Characters vs. Pin Traders: It's Heated War! A Pixie-Dusted Nerdventure (COMPLETE)

[FancyNancy]

Mmmmm Dolewhips. I want t try the Coke float one next time with Vanilla.

I visited the Tiki Room for the first time ever back in January. From the sounds of it I'm glad I waited to try it. Nobody seemed to like the "Under New Management" version!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

I like the frequent updates, but I know you must write around your schedule..

Not really. I always tend to have a lot of downtime since things that would usually fill up my downtime happen when I'm working or at rehearsal so it's been fairly easy writing updates and posting them. I just wanted to make sure it was not too too much for some.

Yes I meant Disneyland Park, thus my reference DLP meaning Disneyland Park not Disneyland Paris, which I always forget about. (t I still can't think of it as anything else.....)
My oldtimer humor...there weren't really dinosaurs..I think they were extinct about two years before I went to Disneyland the first time.

I had a feeling, I just did a double take and that got me all confused, but no worries.

Haha, no I got it. I just wanted to play along, that's all.

The Odd Couple??? It's a classic!!

My grandkids also have to look up a lot of my references, all but the oldest, he's an ancient history buff.

I usually get most references, but this is just something I haven't familiarized myself with yet. Come to think of it though, I think my mom might've used The Odd Couple as an analogy for me and someone else I'm close with... I don't know. I need to go to bed lol

Mmmmm Dolewhips. I want t try the Coke float one next time with Vanilla.

I visited the Tiki Room for the first time ever back in January. From the sounds of it I'm glad I waited to try it. Nobody seemed to like the "Under New Management" version!

A Coke float? That sounds good! I might have to try one of those out myself.

I'm so glad I waited to try it too. I don't think I even noticed it my first trip lol I got lucky I guess, but it is definitely an attraction I'll be sure to make a return visit too every trip.

 

[KelleyK75]

Oh, of course lol Love Crystal Palace! Almost booked a breakfast there for my trip, but went with 1900 Park Fare since I've done dinner at CP before. Was that your first time? How did you like it?

No we had been there back in 2010 when my nephews were really little. They wanted to eat there again, and loved Pooh and friends. They were so excited for them to come to the table. I really like Crystal Palace. I've heard some mix reviews but we've always had a good experience there.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

No we had been there back in 2010 when my nephews were really little. They wanted to eat there again, and loved Pooh and friends. They were so excited for them to come to the table. I really like Crystal Palace. I've heard some mix reviews but we've always had a good experience there.

That's the first time I went to CP! It was my first trip too. We went in April. We obviously had some more stellar meals, but the character interactions we had were fabulous. OMG, I love it there! I totally need to go back.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Thank you all for answering my last question! I got responses leaning both ways. My decision is I will update as I have been normally doing, but so I am still ahead, I will post the update once I have finished writing the one after it. I think this will space everything out nicely.

Now, that is all settled. I actually have another question for y'all:

For this trip, I did not buy Memory Maker or a Photopass package in advanced. I haven't really gotten much out of it before, but after meeting so many characters I feel now I kind of needed it. I was talking to my mom about buying the disc and she flipped at me for even thinking spending my money on something like that (considering how much I already spent in Disney). The thing is not every Character Attendant got great photos or thought about getting ones of my interactions with the characters with my camera, but Photopass most certainly did. Needless to say, I WANT those photos! And with all the ones I want, the disc probably would be "worth it", although it is still a lot of money ($169). Now, Memory Maker is a bit cheaper, but it says "Advanced Purchase" online for $149. I'm not sure if this means the purchase won't apply AT ALL to my photos or that is how much you pay for Memory Maker without a discount. Still, my mom said she'd prefer if I only spent $100 max. I'm honestly not sure what to do and these photos literally might be gone in a week and I at least want to snag some so... what do you think I should do? Buy the disc, buy Memory Maker or buy individual downloads?

Please give me some wise DISerly advice on this one. Thank you in advanced!

To the update...

Welcome Home to Art of Animation!
June 23rd, 2014

Following up from where we left off on the last update, Nate and I were now back at Art of Animation. We didn't have a reason to go to the front desk so we bypassed that way to go see if our carry-ons had made it to our room and if they hadn't, to pick them up.

The guy who had took our carry-ons earlier was there. I gave him the little slip he told me to hold onto earlier and he went to check. Our carry-ons were all still there and he said we could wait until later when they probably would be brought up to our room, but we were on our way there so we might as well take them. He also was a bit of a disgruntled CM, never smiled, so I didn't really want to see him again in the future if he had been on for this long (I discovered later most of the bag check CMs were never in good moods). Without any questions asked, the CM brought out our bags and we were off to our room.

I didn't have a good free hand to take pictures with and I didn't want the camera to be hanging off my wrist so there were no photos of AoA on the way TO the room, but I have quite a bit on the return trip. Anyways, I thought AoA looked fantastic! I'm pretty sure I might have told Nate, "I think I'm in love." on the walk over. AoA is such a perfect combination of the classic whimsy Disney is known for and the attention to detail that has withstood the test of time in Walt Disney World. I will explain that in more detail once I post the photos.

Our room number was 9827, which was on the fourth floor of building nine. The layout of the resort is that the Finding Nemo section is pretty much "center" with Cars off to the left and The Lion King and Little Mermaid sections to the right. I didn't know this off the bat, but having seen where Cars was and knowing the location of Finding Nemo already, I had a pretty good idea of where we needed to go. Nate was not convinced and of course stopped for help even though I was pretty confident on where our room was. I didn't know where to look exactly for our building and room, but that's just a given and I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult. Nate still had to ask about that one later.

Eventually, we did find our room, which ended up having a lovely parking lot view for us (I didn't put any requests in, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise). Nate had the most free hands at this point so he was able to use his Magic Band to open our door (no issues here) and I rushed in, DISer mode fully engaged and said, "DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING. I NEED PICTURES!"

And so it began again...


I think I let him unwind on his bed after this. I took the one closest to the door (with the Mickey towel!), he took the other.


THE SHEET MUSIC FOR UNDER THE SEA! So perf.


Sebastian is my spirit animal.











I stepped out of the room a moment to get a picture of our view. Those Castle views at the Contemporary and Savannah views at Animal Kingdom Lodge ain't got nothing on this!



After taking a nice big plop down on the bed, I decided to do some unpacking and get my fully pin lanyard out because... OUR LUGGAGE WAS IN OUR ROOM! Yup, all our luggage was waiting there for us when we unlocked the door. I was so overjoyed that I requested Nate take a selfie with me in my favorite mirror:



I'm sure this was implied and this isn't exactly necessary, but I LOVED our room. No complaints. I know Nate was not exactly ecstatic since he saw what our other options were in AoA, but I told him these were the cheapest around and the other rooms were all family sized so this was honestly perfect. I wouldn't have minded a Lion King room myself, but this was good.

The only issue I think that bothered me when we got to our room was the carpet around our beds was wet. Not squishy, soaked wet, just damp but damp enough to get the bottom of our socks pretty saturated. We suspected it was just water and probably something that was still drying off from cleaning so we didn't worry about it (luckily this turned out to be a good idea). We just changed our socks before we left.

By this time, I had been getting a ton of Instagram notifications. I usually am good about getting to these (LOVE IG!), but because of how focused I needed to be in the parks and among the crowds I couldn't check it all that often. I was shocked to find that the Disney side of Instagram literally exploded all over my feed. So many likes and so many comments! I decided to look at the comments since I generally don't get a lot. I didn't expect much, but what I got was the most sincere and heartfelt slew of comments I've ever had the pleasure to read. Many had known I had not been to Disney in over three years and were just so happy to see me so happy to be back. I didn't expect nor ask for that at all and it was just so nice. I almost cried. It was literally a community I had loved and participated in for so many years returning the favor, which is something I never thought would happen. The Disney community is by far the most supportive and nicest group of people I've ever met and this is a big loving shout out to you all. Those comments reminded me what a blessing it was to have found myself amongst them. I very much hoped that I would be running into a few of them this trip.

After near sobbing to Nate about this, who was more concerned by the fact I was talking with so many people online (IT'S THE 21st CENTURY! SERIOUSLY!), and getting some other things in order, we decided to head back out. And thus, the minute I stepped outside, the photographing frenzy was upon us once more and with that, I give you the true beauty of Art of Animation...

"Flotsam! Jetsam! Now, I've got her, boys! The boss is on a ROOOLLL!!"



I could be "friends with Prince Eric", couldn't I?


Dance: 10; Looks: 3. That face, big thumbs down.

It was so reassuring to have King Triton protecting us all while we slept.



This was about the time where I started belting out Part of Your World (complete with weird looks from my pal Nate)...

"You want thingamabobs?
I've got twenty.
But who cares?
No big deal!
I want MOOOOOOORRREEEE!!!"



This here's a SNARFBLAT!



It's a DINGLEHOPPER!



With that, we entered into the Lion King section!

Oh look, there's Zazu with the Morning Report:



Come now, Zazu, you made me lose my lunch!



Then, I started belting out "He Lives in You" (Weird looks from Nate continued).

A little fun fact about this song, it wasn't originally written for The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride, but for the Broadway adaptation of The Lion King. The song was so popular in the Broadway show, they decided to use it in a planned straight-to-VHS film sequel. It also is originally sung by Rafiki, played by a woman, in the musical and happens when Mufasa appears to Simba a la Hamlet.

*ahem*

"HE LIVES IN YOU!
Helainmamellya
HE LIVES IN ME!
Helainmamellya
HE WATCHES OVER... EVERYTHING WE SEE..."



Isn't my attempt at writing Swahili just so spot-on?

Okay, maybe not, but I do know this:

Hakuna Matata, it means 'no worries'.



Let's all just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming... what do we do? We swim, swim!



MINE?!



Hmmm, that sky was not looking promising. But the pool was looking like quite the party!



We were heading towards the buses so through Animation Hall, we went.

Some chandy candy if you will:


#chandycandy

The check-in area was getting a little makeover while we were there. Still looking fabulous!



We'd be checking out the cafeteria there (Landscape of Flavors) and the gift shop (Ink & Paint Shop) a little bit later. Don't worry, there are many photos of those to come, but a motor coach was awaiting us and we rushed out to catch one and...

Back to the Magic Kingdom, we went! WOO HOO!

Continued Here​

 

[courtneybelle]

Okay, I'm only about 80% positive on this but I'm pretty sure if you don't purchase MM in advance the price goes up to $199. So I would go with individual downloads or the CD. We've always had pretty good experiences with the CD, but I guess it would depend on how many photos you wanted. So basically as a Disney fan I would say get the CD and as a somewhat financially savvy college student I would say go for individual downloads. Sorry that wasn't nearly as helpful as I hoped it would be :/

On the plus side, AoA!!! So gorgeous!! I love the pic with you and Prince Eric. I can't tell which one is which tbh.

 

[marDgreen88]

In my humble opinion, the best route for you would be to buy individual shots. On my June trip, we got free Memory Maker with our package, but after looking at them we found that there were a lot of random shots that weren't really worth keeping. If we hadn't gotten it for free, we probably would've been disappointed. Now, it may be worth it if you've already looked at the photos and decided you can't live without them, but ya know.

Art of Animation truly is the best. It's perfect, I agree. I love it so freaking much!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Okay, first off, look through the photos to see how many you really really like. If you love all of them, then yes I think buying the disk or memory maker is worth it. However, if you dislike more pictures than you like, then I would only buy the ones you want.

Hahahaha, definitely DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING BEFORE I GET PICTURES!

I absolutely love those rooms at AoA. We were only there for one night in May, but it was awesome. So perfectly Disney.

 

[Suzie13]

Your TRs are so well written. (Wish i could write as well as you) I feel like I am there with you and Nate. You have a really good skill of putting the reader in the picture. Love the photos of AOA too. Makes me want to book it for my next vacation to Orlando after this years one. I too have never tried a dole whip so it was fun reading about your first time. I totally get what you mean about people who don't smile in photos especially when they have good teeth. I also had horrible teeth growing up and always smiled a toothy smile too(how can you not in Disney?) Anyway keep up the great work and I look forward to your next update

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Okay, I'm only about 80% positive on this but I'm pretty sure if you don't purchase MM in advance the price goes up to $199. So I would go with individual downloads or the CD. We've always had pretty good experiences with the CD, but I guess it would depend on how many photos you wanted. So basically as a Disney fan I would say get the CD and as a somewhat financially savvy college student I would say go for individual downloads. Sorry that wasn't nearly as helpful as I hoped it would be :/

On the plus side, AoA!!! So gorgeous!! I love the pic with you and Prince Eric. I can't tell which one is which tbh.

Awww, it's fine, honestly what you told me is very helpful so thanks a bunch, Courtney! I think I'm definitely headed towards just individual downloads, but doing it in intervals (so if I DO end up going over $100, it wouldn't be obvious). Most of the photos are great, but a lot I have already on my camera so I think I'll avoid the CD. Still will give it some more thought.

Isn't it though? I want to be back! And you really think so? I mean... uhh... Yeah, I could totally thrown on that wig and BAM, perfect friend of Eric's.

In my humble opinion, the best route for you would be to buy individual shots. On my June trip, we got free Memory Maker with our package, but after looking at them we found that there were a lot of random shots that weren't really worth keeping. If we hadn't gotten it for free, we probably would've been disappointed. Now, it may be worth it if you've already looked at the photos and decided you can't live without them, but ya know.

Art of Animation truly is the best. It's perfect, I agree. I love it so freaking much!

It's really the random shots I'm into buying if I understand correctly what you mean by that. I already got some great shots on my camera, some even better than what the Photopass ended up with, but character attendants didn't always capture everything so I'm trying to pick up the pieces with PP. Probably will go with individual downloads, but I'm still thinking. Thanks for the advice, Marissa!

It is! I want to be back there now and staying in the same room

Okay, first off, look through the photos to see how many you really really like. If you love all of them, then yes I think buying the disk or memory maker is worth it. However, if you dislike more pictures than you like, then I would only buy the ones you want.

Hahahaha, definitely DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING BEFORE I GET PICTURES!

I absolutely love those rooms at AoA. We were only there for one night in May, but it was awesome. So perfectly Disney.

Hmm, that's a good idea, thanks Danielle! I guess the individual downloads would be better in that case. But again, the prices are close so it might be of greater value to get the CD. Ugh, this is tough.

Seriously. Good thing Nate caught on with this early on.

AoA is so perfect! IMO, one night is not enough to really get an idea of how magnificent it is. You need to go back, my dear.

Your TRs are so well written. (Wish i could write as well as you) I feel like I am there with you and Nate. You have a really good skill of putting the reader in the picture. Love the photos of AOA too. Makes me want to book it for my next vacation to Orlando after this years one. I too have never tried a dole whip so it was fun reading about your first time. I totally get what you mean about people who don't smile in photos especially when they have good teeth. I also had horrible teeth growing up and always smiled a toothy smile too(how can you not in Disney?) Anyway keep up the great work and I look forward to your next update

Awww, thank you so much and I always try to spend a good amount of time when writing out these updates so it's nice to hear my effort is visible.

Thank you and you definitely should! AoA is worth every penny.

Get on that Dole Whip next trip! It is necessary.

YESSSS, SO GLAD YOU GET IT! People are just way too self conscious these days. The world is in a great shortage of REAL smiles and happiness and it is so sad. LET LOOSE PEOPLE!

 

[FancyNancy]

OK so I don't have a solution to your current photopass problem but I do for your future ones. Participate in a Memory Maker share! I did a photopass share on my last trip in January and am doing a Memory Maker share for my upcoming trip next month. Usually it's around 30 bucks tops to get in on one. I found mine through the Disney Photopass Share group on Facebook. It's a great way to get the PP pics without spending all that $$$.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

OK so I don't have a solution to your current photopass problem but I do for your future ones. Participate in a Memory Maker share! I did a photopass share on my last trip in January and am doing a Memory Maker share for my upcoming trip next month. Usually it's around 30 bucks tops to get in on one. I found mine through the Disney Photopass Share group on Facebook. It's a great way to get the PP pics without spending all that $$$.

Oooo, I never knew about that! That would be AWESOME! I'm definitely buying Photopass from now on so I will look into getting a share. Thank you!

 

[KelleyK75]

I agree with Courtney, I think since you didn't purchase it ahead of time individual shots would probably work best. I always buy it, because with my nephews sometimes the photographers get pictures that I wouldn't have captured, like hugs with the characters, etc. Usually I am walking them up to the characters and the photographers are already taking pictures. Plus you have a back up in case your picture on your camera didn't turn out. For the most part the photographers did a great job, and there were a couple that were extra great on this past trip. Once at Phineas and Ferb the photographers camera wasn't working, so we couldn't use it there. But most of the time they took several pictures for each meet. It's super expensive but I think worth it to capture those pictures.

Love your pictures of AoA. I always stop everyone before entering the room for pictures. And you totally have "He Lives in You" stuck in my head now.

 

[FancyNancy]

Oooo, I never knew about that! That would be AWESOME! I'm definitely buying Photopass from now on so I will look into getting a share. Thank you!

No problem! I know what it's like to not want to throw 150+ on photo's you are not even sure will come out good. A share is the perfect solution!

 

[hforman]

Following! Fun report! Think you can wrap it up before I leave in 13 days?

 

[hforman]

Cool! You're using the same airport, airline & resort that we are. Looking forward to pin trading tips, I just bought 50 for the boys to split.

(on the teeth... 4 years, headgear and a frankel appliance... I feel your pain!)

 

[PlutosRHM55]

I agree with Courtney, I think since you didn't purchase it ahead of time individual shots would probably work best. I always buy it, because with my nephews sometimes the photographers get pictures that I wouldn't have captured, like hugs with the characters, etc. Usually I am walking them up to the characters and the photographers are already taking pictures. Plus you have a back up in case your picture on your camera didn't turn out. For the most part the photographers did a great job, and there were a couple that were extra great on this past trip. Once at Phineas and Ferb the photographers camera wasn't working, so we couldn't use it there. But most of the time they took several pictures for each meet. It's super expensive but I think worth it to capture those pictures.

Love your pictures of AoA. I always stop everyone before entering the room for pictures. And you totally have "He Lives in You" stuck in my head now.

That's what I'm doing. Even though with the amount of photos I wanted, the price was over what it would cost to get an Archive Disc, there is a current offer where you can get $5 off each download so the price actually is much lower. And I also can disguise how much I paid with buying them in increments so I'm going with everyone's suggestions pretty much. But Memory Maker will DEFINITELY be necessary next time

Thank you! It's a DISer thing, really. LOL, it gets stuck in my head all the time. I need to see The Lion King on Broadway now that I've heard it so much.

Following! Fun report! Think you can wrap it up before I leave in 13 days?

Glad you're enjoying it!

Ummm... I don't think so. Even at the fast rate I COULD go at, it would not be done in 13 days no way. Sorry, but I hope you have a wonderful time on your trip!

Cool! You're using the same airport, airline & resort that we are. Looking forward to pin trading tips, I just bought 50 for the boys to split.

(on the teeth... 4 years, headgear and a frankel appliance... I feel your pain!)

That is cool! You're in great hands then with Manchester and Southwest, so reliable. And you'll love AoA.

I won't really be mentioning pin trading "tips" per say in this TR, but I highly recommend your boys use separate lanyards and to take a moment to make sure after a trade that the pin is tightly pinned on so you don't have to worry about buying the locking pin backs (which actually are bad for the pin itself we discovered). Also, don't bring all your pins to the park. Try to rotate so you're not forced to trade a pin you really love for another pin you really like to often or have to pass up. And with 50, they'll definitely be able to do that. Happy trading!

OMG, I thought I had it bad. Frankel appliance, I never even heard of that and thank goodness I didn't have to have head gear. I almost had a Herpst appliance, but I think all the dental extractions were the worst part. At least it's all over now, we can be thankful for that, most definitely.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Thank you all so much to those who responded to my last question! Your answers really helped a lot. I have not bought any Photopass yet, but I'm going with the individual downloads. Currently, there is a special offer on the Photopass website through July 27th to buy individual downloads with $5 off each. This brought the price down quite a bit so I am going with it. I still want to wait for my paycheck to come in before I do anything, but all is good now.

Let's get on with the update shall we!

I've Seen Everything, Now That I've Seen An Elephant Fly! ~Part I
June 23rd, 2014

After another uneventful bus ride, we arrived back at the Magic Kingdom. And here's a trashcan photo to commemorate the occasion:



You're welcome.

It was at this time, everything was starting to bear down on us... well, Nate. I know it's only the first day, but Nate had a bit of a tough week and it was starting to catch up with him. He was complaining of some serious earache, which was a bit concerning because it looked as if it was really hurting him. We tried to ignore it for the time being, which was not too hard considering his track record at the turnstiles, which began with our first return to the Magic Kingdom.

This was usually how things went. We'd get to the turnstiles and Nate and I would go up at the same time. I would get in no problem, touch Mickey-to-Mickey then finger scanner then green and BA-BAM, I was in! Nate... not so much. It was more like let's touch Mickey-to-Mickey then put your finger on the scanner and... Yeah, no, that's not your fingerprint. Of course, this time he realized he used the wrong finger but... Well, that'll be a story for another day, but they all ended the same: He was eventually admitted into the park! And that's all that mattered.

I took a quick photo of the Main Street station and look at this: almost NOBODY was in my shot! SCORE!



Then, once we were actually on Main Street I pulled Nate to the flag poles so I could get a straight-on photo of the Castle and Main Street. I was really happy with how that turned out.



Then, Nate so kindly pointed out to me Roy and Minnie having a casual chat right in front of me. Of course, he called Roy, Walt, but that's an easy mistake for anyone even a Disney fan so after correcting him in the nicest way I could, I got a picture with the man who made Walt's dream of Disney World come true. It was a glorious moment and I was quite happy to share the moment with my best friend and my favorite little wife to my future boss.



After finishing up my lovely chat with Roy and Minnie, we decided to continue forward further into the Magic Kingdom. I wanted to go back and check out New Fantasyland a bit more so we took a detour off towards Tomorrowland by the Ice Cream Parlor and noticed something very peculiar about this here restaurant:



Yeah, Tomorrowland Terrace, that place. Well... it was open!

*TR GOES SILENT*

I know. I know. You'd think after the shock of seeing the Diamond Horseshoe opened I thought I'd be prepared for everything, but this caught me off-guard nonetheless. I freaked out to Nate, who didn't care in the least. I'd probably have to go all Chicken Little on him or point out some famous concert pianist to get his attention, but really, this was MOMENTOUS. But it also kinda let us know that we were in for a VERY crowded week, not that that would be much of an issue. Still, it's important to note that you'll tend to be dodging crowds and be very tactful about which rides you go on.

That's besides the point, onward we went!



Nate nearly dragged me over towards Stitch's Great Escape. He is SUCH a big Stitch fan, but honestly there were much bigger fish to fry than SGE so we bypassed it. A few pin trades later, mourning the loss of our SDMT FP+, we ended up here:



What better time than at that moment to visit Storybook Circus? The first land completed in the Fantasyland Expansion project and I still hadn't seen it. The choice was made, we were going to get our circus on!



When it's time to get your circus on, where do you go first?

To visit our friend, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, of course!



Okay, brace yourselves, the gorgeous people who read my TR! I'm about to drop another big bombshell on you here. No, this is not the point in the story where someone drops a wedding ring on the floor and I realize I have been dead this whole time. If you are looking for something like that to happen, go and Netflix The Sixth Sense. Honestly, this is much bigger than M. Night Shyamalan nailing the whole country with the biggest plot twist of all time! The truth is...








I had never ridden Dumbo before.

*EVERYONE FAINTS*

There! I said it. I told you this was a biggie. Yes, it's true. All those times I had meandered on by the Elephant with the big ears flying high in the sky, I never got a chance to ride it. Don't worry, that was all about to change! I know Nate wasn't too thrilled about this one, but he knew better than to fight me on something like this so early on and we entered into the queue.

Camera at the ready, I started snapping away at this most adorable queue!







It was around when that last photo was taken, we ran straight on into a few Disney park staples (Edit: INFAMOUS staples). The first was the crying infant. I actually haven't had much contact with these so this was almost a first time for me. I usually am not bothered by it, but this family also had two older kids who were not be wrangled in as they should've been. They were all over the queue and nobody could tell them not to or let their parents know because... SURPRISE, they didn't speak English (Infamous Disney Staple #2). Those coupled together did not bode well with me and I was annoyed, but it was nothing I couldn't block out, which I did very well.

I think what bothered me more was what became a pretty big staple during this trip and that was the people who came charging through the line saying they were meeting up with family. People, I'm sorry, but you should REALLY stop doing this. With things like Fast Pass and Single Rider lines, you shouldn't be having your family be placeholders for you in line. Lucky for you, most people don't want to make a scene in Disney, but it's just so rude and unfair especially for people who have waited in line the whole time. It's people like this who have made the industry for paying a disabled person to let a family skip a line at a theme park a validated business, but I digress.

Let's get back to waiting in line for Dumbo! YAY DUMBO!

After dealing with all these unwanted distractions, we got to the point in line where they give you your beeper. Nate was a bit taken aback by this, I probably should've told him that this was how things were now for Dumbo so I ended up grabbing the beeper. We were a bit old to play in the playground, no matter how much I would've totally loved to (I'm the living incarnation of Peter Pan, people, let's be real), but extra R&R is always a good thing so I didn't complain. I took a little pic of Dumbo having a grand ole time flying above us and made a quick IG post about finally getting to ride Dumbo:



I forgot to mention that Nate actually brought his backpack with him this time, taking advice from me that you never know what you might need. He pulled out some Mike N Ikes and started chowing down. He offered some to me, but I was too into the moment and my own thoughts to really feed myself at this point.

This is where you can really tell the difference between Nate and I. While I could entertain myself for HOURS, just pondering life and its meaning and who knows what else, Nate does not have that luxury. He needs people to entertain him so almost immediately after I started floating off to lala land, he offered some Mike N Ikes to this lady next to us. Of course, she turned them down and then Nate struck up a conversation asking about if they've waited long. I started listening in and chimed in a bit. She was very interested in our pins and thought we had some super cool ones. We talked with her for a bit until her beeper went off and Nate was left without his entertainment. Fortunately, our beeper went off not too long after and we were sent back into the queue.

The queue here was much closer to Dumbo so I got some more unobstructed photos as well as some close-ups. I was seriously on a role with this photography thing:





Look out for Mr. Stork!





A few snaps later and we were ushered onto the ride. I tied my camera tighter around my hand so I could get in some on-ride photos. I bolted for Green Dumbo (Blue got taken, WAH) and as soon as we were situated took a quick ride selfie:



Then, we were cleared for take-off.

Prince Eric, I can see your house from here!



And over here, we have the Barnstormer lift hill. Please do not bow in its presence.



Hi other happy people I don't know!



Lookin' good buddy!



...that was when we crash landed into the Circus Tent. The End.















Not really. No deaths on this TR... as far as you know. We made a safe landing and departed. I tried to get a photo of Green Dumbo, but ended up with salmon Dumbo instead. Ugh. This guy wishes he WERE Green Dumbo.



*coughWANNABEuncough*

And the final consensus on Dumbo: We actually both really enjoyed it! I completely agree with everyone on how incredibly magical this ride actually is. I'm not sure what it is exactly. The exhilaration of flying, the circus loop playing in the background, Timothy Mouse giving the safety cues... it's all so perfect! It's a ride that doesn't try too hard, but doesn't need to. It's beauty is in its simplicity and everyone cannot help but from smiling, even when you're friend is trying to turn your flight into Tower of Terror 2.0 while you try to take pictures. There's nothing like Dumbo and with all the refurbs done to get it ready for the opening of Storybook Circus, it's really something to look at now. I could clearly see the smile on Walt's face while we rode, so happy with the positive progress this attraction has made.

DUMBO 5EVER!




Continued Here​

 

[PlutosRHM55]

I've Seen Everything, Now That I've Seen An Elephant Fly! ~Part II
June 23rd, 2014

After thoroughly pixie dusted on Dumbo, we headed into Big Top Souvenirs for some pin trading fun!



I know a lot of people REALLY like the smells of Big Top Treats, but honestly it was a bit much for me. I usually love Cotton Candy smells, but it came on way too strong for some reason like it was being forced up your nostrils. I began to embrace it later, but I couldn't help notice it as I walked through here.

I believe it was in here I actually asked to look at someone's lanyard on my own without Nate doing it before me. I was pretty proud of that. It was a quick one and done with me though. Nate was actually here to get some of those locking pin backs. He had a few pins that kept on falling off so he really wanted to get some and actually had been bugging me for awhile about it. I wanted to see this store so I let him go buy a few.

While he was in line, I decided to occupy myself with a Pluto hat I had been seeing a lot of:



I'm not a big cap person, but it was driving a hard bargain. I didn't buy it though, I mean, I had no money, but it never crossed my mind again. Maybe I'll cave during my DCP. (;

I went back over to Nate, see what was up and he managed to get the cashier CM to bring out the popcorn pin cushion. I decided to look and might've grabbed a pin here. I think I found an Oogie Boogie one that I traded for, but I can't remember. After a few quick trades, we decided to head out the back way.

If you know Storybook Circus, this is where you can go and find the M&Gs for Daisy, Minnie, Goofy and Donald in their circus garb. The wait was down to about 10 minutes for Goofy and Donald and I really wanted to meet Goofy. We decided to hop in line, but we got in and both Goofy AND Donald were nowhere to be seen, practicing their circus acts I suppose for the adoring fans in line to meet them. I didn't want to have to wait for that, we had an FP+ reservation burning a hole in our pocket and my phone died while in line for Dumbo, which demanded a necessary charge (for reasons you'll soon understand) so we left, promising a return later.

After thoroughly making sure there was no other way out from the M&G, we slipped on through Big Top Treats and bid it farewell!



B-bye Storybook Circus! Be back later!



I should mention now about our situation with the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train FP+ we had. While we were in line for The Little Mermaid, Nate and I both got emails letting us know that the Mine Train was indeed closed for the day, which meant we couldn't use our FP+s for it. This saddened me a bit since I was so excited to go to ride it our first today, but it was not to be. It wasn't all bad news though, to make up for the inconvenience, we were offered a sort of Wild Card FP+ that was good for a specified list of rides. It was actually a good list, no Haunted Mansion unfortunately, but there was a ride that caught our attention and we decided that would be our destination

Before we got there, we had a little matter to address so we headed back through New Fantasyland. We stopped for a second so I could get a picture of Gaston's fountain plaque.



These are the reasons why I love Disney! My what a guy, that Gaston!

The little matter we had to attend to was my dead phone so the Tangled bathrooms were our destination. It was a bit crowded by that area. The sun was beating down too, even though the sky really was looking a bit grim, but we maneuvered our way through, found the charging station and sat down at an open charger to plug my phone in. I also pulled out my water bottle to rehydrate. The water was actually really warm and gross, but it was better than nothing.

Nate took this moment to put on his new pin backs:



OMG, TEETH YOU GUYS! ACTUAL NATHAN TEETH! YES YES YES

*ahem*

I on the other hand, took my phone while it was charging to do some more gramming. I had a lovely view of the bathrooms from where I was sitting so a photo was necessary. Or two.





Once I felt my phone was sufficiently charged and Nate had finished getting his pin backs in place, we headed in the direction of Rapunzel's Tower which was begging me to take a photo. I actually thought this one came out pretty cool:



The sky was really playing games with us that night, but it never deterred us one bit.

After getting my photo, we continued on to our REAL destination. Those FP+s were ready to be used. But if Haunted Mansion was not an option, where were we actually headed?

Find out next time!

Continued Here​

 

[Tink2Day]

Love your Dopey License plate pin Did you trade for that one?


Wow what a trip down memory lane. I didn't ride Dumbo at WDW, NF was still in building mode and my last trip was cancelled so it's great to see these in depth photos. I rode Dumbo at Disneyland for the first time in Summer 1956....it wasn't open until after we were there in 1955.....I was terrified...but a LOT younger than you when I rode it first time. and I believed that I was in the movie...I was a solitary child with a vivid imagination (even though I had older brothers, or maybe because of...)


Also Timmy, the grands had me read your tribute to HP and JK on IG....had me in tears, lovely, lovely sentiment and eloquent writing. As a former teacher, creative writer and unpublished author of children's books (by my own choice...once again terminal shyness...) written for my kids and grands, I can only say you have a way with words and an immense talent for weaving a story or sentiment!

(sorry for being so verbose but I felt I had to comment/compliment on this).