"YES you can see his ID!" 21st Birthday - Gangnam Style!

LittleMissMagic

LittleMissMagic

Victoria on Vacation
Joined
Dec 24, 2008

DSC_3182 by vshingl, on Flickr

My sister and boyfriend share the same birthday, and this year, it happened to land on fall break. What better place to celebrate than Walt Disney World? It was a wonderful time to go, as we got to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party for the first time, Food & Wine Festival, and were there for the soft opening of New Fantasyland!

This is actually my 10th trip report (3rd on the DIS) - all are linked in my signature if you'd like to read some old reports!

Cast includes:

Me, Victoria - Disney Enthusiast


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Sister, Rachel - Birthday Girl


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Boyfriend, Max - Birthday Boy


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Rachel's Friend, Addie - Hadn't been to Disney in six years


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And Mom and Dad!

I rented points from Bill at DVC Magic Point Rentals for $10/point (a great deal which really helped me convince Dad... we normally spend around $400-500/night to stay at a Deluxe resort, and for about the same price, we could stay in a 2-bedroom villa... no-brainer, right?). I had inquired with a few other renters, but they all said it wasn't possible - it was too late to book (this was in early September), nothing was available. Not Bill - he was determined to get us a villa! At first, he booked us three separate reservations - three nights at SSR and one night at OKW with a request to move to SSR. Within a week the SSR request went through, and he was able to link our four separate reservations together into one. This guy knew what he was doing!
 
The plan was for everyone to spend Thursday night at our house, then to leave from there bright and early in the morning.

Well, I had the bright idea to paint Max a cooler for his 21st Birthday (it's a big thing in the south to paint coolers... girls paint coolers for guys who are taking them on their fraternity function like Mountain Weekend or Beach Weekend and fill the cooler with alcohol for the event since the guy is paying for them to go... or girls paint coolers for guys they care enough about to slave away painting a very personal cooler for). I had been working on it for about a week, but I had a lot left to do Thursday. So my departure time was pushed back because I was painting this surprise birthday present cooler for Max.

I was very pleased with how it turned out.

The top is Death Valley, Clemson's football stadium:

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Cinderella's Castle, since we went to Disney for his birthday:

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This is the Beats by Dre logo. He loves the headphones and his beatbox.

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He also loves Ralph Lauren.

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And then Buzz Lightyear because he loves Toy Story, and he was Buzz for MNSSHP.

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Well, I get to Max's apartment to deliver his early birthday present and take him to my house... but I entered to find that these party animals had decided to go ahead and start celebrating Fall Break.... IMG_2158 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I didn't have enough room in my car for the three of them and luggage. By the time I got Rachel and Addie back to their dorm and Max in the car to the house, it was 3:00 AM!!!

I left Max sleeping in the car all night :blush: and went in to help my mom finalize our MNSSHP costumes, pack, and sleep for a couple of hours.

Mom had to pick up Rachel and Addie that morning. Finally, we were ready to go!

He wasn't too happy to wake up in the car...


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We slept most of the way there.


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We arrived at Walt Disney World at about 3:00.


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When arriving at SSR, we were really surprised that there wasn't any bell service (or at least not the CMs that went to your car and opened your doors and started removing your luggage before you even got out of the car yourself)... but then realized it was probably because parking was so close to our building.

I went with Dad to check in.


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We tried to get our MNSSHP tickets, but there was a glitch in the system - they were printing adults as children and children as adults. So we had to wait until we got to MK to have them printed... not nearly as convenient.
 


I asked for a room in the Paddock, the Springs, or Congress Park. We ended up with a room on the edge of the Paddock closest to Congress Park. It was a quick walk to the Congress Park bus stop and close to Downtown Disney, but not so convenient to the Paddock pool.

Our room in the Paddock had just received the soft goods refurbishment. We actually may have been the first people to stay in the newly refurbished room because they were renovating the floor beneath us during our stay (and because of this, I know that they replaced all of the mattresses).

I had read some concerns about the soft good refurb because of the implementation of Disney characters and blue walls..... but I absolutely LOVED it. I'm really glad they switched out the hideous green couch for a neutral tan one. The character additions were very tasteful. And the blue walls in the master were actually nothing like I had seen in pictures - they're very bright and inviting and go well with the bright bedspread.

Sadly, this is the only picture I got of the second bedroom while the beds were made -


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Loved the table -


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New TV... not sure if this was with soft goods refurb or before, but almost every photo I'd seen of SSR villas had old televisions in it.


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Our view -


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Would've been a lake view, except it was obscured by the tree -


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LOVE the master bedroom -


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I'm really glad that we got a dedicated 2-bedroom instead of a lock-off because the double vanity was PERFECT for our girls' room! It was also nice to have two queens instead of a queen and a sofa bed. It was so spacious! Rachel said, "This room alone is the size of our normal room!"

The only thing slightly weird about the arrangement was that Max shared a bathroom with my parents. That would've been completely awkward if they hadn't known eachother forever. However, the split bathroom made it easy so that Max could be showering or getting ready in one side of the bathroom while my parents were in the other side.
 
We had planned to get to MK at 4:00 for MNSSHP, but after our later than expected arrival and difficulty getting Max to wear the Buzz Lightyear costume (he was getting nervous... didn't believe me that almost everyone, including adults, was going to be in costume).

We went as Buzz Lightyear and the three little aliens. We ended up with two photopasses, and unfortunately, my dad still has the one with our MNSSHP pictures on it. So you'll just have to bear with his awful photos (I don't understand why this man can't work my camera) of us all together for now, and I'll add the Photopass Photos later.

Addie was very into the alien costume and helped get Rachel excited about it (Rachel and Max were both talking about how stupid they looked in the costumes). She did this Twitter "alien update" thing.

This is alien riding a bus...


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Dad had to wait in a super long line to get our tickets since the couldn't print them at our resort.


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We got in the park around 6:00. It's a good thing we didn't try to go at 4:00 because it was so hot!!!


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Our costumes were very popular, and we had a lot of people ask to take pictures of us or with us, even before we had entered the park. I had read online that as long as you weren't trying to represent be a Disney character and offering to sign autographs or pose for pictures, you could take photos with guests if they asked. Well, in Tomorrowland, by the Buzz Lightyear attraction, a family asked to take a photo with us, and we agreed, and Max was approached by a CM and told he wasn't allowed to take photos with guests.

Great! Max had finally warmed up to the Buzz Lightyear costume, and he was scolded by a CM! He was then super worried about it - "What do I do? I'm going to look like a jerk if I say no!" Sure enough, after the CM left, we were almost immediately approached by a family who didn't speak much English, wanting to take a photo with us... and we had to say no and look like jerks.

We finally decided that as long as we weren't in Tomorrowland, it should be okay to take a quick photo with someone if they asked. But after it got dark and the party actually started, we had less people approaching us for photos.


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We couldn't get this little kid to leave so we could take a picture... he was just playing on it. His father was going to take his picture, but then realized we were first, so he moved to the back of the picture line... but left his son up there! What the heck?


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MNSSHP is a new event for us, and it's something that I researched thoroughly to make sure that we took advantage of everything that was offered - special characters, photo ops, etc. Well, I realized that rushing everyone around the park wasn't going to be any fun. Waiting an hour and a half before the party started to meet the 7 dwarves wasn't going to be a good use of time. So when we got into the park, I discarded all plans that I had and let everyone come up with their own. I'm really glad that I did this.

After we rode Buzz Lightyear, it was about 7:00, so we headed to the first candy stop.


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The candy trail was great - we got a lot of candy. We did notice that Rachel, Addie, and I got more candy than Mom, Max, and Dad. Maybe it was because we were girls in funny costumes.

After the candy trail, we realized that Space Mountain was just a 10 minute wait - let's do it! It turned out to be no wait - we walked right on!


DSC_2609 by vshingl, on Flickr
 


I'm in! DW and I are going to MNSSHP and F&W next year so I'm looking forward to your TR. Keep up the great report!
 
I LOVE your MNSSHP costumes !!! Were you guys hot ?? We went on Sept. 11, the first party and we got really lucky with the weather. Low 70's that night. Looking forward to reading more !!
 
jecskc said:
I LOVE your MNSSHP costumes ??? Were you guys hot ?? We went on Sept. 11, the first party and we got really lucky with the weather. Low 70's that night. Looking forward to reading more !!
Click to expand...

Thanks! It was a little hot, but it was worth it.
 
We sat down while waiting for HalloWishes... and other people came and sat down to. When the fireworks started, everyone was sitting and no one stood up! It was awesome!! I didn't have to worry about any heads in my way or anything!


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HalloWishes was great! The finale completely lit up the sky! Everyone really enjoyed it.
 

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Rachel especially loved the cowboys. She kept making cat calls at them.


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After the parade, we headed down Main Street to visit Mickey Mouse. There was no wait! Really - there was no one in the room before us. I guess they had just been hanging out.

So we got to spend a good bit of time with Mickey and Minnie. I think they should have some music playing in that room because it was almost awkward since Mickey and Minnie don't talk.


DSC_2777 by vshingl, on Flickr

I don't know why Max is never looking the right way...


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After Mickey and Minnie, I suggested that we circle back through and meet the princesses before heading back to the resort.

The line for the princesses was a little longer. Well, while in line, we were talking about the dance party at Max's apartment the night before. And Addie started doing Gangnam Style. If you don't know what that is, this will explain it - PSY - GANGNAM STYLE (?????) M/V - YouTube.

We were next in line,and apparently Flynn Rider could see Addie dancing, and he told us that we had to "ride our horses over." And so we did. And Rapunzel and Flynn wanted us to teach them to do the dance.


Gangnam Style 01 by vshingl, on Flickr


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Now Snow White and her Prince saw us, and wanted us to "ride our horses" for them, too. Snow White was quite intrigued by the song and dance. "What are the words?" "It's in Korean." "Wait, so how do you know what they're saying?" Addie - "Well, the only English words are Hey, Sexy Ladies." Snow White - "Hey Sexy Ladies?" in an innocent princess voice. It was priceless.


Gangnam Style 02 by vshingl, on Flickr


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Snow's Prince told us that we needed to teach Prince Charming to ride a horse because he didn't know how.

Prince Charming was very offended by this statement. "I know how to ride a horse!" Cinderella didn't know what to think of riding a horse Gangnam Style. "Look at that - her horse turns around in circles! Is that even possible?" Prince Charming - "Doesn't look like a very proper way to ride a horse."

Look at that face - Prince Charming is not impressed.


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"I can't believe I'm being photographed with these embarassing aliens." -


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Cinderella's photopass photographer thought we were hilarious. He had started photographing us from across the room, and he asked Max where he found his adult Buzz Lightyear costume. "You guys are so awesome! This is the best thing that's happened all day!!!" :laugh:
 

DSC_2823 by vshingl, on Flickr

Overall, we really enjoyed MNSSHP. I read a lot of advice before going to the party, but I ended up throwing most of this information out the window. We ditched the Touring Plan and just did what we wanted - the only things we really had set were the fireworks and parade.

Here's a list of all of the things we did "wrong" (according to others' advice):
- Attended a Friday party in October. This is apparently a big no-no because it's when all of the locals go. But we didn't notice it to be extremely crowded, even in typically high-traffic areas like Fantasyland. It didn't even seem to be crowded when we were staking out our fireworks/parade spot. After reading people's reports on DIS about the Thursday and Sunday parties that week, I think that maybe everyone is taking the advice to not go on a Friday... so Fridays are now less crowded? Kind of like everyone is now visiting WDW in October during the "low season" ... which is no longer so empty.
- Started Trick-or-Treating at the beginning of the party. These big kids wanted candy! We found the candy lines to be fast-moving, and we got lots of candy. We did notice that Addie, Rachel, and I got more candy than Mom, Dad, and Max. And during the parade, when Max and I both held out our treat bags, they put candy in mine, but none in Max's!
- We rode rides during the party. Well, only Space Mountain - but it was a 10 minute wait (we ended up walking right on). I don't think that it wasted a lot of party time.
- We didn't line up for a popular character before the party. I had initially planned for us to line up for the Dwarfs... but then decided that it would just be a huge waste of time. We got great character interaction and hardly had to wait.

It was a really good party. Honestly, I think it would've been worth the $65 for HalloWishes and the Boo to You parade alone. I'm really glad that we went, and I'm glad that we wore costumes. It was a great experience.
 

DSC_2824 by vshingl, on Flickr

The next day, I made everyone get up early and head to DHS for EMH. We didn't make it there for rope drop (not surprising). We decided to have Dad FP Toy Story Mania while we went to ride RnRC. It was just a 10 minute wait when we got in line, but there was some sort of hold up and the line quickly grew. We were worried about getting back on the ride with Mom and Dad, but they did the single riders line and ended up ahead of us.

We asked for the first row (Max's request). Still love that ride!

Next we headed to Tower of Terror. I was a little sad that we only rode that once during the trip - it's one of my favorites.
 
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