A Private, Romantic 30th Anniversary Trip- Just Ask My Friends! Last Afternoon: EP p. 37 9/19

[natebenma]

I was finally able to get DH to sit down and watch Hallowishes. We sat in the Hub in front of Casey's and it was a great view. People in front of us stayed seated, which was an added bonus. We both loved them.

That' cool that you got to watch the show while seated. As someone who is rumored to be a bit "vertically challenged" one of my biggest issues is with people blocking my view. Yes, I know the fireworks are up in the sky, but seeing the castle during the show is a big part of the magic!

love that magic shot.

That was disappointing that you never met up with the friends. It seems like that is common when groups try to meet up in the busy parks.

Between the busy park, the dark and not wanting to stay still in one place, a meet-up did not happen.

Great pictures of the castle and fireworks! Really impressive!

That's too bad you never met up with your friends.

The only MNSSHP I've ever attended was unbelievably crowded and ride wait times were really high. My grandkids enjoyed the dance parties with the characters and it was great watching them have so much fun.

I love a jam packed Disney day! So worth it!

Thank you!!!

It would have been fun to hook up with the Gutter Girls!

I'm not sure exactly how crowded it was at the party. We didn't do any of the character meets and I know there are often long lines for that since there are special rare characters out. The candy lines we went into were not bad.

Jam-packed is the way we roll! As long as I am moving, I am usually ok.

 

[wdwnut61]

Your grandchildren are so cute! That bunny shirt is adorable! Do they live close by?

Wow, finals already?

Nate has finals in a few weeks then comes home for the summer. I don't know what he is going to do all summer. He has not started looking for a job or internship yet.

Thank you and yes they live 40 minutes away so we are lucky to see them often.
Her college starts earlier and has fewer breaks so she's done. I'm here in St Augustine just got done packing her room up. Now I'm enjoying a nice cocktail and dinner I'm pooped.
I'm having fun helping my oldest DD Emily plan their first family trip to Disney. They are going a week before us in November but we have a couple days that overlap. Nora is all about the princesses and so excited.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Thank you! The fireworks show was so good! I loved all of the different colors of the castle.

Yup, long, busy day. Just the way we like it. Although I love when Mark looks back on the trip he remarks about how we "took it easy" Just gives an idea of how commando some of our trips have been.



This made me laugh as we recently "did" a whole Portuguese village in the time it would take most people to find the pool!!

Have you seen Disney Channel's High School Musical, which is a modern day tv movie with the Grease storyline? It was quite popular here when Nate was in elementary school.

*attempts to avoid addressing Dirty Dancing again*



I've never seen High School Musical- too busy having the time of my life....


Nate has finals in a few weeks then comes home for the summer. I don't know what he is going to do all summer. He has not started looking for a job or internship yet.

Good luck to Nate in both his finals and summer activities ( or lack of if he's anything like my boy)!

 

[natebenma]

UGH!!! I am having so much trouble keeping up here and on the FAQ thread!

On top of an increased work schedule at the farm in the spring, the 8th grade class trip to Disney is in about a month. The past few years, I have been helping them set up My Disney Experience accounts and booking Fast Passes. About 130 students and chaperones are going this year. They are in the parks 3 days, with classes two mornings.

Thank you and yes they live 40 minutes away so we are lucky to see them often.
Her college starts earlier and has fewer breaks so she's done. I'm here in St Augustine just got done packing her room up. Now I'm enjoying a nice cocktail and dinner I'm pooped.
I'm having fun helping my oldest DD Emily plan their first family trip to Disney. They are going a week before us in November but we have a couple days that overlap. Nora is all about the princesses and so excited.

That is a nice distance away from family. I live 30 minutes from my dad and my inlaws, so we are fortunate to see them frequently too.

Does your daughter go to Flagler? One of the girls who was in Nate's playgroup when he was little was a freshman there last year, and the daughter of a Disney friend (Disneymomx7) will be attending next year. I'll pass along the names if that is her school.

The November trips sound incredible! Can't wait to hear about what you plan on doing together.

Good luck to Nate in both his finals and summer activities ( or lack of if he's anything like my boy)!

Thanks! I don't know yet when he is done. I suppose I should text him...

 

[natebenma]

Are you sure you read that schedule right?

Wednesday October 19

Our plan for today was to go to Hollywood Studios in the morning and then take a Friendship boat around noon to get lunch in EPCOT.

We had the following Fast Passes:

Tower of Terror 9:10 to 10:10

Toy Story 10:25 to 11:25

Star Tours 11:35 to 12:35

Since we always choose to go to the Early Magic Hour park, my plan was to get there at opening, ride RockNRoller Coaster first thing, followed by Tower of Terror standby, then Tower of Terror again with our Fast Pass before heading to Toy Story.

Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we expected…



We woke up and had breakfast in the lounge as soon as it opened. There were a few people popping in and out of the lounge, getting coffee or grabbing a pastry, but we were the only ones sitting down having breakfast.

When we were done, we went out the back entrance towards the lighthouse boat launch. It was beautiful out, and there was not a boat in sight, so we decided to walk to the Studios

We encountered something weird when we arrived at the Hollywood Studios gate. There was only one group at the tapstiles in front of us and they weren’t letting anyone in.

Huh?

As it turns out, it was NOT an early extra magic hour morning. It looked like there were a few guests in the park, so I think it was actually one of those paid access things. I'm pretty sure at one point I knew the park was not opening until 9 and there were no morning extra magic hours scheduled that day and thought “Oh, good, we can sleep a little longer the morning after the Halloween Party”. But then I forgot and I never double-checked the schedule. I just assumed since we were going to HS, it was the early open park. GRRRR!!!!


So we had a pretty long wait there at the gate, watching a mostly empty avenue in front of the Great Movie Ride theatre.

Then, shortly before we were let in, a cast member came over and told us that RockNRoller Coaster was down.

Crap! Our plan had been to ride that first since we didn’t have a Fast Pass.

So when the cast members dropped the rope, they led the way to Jedi Training and Toy Story Mania. I can’t remember if they had a group going towards Tower of Terror. We were on our way to Pixar Place.

This was the lineup of people behind us:

And, we're off!

The time listed on the Toy Story sign as we got to the door said 20 minutes, but it was less than 10 minutes before we were all ready to go:

After Toy Story, we did something we had never done before- the Toy Story meet & greet. I had seen pictures of the very cool queue here with some neat photo opportunities.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out- Mark took my picture here, but the sun was streaming in from the windows and it was not good lighting.

I wanted to get a picture of Mark as Stinky Pete, but the kid behind us in line was all over the props, so we didn’t have the opportunity to pose him- not that Mark would have done it anyway…

When we got to the front of the line, we let that family go before us because the boy was running ahead into the meet & greet room, and as a couple of adults, we were happy to wait a few more minutes.

Then it was our turn:

After we left Andy’s Room, we made our way to use our Tower of Terror fast pass







RockNRollerCoaster was still down ☹



It was not time for our next FP, so we stopped off in a galaxy not so far away:

And we met this guy:

We still had a little more time, so we popped into Starring Rolls for a mid-morning snack, an iced coffee and a cupcake.

And to make a major change to our plans for the following day.

Our current reservation for Thursday night was Yak & Yeti and we had Fast Passes at Animal Kingdom. Since we already had lunch at Y&Y earlier in the week, we decided to cancel. But what to do?

Mark kept saying how much he loved the Hallowishes fireworks show and that he wanted to see it again. We talked about some of the restaurants where you could see the show. He checked to see if there were any openings for dinner at California Grill.

Negative.

Mark was looking at his phone and he got very excited. He asked me what I knew about the Pirates and Pals Fireworks Cruise. The answer was “Nothing”, but I told him I would call IPO (the club level planning desk) to see if there were any openings for the event.

It was very difficult to hear with everything going on around us, but we were able to book a couple of spots!

It was the first step in what turned out to be a fantastic change of plans for a magical anniversary celebration evening.


Continued in Next Post

 

[natebenma]

Continued From Previous Post


But back in the park- it was time for our Toy Story Fast Pass

We went over to the Muppets area- I popped into the attraction to see if they key was still hidden under the rug.

At this point, our Star Tours Fast Pass was valid, but it was also very close to the noon start-time of the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. It had been several years since I had seen the show. In 2009 and 2010, my boys went to the show while I did some “girl stuff”- seeing Beauty & the Beast one year and Voyage of the Little Mermaid the next.

Since we arrived just before the show started, there were not a lot of seats. We were way over to the right. My pictures are pretty lousy.

What time is it when it is lunch time at Hollywood Studios?
Time to get out of Hollywood Studios!
(and head to EPCOT for Food & Wine)


A couple of stops first though.


I needed to make a visit to “Dee’s Corner”

I even brought a sign for the occasion

This is the picture on the sign, from my 2012 Class Trip as chaperone when "Dee's Corner" was established

And, as I had made some shoutouts the previous day at Stormalong Bay, I had Bo help me spread some cheer to my dear friend




Next Up: Food, Friends & France

 

[SarahDisney]

Ugh, I hate when the schedule at the park is not what you thought it was. And Rock n Roller Coaster being down ... that's a bummer. But at least you did manage to get some fun things done.
(And yeah, the kids can be all over the place in the Toy Story M&G sometimes, making it hard to get pictures ... but it's hard to fault kids who are just trying to have fun)

I love that you brought a sign for Dee's corner! That's awesome!

 

[wdwnut61]

That is a nice distance away from family. I live 30 minutes from my dad and my inlaws, so we are fortunate to see them frequently too.

Does your daughter go to Flagler? One of the girls who was in Nate's playgroup when he was little was a freshman there last year, and the daughter of a Disney friend (Disneymomx7) will be attending next year. I'll pass along the names if that is her school.

The November trips sound incredible! Can't wait to hear about what you plan on doing together.

Yes she attends Flagler such a great school.

 

[wdwnut61]

I love all your pictures from early morning on your way to HS. I can't believe RnRC was down but glad you got to meet Buzz and Woody. We love seeing them and the green army men.
Last time we saw Indiana Jones show I embarrassed my DD by getting picked for the show. It was so much fun I didn't care.
Can't wait to hear about the Pirate and Pals cruise.

 

[hill6]

What a great change to the anniversary celebration.

 

[thumper*]

Awesome pics.

 

[annie170]

How disappointing that the opening time was different than you thought. You're lucky Mark is an easy going guy. I would have heard about the mistake for hours...

Yay for meeting Buzz and Woody! They're my favorite meet at HS.

I'm not a Star Wars fan, but I do love Chewbacca!

I agree that HS isn't the best for lunch. Epcot has so many great food options and HS really lacks in that department.

 

[natebenma]

Ugh, I hate when the schedule at the park is not what you thought it was. And Rock n Roller Coaster being down ... that's a bummer. But at least you did manage to get some fun things done.
(And yeah, the kids can be all over the place in the Toy Story M&G sometimes, making it hard to get pictures ... but it's hard to fault kids who are just trying to have fun)

I love that you brought a sign for Dee's corner! That's awesome!

It certainly would have been easy enough for me to double check. I just never bothered

I was really bummed out about RocknRollerCoaster since this was the last time we were planning to ride rides in Hollywood Studios on this trip.

I just added the picture below to the report chapter- this is what is on the sign. I'm glad I made the sign and even happier that I remembered to bring it to the park!

Yes she attends Flagler such a great school.

As the song goes "It's A Small World!"

I love all your pictures from early morning on your way to HS. I can't believe RnRC was down but glad you got to meet Buzz and Woody. We love seeing them and the green army men.
Last time we saw Indiana Jones show I embarrassed my DD by getting picked for the show. It was so much fun I didn't care.
Can't wait to hear about the Pirate and Pals cruise.

I was pretty bummed out about the coaster. Love Aerosmith. Love Coasters. Hellooooo!?!

We don't do many meet and greets, but I knew that this was a fun setting. Plus, Toy Story was an important movie when my boys were little- TS2 was one of Nate's favorites.

How fun that you got to be in the show. I would totally do that. But there would be no photographic evidence since I am the only one who takes pictures!

I had absolutely no knowledge of the Pirates and Pals cruise. Made for an interesting outing.

What a great change to the anniversary celebration.

And our night got even better as we continued to plan and make changes.

Awesome pics.

Thank you so much!!!

It was a really beautiful morning.

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Absolutely LOVE the early morning photos on your way home to HS! What a stunning sky! I remember Dee's corner fondly ( such a great TR) and love that you brought your own sign
Can't wait to hear about the rest of your day

 

[natebenma]

How disappointing that the opening time was different than you thought. You're lucky Mark is an easy going guy. I would have heard about the mistake for hours...

Yay for meeting Buzz and Woody! They're my favorite meet at HS.

I'm not a Star Wars fan, but I do love Chewbacca!

I agree that HS isn't the best for lunch. Epcot has so many great food options and HS really lacks in that department.

Mark was really cool about my mistake. I kept apologizing during the wait for the park to open. Especially since we could have had a later morning following the Halloween Party. Not that it matters, we are both easy risers.

We don't do many meets, but I'm so glad we did these two. Chewie is awesome!

Nothing particularly inspiring to eat at Hollywood Studios. We planned our morning knowing we would be going to EPCOT when it was time to eat.

 

[natebenma]

Absolutely LOVE the early morning photos on your way home to HS! What a stunning sky! I remember Dee's corner fondly ( such a great TR) and love that you brought your own sign
Can't wait to hear about the rest of your day

I was traveling light that morning, just had my point & shoot and phone camera. These pictures at YC were taken with my phone.

I don't think Mark read that trip report and he really didn't understand the significance of "Dee's Corner" But he took the picture when I asked. I told him that it really is a thing and people take pictures there and send it to me or put it in their trip reports

@chunkymonkey
@pixarmom
@MickeyT

 

[rteetz]

Oh man a nice early morning and then no EMH. That sucks but at least you were at he front of the crowds to get into DHS. I haven't done EMH in so long now that I don't even factor it into my plans.

Great picture with Buzz and Woody!

That is so awesome that not only Dee's corner made an appearance but you brought a sign!

 

[hill6]

And our night got even better as we continued to plan and make changes.

We changed an entire day of plans last May and it led us to have best surprise. We changed from and Epcot day to a MK day. We were walking on Buzz and I hear "Mrs. Hill". I turned to see my daughter's best friend from college and another classmate standing in the regular line. He said that he was hoping to see us (we had no idea he was going to be there). We had them join us for lunch and even took pictures in front of the castle with them.

 

[Wood Nymph]

After Toy Story, we did something we had never done before- the Toy Story meet & greet. I had seen pictures of the very cool queue here with some neat photo opportunities.

The meet and greet looks like it was fun. Mark must be a good sport about meeting the characters. I dragged my husband to the Monsters, Inc meet and greet. It was just before they closed it down before construction started. He agreed that it was fun.

I just added the picture below to the report chapter- this is what is on the sign. I'm glad I made the sign and even happier that I remembered to bring it to the park!

I love this picture of you in the corner. You look so happy to have some time alone during the school trip.

Mark was really cool about my mistake. I kept apologizing during the wait for the park to open. Especially since we could have had a later morning following the Halloween Party. Not that it matters, we are both easy risers.

I did something like this on our trip to WL in March. We wanted to get to MK for rope drop because we didn't have any fastpasses for that park. WL has both a bus and a boat to MK. So we decide to take the boat rather than the bus and I told everyone to meet at the boat dock at 8am. (MK opened that 9am that morning.) We're the first ones at the bock and the only ones there. Finally, after about 15 minutes someone notices the sign that says that the boat starts running a half hour before park opening. So we race off to the MK bus and end up just beating the boat by about five minutes. I felt like a failure for not checking on the morning boat schedule and for making everyone get there early. As it was, we still managed to make it into MK before rope drop. But I still felt bad about it.

 

[Tracy161]

It was beautiful out, and there was not a boat in sight, so we decided to walk to the Studios

A beautiful walk indeed! Love the pictures.

Crap! Our plan had been to ride that first since we didn’t have a Fast Pass.

Ugh, I hate when plans are foiled by ride shut-downs.

Mark took my picture here, but the sun was streaming in from the windows and it was not good lighting

I still think this picture is awesome!

It was the first step in what turned out to be a fantastic change of plans for a magical anniversary celebration evening.

Yay! Excited to hear about it.