When I last sat down to write, we were just arriving at
MNSSHP. The drizzle was letting up and we were so very excited to spend our last evening on vacation at MNSSHP. Our entire family was outfitted in super cute shirts in the Nightmare Before Christmas theme (thanks to MOUSETRIPPER!) and little "Stitch" was wearing a full Jack Skellington costume. It was bound to be a night to remember!
As we made our way into MK we started to head over to the newly refurbished and recently (as in the day before) reopened Haunted Mansion. Although we had to wait about 10 minutes in line, it was the shortest line of the day (we were told by the ghoulishly dressed CM working at the entrance). We all LOVED the changes yet "Aladdin" said he liked it best the "real" way. Personally, I thought it was much the same and I liked that...they seemed to stay true to the original ride except for something I thought was a nice change... loved the new staircases. They reminded me of Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
What a shame that Disney won't be building a Harry Potter themed land.
But alas, one company cannot be everything.
And it will give me good reason to venture over to Universal eventually.
After our ride through the Haunted Mansion we headed over to Liberty Square and took a few of the requisite "stock photos".
Take note of the little Jack Skellington doll that "Stitch" has propped on his shoulder, he carried that thing around with him everywhere he went for WEEKS after we got home. It has since been replaced by another favorite gremlin, but it was one of his favorite buys of the trip. Also, you can sort of see the Jack Skellington face on dh's shirt in the picture, mine was a copy of his.
Next we stopped to listen to a great vocal group. We have heard them before (and loved them) but seeing them dressed up...they were amazing! My boys delighted in figuring out how each one of them had died. If you study the picture below you will see the correct answers are (from left to right): Trampled by a horse, starved (???), an ax or hatchet to the head and shot by an arrow.
We spent about 25 minutes listening to them sing, talking to them and watching them interact with each other and others in the crowd. They really were funny, talented and one of the great "extras" that is not expected but oh so enjoyable that can be found throughout WDW!
After the impromptu show, our trip pictures come to an end.
The battery pack on our camera died (the first of our technology mishaps of the night). However, that was okay, we were going to be having so much fun that we wouldn't miss having to stop to pose for pictures...or this was the plan at least.
As we started to move on, we figured we should head over to the POTC ride and enjoy it before the rest of the party crowds made their way into the park...WRONG...this was the first MNSSHP of the year and EVERY knowledgeable "tour guide", webmaster, newsletter writer, die hard fan who had been waiting for the first night, etc was their to glean the inside scoop on this year's party for their loyal subscribers, surfers and readers. This meant that all of the "inside knowledge" I had surfed, read and digested was of little to no use and in some cases actually counter productive.
When everyone else is "going against the crowds" it is smarter to just try and flow with them.
So we headed over to Fantasyland and did almost everything there. Who would have thought you could walk on to almost any ride in Fantasyland in the late afternoon?! We spent about an hour and a half there and then made our way over to Tomorrowland in order to sneak in a few more rides before we would grab a late dinner at Cosmic Ray's. Along the way we noticed that the rain was once again starting to fall...so we threw on our ponchos and continued along our happy way.
Once we got to tomorrow land we hit the TTA, Buzz Lightyear and the Carousel of progress before the rain shower became an full fledged downpour (complete with RIVERS (I swear, they were there!!) running through Tomorrowland). As we made our way through the torrents of water running past our now soaked feet (poor dh he was wearing tennis shoes and socks while the rest of us at least were a bit more comfy in
Crocs) we decided it was time to enjoy another ride or show and wait out the storm...yeah, us and everyone else.
The only ride we were able to get on in Tomorrowland without a forty or more minute wait was the TTA. Good thing we really like that one!!
After a "triple ride" (there was no line so they let us stay on three times in a row) we made our way back down to the swirling mass of water once known as dry concrete walkways and continued our quest for some place dry. There was now NO PLACE to be found. If it was indoors, covered, out of the rain in any way shape or form...that space was taken.
As we made our way over to Cosmic Ray's (knowing it would be crowded but knowing our hunger pains needed more then the loot we had stopped for at the trick or treat spots). Along the way we ran into technical mishaps numbers two and three (for those counting, the dead camera battery was number 1). I told dh that I would take the kids to the next trick or treat stop and he could stop and grab us two smoothies to have with dinner. I would call him from my cell phone to his and meet back up with him along the way. Enter comic misfortune followed by another almost unbelievable dose of the same.
Not only did I drop my cell phone into the water after dialing dh, he dropped his cell phone into the water while trying to answer my call (by the water, I mean the ground...but I swear, baby pool would have been a more apt description). We were a sad, shorted out matched pair. Lucky for us, there was not much foot traffic in the torrential downpour so we were able to meet up with little problem even with the technical mishaps.
To be continued...
CONGRATULATIONS JAY!!! 
