Random Updates

I keep starting posts... and then never finishing them.  One was where I listed things I wish all guests knew here at Disney World.  Like, I wish everyone knew to walk on the right hand side of the roads/paths/streets/anywheres.  I also wish they would all understand the Fastpass system before coming.  It would make their vacations so much better.  Seriously, you wouldn't believe the amount of people who are either entirely oblivious to it, or completely don't understand it at all (like they get their fastpasses, and then still enter the ride through the normal entrance thinking they need a ticket just to ride the ride... that dates back to a loooong time ago here at Disney when we had the E passes).

Anyway, another post was about how excited I am that the bongos are out on show now!  They're pretty cool, actually and I see them almost as often as the Greater Kudu.  Which is funny because they're supposed to be nicknamed "ghosts of the forest" because they're so reclusive.  But I see them!  A lot!


Hmm, not much else to report.  The rhinos were chasing the addax the other day.  I almost felt bad for the addax too, but then I remembered how often the addax stands in front of the trucks and stops up our ride... then I didn't feel so bad.  Then again, the rhinos sometimes do that too.  In all honesty though, the worst animal at stopping our ride is usually the ostrich.  However lately the giraffes have been being annoying.  Then we have the sweet little animals like the gazelles or waterbuck or the eland who never ever stop our ride or stand in the road.  Why can't they all be like that?

Anyway, hope that's enough of an update!  Sorry it's not very Holiday-ee.  Hopefully soon there'll be more Holiday-ish posts!  I am getting to see part of my family soon, so that'll be exciting!  Leaving bright and early tomorrow morning!  Can't wait! :)

Trips, Trips, and Trips

I call them trips because they're not vacation. Vacations are relaxing cruises with no worries or drama. Vacations are going to Disney World and not having to deal with problems. Vacations involve being free of life. Which is nice sometimes, as long as it doesn't involve pills or a razor blade, because that's not at all what I'm talking about.

But trips can be fun and amazing too! So let's see... In 23 days I graduate. In 24 days, I'll be on vacation in Dubois with my family. Then, in exactly 31 days, my mom and I will take off on a trip across the country! We will drive through Rapid City, SD to see Mt. Rushmore. Then we'll stop by Nauvoo and Kirtland and get home to Virginia in 36/37 days depending on traffic and whatever else gets in our way.

I'm not excited at all. :)

Then my next trip will be just a few short weeks later on my way to DISNEY WORLD!!! I'll get to see my grandma, and then check in at the Happiest Place on Earth on my dad's birthday.

Still. Not excited.

Just thought I'd update you guys on my totally awesome life!

Disneyland: The Extended Version!

I had to drop my Auto Mechanics class. Sad but true. It required resources I didn't have and money that doesn't exist in my world. BUT I still downloaded some of the Powerpoints and tutorials so I can still learn about cars... hope that's not illegal...

Also, I went to Disneyland last week! Here are some more pics of that trip.

Easter Sunday. The day we left. Heather M., Me, Heather H., and Whitney. We left around noon-thirty (after church), and got to Anaheim around 11:30 (California time, so 12:30 Utah time which means it took us right about 12 hours to get there...)



The reason the trip took so long was because we hit traffic about ten miles outside of CA. Everything was perfect up til then. The weather had been beautiful and there was no traffic, even through Vegas! Then, BAM! Traffic jam in the middle of nowhere! Seriously. As far as we could see, in every direction, there was nothing. Except cars. Lots and lots of cars.

I started to get nervous about gas (despite my AAA card and awesome insurance-thanks parents!) so after a while of moving 20mph we finally found a gas station. I pulled off and it was fairly busy. I think the other cars had about the same idea as we did. We wanted to fill up because we didn't know how much longer this traffic would last and we were literally in the middle of nowhere. The ONLY thing at this exit were two gas stations across the street from each other.

I pulled into the Chevron and Heather M. got her card out to pay while other Heather and Whitney went to find a bathroom. They came back shortly saying that this gas station didn't have a bathroom and they were going across the street. In the meantime, Heather M.'s card stopped working after about $5 of gas. We pulled the car up to a different pump and it started working again. We filled up the car and then waited.

After a minute or two, we decided to drive across the street to where the others were so they wouldn't have to cross the busy street twice. We drove over there and waited a few more minutes. Nothing. Heather got out to look for them and came back a few minutes later. She went inside and saw there was no bathroom anywhere. Still couldn't find them.

So we called them. BOTH girls had left their cell phones in the car. This is when I got a little nervous. We drove back over to the last place we had parted, hoping they'd be there. Still nothing. So we parked as close to the gas pump as possible, and waited. And watched. And waited. Heather got out to look around again. There were some drunk teenagers (or at least they were acting drunk, but sometimes teens don't need alcohol to act drunk). Just as Heather and I were talking about how we were going to react when they got back (we had a great, long, loud lecture planned) and how we would react if they had, indeed, been kidnapped (we tried to avoid that topic), we finally saw their bright, smiling faces coming towards us from across the street. We, however, were not so happy to see them alive and in good condition. "ARE YOU SERIOUS! YOU SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF US! DON'T YOU EVER LEAVE YOUR CELL PHONES AGAIN! NOT AT A CREEPY GAS STATION IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! AHHHHH!!!" Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what we sounded like. Anyway, the truth was I was extremely relieved and happy to see them fine. They said the bathroom was outside the gas station and around the corner. They had to wait in line AND they had to wait for someone to clean it so it took a while. Meh. Excuses excuses. I was still scared.

This is looking back down Main Street towards the train station. We were some of the first people to enter the park... we got there 50 minutes early to be a part of this crowd. Really, it was pretty empty. We picked a great time to come!



Itty bitty Sleeping Beauty's castle. I now know why I always had guests asking me where the walk-through in Cinderella's castle was. For the record, Cinderella's castle doesn't have a walk-through. There's a super ritzy restaurant up there and a Cinderella Castle Suite that rich and famous get to stay in! That's it.

If you look carefully, you can see they have a Partner's statue in front of this castle as well (the Partner's statue is of Walt and Mickey... they're partners)



This is me seeing the castle for the first time ever. I'm sooo happy Heather took this picture. I LOVE it! This is me, Heather and Whitney. Morning of the first day! I was so stinkin' excited!

I especially love this picture of Heather because it shows her personality perfectly. Map in one hand (although pretty soon she'll just have the map as a souvenir), video camera in the other, sunglasses on her head, and backpack full of snacks, water, etc.



Heather and I on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness! Their Big Thunder is very similar to the one in Florida, although it did feel a touch faster. Space Mountain also felt faster. Maybe it's because I don't have those tracks memorized, though. Heehee...



This is Heather on the (Not So) Fun Wheel in California Adventure. You can see my hand. And from my hand, gripping the walls for dear life, you can probably imagine my facial expression. I was pretty much curled up in the fetal position crying the whole entire ride. I'm not even lying, Heather, being the awesome friend that she is, filmed me. Worst. Ride. Ever!



Me, Whitney, and the Heathers meeting Duffy. I officially decided last year when I first met Duffy that I will someday own one, or at the very least, my children will have a stuffed Duffy. First, I'm a fan of stuffed animals. Second, Duffy's story is adorable and I LOVE to travel. Don't know the story? Look it up. :)



Heather H. and I in Minnie's house. Heather's going for Minnie's "diet" chocolate chip cookies. They're holographic. Good one, Minnie. Good one. They sure taste like air though...





This is my new favorite ride. The Storybook Canals Tour. You get to ride in a boat with a skipper and they tell you stories. Disney stories, of course.



The Pirates of the Caribbean 4 premiere is taking place this coming week. (Yes, they made another movie!) It costs like a thousand dollars to go on that day. Crazy! But they were doing a kind of "pre-premiere" trailer kind of showing while we were there. So we went. The pirates were hilarious!

At one point they were getting the crowd all excited as we were waiting to begin. One of the pirates yelled, "All the children, say 'Yo-ho!'" And they shouted, "Yo-ho!" Then he said, "All the women, say 'Yo-ho!'" We did. Then he shouted, "All the men, say 'Yo-ho!'" They shouted Yoho as well. Finally the pirate yelled, "Everyone else, say 'yoho!'" About a third of the crowd shouted. The pirates looked around confused. "So to all those who just yelled.... I'm confused... what are you?" Another pirate responded, "Probably French..." Buuuuurn!



At the end we got to meet Captain Jack Sparrow and Angelica (she'd from the new movie, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly aren't coming back for the fourth one).



Toontown in Disneyland is way better than Florida's Toontown. I'm still not really a Toontown freak, but I'll admit it was fun to spend a while there, especially since Disney World's Toontown is about to disappear to make way for the new Fantasyland expansion.



This is my favorite picture of the four of us. This was in California Adventure. And it's a construction wall. But still, I like it!



I had also never had so many fastpasses at one time before. I mean, I get them, but usually in Disney World I can do the single riders line or I know when to go when there's no line anyway.

The first set of fastpasses is from our day at California Adventure. The second is from Disneyland. And we had way more than this, too. This just shows how many passes I had at one time.




And, of course, no post of Disney a Disney trip is accurate without the fireworks. I actually didn't take many pictures of the three awesome shows we saw (Wishes: Disneyland Style; Magic, Memories, and You picture show; and World of Color water show). All were amazing!



Such an awesome trip. I can't say which park(s) I prefer, the one's in Florida or California. But I will say it was a totally awesome week. Worth every penny I spent and every second of worrying.

Random Thoughts on Stress and Vacations

Sometimes I look back at my time spent on Disney and remember the nastiest people I encountered. I wonder, sometimes, if they realize the impact they had on me and my life. I wonder if people realize how much it hurts to have a stranger scream in your face when you're simply trying to do your job and keep everyone safe. I remember the lady who attacked me and the man who held up his fist threatening to beat my face in. Do they realize, right now, today, the impact that had on me? How angry that made me feel, how my friends would go home crying, how horrible a position that put me in... either I get fired from my job or I get my face pounded. Thanks, dude.

I sincerely feel the majority of angry people I encountered were not always such horrible, beastly jerks. They were probably perfectly decent people who were under a lot of stress with screaming children and more expenses than they may have planned for this trip. They may have been working off only a tiny bit of sleep because they didn't want to miss anything. They may have been working so hard to make sure that their vacation was perfect, that they were causing their own problems without realizing it.

This is why I've officially decided that cruises are the best way to vacation. At all. Ever. When we went on our cruise, the only bit of stress I felt was getting to the boat early enough to eat lunch there! And the fact that one of Heather's bags made it to the room a few hours after the rest of our luggage and so we spent a couple of very nervous hours scared that Heather had lost her most valuable suitcase. Even then, Heather kept it together very well, and we certainly weren't angry, just scared. On a cruise, everything is paid for beforehand so there's no extra costs (unless you want to buy all the extras, but we had no problem turning those down). Also on cruises, all entertainment is pre-planned. You don't have to freak out making sure you plan enough time to get everything in. Everything is on one boat and everything can be done, easily. The whole point is to not stress and to relax. It's pretty much amazing!

Well, this next week will be the first time I've ever planned a vacation on my own, before, other than the cruise. And honestly, the cruise doesn't fully count since all we had to plan was how to get there and where to park. Heather and I are working together to plan this, and, fortunately, it's working out beautifully. We have our transportation, parking, lodging, food, and attractions planned. I'm hoping this won't be a terribly stressful vacation. Heather thinks we're going to do it for less than $150 a person. I'm thinking it's going to come out to more like $250-$300/person. That's still way better than the original figure I had, though, of $600. It's probably because we got more people to go, so more people to split the cost with.

Next Sunday (yep, Easter Sunday), Heather, other Heather, Whitney, and I will leave from Utah for Anaheim. We'll check into the hotel that night (already have reservations), and sleep. We'll spend Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in the parks. We're planning on walking because a)our hotel is super close and b)we're not fully confident that we can get free parking at Disneyland. We have one or two (two I think, but that's Heather's job so I don't really know) nice dining reservations for dinner, but we'll be eating breakfast at the hotel and packing sandwiches for lunch (our room will have a fridge, too which is pretty convenient, plus we have a cooler for the car snacks). Thursday we're waking up early and driving back home. Whitney has a GPS which will be super convenient to have since I've never been anywhere that we're going.

I've preplanned my classes and today was spent figuring out exactly what work I have to get done before leaving and what homework will have to be done the day I get back. The beauty of online classes is that I'm going to be able to pull of something like this!

I, however, will be leaving Rexburg Friday probably. I found some people to go with me on the ride down so I can split the cost of gas. Thank goodness cuz it's like $35 to get to Provo in gas alone.

I'm super excited for this trip and hope to goodness that everything goes as planned. Can't wait til Friday!

Disney Cruise Line.... Part 2

We ate breakfast at the Beach Blanket Buffet again.



And yes, what you see on my plate is indeed chocolate Mickey Mouse head shaped waffles smothered in syrup alongside smoked salmon. I have a wide variety of tastes, okay?



We then took off for....





Nassau!!!

As we got off the boat we were practically ambushed by people trying to sell us stuff. They were everywhere. We found this family in front of us and just followed right behind them so the ambush guys would think we were just kids part of that family and not ambush us quite as much. It worked. :) We must look really young!





I didn't really take many photos here. For one thing, we only spent about two hours on the island, if that much. And for another, we were paying attention to our surroundings a lot because we were both nervous to be there alone. On the boat before we left, though, we were given a packet of coupons, including free stuff. We went around and collected our free jewelry which included three necklaces, a charm bracelet, two charms, and a coupon for free charms if I ever visit the places on the coupon (places like Key West, Cozumel, etc.). It was great to walk around, but we quickly made our way back to the boat.





After getting back on the boat we just chilled for the better part of the day. The adult's pool was nearly empty so we hung out there for a while too. It was soooo nice and relaxing to just float there in the pool for as long as we wanted with not a care in the world.

We grabbed some lunch I think at Goofy's Galley or one of those quick serve places that I forgot the name of. It was so weird because it was just like ordering at a restaurant. I went up to the person behind the counter and asked what I wanted. Whether it was a hamburger and fries or a chicken Caeser wrap (those wraps were incredible) or the smoked salmon and cream cheese toasted sandwich, they would just give it to me and I'd go on my merry way! It felt weird because I didn't have to pay. Or, rather, I should say I already paid for it. :)

After chilling for a while and seeing some characters and such, we watched a movie on TV. Toy Story, actually. This was very convenient because the show for this night was...



Toy Story the Musical! Live, as all the shows were. It actually followed the movie pretty darn well, especially from us having watched it just previously.

Dinner for this night was at Parrot Cay.





This was probably the least interesting of the restaurants as there was nothing but a bunch of stuffed parrots or pictures on the walls. Yeah, funny that such a nice restaurant can actually be considered at the lower end! So even though it definitely wasn't one of the better ones, it was still fantastic!

This is Heather showing off the menu.



And yes, I took pictures of all my food. It was awesome, okay!?









And of course when we got back to our room after dinner we found this little number hanging up to dry...



And to end here are some extra random pictures from day two:

Disney Cruise Line....Part 1

Last Friday morning (Friday the 13th interestingly enough) we set sail. The morning was rough because Heather still had stuff to pack and other stuff to mail home and we just had more things than I had anticipated that needed to get done before the cruise. Our expected departure time from here was supposed to be 9:30. I believe we were actually on the road around 11:30. But it was no problem because we didn't really need to be at the port until 1pm.

So we took off and arrived at the port around 12:30. We checked our bags, parked, and made our way into the Disney Cruise Line building.



It was under construction so it was hard to get a good picture of it.

Sailor Minnie was there to greet us!



We went over to the check-in area to get our Key to the World cards and eventually, board the ship!!!



Crew members were standing there waiting for us. As we approached a man asked for our names. And as we entered the atrium of the ship, the man's voice came over the loud speaker saying, "Disney Wonder welcomes Dianna and Heather!!!" and a bunch of other crew members cheered and clapped for us. It was amazing! (This picture was actually taken later from the top of the stairs)



After boarding we went to grab some grub. Our whole reason for getting there early was the free lunch! The Beach Blanket Buffet had tons of colorful and awesome foods. Some that I'd never even had before!



There were two new soups that neither of us had tried before so we grabbed some to taste. I got the leek soup and Heather grabbed a bit of the strawberry soup. We sat outside with an awesome view at the back end of the ship and ate our food. It was so tasty!



Turns out I don't like leek soup and Heather doesn't like strawberry soup. But when we traded we liked each others more. However, still, neither of the soups were finished.



We then went to check out our room!











It was actually bigger than I expected. We even had a tub! When we got to the room, one of Heather's checked bags was missing. They told us that all the luggage wouldn't be put into the rooms until 5:30, but we were still worried. We still tried to have fun. Thankfully nothing super valuable was in that bag.

While we waited we explored the ship...



Found the cast member's only pool...



Put on our life vests for the safety drill...



And attended the sail away party!!!



They made the dad's dance to YMCA. It was hilarious! Poor guys. The one in the Indian hat had the thing turn inside out on his head.



Who is that nerdy looking tourist in the sunglasses in the bottom left corner?



When we got back to our room after all this fun, Heather's suitcase was there. We think someone searched through it, I guess checking for bombs or something. But nothing was taken and we could continue our amazing, no-stress vacation!!!

We then walked down the red carpet to the Disney Theater to watch a show called "The Golden Mickeys."



Photos weren't allowed in the theater, but OH. MY. GOSH! Take my word for it. It was unbelievable!!!

After the show we ate dinner in the Animator's Palate. Probably my favorite restaurant on the whole ship.



The colors on the walls became brighter and brighter throughout dinner. As the music played a certain movie or character's theme song, that character would come to life in color. It was fun to pay attention and figure out what movie belonged with what music and then watch that picture for signs of life! (actually, Heather usually figured it out first and told me where to look... she knows everything about Disney. Everything. Haha)

Then, just when you thought the whole restaurant would be colorful, they'd all fade away and start over. It got just a little bit farther and farther to the point of being colorful each time. It's something I can't even really describe. You'd just have to experience it. AMAZING!



Plus, this was the best butternut squash soup I've ever tasted. Okay, so it's the only butternut squash soup I've ever had, but still... pretty sure this is my new favorite food!



The ceiling and paintbrushes became colorful too.



Do you see the hidden Mickey??





Even my dinner was a hidden Mickey! I think this was the veal.



And of course at the end of the meal the walls were getting more and more colorful and all the servers went in the back at the same time. We knew something was up! When they came out, their clothes were no longer black and white, but totally colorful! And they danced for us too.






When we got back to the room we found this little guy on the bed. We couldn't figure out what it was. A bunny? A dog? I think we decided on a floppy-eared dog.





Our room service guy had also been in to turn our couch into a bed so we each had our own place to sleep. We turned on the TV to watch a movie, but both of us fell asleep almost immediately. Such a perfect day!

And to end, here are a few random pictures of the boat...