It's Not So Very Scary - My 2007 Disney Halloween Extravaganza! MNSSHP and HHN!

[CriminyCrafft]

I walked back to the Stay and Scream area at I think around 5 pm and indeed the gate to Universal Studios was open and a Team Member was standing there to guide people in. I walked through the area between the parks (it looked very "behind the scenes"-ish and secret) and got to the Stay and Scream holding area, which was right near the Nightmare on Elm Street Haunted House. People were already getting in line for it, but there weren't too many people there, so I thought I'd call DH and say hi. When he answered the phone I said "Guess where I am? HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS!" We both went last year and he really enjoyed it, but he was sick with a cold so he didn't get to really experience everything. As I was talking to DH...one of the Chainsaw Drill Team members came up behind me and started up his chainsaw! I ran away!!! I hadn't realized they had let those guys loose! But here they were, stalking the folks in the holding area!

I was so excited to be back at HHN! Have I mentioned I LOVE it?

More people were starting to filter into the holding area so I got in the line for Nightmare on Elm Street. After about 10 minutes the line behind me started to get really long, so I called my friend and told him he needed to get over to the holding area. He said he was on his way. I didn't think it would be right or considerate to others who got there on time to let him break in line with me, so I didn't offer. I waited there for about 15 more minutes and then I saw my friend walk right by me in the Express Pass lane!!!! I said "What are you doing???" He said "Express pass, silly!" and looked at me like I was a moron for waiting in line. If he had listened to me in our planning stages, he would have remembered that the whole purpose of Stay and Scream and getting the Express pass was so you could knock out as many houses in the beginning as possible and then use your express pass later to do them again! Oh well, he lost his chance to do NOES again!

Soon after that I got into the NOES house. I couldn't really see the Sleep Well video playing on the wall right before you go in because it was still daytime, but the effect was still very cool anyway. This was one of my favorite houses. I've read some folks complaining about the blinding lights - I actually liked these because they disoriented me, and after one light in my eyes as soon as I could see again I realized had a Freddy about an inch away from my face!!! Great house, I loved it!!

I met my friend outside of the NOES exit. We passed by the "Meet Jack" area and he was already out getting pictures with people! As we walked by Jack left his post and walked straight over to me and put his arm around me. He said "Where are you from?" I replied "North Carolina" and he said "Well, I'm from under your bed!" Awwww, I LOVE Jack! I would back the next night to get my picture taken with him.

Then we headed straight for Psychoscareapy: Home for the Holidays!! I was very excited about this one. This was an AMAZING house, probably my favorite. I would end up doing it 4 times total and every time I liked it more and more.

Next we hauled it over to Friday the 13th: Camp Blood. Check the sign - Wait Time 5 minutes!!

The line was nonexistent, so we headed right in. At the end of the queue they had a girl in a camp counselor outfit covered in blood with a loudpseaker talking about how great Camp Packanack was!! I didn't see her again, and I think I did Camp Blood 4 times in my two nights at HHN. I liked Camp Blood a lot the first time. There were plenty of scary Jasons looming at me.

After Camp Blood I got this picture of the ferris wheel from Jack's Carnival of Carnage.

I read the Universal/IOA board about the order in which the houses open, so we went to Jack's Funhouse in Clown-O-Vision next. I'm not sure that it was open yet when we got there as the line was short but it wasn't moving. As we were waiting I saw these guys coming out of one of the backstage areas to scare the folks in the park.

Here's some stuff on the fence next to Jack's Funhouse.

And the entrance.

This was a fun house, not the best, of course. I read that the ending was pretty intense but they had changed it after the first week or so, apparently. DARN!!

After Jack's Funhouse, we went over to Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Flesh Wounds. The wait was about 10 minutes, I think. I LOVED this house, especially the ending. All the Leatherfaces were perfect, and I got great scares in here every time!

After that it was on to THE THING!! I had read great things about this house so I was excited.

Note the wait time!

Maybe I'm nuts, but I thought this house was overrated. I feel like it was more a series of scenes and if you happened to be in a part of the line that missed the scenes then the house wasn't that interesting or great. I saw one good scene this first time through, so I liked it pretty well. The theming outside and inside was very cool. I would end up doing this house three more times in my two nights at HHN.

After The Thing we decided to hit the first Bill and Ted Show of the night. I enjoyed this quite a bit. As most people have said, it wasn't as funny as last year but I definitely had a good time watching it.

Next it was on to the Rocky Horror Picture Show Tribute.

This was a great show. I used to love the movie when I was in about 10th grade, so it was a nice stroll down memory lane. The cast was fantastic, especially the guy who played Riff Raff. He had an AMAZING voice.

After RHPS we put the bag in a locker and rode Revenge of the Mummy. This is one of my favorite rides ever. We did the standby line and had about a 15-minute wait. What an amazing ride!

We then headed for Dead Silence: The Curse of Mary Shaw. We did standby and waited half an hour - the lines were growing at this point! I watched the movie right before the trip and thought it was so-so. Cool, scary imagery but fairly lame plot. I did really enjoy the house though - some very cool effects and excellent theming! I agree with most folks' opinions that I've read regarding the fake-looking masks.

At this point we had done all the houses but Vampyr. I had read that this was the worst house of all so we used the express pass for this one. I liked it pretty well and didn't think it at all deserved the bad reviews it got. I got better scares in here than I got in my four times through Camp Blood and three times through The Thing!

After this I decided to eat dinner so I got a soggy pizza from Monsters' Cafe. Nothing worth describing or taking a picture of! My friend again did not eat. I think he ate a few pastries at the bakery when I left him to go to the Stay and Scream area!

After dinner it was time to do all the houses again with our Express passes!!! I did NOES again while my friend waited at Monsters' Cafe. I loved this house on second go 'round. I got to see the Sleep-Well video and it was great.

We did Dead Silence again, and I felt the same about it. Then onto Psychoscareapy again. LOVED it even more on the second try!! GREAT scareactors in this house! I loved the cookies guy and the snowman guy (the next night we had the same cookies guy but a different snowman guy).

Next we did TCM and Camp Blood again. LOVED TCM still but again in Camp Blood I felt like I was missing scares. I had read stuff about it beforehand online that I definitely never saw in the house (i.e., I never saw Jason kill anyone, he just came stalking after me or popped out in my face). I also never got the full effect of the barrel. Oh well.

We did the Thing again and I got maybe one scare. I think I walked through three rooms where I saw no scareactors. Then it was onto Jack's Funhouse, which was still FUN! Then we walked through the scare zone.

I'm really an amazing photographer, aren't I?

The scare zone was great, I thought. Fantastic scareactors in neat costumes. I was just sad there was only one scare zone.

We were pretty beat by this point. I knew I would be back the next night so we headed to the Mears shuttle stop. A CAB picked us up this time. Darn, no town car! I showered and snuggled in for some sleep to prepare me for the next day!!

The big thing I took away from this day - in the future IF AT ALL POSSIBLE I will do HHN on a Wednesday using Stay and Scream and the Express Pass. Last year I went on a Thursday and it was insane, packed full of drunk college kids. Indeed, my second night at HHN to come was the same way. Wednesday was totally different. SO much less crowded and SO much more pleasant. A great night!!!

Next installment - Magic Kingdom and Halloween Horror Nights Nite 2!!!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

Awesome job once again!! Congrats on going to DL in March!!

Thanks! I'm super pumped about DL. There is definitely another TR in the works!

 

[LilGMom]

Wonderful update!!! Now you've got me thinking of leaving the boys with the ILs one weekend next October and DH & I doing HHN! I have always been a fan of the horror genre so that would be right up my twisted little alley.

Pretty good pics actually.

 

[CriminyCrafft]

Wonderful update!!! Now you've got me thinking of leaving the boys with the ILs one weekend next October and DH & I doing HHN! I have always been a fan of the horror genre so that would be right up my twisted little alley.

Pretty good pics actually.

You absolutely MUST do HHN next year!! It's seriously the most fun I've ever had in my life. I think I'm going the first weekend next year (i.e., the last weekend in September).

Thanks for contuining to read!

 

[Disney Brat]

You have me thinking about leaving DD with my MIL next October too!! That sounds like such a blast!!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

You have me thinking about leaving DD with my MIL next October too!! That sounds like such a blast!!

Yes, you MUST! It's the most fun EVER if you love horror/scary stuff!

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Yes, you MUST! It's the most fun EVER if you love horror/scary stuff!

Isn't that the truth!!

Great HHN review...it was interesting to compare yours to ours. You liked a lot of the things we didn't and vise versa...just shows the broad spectrum of appeal HHN has for the fans...something for everyone!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

Isn't that the truth!!

Great HHN review...it was interesting to compare yours to ours. You liked a lot of the things we didn't and vise versa...just shows the broad spectrum of appeal HHN has for the fans...something for everyone!

I totally agree. I think an HHN experience is shaped by many factors - the crowd levels, the team members in the houses, and mostly timing and expectations. I think my timing was off with Camp Blood and the Thing, and my expectations were very high for both. My expectations were rock bottom for Vampyr, so I ended up liking it. But I still loved everything overall!! I seriously need to do four nights next year like you guys!!!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

Day 5 - Magic Kingdom and HHN!

Good morning! It's Monday and the only thing that can alleviate my sleepiness and grumpiness is . . . another update!

I woke up around 9:30 am this morning (late, I know - I was tired from HHN the night before). I knew that today I wanted to go back to Magic Kingdom primarily to ride Big Thunder Mountain, as it had been previously shut down. I attempted to rouse my traveling companion, and again, he refused to get up and said he would meet me back at the hotel around 5 pm to get our shuttle to Universal. He ended up sitting around the hotel all day - I have no idea what he did. Personally, I can't imagine sitting around a boring hotel room while at DISNEY unless you're seriously ill or not feeling well. Again, his loss!

So I headed off for MK by myself. Here's the view of the Dolphin from the bus stop.

After a quick bus ride, I was at Magic Kingdom!

It was sort of a gloomy day, but I was still very much enjoying the Halloween decorations!

I headed over to BTMR, and the wait time was 40 minutes and the fastpass return time was too late in the afternoon to be useful. So I decided to get in standby. To help pass the time, I got a Mickey Ear bar at a nearby snack cart.

Yum. I got in line, tasty treet in hand. There was an older couple in front of me doing crossword puzzles as they waited! Cute. I thought I'd take a self-portrait in line. Is this the most pathetic moment of the trip for me? People did indeed stare!

BTM was eh. It's by no means one of my favorite things at MK, but I had to ride it, ya know? I know there are some differences between the one at WDW and the one at Tokyo Disney - I'm just not sure what they are. The Tokyo Disney one seems so much faster and more thrilling.

After BTM I did some walking around. I decided I wanted to buy a sweatshirt so I puttered around in some of the Adventureland shops. I headed over to Pirates and the Pirate Tutorial was going on!! I had never seen this before, and it was a real treat. The guy who played Capt. Jack was fantastic and really had the act down cold! Also, check out the little Capt. Jack on the left!

I bolted out of there a little before it was over so I could get on Pirates. Afterwards I bought a Pirates sweatshirt and a Magic Kingdom Event music CD in the dump shop. I really wanted Boo to You and Villians' Mix and Mingle on CD! I also got the 4-park WDW throw for $15. Probably a total ripoff as the throw has proved to be less than durable and not very warm and cozy.

After that I did the Haunted Mansion again and Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh. By then I was hungry so I decided to poke on over to Cosmic Ray's for a veggie burger and fries. The place was PACKED. I was worried I wasn't going to find a spot to sit, but I found one on the outdoor terrace. Here's my food:

The meal was decent, but not the best veggie burger I've had, for sure. The fries were better. I love fries but I really try not to eat them in my normal day-to-day life, so it's usually a fry-fest on vacation! I also love pickles, can you tell?

Here's my view from my seat at Cosmic Ray's.

A bit gloomy, isn't it?

After lunch I went over to Carousel of Progress. I hadn't done this show in years and I just loved it. It's really classic Disney. The modern day family scene is pretty corny, but I still love it! I listen to There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow on Sorcerer Radio all the time.

I decided to head back over to Fantasyland and as I was walking around I caught Lady Tremaine, Druzilla, and Anastasia!

These ladies were PHENOMENAL. The sisters were just hilarious, getting all whiny and sassy and nasty with everyone, and I'm pretty sure they were making snide comments about all the little girls' clothes. Lady Tremaine just stood there looking cold and evil. I could have watched them for an hour!! A tad strange, me taking pictures of them with people I'm not with or not related to!

After watching these girls for awhile I poked around Main Street for awhile, looking in the shops. I also watched a bit of the Family Fun Day parade.

Then it was time to head back to the Dolphin for our Mears shuttle to Universal! I hopped on the bus and was on my way.

HHN in next post!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

I got back to the hotel and went upstairs to drop off my Magic Kingdom purchases. I could tell my friend was super-antsy. He was hardly saying anything. I wasn't sure what was wrong with him. We went downstairs and waited for the shuttle. Again, a town car showed up. Sweeeeeeet. On the way to Universal my friend said "Do you think we could get tickets for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party tomorrow?" He had become obsessed with Boo to You and wanted to see it again THAT badly!! The next day was Friday, and I felt sure it would be sold out. I told him so, but also said if he wanted to go I would go with him and that he should try and call to get tickets. We got dropped off at Universal. Here's the entrance decor for HHN.

As we were waiting in line for HHN my friend called WDW ticketing and somehow was able to get tickets for MNSSHP that Friday. I thought for sure it would be sold out. WEIRD. I was happy to be going back to MNSSHP but I was also irritated that my schedule was thrown off. AND if I had known we would be going back to MNSSHP, I wouldn't have spent the day at MK!! We had reservations at Les Chefs de France that Friday night, and I had planned to see Illuminations afterwards. I really wanted to see Illuminations, so I had to do a quick re-arranging of our schedule. I knew we probably couldn't get any ADRs at MK for MNSSHP on such late notice. So as we were waiting in line I called and canceled our Les Chefs de France reservation, and made a reservation at the Plaza for that night (it was the only thing available). I also had to cancel our Saturday dinner reservation at Boma (SO SAD!!!!) because Saturday was the only day left to see Illuminations. The only thing available at Epcot that Saturday was Nine Dragons. So Boma got replaced with Nine Dragons. I was not super happy about all this, but I was trying to keep my friend happy, and I do love MNSSHP. Sigh.

As we waited in line, Jack's evil clowns started popping up.

We were finally let in and ran into some other cool scareactors.

The chainsaw drill team was already out, too!

Later on in the evening I would see a wasted college girl dancing around drunkenly in front of their R. Lee Ermey-esque drill sargeant as he yelled at her through the bullhorn!

My goal tonight was similar to the previous night's - see all the houses as many times as possible (first using standby and then the Express pass), and then do Jack's Carnival of Carnage, and perhaps the Freak Show. We immediately headed over to Dead Silence, as I had read online that this house for some reason has the longest wait. It was as good as I remembered. I loved the mirror part at the very end. Some teenage girls were so scared by the Mary Shaw at the end that they backed up and I thought they were going to turn around and run back through the house! This time in the graveyard scene there was a guy in a trenchcoat with a shovel and flashlight who I'm guessing was supposed to be Donnie Wahlberg's character from the movie. He scared me pretty good as I wasn't expecting him - he wasn't there in our two trips through the house the previous night.

As we came out of Dead Silence I saw these guys:

We hightailed over to the NOES queue and jumped in. We didn't wait too long, maybe 15 minutes. Still loved this house, got lots of good scares. I love the part near the end where Freddy's victims are on both sides of the corridor and the "chase music" from the movie is blasting. Also this time, Freddy got up in my face and said "Do you have a kiss for Freddy?" Sweeeeeet!

After that we did Psychoscareapy, which is my favorite of all. We had a different guy in the Snowman scene but all the other scareactors seemed to be the same folks from the previous night. The girl in the rafters got me good this time!

It was then off to TCM and Camp Blood. We did standby in both of those, and we ended up waiting about 20 minutes for Camp Blood and 40 minutes for TCM. LOVED TCM - some things were different this time around. I still felt the same about Camp Blood. On this night it seemed very different - there were way more bloody camp counselors in the house but there were two rooms that I walked through without seeing a single scareactor. So I still felt like I missed out on scares in Camp Blood.

After these houses we had to start using the Express Pass. We went on to Jack's Funhouse, and again, I thought it was fun, but not really scary. We then did the Thing using the Express. I still felt the same about it - I felt like I missed a lot of scenes and scares. Although this time one of the Things really scared me.

After knocking out all the houses but one, I decided to watch Jack's Carnival of Carnage. What a fun show! Here's the stage pre-show.

And here's Jack in action!

I still can't figure out how they did some of those tricks!!

After this we did Vampyr with the Express Pass. By this point the park was packed with drunk people. Lots of people were smoking in the queue for Vampyr, and we got stuck behind a bunch of drunk kids who were taunting the scareactors. This is my main complaint about HHN - I wish Universal would kick out the annoying, obnoxious drunks who break the rules!!! I still thought Vampyr was decent, better than People Under the Stairs last year, which seemed to be everyone's most-hated house. The vampire demon thing at the end got me good.

After Vampyr we hopped over to Louie's Italian because I was getting hungry. I had two HUGE slices of veggie pizza. They were pretty good, much better than the pizza at Monster's Cafe! Guess what my friend ate? Yep, correct - NOTHING. Double sigh!!!

The park was so crowded by this point that it was difficult to walk at a decent clip. There were also tons of people smoking everywhere. We did ROTM again using the Express Pass, and then we did NOES and Dead Silence again with the Express. Then, I had to get my picture taken with Jack! Yes, I paid $22 for this photo!!!

It was worth it. I love Jack! I like the Director a tad more, though. Wonder if/when he'll be back?

We did Psychoscareapy, Camp Blood, and TCM again with the Express. We also did ROTM using the single rider line. Then it was time to head to the Mears' bus stop. On the way out I bought a Carnival of Carnage tshirt, the one with Jack, Freddy, Jason, and Leatherface on the front. Disappointingly, our town car days were over! A real shuttle was there to pick us up. We had to stop by All Star Movies and Pop Century before we got to the Dolphin. I was exhausted - I took a shower and went to sleep with my hair wet!

Summary of my HHN experiences: HHN was fantastic this year. The houses were definitely better than last year, IMHO. Better theming and more scareactors (even though my Thing and Camp Blood experiences were lacking in scares). I liked Bill and Ted and Jack's Carnival of Carnage a lot. We didn't make it to Freak Show - caught a few minutes of it on Thursday but decided we'd rather do houses. Wednesday was SO MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE than Thursday - far fewer people and no drunks! On Wednesday as we were leaving, the wait time for the Thing was 10 minutes - as we were leaving on Thursday the wait time for Dead Silence was 120 minutes!!!! Again, my main problem is the massive crowds of drunken fools who ruin the ambience and can totally ruin your experience in a house. But they won't stop me - next year I'll be there again hopefully for two nights and I'll do whatever Mysteries of the Midway-style backstage tour they give.

Next up - Animal Kingdom and MNSSHP, take two!

 

[macraven]

You absolutely MUST do HHN next year!! It's seriously the most fun I've ever had in my life. I think I'm going the first weekend next year (i.e., the last weekend in September).

Thanks for contuining to read!

don't go the first weekend, go the second weekend.
that's when i am going next year. first weekend is only on fri and sat.

i always do 4 nights in a row.
thursdays are not bad at the beginning of the month.

 

[CriminyCrafft]

don't go the first weekend, go the second weekend.
that's when i am going next year. first weekend is only on fri and sat.

i always do 4 nights in a row.
thursdays are not bad at the beginning of the month.

I agree, I want to do a Thursday early on, and four nights in a row is my dream! My only problem is I will be starting a new job (hopefully) at the end of September/first of October next year. Law firms usually start their new peeps around that time. So the first weekend might be the only time I can go, and I wouldn't be able to take time off that early on to go on a Thursday. Unless, that is, I'm unemployed! Which would be bad in the long term but excellent for HHN purposes. So, perhaps I will be there the same weekend you are!!

 

[macraven]

I agree, I want to do a Thursday early on, and four nights in a row is my dream! My only problem is I will be starting a new job (hopefully) at the end of September/first of October next year. Law firms usually start their new peeps around that time. So the first weekend might be the only time I can go, and I wouldn't be able to take time off that early on to go on a Thursday. Unless, that is, I'm unemployed! Which would be bad in the long term but excellent for HHN purposes. So, perhaps I will be there the same weekend you are!!

start planning now.
see you then

 

[CriminyCrafft]

Hello to any remaining readers. Just wanted to let you all know that I've finally uploaded all my pictures from Days 6 and 7, and I will complete the TR on 12/28 (the one day I am working between now and Jan. 2). Happy holidays to everyone!

 

[Disney Brat]

Happy Holiday's to you too!!! Looking forward to the update!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

Day 6 - Animal Kingdom and MNSSHP

I slept in tilll about 9 on this day and then headed over to Animal Kingdom. I wanted to see Festival of the Lion King and just walk around and look at stuff. Where was my trusty traveling companion, you ask? That's right - sleeping late and then futzing around the hotel all day. He told me he would meet me at MNSSHP at 3:30. Another day all to myself. In retrospect, I wish I would have gone on this trip by myself. But I did get a free hotel room!

I ate a Pop Tart in the room and then hopped on the bus to AK. Soon I was in the park and I headed straight for Pangani Forest Exploration.

I took my time here, taking pictures and enjoying my surroundings.

These guys are so cuddly-looking.

After Pangani I caught some of the performers in Africa. They're amazing!

I purchased a banana and lemon slush from the fruit cart in Africa and headed over to wait in line for the next performance of Festival of the Lion King. I stood in line and called DH, and soon the doors opened. I was in the giraffe section. I LOVE this show - the performers are so amazing. Unfortunately only a few of my pics came out halfway decent.

After FOTLK I just walked through the park and enjoyed the scenery.

The park was very crowded. October looks like it's almost a peak season now, unlike last year!

I don't think I actually ate lunch that day. I figured I would wait and pig out at MNSSHP.

I decided to hit the Discovery Island Trails and poke around.

This is a very fat-looking iguana. Wonder if she was pregnant?

MNSSHP in next post!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

After leisurely strolling around the trails, I thought I'd go ahead and get the bus to Magic Kingdom. I wanted to see the Pirate Tutorial again, so I figured if I got there before my traveling buddy I would just go ahead into the park and mess around. Turns out I ended up waiting a long time for the bus to MK - I think about 30 minutes. When I arrived at MK my friend was already there waiting for me. I could immediately tell he was in a grumpy mood. He had already gotten our MNSSHP tickets from the ticket window, but they hadn't opened up the park yet for MNSSHP folks yet. There was a line forming beside us, and my friend said we should get in that line and wait. I said that we should use our Park Hopper passes to go ahead in the park and then get wristbands once we were in the park, because I wanted to see the Pirate Tutorial and didn't want to wait. He was clearly becoming angry and said that he knew what we should do because he bought the tickets. I said that I was at MNSSHP last year and that I knew we could go on into the park with our Park Hoppers. Then he apparently blew his stack for some reason. He said "You're a (insert nasty profane word here)." I was totally shocked. I couldn't believe that something this minor would irritate him so much that he would call me a not-so-very-nice name. I said "I'm done with this" and walked off. I wasn't going to spend the evening with someone who was clearly in a terrible mood, apparently had decided he didn't want to be on this trip anyway, and was going to call me names! So I used my park hopper pass to get in the park and went on my way by myself. I started to worry about what would happen later that evening at the hotel, but I decided I'd already spent most of this trip alone, so what did it matter? I wasn't going to stand for name-calling!

I decided to peruse some of the Main Street shops. It was getting a tad chilly so I clearly *needed* to buy another Disney sweatshirt! I got another Pirates of the Caribbean hoodie. The CM who checked me out was so nice, asking about my trip and telling me to have a magical evening. It made me feel better about the rudeness that had just gone down!

I only had a little while to kill before my dinner reservation at the Plaza. I knew I would be eating alone again. I headed straight for the Pirate Tutorial and waited about 10 minutes before the next and final one of the day started. What a riot. Then I walked over to Tomorrowland to see if I could fit in a Space Mountain ride before dinner. The wait was 40 minutes! Oh well. I got my wristband and trick or treat bag for MNSSHP and headed over to the Plaza. I told them it would be only one instead of two people, and they checked me in and I was immediately seated.

I'd never been here before, but I liked the ambience.

The waitress was very very nice. I think she felt sorry for poor widdle me dining all alone. I ordered the veggie sandwich.

It was good, but nothing mind-blowing. It came with some sort of slaw but I wished I'd ordered fries. I love fries!!! I started to get a bit sad as I was surrounded by lots of cute, happy families. There was a table of little kids right across from me and they were all eating sundaes while their parents sat at a separate table. It was very cute but it made me miss DH and my dogs, and made me angry at myself that I hadn't just done a solo trip so I wouldn't have to deal with my "friend"'s antics. I suspected that things might not go so well, but we'd be on trips together before and he wasn't this bad.

After dinner I spent time wandering the park taking in the Halloween atmosphere. I rode some of the Fantasyland rides and rode Haunted Mansion three times!! I also peeked in on some of the dance parties. Those are endlessly cute to me. Soon it was time to get a spot for Boo to You. By this time I was tired and I decided to watch the first parade and then Hallowishes, and then go back to the hotel and get some sleep.

I got a great spot for Boo to You, right in front of the castle. Of course a few minutes later people were literally trying to shove me out of the way to get spots. AND as usual people thought it was perfectly fine to let their kids go right in front of me. A very nice family was standing beside me and I talked to them a bit. Then a nice CM came up to me and asked me if I wanted him to take my photo in front of the castle. Yes, please, sez I!

Can't see the castle too well, but you get the idea. Soon after the horseman rode by and then a few minutes later the Boo to You music started. Get ready for more and not necessarily better parade pics!

Continued in next post.

 

[CriminyCrafft]

I did manage to get a better pic of the new pirate ship addition.

Too bad my Barbossa and Capt. Jack pics didn't turn out better!

My fave part - the Haunted Mansion!

Can't recall if I mentioned this in my first MNSSHP post, but I like the addition of this little guy on a Spectromagic ball. He was really gettin' into it!

I followed the parade to Main Street and decided to poke around for a watch. I couldn't find any that I loved so I went back to the hub and got a good spot for Hallowishes. While I was there I saw some really cool costumes. One little girl was dressed like a ghostly bride (but not, I think, the HM bride). She had great face makeup on and spiders all over her gown and veil, and was carrying a battery operated red candle. A very old guy in a motorized cart had on an elaborate vampire costume with a cravat and a big gothic medallion and face makeup. AND someone was dressed up as a jawa from Star Wars and looked exactly like one - he (or she) had the glowing eyes and everything! So I got some good people-watching in.

After Hallowishes I went to the Main Street Bakery and got a cherry turnover. I love Main Street during MNSSHP!

The bus ride seemed soooo long, and partway through my phone rang. It was my name-calling "friend." He said he had saved me a good spot for the second parade if I'd like to join him. I'm on the bus, I said. I finally arrived at the Dolphin, took a shower, and cuddled into the bed with my turnover. I gobbled it down and fell dead asleep. I didn't even hear my "friend" come in.

Before I headed for the land of nod, I did get this pic of the MNSSHP treat bag and wristband.

Next and final installment - MGM and Epcot!

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

The park was very crowded. October looks like it's almost a peak season now, unlike last year!

We were saying the very same thing - it was the busiest October by far since we've been going!!

He said "You're a (insert nasty profane word here)." I was totally shocked.

Lee says get used to it - you'll hear a lot of it in your profession

I decided to peruse some of the Main Street shops. It was getting a tad chilly so I clearly *needed* to buy another Disney sweatshirt!

Too bad my Barbossa and Capt. Jack pics didn't turn out better!

Tried to fix them up for you ...

Looking forward to your next installment!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

Day 7 - MGM and Epcot

The next morning I woke up and started getting ready to head over to MGM for my reservation at 50's Prime Time at 11:30 am. I hadn't talked to my "friend" about his outburst the night before. I showered and got dressed, and noticed that he was stirring around. I asked him if he was going to lunch and he said "Would you be mad if I stayed here?" I said yes, and told him I was still mad about the previous evening. He apologized and we had a lengthy discussion, and he agreed to go to lunch. I was still miffed about his behavior over the whole trip but I was determined to be nice and enjoy my last full day in the parks.

We walked over to MGM and it was a very nice stroll. This was the best feature of the Dolphin in my opinion - the location. The short walk to MGM was very scenic. We got fastpasses for TOT and RNR and then headed over to our reservation at 50s PT.

I took some photos as we were waiting to be seated.

We were seated fairly quickly and we got a TV table!!

Our waiter was named Jean Paul, and he was AMAZING and totally hilarious. He was extremely sarcastic and I got to witness all his antics with the family seated next to us. There was a younger girl (maybe 10) and an older brother (probably around 15 or 16) and he was constantly insulting them. I loved it!

I wasn't sure what to order. 50s PT isn't the best place for vegetarians - the only vegetarian entree is the stuffed pepper. Jean Paul warned me that it would be "smoky," and boy was he right. It wasn't bad, it just had an overpowering taste o' smoke. Here it is.

The rice mixture in the pepper was better than the pepper itself. I polished that off and told Jean Paul we wanted dessert. He said "UH, we'll see about that" and then went on to make the family beside us do bird calls.

Turns out he did let me order dessert. I got the brownie sundae. It was soooo gooooood. I almost ate the entire thing.

After lunch we rode TOT. As we were leaving the skies opened up and a major downpour began to flood the park. We hung out in the TOT gift shop for about half an hour till the rain stopped. Then we got in line for Beauty and the Beast. Soon we were seated and listening to the cheerful tunes of Four for a Dollar.

Those guys are great!

I thoroughly enjoyed the show. The CMs were fantastic and the sets were great.

Afterwards we used our fastpasses for Rock'n Rollercoaster and then perused some of the shops in search of a watch. I did find one I liked but it was around $300!! Yipes!

Then it was time to get a spot for Stars and Motocars. This is my least favorite of the WDW parades but I figured I still needed to see it. Here are some select photos from it.

The dude playing Burt was really hamming it up.

Continued in next post!!