#bc apparently that includes booking the hotel for all the guests and breakfast.. but that makes no sense

[thursdayg1rl]

cannot believe the shenanigans going on w my cousins wedding

[awholenewworld-dcp17]

"today's special moments are tomorrow's memories"

Honestly, I don’t have free time. If I’m not working, I’m spending my time exploring the parks, and if I’m not doing that, I’m sleeping. (Or, since mom and dad brought me the fourth book, reading Harry Potter) (Holy moly donut shoppe it’s getting good) (But more on that later) Speaking of mom and dad visiting, I think I will look back at my time here viewing that as one of the highlights - so I think it’s important to document a little bit of it here. They got here on a Thursday night, and clearly they’ve missed me SO much because they drove straight to my apartment from the airport! After showing dad around my stomping grounds, I happily hopped right in their rental and we were off. We went to their hotel to check in, and decided on making our way to animal kingdom for the rest of the night (can’t waste a minute in disney!!) I had heard on the DL that animal kingdom had been doing practice run openings of their new nighttime show, Rivers of Light, which wasn’t due to officially open until the following night. Well, we waited and waited around for that to happen, but apparently it was never going to because they had perfected it enough to hold off on showing it again before the grand opening. So basically we just wasted our time for a little but it’s okay bc I helped sir and lady-noob-a-lot navigate and set up their My Disney Experience aps so we could link and get fast passes and plan for the following days! Also, before calling it a night, dad and I rode the dinosaur ride, and that was super choppy and scary, but super duper cool (prayers for moms neck to get better before returning so she can do rides like that next time!!). Friday, I had off work so the three of us went back to animal kingdom to continue the adventure. Of course, not without stopping at golden coral for all you can eat breakfast (ratch but soooo good!!!!). In DAK, we saw all of the shows, did pretty much all of the attractions (with the exception of rafikis planet watch lol), and walked through the animal treks that they have for guests. It was funny because dad and I were making fun of mom for wearing a poncho on kali river rapids, but then dad ended up being the one to get soaked on the ride lols. The day flew by and before we knew it it was time to get in line for the grand opening of Rivers of Light. (Just a little back story on the show - animal kingdom has kind of a bad reputation of being a “half day park,” meaning people will just go there in the morning before ending their day else where. They have never been able to have a firework show because of the animals or many night time activities, so they have been making multiple efforts to amp up the night life, and Rivers of Light is one of them.) The line to get in was INSANE. Luckily, we ran into my roommate and her boyfriend and hopped in line where they were, which secured us a seat that I’m not sure we would have gotten otherwise. The show was pretty awesome, they have stadium seating around a giant lake - which ends up being the stage for the show. They have floats and water tricks and fire and projections and music, which all come together to wow the crowd. And when I say the crowd, I mean everyone - including the little girl in front of mom who she felt the need to stranger talk with the entire time lol. After the show, we dipped and made our way to, of course, Magic Kingdom!!!! We actually got a lot done there that day too, as we planned our fast passes for rides like Peter Pans flight and splash mountain, etc etc. Like I said, can’t waste a minute in Disney, so we were there until the end and then I joined them back at their hotel on the pull out couch - oddly comfortable, btw. On Saturday we had breakfast at the hotel - complete with Mickey waffles. I actually had to go to work that night, so we decided to do Hollywood Studios in the morning since it is in walking distance from the boardwalk. We did all of the HS classics - great movie ride, toy story, voyage of the little mermaid, beauty and the beast show, and more! Mom and dad actually decided to come with me over to work, and were so kind as to drive the rental since it looked like it was ready to rain. I showed them around on the boardwalk as much as I could considering the downpour that had begun, and we had lunch/dinner at Big River. It was good. I went to work after that and sent them on their own little way to explore. I believe they actually continued on to the walk to Epcot and later returned to HS for the Star Wars fireworks, but you’ll have to ask them for details on that. Sunday I had to work again, but this time in the morning. When I got off around 6, I met them over in Epcot for our Soarin’ fastpass, dinner at the garden grille, and the tail end of illumiNations. Doesn’t sound like much, but that night actually ended up being one of my favorite parts of their trip. Soarin’ had always impressed me, but they just recently refurbished it to show you places around the whole world. For those of you that don’t know what it even is, you’re probably lost and I don’t even really know how to explain. But it’s cool. The Garden Grille is a rotating restaurant in the Land - all you can eat, family style, character dining. The food was delish but the characters had to be the highlight. Mickey, Pluto, Chip, and Dale all came up to our table and greeted us throughout the meal. Mickey was so cute and spent a lot of time with us. His antics included stealing moms phone to “talk” to Chris, stealing dads phone to take a selfie with him (and take up close pictures of Dale), rearranging all the plates on the table to be in the shape of Mickey heads, and going back and forth “conversing” with Chip. Chip and Dale were impressed that we were able to tell them apart, and weren’t afraid to reinforce our knowledge by pointing out the differences in their nose and teeth. Pluto was so cute as always. I got a hug from him and another picture because you can never have too many pictures with Pluto. We made him jealous that there was another dog barking in the land, but quickly assured him that he’s our favorite. He also made dad scratch his nose and like his little foot kicked when he did. Idk if I explained that right but ugh I just love him and it was adorable. After din, we caught the tail end of illumiNations, the fireworks in Epcot. While we didn’t necessarily have the best view, it was kinda neat to see them from a perspective I don’t usually get. I stayed the night with them again that night, lol just couldn’t keep myself away from the pull out couch. Monday I had off work again so we spent allllllll day in MK!!!!! So fun so magical. We were like fastpass machines and planned it all perfectly so we actually used 11 fast passes each that day!! Consequently, we were kind of all over the park and less than systematic about the layout, but hey at least we got our steps in! We even saw the 3 o'clock festival of fantasy parade and watched the wishes firework show sitting in front of the castle!! AND, we ate at Be Our Guest!! Honestly, I was slightly disappointed but I had real high expectations. It is the most in demand restaurant in all of disney world and we only got random reservations last minute because someone canceled. I had homemade lemonade, French onion soup, beef brisket, and a chocolate mousee cupcake thing. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious, and it was really cool to be in the beast’s castle, but I just for some reason was expecting more. Speaking of delicious, don't worry! We tried the grey stuff! And it was just that - delicious. TBH I don't even know what to say about magic kingdom because if I documented every part that I loved about it I would be documenting the day in its entirety. We rode the carousel, which was kind of out of the ordinary for us but a cute fun little thing to do. I maxed out buzz light year, the usual. Around 9pm, we used one of our last fast passes for splash mountain again and then checked to see if we could get a new one. Get this! They had another for 9:15! So we rode again, and again. Really good times. The next day, Tuesday, was time for mom n dad to leave. I had work in the morning so they dropped me off and it was a sad time. Lynne cried, as per usual. Tim was pretty sad to say good bye, too, I could tell. They continued their day on for a few more hours in MK before the airport, and I absolutely adore them for that. I didn't hear too too much about that leg of the trip, but I know they had Mickey ice cream bars and that alone is enough to write home about. I can't believe how long it has taken me to update this, because now I can sit here and say they'll be back in 3.5 weeks! Time is going by incredibly fast and like I said I feel like I don't have a free moment. Really guys, I'm not even close to being caught up on the bachelor and that's saying a lot! I wrote this post on the bus to work because I forgot to bring Harry Potter lolol, so maybe I should start leaving the book at home more often. That's all for now, promise to be back soon.