teekathepony
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2009
- Messages
- 4,777
Well, no sense in prolonging it any more. I'm going to finish off our last day at Disney.
We had just gotten the monorail from Epcot to Magic Kingdom. We got some Photopass pictures taken with the 40th anniversary sign:
Our first stop in the park was to guest services to see about getting a special 40th Anniversary pin. Of course by this time there were none left, but we were told that there had been none since about 2pm. I thought that was fairly poor planning, considering the crowds I'm sure they knew they would get. At this point I must digress for a short story before I get back to this update.
Last trip, in November 2010 for our honeymoon, we were given a couple of “Happily Ever After” pins. Cute. Many CMs told us “Oh you should get the ‘Just Married’ pins too!” so we tried everywhere, every day. And I do mean everywhere. We were constantly told “We don’t have those anymore because it’s not fair to those couples who cannot get married.” Well, I guess that does seem fair, except that we saw SO MANY other couples with them throughout our whole two week trip! We asked a few when they had got them (wondering if it was the week before we arrived or they had taken them from home or something) and most of them said “this morning at guest services!” We were very unhappy; it seemed like every other newlywed couple was getting them but us. If you’re going to change your policy, do it universally, not just to select people. We were sad that we never did get to wear Just Married pins on our honeymoon.
Back to this trip.
We had once again this trip seen many couples with “Just Married” pins. It was very frustrating, having been told last year that they were not giving them out any more. When we couldn’t get a 40th pin, we decided just for the heck of it (and because we had left our 'Happy Anniversary' pins at Pop Century) to ask for a Just Married pin. “Here you go!” said the CM and handed two over. It was a very bitter moment for us, I’m not going to lie.
So we walked around with our “Just Married” pins on for the rest of the night. A small lie but we were determined to get some use out of them.
We decided to wander around for a bit. We went the scenic route through the castle and it was Johnny's first time ever being inside.
We meandered a bit and found ourselves near Tomorrowland, so we decided to ride Buzz again.
We were getting hungry so we stopped at Pinocchio's Village Haus. Both of us ordered the simplest thing -- pizza. Pepperoni for Johnny, cheese for me. We got to the counter and laid our receipts down, but for some reason they served everyone but us. It wasn't as if we had ordered something specially made, but every pizza that came out was handed to someone else. A man next to us was having the same problem. Again, it was just so very time to go home, but we wanted to see those fireworks. After waiting for about 15 minutes while everyone around us got served pizza after pizza, the other man asked a CM why we weren’t getting ours. She checked our slips and said “Oh it’s ready now.” Oh. How convenient.
We got our meal, got a seat and ate.
You can probably imagine that we were both a little (lot) frustrated at this point. We were tired and homesick. We missed our pets and our bed and I just wanted to cook a meal on my stove for us to eat at our table. We had only hours left in the park, and we were going to try to make the best of it.
At 7:00 we set up in a nice spot in the hub by the partners statue. I sat next to a tripod with a nice looking camera on top. We took turns saving this spot and wandering, but soon it got too crowded to wander so we just stayed put. I started talking to the owner of the Pentax camera and found out that he’s a plumber by trade. Of course I had to get him talking to Johnny, also a plumber. It was a great conversation and we still keep in touch with him to this day on Facebook.
We watched the castle start to light up and turn colours. Johnny took some pictures since I just wanted to relax and enjoy.
The parade was about to start and there was not a bit of room to move. We couldn’t see too much of the parade from our perch but that was ok, when the fireworks started we were going to have an amazing view.
A terrible shot, but it shows you how close to the statue we were:
After the parade I had to get to a washroom. The Magic Memories & You show was at 8:30 and the fireworks at 9:00. It took me half an hour to get from the hub to the washroom and back. The crowd control was extremely poor. When I headed back toward the hub they routed me through Tomorrowland! Then when I got back to the hub, the CMs wouldn’t let me in! I had to stop (despite them all yelling “DON’T STOP! KEEP MOVING!” and explain that my husband was inside that crowd! They let me in and I had to push through. I got to Johnny about halfway through the MM&Y show. I know I’m not the only one who thought that was poorly handled – soooo many people around me were shouting about needing to get somewhere and I can’t count how many times I heard “But I have to get to a restroom!”
Well, when I got back to Johnny I squeezed in and stayed there until the fireworks.
It was Wishes but with a slightly altered finale, and it was a pretty good show. I admit that this show made me smile, after such a long and frustrating day. Turns out the finale was pretty spectacular and actually worth the wait. I'm very happy to say that I was there at the Magic Kingdom for the 40th anniversary celebration.
I didn't take any pictures, but here's one from my new Disney friend to hold you over, since this is a dry post, picture-wise:
We tried to stay where we were to wait out the crowds but no one was moving! It seemed everyone was waiting for the second showing of MM&Y. So we just politely pushed our way to Tomorrowland. It was empty in there and we rode Buzz Lightyear yet again. From there we went around the back of the castle to the Haunted Mansion.
While in the area we were walking along when suddenly we heard a little metallic clink noise. I looked down and there, staring up at me was a little Disney magic -- a 40th Anniversary Pin.
I could hardly believe it. I picked it up and dusted it off and made an honest effort to see who may have lost it, but there was literally no one around! It wasn't even scratched. I looked up at Johnny and smiled and realized that despite our little mishaps this day, we were still in Disney and that was enough. Our own magic might have worn off by this point but Disney's didn't!
On our way out we got caught up by the second parade. This time though the crowd control was fantastic. CMs were everywhere directing foot traffic and patrolling where people were standing. It went very smooth. I assume they must have had some complaints! I even heard lots of other people voicing my thoughts out loud.
We decided to head back to Pop Century. We said goodbye to Magic Kingdom for the final time and got a bus. We had to pack and by the time we got to bed it was 1:30am. Our alarms were set for 3:30am. It was going to be a fun travel day.
Next post: a quick review of our travel day and then onto the summaries!
We had just gotten the monorail from Epcot to Magic Kingdom. We got some Photopass pictures taken with the 40th anniversary sign:
Our first stop in the park was to guest services to see about getting a special 40th Anniversary pin. Of course by this time there were none left, but we were told that there had been none since about 2pm. I thought that was fairly poor planning, considering the crowds I'm sure they knew they would get. At this point I must digress for a short story before I get back to this update.
Last trip, in November 2010 for our honeymoon, we were given a couple of “Happily Ever After” pins. Cute. Many CMs told us “Oh you should get the ‘Just Married’ pins too!” so we tried everywhere, every day. And I do mean everywhere. We were constantly told “We don’t have those anymore because it’s not fair to those couples who cannot get married.” Well, I guess that does seem fair, except that we saw SO MANY other couples with them throughout our whole two week trip! We asked a few when they had got them (wondering if it was the week before we arrived or they had taken them from home or something) and most of them said “this morning at guest services!” We were very unhappy; it seemed like every other newlywed couple was getting them but us. If you’re going to change your policy, do it universally, not just to select people. We were sad that we never did get to wear Just Married pins on our honeymoon.
Back to this trip.
We had once again this trip seen many couples with “Just Married” pins. It was very frustrating, having been told last year that they were not giving them out any more. When we couldn’t get a 40th pin, we decided just for the heck of it (and because we had left our 'Happy Anniversary' pins at Pop Century) to ask for a Just Married pin. “Here you go!” said the CM and handed two over. It was a very bitter moment for us, I’m not going to lie.
So we walked around with our “Just Married” pins on for the rest of the night. A small lie but we were determined to get some use out of them.
We decided to wander around for a bit. We went the scenic route through the castle and it was Johnny's first time ever being inside.
We meandered a bit and found ourselves near Tomorrowland, so we decided to ride Buzz again.
We were getting hungry so we stopped at Pinocchio's Village Haus. Both of us ordered the simplest thing -- pizza. Pepperoni for Johnny, cheese for me. We got to the counter and laid our receipts down, but for some reason they served everyone but us. It wasn't as if we had ordered something specially made, but every pizza that came out was handed to someone else. A man next to us was having the same problem. Again, it was just so very time to go home, but we wanted to see those fireworks. After waiting for about 15 minutes while everyone around us got served pizza after pizza, the other man asked a CM why we weren’t getting ours. She checked our slips and said “Oh it’s ready now.” Oh. How convenient.
We got our meal, got a seat and ate.You can probably imagine that we were both a little (lot) frustrated at this point. We were tired and homesick. We missed our pets and our bed and I just wanted to cook a meal on my stove for us to eat at our table. We had only hours left in the park, and we were going to try to make the best of it.
At 7:00 we set up in a nice spot in the hub by the partners statue. I sat next to a tripod with a nice looking camera on top. We took turns saving this spot and wandering, but soon it got too crowded to wander so we just stayed put. I started talking to the owner of the Pentax camera and found out that he’s a plumber by trade. Of course I had to get him talking to Johnny, also a plumber. It was a great conversation and we still keep in touch with him to this day on Facebook.
We watched the castle start to light up and turn colours. Johnny took some pictures since I just wanted to relax and enjoy.
The parade was about to start and there was not a bit of room to move. We couldn’t see too much of the parade from our perch but that was ok, when the fireworks started we were going to have an amazing view.
A terrible shot, but it shows you how close to the statue we were:
After the parade I had to get to a washroom. The Magic Memories & You show was at 8:30 and the fireworks at 9:00. It took me half an hour to get from the hub to the washroom and back. The crowd control was extremely poor. When I headed back toward the hub they routed me through Tomorrowland! Then when I got back to the hub, the CMs wouldn’t let me in! I had to stop (despite them all yelling “DON’T STOP! KEEP MOVING!” and explain that my husband was inside that crowd! They let me in and I had to push through. I got to Johnny about halfway through the MM&Y show. I know I’m not the only one who thought that was poorly handled – soooo many people around me were shouting about needing to get somewhere and I can’t count how many times I heard “But I have to get to a restroom!”
Well, when I got back to Johnny I squeezed in and stayed there until the fireworks.
It was Wishes but with a slightly altered finale, and it was a pretty good show. I admit that this show made me smile, after such a long and frustrating day. Turns out the finale was pretty spectacular and actually worth the wait. I'm very happy to say that I was there at the Magic Kingdom for the 40th anniversary celebration.
I didn't take any pictures, but here's one from my new Disney friend to hold you over, since this is a dry post, picture-wise:
We tried to stay where we were to wait out the crowds but no one was moving! It seemed everyone was waiting for the second showing of MM&Y. So we just politely pushed our way to Tomorrowland. It was empty in there and we rode Buzz Lightyear yet again. From there we went around the back of the castle to the Haunted Mansion.
While in the area we were walking along when suddenly we heard a little metallic clink noise. I looked down and there, staring up at me was a little Disney magic -- a 40th Anniversary Pin.
I could hardly believe it. I picked it up and dusted it off and made an honest effort to see who may have lost it, but there was literally no one around! It wasn't even scratched. I looked up at Johnny and smiled and realized that despite our little mishaps this day, we were still in Disney and that was enough. Our own magic might have worn off by this point but Disney's didn't!
On our way out we got caught up by the second parade. This time though the crowd control was fantastic. CMs were everywhere directing foot traffic and patrolling where people were standing. It went very smooth. I assume they must have had some complaints! I even heard lots of other people voicing my thoughts out loud.
We decided to head back to Pop Century. We said goodbye to Magic Kingdom for the final time and got a bus. We had to pack and by the time we got to bed it was 1:30am. Our alarms were set for 3:30am. It was going to be a fun travel day.
Next post: a quick review of our travel day and then onto the summaries!
Now that is some real Disney magic.
Hahaha
They're so good.
