UPDATED! I am Your Host, Your Ghost Host. Tricks, Treats and Toddler in October 2011

[exwdwcm]

Originally Posted by TinkerbellLuvr7

I went to Ohana for NYE and it was still the bread pudding!!!

Thanks Megan. That's so funny, because as of late, I've seen other people post it is still there. So weird how rumors get started, i guess!

Originally Posted by MickeyLover20

Just found your TR today and am caught up...loving it so far! Can't wait to hear (read) about the rest of your trip. Will seems like such a sweet little boy...I can't believe how good he is, not wanting to get out and run around and explore, you are very lucky.

Thanks for joining in the fun! He is such a sweetheart, I love him to pieces! He is so good! I think we only had one melt down this entire trip, which was so nice! The midday nap really helped him I think.

[exwdwcm]

Tuesday, October 18th- Part 3


Time for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!!!



We left off with us just wrapping up our 5pm dinner at O'hana. We took the monorail over to the MK for the party.




You can see the clouds and how empty it was here

Alan and I passed on the costumes, we just simply had so much packed already, there wasn’t room. So we get to the MK, get our bracelets and get in. The lines are somewhat long to get in, but not too bad. It is rainy too. We love the spooky feel of the MK!!! Awesome. So it continues to sprinkle and we are getting pretty disappointed our party will be a wash out, but we don our rain jackets, ponchos and carry on. It is about 6;30pm when we enter. Will wants to do HM, so we head that way. Love the special lighting and fog. He loves all the graveyard stuff.


As we exit HM, it really starts pouring. So we gear up again and head to see Mickey in the front of the park. I figured that would get us inside for a while. There are so many strollers and people on the porch, seeking shelter from the rain, you can hardly move. But we get inside and it is empty. Hardly any line for Mickey.
So we are waiting in line, about 10 minute wait. We get in to meet Mickey and Minnie and have a ball with pictures. Will loves it.




You can see how wet we are in the last pic. I had put on my hat because my hair was a mess. I have naturally curly hair, so it turns into a frizz ball in the rain. Alan is actually smiling in this pic- he hates having his pic taking, so it was nice to see him smiling and having a good time despite the rain!
The rain has slowed down when we exit, it is like 7:30pm now. We decide to hit some treat trails. William really wants candy. So we head towards the one in TL near Buzz. We decide to stop and ride Buzz too. Next we head to the treat trail near the tea cups. We ride Pooh and Dumbo with hardly any lines at all. The rain has really cleared people out or they aren’t doing the rides. We do the werther’s trail near Pinnochio’s Village Haus twice! Yum! Now there is no more rain, just drizzle every now and then. We head to Peter Pan, again, no line!
The first parade was apparently delayed by like 20 minutes due to the rain. Good thing we were planning to watch the second one. The bad news, we are trapped. We’ve walked down towards Liberty Square, but the parade is blocking us, so we just do HM again. WE also get the HM picture and there was like no one in line. I don’t think folks realized what it was. You can see some of the rain on the photo from the lens even.



Then William wants to ride HM again. Yep, 3rd time tonight. Then we hit the treat trail by Tiana’s boat. We actually do this one twice. After the parade has cleared, we go to grab spots for fireworks near the hub. It is empty. We pretty much have our choice of spots. We find a spot on the curb, lean back and wait. We managed to walk up just like 15 minutes before and get a prime spot. We could even stay sitting down and still see, that is how empty it was. No one to block our view! We enjoyed the fireworks show a lot!


We have a little time before the second parade, so we hit the treat trail back by Splash Mountain, I had heard this one was good- three stops! We did it and got a ton of candy and I saw where the Seven Dwarves were stationed. Still a pretty long line for them. One CM on the treat trail was so funny, as the trail split off, he was trying to get us to go his way and said the other CM was only handing out broccoli!



So with treats in hand, we head to grab a spot for the parade. I think we hit every treat trail there was. We find a good spot in front of the Golden Horseshoe Review area. I take Will inside to see the dance party. He doesn’t want to dance or anything, so we leave. Once we get outside, he starts crying saying he wants to go back in. So Alan takes him in. I get a text from Julie (mousescrapper) that her and her hubby are nearby- we had planned to take in the parade together. I tell them I have a great spot for us and they meet us. I lay down our ponchos to get a dry spot for all of us to sit. We get the ghost popcorn bucket for Will too. So we sit talking, eating popcorn and just enjoying each other.

The parade is at least 10 minutes late and no headless horseman. Boo- I was so looking forward to that! We absolutely adored the parade. It is my favorite one now. I took some video and photos.





[img]
After the fabulous parade, we say our good byes to Julie and Matt- who looked great in their HM bride and groom costumes. In fact, as we left, folks were coming up to them and asking to pose in pics with them. She said that happened all night long- how fun!



Will is fading fast, so we hit one more treat trail and head out- it is about 11:25pm, so we did pretty good. William is so flexible for us on vacation- he always is a trooper- getting up early, staying up late etc. The key is the midday break and nap for him. I took a few pics on the way out- we actually caught the rest of the parade near Main St on the way out.


So we walk back to BLT (have I mentioned I LOVE this easy walk?) and we are all tucked in bed about midnight. I was very disappointed we didn’t catch more characters, but we didn’t make it a priority and with the rain, I wasn’t sure where some had moved to indoors. With it being our first MNSSHP, I know what to expect next time and will plan better. We did consider attending a second party later in the week, but decided not to due to the cost. The characters we really missed and had planned to get were Pooh and friends, so we missed them. I didn’t realize it was the only time you can catch the princesses with the princes too- or else we might have done them too after we saw Mickey. Oh well, you live and learn! We did have a great time, even with the rain and made a huge candy haul! I was impressed with the candy, it was mostly good high quality candy. I had read on the boards how it was crap sometimes. But we scored with good stuff this year.

[tlenzendorf]

I really love the party. I think it was my favorite thing out of our past 3 trips!You guys got a nice amount of candy, too! We missed Minnie and Mickey in their costumes. There is just SO much to do it's amazing that you can't get it done in 5 hours. I wish we would have done a second party, but with the cost we didn't either.

[Moodyzblu]

Sorry about the rain .. that happened to us one year for the MNSSHP and it was gross. The boys little treat bags were full of water and it just kept raining on us. Luckily we went back the next year and NO rain at all.

Loving your report !

[khertz]

That sucks about the rain, but it looks like in the end it made for a better party night! That picture of the people (or lack of people!) in front of the Castle is just unbelievable! I have seen and heard lots of complaints about the kind of candy they give out too, but it looks like y'all got some good stuff. Love the pics of Will with Mickey & Minnie in their costumes! I was already thinking about maybe doing a party on our trip this year, and your experience has me leaning towards doing it. I'm just so worried because I have no idea how DS will tolerate staying up so late, even if we didn't stay for the whole party, because he goes to bed so early right now. I guess that's one of those things we'll have to wait & see about when it gets closer.

Great update!

[exwdwcm]

Originally Posted by tlenzendorf

I really love the party. I think it was my favorite thing out of our past 3 trips!You guys got a nice amount of candy, too! We missed Minnie and Mickey in their costumes. There is just SO much to do it's amazing that you can't get it done in 5 hours. I wish we would have done a second party, but with the cost we didn't either.

I know, I think the MNSSHP is my favorite special event of all time. The parade is just amazing. I wish we had seen more characters, but oh well. Next time we will try doing two parties!

Originally Posted by Moodyzblu

Sorry about the rain .. that happened to us one year for the MNSSHP and it was gross. The boys little treat bags were full of water and it just kept raining on us. Luckily we went back the next year and NO rain at all.

Loving your report !

The rain was a bummer, but we carried on. Usually the rain doesn't bother us since it means lower crowds for rides, but since we had hoped to meet characters outside, watch the parade and all, it made all of that a little painful. But still had a great time. So glad you got a rain free visit!

Originally Posted by khertz

That sucks about the rain, but it looks like in the end it made for a better party night! That picture of the people (or lack of people!) in front of the Castle is just unbelievable! I have seen and heard lots of complaints about the kind of candy they give out too, but it looks like y'all got some good stuff. Love the pics of Will with Mickey & Minnie in their costumes! I was already thinking about maybe doing a party on our trip this year, and your experience has me leaning towards doing it. I'm just so worried because I have no idea how DS will tolerate staying up so late, even if we didn't stay for the whole party, because he goes to bed so early right now. I guess that's one of those things we'll have to wait & see about when it gets closer.

Great update!

We actually got fabulous candy, lots of high end chocolate, skittles etc. We went through the werther's stop twice since the apple caramel candy hadn't been released to the public yet. We always make Will take a long nap that day before the party. So maybe have the morning be a rest day, sleep in, do some pool time, take a big nap before the party. Will has no problems staying up late though, so he does great. But i agree, if you think you won't last past 9 or 10, might not be worth it. But it is a great time! Worth considering for sure. Even if he didn't stay up, and sleeps in the stroller, you guys could enjoy some of it??

[exwdwcm]

Wednesday, October 19

We all slept in until 8:30am after our late night. So dead tired! Finally got up and ate some cereal in the room. We were dressed and out the door by 9:45 to hit blizzard beach. I’ve done BB before, but it has been years ago. Neither Alan nor Will had been. Will loves our water park at home- we have season tickets (a must in TEXAS). It actually turned out to be sunny this morning! We got in the car and drove over and got a front parking space- not that crowded that early. We had to buy tickets, but I did get a discount, I forget if it was an AP or DVC discount, I’d have to look. But it saved a few bucks. Man the one day ticket is pricey though, ouch!

We headed in and realized we had to rent towels at $2 a pop. What a rip off. I just assumed towels were provided. I had only brought one towel from the room. Oops. Rookie water park mistake. We also rented a locker, I just feared leaving my iphone and credit card in our bag on the chair. The locker was $12, but you get $5 back when you return the key. Still pricey. And that was the for the small locker. We found a spot to the right side of the park, a covered spot since DH burns so easy. Will does too. But I knew DH would probably hang out more and not swim as much. He had brought a book to read.

So we settle in and decide to take the chair lift up to Teamboat Springs for our first ride. There is no line this early. We had a ball. We rode with another family of three from the UK. So much fun. Will loved it. We ended up riding this ride 3x that day. There wasn’t a ton that Will could ride alone or even with us, but this was one of them. The water was COLD. And while it was sunny at first, the clouds moved in a bit and once you got out of the water, it was FREEZING!!!

After our first ride, we headed to the rapid runoff and Will shared a float with me. They had the double float thing. I was a little nervous since he had never ridden like that before and I wasn’t sure he could sit on it right- I was afraid he would fall through, but I put my legs up there and made sure he didn’t. He did much better than I thought. He’s been in swim lessons since he was 6 months old and he can swim a good 15 ft, but we haven’t let him just freely try and swim around at a waterpark, although he does love doing all the kiddie slides by himself.

So we loved that little ride too. He did great. We decided to head to the wave pool and enjoyed
Upon exiting, we did the rapid runoff and Will did great sharing a float with me. He loved that too. Then we walked back to sit for a minute and did the wave pool for a bit. Then off to Tike’s Peak- Will loved this and did all the slides while I sat at the bottom watching him. Then we were getting hungry, so we headed to the Lottawatta Lodge for lunch. It was nice going this early as there were no lines. I had the chili cheese dog, Alan had the chicken wrap and William had a hot dog too with yogurt and cookie. We shared a drink. It was dead so we had our choice of tables.


After lunch, we decided to go back to the wave pool and the lazy river again. Man the water was cold!!! It was getting cloudy which didn’t help. We let William play at Tike’s Peak for a while longer and did the family ride again two more times. We loved that one! After on last round on the lazy river, we were done. Alan liked to try and push me into the super cold waterfall on the lazy river. Ouch! Seriously, that waterfall water was like frozen cold!

So we headed back to our stuff, loaded up and headed towards the exit. But first, there is something I just had to try. Everyone talks about the mini donuts at BB. So we stopped at the little booth and had some. They were good, but nothing I would die to have. It was starting to get crowded now around 2pm and more cloudy, so it was a good time to head out.


We drove back to BLT and took about 30 minutes to relax and change before driving over to Downtown Disney. The plan was just to spend the afternoon here, no real plans beyond that, although I was considering trying MK tonight if we felt like it. BLT makes it so convenient to just walk over for even an hour or so.

We arrive at DTD and spend the usual 10-15 minutes trying to find a parking space. Seriously, when will they build a parking garage or something here. I know it would be an eyesore, but it would make life so much easier. Parking here is always a nightmare and I hear the bus transportation isn’t much better either. I LOVE DTD. Even when I’ve been in Orlando on business by myself, I always make a point to visit DTD to get my Disney fix if I don’t have time to visit a park. It’s nice to just sit at the Earle of Sandwich on the patio and people watch.

First up was the Lego store. While William isn’t a Lego nut, he does like them. We needed to find a CARS plane set to my nephew for Christmas. I saved 10% on it using my AP or DVC, I forget which one! I let the boys play in the play area there while I headed to the World of Disney. Ahhhhh, I love this place. It seems to always be crowded unless you hit it first thing in the morning. I could spend hours in here and that is NOT a good thing for my pocketbook.

I had some Christmas shopping to do though. I found two cute 18” doll outfit sets for my niece- one was Belle and one was Minnie/Mousketeer to fit her American Girl doll. I bought a few shirts, the monorail set for William (using his gift card from his grandparents ), some puzzles from Santa and lots of other little souvies for family. I also finally decided to splurge for me. I got the Dooney and Burke 40th Anniversary wallet! Here was the current selection of bags.



I already have the balloon makeup bag, the sketch wristlet and the sketch medium tote, which I love. I am not a huge purse/bag person, but I did really love these. I had also just purchased the 40th anniversary letter carrier before my trip. I ordered online, which was tough, because you don’t know what “placement” you will get and placement is a big deal on some of these patterns. I actually got a pretty decent one, but ordered a second one for my mom and she let me pick which pattern placement I liked better. So I was already using my 40th letter carrier this trip, now I would have the wallet to match! I felt silly asking the CM to let me see a few different ones, because she had to pull them out of the nice boxes etc. But I looked at about five and found one I liked a lot. Let me say since getting home, I’ve been using it, but I’ve found it a little too stiff for my liking. It’s hard to fit much beyond one credit card in a slot, and it has already started to tear the thread on one section. So not sure I will do the wallet again, but I do love my other items tremendously. I use the letter carrier on most trips now- so easy to put my iPhone in the side pocket, money, chapstick and other little items.


I was able to use my Disney VISA and get the discount with that, I think it was 10% off. I miss the days when they used to do that special promotion when you ate quick service, it would print a voucher on your receipt to get 20% off before noon. We used those on previous December trips. Maybe it is a December thing. The boys got tired of waiting on me and found me at the checkout. I had most of the items shipped home ($29), since it had the monorail set and the large boxes the 18” doll dresses came in. Sure, it cost more, but it is worth it to not have to carry home! Sure, I could have shipped from a postal center or something, but that would have been a pain. The other good thing about shipping home…. it is fun getting a package after you get home! It’s like Christmas!

So now we were getting hungry. Shopping will do that to you! So what to eat? It’s no question for us. Earle of Sandwich it is. We try and eat here twice a trip if possible. I love it that much. We headed over to Earle expecting the usual line and surprise, ZERO line! That’s a first. Earle ALWAYS has a line. I notice there are always CM’s (out of costume, off work) eating there too- it’s a popular place. The line always moves fast though, so we never mind waiting. But we scored this time. It was exactly 5pm. I had my usual ham and swiss with tomato soup. I am a creature of habit, what can I say? I LOVE the tomato soup. I hate soups with chunks in them, and this is smooth and delicious! Alan got the Hawaiian and we got Will a grilled cheese. We shared a drink, a common theme for some of our quick service meals. We sat outside, facing the carousel and enjoyed people watching. I admired my new wallet too. LOL!

We headed into the kitchen/spice store next. I love the addition of the spices and rubs. I bought quite a few as stocking stuffers/gifts. We then headed over to the candy store, but Will had a mini meltdown, I think the only one of the trip. We are pretty strict with him, which I think is why he is so well-behaved most of the time. We don’t put up with temper tantrums and we always follow through on what we say. I think that’s been our saving grace in his behavior. I can’t even remember how the meltdown started, but he started running around, not listening and so Alan took away the suckers we had planned to buy him. I had already gotten in line to have a marshmallow made, dipped in chocolate etc. So we had to wait. He was crying and sobbing in his stroller over the suckers being taken away for his bad behavior. But he got over it pretty quickly. We knew he was tired, the water park will do that to you. So we decided to cut our DTD stay short. I skipped the Christmas store, which I love and skipped many other stores, knowing he wouldn’t be able to hang on much longer. We did have one last stop though- the Once Upon a Toy Store. He was much better in here. We picked out some new potato head parts and got a book for his other niece. Then he had to go potty. I checked out while they went potty. We made our way back to the car and back to BLT.

We talked about our options for the night. It was about 7pm now. William was asking to go ride Haunted Mansion though. The MK was open until 9pm, so we said, hey, why not? That’s why we bought DVC at BLT anyways, to have the convenience to pop over! So off we went to the MK via the walkway. There were lots of people going in considering it was 7pm and they were closing at 9pm. But there were a lot of people leaving as well. We headed straight to see our favorite 999 Happy Haunts. I think we rode Haunted Mansion at least 7x this trip. The love for it must run in the family, as I rode the Nightmare Before Christmas version at Disneyland in November at least 3x when I went into the park solo. The Nightmare overlay is simply amazing. I know Will would love it and I wish they did it at WDW.
So after escaping the mansion, Will wanted to go again. Alan took him while I finally got into a Christmas store- the one in Liberty Square. I found like four ornaments I wanted. Then I waited by the kiosk outside the mansion for the boys and found some Haunted Mansion playing cards for William. It’s hard finding good souvies themed for that ride. Next up, Small World. There was no line at all, so we hopped on. Peter Pan was 40 minutes, so we skipped it, but did Snow White and Pooh. We also did the teacups, well Will and I did, Alan passed on those.

It was about 8:30pm and were a little hungry, so we hit Cosmic Ray’s and shared a bacon cheeseburger and fries between the three of us and we sat right by Sonny Eclipse to listen to his singing. William thought it was a hoot. It was pretty dead in here given the time of night, so close to closing time. It was nice to just sit and relax a bit.

At 8:45pm, we headed over to Buzz, it was a complete walk on again. I ride in my own car and score only 125k, the stupid gun wasn’t working well at all. Little did I know, my previously non-Disney loving husband (okay, I’ll give him a halfway Disney loving mark now that he bought into DVC), had actually googled the targets for Buzz and knew which ones to shoot for. Go figure. I got a kick out of that one. I’ve looked at them before too, but don’t always remember.

We decide to head out after that. The streets are crowded with folks waiting for the fireworks, but we use the shops to exit through. Will wants to see the fireworks, so we stop and watch for a little bit, but beat the crowds. We stop on the walkway to BLT to finish watching the rest. It isn’t a bad view. Alan joked at how we were literally just right there on the other side of the fence in Tomorrowland and how it’s too bad we couldn’t just exit from there to BLT. Wouldn’t a little shortcut be nice?
I loved these “See You Real Soon” pumpkins at the exit.

We get up to the room right as the water parade is starting, so we sit on the balcony and enjoy it. I loved having the option to do this each night, we really loved that view. Some nights, I would fall asleep to the parade music passing by. We were all crashed out by 11pm. It had been a long “break day”, lol!

[exwdwcm]

stay tuned, about to start my November 2012 PTR!!

[hardingk]

Originally Posted by exwdwcm

stay tuned, about to start my November 2012 PTR!!

Yea!

[exwdwcm]

Pre Trip Report for our November 2012 adventure!





Come join in the fun!

[mousescrapper]

Getting caught up...

Love that you all enjoyed your first F & W day like Matt and I did, that def is the way to do it...we loved all that food and low crowds too...the rain threatening prob helped you out too.

It was so fun meeting you all too...thanks for the parade spot so fun seeing myself in other people's TRs

That rain was no fun at all, it had Matt and I quite nervous too, the night was going to be a wash as well...so glad it wasn't

You guys got quite the candy haul!

The watermark day sounded good too, except for the extra costs and chill factor...love all the shopping you did too at DTD

And hopping back into MK is so easy staying at BLT...Matt did it once just by himself during our 2010 trip too

Looking forward to see what is up next

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

YUMMY EARL!!!!

I love your purchase They did do the print out in Dec for 20% off. I ended up with like 4 or 5 of them!! It still wasn't as good as the CM 40% off merch (no longer 50%!!) but you deal lol.

I'm heading over to check out your new adventures!!

[exwdwcm]

Originally Posted by mousescrapper

Getting caught up...
Love that you all enjoyed your first F & W day like Matt and I did, that def is the way to do it...we loved all that food and low crowds too...the rain threatening prob helped you out too.

It was so fun meeting you all too...thanks for the parade spot so fun seeing myself in other people's TRs

That rain was no fun at all, it had Matt and I quite nervous too, the night was going to be a wash as well...so glad it wasn't

You guys got quite the candy haul!

The watermark day sounded good too, except for the extra costs and chill factor...love all the shopping you did too at DTD

And hopping back into MK is so easy staying at BLT...Matt did it once just by himself during our 2010 trip too

Looking forward to see what is up next

Yes, we adored F&W and are very excited to share it with my parents this year in Nov!! The rain probably helped a ton that day! I hated that it rained on our party, but I think we all still had a ball and yes, we got a TON of candy. Will isn't even a huge candy lover. I love being able to just walk over to MK at a whim. Definitely makes our BLT choice so worth it!

Originally Posted by TinkerbellLuvr7

YUMMY EARL!!!!

I love your purchase They did do the print out in Dec for 20% off. I ended up with like 4 or 5 of them!! It still wasn't as good as the CM 40% off merch (no longer 50%!!) but you deal lol.

I'm heading over to check out your new adventures!!

Earle!!!! Love it!! I loved that 20% coupon when I've used it in the past. The 40% CM is even better though.

How are you feeling Megan? Hope you are all better and feeling good enough back at work.

[exwdwcm]

Thursday, October 20th PART 1


So bear with me, I didn’t take any notes on Thursday or Friday. We had our laptop, so I tried and take notes during our break, so I am simply relying on memory, our itinerary and dated pics to piece the next two days together.

Today we woke up early at 6:30am and had a quick snack in the room. With our vacation coming to an end soon, I was trying to be sure we ate all the food/snacks we had in the room. And as any good Disney fan knows, you accumulate even more snacks in the parks each day too that you bring home. Today’s plan was to hit the Magic Kingdom at rope drop for extra magic hours at 8am. So we were up early again.




It was a little chilly this morning. We saw Pinnochio once we got in, so we stopped for a quick photo. William looks, well, not quite awake yet.




We took a few pics. Look how pretty the horse drawn trolley is for the fall!

Then we headed to Tomorrowland to do something we’ve never done before as a family- the Astro Orbiters! Alan and Will shared a rocket and I got my own. It was an amazing view of the MK and even BLT in the distance with the sun coming up. It was still early and chilly and I loved the view. I took some video.


Here is the video- I love the music in the background.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEUWr...4&feature=plcp


Then a quick ride on the TTA/People Mover, whatever they call it now. William loved going up the escalator.



We then hit the speedway, before the crowds got too crazy. We still waited at least 15 minutes I think.

We were getting hungry and it is my tradition to enjoy a warm cinnamon roll on main street, so we headed to the bakery. There was a line, as usual and probably the longest we’ve been in. We waited though. That sweet gooey goodness was calling my name. We actually found a table inside, which was nice, since it was chilly and windy out. We enjoyed our late breakfast.
We had a special appointment today though. AT 11am, Willliam was turned into a pirate! So after breakfast, we headed over near Pirates to check in for his appointment. We were a little early, so we waited a bit. I think we even rode Pirates first and looked around in the shop to kill time. Finally they called him in and had our first Pirate League experience.

William spun the wheel and found out what his pirate name was- HECTOR.



We weren’t sure how this all worked. We were given his name and then told to wait in the main room until his name was called. We waited a bit, there were at least 3-4 people ahead of us already waiting. But it was fun to take in the room and what was going on. We hear them call William, but turns out that was some other kid’s pirate name, since they use your pirate name! Finally we heard Hector called.





Suddenly William had a black eye and a tattoo, which he loved. He was so good the entire time, sitting quietly and letting her do her pirate makeover.

“I make this look good!”


He was officially pronounced a pirate then and we went to another area to wait for him to enter the secret room. Once it was his turn, he had to sword fight another pirate and enter the secret room. It was all very cute. He was the perfect age for this.




The secret room is where he had his picture made and found some treasure. The whole experience was like $29, but if you want the photo, it is another $15 or so. We did purchase the photo. William had a ball at the Pirate League and we will definitely consider doing it again in the future.

So now we took our pirate off for some lunch. We were lucky that the newly named Tortuga Tavern was actually open. This restaurant, located across from the exit of the Pirates shop and behind Pecos Bill’s. I’ve only been able to eat here a handful of times, as it operates seasonally and is usually closed when we go, which is in the off season. But they recently renamed it and have a new menu, so maybe we will see it open more often.

I don’t have pics from lunch, but I know had got some kind of nacho and Alan I think had some tacos and same for William. It was okay and a nice break from the burgers. The place was packed though and it was hard finding a table. After our lunch break, we had something in mind on the agenda to check off the to-do list, Tom Sawyer Island. Since we had already seen all the e-ticket rides (many twice) at MK, we decided to hit the island. I hadn’t been over to it in years and knew Will might enjoy it and he could burn some energy running around. So we got in line for a boat over, and only waited like 5 minutes. The boat was packed though.

We got over and explored the entire island, played on the playground and did the barrel bridge multiple times. There is so much potential on this island to do something so much bigger and better, but maybe one day they will. Even some cool interactive scavenger hunt. Will enjoyed the caves too. Some of those have some tight spaces!



We also checked out the fort side on the little side island and had some fun there. William smeared his makeup a little and got all upset about it. Poor guy. Good thing we didn’t do the full face makeup. We were all pretty tired by this point and it was probably close to 2pm. Time for a break. We headed out of Magic Kingdom and walked back to BLT.

[IheartDDuck]

Love the Pirates League! It's such a cute experience. I don't know the logic in the name selection either, but my nephew ended up with Davey Ropewalker.