The Tiaras, v.2.0 - COMPLETE!! UPDATED 2/6 About This Page:

[rhinohunter]

Nice pix

[mousestruck]

Love the new photos!

[jimmymac]

Great, great TR. I love your writing style. I'm sad it's over. Reading it made my day

[Cam22]

Great pics!

[UncleBob]

What a great report Joannie. You've got me laughing and remembering what a good time we all had together.

Originally Posted by JoanW

Louise spied Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee.

I remember laughing a lot while you got this guerilla picture of Louise with Dee & Dum. As I recall you had to try two or three times to get it. And you finally got one without the child that was visiting with them.

[JoanW]

Those guerilla shots are so hard to get right!

[JoanW]

I worked on our last day, and I have to say, that is the hardest part of all, because it's a sad day! I'll post that as soon as I can insert the photos.

[Jillybean]

Originally Posted by JoanW

My cousin Jessica was supposed to come, had paid in full, but her husband ended up having last minute surgery, so she ended up totally cancelling and did not have the insurance. Remember that, it will come back in to play later in this TR.

I remember walking up to Tonja at the Yak Attack meet saying "And you must be Jessica!" Um . . . no.

Tonja came down on an earlier Air Tran flight the same day, so she was able to check in, sit at the pool, have a FAB or two, and walk around EPCOT. So sit back, grab a FAB, put on your Tiara and enjoy. We should have come down earlier with Tonja.

I can sympathize! I was the last person to arrive with our crew and it was killing me!

We boarded, and I had no one next to me. I would not give eye contact to the next group who boarded, and possibly gave off creepy vibes so I had no one sitting next to me.

Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

We hit turbulence, and the pilot was not able to make up any time and we ended up landing a good 45 minutes late.

What was it with the turbulence on Wednesday and Thursday???

We sped through to the Magical Express, where we were chastised for taking our tickets out of the book.

I wasn't chastised, but sent directly to the counter . . . do not pass Go . . . do not collect $200.

Which seemed to be as far away from the front as possible. We were on the third floor, around, and around and around a third hallway.

Sounds like our room at BC last year that Eileen may or may not have gotten lost trying to find multiple times.

So we kept on walking, and we came to Cantina de San Angel in Mexico. Perfect! We each had the Cantina burrito meal with a churro for dessert and margaritas.

Perfect first meal indeed!

We watched our first Illuminations of the trip. It always takes my breath away, and I cry when it’s the Christmas version with Let There Be Peace On Earth. I’m a big music sissy.

I love Let There Be Peace on Earth - - if you don't cry at that, then you may need your tear ducts examined.

At 2:30 am, I bolted up out of bed with one of the worst leg cramps I have ever had. It went up the front and the up the back of my calf. Two or three different muscles. Nothing would make it stop. I was hopping all around the room trying to walk it off. I did pressure points that I’d read online somewhere (pinch your upper lip between the nostrils). A good 15 minutes later, I got it to stop, but I was sooo tired I just want to go back to sleep. I crawled back to bed . No one noticed in either room. I could have been an intruder, but Louise and Tonja were dead to the world. There may have been snoring. I’m just sayin.

I remember that you were still limping the next day . . . that hurts me just to read about it!

Jill

[Jillybean]

Originally Posted by JoanW

We had a cup of coffee each in the room (I enhanced mine with some Bailey’s, so it was officially a HAB – hey, I’m on vacation).

Joanie, if I don't watch out, you're going to overtake me as ELC President!

The “beverage station” that was open last year outside of Sci-Fi Diner is only open on weekends, as we were told by a CM, who we tried to convince to open it just for us. We were not in our Tiaras, so, there was no special treatment, no power.

That beverage station is on my bad list anyway . . . they are never open when they're supposed to be.

O.M.G. We were so surprised. Large is one word to describe it when it arrived. Manly comes to mind. Embarrassing is another word.

Okay, first of all, I didn't realize that Bill and Min's sold more than milk shakes . . . second of all, that Italian sausage should be sold with a warning. Geez!

Okay, I love this picture. And upon closer examination, I'm wondering if Louise shouldn't worry more about the guy to her left than Tonja's hand grabbing her leg. He looks way too happy.

Somehow my third one had about ten cherries in it.

That may have been the fault of Karen, Heather and myself because I believe we mentioned to the bartender that he should give extra cherries if he was going to charge us the same price for a smaller glass.

At this point in the meet, we were laughing with Lisa who kept swearing she saw monkeys. I never saw them, I’m just saying….

Oh, how I wish I would have heard this conversation because I laughed hard enough in the retelling of it! Lisa will never live down those monkeys!

We also made goody bags to pass out to the group. I got my “Martha” going on between October and now, and took polycarbonate wine glasses, each with a little bunch of grapes already imbedded in the base so everyone would remember they were from us (grapes = Welch’s, as in grape juice). So I made stencils of Minnie, Tink or Mickey and painted them near the top. Louise found Disney posty note pads and a pen to put into each bag with the wine glass.

Those goodies bags were the best!!!

I also made tiaras for the new guests who were not in attendance last year.

I still can't believe I left mine at home! What was I thinking???

Jill

[Hugmonster]

Great updates. It cannot be the last day already!!! NO

[Jillybean]

Originally Posted by JoanW

Bob & Larry chose the wines, and Bob had ordered my favorite, Conundrum, which I think Jill shared with me.

Yes, I did. I'm pretty sure that we've been wine buddies every year!

I ordered the butternut squash soup which was wonderful.

Me too - - and it was delicious!

Then I ordered the filet with potatoes. I lurvvv potatoes. They were superb. The filet was melt in your mouth tender.

Me too - - and I agree with every word!

My dessert was the lava cake with peppermint ice cream and a slice of peppermint bark and I think brandied cherries.

And this is where we deviated. I had the pots de creme, but now I wish I would have had the lava cake.

Hmmm . . . wonder where Heather and I are looking? We seem to be in a little world of our own.

Wonderful night!

Jill

[DrDolphin]

Wonderful updates Joanie - although I am WAY sad for this TR to be coming to an end so soon!!!

[JoanW]

Sunday, December 13, 2009
Surprisingly, we all slept in. Tonja fooled me and shut the drapes! So when we woke up, she was laughing hysterically over her devious plan. I actually enjoyed sleeping in, because it was our last day and it’s just so depressing! Did I mention the view from our balcony???? Roof!



Our plan for the day was to take our luggage down for check in, then head down to the Marketplace and get breakfast, hop a bus over to Animal Kingdom for a little Expedition Everest and then do a little more shopping in Downtown Disney. We finished packing, and Louise totally duct taped her suitcase like it was from a third world nation. I ended up putting Captain Jack in Tonja’s suitcase along with the remainer of the Baileys as I could not fit one more thing in my big suitcase. I just love this new luggage I got – they are spinners!






We dragged our suitcases down to the check out area and lo and behold my ginormous suitcase now weighs 55 pounds. I paid a fee of $39 for the extra weight, but at that point I just didn’t care. I left my carry on stuff with bell services and locked my purse in a safe so I could be hands free. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the Marketplace, using some of Jessica’s CS credits and meandered to the bus.

We arrived at Animal Kingdom and found a few Passporters milling about. We got in line for Expedition Everest. The line was not long at all and we made our way through pretty quickly. Tonja and Louise rode in front of me and I got a nice young man from England. We chatted while we waited for the take off. I think he was having a good time with us Tiaras. Or at least I’d like to think so. We all screamed like school girls, including the “chap” from England. I bet he wrote home about us. I think Tonja has the photo, but didn’t scan it yet. When we met up with everyone for the Yaks on Thursday, we rode nary a ride. Just Yaks and Yakking.



We stopped in the ladies room before we left the park. Has anyone seen these hand dryers, made by Dyson, of the vacuum cleaner guy? I love my Dyson, but these close automatically over your hands. What if they don’t release when you want to leave?????


We walked around, taking in the sights, but decided we wanted to venture to Downtown Disney for some shopping. I swear getting to Downtown Disney from Animal Kingdom is a challenge. We took a bus to the TTC, and then walked over to the Poly, and then caught another bus to Downtown Disney.


That sucked up some of our shopping time. But then again, how will we get this stuff home????

I noticed it was getting HOT HOT HOT as it got to be noon. This calls for a serious FAB. We found the Margarita Bar and had something to cool us off.


We walked over to the Basin shop there and picked up a few more things. Tonja was worried about getting through security with the body butter, but decided to risk it, since our checked luggage was already gone. We spied these and thought it would be nice if they would clean our houses when we got home.



We walked over to the World of Disney and looked for Star Wars things for Louise’s brother, food gifts for my office mates, and things we may not have seen in the parks.


I wandered over and found the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. I inquired at the desk if they did older Princesses too, for perhaps a return visit. The CM at the desk admired my Tiara, and she informed me that they do indeed take “older” princesses. And then she asked if we were celebrating anything, and I told her it was my birthday next month so she made be a nice big button, with my name “professionally” printed on it, and put pixie dust in my hair using a special wand, and face protector. Oh the Power of the Tiara. I felt splendiferous, and walked around looking for Louise and Tonja so they could see my sparkleness. I spied them across the store, and they asked if I walked into some glitter, and I informed them that it was in fact official pixie dust, and how could they not recognize it!

We decided to grab a late lunch, and walked over to Raglan Road. We had no ADR, but walked right in and were waited on promptly. It was very nice, dark and cool inside.


I ordered the fish and chips,
Tonja had the Sheppard’s Pie
and Louise had a Steak Salad.


They were all very good. Dessert was a chocolate bombe thing for
Louise and me,

and a trifle for Tonja
.

All very good. By now, the departure depression had kicked in, and we knew we needed to get back to the Beach Club to catch the Magical Express. We waited for a bus and waited for a bus. Finally, it arrived, and we had barely a few minutes to spare. We went into the Marketplace to use up some snack credits and got the Marshmallow Treats.

We all were on the same flight, so we piled onto the ME,


and we royal waved the BC farewell.


We didn’t even get to say goodbye to any of our PP friends, which made me very sad. We arrived at MCO, and found our gate.


Our flight was delayed AGAIN, so we just hung out.


We made it through security, with our Tiaras on. While sitting at the gate, I noticed I did not have my Crackberry in any of my stuff, but I knew it was in the tray for x-ray. So, I left my ton o’carryon stuff with the T’s, and started my walk back to the terminal. I encountered a very nice TSA guy, and he rode the tram with me and we took a back route to the x-ray lane I had been in. They recognized me right away (hello, my Tiara, and it has my name on it!!!!) and said they found my Crackberry and it was at the TSA counter. My escort walked me through, like the royalty that I am, and I gave them a brief description of what my screen is (Weenie), and my phone number. They handed it over to me and my escort went back with me to meet up the rest of the Tiaras. I rest my case. These things have power.



Tonja’s feet were killing her.


Finally it was time to board. Tonja was behind me and Louise was next to me. The flight arrived on time at 8:30 pm, and it was ffffreeeezing in Baltimore. I was still wearing shorts, but I put socks and sneakers and a fleece vest on while we waited for our luggage. At 9:15 our luggage finally arrived on the conveyer belt. I saw my cute luggage on the rack, but somehow the duct tape that Louise had wrapped all over her suitcase came off and was now all over mine!

Tonja’s boyfriend Pete picked her up, and Louise and I took shuttle busses over to where we parked. I found my car, stowed my “sticky” luggage, and fired up the car. I think I must have been tired. If anyone watched the security camera, they would have seen me miss my exit in the garage, and I had to go around one more time to find the right ramp and exit. Waaaahhhh! By now it’s 10:00 at night!

I pulled into the garage at home at 10:30. Rachel was waiting for me, with the dogs. They barked enough to wake up Pat and Grace. Naturally, they wanted to help me with my luggage, which means they wanted to know what I brought them. I gave them their gifts (Disney jammies, and tshirts).

Then they took me out to see the front lawn. The neighbors had “flocked” our front yard with pink flamingoes as a fundraiser for the local high school. I laughed out loud when I saw it better in the sunlight the next morning.


I dumped my suitcase in the dining room and was in bed asleep by midnight. I took off of work for the next morning, so I could sleep in a little. Disney vacations are soooo exhausting. And so sad when they are over.

I’ll do a wrap up and my final thoughts later .

[JoanW]

Originally Posted by Jillybean

Okay, I love this picture. And upon closer examination, I'm wondering if Louise shouldn't worry more about the guy to her left than Tonja's hand grabbing her leg. He looks way too happy!
Jill

We called him Uncle Fester!

[Caldercup]

Um... the "easy" route from the AK park to Dowtown Disney is to take a bus to the AKL and then a DtD bus from there.

But it would be mean to tell you that NOW, right?!



Such a very sad thing to read -- this leaving nonsense. And I hate that we missed getting to have a proper goodbye, but I'm sure we'll be getting time together soon as I can't go much longer without my Joan fix. (My DH leaves for your neck of the woods on Thursday and I'm tempted to sneak into his luggage, just so's I can see ya.)


Eileen