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

[natebenma]

Awesome! Great way to end the night and I'm glad you were able to go back.

Such a great night!

I am so grateful to Nannette for sharing that experience with all of us and it was so great to spend time with my dear friends!

You had a great day. I mean, you might not have entered MK, but with watching Wishes you kind of visited 3 out of the 4 parks.

We have a day coming up where we came even closer to visiting all 4 parks.

I'm glad your scare was just Ben being responsible!

Me, too!

I can't say enough how proud we are of how Ben handled himself while we were away.

 

[natebenma]

What an absolutely amazing day!
Love how you managed to do so much and yet still make it seem so relaxed
Transport and garbage issues aside, it seems you managed a perfect combination of park/pool time and alone time mixed with meeting some great friends. Glad Missy and Franklin made it to the party
Food and fireworks look equally awesome. I've never been to Kona but I might have to change that the next time we visit
Janet I'm in awe of your knitting skills

Not a spoiler alert... We were pretty active during the trip, but we did enjoy a break every afternoon. The funny thing is, Mark keeps saying he loved that we took it slow on this trip. We didn't, exactly, but we did what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it without having to deal with teen influence.

Everything was near perfect so far on the trip- the transportation was a low point (we really should have hailed a taxi or Uber) and the momentary scare with Ben.

Kona is great- I can personally recommend every meal there.

I can thread a needle (sometimes) but that is about it for my handiwork skills. Janet is incredibly talented!!!

Excited to see your update! How fantastic to meet up with everyone. I'm joining you guys on a solo trip one day.

Edited to say IF I'M INVITED. LOL

OMG- we have so much fun together!!!

Of COURSE you are invited. We welcome your wicked wit which would fit in wonderfully!!!

(Try saying that 5 times fast)

 

[natebenma]

Great to see you back here!

So I'm way behind and catching up now, and love the quick meet-up at Soarin. And need to say before I forget . . . I have that Harvey's purse too!!! I love that purse and I've never seen anyone else ever carrying it!

The only thing better than a ride on the new Soarin' is sharing the experience with friends!

We laughed so much whenever we got together!

Hmm . . . this is looking much better than what we had at BWI last month. Great info and photos, Dee! In the evening, BWI had a chef making very heavy dinner-type food. The table consumed a solid corner of the lounge and the food was much heavier than I would eat for appetizers. (But I love the CMs at BWI and they were so excited about it that I hate to say anything negative!) In any event, looks much more fresh and light at YC. Might reconsider CL for the future . . .

I was really impressed with the offerings in the club lounge, especially some additional choices for afternoon snacks and the evening appetizers. There was a huge selection, a combination of hot appetizers, healthy salads, crudité, hummus. We are not picky eaters, so the biggest issue was not having enough room on the plates for everything I wanted.

I was always a little jealous of the BWI CL offerings when they were getting food from Cat Cora's kitchen. Greek food is my favorite cuisine.

Ha - I love how Ninja gets into her food photo! Can't beat that kind of enthusiasm!!!!!

Never a dull moment with our pal, ~Ninja!

 

[natebenma]

That cake was so freakin good! OMG THE BEST!!!

... And Dee is a little creepy with all the McGuyver stuff she has in her fanny pack. I'm not sure but I think I saw a car battery in there. That woman IS prepared!

... And the waiter that was traumatized by me, to the greatest extent, works at 50's Primetime Cafe. I'm sure his therapist is still hearing about the time a guest turned his 'take off your belt" disciplinary act into an S&M bondage scene. "OH DADDY YOU KNOW WHAT I LIKE!!!"



My favorite posing with the food photo is the one with the knife and the Mushroom Risotto filet at LeCellier:


that's snuff food porn as in the steak died...

~NM

The cake really was good! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

True story- I am the town go-to when it comes to obscure scavenger hunts for needed items. Extra Easter basket grass for my next door neighbor. Check! Coffee carafe for my best friend to borrow? Do you want black, white or stainless steel (2 of these to choose from). Clean extra toilet seat for my dad- Don't ask.

And I now officially withdraw all future requests of food porn from you!

 

[natebenma]

Down on Main Street


Today was a really exciting day for us! I would be crossing two items off of my Disney bucket list.

For the first time ever, we had a PPO (pre park opening) breakfast booked, Be Our Guest at 8:15. I was looking forward to getting pictures on Main Street without the crowds, Mark was excited about the chance of being in the park when it opened so we would have an advantage in the standby lines.

Then, that evening, would be our first Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.

A few weeks before our trip, a wrench was thrown into our plans. Disney announced that the day of our breakfast would be an Early Morning Magic day- a limited number of guests could pay to be admitted into the Magic Kingdom to ride some of the popular attractions in Fantasyland/New Fantasyland, with a continental breakfast set up in Pinoccio’s before the park opened to all guests.

CRAP! Extra people.

We didn’t want to change our plans at this point, so we decided to go with the flow.

We were out at the bus stop at 6:30. At this time, the electronic transportation boards that announced when buses would be arriving were not working. It was dark out at the bus stop and nobody else was there waiting. A lot of the people booked at the YC the week we were there were conventioneers, so we wondered if the bus service might be curtailed at the YC. We decided that we would go over and wait at the Beach Club bus stop instead, expecting it to be more crowded.

It wasn’t, but at least the bus board was working.

A breakfast bus to Hollywood Studios came by and then around 7 am, a bus to Magic Kingdom arrived.

There was one other woman waiting for a bus. She was going to be doing the Marceline tour at MK. As we were riding, we chatted. She is a docent (volunteer tour guide) for the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. We talked a little about our family trip in April to DC and our boys’ interests in history and politics.

At 7:15 we arrived at the Magic Kingdom.

At 7:20, we went through the Tapstiles- we were travelling light so we didn’t need to go through bag check- and we were directed where to wait. I think tours were to the right and dining reservations and EMM guests to the left.

The crowd grew behind us and at 7:47 we were let into the park.


Here are a few pictures we took upon arrival to the MK before we were let in.

*WARNING* Magical spoiler alert in the second picture.

Have you ever thought that the grass is always greener at the MK? It is. They paint it.

****************************************************************************************

And now, I present about a thousand pictures of Cindy’s castle:

Looking back towards Main Street

A few more pictures around the Hub:

We stopped at two spots for Photopass pictures:













This is my favorite photo from the trip and is my Facebook profile picture.













It was time for us to get to breakfast, so we went through the castle to get to Be Our Guest. This would be Mark’s first time in New Fantasyland.

Next Up: Be Our Guest

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I haven't posted much but enjoying reading about your great anniversary trip! Our kid free anniversary trip was one of my favorite trips. Do what you want when you want. That is the best vacation.
We have never been to the top of the world lounge but have eaten at California Grill many times and watched Wishes from there. The view is obviously pretty similar.
I've had enough snow and am so ready for spring!! Our next trip is easter week and we're driving.

 

[rteetz]

Great pictures! Love the ones of you and Mark on main street.

 

[mamamelody2]

Just found this report and read through everything this afternoon. Enjoying it greatly!
DH and I are planning to go to WDW just the two of us this November. This year we'll celebrate our 23rd anniversary. Not exactly a "milestone", but I'm getting one of those anniversary buttons! LOL. My DH is a big photog, too. Not sure what camera(s) he'll take this trip. I admit, I get a bit tense when the camera/lens value is like $1500. I get so nervous about it getting lost or damaged! Argh.

That grass-painting pic...so disillusioning....

 

[SweetSerenity]

I'm late to the party, but I'm joining in! Happy belated 30th anniversary and early 31st! Great trip report! I loved the insight on the club level lounge and the offerings. What fun it is to meet up with friends, too!

 

[Wood Nymph]

This would be Mark’s first time in New Fantasyland.

How long has it been since he has been to MK?

I'm surprised that they paint the grass. I expect lots of fertilizer, weed killer and insecticides, but not paint.

 

[SarahDisney]

You got some great minimal-people pictures at MK! I think that there really isn't an "empty park" time in the morning anymore, but it's still better than later in the day, so hopefully the lines didn't get too bad too quickly.
I love the pictures of you and Mark on Main Street!

 

[natebenma]

I haven't posted much but enjoying reading about your great anniversary trip! Our kid free anniversary trip was one of my favorite trips. Do what you want when you want. That is the best vacation.
We have never been to the top of the world lounge but have eaten at California Grill many times and watched Wishes from there. The view is obviously pretty similar.
I've had enough snow and am so ready for spring!! Our next trip is easter week and we're driving.

Thanks for reading!

This was really such a wonderful trip! Like you said, much easier for two of us to agree on what we wanted to do than when we have to include the boys in the decisions.

Top of the World/California Grill both have great vantage points for the fireworks. We experienced a lot of different fireworks shows on this trip.

We are not big fans of snow- Nate came home for the weekend from UNH and we are going to try to get him back this morning before we are nailed with another foot-plus of snow later today. Otherwise, he is probably stuck here until Tuesday.

ETA: 11:30
Made it back and are now home and hunkering down until Tuesday.




Enjoy your Easter trip!!! World/Harry Potter or both?

Great pictures! Love the ones of you and Mark on main street.

Thank you so much! I have always wanted to do a pre-opening breakfast and this is why!

 

[natebenma]

Just found this report and read through everything this afternoon. Enjoying it greatly!
DH and I are planning to go to WDW just the two of us this November. This year we'll celebrate our 23rd anniversary. Not exactly a "milestone", but I'm getting one of those anniversary buttons! LOL. My DH is a big photog, too. Not sure what camera(s) he'll take this trip. I admit, I get a bit tense when the camera/lens value is like $1500. I get so nervous about it getting lost or damaged! Argh.

That grass-painting pic...so disillusioning....

Thank you so much for reading!



Will you be at the World in early November for Food & Wine? Halloween Party or Holiday Party?

23 years is nothing to sneeze at! Happy Anniversary.

I am just starting to use the different lenses I have for my camera and trying to practice with settings other than automatic. We have a family cruise to Alaska this summer, so I will need to get comfortable taking both telephoto and wide angle photos and hopefully lots of wildlife shots!

 

[natebenma]

I'm late to the party, but I'm joining in! Happy belated 30th anniversary and early 31st! Great trip report! I loved the insight on the club level lounge and the offerings. What fun it is to meet up with friends, too!

So glad to have you here!



I appreciate the anniversary wishes!

My husband gets annoyed when I take so many pictures in the lounge and stuff, especially when people are around. So I have to sneak a lot of shots!

We had such an amazing day! And night!

 

[natebenma]

How long has it been since he has been to MK?

I'm surprised that they paint the grass. I expect lots of fertilizer, weed killer and insecticides, but not paint.

Mark's last trip to the World was July 2013, before Magic Bands and while New Fantasyland was still under construction.

Maybe it was fertilizer they were spraying, but it was definitely tinted. Mark told me I shouldn't have taken that picture!

You got some great minimal-people pictures at MK! I think that there really isn't an "empty park" time in the morning anymore, but it's still better than later in the day, so hopefully the lines didn't get too bad too quickly.
I love the pictures of you and Mark on Main Street!

Thanks! The crowds weren't too bad. I think that the people who paid to get in early probably headed to the rides.

It was a Halloween Party night and that tends to lead to lower crowds at MK.

We like the Main Street pictures, too.

 

[Feckless]

Yes, tinted fertilizer... that's what it was.

Loving your report, Dee.

 

[JanetMom]

Great pictures, both from top of the world and pre-opening MK.

It was fun to watch the fireworks from the top of the world. It really showed how Disney uses perspective. the castle looks small compared to Space Mountain because the castle is really small. It is a perfect example of the tricks Disney plays with perspective. I was really struck by the fact that there are two sets of fireworks that combine to make one show. I was surprised at how far apart the fireworks are set off. They must be at least a couple of miles apart.

It was such a nice surprise to meet Missy and Franklin. They are such incredible people and the best example of a perfect Disney fan.

I'm amused that they paint the grass. Not at all surprised, but hadn't given that any thought before.

So good to hear that your Ben scare was innocent. It is so hard to go through the first time leaving your child alone. He did great and will do even better next time. I still remember how anxious I felt the first time we left our son alone. All was well, but it was stressful!

Keep the updates coming. I love that I can relive some of my trip through yours!

 

[wdwnut61]

PPO breakfast is on our bucket list as well. Unfortunately at least for now we travel during 2 very popular times Spring Break and Thanksgiving. They just updated March hours and there goes my BOG PPO breakfast
I love all your castle pictures and you can never have too many
Magic shots are great and I love your profile pic so cute
Spraying painting the grass

 

[Wood Nymph]

Mark's last trip to the World was July 2013, before Magic Bands and while New Fantasyland was still under construction.

I remember that the Yacht Club was one of the first resorts to test the new Magic Bands.

Maybe it was fertilizer they were spraying, but it was definitely tinted. Mark told me I shouldn't have taken that picture!

Of course you should have taken the picture. You are doing important research for the benefit of all.

 

[pixarmom]

I "liked" the most recent update for many reasons, but these are at the top of the list:

1. Painted grass!!!
2. Really wonderful photo of you and Mark.
3. The photo of Mark pointing at Tink.