The Tweet Repeat: Live Twitter Trip Report Recap - Lots of Photos (Part 31 11/1/09)

[scoot241]

Originally Posted by MyMuse

I finally got here! I did read your TR from links on Twitter, but I reread the entire thread, so I can get the complete picture in my head.

Wow! what a fun time so far! So much to comment on, be prepared.

And let me repeat what others have been saying: Hailey is GORGEOUS and your pictures are AMAZING.

I thought I loved my camera (cool digital point & shoot), but those photos are WOW! I haven't gone to the SLR world yet. So crisp & clear.

The Spectro pics are my favorite (other than Hailey of course ). Spectro is on the top of my list of things to do on my trip. I'll have to keep in mind to stay near Casey's.

I totally get meeting Sleeping Beauty as that was the main topic for my niece's bday trip in May. I'm glad it happened, though she wasn't at Akershaus.

The bronze statues in front of the Castle are the coolest. I thought I took more pics of them on my last trip, but could only find one. I must have been capitvated by Walt & Mickey statue and the Castle. It's one of my missions for December to take pics of them.

Oooh, the murals are awesome. I like your pics way better than mine, but I'm going to try to take better pics of them next time. I do have a CRT for December and I do feel a little odd about going without a child in tow, but I'm going to do it anyway. I always wanted to eat at the Castle.

To round up MK...I love Philarmagic!! I thought it was great. I can't wait to do it again....multiple times.


I totally agree with you about Nemo. The show is just brillant; way better than FOTLK! I don't even think I need to see FOTLK again. I'm going to see Nemo though. I also sat to the left side of the catwalk and it was a perfect place to sit. I love everything about the show; everything meshes together so well - actors, costumes, puppets, the singing.....wonderful!

For DTD, I'm definitely going to get a Potatoe Head parts. I have never done since I always think "how am I going to get this home?" I have a car and therefore I will stop at a post office and mail myself a big 'o box. Problem solved. I did get the small box from the NYC store when I was there a few months back. But, somehow, it doesn't compare.

Ok, I think I exhausted all my topics.

I look forward to more!

Thank you!

Spectro is by far my favorite parade; these new "block party" parades aren't too bad though. The normal day parades, to me, seem like they could use something fresh.

If Sleeping Beauty hadn't been at CRT, we would have gone to Toontown and waited in the princess meet and greet line. Having her at CRT took the princess meet and greet off of our things to do list.

I actually have a small version of the B'rer Rabbit bronze statue that's about eight inches tall with the base. Found it on eBay, but they used to sell it at the Art of Disney. Always thought they were really cool, and I'm very glad the pictures I took came out so well.

I have pictures from all the parts of the mosaic inside the castle, but the first one was the one that came out the best since it was next to the opening on the Main Street side.

We are big Philharmagic fans. Had we had time, we probably would have done it a 3rd time.

I'm with you; FotLK is something I would only need to do every once in a while. Nemo is on a completely different level. Aladdin in DCA is on a similar level.

We bought the $20 Potato Head box (as opposed to the $60 or so Potato Head plastic case) and just left it all in the box and left the box in the bag and stuffed it somewhere in our luggage. It wasn't very difficult to bring home. The box idea is a good one too.

Time to take a shot at an update.

[scoot241]

Coming out of Cosmic Ray's, my mom really wants to ride the train. Yes, of all the things to do in the Magic Kingdom, my mother's favorite might be the train that you can't see anything from for half the ride. Well, the nearest train station is in Toontown, so we head over there.



Toontown is all decorated for Halloween. Before getting to the station, we take a walk through Minnie's house, then Mickey's house. Hailey really likes Minnie's house because you can play with the stove and other things. Both houses were rather crowded, so it was tough taking pictures.







After visiting their houses, we went to the train station and rode the train one and one-third times around the park. Why one and one-third? We wanted to get off at Main Street, but also wanted to ride the entire way around the park.

9/9/2009 1:46 PM EDT When did they start playing Pocahontas on the train between Frontierland and Toontown?

I really don't remember hearing it, but apparently Pocahontas has been playing on the train for quite some time.

Now that we're on Main Street, it's time to take Hailey back for a nap. Mom wants to stay and watch the parade because she knows one of the girls dancing in it, so she does. Dad wants to go find a photo frame he saw at the Contemporary and didn't see anywhere else so far. My sister goes with my dad. So my wife and I head back to Pop with Hailey. But first, we had to do one thing.

9/9/2009 2:13 PM EDT Got Hailey's birthday fun card! Quite simple, especially at 2pm

For some reason, the woman at the window thought we were rolling up at 2 in the afternoon to get free admission. Nice try, but no thanks.

We went back to Pop, put Hailey to bed, and hung around for a while. Eventually, everyone else showed back up. My mom's trip was rather uneventful. She saw the girl she knew in the parade, then came back. My dad and sister, on the other hand, were a different story. When they left, the monorail was not running. So they walked over to the Contemporary. When they got there, they found out the monorail was not running because they were doing work involving scaffolding in the Contemporary. Fantasia had the frame my dad was looking for; however, they only had one left and it was broken. He asked the CM there if they had any more; they didn't, but after searching inventory across the entire property, the Poly did. According to the system, the frame is discontinued. Since the monorail isn't running, my dad and sister found a temporary bus to the Poly. At the Poly, they found the frame and bought it. Finally, the monorail was up and running again, so they hopped on, headed back to MK and rode the bus back to Pop.

We hung out for a while at Pop while Hailey got a nice long nap. I switched back to my 30mm lens.

9/9/2009 4:24 PM EDT Wife got the tie-dye cheesecake. Tried a bite: it's rather good.

9/9/2009 4:54 PM EDT 9/9/09 pin: http://twitpic.com/h493b

Finally, Hailey got up and we gathered everything and headed back to MK.

Right as we're walking into MK, the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It Party is going on in the hub. We head down and get a nice spot.







Woody keeps showing up everywhere.



We had a few rides in mind; on the way to the first, we stopped by Cinderella's Wishing Well. Hailey wasn't very interested in taking pictures, however.

After the wishing well, we headed back to Toontown for:



Hailey LOVED the Barnstormer. We rode it twice because there was such a short line. After the second time, it looked like the line was starting to build up.

9/9/2009 6:32 PM EDT Back in MK. Stopped by the wishing well and rode the Barnstormer so far.

Next up on the "doing things we haven't gotten to yet in MK" tour, the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. It was decent, but I'm not sure how often I need to do this in the future. I tried to text a joke in but it didn't go through. Maybe it was because it was a joke Pal Mickey told me a few minutes prior.

Following the Laugh Floor, we made our way across the hub and back into Adventureland for the Jungle Cruise. I know it's corny, but I'm always amused by the Jungle Cruise. This barrel can be found on end of the dock.





The best part was when my dad got involved, though. Near the end of the cruise, Megan (our skipper) started going into a routine about how to become a skipper (get a degree in nutrition) and how proud her parents were... of her sister... she's a doctor. She then started talking about needing vaccines. My dad added "which you could get from your sister?" and Megan just busted out laughing. It was pretty funny.





9/9/2009 7:35 PM EDT Monsters Inc. and Jungle Cruise. Had a great skipper named Megan. Time for dinner.

Dinner tonight was at Pecos Bill's. We sat on the stools with the backs cut off of them. Not all that comfortable. We all had the standard burgers and fries. Nothing to write home about, but not bad either.

We must have been talking about Hollywood Studios at some point (we'll be going there tomorrow), because I posted this randomly on Twitter:

9/9/2009 8:23 PM EDT Still can't completely get MGM out of my Disney vocabulary.

Once finished, we planned to see the Tiki Room. Along the way, I took a picture of the Pirates sign at night:



However, Tiki Room closed at 8:00 PM. We'll just have to save it for Friday. At this point, we wanted...

9/9/2009 8:34 PM EDT One more thing tonight: Mickey bar.

You'd think this would be easy in the Magic Kingdom, right? Wrong. All the carts were closed at this point, and they don't sell them in any of the stores.

My wife remembered seeing Mickey Bars at the hotel. So...

9/9/2009 9:00 PM EDT Looks like we are getting Mickey bars at the hotel. Kinda lame; MK packs every Mickey bar location up at night.

While waiting for the bus, we watched some of Wishes from the bus stop. It finally arrived, and we headed back to Pop Century. Upon arriving, we got Mickey Bars from the food court, refilled our mugs and settled down at a table. We gave Hailey her bar:







I think you can tell how she liked it. We finished up and headed out.

9/9/2009 10:31 PM EDT Back in the room for the night. Hollywood Studios tomorrow.

Coming up: shows, shows, and more shows

[VBsHustla]

Love the updates! I love the photos of your daughter eating the Mickey bar! Excellent shots. The one of Mickey and Donald at that great dance party is also an awesome pic.

[scoot241]

Originally Posted by VBsHustla

Love the updates! I love the photos of your daughter eating the Mickey bar! Excellent shots. The one of Mickey and Donald at that great dance party is also an awesome pic.

The dance parties are pretty cool; something different at least. I did notice CMs picking the streamers out of the trees in the hub afterward though. They may not appreciate the dance party as much.

[Sleepingbooty]

Great updates! But wait, you got the pin - I want to see it! Picture please

[scoot241]

9/9/09 pin linked here: http://twitpic.com/h493b

That's from my iPhone camera. Didn't take one with my other one. The link in a post earlier linked to Disney's pin site with a picture too.

[scoot241]

9/10/2009 8:20 AM EDT Getting ready to go to MG... Hollywood Studios.

When I'm talking and not thinking about it, I still call the Studios "MGM". Will I ever stop calling it that?

The entrance makes sure I know what the park is called today.



We got to the park a little after 9:00, delayed breakfast yet again and headed straight for Toy Story Mania.

9/10/2009 9:33 AM EDT 30 minute wait for Toy Story. Not my idea.

I wanted to FastPass TSM because of the 30 minute wait; everyone else wanted to wait in the standby line. Good thing they did, because the standby line is very well decorated, and you don't even get to see Mr. Potato Head unless you are in the standby line.







Toy Story Mania was a whole lot of fun and everyone really enjoyed it. I tried looking for all the triggers for the high-value targets for each scene. I probably was looking a little too hard, because my wife beat me by 100 points.

Coming out of TSM, we were planning to go get some breakfast until we passed by Voyage of the Little Mermaid and it was seating.

9/10/2009 10:04 AM EDT Don't think the TSM wait was actually 30 minutes. Really cool ride; we got fastpasses to ride again later. Little Mermaid is about to start.



I don't think any of us had actually watched this before Of course, Hailey enjoyed it. I didn't really appreciate going "under water" with my camera in my lap, and the lasers are very dated now. The actors were quite good, however. Overall, this isn't something I need to do every trip.

Now can we get breakfast? No! Playhouse Disney Live on Stage is now seating!

Hailey watches Playhouse Disney all the time, so this show is right up her alley. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins, and Tigger and Pooh.







At this point, it's after 11:00 AM. We are definitely stopping to eat, but...

9/10/2009 11:26 AM EDT Early lunch at ABC Comissary. We always seem to eat lunch here, probably because it's inside. Selection isn't all that great though.

9/10/2009 11:33 AM EDT Oh and before this, we walked right out of Little Mermaid and right into Playhouse Disney. It was alright, but Hailey really liked it.

Hollywood Studios needs some better dining overall. I know lots of people complain about Magic Kingdom's dining, but I think Hollywood Studios is worse. We had trouble finding something to eat for lunch, period. We didn't want pizza because we're eating at Mama Melrose for dinner. We didn't want burgers and such. I think everyone ended up getting the chicken cordon bleu, but removed various parts of it. I ate it as is, but I think everyone else got it without ham. It was either this or curry (not really something to eat before going to walk around a theme park for hours again), fried fish, or a burger. We ate until we were full, but we were really looking forward to dinner after this meal hoping we would be eating something better.

9/10/2009 11:36 AM EDT I think people believe DDP is so much food because they've been walking around all the time and their body isn't as hungry.

Coming up: more shows!

[scoot241]

After leaving the ABC Commissary, we headed back toward Sunset Boulevard.





My dad, my sister, and I grabbed FastPasses for Tower of Terror, then:

9/10/2009 12:31 PM EDT I do believe Fantasmic has made an impact on the crowds today. Waiting for the 12:45 Beauty and the Beast.







It was a decent show, but another dated one in my opinion. Hailey really liked it, especially when Gaston poked his head out from stage right at the end and waved. Again, the performers were really good, but the large characters (Cogsworth, Lumiere, etc.) look outdated.

Afterward, we split up for a little while.

9/10/2009 1:32 PM EDT 3 of us fastpassed Tower of Terror while the rest went to HISTK playground.

We really flew through the line, so I hardly got any pictures at all. Best one of the bunch:



Tower remains my favorite ride in DHS. The theming here is top notch, and the attraction is extremely immersive. And I absolutely love when the elevator moves horizontal. It's a shame that the other parks with ToT don't have the horizontal part. Instead, you drop right after the window scene. Still a good ride, but not as good as the original right here in DHS.

Getting through Tower was really quick, even with spending a few minutes in the gift shop. My sister got a couple of shot glasses, then she, my dad and I headed back to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground to meet the rest of the group.

When we got there, my mom was sitting in the shade and my wife and Hailey were in the playground. Hailey didn't want to come out! To us, it's the HISTK playground (yuck), but to her I guess it's just a bunch of gigantic things which must look like a lot of fun.

Once we finally got Hailey out of the playground, we walked over to MuppetVision!





Until Philharmagic came along, this was my favorite of the 3D movies. It's still quite excellent. Hailey knows the Muppets thanks to a video I found online of The Muppets at Walt Disney World. This video is probably 15 years old now, but it was a good way to show her WDW and the Muppets. Needless to say, she really liked it. Of course, the rest of us did too. However, I did have one complaint:

9/10/2009 2:42 PM EDT MuppetVision was great as always, but can we please get a new print of the film? The number of marks were extremely distracting.

Fortunately, the D23 Expo answered my plea!

We really zig-zagged around the park today; we headed back up front for Block Party Bash.

9/10/2009 11:50 AM EDT Just when you thought the sorceror's hat couldn't get any worse... http://twitpic.com/h7ufm

The block party took up all of Hollywood Boulevard from the Crossroads up to the BAH. Very fun, although I'd imagine it would be extremely difficult to leave the park while this is going on. Hailey danced in a group with one of the CMs.



Woody and Jesse are everywhere in WDW. Seems like you can't get away from them sometimes!





Coming up: a repeat visit and One Man's Dream

[annnewjerz]

Great updates, Scott! ToT is my favorite ride (only in DHS, of course---remember the official 1 per park rule? ) I've got to say though, it doesn't look like you really needed the CP filter for your trip after all, so I'm sure you are glad you didn't bother getting one. All of your skies look nice and blue, not blown out at all.

Can't wait to read more!!

[scoot241]

Originally Posted by annnewjerz

Great updates, Scott! ToT is my favorite ride (only in DHS, of course---remember the official 1 per park rule? ) I've got to say though, it doesn't look like you really needed the CP filter for your trip after all, so I'm sure you are glad you didn't bother getting one. All of your skies look nice and blue, not blown out at all.

Can't wait to read more!!

I did pretty well without the CP; I'll also admit to adjusting the blue saturation level in Lightroom where I could without affecting the rest of the picture though.

We don't have too much left here; the rest of DHS day, one more full day and departure day.

[VBsHustla]

Yay! So pleased to see that my fav place, MGM, is the star of this update. However, I'm now desperately craving TSM, the Tower (completely agree on the horizontal motion - love hearing those doors at the top whooshing open!), and Muppets 3D.

[scoot241]

Originally Posted by VBsHustla

Yay! So pleased to see that my fav place, MGM, is the star of this update. However, I'm now desperately craving TSM, the Tower (completely agree on the horizontal motion - love hearing those doors at the top whooshing open!), and Muppets 3D.

Maybe it was the amount of back and forth around the park that we did, but MGM is really lacking in the shade department. I think we were the hottest we were all week at the Studios.

[UncleOrville]

Originally Posted by scoot241

Love all the recent updates! This is such a great photo! You'll have to submit it to the baby photo section of her high school yearbook!

[Kurby]

what kind of camera do you use? you're pics are always so clear and great

[scoot241]

Originally Posted by Kurby

what kind of camera do you use? you're pics are always so clear and great

It's a Canon XSi digital SLR.