Buzz and I arrived at the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh to find its entrance completely transformed since we had last seen it. It looked fantastic.
I loved that the Pooh-Coo-Clock was the Fastpass Return clock.
Most of the new interactive queue was geared towards young kids, but the theming of it was cute to see.
Even though he may not be "in the book", Gopher is my favorite Winnie the Pooh character. I was happy to see a number of different gophers all throughout the queue.
When you step on special spots on the floor, the gophers pop out of their holes.
Rabbit didnt appear to be as thrilled with the gophers in his garden.
Besides the pop-up gophers, the only interactive feature of the queue we tried was the honey wall where you try to wipe the honey off a screen to reveal pictures of the characters underneath. All in all, the queue was very well done and beautifully themed. I will say that at times its a little more hectic than a normal queue with plenty of noisy things to play on and places for kids to run around. If youre traveling with kids, I can easily see this being a must-do. Without kids, I doubt that Id do the interactive queue every time, but it was still fun to see. After 20 or so minutes in the interactive queue followed by our ride through the Hundred Acre Woods, we decided to leave Fantasyland and have some adventures in Tomorrowland.
On the way, we saw a bit more of the Fantasyland construction wall.
Winnie the Pooh and Tigger were walking to their meet-and-greet location as we passed by.
Poor Pooh couldnt keep up with Tigger and was a ways behind him. His escort told the crowd that Pooh was coming but that he was a little slow. Pooh, apparently, thought she was pointing out that he was indeed a bear of very little brains and was insulted. This made the escort break out into laughter. Once she explained what she meant, Pooh tried to prove her wrong by attempting to run. It was really a cute bit of interaction between the two of them.
Once in Tomorrowland, our first stop would be Space Mountain. The line wasnt too bad, but since the wait time was about as long as the wait for the next Fastpass window to open, we decided to grab some Fastpasses and use the time do some other things around Tomorrowland. First, we headed to Buzz Ligthyears Space Ranger Spin. The wait wasnt quite a walk-on but definitely less than 10 minutes. I did pretty well but Buzz, as usual, beat me.
After the ride, I saw Buzz Lightyear doing meet-and-greets nearby. Since I hadnt gotten a photo of him since they put up his new backdrop where the entrance to the old Galaxy Palace Theater and since my brother, being a
Toy Story fan was interested in meeting him as well, we joined the queue. The wait to see him was also no more than 10 or 15 minutes at most.
Nearby, Stitch was doing meet-and-greets as well and had only a family or two in line to see him, so I got a quick picture of him as well.
By now, our Fastpasses window for Space Mountain had opened, so we made our way over there.
Ive never been a big fan of Space Mountain. It always seemed like it didnt have enough thrills to be a thrill ride or enough atmosphere to be an immersive experience like Haunted Mansion or Pirates of the Caribbean. Still, having heard that the ride had been updated with a Starry-O-Phonic soundtrack since we went on it last year, I wanted to give it another shot. By the end of the ride, I was impressed. For those who havent been on it since they added this, there are now a number of speakers all around the track that pipe in music and sound effects in the once-silent portions of the ride. The sound not only helps drown out some of the coaster-noises to increase the feeling that youre flying through space and not just in riding a roller coaster in a dark building, but the sound effects of stars whizzing past you, I thought, gave the impression that youre going faster than you are and made for a more thrilling experience. It was definitely the best ride I can remember ever having on Space Mountain.
After the ride, Buzz and I decided to split up again. I went to meet Chip and Dale while Buzz checked out some of the shops and took a ride on the TTA Peoplemover. The wait was around 15 minutes but felt longer than it was from standing out in the heat. Those in line did get some entertainment when Push the talking trashcan came around and starting asking Dale if he ever felt insecure that he was a
chipmunk and not a
dalemunk. He tried to convince them that on some days they should be called dalemunks which Dale enthusiastically approved of.
Once it was my turn to see the duo, I asked if I could take their pictures. They agreed, but wanted to groom each other first.
Once they were neat and pretty, they were ready to pose.
After the meet-and-greet, Buzz was still on the Peoplemover, so I took the opportunity to take a few photos around Tomorrowland. For some reason, Tomorrowland always seems to be my least favorite to photograph. These came out ok, but they werent my favorites of the day.
Once Buzz and I met up again, we decided to head towards Adventureland since we were hoping to have lunch at rarely-open Tortouga Tavern.
An obligatory Castle photo.
On the way, we made a quick stop at Tianas Garden in Liberty Square to see if she and Naveen were out. It turns out they were, but their line was cut off. Their character attendant told me when they would be back and suggested arriving at the garden 30 minutes beforehand to be assured a shot to see them.
While in Liberty Square, I spotted a familiar family depicted in one of the caricatures on display at the Portrait Gallery. Those Tremaines really do get around, dont they?
Next chapter: Lunch at Tourtouga Tavern and an encounter with Blackbeards daughter
If I had known Flynn was going to be leaving the 2 hour wait would have been worth it! 
But, sincerely, thank you. I'm glad you're enjoying them. That's one of my favorite views of the Castle in the park, so it was nice to be able to get a shot of it with some gorgeous blue sky behind it since most photos I've taken there have been on more overcast days. 
