Heat, humidity and a great Mother/Daughter trip! A May TR **TR Update 12/10**

[debsters41]

Wow! I love the parade pictures! Now I want to go and see this parade! Normally I would have skipped it.

I also have never seen a photographer at Big Thunder. I will also be keeping a look out for that.

I dare say that this report has given me many ideas for my Mom Daughter trip next summer

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Trying to catch up. I wanted one of those photos by Big Thunder but the guy was never there when we were.

Great pictures with Woody and Jessie.

And awesome parade pics. That is the one thing we didn't get to do on the trip so I thoroughly enjoyed your pics.

I rarely see the PP there, I guess he probably was that day due to the special event. Sorry you didn't see one while there!

Thanks! The parade was quite nice and I liked it more than it's predecessor. I'm glad I could help you to "see" it

Wow! I love the parade pictures! Now I want to go and see this parade! Normally I would have skipped it.

I also have never seen a photographer at Big Thunder. I will also be keeping a look out for that.

I dare say that this report has given me many ideas for my Mom Daughter trip next summer

You should definitely watch the parade at least once, it is really nice!

I'm glad I'm giving you ideas! If you have any questions please ask!

 

[afwdwfan]

You went to Disney on the 24 hour day!!! I'm looking forward to seeing how much time you spend there and how the crowds ended up being for you. I have to say, it looks like the day is off to a great start though!

I really enjoyed the pictures from 7DMT and the parade.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

You went to Disney on the 24 hour day!!! I'm looking forward to seeing how much time you spend there and how the crowds ended up being for you. I have to say, it looks like the day is off to a great start though!

I really enjoyed the pictures from 7DMT and the parade.

I will say this: we knew going into it that Mom could not stay the whole time as she gets tired too easy. We did want to stay as long as we could though! You'll have to wait and see how long that was though!

Thanks! I really enjoyed being there to take them Seriously though, both 7DMT and Festival of Fantasy are great additions to MK in my opinion!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

DAY FOUR, FRIDAY MAY 23RD, PART 3​

Once the parade was done I went to text George and found that my cell phone battery was dead! Apparently the charger wasn't full plugged in all night or something. Since we knew the Tangled bathroom area had a charging area we headed up there. I had remembered to pack my phone charger so I found a seat and plugged it in. It was pretty busy there, so I guess a lot of people were using their cell batteries up that day! It was so hot and humid at that point, but thankfully the bench we sat on was partially shaded. I told Mom she could go do some things while I charged the phone if she wanted, but she said the heat was getting to her and that sitting for a bit would be good. We didn't stay terribly long, I think about 30 minutes, and I took some pictures while the phone charged up.





















Eventually the sun moved enough that we had less shade, and with it being 95 degrees with 90% humidity we didn't want to sit in the sun so we headed off again! Plus, we were coming up on the start of our 3rd FP+ for the day! Which attraction was it? Well, the first one from the title to have cheesy jokes!






I was happy to do Jungle Cruise, especially since it had been down for refurb my previous visit. There was about a 50 minute wait on standby, but with our FP we only waited a few minutes. In fact I only had time for two pictures while in line!









Mom and I were soon boarding the Volta Val...






...with our skipper Cassie!






She was quite funny and delivered the lines well. There was one clueless family on board who didn't get that the ride was supposed to be funny and that we all knew the animals weren't real, but they just made it funnier with their comments.






























Watch out, Ginger snaps!















CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Ladies and gentlemen, the backside of water!





















Once we got off the boat we talked about what we wanted to do next. In looking ahead of us we could see that Aladdin and Jasmine were out, so off we went to meet with them! We got in line and were told they would be taking a break after the next family, but would be back out in about 5-7 minutes to continue. One more family got in line behind us and they put a rope up to close the line since there would be a long break after their next set, so we were quite happy we got in line when we did!

The girl in front of us was very nice, knowledgeable and chatty! She had hand-made a book for autographs with each page having one side for the autographs and the other a spot to later put the picture of herself with the character(s). She showed it to us and it was beautiful! She had themed paper for each character, decals, etc and I was impressed!

The line was pretty long for our group so we probably waited about 30 minutes total. Thankfully there is a canopy over the line, so we didn't have to stand in the sun at all. I felt bad for the poor CM watching the line though, as tons of people kept trying to duck under the ropes and join the line and he had to keep telling them to get back out of the line and that it was closed. He had several people argue with him over it, but ultimately everyone left who tried to cut in. Then, right before a group about 4 families in front of us went up they had about 20 more people show up all wanting to join in the pictures with the group in line and to get their own individual pictures too. The CMs refused to let them though (thankfully!) and told them only the family that was actually in line could get the autographs and pictures. The extras all left with no argument, minus one woman who made the mistake of telling the CM she was sure those of us still in line wouldn't mind waiting the extra time, which we all quickly chimed in to say that we absolutely did mind since we all had the decency to actually wait in line for the previous 30 minutes and they didn't. She looked shocked for a second and then slinked off with the others.

Oh, I forgot that while in line I took a picture of the area where they meet, which has gems in it!






Both Aladdin and Jasmine were wonderfully nice and talked with us for a few minutes when it was our turn. The first two pictures are from my camera, then it's the PP ones.















NEXT TIME: MORE PICTURES, DINNER AND MORE JOKES!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I love the Jungle Cruise! And, you gotta love Fastpass so you can zip right on the boat.

Good for the CM keeping the unwanted guests from entering a closed line. I have never understood people who thought that it was okay to just go under the ropes like that. I mean, seriously, what do they think the ropes are for anyway?

Cute pictures with Jasmine and Aladdin although Jasmine does look a little tired.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I love the Jungle Cruise! And, you gotta love Fastpass so you can zip right on the boat.

Good for the CM keeping the unwanted guests from entering a closed line. I have never understood people who thought that it was okay to just go under the ropes like that. I mean, seriously, what do they think the ropes are for anyway?

Cute pictures with Jasmine and Aladdin although Jasmine does look a little tired.

I love Jungle Cruise too! I don't care that the jokes are often the same, it's still funny and the different skippers make it a different experience!

Exactly! I understand if there wasn't a rope there then they wouldn't know the line was closed. But if there is no way into the line then you would think they would realize it's closed and not just duck under the ropes!

I think she was tired (probably why they were taking a longer break!) but she was still very friendly and talked to us for a bit. She's only frowning in the one picture in reaction to something my mom was saying about Splash Mountain being closed earlier. They both said it felt more like their Middle Eastern homes (wink, wink) with the heat in FL that week!

 

[Pluto0809]

That Tangled area is so pretty. I really need to take some more time to explore it but it's always been jam packed with people when I've been there.

There is nothing better than clueless people on the Jungle Cruise. I always love watching the first timers when I ride. They are always easy to pick out because they look so confused.

How rude of that group to try to join in the line. I'm really glad the CMs stopped that from happening!

 

[afwdwfan]

I'm glad that there are places you can charge a phone now. Especially with all the My Disney Experience stuff draining your battery. Not a bad place at all to sit around for a while.

Love the Jungle Cruise. I can't believe there was someone riding it who expected it to be serious and have real animals. I'm sure that would have been hilarious!

Sorry about the annoyances when you met Jasmine and Aladdin. I'm glad the CM did their job though.

 

[KatMark]

Great pics on the Jungle Cruise, Steph. And I'm so glad you got the back side of water.

Good for all of you in line letting the ones trying to "sneak" in know that they should have waited the 30 minutes too. Why do some people feel they are privileged? It drives me batty!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

That Tangled area is so pretty. I really need to take some more time to explore it but it's always been jam packed with people when I've been there.

There is nothing better than clueless people on the Jungle Cruise. I always love watching the first timers when I ride. They are always easy to pick out because they look so confused.

How rude of that group to try to join in the line. I'm really glad the CMs stopped that from happening!

The Tangled area is really quite nice! Well themed and beautiful!

I kinda felt bad for the family. They were obviously first time visiters and didn't know what to expect. They did catch on quickly and laugh at the corny jokes but they were quite confused at first!

Everyone in line was very happy that the CM watching the line kept a close eye and quickly made people get back out of the line.

I'm glad that there are places you can charge a phone now. Especially with all the My Disney Experience stuff draining your battery. Not a bad place at all to sit around for a while.

Love the Jungle Cruise. I can't believe there was someone riding it who expected it to be serious and have real animals. I'm sure that would have been hilarious!

Sorry about the annoyances when you met Jasmine and Aladdin. I'm glad the CM did their job though.

DME definitely drains your battery. I don't really like just sitting around at WDW, but the area is gorgeous and a nice area to charge the phone at!

I have a feeling they probably had already been to AK and rode the safari and were expecting something similar. They laughed at themselves too!

The line CM and PP were both great at Aladdin and Jasmine. Vigilant and very friendly with all of us in line.

Great pics on the Jungle Cruise, Steph. And I'm so glad you got the back side of water.

Good for all of you in line letting the ones trying to "sneak" in know that they should have waited the 30 minutes too. Why do some people feel they are privileged? It drives me batty!

So few people see water from that angle, I just had to post it

It drives me batty too! I hate people that feel entitled to special attention for no real reason.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

DAY FOUR, FRIDAY MAY 23RD, PART 4​

Once our time with Aladdin and Jasmine was up Mom and I decided to head across the Hub to the only land we hadn't done at all yet, Tomorrowland! But before we got there we stopped in front of the castle for pictures. First picture is my camera.















Then we started to walk across the bridge, but wanted to get our money's worth out of the Memory Maker, so we stopped at the PP near the rose garden. While we waited I got a picture of Mickey and Minnie!






If you look in between them you can see Mary Poppins and Bert! No, not the actual Disney characters, but a couple that was dressed up as them. They were getting a special photo shoot done.

We only had one group ahead of us, so we soon were getting our pictures taken again. First pic is my camera, second is theirs!









We continued on across the bridge, with me taking a few more pictures on our walk.









Soon we were at our next destination, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. Time for more corny but funny jokes!












The sign said it was a 20 minutes wait, but we walked right into the holding area and the video began a couple of minutes later. As always it was a funny show, though one guy didn't want to participate at first but his kids wound up talking him into it.

Next up for us was an attraction that doesn't normally have a line, but did this time! The TTA/Peoplemover had quite a line, but it was moving non-stop so we were still on within a couple of minutes.











I did get a shot of the construction to expand the Hub












When we got in the tunnel that goes through Space Mountain we stopped and the lights came on. We sat there for 3-4 minutes while the announcements said to stay in our seats and it would move again shortly, then the lights turned back off and we started again.












By the time we got off our relaxing ride around Tomorrowland it was time to check-in for our dinner ADR! Our destination was back across the Hub, so we headed that way and checked in at Crystal Palace! We were going to eat with my favorite character Tigger and Mom's favorite Winnie the Pooh! We checked in and were told it would be about a 10-15 minute wait, so I walked around a bit. I only took one picture, of the castle. You can see the top of the construction wall for the Hub expansion at the bottom of the picture.






It was only about 7-8 minutes before they were attempting to call me name (my last name is not pronounced at all like it's spelled!) and we were seated. Our table was right next to the hallway for the bathrooms, so we had tons of people walking past us all meal. No one bothered us though, so that was fine. We did have a family next to us with two small kids. The little boy was fine, but the little girl was not! She kept getting excited when she saw the characters coming close, then as soon as they reached the table she would freak out and start screaming, crying and running away from them. It was a little annoying, but she looked to be about 2 so I didn't really blame her. Finally with the last character to come over, Tigger, she decided she liked him and gave him hugs. After that she wanted the other characters to come back over so she could see them. A CM overheard her parents saying they had to visit the other tables and got Pooh and Eeyore to stop and come over one at a time for her to see. It was very sweet of that CM and made the girl and her family very happy.

Our server was Edward T and he was great. Very funny, attentive and friendly with everyone! I did take pictures with all of the characters, but I forgot to upload them to Photobucket. They were taken with my phone and I don't have my cable to load them now, so I'll post them later today when I can upload them!

We walked out from dinner just as the castle show was starting, so we found a spot in front of CP that was taped off for viewing and stood there. There were CMs along there making lots of other people move who were outside the tape and blocking the walkway. Our view was very slightly obstructed by the construction wall, but not too much. I got a few good pictures of the show!












CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST

 

[PhoenixStrength]

A couple more pictures of the castle show!









When it was over we decided that rather than fight the crowds for a better spot we would just stay right there and watch Wishes. With the sun having set it was much more tolerable out. Still humid but not nearly as hot. I only took one picture while waiting for Wishes since Mom and I were trying to make a plan for what to do after the fireworks.






Once again while waiting the CMs kept having to chase people away from the railings and walkways. We were very glad we decided to just stay there since it seemed that no one could find an open spot. We did have a guy with his kid try to stand directly in front of us, but both us and the CM made him move immediately. He tried arguing and claiming we squeezed behind him, but it didn't work and he walked off mumbling things his young kid shouldn't be hearing!

Thankfully once Wishes started everyone seemed to behave, or maybe I was just so focused on the fireworks that I didn't notice anyone being rude. Either way, I just enjoyed the show. I tried to get pictures of Tinkerbell "flying" but as you can see they didn't quite turn out!












It was a pretty good spot for Wishes since you could easily see the fireworks above the castle, the wall didn't block our view of them at all. So, I'll just post my pictures of Wishes now for you to enjoy!

























































CONTINUED IN THE NEXT POST

 

[PhoenixStrength]

More Wishes pictures!







































We let the crowds walk by for a bit when Wishes ended, then we headed to the left and across the bridge into Liberty Square. Once there we hooked a right and walked through the first part of Fantasyland. They still had the ropes up when we approached the carousel, so we stood there for a minute until we could move to our next destination. I took one picture that's not a great shot of the carousel, but you can kinda see how many people were there!






After a few minutes the CMs came and moved the ropes. We looked over to the left at 7DMT and the line was crazy, but that was okay because we weren't headed there, we went right instead. Our next stop had a short line only due to Wishes, and we were happy for that since we were meeting some Princesses! The line for Elsa and Anna was still crazy despite wishes (about 4 hours long at that point!) but the line for Cinderella and Rapunzel was only about 20 minutes, so we hopped in line. It actually moved faster than we expected and soon we were chatting with Cindy about her castle!












The PP pictures with Cinderella:









And next up was Rapunzel. I cannot remember what exactly we talked to her about, but I do remember it had to do with something Flynn had done.












And the PP pictures with Rapunzel!!









I think we really only waited about 15 minutes for them, which we were super happy about! It was getting later, but we still had some energy so we talked about what to do next. Where should we go?


NEXT TIME: SAVING THE UNIVERSE, FLYING ELEPHANTS AND A SMACKERAL OF HONEY!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I'm glad that the guy who didn't want to participate at the Laugh Floor let his kids change his mind. You know about the dumb guy who acted like a jerk during the show that we saw.

Despite the fact that there was an unruly 2 year old next to you, dinner sounds like it was great. The Crystal Palace is one of our favorite restaurants.

So, they rope off the front of the Crystal Palace area for the people who are dining there only? I didn't know that.

I would give an arm and a leg to be at the Magic Kingdom right now and anticipating the castle show and Wishes. Your pictures turned out spectacular!

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I'm glad that the guy who didn't want to participate at the Laugh Floor let his kids change his mind. You know about the dumb guy who acted like a jerk during the show that we saw.

Despite the fact that there was an unruly 2 year old next to you, dinner sounds like it was great. The Crystal Palace is one of our favorite restaurants.

So, they rope off the front of the Crystal Palace area for the people who are dining there only? I didn't know that.

I would give an arm and a leg to be at the Magic Kingdom right now and anticipating the castle show and Wishes. Your pictures turned out spectacular!

I was very glad. He just seemed shy more than grumpy, but his kids egged him into getting into it. I do remember your story about the grump who wouldn't participate when you were there!

I didn't mind the 2 year old too much. Beyond being afraid of the characters she was well behaved and quiet. The screaming was annoying, but understandable with how young she was.

It isn't roped off just for the diners, but just a small roped off area in front of the restaurant and once it fills they make everyone else move on.

I'd love to be there right now too! Thankfully I only have 2.5 months left and I will be there. And thanks, I didn't think I would get many good ones but was happy with how they turned out!

 

[Pluto0809]

I saw the dressed up couple in the background of you photo and I was like, what the? Then I saw your explanation and it made sense then.

Awesome pictures on the TTA. I love the one with the sun behind the castle.

Crystal Palace is one of the few restaurants that I still have not eaten at. Someday I will get there for a meal!

Loved the photos of Wishes! This week is going super slow since I'm leaving for WDW on Saturday so it was nice to pass the time with those photos.

Cute pictures with Cindy and Rapunzel.

 

[KatMark]

Steph, great update. A couple of attractions, a nice dinner (how nice of that CM to bring Pooh and Eeyore back to see the little girl) and the Castle Show and Wishes! We had terrible spot when we were there so my pictures are not nearly as good as yours.

Great shots with the two Prinesses.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I saw the dressed up couple in the background of you photo and I was like, what the? Then I saw your explanation and it made sense then.

Awesome pictures on the TTA. I love the one with the sun behind the castle.

Crystal Palace is one of the few restaurants that I still have not eaten at. Someday I will get there for a meal!

Loved the photos of Wishes! This week is going super slow since I'm leaving for WDW on Saturday so it was nice to pass the time with those photos.

Cute pictures with Cindy and Rapunzel.

Thanks, I love that picture too! And TTA is always great for pictures of things you already see, but at a different angle.

You definitely need to try Crystal Palance one time at least. It's a buffet, but had good food, great characters and is quite nice inside!

The week of a trip is always the longest and slowest week!

Steph, great update. A couple of attractions, a nice dinner (how nice of that CM to bring Pooh and Eeyore back to see the little girl) and the Castle Show and Wishes! We had terrible spot when we were there so my pictures are not nearly as good as yours.

Great shots with the two Prinesses.

Thanks!

Sorry you didn't get a good spot for Wishes. I hate when that happens.

Thank you. They did take quite a few pictures of us with them so that helped!