RachelNinja
Sometimes I'd rather live in VMK than in real life
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2007
It's been quite some time since I've visited DISboards, but I just felt this need to check this trip report to see if where I left it. I absolutely adore going back to relive the memories of past trips. Much has changed since the last time I wrote here, so I'll sum it up in 5 points:
(1) I have returned to teaching full-time! I really do love teaching and my school in particular. It's a passion at this point even though the paperwork and frustration from parents don't really get any better the more years you have under your belt. This school year changed even more as they have me teaching science as well. What?! Haha, if you know anything about my teaching career, I have always been a math and ELA teacher. I've had preps in the Pre-K room, I've had to do literacy with the younger kids, I've taught a computer class, and I've been responsible for Bible classes as well. This was definitely a new change that I never expected, but I am LOVING it. It is incredibly fun for me to find great ways to present the material (this year is life science aka biology and physical science aka chemistry/physics) to the kids, and the majority of them are loving science now too, which thrills me beyond belief. Some have always been a little bored with the subject or intimidated by it, but many of them have expressed their interest in it now. As a teacher, there is no greater compliment or reward. I mean, I wouldn't mind getting paid more since I do still teach math and ELA, but let's not get into that, haha.
(2) My parents got rid of their timeshare! WHAT?! My older brother and I grew up going every single year. That's why I love the parks so much. Unfortunately, the timeshare was becoming a burden for my parents because we could never actually go during our assigned week since both my mom and I work in a private school and my younger brother is on a different school schedule because he attends public. The maintenance fee was one thing, but someone always had to pay the exchange fee too because we could never make that 13th week. I always imagined taking my kids to the timeshare at Orange Lake, but alas, that's not going to happen now. It's okay though because Howard and I have definitely become huge fans of staying on property.
(3) Even though this particular trip was supposedly our last trip together, we did have that trip planned for last April. But then as I mentioned in another update, Howard had to go to Hong Kong with his family last minute because his grandmother wasn't doing well. I ended up going to Florida with my family anyway because I didn't want to be in the apartment by myself with my parents so far away. I guess that trip that didn't happen was sad for us, so out of nowhere, Howard and I decided to be spontaneous and book a trip for last August! It was the first trip where we BOTH had DSLR cameras, so we had shooting in mind, which was definitely something different. It was also the first time we stayed at a different resort other than AKL for our honeymoon and then Pop every other time. We were NOT fans of our experience at All Star Music. I don't know what will happen in terms of a trip report since this one fell by the wayside, but I do post on Instagram once in a while (@mrs.hfotography).
(4) This is definitely a more private update, but I feel that doing so on DIS doesn't seem as open and public as it is if I were to announce this on Facebook, haha. Let's just say we are hoping and praying that we will have a little one to bring along with us on our next Disney trip! I've been told that my worries that I can't get pregnant are thoughts that many others have too. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking those thoughts, right?
(5) If we are hoping to expand our family, it would only make sense that we move too! We have been living in a small studio apartment for almost 4 years. It's definitely been much longer than we had initially thought, but by staying here, we were able to save more each month. Plus, Howard finally finished paying off his college loans last month! Hooray!
With #4 and #5, it only makes sense that for once, we really do take a break on the Disney vacations. Even the fact that my parents don't have the timeshare means that we won't be doing less expensive family vacations where we just ride with them in the car and don't have to pay for a hotel. I guess that's why I suddenly felt the urge to update this really old TR!
Anyway still here after that long real-life update? If so, congrats to you and thanks for sticking around!
Ground Beef: A Cow With No Legs
One of the things that Howard and I were really enjoying during this trip was taking the time to appreciate the little things. Maybe someone was appreciating the look of the castle and the crane from this angle and took of his hat in reverence because we suddenly found another personal item just propped up on the railing! We just got a kick out of it since we found that hoodie on the railing near the front of the castle at the beginning of the day. I wonder how much stuff can be found in the Lost and Found! I also wonder how long they keep these items before they eventually throw it away.
During our slow walk, we did stop to enjoy the end of the performance by the Main Street Philharmonic, which then leads into our friendly debate about how marching bands are better (my opinion) or choirs are better (Howard's opinion), haha. This particular band tops them all though because not only are they musically talented, they're just so hilarious too!
As a kid, my parents always walked by all these street performances, and I think that's why I love Disney even more nowadays. With Howard, we just try to embrace everything including these weird rams or something on the chandeliers in the Emporium!
Can someone please explain to me how you're supposed to choose THE Mickey that goes home with you?
If you've been following along with my TRs, you know that when we see this Chef Mickey's pasta, we have to have Howard take a picture with it. PASTA FACE! One day I should buy a bag of that, haha.
Let's all collectively sigh at the loss of Vinylmation trading. It's so disappointing. Trading is the only way we were actually able to get this Dinosaur! Since it's one of our favorite rides, it only makes sense that we would want this one.
With all the time in the world, we stopped to enjoy the Dapper Dans. Boy, they are a HILARIOUS group of talented men!
In between the singing, they tell these jokes that make a lot of people groan/laugh, but in the video that I took down below, you can hear that Howard and I crack up at a lot of them! I mean, are they corny? Of course they are. We're in Disney! But the way that they tell them makes it so laughable. For example, what do you call a cow that's just given birth? Decaffeinated. HAHAHA. Maybe we are just easily entertained.
I love the addition of the organ chimes too and the sounds of their shoes on the ground.
I just had to include this one because it looks as if they are all confused, but obviously they weren't, haha. The guy in the purple was about to blow into the pitch pipe, I think.
Even their singing of Cruella de Vil is just spectacular. I mean, 101 Dalmatians was not one of my favorite movies partially because I did not like Cruella. But they sang the song in such dulcet tones that she doesn't seem threatening at all!
I have to say that one of the things I enjoyed the most was seeing the kids just sitting on the curb or on the street enjoying the performance. Howard and I have had many discussions about how we want our kids to just stop and appreciate things like this. When we go to our local zoo, we see parents hurrying kids along even when the kids themselves want to stop and watch the animals. We hope to train our kids to observe instead of just from one thing to the next.
VIDEO: Wipe It Off
The video above is a bit long at 9 minutes, but the one below is shorter. I really enjoyed the "it's a small world" animatronics portion!
VIDEO: If You're Happy and You Know It, Give Us a Dollar
Once the Dapper Dans ended their delightful crooning, I believe we hopped in to get some cards for the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. We have actually never played it before, but we wanted the cards as souvenirs, haha. We were shown to the exit door and saw this sign for a horse auction. Howard has a thing for horses from his childhood, and the kid that my mom used to be a para for LOVED horses so any time we see horse things, we go, "Danny would love this" because my mom's kid kind of became one of the family because we knew everything he liked and disliked!
(1) I have returned to teaching full-time! I really do love teaching and my school in particular. It's a passion at this point even though the paperwork and frustration from parents don't really get any better the more years you have under your belt. This school year changed even more as they have me teaching science as well. What?! Haha, if you know anything about my teaching career, I have always been a math and ELA teacher. I've had preps in the Pre-K room, I've had to do literacy with the younger kids, I've taught a computer class, and I've been responsible for Bible classes as well. This was definitely a new change that I never expected, but I am LOVING it. It is incredibly fun for me to find great ways to present the material (this year is life science aka biology and physical science aka chemistry/physics) to the kids, and the majority of them are loving science now too, which thrills me beyond belief. Some have always been a little bored with the subject or intimidated by it, but many of them have expressed their interest in it now. As a teacher, there is no greater compliment or reward. I mean, I wouldn't mind getting paid more since I do still teach math and ELA, but let's not get into that, haha.
(2) My parents got rid of their timeshare! WHAT?! My older brother and I grew up going every single year. That's why I love the parks so much. Unfortunately, the timeshare was becoming a burden for my parents because we could never actually go during our assigned week since both my mom and I work in a private school and my younger brother is on a different school schedule because he attends public. The maintenance fee was one thing, but someone always had to pay the exchange fee too because we could never make that 13th week. I always imagined taking my kids to the timeshare at Orange Lake, but alas, that's not going to happen now. It's okay though because Howard and I have definitely become huge fans of staying on property.
(3) Even though this particular trip was supposedly our last trip together, we did have that trip planned for last April. But then as I mentioned in another update, Howard had to go to Hong Kong with his family last minute because his grandmother wasn't doing well. I ended up going to Florida with my family anyway because I didn't want to be in the apartment by myself with my parents so far away. I guess that trip that didn't happen was sad for us, so out of nowhere, Howard and I decided to be spontaneous and book a trip for last August! It was the first trip where we BOTH had DSLR cameras, so we had shooting in mind, which was definitely something different. It was also the first time we stayed at a different resort other than AKL for our honeymoon and then Pop every other time. We were NOT fans of our experience at All Star Music. I don't know what will happen in terms of a trip report since this one fell by the wayside, but I do post on Instagram once in a while (@mrs.hfotography).
(4) This is definitely a more private update, but I feel that doing so on DIS doesn't seem as open and public as it is if I were to announce this on Facebook, haha. Let's just say we are hoping and praying that we will have a little one to bring along with us on our next Disney trip! I've been told that my worries that I can't get pregnant are thoughts that many others have too. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking those thoughts, right?
(5) If we are hoping to expand our family, it would only make sense that we move too! We have been living in a small studio apartment for almost 4 years. It's definitely been much longer than we had initially thought, but by staying here, we were able to save more each month. Plus, Howard finally finished paying off his college loans last month! Hooray!
With #4 and #5, it only makes sense that for once, we really do take a break on the Disney vacations. Even the fact that my parents don't have the timeshare means that we won't be doing less expensive family vacations where we just ride with them in the car and don't have to pay for a hotel. I guess that's why I suddenly felt the urge to update this really old TR!
Anyway still here after that long real-life update? If so, congrats to you and thanks for sticking around!
Ground Beef: A Cow With No Legs
One of the things that Howard and I were really enjoying during this trip was taking the time to appreciate the little things. Maybe someone was appreciating the look of the castle and the crane from this angle and took of his hat in reverence because we suddenly found another personal item just propped up on the railing! We just got a kick out of it since we found that hoodie on the railing near the front of the castle at the beginning of the day. I wonder how much stuff can be found in the Lost and Found! I also wonder how long they keep these items before they eventually throw it away.
During our slow walk, we did stop to enjoy the end of the performance by the Main Street Philharmonic, which then leads into our friendly debate about how marching bands are better (my opinion) or choirs are better (Howard's opinion), haha. This particular band tops them all though because not only are they musically talented, they're just so hilarious too!
As a kid, my parents always walked by all these street performances, and I think that's why I love Disney even more nowadays. With Howard, we just try to embrace everything including these weird rams or something on the chandeliers in the Emporium!
Can someone please explain to me how you're supposed to choose THE Mickey that goes home with you?
If you've been following along with my TRs, you know that when we see this Chef Mickey's pasta, we have to have Howard take a picture with it. PASTA FACE! One day I should buy a bag of that, haha.
Let's all collectively sigh at the loss of Vinylmation trading. It's so disappointing. Trading is the only way we were actually able to get this Dinosaur! Since it's one of our favorite rides, it only makes sense that we would want this one.
With all the time in the world, we stopped to enjoy the Dapper Dans. Boy, they are a HILARIOUS group of talented men!
In between the singing, they tell these jokes that make a lot of people groan/laugh, but in the video that I took down below, you can hear that Howard and I crack up at a lot of them! I mean, are they corny? Of course they are. We're in Disney! But the way that they tell them makes it so laughable. For example, what do you call a cow that's just given birth? Decaffeinated. HAHAHA. Maybe we are just easily entertained.
I love the addition of the organ chimes too and the sounds of their shoes on the ground.
I just had to include this one because it looks as if they are all confused, but obviously they weren't, haha. The guy in the purple was about to blow into the pitch pipe, I think.
Even their singing of Cruella de Vil is just spectacular. I mean, 101 Dalmatians was not one of my favorite movies partially because I did not like Cruella. But they sang the song in such dulcet tones that she doesn't seem threatening at all!
I have to say that one of the things I enjoyed the most was seeing the kids just sitting on the curb or on the street enjoying the performance. Howard and I have had many discussions about how we want our kids to just stop and appreciate things like this. When we go to our local zoo, we see parents hurrying kids along even when the kids themselves want to stop and watch the animals. We hope to train our kids to observe instead of just from one thing to the next.
VIDEO: Wipe It Off
The video above is a bit long at 9 minutes, but the one below is shorter. I really enjoyed the "it's a small world" animatronics portion!
VIDEO: If You're Happy and You Know It, Give Us a Dollar
Once the Dapper Dans ended their delightful crooning, I believe we hopped in to get some cards for the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. We have actually never played it before, but we wanted the cards as souvenirs, haha. We were shown to the exit door and saw this sign for a horse auction. Howard has a thing for horses from his childhood, and the kid that my mom used to be a para for LOVED horses so any time we see horse things, we go, "Danny would love this" because my mom's kid kind of became one of the family because we knew everything he liked and disliked!
I missed you!!!
