Did you see a character?! - WDW Adults Only Trip w/ extras - August 2016
- Thread starter unbeknownst
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DisneyFreak06
DIS Veteran
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Oh my goodness! You look like you were both having such a wonderful time! And I, personally, would love to see more character meet and greet pictures, I totally love how much your DBF got into the character thing!
Closet Disney Junkie
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- May 17, 2013
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Ha immediately drawn in by the "adults only" portion of the title. My wife and I don't have kids so while I enjoy all reports, it's always nice to read something a bit more relatable. Also looking forward to reading about your wild trek experience!
Last edited:
unbeknownst
Mouseketeer
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- Feb 12, 2010
- Messages
- 90
Thank you guys so much for following along! I love seeing all the love for adult only trips. 
I definitely think they are pretty great!
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Monday, August 15th
After an awesome, but busy day at the Magic Kingdom, we fell asleep pretty quickly when we finally got back to Pop Century. We woke up at 5:45am and quickly began getting ready for the day - we had an 8:20am breakfast reservation at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. Today was also the day we were moving from Pop Century to Animal Kingdom Lodge - plus dinner at California Grill in the evening.
We took a quick shower and I called Bell Services while Patrick finished packing up the rest of our stuff. They were able to come pick our luggage by 6:30 and then we were off the bus stop. Yesterday, we had gotten SUPER lucky with the buses and never had to wait. Unfortunately, today didn't go nearly as smoothly. We waited at the bus stop from 6:45am until about 7:15am and never saw an Epcot bus... we did however, see 4 Hollywood Studios buses that left empty. By 7:15, I was keeping it together, but I was very close to having meltdown. Patrick only requested 1 thing from this entire Disney trip and it was Breakfast with the Princesses. I just saw visions of us missing the breakfast flashing before my eyes. We were the first people waiting in the bus queue, but by 7:15 there were a number of families behind us. I left Patrick in the Bus Line and sprinted in to the Pop Century front desk and very quickly spoke with concierge. They promised me they would call a bus right away and were very apologetic. I sprinted back out to Patrick and we finally saw an Epcot bus puling up about 7:25.
We didn't end up making to the Epcot main gate until about 7:45 and we quickly found the breakfast line and they started letting people in pretty soon after we got there. We were hoping to get seating at Akershus before 8:20, so once we got into Epcot - we booked it pretty quickly back through the World Showcase. We got in line to check-in at Akershus and there were quite a few people already in line ahead of us. We got checked in and waited about 5 minutes (it was probably around 8:05 at this point) - they then came out and let us know our table was ready.
Right after entering the restaurant, we were escorted meet Patrick's favorite princess Belle.
You can see how happy he is.
After that, we were seated at our table and they explained the way the restaurant worked - we ended up paying for the meal right away, which I thought was a little odd (I know sometimes people ask to do this at character meals, but they normally don't ask me). Despite all my trips to Disney, this was my first time at Akershus. There is a cold buffet and then they bring out hot items on a family style platter. At first, I was a little worried the platter they brought out was too small, but they said we could get more food if we wanted it. We ended up eating platter and being totally stuffed. I forgot to take food pictures here, but it was really all delicious. My favorite was definitely the buffet selections - I really love charcuterie, especially for breakfast, and they had some very nice selections.
We finished eating right around 8:25ish, and there were still no princesses in sight. At this point, I figured the princesses were out on a different side of the restaurant and it would just take a while before they made their way to us. So, we kept our plates in case we decided to go back for more food while we waited. I had picked an early reservation in the hopes that we would be out early enough to get in line for the Frozen ride, so that way we could ride it twice (I had a fastpass for later in the day). However, Patrick was SO excited to meet the princesses, I'd already decided I wasn't going to rush the interaction and we would stay until we met every single Princess - even if that meant leaving much later than 9:00am.
While we waited, Patrick took this nice shot of me fixing my lip gloss:
And then all of sudden, out of nowhere, princesses appeared!
First it was Cinderella:
Then Ariel (I thought she was the best interaction of the breakfast):
Then Aurora:
Then Snow White:
In the span of 12ish minutes, we had met 4 princesses! Patrick was in princess-heaven - he even dressed up in his new Spider-man shirt to meet them as you can see from the pictures haha. After meeting them, we decided we didn't want anymore food and then talked to each other and actually decided to skip trying to ride the frozen ride. We figured it was already almost 8:45, there would probably be a long line already, etc. We planned to head towards Joy & Sadness.
Imagine our surprise when we left Akershus, looked at the Frozen queue, and realized there was no one else in line and that WE were actually the first people out of the restaurant!! So, we got in line after all. We spoke to the nice cast member, who let us know they wouldn't be opening up for 15 minutes. We said that was OK and that we would wait. Another cast member appeared almost a few seconds later from inside the ride, opened the doors, and said we could go on right now!
We were pretty much in shock as we walked the through queue - in all of my years of going to Disney and many rope drops - I have never been the first person on a ride. As we were walking through the queue, we could see another family had entered the ride building too, so we figured we would all be riding together... NOPE. We made it to the front and the Cast Member said "pick any row you want" and sent us off all by ourselves. It was the most magical moment I have ever had at Disney.
Patrick and I both LOVE Frozen and we sang all of the songs throughout the ride, loudly and obnoxiously, because were literally the ONLY people on the ride. We couldn't even see the other family in any of the boats behind us.
I didn't realize at the time there was a ride photo, but I'm SO glad because it captured this moment for us. I wish I wasn't hanging on to my ears, but oh well!
Both Patrick & I decided the Frozen ride was our favorite Disney ride. I think it's in large part because of the very first ride.
Anyway, after Frozen, we headed against the mob of people - still intending to see Joy & Sadness. We passed a couple of Disney Suit employees, who actually stopped us and told us we really should ride the ride while we were right here - the line would just grow. I thought that was really nice of them, in case we had just been clueless. We got some high fives when we told them we had been the first riders that morning.
While talking to them, we spotted the Anna & Elsa meet and greet and decided to de-tour into that...
My Rapunzel ears were quite the popular conversation topic today!
After meeting Anna & Elsa, we finally decided we HAD to make it to Joy & Sadness and started prepping ourselves for a long wait while we walked.
Once we made it, Patrick wanted to stop and see Baymax first (his line was short), but I managed to sway him into waiting for Joy & Sadness since there line would just get longer. We ended up waiting about 25 minutes. We thought it was well worth it though. I give you Patrick's favorite photo of the trip:
I like this one of me and Baymax, who we did meet right after Joy & Sadness (only about a 10 minute wait):
Then, we were right next the Character Spot (which I had a fastpass for), so we stopped to do that:
After that, we rode Imagination with Figment & then Soarin' with an anytime Fastpass + (from the bus debacle that morning).
It was almost 10:45am, and we decided to walk back towards to World Showcase. We had a Frozen FP+ for 12:45, but I thought Patrick would enjoy meeting the characters in the different countries. We had one character in particular in mind... Belle in her blue dress!
This was a great meet & greet - he told Belle all about being an English teacher + they compared favorite books.
We walked back towards the UK to see Mary Poppins, since we had missed her yesterday in the Magic Kingdom. But first, we stopped for a PhotoPass Photographer! He was super nice and took a bunch of pictures.
We finally met Mary Poppins!
After that, we waited for a little bit so we could meet Alice:
Every single picture with Alice had someone's eyes closed haha.
We kept heading around the World Showcase and stopped to meet Aladdin & Jasmine. We just watched Twisted the Musical together, so we were excited to meet them. It started to rain while we were waiting, thankfully their line and meet was inside.
Mulan was also moved inside the theater in China because of the rain.
We continued on to Mexico. The rain had just stopped and we were looking around for Donald. I knew where he normally was, so we were waiting there while I pulled up the times guide on the app when...
Donald appeared! Patrick is Mexican, so he was super excited to meet him. He likes to joke one day we'll have mariachi bands at our wedding haha.
We finally finished the world showcase!! And then, we promptly went back around again. Patrick decided he wanted to stop in the Japan store to look for a gift for his sister. We also stopped for a funnel cake along the way - Patrick had been wanting a funnel cake all summer, so he was super happy.
We had finished our second world showcase lap when I stopped to buy a margarita... and then we promptly ran into Pluto.
I love this picture. We hadn't been planning on meeting Pluto, so Patrick was extra excited.
I started making noises about going back to the resort - it IS the animal kingdom lodge after all and I was exhausted! But, Patrick had other ideas. I had made the mistake of telling him about Character-Palooza and he really wanted to go see if we could meet some more characters. So, onto Hollywood Studios we go.
But first, no Epcot trip is complete without a picture in front of Spaceship Earth:
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
I definitely think they are pretty great! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, August 15th
After an awesome, but busy day at the Magic Kingdom, we fell asleep pretty quickly when we finally got back to Pop Century. We woke up at 5:45am and quickly began getting ready for the day - we had an 8:20am breakfast reservation at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. Today was also the day we were moving from Pop Century to Animal Kingdom Lodge - plus dinner at California Grill in the evening.
We took a quick shower and I called Bell Services while Patrick finished packing up the rest of our stuff. They were able to come pick our luggage by 6:30 and then we were off the bus stop. Yesterday, we had gotten SUPER lucky with the buses and never had to wait. Unfortunately, today didn't go nearly as smoothly. We waited at the bus stop from 6:45am until about 7:15am and never saw an Epcot bus... we did however, see 4 Hollywood Studios buses that left empty. By 7:15, I was keeping it together, but I was very close to having meltdown. Patrick only requested 1 thing from this entire Disney trip and it was Breakfast with the Princesses. I just saw visions of us missing the breakfast flashing before my eyes. We were the first people waiting in the bus queue, but by 7:15 there were a number of families behind us. I left Patrick in the Bus Line and sprinted in to the Pop Century front desk and very quickly spoke with concierge. They promised me they would call a bus right away and were very apologetic. I sprinted back out to Patrick and we finally saw an Epcot bus puling up about 7:25.
We didn't end up making to the Epcot main gate until about 7:45 and we quickly found the breakfast line and they started letting people in pretty soon after we got there. We were hoping to get seating at Akershus before 8:20, so once we got into Epcot - we booked it pretty quickly back through the World Showcase. We got in line to check-in at Akershus and there were quite a few people already in line ahead of us. We got checked in and waited about 5 minutes (it was probably around 8:05 at this point) - they then came out and let us know our table was ready.
Right after entering the restaurant, we were escorted meet Patrick's favorite princess Belle.
You can see how happy he is.
After that, we were seated at our table and they explained the way the restaurant worked - we ended up paying for the meal right away, which I thought was a little odd (I know sometimes people ask to do this at character meals, but they normally don't ask me). Despite all my trips to Disney, this was my first time at Akershus. There is a cold buffet and then they bring out hot items on a family style platter. At first, I was a little worried the platter they brought out was too small, but they said we could get more food if we wanted it. We ended up eating platter and being totally stuffed. I forgot to take food pictures here, but it was really all delicious. My favorite was definitely the buffet selections - I really love charcuterie, especially for breakfast, and they had some very nice selections.
We finished eating right around 8:25ish, and there were still no princesses in sight. At this point, I figured the princesses were out on a different side of the restaurant and it would just take a while before they made their way to us. So, we kept our plates in case we decided to go back for more food while we waited. I had picked an early reservation in the hopes that we would be out early enough to get in line for the Frozen ride, so that way we could ride it twice (I had a fastpass for later in the day). However, Patrick was SO excited to meet the princesses, I'd already decided I wasn't going to rush the interaction and we would stay until we met every single Princess - even if that meant leaving much later than 9:00am.
While we waited, Patrick took this nice shot of me fixing my lip gloss:
And then all of sudden, out of nowhere, princesses appeared!
First it was Cinderella:
Then Ariel (I thought she was the best interaction of the breakfast):
Then Aurora:
Then Snow White:
In the span of 12ish minutes, we had met 4 princesses! Patrick was in princess-heaven - he even dressed up in his new Spider-man shirt to meet them as you can see from the pictures haha. After meeting them, we decided we didn't want anymore food and then talked to each other and actually decided to skip trying to ride the frozen ride. We figured it was already almost 8:45, there would probably be a long line already, etc. We planned to head towards Joy & Sadness.
Imagine our surprise when we left Akershus, looked at the Frozen queue, and realized there was no one else in line and that WE were actually the first people out of the restaurant!! So, we got in line after all. We spoke to the nice cast member, who let us know they wouldn't be opening up for 15 minutes. We said that was OK and that we would wait. Another cast member appeared almost a few seconds later from inside the ride, opened the doors, and said we could go on right now!
We were pretty much in shock as we walked the through queue - in all of my years of going to Disney and many rope drops - I have never been the first person on a ride. As we were walking through the queue, we could see another family had entered the ride building too, so we figured we would all be riding together... NOPE. We made it to the front and the Cast Member said "pick any row you want" and sent us off all by ourselves. It was the most magical moment I have ever had at Disney.
Patrick and I both LOVE Frozen and we sang all of the songs throughout the ride, loudly and obnoxiously, because were literally the ONLY people on the ride. We couldn't even see the other family in any of the boats behind us.
I didn't realize at the time there was a ride photo, but I'm SO glad because it captured this moment for us. I wish I wasn't hanging on to my ears, but oh well!
Both Patrick & I decided the Frozen ride was our favorite Disney ride. I think it's in large part because of the very first ride.
Anyway, after Frozen, we headed against the mob of people - still intending to see Joy & Sadness. We passed a couple of Disney Suit employees, who actually stopped us and told us we really should ride the ride while we were right here - the line would just grow. I thought that was really nice of them, in case we had just been clueless. We got some high fives when we told them we had been the first riders that morning.
While talking to them, we spotted the Anna & Elsa meet and greet and decided to de-tour into that...
My Rapunzel ears were quite the popular conversation topic today!
After meeting Anna & Elsa, we finally decided we HAD to make it to Joy & Sadness and started prepping ourselves for a long wait while we walked.
Once we made it, Patrick wanted to stop and see Baymax first (his line was short), but I managed to sway him into waiting for Joy & Sadness since there line would just get longer. We ended up waiting about 25 minutes. We thought it was well worth it though. I give you Patrick's favorite photo of the trip:
I like this one of me and Baymax, who we did meet right after Joy & Sadness (only about a 10 minute wait):
Then, we were right next the Character Spot (which I had a fastpass for), so we stopped to do that:
After that, we rode Imagination with Figment & then Soarin' with an anytime Fastpass + (from the bus debacle that morning).
It was almost 10:45am, and we decided to walk back towards to World Showcase. We had a Frozen FP+ for 12:45, but I thought Patrick would enjoy meeting the characters in the different countries. We had one character in particular in mind... Belle in her blue dress!
This was a great meet & greet - he told Belle all about being an English teacher + they compared favorite books.
We walked back towards the UK to see Mary Poppins, since we had missed her yesterday in the Magic Kingdom. But first, we stopped for a PhotoPass Photographer! He was super nice and took a bunch of pictures.
We finally met Mary Poppins!
After that, we waited for a little bit so we could meet Alice:
Every single picture with Alice had someone's eyes closed haha.
We kept heading around the World Showcase and stopped to meet Aladdin & Jasmine. We just watched Twisted the Musical together, so we were excited to meet them. It started to rain while we were waiting, thankfully their line and meet was inside.
Mulan was also moved inside the theater in China because of the rain.
We continued on to Mexico. The rain had just stopped and we were looking around for Donald. I knew where he normally was, so we were waiting there while I pulled up the times guide on the app when...
Donald appeared! Patrick is Mexican, so he was super excited to meet him. He likes to joke one day we'll have mariachi bands at our wedding haha.
We finally finished the world showcase!! And then, we promptly went back around again. Patrick decided he wanted to stop in the Japan store to look for a gift for his sister. We also stopped for a funnel cake along the way - Patrick had been wanting a funnel cake all summer, so he was super happy.
We had finished our second world showcase lap when I stopped to buy a margarita... and then we promptly ran into Pluto.
I love this picture. We hadn't been planning on meeting Pluto, so Patrick was extra excited.
I started making noises about going back to the resort - it IS the animal kingdom lodge after all and I was exhausted! But, Patrick had other ideas. I had made the mistake of telling him about Character-Palooza and he really wanted to go see if we could meet some more characters. So, onto Hollywood Studios we go.
But first, no Epcot trip is complete without a picture in front of Spaceship Earth:
CONTINUED IN NEXT POST
unbeknownst
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2010
- Messages
- 90
Monday, August 15th CONT
NOW to Hollywood Studios. When we got there, a photopass photographer was taking pictures right after security.
I'm was a little tired by this point, but he knows how to perk me up.
On the bus ride over, I managed to get a fastpass + for the Great Movie ride. We entered the park so that we could ride it. After that, it was time to get ready for Character Palooza - thanks Kennythepirate! I grabbed a fastpass + for Toy Story while we waited.
We managed to meet all the characters that came out - recognize my profile picture?!
This was also a trip highlight - it was so cool to meet so many characters at once!
After this, we rode Toy Story, which Patrick didn't like (he is a sore loser)! and then it was FINALLY time to head to the Animal Kingdom Lodge... good thing we had a late dinner reservation!
The lobby is SO gorgeous. We had gotten a text with our room number, so we decided to wander out to see the animals before picking up our bags.
Giraffe selfie:
Our room ended up being super far away (we should have just let them bring the bags haha). We didn't pay for a Savannah view, but we still ended up being able to see some animals. We were back to the room a lot later than I thought we would be (not till almost 6:30!), so we immediately started getting ready for dinner.
Patrick couldn't resist taking a picture of my ears with a room flyer.
I promise we did clean up nicely for dinner:
We hopped on a bus and rode to the Magic Kingdom. We ended up walking to the Contemporary and it was a nice walk. We made it there right around 8:45 for an 8:55 reservation. I'd never been to California Grill either and it was BEAUTIFUL. We didn't have a window seat, but I was able to see the castle out of the window from where I was sitting.
We started off the with pork belly sushi and bread.
And, by the time our entrees came, we were so hungry & having such a nice time I forgot to take pictures. I got the oak grilled fillet of beef, while Patrick got the wagyu beef. Both were absolutely delicious! I know the food here sometimes gets inconsistent reviews, but we thought it was very good.
We held off on the our dessert order until after the fireworks. We watched from the observation deck.
It was breathtaking.
And for dessert, I had the chocolate pudding cake.
Patrick chose a honeycomb cake. I can't remember the exact name, but I think it was one of the more seasonal offerings.
I had saved my disney visa giftcard rewards to pay for this meal and it was well worth it. It was spectacular evening!!
Next Up: Hollywood Studios... Sci-Fi Lunch & Fireworks Dessert Party!
NOW to Hollywood Studios. When we got there, a photopass photographer was taking pictures right after security.
I'm was a little tired by this point, but he knows how to perk me up.
On the bus ride over, I managed to get a fastpass + for the Great Movie ride. We entered the park so that we could ride it. After that, it was time to get ready for Character Palooza - thanks Kennythepirate! I grabbed a fastpass + for Toy Story while we waited.
We managed to meet all the characters that came out - recognize my profile picture?!
This was also a trip highlight - it was so cool to meet so many characters at once!
After this, we rode Toy Story, which Patrick didn't like (he is a sore loser)! and then it was FINALLY time to head to the Animal Kingdom Lodge... good thing we had a late dinner reservation!
The lobby is SO gorgeous. We had gotten a text with our room number, so we decided to wander out to see the animals before picking up our bags.
Giraffe selfie:
Our room ended up being super far away (we should have just let them bring the bags haha). We didn't pay for a Savannah view, but we still ended up being able to see some animals. We were back to the room a lot later than I thought we would be (not till almost 6:30!), so we immediately started getting ready for dinner.
Patrick couldn't resist taking a picture of my ears with a room flyer.
I promise we did clean up nicely for dinner:
We hopped on a bus and rode to the Magic Kingdom. We ended up walking to the Contemporary and it was a nice walk. We made it there right around 8:45 for an 8:55 reservation. I'd never been to California Grill either and it was BEAUTIFUL. We didn't have a window seat, but I was able to see the castle out of the window from where I was sitting.
We started off the with pork belly sushi and bread.
And, by the time our entrees came, we were so hungry & having such a nice time I forgot to take pictures. I got the oak grilled fillet of beef, while Patrick got the wagyu beef. Both were absolutely delicious! I know the food here sometimes gets inconsistent reviews, but we thought it was very good.
We held off on the our dessert order until after the fireworks. We watched from the observation deck.
It was breathtaking.
And for dessert, I had the chocolate pudding cake.
Patrick chose a honeycomb cake. I can't remember the exact name, but I think it was one of the more seasonal offerings.
I had saved my disney visa giftcard rewards to pay for this meal and it was well worth it. It was spectacular evening!!
Next Up: Hollywood Studios... Sci-Fi Lunch & Fireworks Dessert Party!
Pooh's-Honey-Pot
DVC owner since 2020 - VGF, BLT and SSR
- Joined
- May 31, 2007
- Messages
- 3,668
Great reviews - you had a fab first couple of days!!
absolutmey
always planning another trip
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2013
- Messages
- 657
great reviews so far. can't wait to read more!
ariane37
Dis veteran
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
- Messages
- 8,176
I cannot believe how many characters you guys met this day!!! I love how into it Patrick is 
And isn't characterpalooza great? We did it twice on one trip back in 2014 and are hoping to catch it again this November.
We also love AKL; stayed there for the 1st time in January. We booked standard view and had a wonderful relaxing pool view, but with all the places around the resort to view animals I don't think it's a bad thing to not have a savannah view.
And isn't characterpalooza great? We did it twice on one trip back in 2014 and are hoping to catch it again this November. We also love AKL; stayed there for the 1st time in January. We booked standard view and had a wonderful relaxing pool view, but with all the places around the resort to view animals I don't think it's a bad thing to not have a savannah view.
Skip3key
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2012
- Messages
- 192
Following along your fun trip! You guys sound a lot like us... we always intend to tour leisurely, but end up going full commando and not resting at all on our "vacation"! We love the Cali Grill also.. and the Pork belly Sushi is now a must have every trip... super delicious! I may get it as my meal this next trip! Really enjoying your report, helps to get us ready for our next adventure which is 8 short days away!
tinkerbell1991
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2011
- Messages
- 1,344
Loving your report so far x
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