Cooled and refreshed after our 90 degree golf tournament, we were ready to head back out to MK at around 18:30. We were really excited because this evening we were going to the Wishes dessert a first for both of us (who are both big pudding lovers!)
We caught the bus from POP and arrived at the MK entrance around 19:00. Our first mission was to find the Tomorrowland Terrace where the dessert party would be taking place We asked a CM who told us it was near the 'noodle station' eh? Never heard of that! But a short investigation soon paid off: it turns out that the terrace is right at the entrance to Tomorrowland (I guess the clue is in the name really!) and we were delighted to see a sign already in place:
We still had 2 hours to spare so decided to give Buzz Lightyear a whirl! We picked up some FPs for later, and then got in line to ride:
See that steely look of determination on my face? That's the look of someone loosing massively - Sal was yet again victorious, harumph! I don't think I am EVER going to beat her at that!
Next up we headed to the Laugh Floor to catch up with Mike Wazowski and pals:
This was a really long line, but Sal was pleased to be chosen as the time card bearer - what a responsibility!:
We both really enjoyed this show! I love how the humour changes depending on the timing: the later shows that I've been to certainly seem to have slightly more risque humour (by Disney standards...) but this was really funny also and Ros finally did open the doors!
We followed this up with a relaxing trip on the People Mover, after which it was around 20:45 so we decided to head over to the Terrace for the long-awaited dessert party. The sign at the entrance had indicated that folks could check in from 21:00 so we expected to be the first in line but boy, had we underestimated how much Disney guests like to plan! There was a massive queue already: I think we were around the last guests to be admitted!
On checking in they found our reservation, and we were asked to follow a CM who looked all around the Terrace but couldn't find our table anywhere. I was starting to panic that we'd be hanging out in standing room only but then she spots it....right on the 'front row' of the terrace - awesome view!
The desserts were already laid out, but Sal had something else in mind and was determined to get a FP picture on the terrace, where a photographer had set up. Here's the result - how sunburnt do I look?!
It was really cool that the castle changed colours between photo shots though (these were taken just a few seconds apart):
After we got a few more photos Sal and I headed over to the buffet which was an immense selection of tiny desserts, and who doesn't love mini puddings?! The mini mango smoothie shots proved to be a particular fave, I'm ashamed to say I may have polished off more than a handful of these:
We headed back towards our table just in time to see the parade go by - here's Big Ben as a reminder of home:
You can see how close to the front of the terrace we were from the railings! Next we had a little time to sit back, relax and watch the castle change colour as we enjoyed a cup of coffee:
It was great to just chill out without the bother of crowds, and having to hold down a space for Wishes an hour in advance As it got close to fireworks time, some of the kids moved to stand at the railing in the corner which seemed like a good idea (as there were no tables in that area). But then, just as the lights dimmed for Wishes 5 large guys from a table further back came and stood directly in front of our table - so much so that they were sitting on it!!
Now all we had was a view of their butts - charming! This seemed to happen across the terrace, which meant those at the front tables had to stand up (to see over the adults who had stood directly in front of them), and then the folks behind them had to stand and move forward...so within a couple of minutes, everyone was standing at the railing, much as we would have been on Main Street! Oh well!
I did feel bad for the family behind us as they had specifically told their young children not to stand in front of our table, even though we had said this would be fine (as they were all under 3 ft tall!) - then they ended up having to look over some 6ft guys! Still, I tried not to get too agitated and we really enjoyed Wishes, I think it was a special summer nights version as it seemed different from what we've seen in previous years:
The best bit of the whole show was a pirate take-over of the castle, where they played the POTC theme and beamed a skull and cross bones onto the castle, very cool!
Our prime seating also settled a debate between Sal and I about tinkerbell. I have seen her fly many times from the castle at the start of the fireworks, and have always assumed this was a light running down a zip wire rather than a person dressed as tinkerbell. Sal was sure this was a person and claimed to have seen her wave - Well, this time we saw tinkerbell set off and pass right over our heads on the terrace - and whilst I hate to admit that I'm wrong, she seemed to be real - amazing! I'm very impressed that someone actually goes down that zip wire (though I'm still not quite convinced!)
Sorry that this part of my report is so low on pics: after all those deserts I must have forgotten to get my camera out, in a suger-indused haze! Well, after Wishes we were welcome to stay on the terrace but most people made a speedy exit and so after a final speedy cup of coffee we headed off also.
We still had FPs from earlier that evening for Buzz Lightyear so we waddled round the corner only to find the FP line was right out of the ride and into the middle of tomorrowland - it seemed even longer than the regular line?! Apparently, whilst we'd been scoffing strawberries and slurping smoothies on the terrace Buzz had been down and had only just re-started, so there was around 2 hours worth of FP holders waiting to ride! Not to be deterred we got in the queue and it moved pretty quickly (they were basically loading just with the FP holders to clear the backlog, and letting the regular queue back up) so after 20 minutes we were fighting Zurg again - woo hoo!
Sal won - again! By now it was around 22:30 and so we decided to head out down Main Street checking out the shops on the way. We dropped in at the sweet store to get gifts for our colleagues back home - a box of chocolate Disney money for Sal's work friends and a massive box of lurid-coloured taffy for mine! Then we headed back to POP and decided to hang out by the pool awhile. A couple of drinks and a bit of swimming proved a great way to finish off the evening so we headed to bed knowing that tomorrow was going to be a big day for us - and, more importantly for the England football team!!
Next Up: Stuck on a Monorail, Luau fun AND World Cup kick off!
Boy have I gotten behind! I don't think my notification thing is working?
Great pictures of the castle!! I love MK at night. I think early morning and night are my favorite times there. The dessert party looks so yummy!!! I have heard many good things about it but also a lot of people also talk about how people jam up around the railing. It amazes me how people an be inconsiderate at times!
Hi TinksThree! Thanks for stopping by - I'm sorry the updates have been so few and far-between lately. I have had a whole load of projects to finish up BUT our next trip is just 3 months away and so I am determined to get this report finished off!
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who struggles on Buzz...
Today started off pretty quiet with a much needed lie-in. We woke up around 11:00 (I know, how lazy are we?!) and then headed down to Everything POP for some brekkie by the pool. It was surprisingly busy for mid-morning, with a lot of English families staying around today (I wonder why??):
This was just the calm before the storm though because today was the start of England's FIFA World Cup campaign....and they'd be playing the USA! Woo hoo!
I was super excited to watch the match so around 13:30 we headed back to the room to watch the pre-show in peace:
I had loaded up with snacks and put some beers in the ice box so we were all set for a football watchathon!
There was only one flaw to this brilliant plan: we had reservations for the Spirit of Aloha that evening, which would prevent us from seeing the final score I'd booked SoA ages ago (long before FIFA announced the World Cup schedule) and to get there in time for the 5:15 show we'd have to leave POP by 16:00! Still, I was hopefull that England would have built up a 3 or 4 goal lead by that point so there wouldn't be anything to worry about....
....or would there?! 15:45 rolled around the score stood at 1-1, I couldn't believe it! But it was time to prise myself away from the TV and head down to the busses. Our plan was to get a bus to MK and then monorail to the Poly. All was going well until we got on the blue Monorail....
...suddenly it started to go really slowly between the Contemporary and TTA. And then it ground to a halt right there between stops! The driver came on to say there were "routine maintenance checks" being performed but they didn't seem all that routine to us! Slowly the monorail pulled into the TTA station but the doors didn't open (as I don't think all of the carriages were aligned with the platform area?) Anyhow, we were stuck there for around 15-20 minutes: stranded at the TTA
Needless to say I was getting a little paniced about missing our dinner show as it was around 17:00 by now but I felt so bad for other passengers in our carriage: a mother and son were travelling to a wedding at the GF and said they'd already missed it! After a good 20 mins the train shunted forward and the doors could be opened so we jumped off at the TTA and speed-walked it through the Poly Gardens to Aloha Cove (wow, could that area of the hotel be any further from the monorail?!) Not the most relaxing start to our evening but we made it to the check in podium at 17:20 and thankfully the show hadn't got started yet! We chatted in line to some folks who could update us on the football scores: it seems that the match had finished with England 1 - USA 1 (so I guess we hadn't missed much on our travels)
We were given leis which were really cool, and taken over to our table. This was in the category 3 area but had a good view of the stage and some lovely pineapple and bread waiting for us - yum!
Shortly afterwards the show started up:
For those who haven't seen Spirit of Aloha the show is essentially in 2 halves: the first tells the story of a Hawaiian girl who is going away to college and features some group dances and music:
The second part features more 'traditional' dances for different areas, and some of these were really skillful:
We really enjoyed the show and the food was excellent! They had chicken, rice, veggies and some great ribs ina BBQ-style sauce! But the highlight has to be the dessert which was brought out on smoking volcano trays:
We had a fun time at the luua and the fact we got to see it on a dry, warm evening really added to the atmosphere. After the luua we got the monorail (not the blue one this time...) back to MK and then took a bus back to POP. We arrived about 20:30 and decided to finish the day much as we'd started: chilling out by the pool. We got a couple of margaritas from the Petals bar (where I got severely ribbed by the American soccer fans!) and read books / swam / chilled out. Fab!
Coming Up: Door-to-door service, and animal encounters!
Stuck on the monorail -- I'd have panicked too! I'm glad you made it in time. The Wishes Desert party sounds lovely, other than those rude folks. I don't understand why some people feel they are more entitled than everyone else. BTW, I've never beat my DH at Buzz, and one of my boys beat me on this past trip! Maybe you, TinksThree, and I should play again each other!
Hi wlake, thanks for your reply! I agree, we should all play Buzz, sounds like a great solution As for Midway Mania - think I'm going to have to invest in the Wii version and get some practice in before the next visit! Otherwise it won't be pretty.....
I keep hearing good things about the Spirit of Aloha! I have added it to my "to-do" list! It sounds like a good day except for the monorail situation!!
I think a buzz-off would be a great competition!! Keith has already extended the challenge for Toy Story Mania so I must improve because he will kill me!
When are you guys heading back? I remember it is sometime in May. There are a lot of people going in May. There is a thread for May people and it keeps getting longer and longer!!!
Hi TinksThree it's great to hear from you! I would definitely recommend Spirit of Aloha - especially if you're going in May / June / July. I guess the atmosphere would be a little different when the weather is cooler and evenings darker, but I'm sure it's still a fun show!
We are going back May 15-22 so will just miss you guys by a few days! I feel like we have a lot to pack in to just 7 days this time as we're travelling with my DMIL, DFIL, DBIL and DBILGF (get that? it was meant to be disney brother-in-law's girl friend) none of whom have done Disney before! Soo....any suggestions for first timer 'must do's'??
So we left off enjoying the POP pool and chilling out after Spirit of Aloha. What I didn't include in my last update was our final decision of that day: where to have breakfast the next morning?!
As you may remember we had missed (well, really just been too lazy to get up for....) our breakfast ADR at Crystal Palace some days back, and ever since I had been craving a holiday breakfast. We don't usually get much beyond a rushed cup of coffee at home so a sit-down breakfast is the true sign of a good vacation and soooo wanted another one!
After looking through the Unofficial Guide we decided to try The Wave at the Contemporary. This was new for us and they seemed to have my favourite brekkie food on the menu: Eggs Benedict, yum! We called Disney Dining and they booked us a reservation for 08:45 the next morning - now all we had to do was get up in time!
The next morning we staggered out of bed and made it down to the bus stops by 08:00. Sure enough an MK bus arrived and we boarded along with another young couple and a family group. I guess there weren't a whole buncg of people trying to make rope drop that day When we arrive at MK, everyone crowds round the driver asking for directions to other resorts. It seems that EVERYONE had breakfast reservations elsewhere, and no one wanted to really go to MK after all!
The bus driver was super nice and offered to drive us round the resorts - which was a bit of disney magic! First he dropped Sal and I and the family group off at the Contemporary. The other couple were heading to Kona so he offered to drive them round to the Poly afterwards - what a nice man! So, thanks to our door-to-door service, we arrived 20 minutes early
And this was what we ordered:
The eggs benedict was really good, well worth the early start! As for The Wave - we had mixed feeling about this. The service was quick, and the restaurant was very quiet with just a few adults dining. I think for some people this might be a plus but we felt it was a little too subdued and not as fun as some eateries we'd tried. I guess it may be better at dinner than breakfast??
After our food we decided to explore the Contemporary a bit. We were on a mission to find the famous metal mouse ears that I've seen in so many people's TRs. I was expecting that we'd have to search high and low for these so it was a bit of a shock when we walked out of the doorway and saw them right there!
I love how they have a camera stand opposite the ears so you can do timer shots of your whole party. We took advantage of that:
We also saw the new BLT building and very cool bridge that connects it to the main Contemporary site. Needless to say we didn't actually make it inside - I think DVC is a bit out of our means at the moment:
As it was still fairly early (around 09:30) we decided to try out some more mini golf before the midday heat got the better of us. So off we headed to the Contemporary bus stop area, en route to Blizzard Beach for the Winterland / Summerland mini golf:
a first for both of us (who are both big pudding lovers!)
We asked a CM who told us it was near the 'noodle station' eh? Never heard of that! But a short investigation soon paid off: it turns out that the terrace is right at the entrance to Tomorrowland (I guess the clue is in the name really!) and we were delighted to see a sign already in place:
I'd booked SoA ages ago (long before FIFA announced the World Cup schedule) and to get there in time for the 5:15 show we'd have to leave POP by 16:00! Still, I was hopefull that England would have built up a 3 or 4 goal lead by that point so there wouldn't be anything to worry about....
Keith has already extended the challenge for Toy Story Mania so I must improve because he will kill me! 
or summer 
course? 
