From Europe to Disney World - A Sep15 Character Trip - Update 7/12

[Karin1984]

And all of a sudden 4 months have passed! 2015 became 2016, I bought a house, things are complicated at work, but with another DLP trip coming up in 2 weeks, I’d better continue with WDW.

We are on our way back to Agrabah to meet the next royals. Well, a royal and a street rat. Does Aladdin ever meet in his prince outfit in WDW? I have only seen him once like that in DLP, but that was during a training session.

We arrive around 12:40 and there are about 5 families ahead of us. As soon as we are let in, Photopass lady Linda arrives. She gives us the tip that in Epcot there is one more set of M&G that is not on the Times Guide. An hour after the last set, there is apparently one more. If the last published one is at 6, the very last one is at 7. We didn’t check it, but it was nice to know information.

I like the meeting location, it’s nice to have a themed area and backdrop. Downside is, there are lots of windows, so guests who don’t want to queue, keep peeping through the windows and make pictures through the glass. It’s not a big thing, but it is distracting.

Nikki quickly tries to update her Jasmine drawing

When it was our turn, finally my shirt paid off, Jasmine told us that she had a similar shirt, but then with ‘Run like Prince Achmed proposed to you’, including the silhouette of him on his horse. Perfect! 10 points for Jasmine! Aladdin is looking for himself in Nikki’s book, but no luck… yet.

Our next stop is Germany to meet the fairest of them all, but before it was time we did a little photoshoot around Morocco, the Photopass guy was bored and was in for a little bit of fun.

We looked fierce

We (pretended to) look cool

And we looked cute on the fountain

On to Germany, it’s about 1:15 by now. Nikki wanders off to get some picks from Germany, while I take our place as first in line, and then we switch.

Snow appeared and she was nice, told us about how to make apple pie. Something with lots of green apples and just a little bit of sugar… I would use a lot of sugar, but she knows her apples I guess!

Imitating Nikki’s shirt

Next stop is China, with first some photopass pictures. Appropriate magic shots for China.

Also here, first in line to meet Mulan who was one of the prettiest princesses we met. And she was witty. She asked if Nikki kept a cricket in her go-pro box.

And we happened to have fans with us, so for a Chinese touch, we used them in the picture

With Mulan we concluded our character hunt for today. So all there was left was to leisurely walk around World Showcase. Walking around Mexico, taking a boat ride, and then walking back to China to watch some Chinese acrobats.

And we took our time to browse through the shops. China is very beautiful and they have fun merchandise.

Next: A walk in Italy and Japan

 

[Karin1984]

After this we just walked from Italy…

We wondered who ever came up with this combination . Turkey and popcorn?

Back to the USA where we went to see Voices of Liberty. I loved the performance. The finale with ‘You’ll never walk along’ was amazing and I kicked myself for turning off the camera before the final note. Not entirely, because I stopped filming I was able to enjoy it more at the moment, but it is a shame I cannot watch back this performance.

We stayed to watch one of my favourite shows in WDW: The American Adventure. I love the statues with all the spirits.

After this we passed Japan where the drum show just had started.

And then browsed through the stores.

Then it was time for our dinner. The buffet in Germany, Biergarten. I didn’t take any pictures of the food as it was quite dark. I really like it, we had a blast with the family that was seated with us. Southern family, retired military man with wife and 6 kids, I spoke to mother and the father (who was full of bad dad jokes) who you could see they really enjoyed each other’s company, and to the oldest son, who wanted to go to Germany after college. And Nikki entertained their lovely youngest daughters who weren’t afraid of anything, they kept talking about their favourite scary rides. All in all a very fun dinner.

As we were roaming around the world we ‘coincidentally’ walked into Aurora. Again.

Just posting this one for Nikki’s strange expression. I think the conversation was about singing. Snow is joining in. I guess they are having a sing off. Lighting was really weird at night in this little pavilion. Not very flattering.

We had a fastpass for Spaceship Earth that was about to expire, but luckily with my phone I easily changed it during dinner. (Me like FP + ;-) )

We were both very tired by now and we decided to just walk around and find a spot for Illuminations. To me, Illuminations is the ultimate fireworks show Disney World has (now). I don’t know why everyone loves Wishes or Hallowishes. To me, those shows never match with the music. As if they designed the fireworks arrangement first and then tried to fit it with Disney music . With Illuminations the music seems to be composed first. Or the pyro-people at Epcot are just better than at MK. In Epcot it is always spot on.

We were standing on the right side of the lake for a quick escape and I believe we were on one of the first buses back to Pop.

**And I am off to DLP for the Spring Festival, mainly the same as last year, but they have a new show The Enchanted Forest with Rapunzel, Merida, Tarzan and others, let's see what that is about!**

 

[Karin1984]

And all of a sudden it’s 3 months later! I moved (lots of stress), love my new place, work is still chaos and again another DLP trip coming up next week. Plus planning an Asia trip in 2017 (415 days to go!), visiting Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo to complete my quest to go to all the Disney Parks in the world.

Before we continue with the WDW trip report of September 2015, a quick recap of my trip to Paris in March 2016. The new Spring show was surprisingly good, the other entertainment is a repeat of 2015, with Goofy’s Garden party and a little Mary Poppins Show. We also visited during St. Patrick’s day so we had Mickey & Minnie in special outfits and Chip & Dale performing with the Irish dancers. Also special fireworks before Disney Dreams started. We had some great interactions with characters and CMs (one who I send a compliment via Guest Relations) and great weather. All you could wish for in a Disney trip.

For next week we will mainly go to The Studios in Paris, 1. The new show has opened Mickey and the Magician, which looks good, although they speak more French than in other shows. 2. As there are many many many many refurbishments going on in the park, they make up for it by having lots of characters out in the studios, the last two weeks my Facebook feed showed pictures of Belle and Gaston, Snow and her Prince, Aurora and the Prince, Aladdin and Jasmine, today Rapunzel and Flynn. So it’s going to be an interesting visit!

For March 2016, below my pictures, a compilation of 3 days, all the show pictures are combined. If anyone wants more, let me know, but I’ll stick to 30 pictures for now. Also because I'm not really happy with most of the pictures I took, most of them are out of focus, feet or heads cut off, weird angles... These are the best I've got!

Mickey & Minnie in St. Patrick’s Day outfits.

Gotta love a duck

We had some very long interaction with some chipmunks. That long that they took us to the back stage door, for them to go on a break.

Goofy’s Garden Party is a lot of fun, many dancers and characters involved, great costumes, a good song. However it’s hard to get good pictures, as Goofy, dancers and characters come from 2 different directions (partially from the castle and partially from Main Street), lot of things are blocking your view as they go round the hub.

Most fun picture: Zombi Goofy

Currently Big Thunder Mountain and the River Boat are under major construction therefore the waiting area for the River Boat is converted into Tiana & Naveen’s meet&greet. The queue moved incredibly slow of so many special people letting ahead of us. Queued for over an hour (Including a break), had I known, I wouldn’t have one in line. Luckily the interaction was good and fun so I’ll consider it worth it.

And this is what major construction looks like. For those who aren’t familiar with Disneyland Paris, Big Thunder Mountain is on an island and in March the entire moat was drained. It looks so depressing, but also so interesting.

For the Spring Entertainment we also have the Spring train with all kinds of rabbits and animals, Rabbit from Pooh, the White Rabbit, Thumper & Mrs. Thumper, The Cheshire Cat, Daisy, Clarabelle, Minnie, Clarice

The Enchanted Forest was a little show they did during the Spring season, not very re-newing, but just nice. A Mother Nature-Goddes-type woman, together with 4 singers and all kinds of animals go through several songs of Disney that are set in the forest, Colors of the Wind, Bear Necessities & I Wanna Be Like You, Son of Man, I see the Light, Touch the Sky. Except Colors of the Wind and I see the Light all the songs were sung by the the Goddess or the singers.

This is Lizard Man, who had the most amazing voice, during Jungle Book and Tarzan he was the lead singer.

I love Tangled, I took a thousand pictures of this segment, but for now I’ll give you a selection ;-) It was just beautifully staged, Rapunzel came on first and Flynn was just looking at her.

Awkward moment

Final pose

My favorite part in Disney Dreams is still Hunchback of Notre Dame, they make so good use of the castle, the fireworks fits perfectly and to hear this in French… It just works

And 4 leaf clovers for St. Patricks Day

 

[Karin1984]

Back to our original trip report! Day 3: Sliding in the snow and Hurray for Hollywood!

Today we have a ‘lazy’ day and will spend time in Blizzard Beach. I am not sure which waterpark I love more. I really like the shark pool at Typhoon Lagoon, but the theming at Blizzard Beach is better, plus Summit Plummit.

Not a lot of pictures as my camera doesn’t handle water very well, so double love to the Photopass people! We floated around, did all the slides.

And we went on Summit Plummit! For those of you who want to take a gopro camera, you will have to hold it in your hand, it’s not allowed to strap it to your body. I love and I hate Summit Plummit, the climb up the stairs is awful. You have too much time to think that you are climbing twelve stores high and then you are going to ‘jump’. It’s insane. But when you’ve done it…

And somehow I managed to look into the camera when I opened my eyes after the 6 seconds were over. Ever so charming.

Lunch at Lottawatta lunch. I had fries and a burger, Nikki went healthy and had the salad. Not very special but all tastes good after swimming.

We took a few more photopass pictures, again, Olaf was around (love Summit Plummit in the back), before going back to the resort.

After lunch we returned to Pop Century to get changed before going to Hollywood Studios for the evening. We arrived in the Studios just before 4pm and the window for our first Fastpass for Tower of Terror just opened. I’m not sure which Tower I like better, I think Paris. In Florida you first go through the hallways and you are more obviously parked in the elevator and you can prepare better for the fall. In Paris it’s more sudden.

After a quick round on Rock ‘n Roller coaster. We went in the shops and Nikki found the gift she had always been looking for. She bought the shield and the sword.

When we walked back we posed for pictures. Pretending we were falling on the tower.

Next was Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I have a soft spot for this show, it’s a perfect combination of live action, puppetry and just my favorite songs.

Also love the merchandise

Next! Toy Story Midway Mania. Even with a Fastpass we had to wait quite a while. Although, having the split at the end of the line into even and uneven groups is really smart.

Time for Beauty and the Beast.

Pretentious Belle

Gaston has discovered the centrefold.

Shocked Belle

Happy Belle

Stoned prince

But all things end with true love’s kiss

 

[Karin1984]

There are few rides I do not get. Probably because it’s not part of my childhood or culture. Country Bears is one, but the Great Movie Ride is another one. I really don’t see the appeal, in 2012 and 2015 I had problems with hearing what the tour guide was saying. Their articulation was awful, both times. And if it wasn’t Nikki’s first visit, I would have skipped it.

I don’t know what it is, but in 2012 I also had weather issues at the Studios. Whenever I visit it’s either incredibly hot, or it’s raining all the time. Today it was rain again.

When we exited the Great Movie Ride, the skies had opened. We ran from the exit of Great Movie Ride to find some shelter, but it was not really helping. So we ran to One Man’s Dream and strolled very casually through the exhibit. By the way they didn’t hand out ‘honorary citizens’badges anymore, they ran out, the CM at the door told us.

A photopass guy was also looking for shelter. Therefore we could make a very serious portrait with Walt himself

After browsing Disney’s history and watching the movie, it was time for dinner, we went for Italian at Mama Melrose. We had to wait a bit and I left Nikki at the bar for a moment to look for an atm to get some cash. Dinner was okay, a lot of food, nice server.

I can’t check it now, but I believe I had the Penne a la Vodka with chicken (and lots and lots of cheese) and Nikki the Chicken Parmigiani.

As we had one more FP to burn, which we didn’t really need was for the Muppets. I find the preshow, the waiting area and the shop more fun than the actual film.

It started to rain again. Lots and lots of rain. We put on some ponchos and browsed the stores. It did give us one of my favorite pictures of the trip:

And we were visited by Elsa

It did clear when Fantasmic was going to start, still a little drizzle once in a while. But good enough to keep the show going. We got some good seats in the middle section:

John Smith’s butt (not what I was trying to take a picture of, but we don't have enough pictures of heroes butts, so I decided to leave it in)

Sparkly Eric

When the show was over we slowly. Very very slowly made our way over to the buses. The congestion was terrible as always. I still think there must be a route made to get people from Fantasmic to the buses quicker. Just relocate whatever is behind the B&B theatre and make a wide pathway out of the park.

Back in Pop Century, Mousekeeping had repositioned Phillip again. While I uploaded the pictures, Nikki had fun playing with her new shield and sword, of which I have footage which will come in handy in the future. (Will try to post the video at some point )

 

[Karin1984]

Yet another day in the Magical Kingdom. Today would be dedicated to hunting characters in the Magic Kingdom. It was going to be hot, but we went in with a plan! And with Nikki’s new shield and sword.

FP: Cinderella & Rapunzel (11:10), Elsa & Anna (3:00), Enchanted Tales (4:00)

We arrived very early, therefore time for Photopass pictures. Unfortunately our feet weren’t allowed to be in the picture ;-) That would happen more often today. This was not the best day for Photopass. Although for the first picture I understand that it’s more important to get the tip of the flagpole on the picture.

I love the Welcome show, we really need this in Paris. Lady Tremaine was on her own, so when Stitch asked her attention, she gave him the cold shoulder.

He had more luck with Tiana

Then Dale became involved

Mary Poppins was trying to see how high a sycamore grows, I think. While the White Rabbit is dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Happy characters

Singing and dancing makes a girl tired

Smile & wave

And in we went! We ran towards Merida, our first character of the day. We were there about a quarter to 9 I guess. We had to wait a little before the M&G opened. Like the tapestries.

We were one of the firsts in line, so when it was 9 o’clock and the park opened, it was only a short wait. Unfortunately, there was humidity of about 125% today… Meaning our Photopass pictures were foggy. We didn’t think to solve this till our last day.

Photopass

My own camera

Merida was hilarious, she was completely in character. Nikki turned the conversation to hair products, both having curly hair. When Nikki mentioned shampoo, Merida said: “Oh that stuff is just ********, just use water and shake your head.” Hearing a Disney princess say the word ********, was just gold.

Not sure if I mentioned this, Nikki got most characters to record a happy-birthday-message for her mom. When you take pictures during that, you get charming results. Like this.

Love the curls

We were out by 9:20. We were right on schedule, we could make a stop at the back of the castle for more pictures. Feet still not allowed in the picture.

Next stop! The manliest man alive, and my personal favorite. But we still had a little while, so as we ran through Fantasyland, we saw Lady Tremaine, still without her daughters taking a trip on the Caroussel. She was quite offended when no child wanted to sit next to her. Seeing her trying to climb the highest horse in this dress was a spectacle on its own.

As we had more time, we explored Gaston’s tavern. I like the decorations and little details, like the darts games and Gastson’s chair, but I do not like Gaston’s painting. I wish they had used the same as in the movie. This one looks too cartoonish.

Also love all the merchandise B&B got. Including Gaston.

We were first in line and waited for about 10 minutes before the first set would begin. To be honest, he was tall, he was handsome, he was conceited enough. The fake muscles still freak me out a bit. But to be honest, I have had better character interaction with Gaston in Paris. Nothing can beat Gaston speaking with a French accent and no matter how hard the rest of the world tries, no culture does arrogance better than The French.

This Gaston was a bit bland, he did react well to my shirt. It was okay, but unfortunately my shirt was no match for Nikki’s drawings. The picture came out good, though. (except my pocket is inside outside out I should Photoshop that)

And now looking back at this picture I think I know why the fake muscles freak me out. It makes the head look out of proportion. The fake broader shoulders make this man’s head look small.

Checking his reflection in Nikki’s sunglasses.

Done by 10:05.

Back to the castle, as Fairy God Mother had already started her set. We had a little wait. Nikki had her sword and shield with her, that was extremely interesting to most characters. And as Nikki was today the Forgotten Princess and being from France, she was now going to be knighted. (unfortunately, no picture of the knightment)

Done by 10:20

Then a minute later Lady Tremaine arrived and we went back in line. When it was almost our turn, she stopped having her picture taken for a moment. She was looking and enjoying a boy in the distance having a ‘meltdown’ (it was just whining ‘I want an icecream!’), she just stood there and grinning “this is wonderful”. It was so in character and fun to see. (felt sorry for the parents, good thing they didn’t see Lady Tremaine looking) When it was our turn she immediately took away the shield.

 

[Karin1984]

Then it was my turn to meet the lady and we just had a pleasant conversation. About her daughters still being asleep, and how hard her life was now that Cinderella was gown. Anastasia still couldn’t make porridge.

“It’s so hard these days to find a good help!”

Asking if I couldn’t come to her house and help

“How is your porridge?”

Luckily I am not a very good chef, I was let go and so we were done by 10:45. We had some time left before our first FP was valid, we quickly did Philharmagic and then it was time: Cinderella and Rapunzel.
Rapunzel was amazing, hyperactive almost, but so much fun. She immediately took the shield and told Nikki to pretend to be Maximus. It's good when characters out-crazy Nikki

We were discussing hair colors, she also wanted to be a redhead, or have green hair, or blue!

Cinderella was just very sweet. I told her about the conversation I had with her stepmother that morning. She was very clear, she wasn’t going back, no more porridge for her!

Done by 11:20

We had time for walking around and lunch till the next character would arrive, therefore we explored the Tangled Bathrooms. They are indeed lovely, but such a shame that such an amazing movie only gets a bathroom. I wanted to take the posters with me, that would make great wallpaper.

We had lunch at Friar’s Nook. The Mac & Cheese tasted good, but got a bit soggy due to moist meat.

Guess where we were going to meet our next character? There were more people with the same idea, even before the set had started. But still I think we only waited 15-20 minutes.

Peter was more interested in who else was in Nikki’s drawing pad and was a bit disappointed he was in there only once.

As you can see by this picture, he wasn’t the brightest candle in the world ;-)

Done by 12:25.

And just because we could: we added more Aurora. This one looked just like a young Reese Witherspoon, therefore we dubbed her Aurora Witherspoon. Advice: If you want to protect the kingdom, do not give Aurora a sword. Your kingdom will be doomed.

She was a bit confused…

Normal picture (Only including this picture to show Aurora Witherspoon’s face)

Action picture

I skipped another Aurora picture. Done by 12:45

On to the fairest of them all! She remembered us from two days before in Epcot. Trying to make an action picture.

Done by 1:00

And on to England! Mary Poppins’ set hadn’t started yet, but we were first in line.

She asked if Nikki’s mother was living in the box.

 

[Karin1984]

We said our goodbyes to Mary by 1:15

We went on to the circus, and we went to see Donaldo and Goofini due to the queue at the fair ladies Daisy and Minnie was a lot longer (actually don’t remember the waiting time, but it wasn’t that long)

My foot popped!

And for Photopass, my other foot wasn’t allowed in the picture.

On to Donaldo, Nikki gave him quite a workout, as you can see on the picture below

Donaldo only hadn’t seen that I was there as well, and wanted to go on his duck-break, but came back as soon as he noticed I wanted a picture too.

It was 1:30 by now and we had still 1,5 hours till the parade started. Too early to get a spot for the parade in this sun. But too long to do absolutely nothing. Therefore we walked around the splash area to cool off. (And asked the CM why she kept standing right next to the splash area. She was guarding ‘a little accident’ a child had early, she was waiting for the cleaners to arrive )

After the pictures we went to the hub to get our place. Coming there, we noticed that Dream Along with Mickey had just started. And we would immediately be in a good place for the parade. Yes, it was hot, the sun was shining and we had an hour to go, but it was a place where we could see the parade turn around the corner. Giving you more angles to see of the parade. And if we looked in the other direction, there was the castle. Plus we needed to be fairly at the beginning of the parade, due to our A&E FP.

Backstage CM trying to photobomb

There she is again!

Yes, this looks like Charming and Phillip want to dance together Especially when you cut Cinderella out of the picture

Heavy duck

Wendy and Peter having a romantic moment. Or he was telling a dirty joke.

I have no idea…

The make up still amazes me.

Yay! Clapping!

“She’s beauty and she’s grace… she’s Miss United States!” How fun would Miss Congeniality be with Disney Princesses and Merida as Gracie.

 

[Karin1984]

We stood next to the place where they didn’t allow guest to give the parade space to turn, which was perfect. Only while we were waiting, without any shade, I needed something to cover my head. I went to Momento Mori to get a Haunted Mansion cap, but they were more expensive than what I wanted to pay ($25), so I looked around and next to Heritage House a girl was selling (painted) parasols, I decided to go for the cheapest option ($18), a blue one without any characters just enough to cover myself while waiting.

Parade time!

Love her face

That wig and hat look terribly heavy and uncomfortable, but she still has such a radiant smile