FreezinRafiki
Cold enough for ya?
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2009
- Messages
- 6,220
We were making our way clockwise around World Showcase and had just left merry old England, heading over to Canada. I could hear Off Kilter playing was getting pretty excited to see them. Between the two pavilions is a fairly nondescript set of large wooden gates. I've been past there dozens of times and have never seen them open. I just assumed they led to a backstage area and were always kept closed. But as we walked past them, we noticed that the gate on the right was open about 1/2 way. I went over to peek in, and what do you suppose I find?
Characters!!!!!
Including the Holy Grail of our Character Quest - but more on him in a bit.
While the area is technically "backstage" most of the time, it's still a nice spot. The pathway has a slight uphill climb to it and probably goes on for about 100 feet up to a nice - and very large - blue building. Along the sides were 5' stucco walls complete with nice landscaping and landscape lighting. While waiting in line for one of the characters, I asked a CM what this building was. She said its used for large gatherings - conferences, meetings, etc. And occasionally, for character greetings.
Each wall of the path was lined with about half a dozen miscellaneous characters. And quit an odd mixing it was. We saw:
Wendell from the Country Bears
June and Annie from the Little Einsteins.
And that's when I saw... him. Ever since we finally found Pocahontas during our October '09 trip report, this character has become the Holy Grail of my children's character hunting. The mythical character only rumored to come around once in a blue moon, never in the same spot twice. Yet, there he was, all the way at the top of the path on the right side. I'm speaking of none other than Goofy's only son, MAX!
Max has now been added to my kids' trophy collection! Thus, we currently have an opening for "Holy Grail of Characters Meets" Please submit any requests or ideas as a comment. Thank you.
Other characters that we were able to meet before the CMs called "time" and they all vanished backstage:
Captain Hook
Bolt:
Suzy (from Cinderella)
Meeko (From Pocahontas)
Gideon and Pinocchio
Madison getting a dance with Pniocchio
There were a few other characters there, but as I mentioned before, the CMs began shutting down the lines and one by one they disappeared. I know for sure Genie was there, but I can't recall who else. I'm sure Bambi will step in with a few.
Since it wasn't a normal meet & greet location and because there were so many of them, the lines kind of got out of whack. Some characters seemed to have two lines, others just had a bunch of people standing around them with no apparent organization. CMs were trying to keep some order, but seemed to be a losing battle. Over all, though, it was a really fun experience and we would totally do it again if we are ever lucky enough to stumble across something like this!
They had closed the large gate so no more guests could enter, but let those of us already in there finish up with whatever characters were left. We were then let out via a smaller pedestrian door and we continued our trek around through Canada and back to Future World. We had some more Test Track FastPasses to use up before hopping on the monorail for dinner.
We took the monorail (sadly, not the Tronorail) over to the Ticket & Transportation Center then took a nice leisurely stroll over to the Poly's Great Ceremonial House for dinner at Ohana.
Why do Evan and I have matching shirts? Because we're awesome, that's why.
If you recall waaaaaaaay back on the first post of this Trip Report, I posted a picture of Madison at Ohana. If you have forgotten, it looked much like this:
Believe it or not, that was the last time we were at Ohana. Almost 6 years to the day. Why has it taken us so long to get back? I have no idea, but I'm not letting that happen again. I have ADRs there for both our April and June trips this year.
And obviously, Madison didn't take part in any of the entertainment on her last visit. This time, however, she was out there shaking up a storm doing the hula
We were cruising along, happily eating the chicken wings, the noodles, the shrimp and the pork. Madison was slowly picking at her roast pork when the man with the magical meat skewers came around asking if anyone wanted some steak. All of a sudden that piece of pork on Madison's plate few off, landed on Grandpa's plate and her hand shot up, waving "me! me!" So if anyone is keeping track STEAK > PORK in Madison's world.
A little Polynesian Christmas Cheer:
And a few pictures of our looooong walk back to the TTC. Odd how that walk seems twice as long when you're caring 9 extra pounds of meat.
No matter how much I played with the settings on my camera, I just couldn't capture how awesome this sight was. There was a bit of a fog in the air and it reflected and glowed with all of the lights from the castle, the train station, the ferry and all of the resorts. This is the best that I could come up with.
Our chariot approaches.
Coming Up Next: Illuminations and a long walk home
Characters!!!!!
Including the Holy Grail of our Character Quest - but more on him in a bit.
While the area is technically "backstage" most of the time, it's still a nice spot. The pathway has a slight uphill climb to it and probably goes on for about 100 feet up to a nice - and very large - blue building. Along the sides were 5' stucco walls complete with nice landscaping and landscape lighting. While waiting in line for one of the characters, I asked a CM what this building was. She said its used for large gatherings - conferences, meetings, etc. And occasionally, for character greetings.
Each wall of the path was lined with about half a dozen miscellaneous characters. And quit an odd mixing it was. We saw:
Wendell from the Country Bears
June and Annie from the Little Einsteins.
And that's when I saw... him. Ever since we finally found Pocahontas during our October '09 trip report, this character has become the Holy Grail of my children's character hunting. The mythical character only rumored to come around once in a blue moon, never in the same spot twice. Yet, there he was, all the way at the top of the path on the right side. I'm speaking of none other than Goofy's only son, MAX!
Max has now been added to my kids' trophy collection! Thus, we currently have an opening for "Holy Grail of Characters Meets" Please submit any requests or ideas as a comment. Thank you.
Other characters that we were able to meet before the CMs called "time" and they all vanished backstage:
Captain Hook
Bolt:
Suzy (from Cinderella)
Meeko (From Pocahontas)
Gideon and Pinocchio
Madison getting a dance with Pniocchio
There were a few other characters there, but as I mentioned before, the CMs began shutting down the lines and one by one they disappeared. I know for sure Genie was there, but I can't recall who else. I'm sure Bambi will step in with a few.
Since it wasn't a normal meet & greet location and because there were so many of them, the lines kind of got out of whack. Some characters seemed to have two lines, others just had a bunch of people standing around them with no apparent organization. CMs were trying to keep some order, but seemed to be a losing battle. Over all, though, it was a really fun experience and we would totally do it again if we are ever lucky enough to stumble across something like this!
They had closed the large gate so no more guests could enter, but let those of us already in there finish up with whatever characters were left. We were then let out via a smaller pedestrian door and we continued our trek around through Canada and back to Future World. We had some more Test Track FastPasses to use up before hopping on the monorail for dinner.
We took the monorail (sadly, not the Tronorail) over to the Ticket & Transportation Center then took a nice leisurely stroll over to the Poly's Great Ceremonial House for dinner at Ohana.
Why do Evan and I have matching shirts? Because we're awesome, that's why.
If you recall waaaaaaaay back on the first post of this Trip Report, I posted a picture of Madison at Ohana. If you have forgotten, it looked much like this:
Believe it or not, that was the last time we were at Ohana. Almost 6 years to the day. Why has it taken us so long to get back? I have no idea, but I'm not letting that happen again. I have ADRs there for both our April and June trips this year.
And obviously, Madison didn't take part in any of the entertainment on her last visit. This time, however, she was out there shaking up a storm doing the hula
We were cruising along, happily eating the chicken wings, the noodles, the shrimp and the pork. Madison was slowly picking at her roast pork when the man with the magical meat skewers came around asking if anyone wanted some steak. All of a sudden that piece of pork on Madison's plate few off, landed on Grandpa's plate and her hand shot up, waving "me! me!" So if anyone is keeping track STEAK > PORK in Madison's world.
A little Polynesian Christmas Cheer:
And a few pictures of our looooong walk back to the TTC. Odd how that walk seems twice as long when you're caring 9 extra pounds of meat.
No matter how much I played with the settings on my camera, I just couldn't capture how awesome this sight was. There was a bit of a fog in the air and it reflected and glowed with all of the lights from the castle, the train station, the ferry and all of the resorts. This is the best that I could come up with.
Our chariot approaches.
Coming Up Next: Illuminations and a long walk home
Wow, awesome score on the character meets there.
Madison is so cute. Congrats on adopting her. She deserves a nice family like you. Its funny that the day you arrived at Disney was when me and my mom were at the Magic Kingdom. We were there from Dec. 3 - Dec. 5. I love the pictures you took of the family. I hope to hear more of your trip report soon 
I like the way you think! They could even put Mickey Ears on them!
