Barely a Pre-Trip Report - All about the MNSSHP!

[blackbunny13]

Although this will be our 4th group Disney trip (with many previous family trip), I have never written a pre-trip report. I’m not much of a writer, I tend to outline everything but here goes nothing.

The cast of characters (this year):
Me (40) - IT
Phineas (38) – Animator for Cartoon Network
The Bride (33) – Animator
Gus (42) – Animator for Cartoon Network
Ezra (30) – Animator for Cartoon Network
Pickwick (30) – Forensic Scientist / Chemist

Everyone (from last year, except Pickwick)

We are a group of adults who are all young at heart. We enjoy getting together for movies, plays, puppet shows, festival and just to ‘hang out’. We absolutely love the Haunter Mansion and Pirates comes in a close second.

History:
Since Me, Phineas, Gus and The Bride all meet and discovered we enjoy Disney, we decided to ‘try out’ a group to WDW. Just to see if we could handle the traveling together. Our trip dates happen to fall during MNSSHP. We put together some quick pirate costumes and had a blast. Who would have known we all would be such a perfect fit. The next year we visited DL together but kept having vision of MNSSHP in our heads. After much talking, we decided we had to go back. We started planning costumes and, of course, gravitated to our favorite ride – The Haunted Mansion. We decided on the three Hitchhiking Ghosts and The Bride. But it didn’t take long for some Gus and Phineas’ coworker to get interested in all of the Disney talk. That’s when Erza joined the crew. We planned the trip. We actually attended 2 MNSSHP parties that year. We attended one party as pirates and the other as Mansion characters. We had a ball playing pirates but the Mansion night was UNBELIEVEABLE!

We entered the park after dark (we were ghosts after all) during the fireworks. Guest relations applauded us and gave us wonderful compliments and a certificate for 5 free Haunted Mansion pins and we hadn’t been in the park for 5 minutes!

We had made it to Liberty Square when the fireworks ended and that’s when it really got started. It took 40 minutes to get from Liberty Square to the Haunted Mansion just due to picture requests! When we made to the Mansion, the ride was a welcome break to all of us. We exited and got as far as the exit. That was it. Except for a couple of WONDERFUL breaks, we never left the area due to pictures. There was actually a line. Two times, Haunted Mansion CM’s actually came outside and gave us some behind the scenes tours and let us hop on the ride from ‘the back’ That was awesome. At the end of the night, we asked if we could have the last ride thru the House and they let us. As we exited, the CM’s asked to have their picture with us, so I have great pictures of the group with all of the CM’s.

There were other amazing things but I think that’s enough history. Needless to say, it was the best Disney experience we had ever had! (Note: I was not is costume that night, my Leota costume had some major malfunctions but I write it from a costume point of view . I did get to participate in all aspects – yeah!)

Needless to say, we started planning next years trip the next day

Next, the planning!

 

[DinDin233]

Your costumes were unbelievable!! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Nooshkin]

Wonderful photos! I can't wait for more!

 

[blackbunny13]

Thanks for all the compliments. Costumes are our thing. We've being doing them for 20 yrs now. I can't wait to add Pickwick & Prudence to the mix.

On with the rest of the story...

By the time we really started planning our next trip, we had added another member to our crew. First and foremost was choosing the dates. We were trying to determine what combination of dates would give us access to the most MNSSHP’s at a time when we were all available. After much discussion, we decided on Oct 13 – 19. This would give us Oct. 14, 16 and 18 as possible MNSSHP nights.

Now, with dates decided, we had to figure out what resort. Our absolute favorite is Coronado Springs. We were out of luck. Coronado had no double rooms that week. We discussed and decided to take this opportunity to check out a new value we had never stayed at ‘The POP”. We now have reservations at The Pop Century and we decided to add the dining plan (we had received it free for the last two years and now we are hooked – Disney really does know how to market!).

Now to costumes! We had added 2 more (costumed) people to the party. I didn’t want to risk the Leota disaster and I actually did have fun taking care of Phineas, Gus, Ezra and The Bride last year so I wanted to create a costume that would still allow me to do this. That’s when ‘Prudence’ came to mind. You don’t actually see her in the Mansion. She is the floating candle stick at the end of the hallway. She was a maid. It was perfect. Our newcomer settled on Pickwick in the Ballroom scene. Then we began putting together costumes.

We had made our room ressies in April and then I received one of the codes for a room discount. Luckily, Disney let us apply it to a total of 3 rooms – it covered all of us.

Next was trying to get a schedule together. We consulted about what everyone wanted to do, what the park hours were, when we would be at parties and created our probable park itinerary. Once that was established, I polled everyone for dinner suggestions. At our 180 day out mark, I called and made all of our dinner reservations.

So the trip summary is as follows:

10/12/2007
Meet everyone at Cartoon Network @ 6pm
Pile everyone & everything in to the Denali and hit the road ASAP
Stop around midnight at the Lake City, FLA @ the Travel Lodge


10/13/2007
Up and on the road by 8am
Usually checked-in and in the parks by 1pm
Early dinner @ O’Hana’s @ 5pm.
(O’Hana’s has become our ‘first’ dinner tradition)

Now, I was amazed that there were no EMH on this Saturday night and that all the parks would be closed by 9pm. Oh well, we will probably need to take the rest while we can get it. Also, while we should logically start our visit with Epcot, we all know ourselves well enough to know we MUST go to the Magic Kingdom first. So that’s on the schedule.

10/14/07
Up as early as we can stand it – none of us are really ‘have to be there when the rope drops’ people. We will probably just grab a snack for the morning and then head for MGM. This park & Animal Kingdom are the two parks we spend the least amount of time in. The musts include: The Great Movie Ride, Indiana Jones, Star Tours, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Lights, Motors, Action!, Muppet Vision 3D. We won’t get to everything today.
2pm Lunch @ 50’s Prime Time Café’
Then back to the room for a rest and to get ready for MNSSHP!
1st MNSSHP

10/15/07
Back to the Magic Kingdom. I’m sure we will not be off to an early start (unless the weather on the 14th doesn’t cooperate!). Today is all day in the MK with evening EMH!!
6:30pm – Dinner @ Whispering Canyons Café

10/16/07
We are off Epcot. If we are feeling REALLY industrious, we will be there early enough for morning EMH. The Must Do’s: Test Track, MISSION: Space, The Land, Turtle Talk with Crush, The Seas with Nemo & Friends, Soarin’, Journey Into Imagination with Figment. A tour around the world with long stops in Germany, UK, Morocco, Japan and Mexico.

We have an early dinner scheduled at San Angel Inn @ 5:30pm. After dinner, it is off to another (yes another) MNSSHP. Tonight, it’s MNSSHP with no costumes – only matching T-Shirts! It’s all about the rides and the candy! I may break down and wear and Mickey pirate hat. I have a great pirate hat that I attached Mickey ears to and the emblems from the WDW & DL!

10/17/07
At this point, I’m counting on being exhausted. In previous years, we usually get back to the hotel by 1am and in bed by 2am. So, it will be a late start to the Animal Kingdom. Luckily there are EMH so we can stay a little longer. The plan is to get up and drive over to Coronado Springs. We will eat a late breakfast/early lunch at the Pepper Market and then catch a bus to AK. At the end of the day, we will catch the bus back to the Coronado for an 8pm dinner reservation at the Maya Grill.

10/18/07
Back to MGM. We will be finishing up everything we couldn’t get to previously and head back to the rooms early to get ready for the 3rd (and last) MNSSHP.

Last MNSSHP!

10/19/07 We will get up and arrange for our bags to be stored since we check out today. Once all of that has been taken care of, its off to MK and finish up anything we want to do there and then over to Epcot.

7:30 – Dinner @ Le Celliar

We will squeeze everything out of our last day so we plan on taking advantage of the Epcot EMH that night.
Back to the hotel and load up the Denali and drive a big whopping 3 miles outside the park to the Comfort Inn overnight.

10/20/07
Get up. Have breakfast and head over to Downtown Disney. After a ½ day at DD we will head back to Atlanta exhausted but happy.


This is probably it for the pre-trip reports. Must shop, must pack, must clean and I have to fit work in there somewhere! I’ll be sure to follow up with a complete trip report when we get back and hopefully have lots of pictures!!!

Any and all suggestions and tips would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[princess mom of 4]

WOW! That is an amazing itinerary! I can't wait to read your post-trip report! I'm surprised the CM's didn't try to get you hired...maybe they were ashamed at you guys "showing them up "!
I hope you guys get to ride some rides during MNSSHP - You would look cool going on any other ride too - like picture this crew boarding Space Mtn! Can you eat with all the makeup on?