A Darling Family Halloween Trip to Neverland (and Peter Pan Came Too)

[dismagiclover]

Oh no, thats so annoying about Captain Hook. I hope it was obstructed vision too

Sounds like you had a great spot for the fireworks though

You can't win 'em all, but our fireworks spot was great!

How disappointing about Captain Hook. I mean, really - what's the point if you can't really greet them? Lines are bound to happen.

Woohoo for scoring the bench!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I don't really see the point in the roaming characters either. I suppose they are trying to recreate the sense of spontaneity there used to be with the characters roaming the park. We've all been trained to hop in line, however, so it doesn't really work.

What a disappointment that he couldn't take 2 minutes to spend some time with you guys You would have gotten some amazing pictures.....those fireworks pictures, my friend, are stunning.....beautiful!!!!!

I hope he just didn't see us, but that is a bit hard to believe since we were literally chasing him for a bit and he had a CM with him. Oh well. DH likes to tell John he was running from the alligator

 

[dismagiclover]

Everyone was pretty pooped out. In fact, Michael had decided it was bedtime and was asleep in the stroller. As we were waiting for the parade to start I looked over to my right and saw the Pooh characters out for pictures. Score! This was a set of characters I’d hoped to see because I think they are so cute in their Halloween costumes. Michael was asleep and DH agreed to stay with him and save our spot. So Wendy, John and I headed over and hopped in line. I was a bit nervous that the line would close before we made it to the characters because the parade was scheduled to start soon. The CM came up to us and commented on our costumes. I told him we also had a Michael and he said, “Let me guess. Michael is asleep.” I laughed and told him he was right on. He then asked us how Nana was doing. I said we hadn’t seen Nana in quite sometime and the Darling Children were currently without a pet. The CM said he’d talk to Pluto for us, but I politely declined. The last think I need is Pluto to take care of too! Anyway we didn’t wait too long before it was our turn. Once again thanks to Photopass we got some decent shots.

They are just so adorable in those costumes and I love that the 4 of them are all together. So after this successful Meet ‘n Greet we headed back to our parade stop. Didn’t take too long before we saw this guy ride on by (Some of these parade photos are borrowed from Mickeysmyboy. Thank you.)

(This one is Photopass)

John was really nervous before he came by so he hid his eyes. Then he immediately wanted to know what he looked like. I told him he should have just kept his eyes open. Here are some other photos of the parade. This is a great parade. We had some great character interaction.

Wendy, Peter Pan and the Lost Boys came by. The Lost Boys all ran directly up to my Peter and started whooping and hollering and jumping up and down.

Hook saw Peter from his ship and challenged him to a fight. Peter whipped out his pocket knife and him and Hook starting dueling there on the spot (as well as a duel can happen when one participant is on a float.) It was great!

As the rest of the pirates came by one of them noticed Michael who was in a very interesting sleeping position. He was kneeling face down in his stroller with his behind sticking out for the whole world to see. The pirate saw it. He grabbed his wench, brought her over and said, “Look. He’s sending you a message.” I’m not sure what message he meant, but it was pretty funny.

Shortly after this Michael woke from his sleep screaming bloody murder. Apparently he needed the restroom. So DH took him off to find a restroom which can be a difficult proposition in the middle of the parade. A kind CM led DH carrying a screaming Michael through the length of the Main Street stores yelling, “Coming through. We have a kids who needs the bathroom.” Must have been quite the site! While they were doing that Wendy, John and I enjoyed the rest of the parade.

We all agreed it was a great parade, but we also all agreed we were tired. So we left the park and headed to the monorail. We got off at the Polynesian, made the short walk to Shades of Green and headed straight to bed. The party was a great success. And we still had two Disney days ahead of us!

 

[Dolce27]

I'm not a parade person - at all - but I LOVE Boo to You. I really want to go back to Disney sometime in Oct so I can attend MNSSHP and F&W. The photopass shot you included of the Headless Horseman was awesome! And too funny about the CM escorting Peter and Michael to a bathroom!

 

[Dolce27]

Oh, and your ticker in your sig is making me go I don't think I'm ready for this marathon. We should be getting our bib number and corral placement soon. I’m not certain how I feel about the changes made for this year. I really liked running the blue start last year and looked forward to that. Now all of us will be on the red start.

 

[mickeysmyboy]

I was a tad behind!


I love, love, love the pics of your kiddos in front on the castle and the ones with Dad and the ones with Tink! WOW! Fabulous!

What is the deal with the lighting in the Mickey and Minnie pic?! I would have been unhappy too! Boo!

I love how you describe Wendy, Michael and John in the bed reading! Isn’t it great to have such wonderful memories?!

I love that your DH crowed like a Rooster!! Isn’t it great that WDW can do that? Aww, the Captain Hook experience stinks! I would have been hoping for some great interaction too!

I’m glad you got to see Pooh and friends! Those pictures are too cute!

It sounds like you had a fabulous time at MNSSHP!!! It’s so much fun! I could go ever year and not get sick of it!

 

[DrMomof3]

Great parade pictures! That looks like an amazing parade.

Amanda

 

[dismagiclover]

Oh, and your ticker in your sig is making me go I don't think I'm ready for this marathon. We should be getting our bib number and corral placement soon. I’m not certain how I feel about the changes made for this year. I really liked running the blue start last year and looked forward to that. Now all of us will be on the red start.

My ticker is also making me go My training is right on schedule, but I'm still really nervous. I have an 18 miler next week and then the 20 miler a couple of weeks later. I just hope the weather holds out. That is a bummer about the change in starts. It wouldn't affect me since I would start red because I'm slow, but I see why you're a bit bummed. The blue start looks so much more interesting because you get to run most of WS at the start. Too bad they didn't move us all to blue start.

I was a tad behind!


I love, love, love the pics of your kiddos in front on the castle and the ones with Dad and the ones with Tink! WOW! Fabulous!

What is the deal with the lighting in the Mickey and Minnie pic?! I would have been unhappy too! Boo!

I love how you describe Wendy, Michael and John in the bed reading! Isn’t it great to have such wonderful memories?!

I love that your DH crowed like a Rooster!! Isn’t it great that WDW can do that? Aww, the Captain Hook experience stinks! I would have been hoping for some great interaction too!

I’m glad you got to see Pooh and friends! Those pictures are too cute!

It sounds like you had a fabulous time at MNSSHP!!! It’s so much fun! I could go ever year and not get sick of it!

Don't feel bad about being behind. Life actually goes on outside the DIS I agree with you about going to the party every year and not getting sick of it. It was so much fun. Don't think we'll get back anytime soon though. The kids are in school and it was pretty expensive to just head down for 3 days. I'm glad we did though!

Great parade pictures! That looks like an amazing parade.

Amanda

I think it was the best Disney parade that I've seen.

 

[dismagiclover]

Day 2 dawned earlier than I would like, but my boys never sleep in much so I wasn’t expecting it today either. We packed up our stuff and said goodbye to Shades of Green. At 9:00 we were heading out. The boys wanted to stop for a farewell picture with the Mickey so we did.

Then we headed over to the Polynesian because I had an appointment for some Tonga Toast. We’d never eaten at Kona before, but I’d heard so much about this Tonga Toast that I wanted to give it a try. We checked in and as we were waiting I mentioned to DH, “I’m so hungry that I’m nauseous.” That is what I thought at the time, but as you will later see I don’t think it was hunger. Anyway eventually we were seated. We placed our orders. Here we are waiting for the food.

Here are some shots of the food when it arrived. Michael insisted on this shot of his Mickey pancakes.

Here is DH’s Big Kahuna.

And here is the famous Tonga Toast.

So we all dug in. What did I think? I think Tonga Toast may be a bit overrated. Of course by this point I’d figured out the nausea wasn’t just cause I was hungry so that probably played a role in my critique. Still I thought DH’s meal was better. I’m not a huge French toast fan anyway, and there really wasn’t much banana in mine. We all loved the Jungle Juice though. Would I go to Kona again? Sure I would, but I’d probably get the big Kahuna before I’d get the Tonga Toast.

As we walked to our car after breakfast I reminded the kids of one of our earlier trips. In January 2008 we’d gone to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner and the kids had fallen in love with it. They really wanted to stay there, but at the time I wasn’t sure it would ever happen because the rooms only sleep 4. Fast forward almost 3 years and we now are DVC members. So it is affordable to actually stay in one of the 1 bedroom villas which sleep 5! So that is where we were heading. As we hopped in the car I told the kids, “We’re living the Dream.” Everyone was so excited! DH and I were hoping the room was ready because we were both thinking a little rest would be nice. Considering it was only 10:30, however, we weren’t counting on it. It didn't take long before we parked in the Kidani parking and were walking in the building. Here is a shot of the entry way.

Then we headed into the lobby and loved it immediately.

It lacks the grandeur of Jambo House, but you can see right out to the Savannah from the lobby. I checked in and our room wasn’t ready, but I’d gotten my request of 2nd floor on the Sunset Savannah so I was excited. While I was checking in everyone else was enjoying a bit of animal viewing. Michael is our animal lover and he was loving this. DH took him outside to get a bit closer to the animals.

The plan was to head over to Animal Kingdom, but Michael needed the restroom so DH took him while me and the other kids went into one of the viewing areas off the lobby. We were enjoying looking at the animals, but my stomach still wasn’t feeling quite right. All of the sudden I realized I was going to be sick. I left Wendy and John and headed for the restroom where I proceeded to get sick. I was still deluding myself into thinking it must have been something I ate. I headed back out and told DH, but said I was OK and we should still head over to Animal Kingdom. I really was feeling OK, not great, but OK. Plus we had no room to go to so I didn’t see any other choice. So we headed back and were on our way to the park. Would I make it?

 

[AprilRenee]

Oooh!!! Cliff Hanger!!! I hope it went away!

 

[jc040404]

Loving your TR! I've been following alongwith this and your last TR, but I don't keep up enough to comment much. Those costumes are sooooo cute! I saw lots of Peter Pan themed groups when we did MNSSHP, but nothing as clever as how your boys are dressed. LOVE it!

Can't wait to see what happens next.

 

[dismagiclover]

Oooh!!! Cliff Hanger!!! I hope it went away!

Unfortunately, it didn't

Loving your TR! I've been following alongwith this and your last TR, but I don't keep up enough to comment much. Those costumes are sooooo cute! I saw lots of Peter Pan themed groups when we did MNSSHP, but nothing as clever as how your boys are dressed. LOVE it!

Can't wait to see what happens next.

I'm glad you came out of lurkdom to join in! Thank you for the costume compliment. I was really happy with they way they turned out

 

[dismagiclover]

So we headed over to Animal Kingdom. DH mentioned that the parking lot looked very full, but I pointed out to him we’d only driven here at rope drop so of course he was used to seeing barely any cars. We headed to the front entrance and DH and Bella headed to guest services so that DH could redeem his GAD pass and upgrade to an Annual Pass. The kids and I had done that in June, but DH hadn’t been with us. The boys and I headed over to sit on a bench and wait. Here are the boys waiting.

Notice the carving on the bench. I asked the boys if they knew why it had a dragon. They had no idea so I told them about the original plan for Animal Kingdom to include a section for animals that never were. They thought that sounded great and were bummed they never built it. I agreed. So it didn’t take long for DH to get his AP and we passed through the turnstiles. Since it was around noon we decided to just poke along and enjoy the trails at the entrance. This was different for us because usually we are running at rope drop. It was a nice meandering stroll. We even stopped and took a picture of this parrot.

Of course we had to stop and get some Photopass pictures.

Then we ambled on some more towards the Safari. On our way the boys played some ball.

And some tic tac toe.

The wait for the Safari was posted as 40 minutes and the fast pass time was 50 minutes away. So we decided to get fast passes and then continued our meandering. I mentioned that I knew there were trails that went closer to the Tree of Life, but I weren’t sure where they were. DH points at a trail off to our left and said, “I bet that is one of them.” So we headed down the trail. He was right. It was! For me this was another highlight of the trip. The trail was empty. It was almost like we were alone in the park. We approached the tree and we all started to notice lots of details.

We passed under that waterfall and were in the exit area for the Bug’s Life Show. No one was around and there were some benches. We all plopped ourselves down and began looking for animals on the tree.

There are so many details in this tree. It was one of those moments where we were together as a family all enjoying the simple discovery of finding and pointing out each animal. Really a good moment. Eventually the Bug’s Life show got out and we watched all the people stream by and most of them never looked up. It reminded me of the importance of looking for the beauty around that we don’t always take the time to see. That tree is a masterpiece and most never bother to look. So after we’d spent quite a bit of time at the tree I noticed a short pathway to a CM that was displaying something. We headed down the path. What did she have to show us?

Some really big spiders. This is one of the Discovery Club stops. The kids were quite interested. After this short presentation it was almost time to use the Safari fast pass so we meandered back towards the Safari. Who did we spot on the path?

It was Devine. We’d never seen her before and the kids were actually creeped out a bit. I thought she was quite beautiful.

Then we passed by the drums. Of course the boys had to stop. Here they are making noise (which they are very good at.)

So far it was a very relaxing day in the Animal Kingdom. I think we were enjoying the park the way the Imagineers meant for it to be experienced. And even though I wasn’t feeling top notch I was still enjoying the afternoon.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

That is so cool that you saw Devine! I would love to see her, but it has never happened.

I love that you took time to enjoy all of the hidden treasures that AK has to offer!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Mercy me...I was behind again. No excuse other than life.

Of course, I loved each and every one of the Magic Kingdom pictures. Wait, I forgot to say that Captain Hook was a meany for not stopping and letting ya'll visit with him. But, at least Peter was able to have a duel with him during the parade. Speaking of the parade, it looks fantastic. I always say I want to go to Disney again while the Christmas decorations are up but now that I see your Halloween pictures, I'd love to go during that time too.

Oh no! I hated to hear that you were sick. That's a bummer. It's bad when your on vacation and you get sick but then to get sick while at Disney had to make it seem even worse.

Hey...I've been down those hidden Tree of Life trails. Isn't the greatest feeling when you're all alone there and you can take your time and just look....really look.

Looking forward to more!

 

[sjs314]

Loving your trip report, Going to MNSSHP as the Darling Family was such a great idea.

We are planning to try Kona for the first time next October but I agree that the Big Kahuna looks better than the Tonga Toast everyone raves about. Just looks too sugary for me.

How lucky you ran into DeVine, I have yet to see her in person.

 

[Queenofallthings]

Beautiful pics!!

I would have to agree with you, I too think Devine is beautiful! She's so graceful....I always have a bit of a chuckle just thinking of myself on those stilits

 

[jmskinner]

Sorry you weren't feeling well. Sounds like a true Disney addict to get sick and keep going.

I love that trail under the tree. Did you notice the Kangaroos or were you too occupied with the tree? I think I took 50 pictures of the tree from that spot and I'm sure I missed something. It really is a hidden Disney gem.

Wow, and you got to see Divine. It was turning into a special day. I agree with the kids on freaky. When she is still, not a problem, but when she walks, it freaks me out a little.

Oh, going back a bit, love the pics with Pooh and Friends, wish we had taken more character pics. And I had to have that pic of the Headless Horseman by Photopass also. One of the best.

 

[Angies1274]

Sorry I fell so behind. But...I'm all caught up now!

Aww...I loved your update about Peter Pan's Flight. It brought a tear to my eye.

It's too bad that you didn't get the interaction with Captain Hook that you hoped for. But, it looks like you had a great spot for the fireworks! Uncrowded bench vs. crowds of people....sounds good to me!

The Pooh and friends pics turned out so cute!!! The parade sounds like so much fun!! I loved looking at all the parade pics!

That's so cool that you got to see DeVine!! I'm glad you were able to walk around the Tree of Life. That was one of my favorite parts of touring Animal Kingdom last year. It was so much fun finding all the different animals carved in the tree.

 

[dismagiclover]

That is so cool that you saw Devine! I would love to see her, but it has never happened.

I love that you took time to enjoy all of the hidden treasures that AK has to offer!

I was really excited about Devine, but the rest of my family thought she wasn't all that

Mercy me...I was behind again. No excuse other than life.

Of course, I loved each and every one of the Magic Kingdom pictures. Wait, I forgot to say that Captain Hook was a meany for not stopping and letting ya'll visit with him. But, at least Peter was able to have a duel with him during the parade. Speaking of the parade, it looks fantastic. I always say I want to go to Disney again while the Christmas decorations are up but now that I see your Halloween pictures, I'd love to go during that time too.

Oh no! I hated to hear that you were sick. That's a bummer. It's bad when your on vacation and you get sick but then to get sick while at Disney had to make it seem even worse.

Hey...I've been down those hidden Tree of Life trails. Isn't the greatest feeling when you're all alone there and you can take your time and just look....really look.

Looking forward to more!

Lisa you are excused for being behind. I don't expect you to spend all your time DISing You should try and squeeze a Halloween trip in one of these years. It's a tough time to get away though if you have kids in school. It was a bit of a bummer that I was sick, but it wasn't too bad. Plus considering all the days I'm spending at Disney this year I'm bound to get sick for at least one of them right I do love that feeling of being alone in the parks. Love the hidden gems!

Loving your trip report, Going to MNSSHP as the Darling Family was such a great idea.

We are planning to try Kona for the first time next October but I agree that the Big Kahuna looks better than the Tonga Toast everyone raves about. Just looks too sugary for me.

How lucky you ran into DeVine, I have yet to see her in person.

The costumes really did turn out great and I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that doesn't quite get Tonga Toast. It really was too sugary. DeVine was great find!

Beautiful pics!!

I would have to agree with you, I too think Devine is beautiful! She's so graceful....I always have a bit of a chuckle just thinking of myself on those stilits

Can you imagine how many hours of practice she must have been put in to make walking on stilts look so easy! I'm really glad we got to see her.

Sorry you weren't feeling well. Sounds like a true Disney addict to get sick and keep going.

I love that trail under the tree. Did you notice the Kangaroos or were you too occupied with the tree? I think I took 50 pictures of the tree from that spot and I'm sure I missed something. It really is a hidden Disney gem.

Wow, and you got to see Divine. It was turning into a special day. I agree with the kids on freaky. When she is still, not a problem, but when she walks, it freaks me out a little.

Oh, going back a bit, love the pics with Pooh and Friends, wish we had taken more character pics. And I had to have that pic of the Headless Horseman by Photopass also. One of the best.

I didn't notice any Kangaroos. What and where are they? Gives me something to look for next time. That Photopass pic of the Headless Horseman was really cool.

Sorry I fell so behind. But...I'm all caught up now!

Aww...I loved your update about Peter Pan's Flight. It brought a tear to my eye.

It's too bad that you didn't get the interaction with Captain Hook that you hoped for. But, it looks like you had a great spot for the fireworks! Uncrowded bench vs. crowds of people....sounds good to me!

The Pooh and friends pics turned out so cute!!! The parade sounds like so much fun!! I loved looking at all the parade pics!

That's so cool that you got to see DeVine!! I'm glad you were able to walk around the Tree of Life. That was one of my favorite parts of touring Animal Kingdom last year. It was so much fun finding all the different animals carved in the tree.

The party really did turn out great for us (except Captain Hook, but you can't have everything.) I think it was your trip report that inspired my desire to find the trails so thank you for that

 

[burly]

finally all caught up. Great photopass pics! I'm sorry the roaming characters were a dissapointment. It would have been great to get the magic picture with Hook, while you guys were all dressed up, especially Peter!
I also think the Boo to You parade is the best parade and parade music! Love the dancing grave diggers!
We actually watched the hallowishes from the Cali Grill once. It was absolutely one of the best memories ever.
Sorry to hijack. Great TR!


KIM