02 Oct

Day 3 – ABD All Day!

 

Today was the big day! We met up with our group at like 6 am? Something crazy early. We met outside and went in a side door to the studios.

We went right up to a waiting room and spread out. We were told we would be split into two groups and take turns going on set.

When it was our turn, we first walked through the control room:

Look where we are going!

And bam!! We were there! Hello George and Robin.

GMA selfie!

Oops. Got George sticking out his tongue!

You bet I’m posting that.

I must say they did a good job of acting like they were happy to see us.

 

Jenell took a picture of me taking pictures.

Then our turn was done and we went back upstairs! They told us we would probably get another chance to go back down, and we were way excited because Robert Downey Jr. was the guest!!

Heather snagged the sign.

We knew Iron Man was nearby so we stalked the doorway watching everyone that walked by. At one point I stepped outside and almost ran into Michael Strahan! Who was insanely tall and very nice to all of us by the way.  

Our turn again!

Hello, people outside!

Argh!!! George waved at us (really me, I’m sure) and I just missed it!!!!!!!! #fail

Robin Roberts doing and interview.

Robin is coming!

 

Sup, Robin?

 

Group picture with Ginger!

That chair right there was for Iron Man.

And George said those wonderful words, “After the break we will be talking to Robert Downey Jr.!”

Squeee!!

And then our turn was over.

Whaaaa?  

Oh so sad!!! Worst timing ever!!

And we were back upstairs.

Hey there’s Mario Batali!

And finally our Good Morning America Adventure was over! We were on to the next exciting activity!

Here’s one of our excellent guides:

We were walking to the New Amsterdam Theater next.

Is it just me, or does it look like Heather is taking a picture of this woman’s rear end as we walk?

For some reason we were early to the theater so we waited in the hall for a little while.

It was a beautiful theater!

Our guides:

We were scheduled for a bus tour, and the bus wasn’t here yet, so we walked over to Shubert Alley for some pictures.

Here’s our sweet friend and sales manager, Mary.

Missy and Heather. So shy.

Then we walked back to see if the bus was at the theater yet!

So when I saw on the schedule that we would have a NYC bus tour, I was like okay, that’s cool. I’m not a huge tour person, and we probably saw everything the day before, but I’m sure it would be fine.

Um. No. It was not fine.

It was the most amazing tour ever!!!!!!!!!  

It’s called The Ride and it’s a crazy looking bus. I’m not sure why I don’t have a picture!

We all sat sideways on the bus in three stadium style rows. One whole side and the ceiling of the bus was windows.

We had two tour guides on mics and the bus “voice” chimed in at times as well.

The guides were absolutely hilariously wonderful.

There was lots of music and dancing, of course.  Don’t all bus tours have music and dancing?

As we drove, the bus was such a spectacle that many people on the street waved or interacted with us. The hosts commented on everything we saw. They sometimes took some friendly jabs at the people on the streets. Things like, “Ooh, white pants after Labor Day! Bold fashion choice!”

There were games, prizes and jokes for days.

See? People were taking pictures of us!

Then we encountered our first “plant”. Our tour guide started talking to this guy through the mic, and what do you know, he had a mic and talked back!

This guy was not a plant! Just a VERY excited tourist…

I guess all the excitement made him hot and he unzipped his jacket. And he was wearing a Mickey shirt!!!!!!! The whole bus went wild.

Soon we saw a nice looking guy walking down the street and we all waved and our guides yelled, and he waved and – started dancing!!! And dancing!!

He was definitely a plant. But an awesome one!

Shake Shack!

When we got to Central Park we circled the round-about and a beautiful ballet dancer danced her way around the circle with us! At the end she was joined by our favorite grey suited dancer.

A look up!

Back at the theater! We were sad the tour was done!

And this is what Adventures by Disney does. They take ordinary tourist experiences, and change them into something amazing.

Next up was a tour of the New Amsterdam Theater which was not too shabby either!

It’s gorgeous!

We listened to the history of the theater first and then went for a walk to the props department!

It was amazing!! First we got a tour.

And then we were given 15 minutes to try things on. 15 minutes!! Man! Could have used like 4 hours!

Missy in the clam!

Tarzan!

Jenell is under the sea!

Heather is living her best Mary life.

Lion King, anyone?

Me!

After our all too brief try on session it was time for lunch downstairs in one the banquet room and then we were done!

I told you it was abbreviated! 

We drove back to Heather’s and Missy and Jenell got in their cars for their long drive home. Heather and I didn’t do a thing that night we were exhausted! I think we watched Freaky Friday and I fell asleep on the couch!

The next morning I flew back home.

So this was a very small taste of a full Adventures by Disney, but completely worth the flight across the country. It was such a great experience and really left us all wanting more!

Thanks for reading!

Our Very Abbreviated but Very Awesome Adventures by Disney! October 7-8, 2014
Day 1 – Travel Day
Day 2 – Aladdin 
Day 3 – ABD All Day!