When you wish upon a star: Three Birthdays at WDW can come true! April 2013

hahaha this is coming along so great!! I'm just reliving it all reading this.

Remember when I was really nervous to meet Pocahontas lol

I seriously can't deal with thinking about Disney food, it's making me so hungry. I don't understand how people think it's not good or even worse, that it SUCKS. Maybe they just didn't have as good a value for it as we did on this trip??? but I'm dying and you've only posted the first meal's pics
 
Sorry to read about your rough trip to get there Ana. But glad to see the badness went away. Disney will do that. :thumbsup2

You know I think it's great that you all found each other online and were able to meet in person for the first time (if I read properly) in the greatest place in the world. I think if any community will get that, it's the DIS. I've met some wonderful people on here myself, even though I've never met them in person.

About a week after you were there I too was at Animal Kingdom and riding Everest 11 times!!!
So yeah... I kinda like it. :rolleyes1

Haha, if there's one thing I've learned that people LOVE on the DIS... it's food pictures, so have no fear. :goodvibes
 
This looks like a fun ride, I can't wait to hear all about your adventures. We just got back and I completely agree about Flame Tree, absolutely amazing!
 


@DisneyKid4Life Yes it was our very first time meeting in person!! No regrets, I can't think of a more perfect place to do it. I think people here really would understand, I've been seeing trip reports where people casually see people they met here and hang out for a bit. We just took it a bit of a step further haha

OMG 11 TIMES?! I would have loved to ride Everest again, but we never got the chance to ride again since we spent comparatively little time in AK. I didn't know what to expect & ended up having so much fun on that

@Carable yesss a fellow Flame Tree stan!! Welcome along :))
 
You know I think it's great that you all found each other online and were able to meet in person for the first time (if I read properly) in the greatest place in the world. I think if any community will get that, it's the DIS. I've met some wonderful people on here myself, even though I've never met them in person.

About a week after you were there I too was at Animal Kingdom and riding Everest 11 times!!!
So yeah... I kinda like it. :rolleyes1
I am so glad you understand! Like Sarah said, I feel like if people anywhere would understand our online friendship, it would be here. I am so glad that I got to meet these girls for the first time in the BEST possible place!

and hehehehe Everest is one of my favs in any of the parks, and I didn't tell the other two that it went backwards before we went on! Needless to say, they were completely surprised. but luckily they both loved it ;)

This looks like a fun ride, I can't wait to hear all about your adventures. We just got back and I completely agree about Flame Tree, absolutely amazing!
Yay welcome to our week-long party! and omg, always great to meet other Flame Tree fans. soooo delicious!

Joining in!
Sounds like so much fun!!!
Yay hi! glad to have you reading along :)
 
ANIMAL KINGDOM, CONTINUED
Hi I decided it was my turn to post some of this TR. Oh hey look also our font is centered now. How spiffy. So, where did we leave off?
Ah yes, we had just met our friends in the Hundred Acre Wood and were headed out to see Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade. I had never seen this parade (I don't know why, I guess I had just never made my way over to DAK at 3:45pm...a girl's got other parades to see, you know?) so this was a first for all of us. We were pretty excited to see Mickey and the gang lookin cute in some safari gear.

So, we picked a spot right across from It's Tough to Be a Bug and parked ourselves and waited for it to start.
And oh man, were we surprised when we saw this coming at us full-speed:
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and just like that we were jammin in the jungle!
This parade blew us away. The floats were seriously amazing and the puppetry was unlike anything we had ever seen.
I couldn't believe I had never watched this before!

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see what I mean? This is absolutely stunning!

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and of course, we were thrilled to see our old pals dressed in their finest safari gear:

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The boss was sadly photobombed by a rogue pair of hands.

Anyway, after we finished being supremely impressed by the parade, we decided to head over to my absolute favorite thing to do in Animal Kingdom: Festival of the Lion King.
Now, please keep in mind how much I absolutely LOVE this show. The Lion King is tied for my favorite Disney movie and is one of my favorite movies of all time, ever, and was my first Broadway show, and I just have such a connection with it. So this show is very special to me. I cry literally EVERY single time. I was mesmerized from the very first time and I just think its stunning.

So, you guys can understand why I was so excited to bring Ana and Sarah here, to my FAVORITE thing in Animal Kingdom. We popped over to Camp Minnie-Mickey and into the theatre, and I ushered us to sit in the Lion Section (THE BEST SECTION I DON'T CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS). And we waited for the best show on Disney property to start.

And it was absolutely magical.
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It was fantastic. Sarah and Ana were in awe of everything (as was I) and we all just absolutely loved it. During Circle of Life we held hands and cried, it was such a special moment for all of us. It was one of those moments where you just realize, wow, I am in Disney. This is real, and I am not dreaming, and I am in Disney.

So yeah, it was basically fabulous. After it was over and we all had dried our tears, we snapped some pics of the king of the jungle:

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so magnificent, I die.

and then, for our last thing in DAK, we just had to meet Dug and Russell. Now, Ana and I aren't CRAZY about Up, but it's one of Sarah's favs and I had never met them before. So we had to go get some pics with our furry pals before we left!

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They were srsly so cute. They gave the best hugs and we all had some really fun character interactions.

And now that we had done everything we wanted to in Animal Kingdom, it was time. We were off to.....
pixiedust: THE MAGIC KINGDOM! pixiedust:
 


Beautiful update Kaela!!!! I couldn't believe the quality of Festival of the Lion King. Music is what touches me most in any Disney film and I just hear TLK music and weep anyway so then with this whole amazing show on top of it, it was just a stunning experience. I experienced the same thing during Wishes...like once it starts playing Hercules music I'm goneeeeee

And don't forget we also saw this stunning beast on our walk to the buses
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Ahhhh, Festival of the Lion King. One of the best (if not THE best) shows in all of Disney. So great that you were able to share this with your friends Kaela.
That's one of the very best things about going with people who aren't as familiar with stuff in that you get to see things through someone else's eyes.

Plus, Lion Section rules!!

Plus, the singers in this show SING THEIR FACES OFF!!!

I love that you all got emotional because, it's Disney, you're supposed to. :goodvibes
 
Beautiful update Kaela!!!! I couldn't believe the quality of Festival of the Lion King. Music is what touches me most in any Disney film and I just hear TLK music and weep anyway so then with this whole amazing show on top of it, it was just a stunning experience. I experienced the same thing during Wishes...like once it starts playing Hercules music I'm goneeeeee

And don't forget we also saw this stunning beast on our walk to the buses
get out shut up you're making me emotional BYE
and omg yes when we found Ana ^_^

Ahhhh, Festival of the Lion King. One of the best (if not THE best) shows in all of Disney. So great that you were able to share this with your friends Kaela.
That's one of the very best things about going with people who aren't as familiar with stuff in that you get to see things through someone else's eyes.

Plus, Lion Section rules!!

Plus, the singers in this show SING THEIR FACES OFF!!!

I love that you all got emotional because, it's Disney, you're supposed to. :goodvibes
yesss I completely agree! One of my favorite parts about this trip was that since I'm so used to going with other CMs or people who know the parks really well, it was awesome to be able to see how people seeing this stuff for the FIRST TIME were reacting. the whole thing was so special :goodvibes

yayyyy hi welcome! We're glad you're here! :)
 
I think it's wonderful that three great friends are meeting up in Disney for a girls trip. I'm enjoying reading along on your journey.
 
I'm loving your TR so far! It is so awesome that you guys met online and had your first live meetup wt Disney! Sounds like you had a magical time
 
LITTLE WONDERS: MAGIC KINGDOM, PART 1​
Yay hi friends! I'm back with another update! As you can see I'm messing around a bit with font sizes and such to see what looks best. we're still kinda figuring out how things work, so pls bear with us! (bare? bear? idk) Also, I'm gonna warn you right now that there's a LOT of words in this update.... but there's a lot of pictures too! idk, I tend to rant and ramble and I just got really carried away at parts!!! I JUST LIKE TO TALK OK!!
Also also (say also again) you'll notice we've decided to start adding titles to our posts - they're all song titles! We're so clever and witty. And Ana has taken the liberty of updating our handy links section you can find on the first page! Or you can just [post=48383508]click here[/post]. that would work too. Look at us, like regular trip report experts now!

Anyway. last time we talked, we had just finished up at Animal Kingdom and were headed off to.....
pixiedust: THE MAGIC KINGDOM! pixiedust:

So we said goodbye to Animal Kingdom and headed out to the buses. On our way out, we discussed all the things we did and how much fun we'd had so far. Ana said on the way out how there was only one thing she really, really wanted to see but we didn't get around to: finding the black swan. We had heard that there was a single black swan living at Animal Kingdom. Now, a while back Ana decided that the black swan is sort of her in animal form. So we had talked about finding it when we went to AK, but we had only just remembered it now. We decided it was no big deal tho, we could just look next ti--
and suddenly, right there at the front of the park:
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THE BLACK SWAN!
We could not believe it. It was as if someone had just heard us talking and placed that swan right there in front of our eyes. It's such a silly thing to get so excited about, but we were completely in awe. Just goes to show that pixie dustings can happen right up to the end of your visit ;)

Well, needless to say, at this point we were all in a great mood and SUPER excited to be headed over to MK. To me, there's nothing quite like turning the corner on Main Street and seeing that castle for the first time. And then even after that, no matter how many times you've seen it, it still has that same magical feeling that kinda takes your breath away. It always feels like coming home. I'm sure of all people you guys will know what I mean :) and that's why I was SO excited to bring Sarah and Ana here!

Okay okay, I'm getting so sidetracked. We got on a bus from Animal Kingdom to MK. We were all giddy with excitement. Once the bus stopped we skipped to the entrance and buzzed through the turnstiles and FIIIIIINALLY WE WERE THERE!

We snapped a few pics of Main Street on our way in:
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and then finally, we turned the corner and got our first glimpse of that beautiful castle:
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Complete with random stranger tourists!!!! (side note: I have no idea what that girl has on her legs. stickers??? who knows)​

Here's a better photo, with me this time:
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Heck yeah. now that's one for instagram.​

oh yeah, I don't think we mentioned yet that we all had these fabulous bows! Ana, being her crafty self, made a bow for each of us before the trip. Originally we were going to wear them with special outfits one day (you'll see what I mean later) but we all loved them and wore them every day! So you'll see us with these beautiful bows in our hair the whole trip.

So we were here! In Magic Kingdom! What we had been looking forward to for so long! I was so excited for my friends to see this and ESPECIALLY so for Sarah - like, this is her first time seeing the castle, people! HER FIRST TIME EVER!! I'm pretty sure I had tears in my eyes, I love this park so so much. and I'm pretty sure the other two were really overwhelmed as well. But we had no time for crying. There was too much stuff to do!

We knew it was only our first day so we didn't have much on the itinerary - we just wanted to explore, do a few rides, and catch the parade and fireworks. We moseyed into The Emporium to do a bit of shopping! We forgot to take pics of our purchases, but Ana bought a really cute Minnie Mouse handbag and a shirt that you'll see later in this report. Sarah got a precious Mickey hoodie because she was cold, and I bought some Mickey sweatpants just because.....well, because I wanted them. I can be honest with you guys. We're all friends here, right???

I took a pic of my Mickey sweatpants just now on my floor because why not:
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tres chic.​

Moving on. After exploring The Emporium for a bit (we knew we would have more time later) we strolled down Main Street to get some better castle pics!

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Partners<3 Ana tweeted this pic with the caption "And yet somehow i am still alive" lol so appropriate

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I'll never get tired of this view, ever.​

And after we got our fill of castle pics, it was time for an integral part of visiting a theme park: RIDES! When I go through the park I like to start at the left side and work my way around, and I knew that Ana reeeally wanted to do Pirates....so we were off to Adventureland!

We were on our way to Pirates when I was like hey guys, the Jungle Cruise has a short wait.....should we do it? and they were like, ok. tbh, I think they were both still kinda in shock that they were here, and would agree to anything I asked them to do lol. I could have been like "Hey guys, wanna go do Stitch's Great Escape?" and they'd be like "omg sure Kaela that sounds like super fun!"
except I'm kidding and we didn't do Stitch's Great Escape.

Because we were here at THE WORLD FAMOUS JUNGLE CRUISE!! None of us took pics on this ride bc we're flops and were so enamored by the awful jokes that we didn't even think to be snapping pics. Or maybe I was too busy saying all the jokes along with the skipper. Either way, no pictures were taken of this ride. But we all enjoyed it!

After Jungle Cruise we headed over to Pirates. Ana LOVES the Pirates movies, and she remembers the ride from her first time here so she really wanted to go on. So on to Pirates we went!

Here's Ana in front of her fave:
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She's so precious!​

so we went on Pirates! One little side note I have to add is that I was really, really pleased with our wait times this trip. Normally when I go to the parks with friends, we absolutely never wait more than like, 15 minutes, just because we know that we can come back another day. But that wasn't the case here! While we did have a lot of time in the parks, we definitely were on a schedule and might not get another chance to ride some things, so I was really worried that wait times would be ridiculous and eat up a lot of our time. And nobody wants to wait in long lines on their first time to Disney! Thankfully, lines were short pretty much the entire time we were there, and with my expert planning I'm pretty sure we didn't wait more than like 30 minutes for anything on this trip. Traveling with a cast member makes everything so much easier ;)

I joke, I joke. but back to the story. After Pirates we popped into the gift shop next door, where we did a little sword fighting:

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and Sarah tried on some hats:

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lmao I can't, this picture makes me laugh so much
and yes, Sarah's wearing her birthday button a day early. get at us.​

Also, sometime around this point in the day, Sarah tweeted "If I had to conjure a patronus I would think about this day" which is like my favorite thing ever and a perfect way to say how much fun we were having :)

Anyway, next we headed over through Frontierland and into Liberty Square. We didn't spend much time in Frontierland because we were coming back the next day to do Splash and BTMRR so it wasn't a huge priority right now. What WAS important was heading to my (tied for) favorite ride at Magic Kingdom:
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THE HAUNTED MANSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Yeah, I'm sorry, that's a really bad pic. But you all know what Haunted Mansion looks like right?

So we pranced through the cemetery, and I spewed all my best Haunted Mansion trivia. Have I mentioned that yet? That was a recurring thing on this trip too. I (as you might have gathered) absolutely LOVE Disney trivia. Seriously, when I'm bored sometimes I'll sit and read wikipedia pages for WDW rides. I don't know guys it's a serious problem.

But one of the best parts about being a CM/having Disney-fanatic friends in general is that all my friends are also obsessed with Disney trivia, and we take turns spewing it at each other until all of us are so full of trivia we literally can't even remember all the fun facts that we've learned. So naturally, since Sarah and Ana are both Disney nerds like me, I used this trip as an occasion to share as much Disney trivia as I possibly could. Whenever we would wait in line for a ride, I'd share all the trivia I had about that ride. And guys, for Haunted Mansion there is just SO MUCH! That's probably why it's tied for my favorite ride in MK, because there's so many interesting little tidbits. like, we all know about the Hidden Mickey in the plates, but did you know there's a hidden Donald on this ride, in the rocking chair? or did you know that the voice of Madame Leota is the same lady who voiced the bossest villain ever, Maleficent? or that there's another hidden Mickey towards the end of the ride, in a projection in the graveyard???? IT'S ALL SO FASCINATING I LOVE THIS RIDE SO MUCH

but anyway, the point is that we went on HM and all loved it, naturally. how could you not? Sarah said she really loved the singing busts in the graveyard. Sis has good taste. After we got off this flawless ride, the girls wanted to go see the new Tangled restroom area. And of course I obliged!

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This was kind of our first taste of Fantasyland, since we were going to be spending like all our time there tomorrow. Both of them LOVED the Tangled section, as do I like omg it's so perfect!! Sarah tweeted "Tangled charging stations.... Kill me.... I feel like I'm in the movie" girl I feel u

So after this, it was probably getting to be around like 7:30-8pm. I don't know, I just sort of made those numbers up, but it sounds right. But you know what that means? It's almost time for
pixiedust:THE MAIN STREET ELECTRICAL PARADE pixiedust:
and
:tinker: WISHES! A MAGICAL GATHERING OF DISNEY DREAMS :wizard:

But first, we had to make a very important stop at a very important CS restaurant! you'll have to stay tuned to find out where :)
 
I think it's wonderful that three great friends are meeting up in Disney for a girls trip. I'm enjoying reading along on your journey.
Hi!! Thanks for joining in! :)

Love it. It looks like you guys had fun!
We soooo did, it was such an amazing time! Welcome to the party :wave2:

I'm loving your TR so far! It is so awesome that you guys met online and had your first live meetup wt Disney! Sounds like you had a magical time
aaaah thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it! We really did have the most magical time ever, and we're only on the first day!!
 
That was a great update :')

My first time in magic kingdom...i was already getting emotional on the monorail when we came around and could see the castle far off. My most emotional moment of the whole trip is coming in the next update though!!!

Ana is so cute

And our bows are amazing


And hi everyone that's joined us!!! It's nice to see you :3
 
So we had talked about finding it when we went to AK, but we had only just remembered it now. We decided it was no big deal tho, we could just look next ti--
and suddenly, right there at the front of the park:
VzDVb6b.jpg


THE BLACK SWAN!
We could not believe it. It was as if someone had just heard us talking and placed that swan right there in front of our eyes.

THAT'S ME!
Look @ me I'm so beautiful, living at the AK.

We forgot to take pics of our purchases, but Ana bought a really cute Minnie Mouse handbag and a shirt that you'll see later in this report.

Imma go take a pic, hold pls.


I could have been like "Hey guys, wanna go do Stitch's Great Escape?" and they'd be like "omg sure Kaela that sounds like super fun!"

SIS NOW, NOW. NEVER.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here.


Here's Ana in front of her fave:
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She's so precious!​

I looooooove this picture! It's like one of my favorite pictures from this trip. And I love Pirates SO MUCH!
I'm just such a fan and like, this ride is the only reason why I watched the movie, and now I love both the movie and the ride and the ride now has Jack Sparrow and idec I am hft.


Have I mentioned that yet? That was a recurring thing on this trip too. I (as you might have gathered) absolutely LOVE Disney trivia. Seriously, when I'm bored sometimes I'll sit and read wikipedia pages for WDW rides. I don't know guys it's a serious problem.

I love how like, now that you're obsessed with Disney Parks trivia, I don't feel like such a weirdo for my Disney films trivia problem lmao
 
So basically you thought of the Black Swan... And it suddenly appeared?? Wow.
OK... I'm thinking about a Million Dollars... Ah, probably only works in Disney.

Uh oh, somebody quoted Harry Potter in Disney... :rolleyes1

I just love all of your enthusiasm. So precious. Looking forward to the next instalment.
 

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