Disney Fantasy June 22-29th 2013: Boardwalk, Boat, and Boston! 2nd Wedding Annivesary

Awesome review so far. Congrats on entering the half-marathon. I did the Princess half and it is a blast! The on-course entertainment really makes the time fly by, I couldn't believe how quick it all seemed to go!

I'm looking forward to reading your take on Boston. I was born and raised in Massachusetts and Boston was always one of my favorite places to visit. However, if you're ever on the East Coast in the Fall (Late Sept-Oct), then Western MA is the place to be. The Berkshire mountains are gorgeous in the fall because of all the foliage changing colors. There's also a ton of cute little villages and towns that are fun to visit, like Northampton. :goodvibes
 
Ooh such a fancy, pretty bottle! Bet is smells delicious!

That's awesome that you'll be doing the half marathon in January! :banana: Hope your hubby will be cheering you on, on the sidelines. Do you actually have a time that you want to hit? Or are you just going to go with it, make stops with characters for pics, etc?

It's a really nice perfume, quite sweet smelling - but now whenever I wear it I'm reminded of this vacation.

Thank you! Yes DH will definitely be there (and my parents too.. they extended their trip to WDW in January especially :lovestruc ) - before I registered for the race, I checked he was ok with me planning a vacation around me running, it felt a bit selfish! He was completely fine with it and has been so supportive, I actually think he could have run it with me but it's fully booked now.. maybe we'll run another one in the future together? :cloud9: Instead he's looking forward to having a coffee/breakfast on Main Street and cheering me on!

I'm not sure about time... from my training so far, I think I could do it in 2 - 2.5 hours.. that would be without stopping, and while I want to enjoy it - it would be great to get a good time on my first ever distance race. I might stop for a few pictures with characters if the lines aren't too long - but from what I've read/seen on Youtube.. runners wait 10/15 minutes in line for photos with characters during the race! Plus I don't look my best when I'm running, maybe it would be best not to have photos taken ;)


I could never imagine running 12.8 miles. I would love to walk it though. I enjoyed your early morning pictures. Even with the humidity I love waking up early in Disney World and going outside while the sun is coming up and it is quiet. It is just so relaxing.

Hi! Thank you - it was a lovely time to be out enjoying the Boardwalk :goodvibes the first time I ran outside I did about 3 miles, and couldn't imagine running another 10.1 for a half marathon... but now the miles fly by! When I'm training, I like to think 'at this point in the race, I'll be in Magic Kingdom... or near the Polynesian' .... :thumbsup2


Awesome review so far. Congrats on entering the half-marathon. I did the Princess half and it is a blast! The on-course entertainment really makes the time fly by, I couldn't believe how quick it all seemed to go!

I'm looking forward to reading your take on Boston. I was born and raised in Massachusetts and Boston was always one of my favorite places to visit. However, if you're ever on the East Coast in the Fall (Late Sept-Oct), then Western MA is the place to be. The Berkshire mountains are gorgeous in the fall because of all the foliage changing colors. There's also a ton of cute little villages and towns that are fun to visit, like Northampton. :goodvibes

Thank you for reading so far! Congratulations on running the Princess Half - I'm so excited for January, it's something that I've wanted to do for years.. and now is only a few months away!
That part of MA sounds beautiful... I'll get to it later, but we loved Boston :lovestruc




Emma princess: x
 
Great start, Emma! I LOVE that Vera Wang perfume-- all of her "special" perfumes have been wonderful. I loved Preppy Princess and Flower Princess from a few years back.
I'm glad you guys didn't let the rain slow you down-- Epcot is perfect no matter the weather! Your run sounds really nice! I love wandering the Boardwalk area.
 


Impressive early morning run! I'm not a morning person or a runner, but it did look like a nice way to start your day. Love Disney when it's peaceful and quiet! :thumbsup2
 


Hi Emma

Have you seen the new Disney Cake Decorating magazine - first issue only 99p with a lovely Mickey cookie cutter - looks like its going to have lots of useful equipment in future issues.

Sara xx
 
Great start, Emma! I LOVE that Vera Wang perfume-- all of her "special" perfumes have been wonderful. I loved Preppy Princess and Flower Princess from a few years back.
I'm glad you guys didn't let the rain slow you down-- Epcot is perfect no matter the weather! Your run sounds really nice! I love wandering the Boardwalk area.

Hi!

'Preppy Princess' was actually my wedding/honeymoon perfume.. I wonder if it's still available somewhere :cutie:

I agree, wearing the ponchos can be a pain, but we wanted to get into Epcot and enjoy it after a long day of travelling!


such a great start! those pictures you took during you morning run were AMAZING!! xxoo

Thank you! The water was really still in the lakes/canals.. I guess because the Friend-Ships hadn't started running yet :goodvibes

Love the start of your TR! We get to try the Magic Band in October and I'm super excited!

Thanks for reading along so far!

Impressive early morning run! I'm not a morning person or a runner, but it did look like a nice way to start your day. Love Disney when it's peaceful and quiet! :thumbsup2

Thank you! I'm used to running/exercising in the mornings when I'm at home so really enjoyed it in WDW, although the half marathon will be an even earlier start :eek: hehe


Great start and Happy Anniversary!

Jill in CO

Thanks for reading! :goodvibes


I remember reading along on your honeymoon trip. So glad I found this one too.

Hi, thanks for reading along so far :cutie:


Hi Emma

Have you seen the new Disney Cake Decorating magazine - first issue only 99p with a lovely Mickey cookie cutter - looks like its going to have lots of useful equipment in future issues.

Sara xx

Hi Sara! I saw an advert for that the other day, tempted to buy it :cutie:


Love the report

Thanks for reading along so far :goodvibes



 
Day 2 continued…



Just after 8am we decided to walk to DHS… the park wasn’t opening until 9am, but we like to be there for rope drop!

The weather was beautiful, hot and humid – as you can see from the misty photos I first took!



We got to the Studios and there was already quite a lot of people, and lots of CMs making sure everyone was in the correct line (traditional paper park tickets, or RFID/Magic Bands).



There wasn’t an opening show, but they did open the park at 8.40am!



This week’s Limited Time Magic…


We followed the crowd to Toy Story Midway Mania – and walked straight onto the ride, we were among the first to go on it!





Next we headed to Sunset Boulevard, there were a lot of people waiting to get onto Tower of Terror, as it hadn’t opened yet – so instead we got Fast Passes for it, and rode Rock N Roller Coaster.



There was only a ten minute wait, and when we got to the front of the line – the cast member told us to go to ‘row 1’… the front row! We’ve only done this once before, it is even scarier heading into that dark tunnel first.





We had some time until our fast pass time, so we decided to get some breakfast at Starring Rolls. We hadn’t been there for a while and really enjoyed our bagels and orange juice.





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Next we walked over to Star Tours, again hardly any wait...



While we were on the ride, I thought there was something wrong with the right lense of my 3D glasses (or that my contact lense had fallen out!) – it looked foggy and everything had a brown tinge to it. We had a fun show sequence, but when the ride finished, everyone asked each other if they could see through the right lense.. turned out it was something wrong with the projector – not our eyes/glasses!
A CM came into our Star Speeder and asked if it had looked ok – as it hadn’t, she was going to take us all to another vehicle for a second ride! This would have been great, however we needed to get to the Hollywood Tower Hotel to check in ;) – so we exited the ride and walked back to Sunset Boulevard.

The line for ToT was fairly long by that time so we were glad to have FPs, the drop sequence was amazing too! We agreed to get more FPs as we exited.



I took a photo of this billboard… as MU was released that day!


We decided to do the new Legend of Jack Sparrow show next, it was quite short but the technology is amazing – wondering how Disney will use this in the future.



Next to one of my all-time favourites.. Muppet Vision 3D! I noticed that all of the special effects in the theatre were working now, following the refurbishment earlier in the year. There were more fireworks on the ceiling, and at the end smoke was coming out of the cannon holes in the walls!

(What kind of foolishness would you like to see?!)



We rode Tower of Terror again, and then wandered through the Hollywood Boulevard shops, I bought a red vest with Minnie Mouse bows on it.

It was getting close to lunch time, but there’s nowhere in DHS that we really love for lunch, so we agreed to go back to the Boardwalk and get something there instead.



Stopping to see the Monsters University topiary on the way out..



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Following along! I love WDW, I'm dreaming of someday taking a Disney Cruise, and I'm a Boston girl! So clearly, your TR is perfect for me!

I'd love to do a WDW race someday - good for you for signing up! Can't wait for your next update!
 
Following along! I love WDW, I'm dreaming of someday taking a Disney Cruise, and I'm a Boston girl! So clearly, your TR is perfect for me!

I'd love to do a WDW race someday - good for you for signing up! Can't wait for your next update!

Hi! Thank you for your comments and reading along so far :goodvibes

It's 4 months until my January trip now... it's coming up quickly! I ran 13.5 miles yesterday morning, it was the first time I've ever achieved the half marathon distance - so feeling more confident for the WDW Half now :thumbsup2



Update on the way...


 
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We ended up at the Boardwalk Bakery – the lunch options were excellent – DH had a turkey sandwich, I had a cranberry, apple and goats cheese salad – and we shared an Oreo cupcake!



We headed back to our room and then to the pool.



Unfortunately, it started raining after about 45 minutes – we stayed put for a while (it was still warm and there was no thunder/lightning!) but then it started to pour. We decided to get a beer on the Boardwalk, and sat watching the rain.



I did some shopping in the stores on the Boardwalk, and then we went back to our room; spoke to our parents on Skype and got ready for the evening. The rain was really coming down!



I noticed we hadn’t yet had our letter from Disney Cruise Line explaining our departure to Port Canaveral the next day, so I walked to the concierge desk to ask if they had it there. The CM said it should be with us in the next few hours, and we chatted about a few things – she asked if we had dining reservations for that evening, I said we were going to Be Our Guest – and she said “Oh you have to try…. The grey stuff…. I heard it’s delicious!” :rotfl:

By the time I got back to our room, the DCL letter had been put under the door!



We needed to have our luggage ready for an 8am pick up, and needed to be at the Belle Vue Lounge for a 12pm pick up.



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The thunderstorm ended but it was still raining, so we got a bus to the Magic Kingdom about 5pm. We put on our ponchos, and headed to the back of the park (I hardly took any photos because of the rain!) – we got in line for the Haunted Mansion, but the line was snaking around the outside area so it seemed like it was going to be a long wait – so instead we walked into the New Fantasyland!



We’d been lucky to visit there in October during a dress rehearsal, but it was still great to see it open!
I wanted to try a Le Fou’s Brew, so we went to Gaston’s Tavern and bought a drink.



I spotted a few dozen eggs…


Antlers in all of the decorating…


It was really nice, sweet but refreshing – frozen apple juice with marshmallow and passion fruit, I think!



Despite the rain, the park was pretty busy – so DH suggested that we just wander around the park for a while before our ADR at 7.05pm… it was a lovely idea, just strolling around and people-watching.



Back to Fantasyland at 6.45pm, and checked in at Be Our Guest – I loved crossing the bridge and into the castle.. the theming is incredible.








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We had a 5 minute wait, but then a CM called our name and lead us to our table. I’d read a lot about this restaurant and see a lot of photos, but was still amazed by the ball room when we walked in! The CM pointed things out to us, she stayed completely in character – even though we were two adults.



We were seated in the West Wing, quite close to the ballroom. First we were given warm crusty bread and salty butter.



Our server introduced herself, and then brought the chef over to talk to me (he was called Chappy!) about my nut allergies (I’ve never had this before, my allergy isn’t very serious… but they wanted to make completely sure that nothing was going to make me ill).
DH had a Hoegarden beer and I had a glass of Pinot Gris – a unique experience, having a beverage while in the Magic Kingdom!



For appetisers, I had the French onion soup and DH had mussels – both were excellent.



Being in the West Wing, every now and then there would be thunder and lightning outside the windows – and when the enchanted rose petals fell, the Prince’s portrait transformed into the Beast.



For entrees, I had the prawns & scallops in pastry (delicious) and DH had the salmon with leek fondue which he enjoyed.



We were both quite full, but I was intrigued by the dessert trolley! I decided to have a passionfruit puff, and our server also brought us out the Grey Stuff for our anniversary (after checking with me that I wouldn’t be allergic to the decorative icing pieces on top, which were manufactured externally and might have had nut traces… they were so careful about the allergy!)
The grey stuff tasted like Oreo frosting, amazing ;)






Overall the meal was excellent, I would definitely eat at Be Our Guest again!



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