"Were all these people waiting for the Mine Train?"Adults Only WDW &US Sept '16 TR! *COMPLETE* 12/22

[smiley519]

Wednesday, September 7th – Epcot (continued)

Part 11: A Character Palooza Surprise and Talking with Turtles

After Test Track, we met up with our new friends we had met on the monorail the night before. We headed to Canada to share a drink and walked around the world.

P1130825 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130831 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We got to The American Adventure and listened to the Voices of Liberty.

P1130836 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130838 by smiley519, on Flickr​

They are so incredible! After their show, I asked one of the singers if they still perform “Golden Dreams” because my high school choir sang it. He said that they do but they need the right arrangement of people/voices in order to perform it.

We said goodbye to our friends and started making our way back to Future World West for our 2:10-3:10 PM FP for Turtle Talk with Crush. Well before we got very far from the American Adventure gates, we stumbled upon Character Palooza! We evaluated whether to meet the characters or make our FP, but knew that Turtle Talk doesn’t usually have a long wait and when would we see all these characters again in one spot with little to no wait times?? We took some pictures ourselves and handed my camera off to the character attendants so we could both be in the picture. We even had some very kind other guests who offered to take photos when there weren’t attendants nearby.

P1130840 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130843 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130845 by smiley519, on Flickr
This picture cracks me up! Goofy is so tall…and we’re vertically challenged.


P1130848 by smiley519, on Flickr
Josh and his fave


P1130851 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130854 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130856 by smiley519, on Flickr
Showing Mickey himself on my shirt​

P1130857 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130859 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We got to meet Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale, and Pooh all within exactly 10 minutes! It was so awesome and we were so glad we stumbled upon it.

We decided to still try to make our FP so we fast walked and made it with about 5 minutes to spare. We walked right on as a new show was about to begin. I’ve always loved this attraction and loved the new Finding Dory characters that were added.

P1130876 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130877 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We walked around the aquarium for a little bit and saw a huge manatee and the Finding Nemo/Dory cast.

P1130879 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130887 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130890 by smiley519, on Flickr
“We go out and back in. And then we go out, and back in. And then one more time--out and back in. And sometimes, if you wanna do it four times-” “Dad…”


P1130899 by smiley519, on Flickr
Just hanging out with my chum, Anchor (see what I did there? )


P1130901 by smiley519, on Flickr
Handful of Nemo tsum tsums


P1130902 by smiley519, on Flickr
Such a cute shirt!​

I also stopped to make a pressed penny of Nemo, Marlin, and Dory.

Continued in Next Post

 

[smiley519]

Wednesday, September 7th – Epcot (continued)

Part 12: Character Meets and Dinner at Teppan Edo

We then made a 4th FP for Soarin’ (because why not?) and rode in row A2. We then did a group of firsts for me: Living with the Land, The Circle of Life film, and Journey into Imagination with Figment. They were all fun and were nice relaxing and air conditioned rides for the mid-afternoon high 90’s heat.

We then stopped by the Character Spot and waited 10 minutes to meet our friend Baymax! He was so squishy and we gave him big hugs.

P1130906 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130907 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I love that our photographer caught the tail end of our fist bump with Baymax going “Bah-la-la-la-la!”

P1130908 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We saw Joy and Sadness from afar but their line was about 40 minutes long so we decided to pass.

We then headed inside to Innoventions and explored Colortopia!

P1130917 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I had read about it online and it seemed really cool. We liked the pre-show and loved being able to dip our magical paint brushes into the buckets and then see our chosen colors paint the walls and come alive! Josh was hesitant going into the exhibit but he was totally impressed with the technology and loved it too!

We next went inside the giant golf ball, or Spaceship Earth.

P1130918 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

No one was in line so we walked right on. As many people in the forum noted, the screens weren’t working so we saw generic characters in our future scenes. It was still fun.

We made our 5th FP to Meet Disney Pals at the Epcot Character Spot and got there around 6:15 PM. We met Mickey, Goofy, and Minnie.

P1130921 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130923 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130925 by smiley519, on Flickr​

While we were waiting for Minnie to finish with another family, Josh felt something poke him from behind but nothing was there. It happened again and he turned around and saw Goofy playing with Josh’s sunglasses on the back of his head. Josh would turn back around and try to catch Goofy in the act. It was sooo funny.

P1130930 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I was excited to meet Minnie since our Character Palooza experience early was all boy characters.

P1130933 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We really enjoyed meeting 3 of the Fab 5.

We scheduled our 6th FP for Test Track and walked right on.

P1130934 by smiley519, on Flickr
Uh, this car design was all Josh
​

Then it was getting close to our 7:20 PM ADR at Teppan Edo in Japan. So we started the long walk back over to the World Showcase.

P1130939 by smiley519, on Flickr
Quick detour to Paris


P1130941 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We checked in and had to wait about 15-20 minutes to get seated, which was our longest wait time for an ADR. When we got to our hibachi table, we were greeted by another familiar face. The night before doing Epcot EMH, we had met a mother and daughter on Soarin’ who were from Australia. They told us it took 15 hours to fly from Australia to California and then another 5 from California to Florida. It was their 3 kids’ first time in Disney and the parents had been once previously on their honeymoon. Well low and behold, the mom, daughter, and the rest of their family were all seated at our same table! We were also joined by a couple wearing bride and groom Mickey ears who were on their honeymoon and lived close by to us in PA.

Our chef built the tallest “volcano” of onions we had ever seen!

P1130943 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1130946 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We split an appetizer of Assorted Tempura and both had the Strip Steak Hibachi for our entrée. Our chef was so amazing and dinner was delicious!

At the end of the meal, everyone else at the table but us were on the DPP and ordered dessert. We decided to skip dessert because it was getting close to 9 PM when Illuminations was going to start. Well we got to experience some pixie dust because the wait staff came out with a complimentary dessert of vanilla ice cream for Josh’s birthday and gave him a giant chef’s hat to wear! They serenaded him in Japanese and Josh blew out his birthday candle.

P1130949 by smiley519, on Flickr
Pixiedust: moment​

Continued in Next Post

 

[smiley519]

Wednesday, September 7th – Epcot & Magic Kingdom (continued)

Part 13: IllumiNations, A Popular EMH at MK, & So Many Steps

We said goodbye to our dinner friends and quickly left to try to find a spot for Illuminations. We ended up finding a pretty good spot in the UK and watched from there.

We could even see the Star Wars fireworks from DHS behind the Eiffel Tower:

P1130956 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Then it was time for IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth.

P1130980 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140005 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140015 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140023 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I was wearing Josh’s chef’s hat but it started to unravel…and was a little big on me

P1140055 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We were debating whether to press ahead and do Magic Kingdom’s EMH from 9-11 PM or not. I had voted to go back to the hotel and rest our feet and catch up on sleep, but Josh was really interested in heading over to MK. The power of Disney won and we decided to go for it. We caught a monorail at 9:30 PM. We didn’t know that we could’ve stayed on it and continued on to the MK so we got off, walked around, and waited for the next one. On the bright side, we got an entire car to ourselves to rest our feet.

P1140057 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

Soon we were seeing this familiar site:

P1140064 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140070 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We got to the MK around 10 PM and expected that we’d still be able to go on some big-ticket attractions with low wait times (similar to how we did the night before at Epcot EMH). That was not meant to be. We headed to Fantasyland and checked the wait for 7DMT which was 80 minutes! That called for a Snapchat with the 7DMT filter:

P1140071 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We then tried Peter Pan but that was 40 minutes so we passed. Instead we headed over to Tomorrowland. We went on Space Mountain which had a 5 minute wait. We next went on Buzz Lightyear which was a walk-on and Josh finally beat me by 5,000 points. We wanted to do the TTA PeopleMover at night but learned that it sadly wasn’t open during EMH. Instead we made our last ride of the night Astro Orbiter which we waited 10 minutes for.

P1140075 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We started to make our way out of the park around 11:40 PM and somehow must have just left right before “The Kiss Goodnight.” We explored some of the stores and took pictures of the classic Disney scenes in the windows.

P1140085 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140087 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140090 by smiley519, on Flickr
Genie taking a picture of me taking a picture of him


P1140091 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140092 by smiley519, on Flickr​

And a couple of pictures with the scarecrows:

P1140095 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140096 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Josh channeled his inner Bender from The Breakfast Club:

P1140102 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We never had trouble with the buses leaving our hotel in the morning but there was almost always a long wait leaving the parks. Pop always seemed to have the largest amount of people in its line and I believe that this is due to Pop having the largest number of guest rooms of the Disney resorts. It took 4 full buses before we could get on. We got back to Pop around 12:25 AM. We watched some of the new Mickey Mouse shorts on TV (they are seriously addicting and I think we watched almost every one by the end of our trip) and went to bed.

Our Epcot day was our most walked day with 43,592 steps and 22.5 miles!!

Up Next: We go for our third rope drop in a row at Hollywood Studios!

 

[Mich123]

I am completely amazed at the mileage! And it seems like just a regular Disney day!

 

[gluestickgirl]

While waiting in line for the monorail, we met a couple in front of us who had celebrations buttons on. They told us they were just engaged the day before and he had popped the question at the Boardwalk. They were close in age to us and really cool so we ended up exchanging numbers and meeting up with them several times during the week. We’d also learn that we had 2 mutual friends so it really is a small world after all!

Okay, for half a second I wondered if you ran into the couple that we came across immediately after they got engaged on the Boardwalk... but I checked photos and it happened Sept 4th, not the 5th. How crazy would that have been?

Enjoying your report! My husband and I were there the 4-8th for an anniversary trip. =)

 

[ariane37]

Whoa, I though we did good with FEA in August but you guys hit the jackpot! We got in line with a 45 min. posted wait which ended up being 23 mins. Not bad at all, was our first time riding so glad we did it. But you guys were really lucky!
We've never eaten at Electric Umbrella, always just walk by. I recently looked at the menu for some reason and they have more than I thought they did, even though it's not a huge menu. Of course we like to eat in WS but when we have the kids, it might be something we'll look into now.
I LOVE happening upon the character training spot in Epcot! We've lucked out a few times, most recently in August. Met Donald, Mickey, Chip & Dale and Eeyore & Mr. Smee were also there. Then we got REALLY lucky and saw Jack Sparrow out training by the IG That was an awesome interaction. The stepsisters were also meeting in France. I know them and Capt. Jack were training for MNSSHP. It's so cool when you get a random surprise like that at Disney, doesn't happen often enough!

 

[smiley519]

I am completely amazed at the mileage! And it seems like just a regular Disney day!

I thought you'd like that final mileage! I know, it didn't even feel like we were really doing that much extraneous walking.

Okay, for half a second I wondered if you ran into the couple that we came across immediately after they got engaged on the Boardwalk... but I checked photos and it happened Sept 4th, not the 5th. How crazy would that have been?

Wow, that would have been too crazy! Yes, the couple we met got engaged on Sept 5th but when we asked them on Sept 6th how long they had been engaged, they had to really think about it and then answered "Monday...so yesterday" haha. Being in Disney makes you lose track of time!

Enjoying your report! My husband and I were there the 4-8th for an anniversary trip. =)

That's awesome that you and your husband were there during part of the same time. Did you guys have a fun anniversary trip? Let me know if you write a TR!

Whoa, I though we did good with FEA in August but you guys hit the jackpot! We got in line with a 45 min. posted wait which ended up being 23 mins. Not bad at all, was our first time riding so glad we did it. But you guys were really lucky!

That's so great that you got to experience a much shorter line for FEA too! We really were very lucky and were also excited because it was our first time riding it too.

We've never eaten at Electric Umbrella, always just walk by. I recently looked at the menu for some reason and they have more than I thought they did, even though it's not a huge menu. Of course we like to eat in WS but when we have the kids, it might be something we'll look into now.

The Electric Umbrella was really good and they did have a variety of selections. We were looking for something that would be super quick and indoors with AC so Electric Umbrella hit the spot!

I LOVE happening upon the character training spot in Epcot! We've lucked out a few times, most recently in August. Met Donald, Mickey, Chip & Dale and Eeyore & Mr. Smee were also there. Then we got REALLY lucky and saw Jack Sparrow out training by the IG That was an awesome interaction. The stepsisters were also meeting in France. I know them and Capt. Jack were training for MNSSHP. It's so cool when you get a random surprise like that at Disney, doesn't happen often enough!

Isn't stumbling upon the training spot the best?? Wow that's awesome that you got to see Smee, Jack Sparrow, and the wicked stepsisters! I bet those were really fun interactions. I've heard that the stepsisters in particular are very fun to meet. The closest we got to seeing them was waving hello as they got off the train for the MK welcome show.

Thanks again to everyone for your comments! And if you're silently reading along, feel free to send a comment so I know you're out there!

 

[smiley519]

Thursday, September 8th – Hollywood Studios

Part 14: Rope Drop at Hollywood Studios & TSMM Battle Begins

Park Plan: Rope drop at Hollywood Studios at 9 AM
Schedule:
11:20-12:20 PM Toy Story Midway Mania
12:20 PM Lunch ADR: 50's Prime Time Café
1:25-2:25 PM Star Tours
2:40-2:55 PM Voyage of the Little Mermaid

One our third Disney day, we were up by 7:45 AM and got ready. My Monsters, Inc. shirt that reads “I’m Your Boo” was my favorite shirt of the trip because my husband and I call each other that as one of our many pet names and I love the character Boo. A CM told me that afternoon that my shirt was precious and totally made my day!

P1140104 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We got to the buses at 8:29 AM and a DHS bus came right away, score!

P1140105 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We arrived with the rest of the rope drop crowd.

P1140107 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140108 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140111 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

This was my first time at Hollywood Studios since Mickey’s sorcerer’s hat was removed and I did miss it a bit. I was surprised that Disney chose to use ToT as the new icon of DHS in its merchandise and park maps instead of the Chinese Theater.

P1140110 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We stayed with the RD crowd until a traffic light turned green. We then made our way to Toy Story Midway Mania, but had to ask for directions a few times since isn’t immediately obvious where it’s located. I snapped a few pictures on the way:

P1140115 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140117 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140118 by smiley519, on Flickr
This crowd was headed to Jedi Training sign-up’s.


P1140121 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140131 by smiley519, on Flickr
Getting closer


P1140133 by smiley519, on Flickr
Found it! And it looks like we made it by 8:56 AM​

We made our way into the nearly empty queue:

P1140136 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140141 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140143 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140144 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Josh had been anticipating our first ride on TSMM and had been frequently telling me that he was going to win and completely outscore me. The reason being that when we were in Disneyland together in 2008, I beat him the 2 or 3 times that we rode the ride. So did he beat me? Nope! I won 128,000 to 120,000 (this was the only score I didn’t get a picture of).

We saw that the line was still pretty short so we decided to go again. The additional tracks definitely helped to keep the line moving. In our rematch, he managed to beat me…by a whopping 500 points. You’ll have to stay tuned to see what our final record was (and we ended up riding 6 times during our stay!)

P1140150 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

After our second time riding TSMM, I noticed that the talking Mr. Potato Head was missing. I asked the CM at the front of the attraction where he was. He first gave me a vague answer saying he was away, or away with the missus. I was still confused so he told me he had been transferred to a storage facility. He wasn’t sure why and wasn’t sure when he’d be back.

We posed for some pictures in front of the Pixar Studios sign. We heard the PP photographer tell the family before us to pose like monsters so we did the same!

P1140151 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140153 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We next went to see Mickey and Minnie in their formal attire in Red Carpet Dreams. I don’t think a lot of people know where this M&G location is and it was deserted.

P1140155 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140158 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140161 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We then decided to blast off to space aboard the new Star Tours – the Adventures continue. It was a walk-on so we decided to ride it twice in a row. I had told Josh that the new version had randomized scenes so we were likely to get a different combination each time we rode. Well, we got the same exact story and scenes the two times we rode, even though we were in different theaters. Oh well, we’d see if we could get a different scene during our FP that afternoon.

P1140166 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We then made our way over to Sunset Boulevard so Josh could ride the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster single rider as I am not a big roller coaster fan (I’ll only go on kiddie coasters like 7DMT).

P1140169 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140175 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140176 by smiley519, on Flickr​

After he had rocked out with Aerosmith, we headed toward Tower of Terror.

P1140172 by smiley519, on Flickr​

So I also do not ride ToT but Josh convinced me to walk through the queue with him because it was unbearably hot outside and the queue had AC and so we could be together during the 15 minute wait. He told me that there’s a “chicken exit” before you enter the ride because his mom had used it when he rode with his dad. Well the entire time I was convinced that I would somehow miss the chicken exit and be forced to ride and I’m not a big fan of when my body is at the bottom of a ride but my stomach and heart are still at the top (aka I don’t like big drops).

P1140179 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Thankfully we told the ride attendant that I wouldn’t be riding and she led me to the Express Elevator so I could meet Josh at the bottom. Phew!

Before we knew it, it was time for our 11:20-12:20 PM FP for TSMM. We made our way back to Pixar Place but first took some pictures with the walls around the new Toy Story Land.

P1140183 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140186 by smiley519, on Flickr
“Please pardon our pixie dust!”​

This time I was able to properly beat Josh. So our record was now 2-1 Lauren.

P1140187 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Continued in Next Post

 

[smiley519]

Thursday, September 8th – Hollywood Studios

Part 15: 50’s Prime Time Lunch, Warm Hugs, & Afternoon Shows

We then took a trip through the classics on The Great Movie Ride and I think this was actually my first time on it. It had a 10 minute wait.

P1140191 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140194 by smiley519, on Flickr
Just siiiinging in the rain


P1140199 by smiley519, on Flickr
Over the rooftops, step in time!


P1140201 by smiley519, on Flickr
Our gangster


P1140207 by smiley519, on Flickr
What’s the worst that could happen?


P1140213 by smiley519, on Flickr
Here’s looking at you, kid


P1140224 by smiley519, on Flickr
I’ve been in the Wizard of Oz twice (and played a munchkin each time) so I loved this scene


P1140225 by smiley519, on Flickr
“You dropped your house on my sister? How could anyone be so unbelievably clumsy?”​

After the GMR, it was time to check-in for our 12:20 PM ADR at 50’s Prime Time Café. It was my first time but Josh eats here every time he comes with his family. He said that a great waiter/waitress in character would enhance the whole experience.

P1140231 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140232 by smiley519, on Flickr
Found some hidden Mickeys on the screws of the table


P1140234 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I ordered the Aunt Liz’s Golden Fried Chicken and Josh had A Sampling of Mom’s Favorite Recipes which included fried chicken, pot roast, and meatloaf. Both were delicious!

P1140238 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140239 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Our waitress was pretty good at staying in character. Josh purposefully put his elbows on the table and she reprimanded him saying “Do I see elbows??” I’m also not a big fan of corn so when I moved mine to Josh’s plate when she was gone, she came back and asked how my corn had gotten onto Josh’s plate.

The waitress at the table behind us though was fabulous!! We overheard her telling all of the kids that they had to take X more bites of their meals while their parents tried to do the same. They also knew another family at the restaurant so the other family came to their table to visit. The waitress complained about all of the “cousins” over at the table and told them that they needed to get back to their own tables, finish their meals, stop distracting the kids, and get out of the way so she could clean up! She was so funny and had all of the surrounding tables laughing.

We decided to splurge and get a dessert to share and ordered Mom’s Favorite Chocolate-Peanut Butter Layers Cake and opted to get it a la mode.

P1140241 by smiley519, on Flickr​

It was heavenly! As you can see, we both really, really enjoyed it:

P1140243 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Lunch took 1 hour so it was now 1:20 PM and time for our Star Tours FP. We walked right on and got a slightly different version this time with the Darth Vader introduction, although the rest was exactly the same as our previous 2 showings.

We peaked over the barriers for Star Wars land:

P1140244 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We walked over to the Streets of America to watch Muppet Vision 3D.

P1140245 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140253 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140248 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140249 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We saw that Constantine was added to the pre-show but the rest of the ride hadn’t been updated. After we got off, I realized I had forgotten to look for the key under the mat. I asked a CM in the Muppets gift shop and she said she had no idea what I was talking about but another guest had asked her the same question earlier that day. So I decided that we should google the answer together so she would know too if anybody else asks her. The answer is once you enter the Muppet Vision building, loo to your right where the box office is. The hanging sign says “Back in 5 minutes, key is under the mat.” If you lift the Welcome mat, you’ll find the key! The CM was thankful that I had shared the information with her and was excited to tell the next guests who ask.

Next, we went to meet Olaf at his meet & greet and give him warm hugs! This was another character spot that it didn’t seem a lot of people knew about. Before we met Olaf, he had taken a little girl’s bubble wand and was happily blowing bubbles all over the spot pretending that it was snow. The little girl loved it and everyone had a smile on their face. Olaf’s attending CM even had to pop some bubbles that fell on his nose.

P1140255 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Then it was our turn and we both got warm hugs!

P1140261 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We had made our 3rd FP for the 3 PM show Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the FP was definitely not needed. It was a cute show and we just really enjoyed sitting down and being inside with the AC blasting.

P1140270 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140275 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140276 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Since the Little Mermaid show was only 17 minutes, we were able to quickly leave the theater and head to “For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration” for the 3:30 PM show. We thought that it’d be a live action retelling of the story of Frozen and were a little surprised that it was mostly just watching clips from the movie on a screen with the lyrics underneath. The narrators were funny and we appreciated a lot of the jokes that flew over the kids’ heads, but I thought that Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff would be in it more. We still enjoyed it and again were thankful for sitting down in the AC.

P1140283 by smiley519, on Flickr
Baby Anna is always adorable


P1140290 by smiley519, on Flickr
Elsa got a huuuge round of applause just for entering


P1140294 by smiley519, on Flickr
I love that their eyes are both shut. Yay for sisterly warm hugs!


P1140300 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140303 by smiley519, on Flickr
Snow!


P1140308 by smiley519, on Flickr
Let it goooo!​

Continued in Next Post

 

[smiley519]

Thursday, September 8th – Hollywood Studios

Part 16: Tale as Old as Time & Mickey’s Dream!

After our sing-along fun, we watched the 10 minute Path of the Jedi video, which Josh, the Star Wars fan, enjoyed. We then headed over to watch the 5 PM Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage show. BatB holds a special place in my heart because I acted in a production as the Enchantress and a Silly Girl (one of the girls in love with Gaston). And of course, we both love the movie and all the songs. The cast did a great job, the costumes were beautiful, and it was our favorite show that we watched at DHS. I took a lot of photos but narrowed it down to a few to share:

P1140316 by smiley519, on Flickr
The Enchantress with the Prince right before he transforms into…


P1140317 by smiley519, on Flickr
…the Beast! Watching it happen before your eyes was truly Disney magic. In our production, we used twins to play the Prince/Beast


P1140321 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140325 by smiley519, on Flickr
Silly Girls love!


P1140328 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140330 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140342 by smiley519, on Flickr
Awww


P1140358 by smiley519, on Flickr
“It is you!” I also love that she’s on tippy toes


P1140366 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140369 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We next checked out Walt Disney: One Man's Dream. Learning about the man who was the visionary behind everything is truly fascinating and I loved all the artifacts and renderings/models.

P1140124 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140376 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140378 by smiley519, on Flickr
The model for Peter Pan's Flight​

After we finished exploring Walt’s history, it was about 6 PM and we discussed whether we wanted to stay at DHS and stay for Fantasmic! or park hop since we had ridden all of the rides and saw the shows we had wanted to see at DHS. Since we had already spent full days at MK and Epcot and spent 1.5 hours at each park for their evening EMH’s, there really wasn’t anything that we were dying to see/ride at those two parks (and we’d be returning to both for our final day). We were going to go to AK the next morning so it didn’t make sense to head there either. We also discussed going back to the hotel and just resting. In the end, we decided that it’d be fun to stay for Fantasmic! and just take it slow while exploring so we could sort of rest. I know a lot of people think that DHS is a half day park or skip it entirely due to all of the construction for Toy Story and Star Wars Lands, but we thought we’d just have an easy evening and ended up staying at DHS from 9 AM-9 PM.

Since we decided to stay, we scheduled another FP for TSMM. I beat Josh again so the record was now 3-1 me.

P1140380 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We walked around, caught a bit of the Star Wars: A Galaxy Far, Far Away show, and took some pictures with the statues in the Hall of Fame.

P1140382 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140385 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We were starting to get hungry so at 7 PM we headed to the Backlot Express to grab a quick dinner. We both had 8 piece chicken nuggets and fries.

P1140386 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We also got a bit of pixie dust because when the CM who took our order saw Josh’s birthday button, she offered us a complimentary Darth Vader Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake! If you recall, we also had a chocolate-peanut butter layer cake for dessert at lunch at 50’s Prime Time Café but luckily for us, we are both chocoholics and love peanut butter too!

P1140387 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

After dinner we decided to make another FP for TSMM (because why not?) and I beat Josh again and got my highest score yet! So it was now 4-1 me after our 5 rides on TSMM in one day!

P1140388 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140390 by smiley519, on Flickr
I scored Best in Vehicle but the screen changed right before we snapped this picture.​

We were a wee bit late heading over to the Fantasmic! theater and ended up getting there around 8:20 before the 8:30 PM show. Luckily, we were able to find some pretty good seats right in the middle just above the splash zone (we felt a little bit of mist sometimes). The section on the far left-hand side started the wave and the crowd was quick to join in. We sent the wave back and forth through the stadium multiple times which was a lot of fun and cool to see.

And then it was time for everyone’s favorite mouse to start the show and have a pretty fantastic dream!

P1140402 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140427 by smiley519, on Flickr
Tale as old as time


P1140434 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140436 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140447 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140455 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140464 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140469 by smiley519, on Flickr
Steamboat Willie!

P1140482 by smiley519, on Flickr
Our favorite part
“Some imagination, huh?” ​

During Fantasmic!, we were actually able to see some of the Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular Fireworks which was pretty neat. We wished that Disney would’ve staggered the showings so that we could’ve seen both (Fantasmic! was at 8:30 PM and SW Fireworks were at 8:45 PM the night we were there), but I understand they probably do it for crowd control.

We slowly made our way out of the Fantasmic! theater with the rest of the throngs of people. The Pop Century bus line was insanely long so we decided to get in the AoA line. We waited for 2 buses, got to AoA, and walked across the Generation Gap Bridge to get back to our room at Pop. We were in bed by 11:30 PM (our earliest night thanks to no evening EMH’s).

So how did we do as far as taking it easy/slow? We ended up walking 27,605 steps or 13.75 miles (certainly down from 43,592 steps the day before!)

Up Next: We head to Animal Kingdom for a wild time but sleep in a little bit and skip rope drop.

 

[ariane37]

I'm so very happy to read that you guys spent a WHOLE day at HS, and fun!!! HS was/is/was/is my favorite park, mostly because of the "old Hollywood" theming. And my 2 favorite rides are there which I'll address with you in a minute Even though much has changed since it opened there's still some of that old feeling there, but unfortunately I'm not sure how I'll feel about the park once all the new lands are open and they're finished closing things down Right now I still enjoy going there and I have always, even now, thought it was a full day park!
So......no TOT, WHAT??!! That's my favorite ride!!! Followed by RnRc, but ToT really isn't scary No really! You should try it! I think between the 2, someone who doesn't like drops would actually do better on ToT. Think about it for next time
Awesome on all your additional TSMM FP's! We used to be able to ride 4x a day before FP+, twice at RD, once with a FP and then with one additional FP. But then it became impossible when FP+ came to be, but I agree with you that the 3rd track has opened things back up. DH and I didn't ride TSMM on our Aug. trip but we'll be riding it next month when we go with the kids.

Oops. forgot to add I can't believe this was your first time riding GMR! We all enjoy that and DS10 loves it. Glad you got to ride, there's a "rumor" going around that it's closing sometime next year.......

 

[amberdc1987]

Wow! Just found your report and now i'm all caught up. Y'all are the absolute cutest couple I have seen! You can see the love y'all have for Disney in your pictures. Looks like so much fun! I am amazed how many rides y'all have gotten in on each day!! It's astounding. Y'all definitely know how to take advantage of the FP+. I can definitely learn from you. Keep it coming. Can't wait to read more.

 

[smiley519]

I'm so very happy to read that you guys spent a WHOLE day at HS, and fun!!! HS was/is/was/is my favorite park, mostly because of the "old Hollywood" theming. And my 2 favorite rides are there which I'll address with you in a minute Even though much has changed since it opened there's still some of that old feeling there, but unfortunately I'm not sure how I'll feel about the park once all the new lands are open and they're finished closing things down Right now I still enjoy going there and I have always, even now, thought it was a full day park!

We did enjoy our full day at HS and with all the shows, there's still plenty to do. I'm not a big Star Wars fan so I'm really just looking forward to Toy Story land. Hopefully the new lands will improve the park and others will want to spend 1+ days there.

So......no TOT, WHAT??!! That's my favorite ride!!! Followed by RnRc, but ToT really isn't scary No really! You should try it! I think between the 2, someone who doesn't like drops would actually do better on ToT. Think about it for next time

You're recommending ToT for someone who doesn't like drops?! Haha unfortunately I think I'll stick with the Express Elevator and let DH enjoy it. He really enjoys both ToT and RnRc.

Awesome on all your additional TSMM FP's! We used to be able to ride 4x a day before FP+, twice at RD, once with a FP and then with one additional FP. But then it became impossible when FP+ came to be, but I agree with you that the 3rd track has opened things back up. DH and I didn't ride TSMM on our Aug. trip but we'll be riding it next month when we go with the kids.

DH and I rode TSMM at Disney's California Adventure right after it debuted (I actually just checked via Wikipedia and it opened on June 17, 2008 and we were there in early July 2008. There was only one track and the lines were soo long. You basically had to get there at RD to get a paper FP and could maybe ride once standby in the morning and once standby right before the park closed. The 3rd track at WDW is definitely a huge improvement. I definitely recommend you ride it again with your family!

Oops. forgot to add I can't believe this was your first time riding GMR! We all enjoy that and DS10 loves it. Glad you got to ride, there's a "rumor" going around that it's closing sometime next year.......

I can't believe it was my first time on GMR either! Especially because I love so many of the movies featured in it. I too heard the rumors so I'm glad I got a chance to experience the original ride.

Wow! Just found your report and now i'm all caught up. Y'all are the absolute cutest couple I have seen! You can see the love y'all have for Disney in your pictures. Looks like so much fun! I am amazed how many rides y'all have gotten in on each day!! It's astounding. Y'all definitely know how to take advantage of the FP+. I can definitely learn from you. Keep it coming. Can't wait to read more.

Welcome and I'm glad you found my TR! Aww thank you so much for your nice compliments! We definitely do love each other and Disney! Our goal was to ride as many rides as we could and I think we certainly accomplished that. The low crowds in early September helped a lot too. Let me know if you have any FP+ planning questions that I can help answer! I also saw your posts on the Pop Century thread so let me know if you have any hotel questions too!

 

[smiley519]

Part 17: Wilderness Explorers, Safari Adventures, & Baby Gorillas

Park Plan: Sleep in and morning at AK, MK, DHS for EMH
Schedule:
11:45-12:45 PM Kali River Rapids
1:30-1:50 PM Finding Nemo: The Musical
5:45-6:45 PM Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition

We couldn’t believe our Disney days were already more than half over! On our Animal Kingdom day, we decided to sleep in a little bit, eat breakfast at the Everything Pop food court, and get to the park after rope drop. We woke up at 7:40 AM, showered and got ready, and left for breakfast at 8:50 AM.

P1140532 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I thought that most people would be in the parks or catching buses by 9 AM but the food court was pretty packed. Josh and I split up to wait in line for our respective breakfasts. I got the POP waffles and substitute a biscuit instead of sausage. Josh got an eggs, bacon, and cheese breakfast sandwich. I gave him my side of bacon and he also got a side order of grits. Everything was yummy.

P1140534 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140535 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We got in line for the bus at 9:30 AM and arrived at the park at 10 AM.

P1140537 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140539 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140540 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I had read up on the Wilderness Explorers (WE) activity at AK and knew that we would have fun completing it even without kids. We’re a big fan of Up and knew that the wilderness must be explored! We decided to share 1 book and got our first badge. Since I’m always up for a challenge, I was determined to collect all of the badges during our one AK day. Stay tuned to see if we were successful!

After proudly getting our WE stickers, we decided to take some pictures with the Tree of Life:

P1140541 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140542 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140544 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We knew that the animals on the safari would be most active in the early morning, so we started making our way to the Kilimanjaro Safaris Expedition.

P1140547 by smiley519, on Flickr
“Uganda. Cool, where is that?” “Africa.” “Oh boy, like Lion King!” – Book of Mormon


P1140548 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140549 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We got in line for the safari and waited about 10 minutes. However when we were waiting in line, they made an announcement that ostriches were crossing the road which were delaying the safari vehicles and might cause some delays. We thought it was pretty funny and knew that the animals always have the right of way. Soon we were boarding our vehicle and off to see what animals we could find in the safari!

P1140556 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140559 by smiley519, on Flickr
Hippos


P1140562 by smiley519, on Flickr
Meal time!


P1140564 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140570 by smiley519, on Flickr
3 tall giraffes


P1140575 by smiley519, on Flickr
A monkey and its baby


P1140583 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140585 by smiley519, on Flickr
Elephant watering hole


P1140587 by smiley519, on Flickr
This could totally be a postcard. “Greetings from Disney’s Africa! Wish you were here!”


P1140591 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140596 by smiley519, on Flickr
Both lions were out and while Mr. Lion was sleeping, the Mrs. was looking around


P1140600 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140603 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140605 by smiley519, on Flickr
Just like the announcement they made while we were in line, we got to watch this ostrich cross in front of us to get to the other side


P1140612 by smiley519, on Flickr
Okapis​

After the safari, we did the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail. The two babies were out who are both 2 years old. They were very playful and we really enjoyed watching them play and explore. At one point, another gorilla tried to take a swipe at the baby and big man dad came out and gave the culprit a stern talking to. Josh happened to get it all on video which was awesome.

P1140622 by smiley519, on Flickr
The babies


P1140623 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140632 by smiley519, on Flickr
It’s crazy how human-like their mannerisms are. Like don’t mind me, just passing time waiting for something to happen


P1140639 by smiley519, on Flickr
Big Daddy coming out to make his rounds


P1140642 by smiley519, on Flickr
This was right after the kerfuffle. The baby gorilla took solace on its mom’s back


P1140648 by smiley519, on Flickr
Everything gets back to normal


P1140652 by smiley519, on Flickr
Our hands look so tiny​

Continued in Next Post

 

[smiley519]

Friday, September 9th – Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios EMH

Part 18: New Favorite Musical & Park Hop x3

Suddenly it was time for our first FP on Kali River Rapids. We stored our stuff in a locker and saw some people putting on ponchos but figured we’d brave it. Plus it was so hot we thought the water would feel nice. After we road and went down the 1 drop we were like “That’s it? It’s over?” It was a very quick ride and didn’t seem to have too much of a story. The back of my shirt got wet and my shorts were soaked, which I would regret because they stayed damp the rest of the day.

After Kali, we did the Maharajah Jungle Trek and saw the tiger who was pretty active and lots of pretty birds.

P1140662 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140667 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140672 by smiley519, on Flickr
Josh being silly in the birds exhibit​

We also stopped for a picture:

P1140664 by smiley519, on Flickr​

It was now around 1 PM and we were getting hungry. We ate lunch at Restaurantosaurus. I got a hamburger and fries and Josh got a grilled chicken BLT sandwich. We must have been hungry because we wolfed it down before pictures could be taken. At lunch we learned about Disney’s no plastic straws policy at AK to protect the animals and used paper straws.

After lunch, Josh rode Expedition Everest via the single rider line while I collected some more WE badges.

P1140673 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Then it was time for our next FP for the 2 PM showing of Finding Nemo: The Musical. We got seats toward the front and if I had to do it again, we would’ve sat further back because we didn’t know that the performers come out into the audience, which had us craning our necks/heads to see everything.

P1140681 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I believe it’s been said before in this TR but Finding Nemo is my favorite movie. So needless to say I was very much looking forward to this musical and thankfully it did not disappoint! Apologies in advance for all the Nemo pictures coming at you!

P1140695 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140702 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140707 by smiley519, on Flickr
(This was the view as we craned our heads up, but it was cool that they were so close!)


P1140716 by smiley519, on Flickr
“Fish are friends, not food!”


P1140725 by smiley519, on Flickr
Nemo fun fact: In the movie, “P” is supposed to stand for Phillip (according to the Pixar Wiki) but in the musical, his name is Pablo.


P1140729 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140731 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140739 by smiley519, on Flickr
Can we discuss how difficult it must be to not only sing, flip and fly through the air, AND control the puppet?? And I love Dory’s shadow here


P1140764 by smiley519, on Flickr
Go with the flow-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o


P1140779 by smiley519, on Flickr
“Love you, Dad”​

This show was SO good! I constantly listen to the soundtrack on YouTube (and might be listening to it as I type this…). It was hands down my favorite show that we saw at Disney and if we had more time, I would’ve loved to see a second showing. The songs were written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (aka the songwriters behind Frozen). I seriously can’t believe that in 10 years this hasn’t been developed for Broadway yet. I think I might have to start the crowdfund to get this up and running!

After Nemo, we watched the 3 PM Festival of the Lion King.

P1140786 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140793 by smiley519, on Flickr
The Tumble Monkeys were awesome​

Compared to Nemo, we thought FOLK was just ok. We came outside to find the ground was soaked so we must have missed a Florida shower.

In our quest to become Senior Wilderness Explorers, we headed off to a new first for us, Rafiki’s Planet Watch, to collect 6 badges. We were excited to rest on the Wildlife Express Train.

P1140802 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Josh and I made some goat friends at the Affection Section:

P1140805 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140806 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We took the train back to the main area and Josh rode Expedition Everest again. We took some up close pictures of the animals on the Tree of Life:

P1140808 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140809 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Then we headed over to Adventurers Outpost to meet our favorite mice in their exploration outfits. I loved that the M&G had framed pictures of Mickey and Minnie on all their travels. Those two really get around!

P1140814 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140817 by smiley519, on Flickr​

It was still hot and we wanted a snack so we decided to get some frozen treats from the Anandapur Ice Cream Truck. Josh got a coke float with chocolate and vanilla twist ice cream and I got chocolate soft-serve ice cream in a waffle cone. Both were delicious and hit the spot.

P1140823 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140824 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Then it was off to Dinoland to get our final WE badges. We decided to see if we could fit on the slides and here’s Josh’s surprise face as I snapped the picture:

P1140825 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We also overheard the end of a funny conversation between a mom and her son which ended with “You can’t go down the slide with a poopy diaper!” Good to know!

We got our final WE badges at 6 PM so all in all, it took us 8 hours from 10 AM to 6 PM to get all our badges at a leisure pace with rides, 2 shows, and lunch in-between. So it’s definitely possible to get them all done in one day.

We headed back to the Wilderness Explorers headquarters near the front of the park and the troop leader had a mini ceremony to swear me in as a Senior Wilderness Explorer!! We got to sign the official book and I added our names, the date, and our hometown. I’m cheesing so hard in this photo.

P1140827 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140829 by smiley519, on Flickr​

One criticism we had of the WE activity is that some locations are not well labeled/identified. We used the WE map to locate each stop but the ones that were at concession stands/moving carts threw us because we weren’t expecting to collect stickers from the person behind the register. All of the troop leaders we came in contact with were very knowledgeable and they did a good job of gearing the learning to the ages of the audience. If it was just the 2 of us alone, they would ask us more difficult questions about conservation and ways we can save energy and help to protect the environment at home. When there were little kids, they discussed animals and topics that would be more on their level. Overall, it was a very fun interactive experience that had us traveling all over the park to places we had never been. I would definitely recommend it for kids and adults of all ages!

We ended up skipping our 5:45-6:45 PM FP for the Safari since we had already ridden it in the morning and would’ve had to backtrack through the park. At 6:10 PM, we decided that we had done everything we had wanted to do in AK so we waved goodbye and took a bus to the Magic Kingdom.

P1140834 by smiley519, on Flickr
Happy to be here but those clouds look a bit ominous​

All of the major Fantasyland attractions (Peter Pan and 7DMT) had long waits, so we went to one of Josh’s favorites, Mickey’s Philharmagic which was a 10 minute wait. Then we waited 20 minutes and boarded our clam shell with Ariel.

P1140841 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We had dinner at Pinocchio Village Haus and got there at 7:50 PM right before it closed at 8 PM (along with a lot of other people). Our ice cream snack was pretty filling so we decided to share a kids’ meal cheese pizza and chicken parmesan with pasta and a side Caesar salad. The kids’ meal portion was a lot smaller than we thought it’d be so I’m glad that we shared both meals. The pasta and chicken parm were both yummy and it was fine for a QS meal.

P1140844 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

We made a 7:35-8:35 PM for Space Mountain and rode it after dinner. Josh was excited to have the front row seat. We’re also not too good about scheduling fast moving coasters right after meals.

We were going to stay in MK for the rest of the evening but we got a text from our newly engaged friends that they were at DHS to watch the Star Wars fireworks and for EMH from 9-11 PM. Unfortunately we knew we wouldn’t make it in time for the fireworks (and we hadn’t planned to see them this trip since we chose Fantasmic! for our DHS night) but we could definitely meet them for EMH.

We caught a bus from MK to DHS at 8:50 PM and there were only 3 people on the bus so plenty of room to spread out. This was also our first day with visiting 3 parks in one day. We met up with our friends and rode Star Tours together. One of our friends ended up being the rebel spy!

Then we heard the shocking news that they had never been on Toy Story Midway Mania! We quickly rectified this and rode together. And I scored my highest score yet – 180,400!! Counting the 5 times we rode TSMM on our HS day, our final record of Josh's and my heated competition was 5-1 me! Our friends also did pretty well for first timers and we all had fun.

P1140845 by smiley519, on Flickr​

As we were walking, we passed under a billboard for Finding Dory. When I pointed it out, our friend said, “Wasn’t that the sequel to Nemo? Finding Nemo 2: Where the Hell is Dory?” We busted out laughing and told him that sadly, that title must have gotten left behind on the cutting floor.

We then walked around and explored the Star Wars Launch Bay and watched the film. Since it was the end of the night, the 3 CMs working decided to try out their Star Wars stand-up routine on us. There were some jokes that were funny but a lot of groans.

P1140849 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We ended the night with a ride together on the Great Movie Ride. We were on the last car of the night and our tour Chris was amazing. We had a female gangster this time too.

It was then time to call it a night. We said goodbye to our friends and wished them a safe flight home to NY tomorrow. We left DHS around 11:10 PM, waited for 2 buses, and caught the 3rd one back home to Pop. We got back to the hotel at 11:30 PM and started packing everything up because we’d be checking out of Pop in the morning.

Our daily mileage totaled 34,464 steps and 15.1 miles. We thought AK would be a lot of walking but our Epcot and World Showcase day still won.

Up Next: Our last Disney day and a planning fail when plans are changed...

 

[ariane37]

Well congrats on being a senior Wilderness Explorer!! I love your face in the cheesy picture by the way lol!
I wish they'd started that a few years earlier because by the time they did, neither of my boys were interested and it looks so neat And while it's totally cool for adults to do, it's not something my DH would want to do, either
We haven't watched the Nemo musical in years! We always do FotLK. Maybe next month we'll try Nemo again I loved Finding Dory!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

I am absolutely loving this trip report. I've just finished reading the whole thing through. My family tends to be like you and Josh and go go go while in Disney. Who needs that much sleep anyway?

It seems like you picked a great time to visit because the wait times for most of the rides have been so low. I can only hope when I visit in February the lines won't be too long but then again we are going for Mardi Gras so half of my state of Louisiana will be there.

I'm loving all your Disney t-shirts but Josh needs a Donald one to add to his collection.

 

[smiley519]

Well congrats on being a senior Wilderness Explorer!! I love your face in the cheesy picture by the way lol!
I wish they'd started that a few years earlier because by the time they did, neither of my boys were interested and it looks so neat And while it's totally cool for adults to do, it's not something my DH would want to do, either
We haven't watched the Nemo musical in years! We always do FotLK. Maybe next month we'll try Nemo again I loved Finding Dory!

Thanks for the congrats and liking my cheesy grin! Haha. Aw I'm sorry to hear that your boys and DH wouldn't be interested in. Maybe you can sneak away for a bit of solo time at AK and become a Senior Wilderness Explorer yourself!

I definitely recommend you see Nemo again if you haven't seen it in years! Make sure you sit behind the catwalk area of the stage so you can see all the action without having to crane your neck like we did. I loved Finding Dory too! I'm glad the sequel lived up to the hype after a 13 year wait!

I am absolutely loving this trip report. I've just finished reading the whole thing through. My family tends to be like you and Josh and go go go while in Disney. Who needs that much sleep anyway?

It seems like you picked a great time to visit because the wait times for most of the rides have been so low. I can only hope when I visit in February the lines won't be too long but then again we are going for Mardi Gras so half of my state of Louisiana will be there.

I'm loving all your Disney t-shirts but Josh needs a Donald one to add to his collection.

for joining in and reading the entire TR so far! I'm glad you enjoy it so much! Haha I agree, there's no time for sleeping on a vacation! That might be why we felt we needed another vacation to recuperate after getting home from Disney.

I hope you are also lucky enough to have low crowds during your trip in February! Does WDW do anything special to celebrate Mardi Gras?

I showed your comment to Josh about needing more Donald shirts and he loved it! It made us both crack up! He does have this shirt of the "3 boys" that he wore our first day, but he said he's always game for more Donald merchandise!

P1130289 by smiley519, on Flickr

 

[smiley519]

Saturday, September 10th – Magic Kingdom, Epcot

Part 19: 7DMT?, Flying Elephants, & Royal Sisters

Original Park Plan: Epcot, Magic Kingdom
Schedule:
9:40-10:40 AM The Seas with Nemo & Friends
11:05-12:05 PM Frozen Ever After
12:10-1:10 PM Mission: SPACE

Well, somehow it was already Saturday and it was our last day at the World (before heading to the “dark side” to Universal Studios). We decided on our last park day that we’d return to our two favorite parks: Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. The day before, Josh told me that he really, really wanted to ride 7DMT one more time. We had only made one FP for it back on our first day and had made all of our FP’s for Epcot (as shown above). The original plan was to go to Epcot in the morning, leave in the early afternoon, and head over to MK where we’d spend the rest of our day and watch the Main Street Electrical Parade for our final time before it ended on 10/9. We knew that we’d be subjected to a 60-80+ wait if we rode 7DMT standby during the busiest part of the afternoon, so Josh convinced me that we should go to MK at rope drop, ride 7DMT standby, park hop to Epcot, and then park hop back to MK. And so that was our game plan.

We woke up at 7:30 AM, showered, and finished packing up everything.

P1140855 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We headed downstairs to Pop’s lobby, checked out, and left our suitcases in the luggage storage area. We confirmed that the luggage storage would be open 24/7 because we weren’t intending to return back to the hotel until 11 PM – 12 AM to pick it back up.

We got to the buses at 8:40 AM and arrived to MK by 8:55 AM. We noticed while on the bus that it wasn’t as crowded as the normal rope drop crowd. It was then that I logged onto the MDE app and saw that MK did not open at 9 AM that Saturday, but at 8 AM! We hadn’t thought to check the park opening time when we changed our plans around and both incorrectly assumed that MK would open the same time as it did on Tuesday. Hence, #planningfail. We were worried how it would effect the wait time for 7DMT but decided we’d still go for it and make the best of it.

We quickly hurried in the direction of 7DMT and passed the dancers on the trolley and the castle, with the WDW Crane photobombing it.

P1140856 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140857 by smiley519, on Flickr
​

The posted wait time was 45 minutes. We got in line and took a snap with the 7DMT filter:

P1140858 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We enjoyed playing the interactive games while waiting in line and I enjoyed waving my hand under the water to create music.

P1140860 by smiley519, on Flickr​

The actual wait time ended up only being 30 minutes and we really enjoyed it once again! It was also a good thing that we rode it a second time because we realized that our pictures and ride video weren’t posted to our MDE account the first time.

We decided to take a spin on Dumbo since we hadn’t ridden it yet this trip and it’s an old classic. We thought it would be a very quick wait but it ended up being nearly 20 minutes. Nevertheless, we still had fun.

P1140867 by smiley519, on Flickr​

After our flight on Dumbo, we finally had a chance to go on the People Mover. I know the ride has a bit of a cult following on the Dis but I had somehow never ridden it before! I now know what all the hype is about! It’s a great ride to rest your feet and so cool to go behind the scenes of all of the Tomorrowland rides, especially Space Mountain.

P1140869 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140871 by smiley519, on Flickr​

It was about 11 AM so we decided to make our way back down Main Street to start heading out of the park. But first, some jumping pictures with our favorite castle.

P1140873 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140874 by smiley519, on Flickr​

On our way out, we stumbled upon the Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! Street Party. We stopped to watch for a minute and it was really cute.

P1140878 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140880 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140881 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Even with our planning fail, we were glad we got to ride 7DMT again and 2 other MK rides we hadn’t gotten to ride on our MK day. We left the park and got some conflicting information on the quickest way to get to Epcot. Finally we caught a monorail and soon we were taking pictures with this familiar sight.

P1140883 by smiley519, on Flickr
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If you checked our original schedule, we decided to skip our 9:40-10:40 AM FP on Nemo because we had already ridden it and knew it’d probably be a 5-10 minute maximum wait if we wanted to ride it again. But we definitely did not want to miss our 11:05-12:05 PM FP for Frozen Ever After!

This was our reaction when we got to FEA and saw that stand-by had a 60 minute wait and the FP line was a walk-on:

P1140886 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Next we got in line to meet Anna and Elsa at the Royal Sommerhus. It was a 20 minute wait and Josh was nice to wait for me because he knew I wanted to meet them. Anna spotted Josh’s birthday pin and we discussed building snowmen with Anna and Olaf and Elsa asked if we had visited her ice castle which we said we had. It was a fun M&G.

P1140888 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140891 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140892 by smiley519, on Flickr​

After meeting the sisters, we walked around and explored the World Showcase a bit.

P1140896 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140899 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140901 by smiley519, on Flickr
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Continued in Next Post

 

[smiley519]

Saturday, September 10th – Epcot, Magic Kingdom

Part 20: Via Napoli, "Where's My Magic Band?", Paper FPs, & 7DMT Reprise

We were getting hungry for lunch and even though we didn’t have a reservation, we decided to see how long the wait would be at Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria at 12:35 PM.

P1140902 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Luckily for us, it was a quick 15 minutes until we were seated. Josh and I chose to share the Large Classic Margherita 20" Build-Your-Own Pizza. It was soo yummy! We polished off the entire thing.

P1140904 by smiley519, on Flickr
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After lunch, we made our way over to Mexico. I really wanted Josh to meet Donald in his Mexican outfit, but the line was a bit long so we got creative to snap a photo of the two of them together.

P1140908 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140911 by smiley519, on Flickr​

Next we rode the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros. Josh was especially excited because the ride is all about his favorite – Donald!

P1140914 by smiley519, on Flickr
There’s a party today!

P1140917 by smiley519, on Flickr

P1140921 by smiley519, on Flickr​

After partying with our favorite duck, we headed to another one of our favorites and rode Test Track twice in a row via the single rider line.

P1140925 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We then went on Mission Space and did the less intense green ride. We also had two very fun Grandmoms with us on our Mars team that made the ride really fun.

P1140926 by smiley519, on Flickr
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Around 3 PM, we were getting ready to leave Epcot but we had to make a pit stop first. We went in the Art of Disney store earlier in the week and scouted out jigsaw puzzles. Josh and I are a big fan of jigsaw puzzles and love working on them together and then gluing and framing them. We’ve done two 2,000 piece puzzles of New York City Time Square and the Las Vegas Strip and quite a few 1,000 piece puzzles. We looked at the selection and decided to get the 1,000 piece Thomas Kinkade jigsaw puzzle of Cinderella's Castle at night. Here is Josh modeling our puzzle with the much larger (and much more expensive) painting of the same scene:

P1140928 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We’re excited to complete it and know it will serve as a great memory of our amazing trip!

We took one last picture with the giant golf ball, and waved goodbye to Epcot. We then boarded a monorail to the TTC and then another monorail to MK.

P1140933 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We entered MK right before 4 PM and watched a bit of the show of Cinderella and Prince Charming welcoming Princess Elena of Avalor.

P1140940 by smiley519, on Flickr​

We decided to watch another old favorite and went to the Country Bear Jamboree.

P1140943 by smiley519, on Flickr​

I’m still very impressed with all of the animatronics of this ride, especially bears swinging from the ceiling and talking moose heads mounted to the wall.

Afterward, we made our way over to Pirates. The posted wait time said 25 minutes but it was only 17 minutes. We sat in the front row and happened to notice that boat #19 was in front of us, which is my birthday. We had fun with Captain Jack Sparrow and got off the ride. It was then that Josh mentioned 4 very scary words, “Where’s my Magic Band?” He looked down at his wrist and sure enough, his bright orange Magic Band wasn’t there. On the bright side, it was the last day of our trip and this was our last park hop of the day, but we still had more FP reservations stored on it and had my credit card linked to it, even though we hadn’t been using it. We immediately found a CM in the dump shop and she panicked a bit for us and told us to talk to the CM at the front of the ride. We repeated our story to the CM at the front of the ride and told her that we were sitting in the front row of our boat and that we happened to notice that boat #19 was in front of us. I didn’t know if we were in boat #20 or not because I wasn’t sure if they go sequentially and she confirmed that they don’t. She radioed in the information (and said it was helpful that we had that information), told us to walk around and come back in 10-15 minutes, and she’d let us know if someone had found it. If no one did, we’d have to go to Guest Services on Main Street, report it as missing so they could deactivate it and they’d provide us with a new one, which would be complimentary.

It was a stressful 10-15 minutes as we walked around Adventureland since we didn’t want to go too far away. We returned to the front of the ride and found the same CM. She looked at us, smiled, and provided us with Josh’s orange Magic Band! I checked the inside and saw his name printed on it too. Josh was very happy to be reunited with it and we made sure that it was snug and secured. I would have to imagine that this must happen pretty frequently if little kids are wearing their bands or if the snaps loosen themselves.

We decided that this called for a celebratory snack. Josh got a Pineapple Dole Whip Cup from Aloha Isle. He said it was good but not amazing. I got a Mickey’s Cookies & Cream Sandwich from a popcorn stand which was delicious and hit the spot!

P1140947 by smiley519, on Flickr
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After our snacks, we got in the stand-by line for the Haunted Mansion which had a posted 35 minute wait. We were starting to realize that we had been spoiled earlier in the week and that MK is much busier on a Saturday than a Tuesday. There were also a lot less FPs available the day of so we weren’t able to make FP reservations while waiting in line for one ride and then walk directly onto another ride after. The wait for HM was mostly outside and it was hot and we were tired. We toughed it out and went on a fun ride in our Doom Buggy. When we got off, I was able to find and snap a picture of Mr. Toad’s statue in the pet cemetery!

P1140948 by smiley519, on Flickr
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Earlier in the day, we had made a FP reservation for Peter Pan for 11 PM as that was the first time available. Josh really wanted to ride it so we decided to forgo being able to make other FP reservations, and really there wasn’t much available. On a whim while waiting in line for HM, I checked the app and saw that there was a FP available for 7DMT for 6:15-7:15 PM! I checked in with Josh and he agreed to switch our PP FP for 7DMT. I teased him that now that we had this FP, we hadn’t needed to switch our plans around and go to MK this morning. Of course we had no way of knowing that so we were glad that we would get to do 7DMT one final time.

We headed back to Fantasyland and got in line for Mickey’s Philharmagic. We were let into the holding area before you go into the auditorium and waited there for 15-20 minutes. It seemed like they were going to open the doors and then nothing happened. Finally some people started taking their phones out and logged onto the MDE app and saw that the ride was temporarily closed! The CM’s kind of kept us in the dark and didn’t really explain what was going on. They said that it could be another 15 minute wait so we were given the option to either continue waiting or they were giving away paper FPs. Since we had already seen the show twice that week, we took the paper FP. We were excited and thought we could use it on some of the more popular attractions, but saw that the fine print said it was only good for Pooh, Little Mermaid, Philharmagic, Barnstormer, or Dumbo.

After getting out of the Philharmagic line, our window had opened for our 7DMT FP. We walked right on and got these pretty awesome ride photos:

P1140949.1 by smiley519, on Flickr
I think Josh’s biceps could give Gaston a run for his money!


P1140949.2 by smiley519, on Flickr​

After getting “Heigh Ho” stuck in our heads one more time (but it was so worth it), we used our paper FPs on the Little Mermaid ride. I tried to copy Ariel’s pose here:

P1140952 by smiley519, on Flickr
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Continued in Next Post