Days 72 & 73: Gordons & Jordans take Universal

April 8th & 9th 2015

Day 72: Universal Day 1

So as a little disclaimer, obviously everyone knew I was going to drop the ball on this project a little bit. I'm getting caught up here, but it'll be a little blurry in areas, and by "a little blurry" I mean that I'll be posting pictures that have date tags from the appropriate day, but otherwise I probably forgot what happened. Good luck to us all.

The evening of the 6th, as I mentioned previously, my lovely family, this time consisting of my parents, my sisters Hannah and Leah, and my now-brother-in-law Jordan, picked me up at my apartment and we made our way to a hotel/condo thing near Universal Studios. We got all caught up, had a little dinner in our suite, and passed out. The next day we woke up as early as we could fathom, got some less than spectacular but also included with our stay continental breakfast from the lobby, and headed to Universal. I wish I had more photos from this day, but I just don't. I'm hoping however that my sisters do, as it was their first time seeing the new Diagon Alley expansion, so hopefully I'll be adding those soon. Here's what I remember from this day:
1. There's nothing better than watching someone's face when they see Diagon Alley for the first time, especially when it's someone you know cherishes those stories as much as you do.
2. It was really hot and we waited a really long time for the Gringott's ride, but it ended up being totally worth it because we got to be in the best row (the very, very back). Also, seeing their reactions to that ride was secondary only to seeing their faces when we walked in.
3. I got a pressed penny that just said Universal, which I had seriously been searching for for weeks. Of course it was in the gift shop of one of my all time favorite rides, the Men in Black ride.

As luck would have it, I also broke my record on that ride this day.

I later went on to break my own record again a few weeks later. I don't remember what the score was exactly, but I probably got a picture of it. I'm pretty competitive when it comes to this ride.

4. Hulk ride. This is one of my other favorites.

5. Other than all the memories the photos resurfaced for me, I remember going on Rockit, but it didn't have music (just FYI, it's a totally different ride without music. It's pretty much boring)

Hopefully I can have a chat with some sisters and they can refresh my memory on this day, because at this point it has been over 3 months and I'm telling it lame. I think we went to the Irish restaurant across from the Mummy ride, and I'm sure we went on the Mummy ride a good five times. That's another Gordon-Magrath favorite. It's partly blurry because it's been so long, but it's also partly blurry because we went to Universal for 2.5 days, so it kind of blended together. But either way, it was a really, really great day.

Day 73: Universal Day 2

Universal Day 2 probably went something a lot like Day 1. I really hope my sisters took better pictures than I did, because here's what I got:

1. Someone on CityWalk had terrible spelling.

2. We left around dinner time so that I could go purchase Disney tickets from Disney University before they closed, and then they went to Publix, where my mother's feet ached so much that Leah pushed her in an electric cart. Is there a story here? Yes, I'm sure there is. Do I remember it? Not really.

This is the lamest post ever, but hopefully once it's out there my sisters will see it and feel such shame that they will send me their own photos and memories.

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Day 71: Characters & Characters & Characters

April 6th, 2015

Day 72: So Much Magic Kingdom

On Monday I somehow got the day off even though I requested off five days that week for my family's upcoming visit. Maddie and Laura and I decided to get dressed up and head to Magic Kingdom to meet as many characters as I could. My fam has never been super into character meeting, so it was never too much of a priority for me, but I realized around this point that I had really only met a few random characters. As soon as we got there we stopped in to see Lisa at the Confectionery before heading back to New Fantasyland to see Gaston.

After Gaston we went to Adventureland to meet Peter.

Then we made a pitstop on the most picturesque bridge on our way to Aladdin and Jasmine. 

We stopped on Main Street USA so I could mail off a letter, followed by a visit to Ariel. Funny story about those letters I mailed, I wrote one to my sister, one to Will and one to his parents. I wrote them all in line to meet Peter Pan and I was stuffing the envelopes when I realized I was missing the Custodial Mickey sticker I had stuck in Will's, so I took his parents' out, to whom I had enclosed two stickers, and put the extra in Will's envelope. What I didn't know was that at some point during this endeavor, I actually switched the letters. I ended up sending Will's letter to his parents and his parents' letter to him, and it is still one of the most embarrassing and moronic things I have ever done. Bill and Rosanna, I am sorry you were subjected to the sappiness. I would promise it won't happen again but it'll probably happen again.

We ended the evening by going to meet my one true love and hear the story of how she and the Beast fell in love, and thus ended a most wonderful and magical night.

But the best was still yet to come! My roommates and I left the park after that last event and headed home, where we were met with by my wonderful family! They picked me up at my apartment after I didn't answer the phone for a few hours, and we all went back to the resort we were staying in up by Universal. I'm so excited to write about their visit! But let's be real, that's a pretty big endeavor. Just give me a minute.

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Days 68 - 70: Mike Wazowski Was Here

April 3rd - 5th

Day 68: Morning shift in the convention center: Fiesta

The best thing about working in the convention center is that while it is sometimes busy, there are a lot of days where there are no conventions booked, so we're mostly just making sure the area maintains cleanliness. Since we sometimes have so much downtime, it's pretty easy to slip out to the lobby area to do water art! So here's the picture everyone has been waiting for..... Goofy!

After work, Laura, Lisa, and I all went to the Polynesian for flatbreads before going over to the Grand Floridian to see their chocolate eggs. They do a great big elaborate display of chocolate eggs all over the lobby foyer area of actual chocolate eggs that chefs spent weeks preparing and decorating. I had also never been to the Grand Floridian and it was just stunning. It's enormous and elaborate and beautiful and the marble floors have subtly inlaid characters in key locations and I just loved it.

Day 69: PrEaster

On the day before Easter I was working a morning shift in the lobby when my manager called me and requested that I do a little Easter water art.

Mike Wazowski with bunny ears

Day 70: Easter

On Easter, according to my planner, I was "conv/lobby" which means I started in convention and then was moved to lobby for some reason. When I was in convention, one of my coworkers found me and suggested I go out by Casitas 5 where they were doing an Easter egg roll candy event thing, so I went out and drew bunny ear Mike along with Minnie, Mickey, and some Easter eggs with Mickey ears.

Then that evening after work I went to Taco Bell and Starbucks with Kaitlyn. They may not be my best addictions, but it is what it is.

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Days 66 & 67: Days Off

April 1st & 2nd

Day 66: Hollywood Studios

Genuinely the only thing I know about this day is that I went to Hollywood Studios with my work friend Kaitlyn, and I only know that because I wrote it in my planner. I'm pretty sure if I remember this correctly, we walked in, it was packed, and we left after fifteen minutes. Then we maybe went to the store before going home. That's all I've got.

Oh, but I do have this picture.

Day 67: Cast Connection

All I know about this day is that Laura and I went to Cast Connection. I probably spent too much money and I probably won't have any room in my luggage for my purchases, but that's okay.

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Day 64 & 65: Back to Work

March 30th & 31st

Day 64: Morning Shift

Let me just say, I am writing this more than a month in retrospect, so honestly, I don't remember really any details from these work days. But luckily March Laurel wrote down her schedule, so I at least remember when my shifts were. Also, I was probably lobby on this day, because it is highly unlikely I would've been lakeside at dawn if I was working any other location. 

Now, I have a confession. I usually figure out what I did each day when I post this late by looking through Facebook, old text messages, and most often, my photos. Sometimes I'll have photos and no information, sometimes I'll have lots of stories but no photos. It is what it is.

Day 65: Night Shift

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Day 63: The Earl

March 29th, 2015

Day 63

I was actually scheduled to work on this day, so the night before I crawled into bed, and at 5:30 I dragged myself out and into my costume, and to the bus stop. At this point I was exhausted, I had forgotten my lunch, I was still fighting one of the most vicious chest colds of my life, and then I get to the bus stop right as the K bus is pulling away. At that point I had to turn around and make a very tough decision for myself. The way I saw it, I had three options: Option 1: Wake up one of my roommates to drive me to work; Option 2: Call in late and take the next bus; Option 3: Call in sick. Now part of the reason it was such a struggle for me is because not only did I need the money, but I felt guilty for calling in sick when I had originally been on my way there. Ultimately I decided, after sitting on our couch practically punching myself trying to decide, that staying home would be the best option for me. I was so severely sleep deprived and fatigued, and I hadn't given my cough and my chest cold even a moment to get better, so they were really only getting worse. I crawled back in bed and stayed there until approximately noon.

Then that afternoon my grandparents picked me up for a luncheon at Downtown Disney at one of my new favorite dining locations, Earl of Sandwich.

The three of us got our sandwiches, ran into my coworker and fellow CP Daisy, and then made our way to Ghirardelli for dessert before meandering back through DTD to our parking spot. We made a quick trip to Publix before Grammy and Pa dropped me off at my apartment and made their way to the airport.

It was such an absolutely fantastic visit and I cannot express enough how grateful I am to have family members who would fly across the country just to visit me. Well, me and the mouse.

Thank you for a wonderful week!

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Day 62: Gringotts & Goodbyes

March 28th

Day 62

So as much as I'd love to give copious amounts of detail for this particular post, I'm writing it exactly one month in retrospect. To say I have a bit of catching up to do would be an understatement, but I'll do my best. Day 62 was the last day of Aunt Stephanie's visit, but her flight wasn't until the afternoon, so we got to spend the morning back at Universal Studios with her! My roommate Lisa also had the day off, and she splurged on the Preferred Annual Pass like I did, so she didn't have to deal with blackout dates and was able to join us around noon! The four of us spend a little time in Hogsmead before catching the express over to King's Cross Station. Once we got there, we squeezed in a ride at Gringotts before going to Florean Fortescue's for Aunt Stephanie's last ice cream cone.

I believe this was when I finally got to the try the clotted cream ice cream with meringue bits, and while it was quite good, it mostly tasted like sweet sour cream. After taking a few bites, Aunt Steph had to make her escape. It was so wonderful having her there to visit, and so bittersweet to say goodbye in the middle of Diagon Alley, where we had just been having the most magical day together about four days before that. Whenever you read this, thank you for visiting! It was everything I ever could've hoped for.

While we finished our ice cream, we decided to sit on some steps under the big covered area, and came to find it was actually a stage. An acting troupe came up and played out a story about three witches and a knight who went on a quest to find a magical well. They told the story with marionettes that reminded me so much of the animated telling of the Deathly Hallows, and although the photos didn't turn out exactly perfect, we had a great view!

Then we came back an hour later and saw Celestina Warbeck and the Banshees performing! Their show is so well done, and toward the end Celestina always picks a gentleman to sing a love song to and to join her kickline. This guy was so funny, getting so into the performance and throwing the boa over his shoulders.

After a photo opportunity with Hagrid's bike, we caught the train back over to Hogsmeade. 

We got in more rides on the dragon, in the castle, in Gringotts, and on pretty much all of our other favorite rides. We drank copious amounts of butterbeer, feasted at The Three Broomsticks, and grabbed a very pink cupcake at the candy shop in Hogsmeade.

When the evening had come to a close, Lisa drove me and Caitlin back to their resort where I was forced to say another very unwilling goodbye, as Caitlin's flight was leaving in the wee hours of the morning. Caitlin, thank you for one of the best birthday presents I have ever received. I for one will be forever grateful you came.

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Day 61: Safaris and Steven Tyler

March 27th

Part 1: Animal Kingdom

Because we hadn't been able to go to Animal Kingdom the previous day, we decided to split Friday between Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. We did get fastpasses on our way there, but because I reserved them so last minute, they were all pretty late in the day. There's a bit of a trick to online fastpass reservation, where when they give you your selections, you can just go back a page and proceed with the same selections and it'll give you different time options. Then once you make the reservations, you can go in to edit one and possibly make it even earlier. Pa really wanted to see Festival of the Lion King, which was entirely acceptable to me as it's the number one show on property. I managed to get us fastpasses for the 2 o'clock show, so before that we waited in line for Kilimanjaro Safaris. It was relatively early when we got there, so the wait said about 40 minutes. It ended up being closer to an hour, but luckily we had a REALLY good safari. All the animals were out and the elephants were close up and adorable.

After our safari we were looking at the map and I saw Rafiki's Planet Watch. I had never been to this attraction before, to my knowledge, but it said there was a train, so it seemed like a good idea. The train ride was wonderful, and you get to see backstage areas of Animal Kingdom, which for us included seeing a baby rhino. Once there we went to the petting zoo, found some hidden Mickeys, and met Rafiki!

After returning from Rafiki's Planet Watch, we got quick snacks/lunches and booked it over to Festival of the Lion King. We had seats right on the floor, up in the fog and everything. It is always an amazing show, but it was so much more excellent up close! Those stilt walkers really make me nervous though. They run and jump and dance on those stilts and it is terrifying. Then Aunt Stephanie and Caitlin and I went on Expedition Everest in the single rider line. The single rider line goes much faster than the regular stand-by line, but obviously you get split from your party. In this case we didn't mind, we just wanted to ride it. Here's a picture of Aunt Stephanie's first Expedition!

It wasn't Caitlin's first ride, but here she is too!

After that we started to make our way out, but Aunt Steph really wanted to see It's Tough to be a Bug, so we ducked into the Tree of Life right as it started to torrentially rain. When it ended we waded through the park exit, did a little drying off in the car, and made our way to Hollywood Studios.

Part 2: Hollywood Studios

Once we got to HS, we needed to kill a tiny bit of time before the last showing of Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. We watched the Cinderella preview, which is always and will always be magical. Then we watched the stunt show, which was important to me that they see because it won't be around much longer. After the stunt show, we got in line for the Great Movie Ride, then met up with my roommate Laura and went to Pizza Planet to see Nicole and have dinner. Then Caitlin went to see Muppets, and Laura, Steph and I went to Star Tours before Laura took off for home.

At this point it was getting pretty late, so wait times were pretty short. We rode Rockin' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, and saw Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

When we were walking into Voyage of the Little Mermaid, we could hear some of the cast members chatting excitedly about something. Turns out Steven Tyler was in Hollywood Studios that evening, and he had just been on Tower!

We caught the late showing of Fantasmic and had seats right in the front. It was amazing and wonderful as always! I won't write any spoilers here, because I want everything to be a surprise for my soon to be visiting family, and I hope so very much that they'll get to see it. 

Oh, and then I came home to Ed Sheeran in my bed. Thanks Lisa.

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