Happily Ever After Begins Here -- An Oct. 2012 TR Updated! 11/17!

[Missyrose]

Sounds like a nice time at Epcot, and I agree, I love to travel by boat if I have the time. So relaxing!
I am on the Boma train right there with you. It is not just another Disney breakfast buffet!!

We've gotten much better (most of the time anyways) about not being in a terrible rush to get from one place to another on our Disney trips. So the boats have become a lovely option for us.

Glad to have another passenger on the Boma bandwagon! ​

 

[Missyrose]

We last left off arriving for an afternoon of fun at DHS. Where were we headed? Only to my favorite attraction at DHS.

Animation Academy! This was Franklin’s first time taking the drawing class, so I was excited to have him experience it.

We ended up drawing Donald Duck! I’ll give you the same trivia question the animator asked us: What is Donald Duck’s middle name? No Googling!

So how did we do with the art? I’ll let you decide. Here’s mine:

And here’s Franklin’s.

Not bad, right? It was a fun class, but Donald isn’t an easy guy to draw!

The trip was before Wreck-It Ralph came out, but there was lots of stuff from the movie in the Animation Academy building.

Franklin was really bummed that you couldn’t actually play the game.

All the headliners had pretty sizable waits as we came out of the drawing class, but according to my Lines app, Star Tours only had a 25-minute line, so we headed that way.

It wasn’t exactly a full flight, I think we were the only ones in the last two rows!

It was a little bit of a bumpy ride, be we made it through.

After we exited, Franklin giddily hopped on this.

Seriously, how happy does he look?!?!?

We had to get moving because:

A) It looked like the sky was about to open up on our heads

and

B) We had somewhere to be.

Where was that? Characterpalooza of course! Haven’t heard of Characterpalooza? I’m not surprised, Disney keeps this pretty well under wraps. Basically it’s an unadvertised meet and greet at the Animation Academy building on days in which the first Fantasmic starts at 7p.m. or later. It’s a parade of hard-to-find characters. About five or six come out at a time for about 20 minutes and then they go away and the next batch comes out. It was simply some of the most character fun we’ve ever had at Disney.

Who did we meet? Let’s get to the rundown. Our first meet was with someone who is practically perfect in every way.

Next was one scary sorcerer. Jafar!

I can’t even believe I remembered who the next character was, it’s Pocahontas’ sidekick, Meeko!

We didn’t make it to Pinocchio's line before the first session ended. But one of the CMs said the Queen of Hearts would be among the next round of characters, so we got in line for her. And soon enough, her majesty was before us!

In keeping with the royalty theme, we met a queen of a different sort. The Evil Queen from “Snow White.”

We then headed upstairs where we found quite the pair: Captain Hook and Mr. Smee.

We had time for one more meet, so we snuck into line for Chip and Dale. The girls in front of use gave Dale their autograph book, only the last pages were left. So Dale wrote “Save the best for last.” Such a perfect Disney touch!

Grand total? Nine characters in 40 minutes, not bad for our first Characterpalooza. That’s where we’ll leave off for now, but have any of you ever been to Characterpalooza? Who is your favorite hard-to-find character that you’ve met?​

 

[Missyrose]

Favorite Disney Restaurants

12. Casey’s Corner

For those of you that followed along on our last TR, you might remember that we counted down to the October trip by making our list of our favorite things to eat at Disney. The clear winner on that list was Casey’s corndog nuggets.

The decor is the perfect decades-gone-by jewel for Main Street in Magic Kingdom.

But really, it always comes back to the corndog nuggets. We grab them for a snack during the parade, we grab them on the way out of the park or we’ll add fries and drinks and make them lunch or dinner.

Basically, any time is a good time for Casey’s at MK!​

 

[Disney9.9.10]

I agree that the boats are a gorgeous form of transportation at Disney, whether they are efficient or not lol Beautiful pictures of the resorts! They make me wish that I was there right now.

I cannot believe how empty your Star Tours vehicle was! I've never seen it like that.

The animation academy is one of my favourites. I've drawn Donald before, and I agree that he is a difficult one.

I also love your characterpalooza pictures! 9 characters in 40 minutes is awesome

 

[natebenma]

I've got some catching up to do!

First- football.

I'm sorry about the Redskins They are one of my sons favorite teams, so we were rooting for them! But we also like the Falcons and the Patriots are our team, of course, so all-in-all it was a good weekend. Except that we lost Gronk and possibly Woodhead.

Back to your restaurant countdown:

20- Flame Tree- I have been there twice, both times were not pleasant but it was more about the circumstances, not the food. I want to love the ribs. I really do.

19- Crystal Palace- been for lunch, good. Never been for breakfast but a pre-park opening visit is on my Disney bucket list.

18- Chefs- Haven't been

17- Cape May
One of our must dos. The breakfast is really good too- the character's beach attire is so cute!

16- Kona- Definitely my favorite breakfast place in the world, and the World. It is pretty high up for dinner too. Tonga Toast is good, but the Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes...

15- Boma- another great breakfast (only Ben and I have been), but probably my favorite dinner at Disney.

14- EoS- Someday

13- Via- Someday- especially after all of the fantastic reviews I have seen.

12- Caseys- I'll have to try those nuggets sometime.
BTW- What a spectacular picture of the outside of Casey's!!!

Mmmmmmm!!!

 

[natebenma]

You guys nailed Franklin’s order (a jalapeno margarita) but no one managed to guess my order: a cucumber margarita!

I wasn’t sure about the combination, but oh my gosh, it was the perfect, refreshing cocktail for that hot Disney day.

​

OK, I didn't guess your margarita exactly...

But I did say something fruity...

And a cucumber is, technically, a fruit (has seeds)...

Are you buying any of this???

We grabbed seats in the back of the Friendship Boat so Franklin could take you all on a little virtual tour of one of our favorite parts of Disney, the Epcot resorts area. On your right, you’ll find Beach Club.

​

Thank you for doing that. The pictures are gorgeous! I sat out in the back of the boat for a trip between EP and HS in June and I know it is not the most pleasant place to be with the diesel smell from the engines.

Since Franklin and I keep going back and forth trying to figure out which Epcot resort we want to stay at for our honeymoon, I want to open the floor to all of you. Which is your favorite Epcot resort and why do you love it?​

We have already discussed this, but I will reiterate that although the Beach Club is my favorite resort, I think Concierge Level at the Yacht Club would be an amazing place for your honeymoon!

Let me know when you guys book it so I can add you to the Be Our Guest list.

 

[natebenma]

The?

Fun times at HS!!!

I remember when the animation building used to be part of the studio tour when the park first opened (Robin Williams was the tour guide IIRC), but I haven't done Animation Academy.

Your Donalds are good!

Love the picture of Franklin on the speeder or pod racer or whatever it is.

Very, very cool character meets!!! Chip and Dale, and the Green Army men, are my favorites.

 

[tallen429]

Hi!!

Just enjoying your report (not all caught up yet though!) and there are so many little things I wanted to comment on!

Congrats to you and Franklin!!!!

Oh yes, Beach Club is just my fav, fav, FAV! (AKL is a very close second)
And for F&W, it can't be more perfect! DH and I did FW in 2011 (no kids!!) and we stayed at BC of course. Oh so wonderful!
We didn't go this past FW but will probably go this year! Maybe even with a few other couples who comment on all of my DisKnowledge and want to make a trip with us!

I just LOVE Franklin's pictures! They are stunning!!

Can't wait to read more! Hurry and post your proposal story...I'm a sucker for those!

 

[happenin2you]

I agree that Boma is not just another Disney breakfast buffet. I think that Tusker House also fits in with Boma, although I think the two are very similar. I love them both, and the specialty juices that they have. Can't wait to get back for more!

 

[tallen429]

Can you believe it? We’ve got one month until our next trip! Just to give everyone some background, this trip is to celebrate Franklin’s birthday (January 30) and also it will be our first trip “home” to Boardwalk since buying into DVC. Plus between busy work seasons and wedding planning, I think we’re both really looking forward to some time away.

For those of you who don’t know how DVC works, here’s the simple breakdown: You can book reservations at your home resort at 11 months out and can book at any of the other resorts starting at seven months out (we’ve got two contracts -- one at Boardwalk and the other at Bay Lake Tower). Planning trips 11 months out often means the plans for the trip grow and change as the months pass, and this trip certainly fits that bill.

One of the biggest changes to this trip came last week. After reading the umpteenth “BWV buses suck” thread, I started to research rental cars and ended up finding a Budget rental for $144 for the week. Now I’m hoping I might find a better deal in the coming weeks, but for now, we’re good with that price.

Here’s how arrival day will look for us... It will start with a VERY early wakeup call. Our flight departs at 7 a.m. , which will be painful for the first few hours of the day, but it will give us a nice, full first day at Disney.

We’ll take DME to the resort and check in. Our fabulous Boardwalk view villa won’t actually be ready yet, so we’ll stow our stuff with bell services and hop on the shuttle to the rental car office.​

Missy, I just realized we will be there at the same time!
We arrive Jan 25 and depart Feb 1. We are doing a split stay at AKL and BLT.
I looooove going in January!

 

[vdub322]

I discovered your trip report and got caught up, and then noticed your PTR posts about January so I read those too! We have VERY similar trips planned! We arrive 1/24 for our first stay at BWV (we are DVC members with AKV as our home) and we will be there until 1/31 when we switch to Kidani until 2/2. Even our park days seem to be the same (based on your ADRs)...likely the result of being good little DISers!

Here's to beautiful weather and low crowds!

 

[Missyrose]

I agree that the boats are a gorgeous form of transportation at Disney, whether they are efficient or not lol Beautiful pictures of the resorts! They make me wish that I was there right now.

I cannot believe how empty your Star Tours vehicle was! I've never seen it like that.

The animation academy is one of my favourites. I've drawn Donald before, and I agree that he is a difficult one.

I also love your characterpalooza pictures! 9 characters in 40 minutes is awesome

I wish I were there right now too! Only seven more days of work until we leave! It seems far away, but I know it will fly by.

Star Tours just never turned out to be the headliner Disney was hoping it would be, even after the total refurb. I think I can only remember once or twice arriving at Star Tours and having the posted wait time too long for us to hop into line.

I love the drawing class and I'm not even any good at art!

I've got some catching up to do!

First- football.

I'm sorry about the Redskins They are one of my sons favorite teams, so we were rooting for them! But we also like the Falcons and the Patriots are our team, of course, so all-in-all it was a good weekend. Except that we lost Gronk and possibly Woodhead.

Thanks, it seemed kind of inevitable when it comes to the Redskins. Washington teams don't "do" success, something will always get in the way. In this case, a fragile QB doesn't bode well for the next few years.

The silver lining is the injury and the chaos surrounding the coach letting him continue to play brought in some boffo Web traffic numbers for all our content, so my bosses were very happy with me.

I'll tell you a secret. While everyone else in sports was cooing over the red-hot Seahawks and Peyton's super-amazing comeback season, I was over here quietly noticing that the Patriots looked better each week of the season. I think they may even be better this season than the last Super Bowl team. Good luck against Baltimore!

Back to your restaurant countdown:

20- Flame Tree- I have been there twice, both times were not pleasant but it was more about the circumstances, not the food. I want to love the ribs. I really do.

19- Crystal Palace- been for lunch, good. Never been for breakfast but a pre-park opening visit is on my Disney bucket list.

18- Chefs- Haven't been

17- Cape May
One of our must dos. The breakfast is really good too- the character's beach attire is so cute!

16- Kona- Definitely my favorite breakfast place in the world, and the World. It is pretty high up for dinner too. Tonga Toast is good, but the Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes...

15- Boma- another great breakfast (only Ben and I have been), but probably my favorite dinner at Disney.

14- EoS- Someday

13- Via- Someday- especially after all of the fantastic reviews I have seen.

12- Caseys- I'll have to try those nuggets sometime.
BTW- What a spectacular picture of the outside of Casey's!!!

Mmmmmmm!!!

There are a lot of to-dos on this list. When we take our theoretical girls trip, when we aren't seeing shows and watching fireworks, we'll be eating!

OK, I didn't guess your margarita exactly...

But I did say something fruity...

And a cucumber is, technically, a fruit (has seeds)...

Are you buying any of this???

You did come the closest of anyone to guessing my drink.

Thank you for doing that. The pictures are gorgeous! I sat out in the back of the boat for a trip between EP and HS in June and I know it is not the most pleasant place to be with the diesel smell from the engines.

The fumes are worth it for the views (not to mention the breeze). There's nothing worse than being trapped in the middle of one of those boats on a really hot day. Would it be so hard to let those windows open?

We have already discussed this, but I will reiterate that although the Beach Club is my favorite resort, I think Concierge Level at the Yacht Club would be an amazing place for your honeymoon!

Let me know when you guys book it so I can add you to the Be Our Guest list.

I really am loving the idea of Yacht Club for the honeymoon. I'm planning to book it as a bounce back when we're there in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know as soon as I do!

The?

Fun times at HS!!!

I remember when the animation building used to be part of the studio tour when the park first opened (Robin Williams was the tour guide IIRC), but I haven't done Animation Academy.

Your Donalds are good!

Love the picture of Franklin on the speeder or pod racer or whatever it is.

Very, very cool character meets!!! Chip and Dale, and the Green Army men, are my favorites.

Robin Williams? Like actual Robin Williams? That's so cool! I love Disney trivia like that.

Chip and Dale are vastly underrated in the meet and greet department. They're always so entertaining!

Hi!!

Just enjoying your report (not all caught up yet though!) and there are so many little things I wanted to comment on!

Congrats to you and Franklin!!!!

Oh yes, Beach Club is just my fav, fav, FAV! (AKL is a very close second)
And for F&W, it can't be more perfect! DH and I did FW in 2011 (no kids!!) and we stayed at BC of course. Oh so wonderful!
We didn't go this past FW but will probably go this year! Maybe even with a few other couples who comment on all of my DisKnowledge and want to make a trip with us!

I just LOVE Franklin's pictures! They are stunning!!

Can't wait to read more! Hurry and post your proposal story...I'm a sucker for those!

Missy, I just realized we will be there at the same time!
We arrive Jan 25 and depart Feb 1. We are doing a split stay at AKL and BLT.
I looooove going in January!

Thanks for joining in! Food and Wine is, hands down, our favorite time to head to Disney World. This was our third October trip in a row (and we've another planned for our honeymoon!)

Yay! We're excited try January again, we went the first week of February back in 2009 and the parks were ghostowns! It was freezing, but so much fun running from ride to ride with basically zero waits.

What parks are you going to which days? Maybe we can meet up! You are going to love BLT (our second home resort) and AKL. You get the best of both worlds -- one resort right in the middle of everything and one where you feel like you have been transported to a far away place.

I agree that Boma is not just another Disney breakfast buffet. I think that Tusker House also fits in with Boma, although I think the two are very similar. I love them both, and the specialty juices that they have. Can't wait to get back for more!

Tusker House is definitely on the to-do list, especially now that you've told me it's as yummy as Boma!

I discovered your trip report and got caught up, and then noticed your PTR posts about January so I read those too! We have VERY similar trips planned! We arrive 1/24 for our first stay at BWV (we are DVC members with AKV as our home) and we will be there until 1/31 when we switch to Kidani until 2/2. Even our park days seem to be the same (based on your ADRs)...likely the result of being good little DISers!

Here's to beautiful weather and low crowds!

Sounds like we both have incredible trips planned! Maybe we can meet up while we're both there.

We came home from our October trip very much in love with your home resort. We can't wait to plan a trip with Franklin's family, so we can show our nephew Tanner all the animals!

Beautiful weather and low crowds would make this the perfect Disney trip ​

 

[Missyrose]

Favorite Disney Restaurants

11. Columbia Harbor House

It’s another Magic Kingdom CS restaurant! I know there are plenty of people in the world who think there is nothing to eat in Disney parks other than hamburgers and hot dogs. Those people clearly haven’t been to CHH.

Franklin loves CHH because he is a HUGE seafood fan. And he will eat the clam chowder, even when it’s 100 degrees outside!

He also usually gets the fried shrimp or the lobster roll, he can’t go wrong with either.

I’m boring, I usually stick with the chicken nuggets.

I’ll let you in on the Disboards secret about CHH. Always, ALWAYS...

… sit upstairs. It’s quiet and there’s almost always plenty of seating to choose from. I personally like the tables by the windows so you can watch everyone milling about in Liberty Square below.​

 

[left210]

I am new to your trip reports and really enjoyed it. I did not read all the comments in between though so my questions might already be answered. If so, sorry. We are going in Oct this year for the first time with kids. How are the crowds, wait times for rides, etc? Do you still need to be there for rope drop at that time of year? We are considering renting DVC points and are looking at a split stay too. Any tips or recommendations on that? Did you move your own luggage for your split stay or did you have bell services do it for you? We have done a split stay before but not with DVC so I wasn't sure how that worked.

OMG - your photos are amazing!!! Can your fiance give me photography lessons? - LOL!!!

 

[wiigirl]

Wonderful TR!

 

[tallen429]

Thanks for joining in! Food and Wine is, hands down, our favorite time to head to Disney World. This was our third October trip in a row (and we've another planned for our honeymoon!)

Yay! We're excited try January again, we went the first week of February back in 2009 and the parks were ghostowns! It was freezing, but so much fun running from ride to ride with basically zero waits.

What parks are you going to which days? Maybe we can meet up! You are going to love BLT (our second home resort) and AKL. You get the best of both worlds -- one resort right in the middle of everything and one where you feel like you have been transported to a far away place.


Our park days on the 30 and 31st are pretty open but will likely be a mix of MK and Epcot. On the 29th we're doing DHS. We will hit AK earlier in the trip while we are at AKL.
This is our fourth AKL stay but our first at BLT. We have stayed at a LOT of the deluxes and our fav Mod is POR.
You can always send me a pm and let me know what your park plans are!

 

[natebenma]

Good luck against Baltimore!

Thanks!!! At least we aren't going to be facing the Giants again!

It actually still amazes me that the Patriots have been doing so well in the last decade. I have been a fan since way back (think Steve Grogan) in the very lean years. The home games were blacked out to the local tv markets because the stadium didn't sell out, but I lived in NH, so we were able to catch the games on a station from Portland, Maine.

There are a lot of to-dos on this list. When we take our theoretical girls trip, when we aren't seeing shows and watching fireworks, we'll be eating!

So.Much.Fun!

You did come the closest of anyone to guessing my drink.

Another one to add to the to do list. Sampling a margarita or two at The Ditch


The fumes are worth it for the views (not to mention the breeze). There's nothing worse than being trapped in the middle of one of those boats on a really hot day. Would it be so hard to let those windows open?

Or to fix the air conditioning???


I really am loving the idea of Yacht Club for the honeymoon. I'm planning to book it as a bounce back when we're there in a couple of weeks. I'll let you know as soon as I do!




Robin Williams? Like actual Robin Williams? That's so cool! I love Disney trivia like that.

Chip and Dale are vastly underrated in the meet and greet department. They're always so entertaining!

​

I may not have stated that well. Yes, the actual Robin Williams. But no, not live- he starred in the film you watched as you went to the different rooms in the animation building.

Speaking of Disney Trivia- I was wrong as my guess for Donald Duck's Middle Name (The), but I looked it up so now I know.



.

 

[natebenma]

I am glad to see Columbia Harbor House so high on your list!

CHH is my second favorite counter service in Disney- Sunshine Seasons is the first, and I haven't tried Wolfgang Puck's Express yet. Someday.

Your menu selections are excellent, but the tuna sandwich is really good too. Heck, even the hummus sandwich is a winner there.

You are one hundred percent correct about the seating. Upstairs is the place to be! I don't think people know there is an upstairs, so it usually isn't very crowded. It is, however, air conditioned. And the decor is definitely more TS than CS.

I'm so glad the wise people on the DIS clued me in on this great dining spot!

 

[happenin2you]

I agree with the other poster, I can't believe how empty Star Tours was for you! I don't know about WDW, but we get to DLR pretty frequently and there is always at least a 45 minute wait. The last time we went was in late Sept in the low season and Star Tours, Cars Land, Space Mountain, and TSM all had 45 minute or longer waits pretty much at all times. That will be a huge plus to our next WDW trip, low waits at Star Tours

And I think I'm going to have to check out CHH. My hubby loves a good clam chowder, and as long as there's AC, he'll eat it any time of year.

Random question for your talented hubby to be: what kind of photo editing software are you using? I've played around with the idea of buying some, but I'd hate to waste my money on something meant for professionals, or something that is not very effective. I kind of want to start playing around with editing software before I get a DSLR so at least I'll have an idea of something and not be completely lost. I'd ask for advice on a good DSLR, but I'm planning to wait until I finish my student teaching (I have 3 whole semesters of it so Spring 2014) before I buy a DSLR because I want to jump right into a beginners photo class at the local community college and I'm sure technology and models will change before then. Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

 

[PracPerfPatricia]

Ahhh... the Ditch is a peaceful little respite... I love that there are little places like that in the World... little "secret" escapes... It's got a cool little vibe too... a sort of Modern Mexican/Frida Kahlo kind of thing... when I think about it... it's kind of got a little bit of an urban feeling about it... So was the cucumber 'rita more Sweet or Savory?

Hmmm.... Epcot Resorts so tough... like which child do you like better... I can't speak as much to the Yacht Club because I don't have as much experience with it... The BC and the BW both have so much going for them... how important is Stormalong Bay to you? I think that the Boardwalk may actually have a more "Romantic" Decor but then if your there you can't see it lit up across the lake at night... Can you really go wrong either way?


Restaurant Countdown

Boma is just awesome and I'm not always a buffet fan... but Boma's food is just exceptional and again they have great coffee.... I want to do our last breakfast there in July...

I'm going to have to break down and try EoS... will have it when we go to DTD... (I'm a big WPE fan so we often do that when we want CS...)

Via Napoli was really quite good... fun ovens too... attractive space (btw... have you ever been to the 2 Amy's in DC... have had a couple of good meals there...)

(Donald's Middle name is Fauntleroy....not sure about spelling... & your Donalds turned out nicely...)

I had never heard of Characterpalooza... must do... I'd love to meet the Queen of Hearts and Malificent and the Evil Queen... those villains seem hard to find...Thanks for that awesome tip...

Awww...I love Casey's ...it's got such pretty seating in front...great views, good hot dogs... haven't gotten the corn dog bug I'm afraid... but I love the dogs and I love the clips they play inside as well...

Columbia Harbor House was possibly my favorite CS place until we went to BOG in December... It is just so incredibly themed, great food... speaking of which for Lobster Rolls have you ever been to Hank's Oyster Bar? Much more expensive than CHH but so good & I happen to love oysters as well...

The restaurant countdown is a great riff on the whole countdown theme...Lots of fun...