blondeheroine
<font color=red>Mrs. Jack Sparrow<br><font color=p
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2006
- Messages
- 1,631
Let me preface this report by saying: I've always wanted to go to Disney for Halloween. Halloween is my favorite holiday (though I love Christmas quite a bit as well) and the thought of my favorite holiday paired with my favorite place had the ability to send me into flights of fancy starring Mickey shaped Jack o' Lanterns and Disney Villains.
My Mom is almost always my Disney partner in crime. As such, she made the trip with me - as usual. No one quite gets my obsession like her and with good reason: she is obsessed as I am. Possibly the reason why we're both like this is she instilled her own love of Disney in me as I was growing up.
It just so happened that my best friend was holding her wedding reception in beautiful Franklin, TN on the weekend of the 21st as she had already been married in Hawaii on the beach the week before. So, I figured I would attend the reception and see my best friend off into married life and then head down to WDW for Halloween to celebrate my own reluctance to fully grow up.
Using my Annual Pass discount, I made reservations at Pop Century. As you probably already know, each area of the resort is themed after a different decade. I discovered, while standing on the balcony of my floor, that they are making progress on an area that will lie across Hour Glass Lake that will house the decades of the 1900s - 1940s. I can only imagine that these will be uber cool.
However, now in the present, we found ourselves situated in the midst of the 1950s.
When we arrived at the resort, it was already dark (obviously, the above photo wasn't taken then) and we were hungry. After getting settled, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours. I wasn't sure what to expect as EMH in September at MK was a madhouse. Crowded (it was Labor Day weekend) and not enough Cast Members considering the amount of people in the parks. However, this time was completely different. We arrived and ate a quick bite at Pecos Bill and then walked around, happy to be in the World. There were hardly any lines. We walked on to Buzz Lightyear and Pirates, where I basked in the glow of my animatronic Captain Jack.
We then made our way back "home" for some sleep as we knew we had a long day ahead of us and wanted to be well rested. I went to bed and dreamt dreams so strange that I couldn't even begin to articulate them. Disney seems to have this affect on me.
In the morning, we got up and headed over to Epcot. Since the Food & Wine Festival was in full swing and I had never experienced it, I was excited. Decent portions of authentic international cuisine for anywhere from $2 - $6 a plate. As soon as we got there, I picked up a free guide at the front gate and tried to pick what I would eat knowing that I could only hold so much food and still have room for food at the Liberty Tree Tavern that evening. After picking up a guide, I was greeted by these guys:
I took a bunch of pictures for my best friend Kim (the same BF who had just gotten married) and was sad that she wasn't with me to see them because I could just see her face lighting up and her squealing as B&tB is her favorite film of all time. Beauty and Belle were also there, but just not in this shot.
After this, I went to The Land to get Fastpasses for Soarin', which remains a must everytime we return to Epcot and then headed to The Living Seas to see the new Nemo attraction. This attraction was very low-key, but had little to no wait. Some very cool technology in this ride which makes it look as if the characters of the film are actually swimming alongside the real sealife they house in TLS. I found this pretty impressive and was simply glad that this portion of Epcot was back up and running after many years of being "down." I remember riding the original attraction when it opened in the 80s when I was just a wee thing. It's a vastly different world than it was in the 80s and WDW amazes me with the technology they introduce into their parks.
After Nemo, I made my way to Turtle Talk with Crush. I had heard AMAZING things about this show since last Christmas when it was in previews, but I had somehow missed it. When I went in September, the line was atrocious, but I was determined this time. Luckily, there wasn't a big line and I was in the theatre within fifteen minutes for the next show.
Let me just say: I'm a geek. And when I see Disney pull stuff off like this one, I get a little weepy. I can't explain it. It's like a sense of pride or something even more strange. And my heart swelled with it watching this show. When we walked out of the theatre, I could hear the adults saying, "How did they DO that?" while the kids were CONVINCED they had just had a conversation with Crush. For those who have yet to see the show, basically Crush, the surfer turtle from Finding Nemo, comes onto a screen which resembles a big window that looks into the sea. Once there, he takes questions from the audience and answers them. And it is amazing. He talks and his lips move as he answers questions in real time. He moves with each question. If someone were to tell him to turn a cartwheel, I believe he could do it. It's simply amazing. Mom and I discussed the attraction afterwards and went over different scenarios of how this might work. Mom is convinced that the voice actor who plays Crush wears something similar to the Gollum suit that made Gollum articulated in the LotR movies. But even that requires lots of post work to make it look fluid. I'm thinking there might also be some very, very advanced Veepers style (those little online cartoons or photos that say what you want them to say) technology here, but that wouldn't explain the movements. So for now, I can only explain it this way: It's magic. Pure and simple.
After Crush and Soarin' - which was fantastic as always and smelling those orange groves as we fly over California always makes me dizzy with happiness - we made our way to the World Showcase launch boat so that we could start in the middle of WS at America and work our way to Canada. We'd do the opposite way tomorrow. I had decided on a New England Crabcake (yes - very international, I know, but I have a serious love for crabcakes and I was not going to pass up the chance to get a gourmet crabcake for 2 bucks, dude - as Crush would say) and a Moroccan Kefta. Mom had something entirely different in mind until she saw mine and then she got jealous and copied me.
Both were wonderful. The crabcake (I keep writing crapcake) was fantastic.
The Moroccan Kefta, however, was my favorite. Basically, this is the Moroccans' version of a hamburger. But it is spicy and served in a bread pocket. It rocked my socks. Seriously. I had to take them off they were rockin' so hard. You know what? They were Mo'rockin'. Oh snap! (run from the cornball humor! Run!).
We soon realized that we were quite full and that if we had any hopes of eating our Halloween dinner at LTT, we must stop. With that done, we continued through the Canada side of World Showcase (I call it that because it begins with Canada). I found myself stopping in the United Kingdom and, being that it wasn't all that busy, looking around the unexplored corners of the area. I always find more surprises within WDW each time I visit and this was no exception. To the back of the toy shop there in the UK, I found this:
As many times as I have been through here, I've never noticed that. I was giddy. And photo happy.
Then I saw this:
And this:
Mary Poppins was one of my favorite movies growing up and this just made my afternoon.
Soon, we saw that it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for the Halloween party. So, we left the only place were one can truly travel round the world in a day and made our way to the bus stop.
Next up: Exploring Pop Century, a good dose of childhood regression and Halloween at the Magic Kingdom.
My Mom is almost always my Disney partner in crime. As such, she made the trip with me - as usual. No one quite gets my obsession like her and with good reason: she is obsessed as I am. Possibly the reason why we're both like this is she instilled her own love of Disney in me as I was growing up.
It just so happened that my best friend was holding her wedding reception in beautiful Franklin, TN on the weekend of the 21st as she had already been married in Hawaii on the beach the week before. So, I figured I would attend the reception and see my best friend off into married life and then head down to WDW for Halloween to celebrate my own reluctance to fully grow up.
Using my Annual Pass discount, I made reservations at Pop Century. As you probably already know, each area of the resort is themed after a different decade. I discovered, while standing on the balcony of my floor, that they are making progress on an area that will lie across Hour Glass Lake that will house the decades of the 1900s - 1940s. I can only imagine that these will be uber cool.
However, now in the present, we found ourselves situated in the midst of the 1950s.
When we arrived at the resort, it was already dark (obviously, the above photo wasn't taken then) and we were hungry. After getting settled, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom for Extra Magic Hours. I wasn't sure what to expect as EMH in September at MK was a madhouse. Crowded (it was Labor Day weekend) and not enough Cast Members considering the amount of people in the parks. However, this time was completely different. We arrived and ate a quick bite at Pecos Bill and then walked around, happy to be in the World. There were hardly any lines. We walked on to Buzz Lightyear and Pirates, where I basked in the glow of my animatronic Captain Jack.
We then made our way back "home" for some sleep as we knew we had a long day ahead of us and wanted to be well rested. I went to bed and dreamt dreams so strange that I couldn't even begin to articulate them. Disney seems to have this affect on me.
In the morning, we got up and headed over to Epcot. Since the Food & Wine Festival was in full swing and I had never experienced it, I was excited. Decent portions of authentic international cuisine for anywhere from $2 - $6 a plate. As soon as we got there, I picked up a free guide at the front gate and tried to pick what I would eat knowing that I could only hold so much food and still have room for food at the Liberty Tree Tavern that evening. After picking up a guide, I was greeted by these guys:
I took a bunch of pictures for my best friend Kim (the same BF who had just gotten married) and was sad that she wasn't with me to see them because I could just see her face lighting up and her squealing as B&tB is her favorite film of all time. Beauty and Belle were also there, but just not in this shot.
After this, I went to The Land to get Fastpasses for Soarin', which remains a must everytime we return to Epcot and then headed to The Living Seas to see the new Nemo attraction. This attraction was very low-key, but had little to no wait. Some very cool technology in this ride which makes it look as if the characters of the film are actually swimming alongside the real sealife they house in TLS. I found this pretty impressive and was simply glad that this portion of Epcot was back up and running after many years of being "down." I remember riding the original attraction when it opened in the 80s when I was just a wee thing. It's a vastly different world than it was in the 80s and WDW amazes me with the technology they introduce into their parks.
After Nemo, I made my way to Turtle Talk with Crush. I had heard AMAZING things about this show since last Christmas when it was in previews, but I had somehow missed it. When I went in September, the line was atrocious, but I was determined this time. Luckily, there wasn't a big line and I was in the theatre within fifteen minutes for the next show.
Let me just say: I'm a geek. And when I see Disney pull stuff off like this one, I get a little weepy. I can't explain it. It's like a sense of pride or something even more strange. And my heart swelled with it watching this show. When we walked out of the theatre, I could hear the adults saying, "How did they DO that?" while the kids were CONVINCED they had just had a conversation with Crush. For those who have yet to see the show, basically Crush, the surfer turtle from Finding Nemo, comes onto a screen which resembles a big window that looks into the sea. Once there, he takes questions from the audience and answers them. And it is amazing. He talks and his lips move as he answers questions in real time. He moves with each question. If someone were to tell him to turn a cartwheel, I believe he could do it. It's simply amazing. Mom and I discussed the attraction afterwards and went over different scenarios of how this might work. Mom is convinced that the voice actor who plays Crush wears something similar to the Gollum suit that made Gollum articulated in the LotR movies. But even that requires lots of post work to make it look fluid. I'm thinking there might also be some very, very advanced Veepers style (those little online cartoons or photos that say what you want them to say) technology here, but that wouldn't explain the movements. So for now, I can only explain it this way: It's magic. Pure and simple.
After Crush and Soarin' - which was fantastic as always and smelling those orange groves as we fly over California always makes me dizzy with happiness - we made our way to the World Showcase launch boat so that we could start in the middle of WS at America and work our way to Canada. We'd do the opposite way tomorrow. I had decided on a New England Crabcake (yes - very international, I know, but I have a serious love for crabcakes and I was not going to pass up the chance to get a gourmet crabcake for 2 bucks, dude - as Crush would say) and a Moroccan Kefta. Mom had something entirely different in mind until she saw mine and then she got jealous and copied me.
Both were wonderful. The crabcake (I keep writing crapcake) was fantastic.
The Moroccan Kefta, however, was my favorite. Basically, this is the Moroccans' version of a hamburger. But it is spicy and served in a bread pocket. It rocked my socks. Seriously. I had to take them off they were rockin' so hard. You know what? They were Mo'rockin'. Oh snap! (run from the cornball humor! Run!).
We soon realized that we were quite full and that if we had any hopes of eating our Halloween dinner at LTT, we must stop. With that done, we continued through the Canada side of World Showcase (I call it that because it begins with Canada). I found myself stopping in the United Kingdom and, being that it wasn't all that busy, looking around the unexplored corners of the area. I always find more surprises within WDW each time I visit and this was no exception. To the back of the toy shop there in the UK, I found this:
As many times as I have been through here, I've never noticed that. I was giddy. And photo happy.
Then I saw this:
And this:
Mary Poppins was one of my favorite movies growing up and this just made my afternoon.
Soon, we saw that it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for the Halloween party. So, we left the only place were one can truly travel round the world in a day and made our way to the bus stop.
Next up: Exploring Pop Century, a good dose of childhood regression and Halloween at the Magic Kingdom.
Great Report! I felt like I was there with you, I love Epcot! I have never been during 
I swear, it was so cute and I giggle everytime I think about it.
He's the ideal man and the perfect man in my eyes! 
Anyway! 
I met him twice in NYC when he was on Broadway doing "The Boy from Oz." What an amazing performer and such a down to Earth guy! Just love him! 
I had to travel NYC just to see him! Boy, was it worth it!! 
