Touring the Tower of Terror and other Ghoulish Delights! Sept 13 TR | FINALx2 4/17!!!

[DisneyKid4Life]

OHHH Dani you're pictures are just flawless. I want to take pictures as good as you when I grow up!! Of course since I never plan to grow up I'll just have to continue living with your's.

Haha, I STILL think you need to do D-Land Splash when you go (yeah, I read through your D-Land TR recently). I know you don't wanna, but you owe it to all your readers!!

You know what's even more surpising. That this is on off party night at MK. Usually those are SLAMMED!!! They must have known you were coming!

Totally agree about the HM FP+ line. In fact, I'm a lot nervous of all these attractions getting FP at all. Those standby times could skyrocket!

YAY for Big Thunder at night!!

Awwwwwww that Anniversary Greeting is just too precious.

 

[gracer9977]

What a great first day of vacation for you!! From your first class flight to the Anniversary message waiting for you in your room and everything in between seems like it was just the best day!!!

I just love the lack of crowds in Sept and glad you were able to get on so many rides in such a short amount of time. Great pictures on Pirates and the Tangled area while Wishes was going on.

Glad you were finally able to ride Splash. I just love, love, love that ride. Pretty bummed that it will be closed while we are there in Jan. Oh well at least I have been on it a bunch of times that last 2 times we went.

Love your TR and just can't wait to read more.

 

[Rubyroo]

I stumbled across your trip reports and video a while back, and used them as tools to convince my husband that a Disney trip with the kids is a must! We were there September 15-24th. IT WAS AMAZING!! Seriously, I feel like I owe you or something...your trip reports helped us so much in our planning! Thank you!! I'm so excited for this report since we were there at the same time!

 

[Jennifer48]

Great night shots! I don't care what you say, the ones in Pirates are fantastic, great job!

 

[__disneygirl]

Thank you for the information on the cameras & lens. It's really time for me to invest in some better quality equipment here! haha.

Omg, Pirates, Splash, Haunted Mansion. Could there be more perfect first attractions? I'm thinking no.

Wishes going off behind Rapunzel's lanterns!!! How MAGICAL!!!!

Oh man the Roaring Fork pics are making me hungry. I have heard such great things about that Magic Cookie Bar, and my friend is obsessed with their brownies. She was a CM and claims they have the best brownies on property, so I must try one someday!

We got phone calls during #BirthdayFestivus13 too! We stayed in 3 different resorts, and got phone calls at two of them. One was Mickey and Minnie singing Happy Birthday, and the other one was Mickey thanking us for choosing to celebrate in Disney. BOTH WERE PERFECT. hahaha we listened to them SO many times. I mean, if you want to smile, listen to a voicemail from Mickey Mouse.

This trip is off to an amazing start. I can not wait to hear everything else!

 

[khertz]

What an AMAZING arrival day you had!! It's always so nice to have AP's and be able to spend a few hours in the parks on arrival day and get a taste of the magic to set the tone for the rest of the week. And seriously, you picked probably the best lineup of first attractions ever!

So many things I will have to remember to see at nighttime! The Tangled area, the See Ya Real Soon pumpkins, etc. Ahh I can't wait! 11 days till I am back!

 

[Fantasylannd Dad]

I find pirates of the Caribbean to be one of the most challenging rides to photograph. Its so dim inside coupled with the fact that most of the main people have spot lights shining on them just stretches the dynamic range so far. Do you shoot RAW or jpeg on trips?

 

[shan23877]

I lurked on your last TR, but as I was reading your intros I realized I had to come out of hiding for this one. I too have a couch licking dog. Her name is Lucy (as in "you got some 'splaining to do!"), and I've never understood her desire to lick the couch.

You take beautiful pictures! Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[danimaroo]

Stop with these pictures!! You are seriously killing me with the gorgeousness!! I ADORE the picture of the lanterns and fireworks by rapunzels tower and must have stared at the tomorrow land sign for at least 5 minutes. I love the parks at night, all lit up....it's only the best thing ever!

You two had an awesome first night out! The park looked so empty and how great was hopping right on things? That's a fabulous night!

Haha thank you so much! I actually took the ones of the Tangled area with my phone because I was RUNNING and wanted to get some photos before Wishes ended! But I agree, the parks at night are just perfect.

I don't think we could have had a more perfect first night/day. Everything about it was just amazing.

Wilderness Lodge is jut so beautiful. I never had a desire to stay there because I wasn't sure I would like the "rustic" nature, but after stepping inside, and your pictures, it's gorgeous! Totally worth a visit.

How fabulous was it walking onto all those rides! That Wednesday morning, we had knocked out all of fantasyland (old and new) before noon! I love the low crowds of September!

Mmm, I'm ready to drive over to WL right now to get the magic cookie bar or the s'more cupcake... Or both!

I so agree, it's a beautiful resort worth checking out! I'm glad you actually went there after seeing the cupcake! Hahaha, I hope you enjoyed it and it wasn't dry!

CALLED IT! Although I do have a teensy tiny advantage, haha.

OH MY GOSH I FORGOT YOU HAD YET TO SEE POST-REFURB SPLASH! I'm so excited! Didn't it look so amazing? I was excited to see it looking so fresh and clean!

Okay, so those two attractions and now Matt is getting a churro? Yep, y'all are in your happy place. Hope HM and Wishes are coming up because that would be an amazing night.
I swear I typed that before scrolling down past the churro pics!

Tomorrowland at night, EEEEEE! That's a pretty bangin' score on Buzz too!

Leaving so soon??

Okay I don't like coconut, but that looks pretty darn tasty! We make them at work sometimes, but the sprinkles and pixie dust make that one look way better!

I am once again loving these VWL pics! I love the little lobby/foyer there.

Can't wait to read more!

Okay just a little tiny baby advantage, hahaha.

I KNOW! I thought about you while I was riding it after everything you'd said. IT WAS JUST AMAZING.

Haha we definitely were in our happy place. The perfect rides for the perfect night in the park! And thanks, I was just warmin' up!

Yeahhhh, the park was closing and we really needed to get back to eat some dinner before Roaring Fork closed! But we made it, so yay!

VWL was just so peaceful at night, I was a big fan!

Mmmm S'more cupcake!

I know! Now I need to try it on our next trip, but not late at night!

SO BEAUTIFUL!!! Night time...just perfect.

Yeah, I'm not big on the split stays anymore. I mean, I am glad I've done them and tried out more resorts, and I definitely couldn't afford some of the nicer places for longer than a few days...but I was glad to only have one night in a different place this trip. I didn't realize how much I'd missed the ease of that.

I'm really enjoying reading about this time before we arrived especially, because I think with all the throwing my back out/how the heck am I gonna get things packed/can I see a doctor drama right before our trip, I totally had no idea what you were up to. Or if I did know, it just didn't sink in.

I'm so glad that you loved the September crowds and that the heat wasn't too much for you. Otherwise, I might have felt a little guilty!

And Brandon is right, your pictures are just PERFECT. I feel like I'm there, and that makes me a very happy girl.

Agreedo! And yeah, Split Stays... well, I'll get to more of that in a future post, but I just wasn't liking the whole unsettled thing at all. Plus it really is so much easier to just unpack and be done and "home" for your stay.

I know, I felt so bad for you! But this is what we were doing, just having the perfect first night in the parks together. It was wonderful.

Psh, we loved it. I mean, the heat did get to us on some days (and just confirmed it a bit further that I will never go to the parks in the summer, yuck), but those crowds were glorious!

Aww thanks! Brandon's are always amazing, sooo I can't wait to see all of them in your TR!!

September crowds are awesome! You & Matt got so much done with no waits!

Congrats on getting your highest score on Buzz! I never do all that great on those rides no matter what I do.

Love all of your WL pictures. That resort is gorgeous!

I know, it was CRAZY how much we got done, and we weren't even running around or anything! We were just walking over to things and going right on them. It was AMAZING.

Thank you! I've gotten a little better about figuring out which laser is mine, hahaha. Plus if you know which targets to go after, that definitely helps!

I love WL, it's such an amazingly well-done resort.

I love the black and white photos of Pirates!

CHURROS. They are my everything.

I think I'm going to try and see Wishes from the Tangled area this summer if I can...it just looks fantastic!

Those are some GORGEOUS elevators! The Disney difference!

Also, I have Matt's "It's kind of fun to do the impossible" shirt and it's the comfiest shirt I own

Aw thank you! I didn't love how they came out in color, so I just went with black and white, haha.

Churros are AMAZZZZINNNNG. Matt's absolutely favorite and must-have on every trip!

Oh my gosh, you definitely should. No one was in that area and it was just gorgeous!

The Disney difference is just... awesome. I love how much detail they put into every little thing!

I LOVE THAT SHIRT! You have good taste, obviously, haha. It's such a well-designed shirt in my opinion.

There is almost nothing better than an empty MK, is there?

I can't wait to ride the refurbished Splash. It feels like it's been so long...my last 4 trips I was either pregnant or carrying a baby, so I haven't been on it in forever! And the few times before that, the Laughing Place water was definitely out...it will be so nice to see it again eventually!

Sounds like you guys really had an absolutely perfect first night.

Nope, I'm fairly certain there isn't. It was so amazing, especially for our first night in the parks!

You are going to LOVELOVELOVE it. I couldn't believe how amazing everything looked! I mean, the Laughing Place was just completely different than ever before!

We really did have the perfect night when I look back on it.

Yay! So happy to see your new trip review.

Aw thank you! Happy to have you here!!

Dont have a lot of time before work, but enough!

Great updates!! Glad you got on so many rides and got to warm up to the heat! Yay HM! Of course it's home to him!!!

Yay tangled area! I need to get better pictures at night, I really want to watch wishes from over there!

Amazing pcitures of everything as per usual!

Love the resort! Yay!

I love that they do those calls now, Mom and Anne got a birthday one and I was super excited, I thought it was because I'd arranged the disney florist thing for them, but it was actually just a general thing which is awesome!

YAY! So glad you dropped by and squeezed in a comment, haha.

We definitely got on all sorts of delightful classics.. and yeah, he was just so happy!

Wishes from over in that area/New Fantasyland is such a great way to see it from a different angle for sure!

Thank you so much. And yeah, WL is an amazing resort.

That call was too adorable. I'd never heard of it before, so it just made me really happy.

 

[danimaroo]

OHHH Dani you're pictures are just flawless. I want to take pictures as good as you when I grow up!! Of course since I never plan to grow up I'll just have to continue living with your's.

Haha, I STILL think you need to do D-Land Splash when you go (yeah, I read through your D-Land TR recently). I know you don't wanna, but you owe it to all your readers!!

You know what's even more surpising. That this is on off party night at MK. Usually those are SLAMMED!!! They must have known you were coming!

Totally agree about the HM FP+ line. In fact, I'm a lot nervous of all these attractions getting FP at all. Those standby times could skyrocket!

YAY for Big Thunder at night!!

Awwwwwww that Anniversary Greeting is just too precious.

Dawww thanks Rob! I like having you along for my TRs, so I can't complain about you sticking around and living through my photos, haha.

UGH NO, nope. NEVER AGAIN. That ride was creepy and not fun and I do not want to be soaked again! Matt refuses to go on it, so I'd have to go alone, haha. MAYBE if I have a change of clothes/it's not cold out this trip!

I KNOW, it was so weird! I thought for sure the park would be very busy, but it wasn't at all. I think someone knew what was up, hahaha.

Yeah, I'm intrigued to see how things go with the FP+. It is great for everyone now since you can still use normal FP machines, but once those are gone? Who knows how it'll be.

BTMRR at night is seriously the best!

And yes, I was a big fan of that message, it was adorable.

What a great first day of vacation for you!! From your first class flight to the Anniversary message waiting for you in your room and everything in between seems like it was just the best day!!!

I just love the lack of crowds in Sept and glad you were able to get on so many rides in such a short amount of time. Great pictures on Pirates and the Tangled area while Wishes was going on.

Glad you were finally able to ride Splash. I just love, love, love that ride. Pretty bummed that it will be closed while we are there in Jan. Oh well at least I have been on it a bunch of times that last 2 times we went.

Love your TR and just can't wait to read more.

I KNOW RIGHT?! I just can't believe how perfect of a first day that was. It could not have been better!

Yeah, the lack of crowds was so so amazing. We were very happy! And thank you!

Splash, oh I was so happy to be back on that ride. That's the one thing I didn't like about January - Splash is almost always closed! So sad.

Thank you again for you comment, I'm so happy you're excited to read more, haha!

I stumbled across your trip reports and video a while back, and used them as tools to convince my husband that a Disney trip with the kids is a must! We were there September 15-24th. IT WAS AMAZING!! Seriously, I feel like I owe you or something...your trip reports helped us so much in our planning! Thank you!! I'm so excited for this report since we were there at the same time!

I'm pretty sure I remember your comment on my video.. and I have to say, this comment means so much to me! I'm so happy my trip reports helped you out in planning! You are BEYOND welcome! And I'm really happy you're here for this one, as well! Who knows, maybe you'll see yourself in the background of a photo, hahaha.

Great night shots! I don't care what you say, the ones in Pirates are fantastic, great job!

Thank you so much! Pirates is a really hard ride to photograph, I'd say I was only really disappointed by Jack, haha. Darn Pirate. But thank you!

Thank you for the information on the cameras & lens. It's really time for me to invest in some better quality equipment here! haha.

Omg, Pirates, Splash, Haunted Mansion. Could there be more perfect first attractions? I'm thinking no.

Wishes going off behind Rapunzel's lanterns!!! How MAGICAL!!!!

Oh man the Roaring Fork pics are making me hungry. I have heard such great things about that Magic Cookie Bar, and my friend is obsessed with their brownies. She was a CM and claims they have the best brownies on property, so I must try one someday!

We got phone calls during #BirthdayFestivus13 too! We stayed in 3 different resorts, and got phone calls at two of them. One was Mickey and Minnie singing Happy Birthday, and the other one was Mickey thanking us for choosing to celebrate in Disney. BOTH WERE PERFECT. hahaha we listened to them SO many times. I mean, if you want to smile, listen to a voicemail from Mickey Mouse.

This trip is off to an amazing start. I can not wait to hear everything else!

Psh no problem! Let me know if you ever have more questions or need any advice!

NOPE, it was just so perfect. We had to go on our absolute favorites night one!

It WAS magical! Like I couldn't believe they were happening just as we walked up.

Roaring Fork is SO good. Oh man, and Matt in a future update got one of the brownies... let's just say he loved it.

That is so cute!~ I LOVE that they started doing that! It's just so cute and such a great way of making people happy and feel special.

Thanks Lia! And by the way, I'm working through your updates in your TR and I'm LOVING it! I promise I'll be leaving a comment here soon... Your TRs always make me so happy.

What an AMAZING arrival day you had!! It's always so nice to have AP's and be able to spend a few hours in the parks on arrival day and get a taste of the magic to set the tone for the rest of the week. And seriously, you picked probably the best lineup of first attractions ever!

So many things I will have to remember to see at nighttime! The Tangled area, the See Ya Real Soon pumpkins, etc. Ahh I can't wait! 11 days till I am back!

I know! I loved having an AP and just strolling into the park like it ain't no thang. It's the best... and I'm going to miss having an AP, wompwmop. But yeah, we had the perfect first ngiht.

I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU GUYS! You are going to have such an amazing trip!! I can't wait to see photos and a new TR from you!

I find pirates of the Caribbean to be one of the most challenging rides to photograph. Its so dim inside coupled with the fact that most of the main people have spot lights shining on them just stretches the dynamic range so far. Do you shoot RAW or jpeg on trips?

I'm glad it's not just me finding Pirates hard to take photos of. The colors a lot of times just come out... off, blergh. I shoot jpeg, though I'm actually thinking about trying RAW when we go to Disneyland next month. The only problem with RAW is obviously the amount of space it takes up... plus since I take videos, the space gets eaten up pretty quickly on my card, even though it's 32gb. I should probably just buy a second SD card, haha.

I lurked on your last TR, but as I was reading your intros I realized I had to come out of hiding for this one. I too have a couch licking dog. Her name is Lucy (as in "you got some 'splaining to do!"), and I've never understood her desire to lick the couch.

You take beautiful pictures! Looking forward to hearing more!

Aw thanks for coming out of lurkdom and saying hi!! And that's kind of awesome that you also have a couch-licking dog, hahaha. I don't get why they do it! I come home from work and see a wet spot and know that a certain dog was up on the couch licking, haha.

Thank you again, and thanks for commenting!!

 

[chipdale1986]

Wow another great trip report

I am joining in from Germany

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

I'm hoping on board. First time trip report follower!

 

[blabbermouth]

I can't believe how much you got done on your first day/night! So amazing. It did seem surprisingly empty. I sometimes find at night it seems busier than it maybe really is, not sure if it's because it's dark and you can't see as far or people are slower moving or what haha, I'm weird.

Anyway, you didn't mention how wet you got on Splash... we were in the back too, but I got SOAKED, right in the face! I'd rather have wet clothes than a wet face/hair, yeesh. Everyone just laughed at me though because I was so ticked off... but I tried to pretend to be happy.

Love your pics, as usual, and the fireworks through the Tangled area, so cool!

I totally think WL is a wintery kind of resort. I should definitely check out Paradise Inn sometime. We saw Mt Rainier while landing in SEA, and it was phenomenal!!! And it's fairly local for us too

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Wow what a perfect first night in MK-- so many walk ons!

We were nervous about the humidity/heat too, as we've been twice in January only but we found it tolerable! I mean, yeah, it was HOT but we found ways to deal with it and the low crowds made it worth it! We definitely want to come back in September!

 

[danimaroo]

Wow what a perfect first night in MK-- so many walk ons!

We were nervous about the humidity/heat too, as we've been twice in January only but we found it tolerable! I mean, yeah, it was HOT but we found ways to deal with it and the low crowds made it worth it! We definitely want to come back in September!

Yep, it was a fabulous way to kick off our vacation!!

Yeah, it was tolerable most days, though there were a few that were just straight up brutal! But we loved the low crowds so so much, it was a perfect time to visit!

I can't believe how much you got done on your first day/night! So amazing. It did seem surprisingly empty. I sometimes find at night it seems busier than it maybe really is, not sure if it's because it's dark and you can't see as far or people are slower moving or what haha, I'm weird.

Anyway, you didn't mention how wet you got on Splash... we were in the back too, but I got SOAKED, right in the face! I'd rather have wet clothes than a wet face/hair, yeesh. Everyone just laughed at me though because I was so ticked off... but I tried to pretend to be happy.

Love your pics, as usual, and the fireworks through the Tangled area, so cool!

I totally think WL is a wintery kind of resort. I should definitely check out Paradise Inn sometime. We saw Mt Rainier while landing in SEA, and it was phenomenal!!! And it's fairly local for us too

I know, isn't that crazy?! And we were walking pretty slowly/not in a rush since we were just soaking things in! It was just nice and quiet around there that night, I loved it. I think sometimes it can feel busier, though nothing is as busy as mid-day, ugh.

Haha, we didn't really get wet at all that time! That's why Matt likes the back way more than the front. He is nooooot a fan of getting soaked, especially after our disastrous trip on Disneyland's Splash Mountain, hahaha.

WL is a great place to be during Christmas I bet!! Paradise is amazing. The trails and view of the mountain are just to die for, and the wild flowers are beautiful, too! You should check it out!

I'm hoping on board. First time trip report follower!

Awesome, welcome aboard! I hope you enjoy my trip report!!

Wow another great trip report

I am joining in from Germany

I am so happy to have you here, all the way from Germany, YAY!!! I hope you enjoy!!

 

[jwwi]

Wow what fabulous pictures on POTC. Just so good. There is nothing more magical than walking on so many rides. And to see Wishes and the castle show too. I have to say that the magic bar looks so good, and your pictures of the room make the room look as homey as it feels.

 

[danimaroo]

Chapter 6: "We made it in time for the opening show?!"
Day Two: September 12th, 2013

We woke up this morning at 7am, and we were kind of struggling. I mean, our bodies were thinking it was 4am, so obviously, we were pooped! My back was also bothering me for some reason, but I got my butt out of bed and ready for a fun day. Ibuprofen was the hero this morning (as it seems to be on most Disney trips), and we were both out the door by 7:30!

We headed over to the boat launch area, and I stopped to take a photo of the lovely DVC Mickey hedge outside of the Villas.

I like that they have these, and it makes me happy to be a DVC member finally!

We went in through the WL lobby, even though I thought there was probably a quicker way to get down there... but it was nice walking through and having it be relatively quiet on our walk!

Lucky for us, a boat was waiting to whisk us away! We just had the BEST luck with these boats to Magic Kingdom, so I couldn't complain... It helped that it was a gorgeous morning, too.

We hopped off the boat, and walked up expecting the park to be open... but no! We actually got through the gates and the opening show was JUST about to start!!

I was SO excited because I'd never seen the Rope Drop show at Magic Kingdom... I know, so weird. I just hadn't seen it because of either being in the park BEFORE it opened for ADRs, or just not getting to MK in time for the show!

But this time, it was lining up for us to finally see it.

Even better, there was seriously no crowd, so we were able to just stroll right up and get a good viewing spot!

I have to say, I LOVED the opening show! It was the perfect way to start our adventures this morning, so needless to say, I was a happy lady. I got a LOT of great video from it, and I have to say I geeked out when Mickey welcomed us all into the park. That is MICKEY MOUSE, people.

Soon enough, the park was opening, and we were headin' right on down Main Street!

As we slowly made our way down the street, I saw this Stitch sitting on a trash can, and it just cracked me up! I wanted to basically steal him and have him go on lots of rides with me, meet characters... I mean, we'd have a grand ol' time together, no? Just sayin'.

We made our way on over to Crystal Palace, because we had a breakfast reservation to get to!

We decided to see if we could check in a bit early, since our reservation was for 8:35, but it was around 8:10-8:15. Luckily for us, Crystal Palace wasn't busy at all and we were brought in very quickly.

When we got to our seats, there was Mickey confetti on the table, yay!

I took a photo of Matt looking like a grumpagus, but he wasn't, haha. But you can see the lack of people in the restaurant!

Our waiter came by and took our drink orders, and we decided to go get food since no characters were nearby.

Matt's plate had breakfast pizza, pineapple, scrambled eggs, bacon, and some Puffed French Toast, of course.

I went with some melon, breakfast pizza, bacon, potatoes, and Puffed French Toast!

Soon enough, Pooh made his rounds and greeted us, being all cute and stuff.

Pooh's handler offered to take a photo of the both of us with him, as well.

There was a backup on characters, so we ran up for some more food.

Matt went with a Mickey waffle, bacon, cinnamon roll, and I think a croissant.

I went with a Mickey waffle, breakfast lasagna, breakfast pizza, and I think more potatoes?

I LOVE MICKEY WAFFLES SO MUCH. They are seriously the best. The breakfast lasagna was just okay. I was pretty full, but I did like the banana portion of it. I always love breakfast pizza, so that was pretty tasty as well.

Both Piglet AND Tigger showed up at the same time as us, and they were ADORABLE. I decided to take a selfie with both of them, because, WHY NOT?

I even bounced around with Tigger, which maaay or may not show up in the Trip video.

We finished up eating our breakfast and paid, and Eeyore luckily stopped by before we left!

We said goodbye to Eeyore and headed on out to go play in the Magic Kingdom! We really enjoyed our breakfast at Crystal Palace. It is always a must-do for us on every trip, regardless of whether or not we're on the Dining Plan. The characters are adorable and it's always the perfect way to kick off a morning in Magic Kingdom.

Continued in next post​

 

[danimaroo]

Chapter 7: Clearly, everyone is hanging out in Fantasyland... or not.
Day Two: September 12th, 2013

We left Crystal Palace and decided to walk through the Castle, back towards Fantasyland.

As you can see, even though the park had only been open an hour, it wasn't very busy in the hub. I mean, people were definitely coming into the park, but nothing too crazy at all.

We figured everyone must be over in Fantasyland, so we turned around and continued on.

I love the beautiful mosaic in the middle of the castle... I just think it would be even better if they added a walk-through of the castle, like Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland... buuuuut there is a very popular restaurant inside of the castle, so I guess I can let it slide.

We got through the castle and saw this...

Where WAS everyone?! The park had been open for an hour, with Extra Magic Hours, and it was still looking like this?! Matt and I were totally dumbfounded, especially since this was the park to avoid.

We continued on over to New Fantasyland, which was equally quiet. A totally different scene than every time we went there in January!

We both decided that Little Mermaid was a must-do, as we were both big fans of it during our last trip!

It was literally a walk-on, and I took lots of adorable video of that darn adorable ride. It's just so great! I'm just glad we were able to hop on it without a wait...

Aaand side note. We ordered The Little Mermaid on blu-ray because I've been DYING to watch it. I hadn't seen it since I was a little kid, so obviously I really needed to see it again. So we watched it and I have to say... I totally remembered that movie differently from when I was a kid! The Giant Scary Ursula scene, when I was a kid, seemed to last WAY longer than it actually does in the movie. Also, I've learned to have way more respect for Ariel. Girl wanted to explore and do her own thang, and for that, I'd give Ariel some daps. Girl knew what she wanted and went right after it.

ANYWAYYYYY...

We decided to head out of there and wander over to Storybook Circus... and the path from New Fantasyland to Storybook was finally open, Hallelujah!

It had been blocked off in January, which was a pain when you didn't realize it and walked all the way over, to only have to turn around and go aaallll the way around to get there, wompwomp. I realize that was a totally ridiculous explanation, but um, that's what you're getting.

We both realized that last trip, we NEVER went inside of Big Top Souvenirs! So obviously, we needed to go inside and check things out.

The theming in there is just delightful! We took a look at their snacks, and of course we both geeked out over the adorableness of all the Halloween goodies.

We thought it'd be fun to shop around a bit, since we weren't in any rush with the park being so quiet. It was nice having the freedom to do some shopping! I came across the cutest Halloween Minnie ears EVER. I normally am not a Minnie ears kind of girl, but these were way too perfect! I mean, they had the Haunted Mansion-esque print on the ears, they were orange and black, they were PERFECT.

Matt also spotted the Sulley Duffy outfit, which I'd mentioned I wanted like 589,283 times before our trip.

And yes, I gave in and bought my own Duffy a few months after Matt had bought his during our last Disney trip. I couldn't help it!

Here is the most adorable Duffy as Sulley (photo taken when we got home from our trip, with a photobomb from the lovely Anya):

Yeah, worth it.

Anyway, I got to the register and paid (and remembered to use our AP discount, WOO). Matt had disappeared for a moment, then excitedly came back over, telling me he'd found the perfect lanyard for him to wear... and IT WAS!

I bought that, as well, and we walked outside, where he put on his perfect lanyard...

The man loves Oswald!

I also put on my brand new ears, and Matt took a few photos of me with them on. I was in love with them.

After our little photo shoot, we made our way back over to Fantasyland.

I even spotted a Survey Marker on my way over!

Aaand it was still really, really quiet. I was just not understanding what the heck was going on this morning, but I was loving it.

I remember it was starting to get a bit hot in the sun, but our Frogg Toggs came to the rescue! Well, they at least helped with wiping away the sweat.

I know, probably TMI, but for some reason, my face sweats like crazy when I'm hot. Rest of my body can be okay, but my face? MELTING. But I was battling the heat and sweat with my Frogg Togg! Oh, and in case you don't know what a Frogg Togg is, it's this towel made of some special fabric that when you wet, it stays cold. We originally planned to use them to cool off, but as the trip went on, I just used it to wipe the sweat off my face so I didn't constantly look like I'd just stuck my face in a pool of water.

Anyway, we finally got over to Peter Pan, where a 10 minute wait was posted. TEN MINUTES, and it was definitely later in the morning.

While we waited in line, we both noticed that the man in front of us was COVERED in Disney tattoos, head to toe... and I mean literally covered. He even had tattoos behind his ears! So of course, I discreetly took photos of him... I'm sorry, but it was too impressive not to.

I told him I really liked his tattoos, and he said thank you, and we moved along. They weren't even crappy tattoos either, all were well-done! I know a lot of people don't like tattoos, but I think some are pretty cool. This guy had taken his love for Disney to a whole new level, and that, I can respect.

Next, we continue our fun attraction-packed morning in Magic Kingdom, and for the first time ever, I experience an attraction that EVERY Disney fan should experience.

Continued in next post​

 

[danimaroo]

Wow what fabulous pictures on POTC. Just so good. There is nothing more magical than walking on so many rides. And to see Wishes and the castle show too. I have to say that the magic bar looks so good, and your pictures of the room make the room look as homey as it feels.

Thank you so much! And I agree, we were just so happy to be there with no one around. It felt like we had the park to ourselves. It was a perfect first night in Disney.

And yeah, that dessert was very good! The room was SUPER cozy and I really enjoyed the decor in there. I would LOVE to stay there during Christmas time!

 

[courtneybelle]

I'm so glad you got to see the opening show! Not going to lie, if I'm having a tough time getting out of bed in the morning, I will put it on to perk me up...

Love your shirt!

Your Tigger selfie is so cute!

I've never seen the area in front of Gaston's that empty...that's so awesome!!!

SULLEY DUFFY. OH MY GOSH. I'm melting. Definitely the best Duffy costume I've ever seen!