MarieLightning
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 23, 2012
Day 9, Part 4 - "Get Some Fab Pictures!"
Continuing on with the parade (because less pictures than usual doesn't mean few pictures at all..)
Whenever I see Merida come around now, I just think of a story we got told when we were doing our Keys to the Kingdom tour and were in the backstage area behind Frontierland, where they keep all the parade floats and do work on them and all.
And they told us about this one time there was rain in the area, but it seemed to have passed - or wouldn't be coming their way - so they decided to send the parade on its way anyway.
And of course, not even ten minutes in, the skies opened up and down came the rain.
Everybody was putting on the brave face (poor Beast was pretty much dying because he's already a pretty heavy, you know, headed guy, and then add all the rain to that fur, yikes. Gotta cause some back issues), but Merida was just being her cheery self up there, with that big mop of hair dripping all over and flopping around.
Must have been something to see.
I'm glad that through all the great theming of Festival of Fantasy, you've still got that one float/section with the random assortment of characters.
Although, I guess they'd all fall under classic.
Never will be as random as combining Dumbo and Aladdin (Looking at you Celebrate A Dream Come True).
The performers' outfits are one of the best part of this parade in my opinion.
And of course, the main mouse himself, and his fair mousey lady.
Thus concludes the parade.
Once it was over, we promptly made our way out of the park since we were hoping to stay late and as such would need a bit of a break.
We admittedly didn't rest much (well, I didn't anyway, since I can't nap. Amber may have napped). I took that time to get our stuff packed, so you know. A+ for productivity.
We met up in the lobby with the family once it got a bit later, because for pretty much the first time (in forever..), Aunt Sarah and her crew were coming back to the park for the evening! (Hollywood Studios having been the one exception of the trip thus far, since we had the Fantasmic Dining Package and all...).
Don't get too far ahead of yourselves, though. They weren't there to see the fireworks.
They did, however, want to see the castle lighting. So you know, there's that.
We got in line for the bus and Curtis displayed his (working) Glow with the Show ears (while I hid behind him).
We split up as we went in, because Mom wanted to get herself some Minnie Ears, so Amber stayed with her while the rest of us headed up toward the hub to find a viewing spot.
We found a pretty decent one, right by some of the low walls that are around the garden areas, so we got to sit while waiting for it to start.
We were too far to really see Anna, Elsa and Co, but we saw the lighting itself just fine, so we were good.
It was gorgeous as usual. This is really the one downside of going... well, any time other than November/December. There's really just nothing like the Castle all lit up.
We were all pretty hungry by then, so we decided it was time for dinner.
We made our way to Cosmic Ray's in two groups. There was unfortunately a bit of miscommunication (again...) as I headed with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Butch, the kids and Grandma, and we said we'd look for seats while the rest of them trailed in the back (Curtis got caught up in pin trading, and Kameron, Amber and Mom stayed back with him).
Well, once they arrived at Cosmic, instead of coming to see us so we could all establish food orders and send people forward without losing our tables, they went ahead and ordererd their food, assuming we'd already gotten ours.
You can imagine how happy Aunt Sarah was about that. Even Grandma was a bit upset at that (she is diabetic, so although she is used to eating kinda late, it was starting to cut it).
Drama lasts as long as drama lasts though, so we soon headed to get everybody's food settled, and order was restored in the kingdom.
Pulled pork sandwiches are pretty good at solving problems, so you know. (I wouldn't, I got a burger, but what's your point).
With dinner over, it still wasn't time for the usual deserters to head back (gasp!) so we decided to find one attraction we could all do in Tomorrowland, with minimal wait.
It turned out to be Monsters Inc Laugh Floor.
Everybody enjoyed it pretty well, although we were a bit disappointed that Uncle Butch wasn't That Guy.
He was really close to him, too. We could see his knee in the upper corner of the screen. Bummer.
One might have thought, since the fireworks were getting closer and closer, that we may have persuaded them to stick around just another forty minutes or so.
But no. They ended their trip at that and headed back to the resort for packing and such.
Now, it was getting near the time for Celebrate The Magic and Wishes. My big trip ending moments.
But Grandma wanted to ride the Peoplemover, since she hadn't been on it yet, and she'd be headed out right after the fireworks. So we headed over to the Peoplemover.
Celebrate the Magic started playing while we were on it. And I started getting really antsy.
Now, I'll admit it. I have my moments too. It had been a long trip, and although it wasn't disastrous or even bad, there were some not so magical moments for sure. We always tire ourselves out - we have a hard time stopping from always being on the go. It's even harder when we bring other people, because I want to make sure they have a great time. I want them to understand what this place means to me.
We got off the Peoplemover and started heading toward the Hub. We walked toward the Tomorrowland bridge, which was packed, and cut through the Tomorrowland Terrace, to head toward The Plaza, which was also packed.
We ended up stopping in a spot a little further down, with a few trees in the way.
And I started crying.
This was my wall.
Wishes is my big thing. We always make sure that, on our last night, we are in the Magic Kingdom, in optimal position, so that we can soak in every last drop of magic we can.
And now we were stuck behind crowds of people, with branches and lightposts in the way.
Thankfully, I have the best wife ever. She doesn't get annoyed with me when I start being cranky or overworked. She doesn't even get aggravated with me when I start turning down ever alternative she offers me to try and make it better, because at that point I'm tired and upset and good enough isn't actually good enough.
Still, she managed to sneak me through to a not too terrible spot, with minimal tree blockage, and we managed to enjoy our Wishes moment, even if it maybe wasn't as perfect as we typically try to make it.
Mom, Grandma and Kameron decided to take their leave right after the fireworks.
I wanted to as well. But I just didn't feel ready to leave yet. I was upset with myself for being so tired and drained and cutting my last Magic Kingdom evening short. We'd wanted to stick around until closing, but now I just didn't feel it anymore.
Amber and Curtis headed off to ride Journey of the Little Mermaid, since he hadn't tried it and Amber knew it was a short wait time after checking the app.
The walk seemed long and daunting to me, so I decided to stick behind. I thought maybe taking a short break while they rode, sitting at a table on the Tomorrowland Terrace, would give me a bit more energy to take up the rest of the night.
By the time they returned though, I had to throw the towel.
So we headed out of the park, with instructions to Curtis to take some fab solo pictures on Main Street once he'd be ready to leave, and a last Christmas tree shot for ourselves.
We, of course, got stuck in the midst of a rowdy group of teenagers once we arrived at the bus line.
We walked up right about in the middle of a group of ten or fifteen kids, with the majority of them behind us. And they wanted to skip past us because 'they group was ahead'.
We were definitely not having any of it at that point, so we told them if they wanted to keep their group together, then those ahead of us could move back with the rest of them.
They tried to be snarky and sassy, but their chaperone ended up telling them what we had. Nonetheless, it was a long wait and a long ride back. I was glad to collapse in bed and get some sleep.
Meanwhile, Curtis did follow our instruction of getting a solo shot on Main Street. He didn't quite grab the concept of fab, though.
So we kept the filter to demonstrate what we actually had in mind.
Lost Boys - 1. Curtis - 0.
Click for next post
Continuing on with the parade (because less pictures than usual doesn't mean few pictures at all..)
Whenever I see Merida come around now, I just think of a story we got told when we were doing our Keys to the Kingdom tour and were in the backstage area behind Frontierland, where they keep all the parade floats and do work on them and all.
And they told us about this one time there was rain in the area, but it seemed to have passed - or wouldn't be coming their way - so they decided to send the parade on its way anyway.
And of course, not even ten minutes in, the skies opened up and down came the rain.
Everybody was putting on the brave face (poor Beast was pretty much dying because he's already a pretty heavy, you know, headed guy, and then add all the rain to that fur, yikes. Gotta cause some back issues), but Merida was just being her cheery self up there, with that big mop of hair dripping all over and flopping around.
Must have been something to see.
I'm glad that through all the great theming of Festival of Fantasy, you've still got that one float/section with the random assortment of characters.
Although, I guess they'd all fall under classic.
Never will be as random as combining Dumbo and Aladdin (Looking at you Celebrate A Dream Come True).
The performers' outfits are one of the best part of this parade in my opinion.
And of course, the main mouse himself, and his fair mousey lady.
Thus concludes the parade.
Once it was over, we promptly made our way out of the park since we were hoping to stay late and as such would need a bit of a break.
We admittedly didn't rest much (well, I didn't anyway, since I can't nap. Amber may have napped). I took that time to get our stuff packed, so you know. A+ for productivity.
We met up in the lobby with the family once it got a bit later, because for pretty much the first time (in forever..), Aunt Sarah and her crew were coming back to the park for the evening! (Hollywood Studios having been the one exception of the trip thus far, since we had the Fantasmic Dining Package and all...).
Don't get too far ahead of yourselves, though. They weren't there to see the fireworks.
They did, however, want to see the castle lighting. So you know, there's that.
We got in line for the bus and Curtis displayed his (working) Glow with the Show ears (while I hid behind him).
We split up as we went in, because Mom wanted to get herself some Minnie Ears, so Amber stayed with her while the rest of us headed up toward the hub to find a viewing spot.
We found a pretty decent one, right by some of the low walls that are around the garden areas, so we got to sit while waiting for it to start.
We were too far to really see Anna, Elsa and Co, but we saw the lighting itself just fine, so we were good.
It was gorgeous as usual. This is really the one downside of going... well, any time other than November/December. There's really just nothing like the Castle all lit up.
We were all pretty hungry by then, so we decided it was time for dinner.
We made our way to Cosmic Ray's in two groups. There was unfortunately a bit of miscommunication (again...) as I headed with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Butch, the kids and Grandma, and we said we'd look for seats while the rest of them trailed in the back (Curtis got caught up in pin trading, and Kameron, Amber and Mom stayed back with him).
Well, once they arrived at Cosmic, instead of coming to see us so we could all establish food orders and send people forward without losing our tables, they went ahead and ordererd their food, assuming we'd already gotten ours.
You can imagine how happy Aunt Sarah was about that. Even Grandma was a bit upset at that (she is diabetic, so although she is used to eating kinda late, it was starting to cut it).
Drama lasts as long as drama lasts though, so we soon headed to get everybody's food settled, and order was restored in the kingdom.
Pulled pork sandwiches are pretty good at solving problems, so you know. (I wouldn't, I got a burger, but what's your point).
With dinner over, it still wasn't time for the usual deserters to head back (gasp!) so we decided to find one attraction we could all do in Tomorrowland, with minimal wait.
It turned out to be Monsters Inc Laugh Floor.
Everybody enjoyed it pretty well, although we were a bit disappointed that Uncle Butch wasn't That Guy.
He was really close to him, too. We could see his knee in the upper corner of the screen. Bummer.
One might have thought, since the fireworks were getting closer and closer, that we may have persuaded them to stick around just another forty minutes or so.
But no. They ended their trip at that and headed back to the resort for packing and such.
Now, it was getting near the time for Celebrate The Magic and Wishes. My big trip ending moments.
But Grandma wanted to ride the Peoplemover, since she hadn't been on it yet, and she'd be headed out right after the fireworks. So we headed over to the Peoplemover.
Celebrate the Magic started playing while we were on it. And I started getting really antsy.
Now, I'll admit it. I have my moments too. It had been a long trip, and although it wasn't disastrous or even bad, there were some not so magical moments for sure. We always tire ourselves out - we have a hard time stopping from always being on the go. It's even harder when we bring other people, because I want to make sure they have a great time. I want them to understand what this place means to me.
We got off the Peoplemover and started heading toward the Hub. We walked toward the Tomorrowland bridge, which was packed, and cut through the Tomorrowland Terrace, to head toward The Plaza, which was also packed.
We ended up stopping in a spot a little further down, with a few trees in the way.
And I started crying.
This was my wall.
Wishes is my big thing. We always make sure that, on our last night, we are in the Magic Kingdom, in optimal position, so that we can soak in every last drop of magic we can.
And now we were stuck behind crowds of people, with branches and lightposts in the way.
Thankfully, I have the best wife ever. She doesn't get annoyed with me when I start being cranky or overworked. She doesn't even get aggravated with me when I start turning down ever alternative she offers me to try and make it better, because at that point I'm tired and upset and good enough isn't actually good enough.
Still, she managed to sneak me through to a not too terrible spot, with minimal tree blockage, and we managed to enjoy our Wishes moment, even if it maybe wasn't as perfect as we typically try to make it.
Mom, Grandma and Kameron decided to take their leave right after the fireworks.
I wanted to as well. But I just didn't feel ready to leave yet. I was upset with myself for being so tired and drained and cutting my last Magic Kingdom evening short. We'd wanted to stick around until closing, but now I just didn't feel it anymore.
Amber and Curtis headed off to ride Journey of the Little Mermaid, since he hadn't tried it and Amber knew it was a short wait time after checking the app.
The walk seemed long and daunting to me, so I decided to stick behind. I thought maybe taking a short break while they rode, sitting at a table on the Tomorrowland Terrace, would give me a bit more energy to take up the rest of the night.
By the time they returned though, I had to throw the towel.
So we headed out of the park, with instructions to Curtis to take some fab solo pictures on Main Street once he'd be ready to leave, and a last Christmas tree shot for ourselves.
We, of course, got stuck in the midst of a rowdy group of teenagers once we arrived at the bus line.
We walked up right about in the middle of a group of ten or fifteen kids, with the majority of them behind us. And they wanted to skip past us because 'they group was ahead'.
We were definitely not having any of it at that point, so we told them if they wanted to keep their group together, then those ahead of us could move back with the rest of them.
They tried to be snarky and sassy, but their chaperone ended up telling them what we had. Nonetheless, it was a long wait and a long ride back. I was glad to collapse in bed and get some sleep.
Meanwhile, Curtis did follow our instruction of getting a solo shot on Main Street. He didn't quite grab the concept of fab, though.
So we kept the filter to demonstrate what we actually had in mind.
Lost Boys - 1. Curtis - 0.
Click for next post
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I've heard some stories of not-so-nice people setting lures to attract kids, not pokemons.
)
It really comes down to family relationships. We knew this trip was likely to be a bit crazy. The crazy just took a different route than expected.
I've seen the kids getting the balls for him, but by the time I get over to him his act's over. Someday!
), as I'll be sharing ways to follow along while we're there!
