Food, Frights, & The Fortieth: A Trip Report of Epic Proportions. *11/28*

[BerrysGirl]

I forgot to share some pictures we got before we got in the Haunted Mansion line... Photopass Pictures!

I really wanted the Hitchhiking Ghost pictures so we were really fortunate to stumble across the photographer with only one person in line.

I really enjoy Matt's face here.

I'll get another post up soon-ish. Grad school is a beast, amiright?

 

[wdwgirl03]

OMG, those are awesome!!! Why did I not know about those?!

 

[shan23877]

Great PP pics. Love the hitchhiking ghosts! I hope I can get DD on HM one of these days!

 

[poisonapple_PRINCESS]

I love the parade photo's! I think my next trip absolutely has to be for MNSSHP! Love Winnie the Pooh in his costume! And your photopass photo's are AWESOME!

 

[BerrysGirl]

OMG, those are awesome!!! Why did I not know about those?!

I only knew they existed because of the Dis! They aren't advertised or anything, but there was a photopass photographer between the Riverboat and Haunted Mansion. I asked if it was where the Hitchhiking Ghosts were and he said yes! Definitely a lot of fun to be scared of a popcorn cart

Great PP pics. Love the hitchhiking ghosts! I hope I can get DD on HM one of these days!

I use to be afraid of it to! And then you hit a year in your life where you ride it and you're like, I was afraid of this?!?

I love the parade photo's! I think my next trip absolutely has to be for MNSSHP! Love Winnie the Pooh in his costume! And your photopass photo's are AWESOME!

Thanks so much! I hope you get to a Halloween party too! I'm so bummed I missed out on them for all these years. So worth it!

 

[BerrysGirl]

One the top of my TR notes for this day I have written:
"Theme of the Day - People!" You have been warned....

So today began slowly. Matt had requested this day off specifically so we could be at Magic Kingdom on the 40th! The alarm went off at 7:00 am and I was very slow to convince myself that we really do need to get up for rope drop. We had gotten to bed around 1:00 am the night before so it wasn't a lack of sleep that kept me from getting up, I am just not a morning person! But Matt convinced me that it was the 40th and I had yet to see a rope drop so with a little effort we managed to get showered, have a quick breakfast, and head out the door. We were at the bus stop by 8:15 which was about 15 minutes later than I would have liked but still giving us 45 to get to MK before the park opened. Of course we hit a ton of traffic as soon as we hit the Bay Lake area (foreshadowing!!!) but when we headed into the MK bus stop, we still saw the train in it's "holding patter" just out of view of the main gate. We had made it!

I will admit, I did not get any pictures of rope drop. We actually viewed from the bag check line squashed in between hundreds upon hundreds of people. There was an absolute sea of bodies... looking back I should have seen the implications for the rest of the day but I had never been to a rope drop. I thought that's how they always must have been! By the time we made it through bag check the gates were open and people were being let into the park. One problem. There is a special turnstile for CMs to enter and there was only one turnstile open for upwards of 200 CMs waiting to get in. I'm not kidding. The line reached from the far left turnstile all the way to the left bag check! CMs had to start getting in line for their specific turnstile before they even had their bags checked! I went through the regular turnstile and set up camp near the CM entrance to wait for Matt. This process definitely took a while. CMs have to individually swipe in their guests and then each guest is issued a paper ticket. So some of the CMs were letting in 4+ guests causing quite the back up. I heard the working CMs on their radios calling for backup but the line just kept getting bigger and bigger. Absolute chaos!

I wandered for a little bit and enjoyed the entrance while waiting for Matt:

I noticed some people wearing big buttons for the 40th and I thought, "Hey, I want one of those too!" Finally I noticed CMs towards the middle passing them out, so I kinda looped around to make it look like I had just entered and was quickly handed a button:

I don't know the official time that they ran out of these puppies but apparently these are quite the coveted item now. I'm so glad I noticed them being distributed!

I soon realized when Matt finally got through he would not be handed a button either, so I tucked mine in my purse, found another CM, and did the same thing
I felt a little guilty about this, almost like I was cheating the system but it's not like I was hoarding them. I just got one for me and one for Matt. That's fair, right?

At that point Matt was FINALLY in the Park. I didn't keep track but it was probably 20-30 minutes just for him to get through the turnstile!

We headed into the park and everyone was making a beeline for the Hub. At 10:00 am the President of Disney was making a speech along with a little celebratory show. For some reason my eyes were really starting to water and irritate me (I blame it on a combination of sunscreen and mascara) so Matt and I detoured past Casey's Corner to that little restroom between there and the Crystal Palace so I could rinse out my eye.

We saw a couple trying to take a picture of themselves with their iPhone so I offered to take it and they kindly returned the favor.

I apologize for my slightly forced smile. My eyes were still watering like crazy.

After I felt better, we headed into the Hub to see what all the commotion was about.

I'm glad I got this picture then. Later that day, the banner had been taken down.

We stood for a little while just remarking on all the people when this little voice in my head whispered:
"All these people are here, which means no one is riding rides."

I said this aloud to Matt and his remark? "I was thinking the same thing."
Needless to say we were not feeling the pomp and circumstance of the event and we thought the best way to honor Magic Kingdom's birthday was to enjoy Magic Kingdom!

So we headed towards Adventurland and soon found ourselves here:

I will never get sick of this ride.

It was a walk on and there was only one other couple in our boat. I enjoyed it as always and soon we were in the gift shop.
We wandered around for a while and I found myself looking up a lot. I had heard that some of the props above the merchandise were actual props from the movies. We didn't bother asking any CMs while we were in there but we had fun guessing which ones were movie props.
I also feel like Matt traded pins here but for the life of me I have no idea which ones.

We headed further into Frontierland and stopped for some popcorn. Yes it was like 9:30, yes I hadn't really had a true breakfast (Matt had eaten most of it). But I was on vacation!

While we munched our popcorn we stumbled across this guy with a very short line and decided to stop to say hi:

I love seeing characters in special costumes!
Donald's handler gave me a hard time about my breakfast but she agreed that popcorn was an acceptable breakfast item on vacation as well.

At first Donald was very upset that Matt did not have a Donald pin, but he quickly forgave him when he saw his shirt.

We walked past the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon and noticed a massive line. It wrapped out of the building and well into Liberty Square. Later we found out that they were selling special "I Was There" Pins that could only be purchased there and the line was over 2 hours long
They also sold special 40th cupcakes at the Mainstreet Bakery as well that day and that line was all the way out to the Parlor Ice Cream store as well.

Needless to say we passed on both these "specialty" items. We got our free pins... I feel like they say pretty strongly that "we were there."

It was almost 10:00 so we decided to wander back to the Hub to see what the ceremony was like.

When we got there characters and CMs holding banners were parading down Mainstreet talking about Magic Kingdom's past anniversaries. They had special talks by "ambassadors" (never did find out what exactly that meant) and basically they were just going through the history of park.

The crowds in the Hub were ridiculous. We were on the bridge between Liberty Square and Cinderella's Wishing Well and you saw nothing but a sea of people... all the way up Mainstreet. I don't think any of them could have moved if they wanted. Looking at all those people made me really anxious. When the ceremony ended, they would all disperse into mass chaos and I realized I wanted to be nowhere near that when it happened. So what did Matt and I do? We ran!
All the way to Fantasyland! (hey, that kinda rhymed!)

We decided to get Peter Pan out of the way when all those people were otherwise occupied. We had maybe a 10 minutes wait before we were soarin over Neverland.

That's the croc from the exit. I'm always a good girl and take no flash photos on rides... with one major exception about to be disclosed.

After Peter Pan, I noticed Snow White's Scary Adventure was open... I could have sworn it was suppose to shut down earlier this year!

Thrilled to get one more ride on the classic, I dragged Matt on. Once more, it was another walk on.

Here's my one exception to my no-flash rule. I had to have a proper picture of Dopey to say goodbye, as I may never see him again. Bye Dopey!

We rode with a family with the cutest little boys. The younger one (maybe 5) was afraid since it was called a "scary adventure" and the older brother (age 9 at most) was the most supportive nurturing brother I've ever seen! He kept turning around during the ride (he was in the front with his mom while the younger brother was in the back with the father) and telling his brother "it's ok, we're right here. Nothing's gonna get you. Look the dwarfs are dancing! That's not scary. You're doing awesome!" It was sooo cute. Once the ride was over, the older brother ran up to the younger one and told him "you were awesome! You're such a big boy now for riding that ride!" If it hadn't been weird for a stranger to hug someone else's son, I totally would have! I wish we had had some pixie dust to spread to both the older brother and the younger one. I mean seriously, at those ages, how many older brothers are that awesome to their little brothers? I loved it!

After Snow White Matt suggested we ride the Indy Speedway before the crowds came. Normally I would have looked at him like he was a crazy person and vetoed it instantly but today I agreed.

We maybe waited 10 minutes for this as well.

Why did I agree you say? Well, out of sheer curiosity, I reply. If you notice, I let Matt drive so I could be the photographer.

Not entirely sure what I was trying to photograph here.

The Indy Speedway offers an up close and personal view of the Fantasyland expansion!

We didn't see a whole lot but it is a different view into the construction area than I've ever seen before. There are massive circus tents up, the Beast's Castle is essentially complete, and Matt and I saw a metal framework that, for whatever reason, we both hypothesize is the Little Mermaid ride. Overall, I felt like for once this was a worthwhile race on the Indy Speedway.

Since we were in Tomorrowland at this point we decided to get Fastpasses for Space Mountain. I HATE the new Space Mountain but Matt felt like he noticed it was a little lighter (meaning visually you could see better) the last time he rode and my biggest pet peeve of the new version is that it is too dark so I decided to let him drag me on one last time (note every time I go to Disney I always ride Space Mountain "one last time" ).

We had about half an hour to kill before our fastpasses were ready so we decided to trade vinylmations:

Matt got the little girl in the tiger suit and I got the Pigs in Space… so fitting for Tomorrow Land!

After our trade we still had some time to kill before our fastpasses were ready so we decided to hop onboard the Peoplemover for another ride.

After our travels, our FPs were ready so we headed over to Space Mountain. We walked right through the line and were quickly up to the front. A CM asked if there was a party of two (love when that happens) and we got to jump in front of the last few guesets and climb into our rocket!

We had the last two seats and I instantly told Matt he was riding in the back. Why, do you ask? Well I had a theory...

Last December Matt and I rode the new Space Mountain and we had front row seats. While I didn't love it the way I use to it also wasn't horrible.

Flash forward to this March... my BFF and I ride Space Mountain and we have the back seats. I rode all the way in the back and it was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. I vowed never again!

Then Matt mentioned he felt the ride had become a little lighter so I decided to give it one more try...
This was when I developed my theory that, much like on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the back is wilder than the front. However, unlike on BTMR, that is not a good thing.

Our ride starts off as normal and, while I was still very close to the back, I noticed a marketable difference between the second seat and the way back. I will definitely be keeping that in mind in the future!

Sure enough, when we got off Matt proclaimed that to be the worst Space Mountain experience of his entire life and joined me in espousing his hatred towards the back of the rocket.

Moral of the story? While I don't think I will put Space Mountain on my "I'll never ride again list" it's on the "occasional" list and I will ALWAYS request the front!

 

[shan23877]

Enjoyed the update!

I agree that the buttons (and photographic evidence) proves that "you were there".

Good call skipping the speeches and hitting the rides! I agree that SM is an occasional ride. I was in back this trip and my neck hurt so bad when I got off! Not fun.

 

[kokotg]

Nice update!

When my 5 year old saw your Tomorrowland Speedway pics, he said, "WHY did they go on that?! It goes really slow!" He's never been on it; my indoctrination is working well

 

[Disneymoon23]

Sounds like you had fun at the Magic Kingdom on its birthday. I'm jealous you got a 40th button Those things were long gone by the time we got there around 3pm.

 

[wdwgirl03]

YIKES, that is crazy about the backup at the CM entrance! Sadly Emma had to work that morning so she couldn't go but I know a couple of her roommates were there trying to get some of the special merchandise. I love the button they were handing out and wish I could've gotten one. Oh well.

I did the same thing on Snow White! I had to take a couple pictures since it will definitely be closed by the time of my next visit.

 

[Nermel9]

Great update! Wow, MK sounds like it was crazy that morning! I love the pin that they gave you! I felt guilty the whole day about not going to MK in the morning, but we went later that night for the fireworks, which was fun!

Ugh, isn't the back of SM the worst? It seems like every time I went on it on this trip, I was in the back! Next time, I'm going to request the front!

 

[Merida]

Somehow I missed subscribing to the thread so was reading updates from the main page and missed that I posted here! I have been following along!

I love the Vinylmations you've been getting. I tried explaining Vinylmation trading to my boyfriend for my upcoming December trip, but I didn't do a very good job. I'll have to convince him on the spot Do you know who the tiger girl is/where she's from? I was thinking Small World at first, but that doesn't seem quite right.

That Dopey picture is adorable! I think Snow White is still going to be open in December and I definitely will keep my eye open for some neat pictures like that.

 

[ZehnJahren]

I just found your TR AND read through ALL of the updates (since you were at the World around the same time I was).

What a great TR!

How great that you got to go spend time with your DBF while he's a CM down there. I did a long-distance relationship for over a year before DBF and I moved in together, and it was tough but definitely showed us that we were serious about one another.

And that story about the older brother reassuring the younger on Snow White was so sweet!

Reading about your experiences at the 40th party at MK makes me glad I WASN'T there - I would not have liked those crowds at all.

What a great trip you had! I love it when so many things go right! I'm enjoying your pictures and your writing very much; I love well-written and well-loved TRs.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[TanzUnited99]

Lol, I love the theme of the day - I can only imagine how packed MK would have been for it's 40th Anniversary!

Yay on making rope drop! I am with you on not being a morning person.

I love all the rides you got through on this day and was also pleased to be able to experience Snow White's Scary Adventures.

I have made a mental note never to ride in the back seat of Space Mountain!

 

[BerrysGirl]

Enjoyed the update!

I agree that the buttons (and photographic evidence) proves that "you were there".

Good call skipping the speeches and hitting the rides! I agree that SM is an occasional ride. I was in back this trip and my neck hurt so bad when I got off! Not fun.

I guess it all depends on why you wanted to be at MK on the 40th... the "specials," the atmosphere, the nostalgia. Personally I wasn't interested in the "specials"... except the fireworks of course!

Nice update!

When my 5 year old saw your Tomorrowland Speedway pics, he said, "WHY did they go on that?! It goes really slow!" He's never been on it; my indoctrination is working well

You truly have taught him well I sincerely think the last time I had been on the Speedway I had just gotten tall enough to drive for myself. And then we just stopped riding! The wait is not worth it and I can't get over that smell.

Sounds like you had fun at the Magic Kingdom on its birthday. I'm jealous you got a 40th button Those things were long gone by the time we got there around 3pm.

I noticed the longer we stayed at the park the fewer of the buttons we saw. And the more we noticed people gazing longingly at ours Matt predicted we'd be offered cash for ours but it never happened. Which is good, because I wouldn't have given it up!

YIKES, that is crazy about the backup at the CM entrance! Sadly Emma had to work that morning so she couldn't go but I know a couple of her roommates were there trying to get some of the special merchandise. I love the button they were handing out and wish I could've gotten one. Oh well.

I did the same thing on Snow White! I had to take a couple pictures since it will definitely be closed by the time of my next visit.

Have you asked Emma how the crowds were where she works? I'm curious to hear how other parts of the World were on the 40th... was it all crazy or was everyone at MK!

Do you know when Snow White officially closes? I'm going back in December and at this point I won't be surprised if it's still open!

 

[BerrysGirl]

Great update! Wow, MK sounds like it was crazy that morning! I love the pin that they gave you! I felt guilty the whole day about not going to MK in the morning, but we went later that night for the fireworks, which was fun!

Ugh, isn't the back of SM the worst? It seems like every time I went on it on this trip, I was in the back! Next time, I'm going to request the front!

Where were you for the fireworks? We actually watched them in Frontier Land and I think it was one of the best decisions we made all day... I've heard Main Street was crazy!

Everyone agreeing with my back of Space Mountain theory is making me feel so good. I'm not crazy and I'm not the only one who hates it... and I'm also so glad I won't be the only one requesting the back!

Somehow I missed subscribing to the thread so was reading updates from the main page and missed that I posted here! I have been following along!

I love the Vinylmations you've been getting. I tried explaining Vinylmation trading to my boyfriend for my upcoming December trip, but I didn't do a very good job. I'll have to convince him on the spot Do you know who the tiger girl is/where she's from? I was thinking Small World at first, but that doesn't seem quite right.

That Dopey picture is adorable! I think Snow White is still going to be open in December and I definitely will keep my eye open for some neat pictures like that.

Thanks so much for following along, even in silence :
DBF was exactly the same way. He did not understand Vinylmations and thought I was crazy for wanting to trade them. But I think after we did it he really enjoyed it. I think I'll be bringing them back in December. I really loved it!

I don't think the tiger girl is "anyone." She's from a line called the Cuties and there were a few of them like that that we saw. I think they were just cute little kids dressed up like animals. Because, you know, that's cute or something...

Ah so apparently I do get to ride Snow White again if it's still open in December it's like the never-dying ride! That Dopey is at the very last scene, above the door where the car exits in case you want to look for that one :

I just found your TR AND read through ALL of the updates (since you were at the World around the same time I was).

What a great TR!

How great that you got to go spend time with your DBF while he's a CM down there. I did a long-distance relationship for over a year before DBF and I moved in together, and it was tough but definitely showed us that we were serious about one another.

And that story about the older brother reassuring the younger on Snow White was so sweet!

Reading about your experiences at the 40th party at MK makes me glad I WASN'T there - I would not have liked those crowds at all.

What a great trip you had! I love it when so many things go right! I'm enjoying your pictures and your writing very much; I love well-written and well-loved TRs.

Looking forward to reading more.

and thank you so much for all the kinds words! I feel the same way about my long distance relationship... I'm graduating in June and knowing that after that I'll be moving down to Orlando just seems to solidify how committed we are to one another!

Being at the Magic Kingdom on its 40th proves I want nothing to do with the parks on Christmas Day. This will be the first year I'm there on the actual day and I've always heard how crazy it is. I think I'll enjoy the resorts and hide from the parks from now on on days like that!

Lol, I love the theme of the day - I can only imagine how packed MK would have been for it's 40th Anniversary!

Yay on making rope drop! I am with you on not being a morning person.

I love all the rides you got through on this day and was also pleased to be able to experience Snow White's Scary Adventures.

I have made a mental note never to ride in the back seat of Space Mountain!

I think our mutual love of coffee proves our equal hatred of mornings

I will miss Snow White when it's gone but I'm also really excited for the new Seven Dwarfs ride so I think I can handle the trade-off.

I take it you were not in the back when you rode Space Mountain? You are so lucky!

 

[BerrysGirl]

Throughout the day we had noticed special commemorative park maps some people were carrying and we decided to ask in the Space Mountain dump shop where we could pick one up for ourselves. We were told they were only being distributed at the park's entrance so we decided to head that way before we got lunch to grab two before they disappeared.

Heading up Mainstreet USA was a struggle! So much so that Matt left me near the Firehouse to battle the rest of the crowds to secure the maps. Rope Drop at this point was a distant memory and we had been having a great morning! This was our first dose of the infamous crowds of that day. To say the least, it was a little overwhelming! Once we had our maps (which Matt mentioned were rapidly running out) we decided to trade our vinylmations in the Emporium.

Taken in the Contemporary.
The clear one is mine and the black one is Matt's.

At this point it was near high noon and we decided lunch was in order. I had been dreaming of Pecos Bill’s taco salad ever since coming to the Dis and reading about the fixins' bar.
Worst. Mistake. Ever.

Warning: Really long rant about to commence.

We got through the ordering line with no hassle and soon secured two taco salads and two bottles of water. I had talked up this salad to Matt and we were so excited to give it a try.

We headed to the fixins' bar with high spirits and soon had decorated our salads with onions, mushrooms, and salsa. The plastic cheese was gone in the area we were in (cue ominous music) but no worries, we'd just try one of the other stations. That's when we hit the lettuce, tomato, and cheese section... and realized there was no lettuce. It kinda sucked but it was understandable given the amount of people using said topping. So I headed over to the other station. Still no lettuce. That's when I overheard guests talking to the CM attendant and with a strange smile on her face she simply replies "Oh. We're out." and continues just standing there starring at us. Umm... weird.

So Matt and I idly wait for a while. We put everything else we could on our salads and continued just to stand there waiting for our lettuce. However, along with us, the line of lettuce-needers continues to grow. And grow. And grow. They were still taking orders for salads, still handing out the shells, and just leaving us there to let the crowd continue to back up. At this point we had heard that there was another salad bar back in the dinning room so I left Matt to see if there were any toppings. First myself and some other people who went to investigate had to argue with the CM manning the dinning room to let us past. He didn't want to let us through to check this toppings bar because we didn't have our food. Understandable, but you were the ones who let the lettuce run out. Finally I get there and see the very last bits of lettuce being used. Drat. So I head back to Matt. At this point it's been a good 15-20 minutes that the toppings bar has been empty. All this time, that one CM attendant has just stood there and starred at us with a strange smile on her face, or chatted and laughed with other CMs. Needless to say I was feeling a little mocked at this point. We heard that the hold up had to do with the lettuce completely running out in the back so they were obviously waiting for someone to bring it from someplace else in the park.

At this point our meat is cold, and our patience from being jostled by all the other waiting guests is thin. Matt suggests we just go find a manager to get our money back and head out. As a CM at another Quick Service Food & Beverage location at Disney World he knows that this is a sensible solution to the problem at hand. Managers refund guests’ money all the time for similar reasons at Caribbean Beach all the time.

First we talk to a regular CM. This is the same CM that yelled at me for scoping out the toppings bar in the dinning room. Matt knows these CMs have ways to contact managers and he talks to him to try and get him to do so. No luck. The CM basically said "well you're screwed, buddy." Now, I will say Matt was a little too nice to this particular CM, just kinda chatting with him when I felt he should have been more assertive (not mean, just hey this is the deal, can you get a manager for us?) but this CM certainly did not go out of his way to help us. We headed back into the main area and finally spotted a manager (another anomaly according to Matt as most QSF&B locations have a few managers working at all times and one ALWAYS walking around the front area.

When we walked up to speak to her, some other guests who had been waiting as long as us (at least 30 minutes at this point). Were speaking to her requesting a refund as well. Word for word the manger looked at this man and YELLED: "SIR. The lettuce is on its way! You've waited this long, you might as well wait a little longer."

So much for Disney magic, ya know?

Seeing that we too weren't getting a refund we turned around to see the lettuce coming through the door. They quickly got the salad bar stocked, we got our lettuce, and headed into the dinning room.

Then, of course, we couldn't find a seat. We ended up outside on two extra stools, using a third stool as our table.

Our make-shift seating arrangement

All in all we waited 45 minutes for some stinkin lettuce. The nacho cheese sauce was empty when we arrived and it never got filled. That was disappointing but not the key component to a salad. I can eat a salad without cheese. I cannot eat a salad without lettuce. Right?

Overall my experience at Pecos Bill was awful and I will not be returning. I would have forgiven them for running out of lettuce because I was the one who chose to show up at peak lunch hour on the 40th anniversary. I know that was my own fault. However, it was the attitude of the CMs there that made me never want to return. Having the attendant smile at us all with this strange look of superiority on her face, the dinning room attendant who decided yelling was more productive than helping, and the manager. oh the manager basically telling us to suck it up rather than offering an apology (never once did we hear a single apology) turned me off to the entire restaurant. Having my very own CM who works at such a similar location proclaim the behavior also to be unacceptable really fortified my determination to not return. It was just so upsetting. If we had been at any other time of the day we probably would have had a very positive experience but knowing the way those CMs handle "crisis" situations does not make me want to return. I'll go back to Columbia Harbor House from now, thank you very much.

Later on Matt told his managers about the experience and they said it's very common to hear guest complaints about being treated with disrespect from Pecos Bill staff.

I will reserve judgment on our meal since between the lettuce crises and not being able to find a seat, we waited nearly an hour before we actually ate it. The salad portion was fine, even if the meat had gone cold. But the shell it came in had become cold and the grease it was fried in had hardened, making it impossible to rip apart and inedible. All-in-all we paid $20 for cold meat, cold and soggy veggies, and an inedible shell. Soooo disappointing.

This was definitely the lowest part of our trip. Matt and I decided that the 40th was not worth this chaos and we decided to head out of the park for a while. At this point I felt really bad about dragging Matt to MK on the 40th and I really regretted ever showing up. After we ate what we could of our salads, we pitched our trash and headed away from Pecos Bill. Never to return again...

Sorry for the long rant and I know Pecos Bill has some serious fans but I was so disappointed in our experience I had to vent. Hopefully no one hates me too much! I'm sure we would have had a great experience too if our timing had been better.

Feeling slightly discouraged we headed toward the park's exit.

Fighting the crowds through Adventure Land I saw an opportunity for a brief respite from the insanity and suggested we stop into the Tiki Room. I had not been in the Tiki Room in years… I actually successfully avoided Iago for all those years and now that the Room was back to its original splendor I wanted to experience it again. The music use to be my favorite as a child.

The show is exactly how I remember it. Admittedly, the Tiki Room has been bumped to the "occasional" list... which is better than the "never" list it was in with Iago taking the helm. It was what I remembered... a neat show that's relaxing with catchy music... I'm also glad it wasn't any longer, if you know what I mean!

After the Tiki Room we continued fighting the crowds to the exit. Once we got to the square though, we decided to take one more detour.

Ok two more stops. We stopped into the Confectionary and I saw these adorable apples. How festive!

Here's the detour! To honor Walt Disney, we decided to take a ride on his railroad.

Take a look at those crowds!

After our uneventful, but relaxing ride, we headed to the exit and towards the monorail. The line for the resort monorail was quite short but the line for the express monorail was phenomenal. And, when the monorail arrived, it was a full train-load of people who got off, heading to the entrance. And this was at 2 p.m. in the afternoon! There were still that many people trying to get into the park.

We got off at the Contemporary and decided to trade Vinylmations.

Mine's on the left. Definitely the weirdest one I got. I think it was a giant Beard Face?

Matt also traded pins a few times and we wandered around the gift shops looking at the merchandise. It was funny to be in such a mellow resort, considering the hustle and bustle we had just come from. Even funnier because most of the merchandise people were waiting in hour-long lines to buy in the park were also for sale in this empty gift shop!

We didn't spend a lot of time at the Contemporary, and soon were boarding another monorail to head to the Polynesian.

I don't love the Polynesian the way some people do. Don't get me wrong, it's a gorgeous resort, but maybe because I never had the opportunity to stay there it just doesn't "do it" for me. That Disney feeling everyone has at the Poly? I get that at the Contemporary.

But we did head to the gift shops to trade vinylmations again. When we were looking a the vinylmations display, I noticed the Naveen one and remarked to Matt, "he's so cute. I hope I get him."

Look who I got!

Matt got a Country Bear and I got Naveen! I like to believe this was Walt Disney making up for our less than stelar Pecos Bill experience (thanks Walt! ).

After trading, we headed downstairs to Captain Cooks. Since lunch was less than spectacular, we were both still hungry so we decided to celebrate the 40th with a staple.

Mickey Bars!

Matt had the traditional and I had the ice cream sandwich. We also shared the tea. It was nice to just sit quietly and enjoy each others company, imagining what insanity was currently transpiring at the Magic Kingdom. We also noticed a mother with her two children eating nearby, also sporting a lime green Mickey head on her stroller! We didn't say hi to her either but it was our second dis spotting of the trip! Makes me wonder how often I walked by people just like her long before I ever knew what the dis was...

After our relaxing snack, we decided to brave the Magic Kingdom again.

Matt still had a bit of a wait to get through his turnstile but I don't remember feeling quite so jostled once we got inside. We decided to head back to Frontierland and see if there were any Fastpasses available for Splash or Big Thunder Mountain.

On the way though, we noticed a friend I HAD to stop and say hi to.

I think Pirate Goofy is adorable and I've always wanted a picture with him. I've never justified waiting in his line, but I knew today I needed a visit.
This marked the turning point back to a fantastic day! Goofy was awesome and he loved giving Matt a hard time. He was very sad that there was no Goofy pin on his lanyard and Matt promised him he'd find one soon. Once we finished our meet, Matt turned to me, very seriously and said he NEEDED to find a Goofy pin. Awwww.

After our fantastic meet we grabbed some fastpasses for Splash, but Big Thunder was shut down. Oh well, I had something else in mind...

Country Bears!

I haven't seen the Country Bear Jamboree in years and keeping with the theme of doing activities that were around at the Park's opening, I thought it'd be perfect. The show was surprisingly very cute and quite funny. We also had a very dedicated crowd who clapped during the songs and really got into the show. It was a fun atmosphere! The CM requested that we hold on on taking photographs until the end of the show when all the bears were on stage, so since I got permission, I went for it for once!

Big Al!

We were cracking up though when we realized where the exit for Country Bears was:

We can't escape Pecos Bill!

After our show we went back into the Froniterland pin station to trade Vinylmations again.

Mine is Space Mountain from Paris and Matt's is Phil from Hercules.

We headed to Liberty Square because I was trying to drag Matt into the Hall of Presidents. For a Political Science major, he was very reluctant to attend this show. Apparently he falls asleep during it. A lot. But he hasn't even see Obama yet so I really try to persuade him. Unfortunately a show had just started and we didn't really have the time to wait for the next show so Matt won and we did not see the Hall of Presidents... on this trip that is!

We peeked into the Christmas shop but didn't really see anything amazing. Everything seemed to be from last Christmas... guess they're getting rid of the old stock for the new stuff!

At that point our Fastpasses for Splash Mountain were ready and we decided to hop on. Guess Matt escaped the Hall or Presidents for now but don't worry! I have two trips in December and therefore two more opportunities to drag him in there... and it will happen!

There was an annoying bottle neck going on at the FP entrance but once we got through that it was smooth sailing through the line and to the front! We got the second row but the mother who got the front row with her young daughter was less than thrilled with the idea. Matt and I of course offered to switch with them. The daughter was a little bummed... she wanted to get wet! I could tell throughout the ride that the mom was not a Splash fan. She obviously was just riding for her daughter. Aww what a nice Mom! Of course when the daughter expressed her displeasure of not being in the front because she wanted to get soaked Matt comforted her with "don't worry, the past few times I've been in the front I haven't gotten wet so you're not missing much." Ok Matt, you normally ride in December when it's cold and they don't want to get you wet... this is October. Seriously, famous last words. I really didn't mind getting wet but I wanted to give Matt a hard time about his statement so I teased him throughout and told me he owed me something shiny if I got wet. Of course we both got splashed pretty severely, but Matt got more wet than I did so I decided to let it slide

Here's our redneck photo. You can see the daughter behind me having the time of her life while her Mom hides:

Great ride

We still had plenty of time before our ADR so I suggested we do something that I had only ever done once... head over to Tom Sawyer Island!

It was starting to get late and the island closes at dusk so we only had about 30 minutes but we decided to just to head over for a little bit.

The only thing I remembered from the Island were the caves... which ironically was the only thing Matt did not remember! So after exploring them quickly we headed to the back of the island.

So quiet and peaceful.

We explored the Fort for a while and watched Big Thunder go by.

This is currently my desktop background. So much love for this ride.

Matt found the guns that he and his brother use to play with when they were little so of course he had to reminisce but at this point the island was closing so we moseyed back to the dock and caught a raft.

 

[shan23877]

Great update, I'm really glad that your day turned around. What an incredibly disappointing experience at Pecos Bills! We ate there for the first time on our last trip and loved it. (to be fair though, DD's favorite food is cheese quesadillas, and that's pretty much the only place in MK to get one).

I've never done Tom Sawyer Island, maybe we'll check it out next trip. Beautiful photos.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Wow, that was a bad experience with the fixings bar! I can't believe it took so long!

Love all the vinylmations you guys got, especially that black one with all the icons and your Naveen (I have that one too. I love Princess and the Frog!).

That's funny the only thing you remember from Tom Sawyer Island is the caves. They're kind of fun but also kind of creepy since they're so dark and narrow!

And to answer your question, I never asked Emma what work was like for her on the 40th. I would assume MK was definitely the most crowded. But I am curious to see what she'll have to say once the holidays roll around and the crowds start picking up.

 

[poisonapple_PRINCESS]

wow, I will be sure not to try Pecos Bill. It isnt the first time I've read something awful about them here on the Dis. But other than that it looks like you had a great time!