"I Wanna See My Castle!" October 2013 TR *COMPLETE* **NEW TR LINK!!** 7/3

[marDgreen88]

Congrats on the job! That's so exciting!

The costumes are adorable, but uh-oh... foot troubles are never good! I hope it didn't get too bad. Can't wait to hear more!

 

[khertz]

First off, a big congratulations on your new position!! Outpatient hours, really can't beat those!

I'm proud that I can say that I was able to see the three of you in costume in person and they were truly great! I have to say though that I really didn't quite appreciate the pink in the pajamas when I saw you all because it was already dark by that time. Or maybe I was just too focused on trying to secure the Hallowishes spot.

Thanks! I'm so ready to start, now that I know the position is mine. I can't wait for the better hours!

Thanks for the compliment! I'm not big on dressing up, but it was really fun for the party. Could have been either reason. But they were definitely VERY pink!

Congrats on the job! That's so exciting!

The costumes are adorable, but uh-oh... foot troubles are never good! I hope it didn't get too bad. Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks, Marissa!

Yeah, those shoes were not the best choice. I had even thought I should just wear flip flops and be done with it, but of course I wanted them to look better with the costume! The things we women will do to our feet in the name of looking "cute"!

 

[khertz]

Day 6 Continued: Sunday October 27th

After taking our photo on Main Street, we had some time to kill before the beginning of the party. I knew I wanted to make sure we had dinner in that time, but we didn't need to do that quite yet. So first, we made our way to Fantasyland to see if Peter Pan and/or Wendy were still out, thinking that would be a great opportunity with us in our costumes! But, they were no longer meeting, unfortunately. Since we were right there, why not ride It's A Small World?

Ahhh, the elusive iPad photographer in her natural habitat...

​

According to that clock, it was 5:15 pm when we exited the ride. We decided now would be the best time to get something to eat, and since Pinocchio's was right there, we headed inside. We passed several CM's on the way up to the counter to order, but none of them bothered to let us know they had stopped serving. I made sure to warn the couple coming in as we were leaving though.

​

We took a photo of the light up Mickey's that indicated a Trick or Treat spot for future reference as we headed over to Pecos Bill's for some dinner instead. We all got burgers, which were just fine and hit the spot. Well, for DH and I, anyway. I seem to remember DS didn't eat much of his burger but he had his applesauce and probably some of our fries.

The first thing on my list of our MNSSHP must-dos was to meet Flynn & Rapunzel at Princess Fairytale Hall as soon as it opened up for the party, so back to Fantasyland we went to be close to PFH. Mad Tea Party didn't have a wait, so that was our next stop.

Peter & Michael loaded into their teacup


Ready to spin!





​

Luckily for me, DS is still happy with just letting the teacup spin on its own. As soon as he realizes he can spin it even faster, that'll be the end of my days riding the teacups with him! lol

After that, DS said he wanted to pull the sword from the stone, so we headed over to the Carrousel and I took one of my favorite pictures of the entire party to post on Instagram.

​

How cute are they??

​

DS still wasn't able to get the darn sword out, but he wasn't upset about it! He was just happy to get to try for the, what? Third time? I think he would list this activity as pretty high on his personal must-do list! Now, on to the Carrousel!

​

After a much calmer sort of spinning ride, I stopped by Princess Fairytale Hall and asked the CM when they would be starting the line for the party characters. She was NO help and kept giving me the run-around. She "very helpfully" told me that I could get in line now to meet the Princesses or come back after the start of the party to meet them with their princes. I knew from my time on the DIS that they generally started the party line a little before 7 pm, but this CM wasn't giving me any info on that or where I could stand, so we decided to go do something else and come back a little closer to the start of the party to check again (and home another CM was there who might be more helpful).

So instead, we went over to New Fantasyland to see if Gaston was still out meeting since he was one we hadn't met yet. No luck, but we did get to visit his beautiful fountain.

​

Ariel's Grotto had a 10 minute wait time posted, so we figured that would be another good way to kill some time before the party.

​

Another bust!! The line was DEFINITELY a lot longer than the 10 posted minutes, so we hopped right out because we didn't want to waste that much time meeting Ariel when we could do that another day.

We figured we probably didn't have time for another ride, but maybe we would have luck with a short wait with some other characters we hadn't met yet at...

​

We decided to go for Donald & Goofy, which had a bit of a shorter line than Minnie & Daisy. As we were walking through, DH couldn't help but get a picture of his favorite character posing in between families.

​

But first up was the Great Goofini! He really loved DH's costume and kept pointing and putting his hand over his mouth as if he was laughing. It was so great to see a reaction from the characters for his costume choice! I'll mention it here because I remember when and where it would happen as it happened so many times. But as we were walking around the park that night, it was so funny to see people react to DH's costume! So many people I caught just staring at the three of us, and then you could see the moment when it clicked that DH was Michael and they would smile or laugh. It was so great!! But back to the Great Goofini... DS couldn't wait to run up for a hug!

Photopass version
​

Continued in Next Post...

 

[khertz]

Day 6 Continued: Sunday October 27th

After DS got his photos with Goofy, DH and I decided to jump in for a couple of family photos.

​

We said good-bye to Goofy and headed over to meet Donald! I have to say, that useless CM at Princess Fairytale Hall really helped us out by being unhelpful, because if we would have been in line for the princesses already, we would have missed out on this AMAZING meet with Donald! It started off rough because DS immediately started asking to have Donald sign his autograph book. But we had already gotten Donald's signature when we had met him and Daisy at DHS. As we are trying to convince DS that it's okay for Donald not to sign his book, Donald sneaks up behind him and snatches his sword! DS was still holding onto the sheath, and Donald was trying to get him to sword fight, but DS just started saying, "I want my sword back!" Just as we thought it was going to be meltdown city in Pete's Silly Sideshow, we managed to redirect DS into sword fighting with Donald, and it was pretty much the cutest thing EVER! Donald eventually ran scared from DS and stood in the corner with his knees shaking and his arms up in surrender after a bitter sword duel with DS. I caught the whole thing on video, which you can watch if you're interested!

VIDEO: DS Takes on Donald!​

(Hopefully the video works, because I spent most of the day uploading but it just keeps trying to load for me? Please let me know if it worked or didn't if you tried to watch so I can fix it if necessary!)

Or if you don't feel like watching the video (but, seriously, it's adorable so you should), here's the photo timeline of how it went down.

Making up after Donald's defeat







​

We left Pete's Silly Sideshow on a total high! It ended up being one of the many highlights of the night. So thank you, useless CM, who told me there was no pre-party line for the princesses & princes at Princess Fairytale Hall!

But by then, it was pretty close to party time, so that was exactly where we headed next to find that, gee, they DO start a separate line for party guests prior to 7 pm. We weren't as far up in line as I would have hoped, but the wait didn't seem like it would be too terrible, so we got in. The first highlight of the wait was the woman behind us who asked DH if he was dressed as Ralphie from A Christmas Story. :facepalm: Luckily, the man with her knew what was up and quickly corrected her!

I did my best to shorten our wait time by listening carefully to the people in front of me as they wondered aloud if this was a ride, and then saying, "I really hope this is a ride and not a walk through." I promptly informed them that it was a character meet & greet, and then when they started wondering how to get out of the line, I urged them to hop over the railing and exit through the empty Cinderella queue. Then I high-5'd DH when they did just that! Hey, that's one group out of the way, and I'm sure I improved their night after they didn't wait all that time for something they weren't interested in anyway...I was just doing them a service, not trying to get myself further up in line!

Soon enough, we moved further into the queue so I finally got to see all that I had missed by entering through the FP queue the night before! I had seen pictures of the portraits online, but it was nothing like seeing them in person! Again, I've never considered myself a princess fan, but this meeting spot was SPECTACULARLY well done!!

​

We waited about 30 minutes in total (all the while, I was absolutely cursing myself for wearing those flats...they were killing me just standing there!), which wasn't bad at all, and then it was finally time! The thing I had been looking forward to the most for the whole party was about to happen...we were going to meet Rapunzel WITH Flynn Rider!

...And this is where I'll stop, because we already had one amazing character meet, I have to spread them out a little!!

UP NEXT: So what IS in that satchel??

 

[missangelalexis]

Ugh iPads...so annoying.

Love the pics of DS on Mad Tea Party!

Adorable pic of DH & DS holding hands

OMG that's the cutest video ever! It's so great when the character provides that kind of awesome interaction. And not to sound weird but you have the cutest accent ever!!

So mean of you to cut off right before you meet Flynn!! Can't wait to hear about it next!

 

[amberg93]

First, I wanted to say that I love your costumes! They're so adorable! You all look great and your tiny Peter is just the cutest thing.

I can't even do the tea cups when they're spinning at normal pace, so you've got a much stronger stomach than I do, lol for sticking it out that long.

Also, what great interaction with Goofy. I loved him when I saw him too because he was great. I feel like the whole group was just on the ball in October.

And oooh I can't wait to see you meet Flynn and Rapunzel. We met them at our MVMCP and they were great so I hope you had the same experience!

 

[khertz]

Ugh iPads...so annoying.

Love the pics of DS on Mad Tea Party!

Adorable pic of DH & DS holding hands

OMG that's the cutest video ever! It's so great when the character provides that kind of awesome interaction. And not to sound weird but you have the cutest accent ever!!

So mean of you to cut off right before you meet Flynn!! Can't wait to hear about it next!

They REALLY are!! I just don't understand it.

Thanks! He loves that ride as much as his dad does, which isn't good news for me because DH can sure spin the heck out of those teacups.

One of my favorite pics from the whole entire night.

I'm glad it worked! I couldn't get it to work all day, but now it seems like it us so it must have just been my connection. It was SUCH a great interaction, and Donald was so perfect because I was just thinking this meet was going down the tubes because all DS wanted was for Donald to sign the book! Oh my goodness, I hate the way I sound on video! But thank you, I'm glad it's not as irritating to everyone else at least.

I had to save a little something great for the next update!

First, I wanted to say that I love your costumes! They're so adorable! You all look great and your tiny Peter is just the cutest thing.

I can't even do the tea cups when they're spinning at normal pace, so you've got a much stronger stomach than I do, lol for sticking it out that long.

Also, what great interaction with Goofy. I loved him when I saw him too because he was great. I feel like the whole group was just on the ball in October.

And oooh I can't wait to see you meet Flynn and Rapunzel. We met them at our MVMCP and they were great so I hope you had the same experience!

Thank you! He absolutely loved dressing as Peter Pan and still talks about it months later. We had brought the costume with us for him to wear on Mardi Gras day because lots of people dress up, but the rain ruined that plan. He was so disappointed!

I can handle most things, but lots of spinning really makes me feel ill. Luckily right now he doesn't like any crazy spinning yet either!!

All of the characters we came across at MNSSHP ended up being great! Like they were in the party spirit!!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Oh Lord STOP WITH THE iPAD PHOTOGRAPHY. On a dark ride no less. Well I guess not so dark with the light coming off that screen.

Awww the photo of hubby and son walking hand in hand... doesn't get better than that.

The Flintstones crew in your Gaston statue photo caught my eye. I swear this has to be one of the most popular costumes. It seems every MNSSHP report I read has a Flintstones somewhere in the photos.

Haha, that sword fight is adorable. Especially when Donald was giving the sword back but DS went right back into fighting mode.

Oh my it just never ceases to amaze me when people get in line for something and they don't even know what it's for. It does, however, make me laugh hysterically!!

 

[amazingact21]

Well, that video was just too cute! Landon watched it with me and he was smiling at Donald and Paxton's sword fight. I love how in the beginning, Paxton's face clearly read, "Mom, did you just see that? What the heck does Donald think he's doing? Coming up and stealing my sword..."



Good thinking on saving those guests from waiting in a line that they didn't want to be in. You probably prevented them from having a terrible party experience.

 

[courtneybelle]

I forget if I told you or someone else, but I saw a TON of iPad photographers in Italy, so prepare yourself. It's worldwide.

We had a very similar problem at the Christmas party with Princess Fairytale Hall. They won't give any definite info regarding when the line starts.

That video is SO ADORABLE! Donald was too funny with his reaction to losing the swordfight.

Nope, I completely understand you informing the other guests what they were in line for. I did the same thing at Be Our Guest the first time we went. So many people thought it was a ride!

 

[eandesmom]

Congrats on the job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I absolutely love your costumes. I love, even more, the fact that your DH totally went for it and clearly had a blast in it!

I love the picture teacup pic, such a happy boy and the pic of your DH and DS walking away hand in hand is just

The first highlight of the wait was the woman behind us who asked DH if he was dressed as Ralphie from A Christmas Story. :facepalm: Luckily, the man with her knew what was up and quickly corrected her!

I did my best to shorten our wait time by listening carefully to the people in front of me as they wondered aloud if this was a ride, and then saying, "I really hope this is a ride and not a walk through." I promptly informed them that it was a character meet & greet, and then when they started wondering how to get out of the line, I urged them to hop over the railing and exit through the empty Cinderella queue. Then I high-5'd DH when they did just that! Hey, that's one group out of the way, and I'm sure I improved their night after they didn't wait all that time for something they weren't interested in anyway...I was just doing them a service, not trying to get myself further up in line!

Well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MEK]

That queue is really neat. I'm glad the wait was only 30 minutes.

Love the character pics. I know its fairly dark in that tent so I think your DH did a great job editing the pics. The background is really cool.

Paxton is seriously having way to much on those tea cups. I keep my fingers crossed that its still quite awhile before he learns that they can spin even more.

 

[Imagineer5]

Wow awesome photos at Pete's!! What a wonderful meet & I love your pre-party time! You got a lot done AND I think I might try out riding the tea cups without spinnig, I hadn't even thought about that!

Can't wait to see the Flynn meet!

 

[rdkeim]

I'm mostly a lurker on your TR's. I've followed along on all of them - so fun to see how your son is growing up from one trip to another. You have so many wonderful photos of him - you must have a hard time deciding which ones to frame and display. Great job - I'll be watching for more updates!

 

[afwdwfan]

Ahhh, the elusive iPad photographer in her natural habitat...

If only "elusive" were the appropriate word.

​

Love the Flintstones in the background.

It was so great to see a reaction from the characters for his costume choice!

That's your opinion. What is his?

We left Pete's Silly Sideshow on a total high! It ended up being one of the many highlights of the night.

That is awesome!!! I'm glad that your DS and Donald got to have a little swordfight and have some fun.

But by then, it was pretty close to party time, so that was exactly where we headed next to find that, gee, they DO start a separate line for party guests prior to 7 pm.

Maybe you need to know some kind of password or secret handshake to be deemed worthy of this information.

The first highlight of the wait was the woman behind us who asked DH if he was dressed as Ralphie from A Christmas Story. :facepalm:

Then I high-5'd DH when they did just that! Hey, that's one group out of the way, and I'm sure I improved their night after they didn't wait all that time for something they weren't interested in anyway...I was just doing them a service, not trying to get myself further up in line!

A win-win situation. Well done!

 

[TruLovesKiss]

Finally just catching up on your TR

I'll start off by saying a big CONGRATS on your new job! I'm so happy for you, I could tell how much you wanted it!! No weekends, No holidays... that's awesome!

LOVE that little splash area at your resort. Looks like Paxton had a great time... too bad the water was a little too chilly to do much swimming. We plan to do the same thing next trip... skipping a park ticket for the day we do the party so it will force us to get in some pool time!

Ahhh, your MNSSHP costumes are awesome!! What a great idea! I'm so glad that you convinced your DH to be Michael. (haha, Ralphie... that cracked me up!!)

What a bummer that Peter Pan & Wendy weren't still out for their M&G. That would have made for some great pics.

I had no idea that those lights indicated the Trick or Treat spots....bad Diser :

Now that sure was some great character interaction with Donald! So glad that CM steered you wrong, haha!

Now let's get the party started!! Can't wait to read all about it

 

[khertz]

Oh Lord STOP WITH THE iPAD PHOTOGRAPHY. On a dark ride no less. Well I guess not so dark with the light coming off that screen.

Awww the photo of hubby and son walking hand in hand... doesn't get better than that.

The Flintstones crew in your Gaston statue photo caught my eye. I swear this has to be one of the most popular costumes. It seems every MNSSHP report I read has a Flintstones somewhere in the photos.

Haha, that sword fight is adorable. Especially when Donald was giving the sword back but DS went right back into fighting mode.

Oh my it just never ceases to amaze me when people get in line for something and they don't even know what it's for. It does, however, make me laugh hysterically!!

She was actually videoing with the iPad, and if I'm right, she was pausing it when she meant to be recording and then recording when she set it down in her lap.

One of my favorites from the night.

Maybe it's just the same family and they go to a LOT of parties??

That sword fight was one of the many highlights of this trip!

I was just happy to help them out and save them a 30 minute wait for something they didn't want to do. It had nothing to do with there being one less party in front of me to meet Flynn & Rapunzel. But really, I am kind of amazed that people just get into lines without any clue what they are lining up for!

Well, that video was just too cute! Landon watched it with me and he was smiling at Donald and Paxton's sword fight. I love how in the beginning, Paxton's face clearly read, "Mom, did you just see that? What the heck does Donald think he's doing? Coming up and stealing my sword..."



Good thinking on saving those guests from waiting in a line that they didn't want to be in. You probably prevented them from having a terrible party experience.

I really thought he was going to freak out that Donald took his sword! That could have ended up even worse than the autograph book freak out that was already brewing!

I'm sure they spent the rest of their night thanking me from saving them from that long line.

I forget if I told you or someone else, but I saw a TON of iPad photographers in Italy, so prepare yourself. It's worldwide.

We had a very similar problem at the Christmas party with Princess Fairytale Hall. They won't give any definite info regarding when the line starts.

That video is SO ADORABLE! Donald was too funny with his reaction to losing the swordfight.

Nope, I completely understand you informing the other guests what they were in line for. I did the same thing at Be Our Guest the first time we went. So many people thought it was a ride!

OH NO! I'm sure they are all American tourists. No wonder Europeans hate us!!!

It's kind of ridiculous. Everyone knows about it, so why not just stop the charade? In the end, it was better because we wouldn't have had that great experience with Donald. But I was still a little annoyed to come back to a pretty decent sized line and knowing I could have been further ahead than I was. Oh, well, it all turned out okay in the end. Minor bump in the road.

Donald was GREAT! I know DS loved it too because he absolutely loves sword fighting people.

People thought BOG was a RIDE?!?!? I mean, I guess I can understand not expecting there to be such a long line for a restaurant. But seriously, why would you get in that long line without knowing what it was for?!

Congrats on the job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I absolutely love your costumes. I love, even more, the fact that your DH totally went for it and clearly had a blast in it!

I love the picture teacup pic, such a happy boy and the pic of your DH and DS walking away hand in hand is just







Well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks, Cynthia! I'm really excited about it!

The costumes were a lot of fun and I'm so happy DH decided to go for it because we got a lot of great reactions from characters, CM's, and guests!

That queue is really neat. I'm glad the wait was only 30 minutes.

Love the character pics. I know its fairly dark in that tent so I think your DH did a great job editing the pics. The background is really cool.

Paxton is seriously having way to much on those tea cups. I keep my fingers crossed that its still quite awhile before he learns that they can spin even more.

The queue is so beautifully done! I was glad we had such a short wait and that most of it was pre-party time. It's definitely a good idea to go into the party with a plan!

Thanks!

Thank you, I have my fingers crossed for that too. I can remember Dustin taking me on a spinning ride when we were dating and spinning it so fast I very nearly got sick, so if I suddenly find myself outnumbered by spinners in the family...No more tea cups for me!

 

[khertz]

Wow awesome photos at Pete's!! What a wonderful meet & I love your pre-party time! You got a lot done AND I think I might try out riding the tea cups without spinnig, I hadn't even thought about that!

Can't wait to see the Flynn meet!

The meet at Pete's was a really great way to kick off the night, and even before official party time had started! I was pretty impressed with how much we were able to get done before the party. I was able to stick to my plan pretty well, too, and accomplish almost everything on our list!

The tea cups without spinning is the only way I can do it! They still spin a little, but not enough to make me ill.

I'm mostly a lurker on your TR's. I've followed along on all of them - so fun to see how your son is growing up from one trip to another. You have so many wonderful photos of him - you must have a hard time deciding which ones to frame and display. Great job - I'll be watching for more updates!

Thanks for coming out of lurkdom to comment! Always appreciated. I am so glad I found the DIS TR board when I did so I could write these TRs to go back and see how he has grown over our Disney trips too! I definitely have a hard time! I have tried making photo books of our long Disney trips before, and it just becomes too expensive because we have SO many pictures of him and I have a hard time choosing between them!!

If only "elusive" were the appropriate word.


Love the Flintstones in the background.


That's your opinion. What is his?


That is awesome!!! I'm glad that your DS and Donald got to have a little swordfight and have some fun.


Maybe you need to know some kind of password or secret handshake to be deemed worthy of this information.





A win-win situation. Well done!

So true! I really have trouble reconciling the fact in my mind that so many people seem to think it's a good idea and convenient to lug an iPad around all day for pictures?!

Well, I'll have to check with DH for his opinion, but he sure seemed to be enjoying the attention that night!

The sword fight was so great! Paxton truly got a kick out of that because he is like any normal little boy who LOVES sword fighting!

Finally just catching up on your TR

I'll start off by saying a big CONGRATS on your new job! I'm so happy for you, I could tell how much you wanted it!! No weekends, No holidays... that's awesome!

LOVE that little splash area at your resort. Looks like Paxton had a great time... too bad the water was a little too chilly to do much swimming. We plan to do the same thing next trip... skipping a park ticket for the day we do the party so it will force us to get in some pool time!

Ahhh, your MNSSHP costumes are awesome!! What a great idea! I'm so glad that you convinced your DH to be Michael. (haha, Ralphie... that cracked me up!!)

What a bummer that Peter Pan & Wendy weren't still out for their M&G. That would have made for some great pics.

I had no idea that those lights indicated the Trick or Treat spots....bad Diser :

Now that sure was some great character interaction with Donald! So glad that CM steered you wrong, haha!

Now let's get the party started!! Can't wait to read all about it

Thanks, Rachel! I can't wait to start and have those better hours!

"Forcing" pool time is EXACTLY what we needed! When we have tickets, it's just so hard to say, oh we can skip the parks and go to the pool instead. Especially when we had APs! Forget about it.

I'm glad I convinced him, and in the end, I think he was happy he had done it too. It made it such a fun night to not only be dressed up, but to have costumes that people commented on!

The night was already awesome as it was, but being able to meet Peter & Wendy would have just made it perfect!

I didn't realize that at first either! I figured it out later when we were walking past the one by Pinocchio's and the CM's had signs out or something.

As annoying as it was at the time to have the CM being so obtuse, it really worked out perfectly that we were able to fit in that meet with Goofy & Donald. One of the highlights of the trip!

I can't wait to post about it! We had so much fun!! I might be able to get a post up today while Paxton is napping as long as I don't get called in to work.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Love love the pictures and the sword fighting interactions between your DS and Donald! So cute.

I wonder if the unhelpful CM at Fairytale Hall was the same one that was also unhelpful for us in January when I was trying to figure out how long the wait through the FP+ queue would be and whether we would have enough time to get to our BOG ADR.

 

[emmysmommy]

Aurora immediately asked to see his muscles, and DS was happy to oblige.


05-181 by disneymom1024, on Flickr

Adorable!! What a great interaction. One of those looks on his face is exactly what my DH does when I try to get him to pose with princesses!

Just a quick life update, since I mentioned it here on the TR...I got the job I interviewed for a couple of weeks ago! I still have to be kind of quiet about it at work and on Facebook because the other applicants haven't been told yet that they didn't get the position. But thanks to everyone for the well wishes as I was going through the interview process, both here & on FB! I couldn't be more excited! Instead of working 12 hour shifts, I'll be working at an outpatient infusion center for the pediatric hematology/oncology patients, so it will be Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm, no weekends and no holidays! So much better for our family!

CONGRATULATIONS!! How awesome for you and your family!

06-018 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
With our camera


PP-064 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Photopass version

You guys are adorable! Your DH pulled off the Michael look very well! I'm sure you guys gave some park guests a big chuckle that evening!

The video of Paxton sword fighting with Donald was so cute. You have great photos and video of that interaction.

Cliff hanger for the Rapunzel and Flynn meet and greet! Oh man...