon sis

 

[Newsies]

Oh no I'm sorry the travel day got to you! I'm sure it was a long day and you just couldn't wait to be in AZ! Your little welcome gift was so cute! SOunds like a nice night!

Thankfully, I was back up on my feet soon! And my day coming home was A MILLION times better. We had a great night and the next day was even more fun!

Yay! The mini-TR is here! Sorry to hear it started on a rough note. Bless the fact I got two non-stop flights between LAX and Logan for my West coast journey, no need to deal with other crazy international airports. What a cute little gift basket you got when you got to Phoenix though! It's too bad Britney is leaving Vegas :'( I'm so excited to hear about everything else, update soon sis

YAY! I'm even more excited for your DLR TR though!

I had a nonstop coming home that I thought would be worse but it ended up being better. And I'm so upset Britney's residence is over but my time in AZ made me happy. I shall update again soon.

 

[Newsies]

Arizona Mini-TR Part 2
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Welp.

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This PTR has been drier than a two-day-old Mickey Pretzel in the middle of July. COMPLETELY my bad. This semester hit me like an A Train running express between 14th St and Times Square. And now I'm using two comparisons within the span of half a paragraph and it's LAME.

Anyway! The past two months of my life have been, as you can well imagine, pretty busy. My position in my sorority has kept me on my toes and recruitment was the longest week of my life, but I'm happy to be back! I'm trying to regain activity on the DISboards again. I've been getting #bored in my lectures recently, but I didn't want to come back to DISboards until I had time to update my Nov 2018 thread with all of the people waiting to be added to it!

Not much has occurred in the way of planning, which is good. So I'm going to knock the rest of my Arizona trip out of the way, REALLY QUICKLY in this post, and then we can move on!

Monday, Jan 8​

Monday was our first mall day! I was up by 6 AM, but I stayed in bed for a little bit, then took a shower, did my makeup, got all #pretty. Austin was up around 9 and we left around 10:30! We got coffee from Dutch first.

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I miss Dutch so much now that I've tried it. So delicious. I wasn't a fan of their food, but their coffee was incredible.

Then we went to the first mall. We went to Hot Topic first to grab some Riverdale merch, since Austin and I are obsessed. I bought the Veronica and Cheryl Funko Pops and a South Side Serpents shirt. We went to a few more stores, I remember Box Lunch and American Eagle being among them, and Barnes & Noble. At B&N, I was able to pick up a planner I was REALLY hoping to catch my hands on. It's this Lily Pulitzer planner. It was $30 when it first went on sale last year, but by January it had dropped to $15 at B&N and I needed it.

Then it was lunch time, and I was particularly excited for lunch because I was going to try In-N-Out for the first time!

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It was SO. GOOD.

The rest of the day was spent at the mall. We had a brief Target run, then we went back to his place for an hour to freshen up. Then we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. After dinner, we watched a movie and then went to sleep!

Tuesday, Jan 9
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Tuesday was another chill day. We went to another mall in his area because he got a deal on Sea Life, which is a little aquarium in that mall. Here are some pics!

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This mall had a Disney outlet store in there. We found out that particular store was the only Disney outlet in Arizona that got stuff from Disneyland! We looked around, but a Cast Member informed us that they got all their cool shipments Disneyland on Thursday. So we said we'd be back and went to lunch

For lunch, we went to the Rainforest Cafe. We took cute pics of a snake.

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Then we went to yet another mall, but this one was an outdoor mall. It was so cute, and he took me on a little drive around Phoenix so that I could see a few sights. We saw ASU, which is where I PERSONALLY believe I should have gone to college.

That night, we went to ZooLights at the Phoenix Zoo with our friend Savannah. We saw the dinosaur exhibit, and then walked along the trail of animals!

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After ZooLights, Savannah went home. Austin and I got dinner at Panda Express, then retreated back to his house early. We had a big day the next day, so we wanted to be rested up!

Wednesday, Jan 10
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Out of every day we had been on so far, I was most looking forward to Wednesday. Wednesday was the day Austin was taking me to Sedona!

We got up normal time, grabbed some Dutch (as usual!), and then hit the highway. He had a 2-hour long playlist of Britney Spears and Broadway show tunes (mostly Newsies and Hello, Dolly!). The ride over was so gorgeous. It was about an hour and a half to get to Sedona.

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I have never seen a prettier sight in my entire life. Sedona was absolutely gorgeous!

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We took pictures for maybe half an hour, saw the temple, then went to go get some lunch. We visited Tlaquepaque for some tacos.

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After Tlaquepaque we visited a few more little villages and then went home.

Austin's parents wanted to take us out for dinner that night. We went to a really fun steak house! They had a slide. We had a great meal and then went back to his house for the night. We shot some pool, watched another movie, and then went to sleep.

Thursday, Jan 11​

Thursday was probably our quietest day. We started the day with breakfast at the 5-and-diner, which was super cute.

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We went to another mall and hung around his town for the majority of the day. As you've come to realize, this was a trip of a lot of malls . We did return to the Disney outlet store! As promised, the new, GOOD Disneyland merch was in! I bought a spirit jersey!

That night, his mom took us to get dinner and see a show in downtown Phoenix. It was a two-person drag show, it was a lot of fun!

Friday, Jan 12
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Today was my last full day in Arizona. We started the morning with Dutch, as usual, and then drove around Phoenix for most of the day. We went to As You Wish, which is a pottery painting studio. If any of you live up north like I do, we have "Color Me Mine," which is essentially the same thing.

We had dinner at P.F. Changs, which was incredible. I had orange chicken, Austin had sesame beef.

Our last item on the Arizona agenda was a basketball game! We got to see the Suns play I BELIEVE the Houston Rockets? It was such a fun game. I got a free towel, bought a retro T-Shirt, and saw Charles Barkley.

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After the Rockets game, we headed back to the house so I could pack up.

Saturday, Jan 13
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Today was a relatively short day, since my flight left in the afternoon.

First we grabbed Dutch, then Austin had to get his car washed. Then we went to a few stores because he had to run some errands, and my last meal of the trip was In-N-Out. A really cute 5-year-old tried to strike up a conversation with me.

We went straight from In-N-Out to the airport. Not gonna lie, I cried saying goodbye to Austin... and Arizona!

I sat in the Airport for about an hour before we started boarding.

The flight back wasn't horrible. I listened to the entirety of the Hamilton soundtrack, slept a little bit, and arrived back in NJ at around 11 pm EST.

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-Kaitlyn

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[the2ndstar2theright]

It sounds like you had so much fun in Arizona! You got some really great pictures in Sedona!

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like an amazing time in Arizona! Isn't In-n-Out so good? Sedona looks beautiful!

 

[pigletgirl]

You make me home sick! Especially this time of year!

I like my In-N-Out "Animal Style" aka cooked onions and extra sauce. It's GOOD!

 

[Newsies]

It sounds like you had so much fun in Arizona! You got some really great pictures in Sedona!

I absolutely LOVED Sedona! I wish I was there right now

Sounds like an amazing time in Arizona! Isn't In-n-Out so good? Sedona looks beautiful!

Arizona was really awesome and I could use a burger from In-N-Out right now! Sedona was gorgeous!

You make me home sick! Especially this time of year!

I like my In-N-Out "Animal Style" aka cooked onions and extra sauce. It's GOOD!

Arizona isn't even my home and I'm homesick for Arizona!

I've heard of "Animal Style!" I should have tried it, I loved their sauce!

 

[pigletgirl]

I absolutely LOVED Sedona! I wish I was there right now



Arizona was really awesome and I could use a burger from In-N-Out right now! Sedona was gorgeous!



Arizona isn't even my home and I'm homesick for Arizona!

I've heard of "Animal Style!" I should have tried it, I loved their sauce!

This winter has dragged on and on. We're planning to head back this next Thanksgiving. This is a new plan and I'm okay with it!