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

Finally getting a chance to catch up after coming back from our trip. I'm having some major Disney withdrawal issues. :rotfl:

We have the toughest time trying to get the kids to leave the Boneyard as well. They just love it too much in there. And I'm embarrassed to say that despite spending all those hours in their I'm seeing the jeep for the first time in your pictures! :rotfl:

We did characterpalooza last week and loved it. Mulan was the best part. She became our own personal character when she spent a good 7-8 minutes with our kids. It was great.

Congrats on your May trip!! :cool1:

I can totally relate, hence why we are going in May. :lmao: I just couldn't take not going at all in 2014!

Too funny about the jeep. :rotfl: I'm sure we only found it because I was wandering around for so long looking for the dig site.

That's awesome about Mulan! Characterpalooza is so great, and one of our favorite things. You can definitely get good character time there since it's not an "official" meet and greet.

Thanks!

Hi! It's me Rachel! I followed the link and I'm finally here! I can't wait to read more! The intro looks great! No matter how many pictures I see of your son, I just can't get over how cute he is!

So glad you are here, Rachel! I just spent the morning catching up on your great TR.

Aww, thank you. :goodvibes He is pretty cute, most of the time when he's not driving me nuts. :rotfl:
 
Day 4 Continued: Friday October 25th

After a great time at Characterpalooza, the sound of the engines nearby was too much for DS to ignore any longer. He wanted to meet Lightning McQueen & Mater! DS has a lot of Disney characters and movies/shows he loves, but I think Cars & the characters from those movies are at the very top. In fact, every time he tells someone his favorite color is red, he immediately follows that with, "because Lightning McQueen is red!"

There was one family ahead of us in line, so I took the opportunity to take pictures of the cute little chalk drawings they had on the ground while waiting.


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The whole time in line, DS kept asking, "Is it my turn? Is it my turn now?" So needless to say, after a whole 5 minutes of that, he was very excited when I told him it was his turn!


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Photopass version


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I'm glad I used that Planes border when I did! It disappeared from the Photopass website shortly after. Right behind Cars is his passion for Planes and Dusty Crophopper. It was the first movie I took him to see in a theater, and it was definitely a great choice for that! He absolutely loves it!

We checked the line for Phineas & Ferb as we walked past, but it was kind of long so we decided to head over to the Animation Courtyard instead and see about meeting some Disney Jr. characters.


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Unfortunately, Sofia was done meeting for the day, so we didn't get to see her. But Jake was still there! He had a short line, but we only waited maybe 10 minutes and DS had his safari truck to keep him busy while we were in line. Finally, it was his turn to meet Jake!


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We went inside the Animation Building to see which characters we could find there. I had almost forgotten about a meet I had been so super excited for!! We missed out on it by literally a day on our last trip, so I had been hoping and hoping they would still be there when we arrived on this trip. Luckily, the line was not long and we caught a glimpse of them as we joined at the end of the line.


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Ralph & Vanellope!​

I guess this area for meet & greets is usually occupied by more recent movies and changes out every once in awhile, but we have never met the characters there. Last trip, it was still behind walls getting ready for Ralph & Vanellope, and I think the year before that it might have still been Winnie the Pooh, so we skipped that because we met them at our Crystal Palace breakfast. So I have no idea if it's normal for them to theme the queue room like they did for Wreck-It Ralph, but either way, I absolutely adored the queue! Since they don't sign, as we walked in we were handed a few cards with their pictures and autographs on them.


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Pretty sure this was my favorite!


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Just as we got up to the front of the line, Ralph & Vanellope went inside for a break. So we chatted with the CM at the head of the line, made sure our cameras and Photopass cards were ready, and within just a couple of minutes, they were coming back out.


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Telling Vanellope we love the candy in her hair!


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I think you can tell in his face that DS found Ralph a little intimidating!


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The line for Sorcerer Mickey was a tad long, and DH was starting to get hungry. So while we regrouped and tried to decide what we were going to do, DS was playing around with the spinning character...thing. Not really sure what to call it! But Captain Hook sure does look pretty in that dress...


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We took a bathroom break right there, then headed out in search of something to eat.


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Continued in next post...

 
Day 4 Continued: Friday October 25th

I'd heard from my mom that they would be leaving Bonnet Creek shortly to come pick up DS, so we figured whatever we got to eat should be portable as we would have to eat it while leaving the park. Chicken nuggets seemed easiest for that plan, so we headed to Studio Catering Company. DH got in line at Rosie's while I waited off to the side with DS in his stroller.

As we were waiting, a CM came from backstage and noticed DS's birthday button on his stroller, so she knelt down and started talking to him about his birthday. She asked me if it was okay to give him a cupcake, and I figured why not? She went backstage and returned with a birthday cupcake for DS.


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DH must have seen what was going on in line, because he also got a photo of the interaction!


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What a sweet CM! She was so nice, and of course, yet another birthday cupcake (and before dinner even!) made DS very very happy! After thanking her, she went back to work, and we needed to start leaving the park. I didn't eat much of the chicken because I was saving room for later, and DS didn't eat much either because he was enjoying that cupcake! I wasn't too worried though, because our parents were going to feed him later on.

We walked out to the parking lot to meet our parents, and somehow my mom had managed to find the row we were on and stop there. So we were very close to be able to transfer the car seat over to their minivan. Once DS was buckled in, they headed off for their evening, and DH drove us over to Epcot for our date night!


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Being a Friday night during Food & Wine, the parking lot was a little crazy. We had to park further away, but we still decided to walk to the entrance instead of waiting for a tram.


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Well, since it was right there and the wait time was only 5 minutes, we walked onto Spaceship Earth! It was nice to be able to do this attraction just the two of us because while he has ridden it before, I was thinking DS might find it too boring this year and spend the whole time whining that he wanted to get off.


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My favorite! So excited that I will be seeing the REAL THING in just a few more months!


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I could not stop laughing through our entire Create Your Future segment of the ride because of that RIDICULOUS face DH made!

We had to stop at the Food & Wine booth to get the information on the event we were headed to, because we had no idea where to go! Once we thought we had it figured out, we started off in the direction of World Showcase. But...my fountain was dancing, so we had to stop and watch that first!


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Love it!

UP NEXT: Desserts in 3D (imagine that as said in Muppets 3D! :rotfl:)

 
I never knew those chalk drawings existed by Lightning McQueen's meet and greet! How cute! But maybe that's because I've never met him...I must find time to do that on my next trip! And also Characterpalooza! That looks like the greatest thing in the whole world! So many characters!

Yay for meeting Ralph and Vanellope! I'm glad they were still there when you went! I'm not quite sure on this, but the Character Attendant CM there sort of looks like the same one my friends and I met in April. She told us that her whole family works for Disney and they love it! But I don't have any pictures of her, so I can't be certain if it's the same one. Looks like you had a wonderful meet and greet!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Captain Hook in a dress. Yes. :thumbsup2

AWWWWW at that CM giving DS a birthday cupcake!

I love those Spaceship Earth pictures; they're so clear! And your create-your-future pictures are great, too! "Need party outfit!" :rotfl:

That fountain! :love: Whenever we pass by it, though, it's not dancing. :( The only time we've ever seen it doing it's thang was about seven years ago. Your picture of it looks GORGEOUS with that lighting!

Lastly, I LOVE your Minnie-themed outfit! :goodvibes That's such a cute idea!
 

I've never done the cars meet, so I'm curious. Do they do anything?

It's so weird that Sofia totally creeps me out, but Jake looks completely fine. I have no idea why.

I really agree, the Ralph queue is fantastic.

Haha, I find Ralph intimidating (after all, he's HUGE), so I can only imagine the impression on a child.

Bahaha, DH sure does look happy about his future. :goodvibes
 
Great character pics!

So sweet that the CM gave DS a bday cupcake!

DH's face on Spaceship Earth is hilarious :rotfl2:
 
So I have no idea if it's normal for them to theme the queue room like they did for Wreck-It Ralph, but either way, I absolutely adored the queue! Since they don't sign, as we walked in we were handed a few cards with their pictures and autographs on them.
The queue area does look really fun! I'm glad that you got a chance to meet them. We really like that movie!

DS didn't eat much either because he was enjoying that cupcake! I wasn't too worried though, because our parents were going to feed him later on.
Translation: We didn't care if he loaded up on sugar, because he was going with the grandparents. :rolleyes1

My favorite! So excited that I will be seeing the REAL THING in just a few more months!
Jealous...
 
The queue area for Wreck it Ralph is too cute! I haven't met them yet but I may have too. I love your pictures, your DS looks so cute! Even the CM in the background of the one with Vanellope is smiling!

What a nice moment of pixie dust with the birthday cupcake!

My Mom also makes the most ridiculous faces on Spaceship earth! But she doesn't mean too :rotfl2:
 
Love your trip report! Just spent hours reading through it and can't wait to see Date Night! Dessert 3D sounds yummy! Paxton is just adorable!
 
Yay :cool1: for date night!

How sweet of that CM to give Paxton a birthday cupcake. That is so sweet. And such an appetite killer!

Love the cars photos. That's so great that had time for pictures before you left for Epcot! I do remember it being pretty darn crowded that night. That's about all remember from that Friday night. :rotfl2: I wonder what my pictures will reveal. :confused3
 
That's so adorable that DS says his favorite color is red because of Lightning McQueen!!

I love the Wreck-It Ralph M&G area too. So many fun details!

That is so awesome about the birthday cupcake! My friend who worked at DHS says they really encourage giving out free food to guests there. It's so great.

I am excited for 3D desserts. Desserts are my favorite food group, especially if they're Disney! :rotfl: :cake: :mickeybar
 
I'm glad Paxton was finally able to see Lightning McQueen and Mater. He looks so excited in your PP pics. :goodvibes


Ahhh, a date night at Epcot during F&W, that sounds amazing. :lmao:
 
Characterpalooza looks like so much fun! I feel like Meeko and Pinocchio were especially good finds, they seem to be basically nonexistent these days!

Ralph and Vanellope are so fun to meet! I'm with you, I'm not sure if the meets are usually so well themed. But if they are, that's awesome!
 
Paxton is too cute! My son also had a McQueen obsession about that age ;). That's great you were able to have a date night!!!
 
I never knew those chalk drawings existed by Lightning McQueen's meet and greet! How cute! But maybe that's because I've never met him...I must find time to do that on my next trip! And also Characterpalooza! That looks like the greatest thing in the whole world! So many characters!

Lightning McQueen & Mater are way cooler in California where they actually talk and drive. But DS doesn't know that, so this was more than enough to make him happy because he has no idea what he is missing out on!

Characterpalooza is AMAZING. If not for the DIS I don't think I would have ever known such a thing existed. We have met some really great characters that way!

Yay for meeting Ralph and Vanellope! I'm glad they were still there when you went! I'm not quite sure on this, but the Character Attendant CM there sort of looks like the same one my friends and I met in April. She told us that her whole family works for Disney and they love it! But I don't have any pictures of her, so I can't be certain if it's the same one. Looks like you had a wonderful meet and greet!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Captain Hook in a dress. Yes. :thumbsup2

Aww, that is so sweet about the CM! How awesome would it be for the whole family to work for Disney. :cloud9:

AWWWWW at that CM giving DS a birthday cupcake!

Such a sweet & random moment of pixie dust! I have been reading stories about a lot more not-so-magical CM's, but it's so great to know there are still some amazing ones in the parks.

I love those Spaceship Earth pictures; they're so clear! And your create-your-future pictures are great, too! "Need party outfit!" :rotfl:

Thanks! Probably the best photos in there DH has managed so far. We tried to pick different things than usual for our create the future segment, and we were pretty much cracking up laughing the whole time. :lmao:

That fountain! :love: Whenever we pass by it, though, it's not dancing. :( The only time we've ever seen it doing it's thang was about seven years ago. Your picture of it looks GORGEOUS with that lighting!

Lastly, I LOVE your Minnie-themed outfit! :goodvibes That's such a cute idea!

Thanks!

I've never done the cars meet, so I'm curious. Do they do anything?

It's so weird that Sofia totally creeps me out, but Jake looks completely fine. I have no idea why.

I really agree, the Ralph queue is fantastic.

Haha, I find Ralph intimidating (after all, he's HUGE), so I can only imagine the impression on a child.

Bahaha, DH sure does look happy about his future. :goodvibes

The cars don't really do anything but rev their engines and make honking noises every now and then. The ones in California are WAY cooler! Luckily, DS has never seen them so he has no idea what he's missing out on. But for a little kid with a Cars obsession, they really don't need to do anything for it to be exciting. :rotfl:

I don't find Sofia all that freaky, but I know a lot of other people do. Maybe because Jake has a little more "fluff" to him instead of just wearing a dress? So his body looks a little less like a normal person's and out of proportion with his head?

Yeah, Ralph is pretty massive! I'm just glad DS wasn't scared! He really enjoyed the queue too since he loves the movie so much.

DH is apparently VERY enthusiastic about drinking coffee in the future! :rotfl2:

Great character pics!

So sweet that the CM gave DS a bday cupcake!

DH's face on Spaceship Earth is hilarious :rotfl2:

Thanks! We definitely love meeting the characters.

It was so nice and random! Those are the best moments to me.

The queue area does look really fun! I'm glad that you got a chance to meet them. We really like that movie!

We love the movie too! They did a great job with such a small queue, fitting in lots of details. And the setup for the pictures is so colorful & fun!

Translation: We didn't care if he loaded up on sugar, because he was going with the grandparents. :rolleyes1

Sounds like you've done this before. :thumbsup2:thumbsup2:thumbsup2 :lmao:

Jealous...

:goodvibes
 
The queue area for Wreck it Ralph is too cute! I haven't met them yet but I may have too. I love your pictures, your DS looks so cute! Even the CM in the background of the one with Vanellope is smiling!

What a nice moment of pixie dust with the birthday cupcake!

My Mom also makes the most ridiculous faces on Spaceship earth! But she doesn't mean too :rotfl2:

I don't know how anyone working in the Ralph & Vanellope area could be NOT smiling! They are so fun!! Hope you get a chance to meet them.

It was so awesome & unexpected! He was happy enough just that she was stopping to tell him Happy Birthday. :goodvibes

Too funny about your mom! :rotfl: It catches me off guard sometimes too. But DH was definitely doing that on purpose. Haha

Love your trip report! Just spent hours reading through it and can't wait to see Date Night! Dessert 3D sounds yummy! Paxton is just adorable!

Thanks for joining in & commenting!! Hopefully I can post an update tomorrow or Friday. :goodvibes

Yay :cool1: for date night!

How sweet of that CM to give Paxton a birthday cupcake. That is so sweet. And such an appetite killer!

Love the cars photos. That's so great that had time for pictures before you left for Epcot! I do remember it being pretty darn crowded that night. That's about all remember from that Friday night. :rotfl2: I wonder what my pictures will reveal. :confused3

I actually don't know if he ate later with my parents or not. But I guess I wasn't really that worried about it. :rotfl:

Oh goodness, I can't wait for THAT update!!!! :lmao: It was definitely crowded, but we weren't out with the crowds for long.

That's so adorable that DS says his favorite color is red because of Lightning McQueen!!

I love the Wreck-It Ralph M&G area too. So many fun details!

That is so awesome about the birthday cupcake! My friend who worked at DHS says they really encourage giving out free food to guests there. It's so great.

I am excited for 3D desserts. Desserts are my favorite food group, especially if they're Disney! :rotfl: :cake: :mickeybar

It's really too funny! We just customized our MagicBands for May, and red is my favorite color too, but I went with pink so he could have a red one. :goodvibes He doesn't even know yet, so I know he's going to be excited about the red Band.

That's awesome that they are encouraged to give out free food! Good thing we spend a lot of time in DHS. I'll have to spend more time hanging around Starring Rolls now that I have this information... :rotfl:

YES! Desserts are always good but they taste SO MUCH BETTER in Disney!

I'm glad Paxton was finally able to see Lightning McQueen and Mater. He looks so excited in your PP pics. :goodvibes


Ahhh, a date night at Epcot during F&W, that sounds amazing. :lmao:

He was definitely excited! More so than the previous trip, for sure. I think in 2012 he had not quite gotten into Cars as much before the trip, it was after. So we met the cars, but he didn't really know what the big deal was.

It was really nice to have a date night in a park! Last trip, we'd been able to go to DTD for an evening, but that was only because none of the parks were really an option.

Characterpalooza looks like so much fun! I feel like Meeko and Pinocchio were especially good finds, they seem to be basically nonexistent these days!

Ralph and Vanellope are so fun to meet! I'm with you, I'm not sure if the meets are usually so well themed. But if they are, that's awesome!

Characterpalooza was great! I was SO excited about Meeko! We had seen Pinocchio in 2012, but it's still nice to see him out because that's really the only place he can be found now.

I never visited when it was the Up characters or Winnie the Pooh when the new movie came out to compare. But they did awesome with Game Central Station!

Paxton is too cute! My son also had a McQueen obsession about that age ;). That's great you were able to have a date night!!!

Thanks! I'm sure every boy in a Disney loving family goes through that Lightning McQueen stage. :rotfl: I remember seeing it for the first time in college at my friend's house because her little sister wanted to see it, and I thought it was just okay, but not something I ever needed to see again. Oh, if only I'd known then I'd be seeing it A LOT more in the future!!! :lmao:
 
When I was growing up, I didn't like cupcakes or other sugary treats, so when I saw that DS got another birthday cupcake, I started thinking, "If my kids don't like cupcakes just like I didn't like 'em, then I could eat any of their potential bday cupcakes ..."

Yeah, my mind went there, haha.

Ahhh, how fun that you guys got to have a date night in Epcot! That's one thing I know will be good about future trips with kids because going with my parents will mean we'll have eager babysitters!
 
When I was growing up, I didn't like cupcakes or other sugary treats, so when I saw that DS got another birthday cupcake, I started thinking, "If my kids don't like cupcakes just like I didn't like 'em, then I could eat any of their potential bday cupcakes ..."

Yeah, my mind went there, haha.

Ahhh, how fun that you guys got to have a date night in Epcot! That's one thing I know will be good about future trips with kids because going with my parents will mean we'll have eager babysitters!

That would certainly work out well for you if your kids are not into sweets!! :lmao: I have the opposite problem... Paxton usually does not want to share, and by the time he's done with it, it's a huge mess so I don't even get what he doesn't finish.

That has definitely been the best thing about having the grandparents along for the past couple of trips! Now that he's older, we could do the kids clubs if we don't have an infant by the time we take our next big trip. :scratchin
 
Day 4 Continued: Friday October 25th

Once the fountain had finished performing, we made our way into World Showcase. Without meaning to, we always start from the Mexico side and work our way around from there. But this time, we started on the Canada side because where we needed to be was between Canada and the UK pavilions at the World Showplace Events Pavilion. After a quick bathroom break (actually, it wasn't all that quick...the women's line was HUGE but I scoped out a nearby companion restroom and used that one instead!), we headed into the Pavilion for our 3D Dessert Discovery party!


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This was our very first Food & Wine event, and both of us were pretty excited! I had booked it over the phone the very first day they became available. After reading some horror stories on the boards of people having trouble booking the events, I was really happy that I had no issues getting the two of us booked. We decided not to pay for the Sweet Seats (which gets you in first and, I believe, guarantees you a table), so we just made sure to arrive early and had ourselves positioned at the front of the crowd once we had checked in and received our bracelets and 3D glasses.

I was confused by the 3D glasses at first...I mean, aren't we seeing everything in 3D already?? But then I put them on and looked up at the lights. So amazing! Every light source when looked at with the glasses made the effect of hundreds of floating Mickey heads! We had fun playing with those while we waited to be let inside.


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I was also listening in to the group in front of us raving about all of the different DVC contracts they owned and being totally jealous about it, especially as the two women compared Disney D&B purses! lol

After waiting about 40 minutes, we were let inside. Most people went running for the tables, but DH and I figured we didn't need a table for 4 or more people just for ourselves, so we weren't worried about getting a place to sit. Instead, we headed for the DESSERTS! First up was the cake table, which had lots of different cupcakes and brownies on it and loaded up a plate.


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A little fruit, but let's be real, we are here for the sweets!!


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This was our first plate, as we found a standing table at that point and decided to try everything first before heading to a different station. On the plate starting at the top was a peanut butter & jelly macaron, a brownie of some sort, a watermelon cupcake (probably my favorite on that first plate!), a vanilla cupcake topped with candied bacon, an apple crumb cake, and a chocolate Mickey ears cake that was REALLY dry. Down at the bottom of the picture is an ice cream hot dog! The dog was made of mixed berry ice cream, and the bun was vanilla cake with whipped cream on the bottom. Then I added some raspberry "ketchup" but they also had mango "yellow mustard" and green cherry "relish" that you could add as well!

We polished off most of our first plates, then went to the station right near our table which was my favorite, different kinds of popcorn and small pretzel rolls with different kinds of fondue!


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As you can see, it was hopping in there!


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We got from the top left caramel corn, strawberry popcorn, and regular butter popcorn. I went back later for a couple different kinds that we didn't take pictures of. I think they had cheese popcorn, and some kind of Parmesan garlic corn that sounded really delicious but didn't taste that great. I was totally skeptical of the strawberry popcorn, but it was actually really good! I also got a few different dips to try with the pretzel rolls, chocolate, spicy cheese, and spinach artichoke fondue. SO delicious!! I know it was a dessert party and all, but I made LOTS of return trips for hot pretzel rolls and dips!

We were starting to get full when we remembered the one thing we had been SO excited to try...cinnamon flambeed donuts!!! Side story, DH and I always have a lot of laughs when it comes to anything flambeed. One of our favorite episodes of Fresh Prince is the one where he tries to flambe and burns the kitchen down! "MAMA NOOOOO!!" If you have no clue what I'm talking about, I feel sad for you. But you can educate yourself with this link to the scene.

SO DH went to get us one, but didn't get to see the flambe happening because they had some already made and off to the side.


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Oh my goodness, SO DELICIOUS!!! A hot donut served with ice cream. What could be better than that??

I really wanted another one, but we were soooooo stuffed. We made one more pass through the pretzels and popcorn station to get some small containers to take with us. Then we left our table and wandered back over to the donut station just as they were getting ready to prepare some more.


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VIDEO: Flambeed Donuts

We did a little more walking around and even tasted a couple of drinks since we had paid quite a bit to get in, presumably for the alcohol. But DH and I are just not big drinkers, so we were there for the food. lol He drank some lemonade whiskey, and I tried a martini, and I think we tried some nonalcoholic fresca type drinks at a different station.


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The savory station that we never attempted because the line was always SO long.


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Whiskey​

By about 9, we were done with the party. On the way out, we were handed some little Godiva chocolates, which was a nice parting gift. We were also loaded down with as many containers of popcorn and pretzels as we could manage, so we were set for the night!


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Overall, we were very impressed with the 3D Disney's Dessert Discovery. It was a little pricey, especially for the two of us who didn't really take advantage of the booze. But the food was delicious, and we were totally glad we had booked something like this for our date night. We did see a lot of young kids there, but it was nice to have the evening to ourselves and not have to keep track of DS. There were plenty of tables, both sitting and standing. In fact, we probably could have found a place to sit down, but we were fine with a standing table and then walking around after. Definitely wouldn't feel the need to pay extra for the Sweet Seats. They did have a band for entertainment, but it got old after awhile to only hear them singing songs with "sweet" or "candy" in the titles!

As we were walking to find the designated area where we could watch IllumiNations, who should I see walking towards us again but Mary Ellen (MEK) and her husband Denny!! So now that was not once, but twice that I had run into her in the parks without working out a meet up. We didn't take any photos together this time, but we did stop to chat for a few moments.

We finally found the roped off area for the 3D guests near the gift shop, but we were a little too early to be let in, so we made a pass through the gift shop, but nothing struck our fancy. Once we could get in, DH went up to the railing to start setting up his tripod and testing camera settings while I sat on a nearby bench and played on my phone and texted my mom to see how DS's evening had gone. When it started to fill up, I went over to meet DH and make sure we had our spot ready for when the fireworks started.


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One of his test shots​

IllumiNations is not my favorite when it comes to fireworks shows, so we have skipped it for a few years. So while it is no Wishes in my book, I was still excited to be seeing it again! An older woman and her adult daughter sat down next to us while we were waiting for the show to begin and were raving about watching the fireworks with the 3D glasses on. Now it all made sense! I put them on just as they were about to start, and it was AMAZING! You could hear everyone in our section ooh and ahh-ing and lots of "WOW!" It was so incredible seeing each firework burst into hundreds of little Mickey heads!

Unfortunately, you won't get to see that in the pictures! Haha. But DH did an amazing job photographing IllumiNations, if I do say so myself. So I will let the photos do the talking.


04-230 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


04-231 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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04-237 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

I didn't take any more notes that night, but I don't think we did anything other than leave the park once IllumiNations was over because the park was officially closed. We did stop for one more PhotoPass photo in front of SE with it all lit up.


PP-032 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

There were some CM's up on the ramp waving good bye with the big Mickey hands, but this guy caught my eye and I made DH take a pic.


04-239 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Buzz Lightyear glove!​

It was a long walk back to the car for it being the end of the night after a long day, but we made it back to Bonnet Creek by about 11 pm. My dad was watching tv in the chair in the living room, and he'd left the curtains open to he could watch IllumiNations from there too! My mom was asleep on the couch. After thanking them for taking care of DS for the night, they went back to their room because they were driving home in the morning!

Continue in next post...
 
Day 4 Continued: Friday October 25th

This post will be just a few photos from DS's night with his grandparents and my sister & Mitchell. They went over to Pop Century for dinner at the food court, and also took DS around to play on the playground.

First, though, is this photo I took as we got back to the resort that evening of the gigantic spider made of balloons in the Bonnet Creek lobby!


04-240 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


IMG_9656 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Going surfing with Goofy & Pappy


IMG_9662 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
My dad loves old cars, so apparently this picture was a must!


IMG_9680 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
No idea, but I thought he looked cute


IMG_9686 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


IMG_9687 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Getting some help from his buddy Mitchell at the playground!

FIRSTS FOR TODAY
*Being first family of the day on Kilimanjaro Safari
*Visiting the Affection Section
*Checking out the Boneyard
*Meeting Jake, Ralph & Vanellope, Mulan, and Meeko
*Experiencing 3 parks in 1 day
*3D: Disney's Dessert Discovery

UP NEXT: Back to Hollywood!

 















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