10 days of SSR, F&W & MNSSHP....LOTS of PICS

[Chellymouse]

A quick PTR: Just DH and I this time. We were 14 months between trips so we had ALOT of time to plan and save. This was one of the most over and under planned trips we've done ever. 22 days before we left, my dad had a bad fall off a ladder did extensive damage to his leg. He was still in the hospital before we left, but was able to come home (after 28 days in the hospital and rehab) while we were in WDW and he is doing well now. Had a little drama when we got home...DH's sister cancelled on us for next summer so we had to (sadly) cancel our THV, however, we did re-book for 8 nights in May at BWV with a BW view (we've never stayed and are looking forward to it) so, here we go!

DH had to work the morning from 5am-10:30am so while he was at work, I took care of all of our little "last minutes" Finally, DH came home from work, our friend arrived to take us to the airport and off we went. Flew Airtran and arrived about 10 minutes early to MCO. Jumped off the plane and we were on ME within 30 minutes and arrived at SSR exactly 1 hour to the minute that our plane landed. (4:20pm)

Ahh....one of the best sites in the World!

[/IMG]

We did on-line check in this time and found it to be very quick and efficient. Until we found that we were assigned the Paddock. No offense to anyone, but we are CP "snobs" so after asking the CM if we could be moved, we were, but it was a room with a not so great view. We didn't care, just wanted to be in CP. Within a few minutes, we picked up our delivery from Garden Grocer and were in the golf cart heading home We put our stuff away, switched bags and were heading to bus to go to MK within 15 minutes! We arrived at MK at 5:15 and went to Guest Relations to get DH's PAP renewed, purchased our TIW card and picked up our MNSSHP tix. We had just enough time to ride Space Mtn (loved the upgrades, first time we'd been on since it's re-opened) and POTC before going to the boat dock for our dinner at WCC. This is the first time we ate there and we really enjoyed. Food was good, yes it was loud, but it was fun. After our meal, we hopped on a boat over to FW for our Haunted Carriage Ride. We arrived early and spent some time checking out all of the campers Halloween decor. AWESOME! Here are a few pics:

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

Finally, it was time for our carriage ride. We loved it! Definitely worth the $$. This was the first time we've ever done a carriage ride. It consisted of the telling of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and was done very well...minus HalloWishes going off, but it was still dark and spooky.

Our Carriage:

[/IMG]

Our Horse (Dutch)

[/IMG]

Us

[/IMG]

Sleepy Hollow:

[/IMG]

Our Suprise!

[/IMG]

After our ride, we caught a bus to DTD and even though this was supposed to be an "early" night, DH wanted to walk around Market Place so we did. We walked back to SSR at 11:15pm, got home, unpacked and got showers and finally turned in at 12:30am. Up next: 7:30am ADR and will we actually make RD at MK for the first time in years!?

 

[Chellymouse]

Our first full day of WDW!! After discovering that we did not have a power cord for the clock radio we did receive our wake up call at 6:30am. (Power cord was delivered today while we were out). We managed to get to bell services by 7:10am and caught a cab over to the Poly. There was NO WAY we were even going to attempt using Disney transportation at this hour of morning. Cab cost $20 (thought that was a bit steep) but we did arrive to our breakfast with Stitch in time. We were seated pretty quickly, had a great table and a fabulous breakfast! This is one of our favorite meals and it's a
"must do" on every trip. Here are a few pics from breakfast!

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

We were finished with breakfast at 8:30am, hopped on the monorail and were standing at the MK gate by 8:45am. We were excited as we've not seen a MK opening ceremony in years! Here are a few pics!

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

Ceremony finished and we were in MK. We were wandering around because we wanted to be early for the Fairies. We came across Lady Tremaine and her not-so-elegant girls Drizella and Anastasia!

[/IMG]

Just across the way was the Fairy Godmother

[/IMG]

We decided to go see the Fairies and Princesses and we did manage to be the 3rd family in line for the Fairies. Unfortunately, we weren't very wise and relied on FP and our pics with Rosetta and Tink were nowhere to be found. We did get the new fairy (incidently, she's not very nice) though.

[/IMG]

After the fairies, we ran around and got in line to see Cinderella, Aurora and Belle. We were excited to see Belle as we'd never gotten a pic with her in her ball gown. BTW...the line for the fairies was UNREAL at this point!
Here's us with the leading ladies of the Magic Kingdom!

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

After that mission was accomplished, we wandered around a bit. Rode Space Mtn, Buzz, Dumbo, Snow White, saw Philharmagic, rode POTC, Splash and HM. We did meet up with Capt. Goofy along the way!

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

We also took some pics of the fall decor around MK.

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

We decided to leave MK and head over to Epcot to start our adventures of eating and drinking around the world! Up next...our first views of Epcot and F&W!

 

[Laurabearz]

Wonderful Pictures Thanks!

 

[littlestar]

Great pictures. Thanks for posting them.

 

[kikiq]

Love the pictures and report. We too are SSR CP snobs. But this time also got the not so great view of trees from our 3rd floor one bedroom. In reality, it was fine, because we were still at WDW!

 

[Chellymouse]

Well, we made it over to Epcot via the monorail and were greeted by the F&W festival!

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

We started at the Festival welcome center and looked around a bit and picked up our passport. We decided to graze around for a bit as we were pretty hungry so we stopped to pick up a F&W wrist band gift card and made our was to WS. We tried several booths, more adult beverage than food it seemed then decided to go to Sunshine Seasons for something a bit more substanstial. We were pretty disappointed with the food. Not nearly as good as it's been in previous trips and it's fairly expensive for CS. After eating we went back to WS and sampled a few more booths. We left Epoct around 8pm and wound up at DTD again for some shopping. At least we managed to get to bed by 10:30!

Saturday: Day 2
We were up around early and even though we were at AP by 8am, the line for breakfast was nuts! Usually when we go that early, it's not a problem, however, this morning it was packed. Took 45 minutes to get 2 Mickey waffles. Needless to say, we weren't too happy! We made it to Epcot by 9:40am, grabbed FP for Soarin' and went and rode TT and Mission Space-Orange. After that we went over to the Land and rode the boat ride...don't know why, but we love that thing! It was time for Soarin' so we rode and then it was time for our beverage demo. DH chose this one and it was supposed to be about Jim Beam, but wound up being the great whisky debate. DH loved it! Me...not so much...I don't care for whisky so I took the obligatory taste and DH finished my sample. When it was over, I had to run and DH a bottle of CC so he could have it signed. We may actually take a drive up to Windsor this winter and tour the distillary. The men who did the debate were very entertaining and the samples were pretty ample!

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

After our demo we went over to see Capt. EO. I know....but DH has never seen it. It was a bit more lame than I remembered, but it was cool to see again anyway. We then went over to visit NEMO and friends at the living seas and by that time it was time to go see Jamie Deen. He was fabulous and we really enjoyed his culinary demonstration.

[/IMG]

After Jamie, we went back to WS to graze and beverage a bit, but it being Sat, it was pretty busy. We did get to meet Duffy and it was actually pretty funny because there were all adults in line and no kids! The CMs were having a good time with everyone!

[/IMG]

By now, it was pretty busy so we grabbed our gear from our locker and went over to MK in an effort to find dinner and to see MSEP, which we hadn't seen since our honeymoon 10 years ago. During this time, our friends had landed at MCO and were on there way to BLT. We thought we would all meet up for the parade......did we? and how was MSEP? Stay tuned!!

 

[Chellymouse]

Wonderful Pictures Thanks!

Thank you! We wound up with over 800 pics from this trip between our camera and FP. First time we received 2 CDs from FP!

Great pictures. Thanks for posting them.

Thank you for checking them out!

Love the pictures and report. We too are SSR CP snobs. But this time also got the not so great view of trees from our 3rd floor one bedroom. In reality, it was fine, because we were still at WDW!

We were on the second floor. Our living room and balcony overlooked the side of the building and part of the parking lot and our bedroom overlooked the parking lot! We didn't care....we decided a crummy view in CP was better than not being in CP at all!

 

[wdrl]

Thanks for sharing your photos. Looking forward to your next installment!

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Hi! Joining in. Glad your dad is recovering well. Sorry about having to cancel THV. We stayed in a BW view this summer; it is lovely!

I love your pictures. I've never seen the decorations at the campground; I should really frequent their threads. All I can say is WOW!

I can't wait to get back to the parks. Some of the angles of your pictures are making me even more homesick!

Thanks for sharing; can't wait to read more.

 

[kamikazecat]

I am enjoying your trip report. Our first trip to DW was two years ago and we paid cash to stay at SSR (on the 4/3 deal) and fell in love with the resort. We stayed in the Springs and loved our location so much that we became snobs as well.

I can't wait to see more.

 

[Sammie]

What were they debating at the Whiskey presentation?

 

[Disney Princess]

Loving your report. I always enjoy the pictures. Sorry to hear about your dad and having to cancel the treehouse. You'll love the BW view - it is our favorite!

 

[Chellymouse]

Thanks for sharing your photos. Looking forward to y

Thank you!

Hi! Joining in. Glad your dad is recovering well. Sorry about having to cancel THV. We stayed in a BW view this summer; it is lovely!

It's been a long road, but he's doing better! Better he fell on his leg and not his head! We're bummed about THV, but excited to try BWV. We've always wanted to stay there, but never wanted to spend the $$. Now we don't have to! Thank you DVC!!

I love your pictures. I've never seen the decorations at the campground; I should really frequent their threads. All I can say is WOW!

They were pretty amazing! It was definitely worth the walk!

I can't wait to get back to the parks. Some of the angles of your pictures are making me even more homesick!
Thanks for sharing; can't wait to read more.

Thank you!

I am enjoying your trip report. Our first trip to DW was two years ago and we paid cash to stay at SSR (on the 4/3 deal) and fell in love with the resort. We stayed in the Springs and loved our location so much that we became snobs as well.
I can't wait to see more.

Can't help it! Love being able to walk out the back door and be at DTD in less than 5 minutes!

What were they debating at the Whiskey presentation?

Which was better, Canadian Whiskey, American Whiskey or Scotch. It was quite comical and I actually learned something. Never knew all of the nuances that went into production of whiskey!

Loving your report. I always enjoy the pictures. Sorry to hear about your dad and having to cancel the treehouse. You'll love the BW view - it is our favorite!

Thanks!

 

[Chellymouse]

We made it to MK and DH was "starving" for Casey's so we wound up having Casey's for dinner. Of course we needed Dole Whips for dessert We did stop for a quick pic in front of the castle.

[/IMG]

We then decided that our main goal for the evening was the parade. We did wander around Tomorrowland for a bit and did TTA (hadn't done that for awhile and it was relaxing after dinner!) Grabbed FP for Buzz and went to see Stitch. I know it's not the greatest, but I love Stitch so we went to see him. We still had a couple of minutes before our time for Buzz and a really nice lady gave us her FP for Space Mtn as her kids were sleeping in a stroller so we went and rode Space Mtn. then grabbed FP to pass along to someone else. We like to pay it forward and spread the magic anyway, but we always make it a point to do it for someone else when someone does it for us. We rode Buzz and for once, I actually beat DH. In the mean time, our friends finally called and told us their sordid tale of going to Term A instead of B and wandering around MCO for nearly an hour before they finally got to ME. Long story short, they barely made it to their 8pm ADR at CP! We decided to try to meet up after they finished eating, but their kids were exhausted so they left. DH and I staked out a spot on Main St in anticipation for MSEP. We haven't seen it since our honeymoon and we actually like this parade better than Spectro. DH went off to get popcorn for us and we made friends with the folks sitting next to us! Here are a few pics from MSEP.

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

After the parade we decided to call it a night. We were tired and even though we love Wishes, we decided to go home, hit the hot tub and rest those barking dogs of ours. We hopped a bus home to SSR and went to the hot tub where we spent a good hour visiting with other DVC members, sharing tips and making new pals. Won't be the last time we met our friends from the hot tub! We eventually made it back to the villa and went to be around 11pm.

Quick pic on the way out!

[/IMG]
Up next: Champagne brunch at Epcot, DH gets an unpleasant surprise on Malestrom and our first MNSSHP!!

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

Thanks so much for taking the time to share. Really enjoying your TR.

 

[bjakmom]

Your pics are great - thanks for sharing them- can't wait to see MSEP again. DH and I really missed F&W this year. Wondering what dates your trip was and what date your MNSSHP night was - planning a trip for next Oct. How did you find the crowds overall? Can't wait to hear/see more.
PS: after meeting Vidia (purple fairy) in Aug, DGrD(7) said "well, she's really NOT very nice, is she?!"

 

[Chellymouse]

Your pics are great - thanks for sharing them- can't wait to see MSEP again. DH and I really missed F&W this year. Wondering what dates your trip was and what date your MNSSHP night was - planning a trip for next Oct. How did you find the crowds overall? Can't wait to hear/see more.
PS: after meeting Vidia (purple fairy) in Aug, DGrD(7) said "well, she's really NOT very nice, is she?!"

No, Vidia was not very nice! Even DH commented that she was very un-Disney-like. We were there 10/14-10/23 and did not find it very crowded at all. We had a few times that it was a bit busier (primarily the weekends) but we used FP very little the whole trip. Don't want to be a spoiler but our MNSSHP were 10/17, 10/19 and 10/23. (we did have alot of time to save and boy did we spend every $$ we save! )

 

[bjakmom]

We are thinking of that weekend (before Halloween weekend) for the MNSSHP next year - did you mean you were there for 10/22 (fri) or 10/24(sun) night party? There wasn't a party on 10/23 this year. Can't wait to hear how the party crowds were. Thanks!

 

[Chellymouse]

So now it's Sunday morning and we had planned to sleep in a bit since we did not have to be at Epcot until 10am, but alas, the pixie dust was flowing and we were wide awake at 7:30am. We got up and got all of our gear packed for the day because we weren't planning on coming back to SSR, however, we all know the best laid plans of mice and will...mouse visitors...
We made it to Epcot in time for RD, I know 2 RD in the same trip!! We decided to visit Mickey and company before our brunch. Before that though, DH thought he'd be funny and try to throw me in the fountain...FP photographer got the shot!

[/IMG]

Our visits with Mickey and Friends:

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

We also had time to do a quick ride on Mission Space Orange before our brunch. We made our way over to the Festival Center and were seated shortly after our arrival. The brunch was awesome! I was bummed about missing out on a Mickey waffle for a day, however, they were serving Mickey waffles on the brunch buffet. We also drank about 2 bottles of champagne and that was very good! Stanton Ho was the celebrity chef and I have to say he was a bit disappointing. He didn't really seem like he wanted to be there, but all in all it was worth the $$ and we really enjoyed it. Here is the only "food porn" we have to share and these were the featured and demonstrated desserts for the brunch!

The table:

[/IMG]

Stanton Ho:

[/IMG]

And the food porn!

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

After brunch, we needed a quick run to to the locker for water and tums! Then we needed walked!! So we walked around, grabbed FP for TT for later and made some new friends around Epcot. We also walked enough to try a few more booths at F&W. Honestly, I have no idea how we managed to eat and drink anything else, but we did!
Our new friends:

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

While back in WS, we decided to do Malestrom. I don't know why, but we love this little ride in Norway. This is when disaster struck. We have NEVER gotten wet on this ride and DH got SOAKED!! Not just wet, but absolutely soaked! Now the debate starts. It was time for our FP for TT so we did go ride TT. DH really wasn't too excited about walking around with a wet dairy-air so, after TT, we decided to clear out our locker, run back to SSR then head over to MK. It was nearly 3:30pm by now anyway, so we made our way out to the bus and headed home for DH to change his shorts!
Up next: Costume shopping at MK, dinner at CP and our first MNSSHP ever!

 

[Chellymouse]

We are thinking of that weekend (before Halloween weekend) for the MNSSHP next year - did you mean you were there for 10/22 (fri) or 10/24(sun) night party? There wasn't a party on 10/23 this year. Can't wait to hear how the party crowds were. Thanks!

Sorry about that! I did mean 10/22 Fri, but we also did 10/17 and 10/19! Party crowds were non-existent. All rides were walk-on, the only "crowds" we really encountered were for the villians, but that is coming up in the next installment!! Stay tuned!!