Meeko Goes to the Pirate and Princess Party!!! A Trip Report with Photos!

[meeko_33785]

Chapter One: How We Planned in Two Weeks

Pirate and Princess Party!



I can’t believe I’m writing another trip report so soon. It’s only been two months since my last trip, and yet I’m back again for another wonderful (yet short) trip. It doesn’t matter that it’s short or not, the big deal is that it’s special- this trip was for the Pirate and Princess Party at the Magic Kingdom, my first after-hours ticketed event ever after over 20 years of visiting Walt Disney World.




For anyone who has ever read one of my past reports, you may have noticed that I don’t usually post a cast list. Most DISers probably think that I take solo trips just because I never mention anyone else in my reports. Actually, this is false. Yes, I confess that I’ve never taken a solo trip to WDW. Then again, I’ve never claimed to either. As a general rule, I usually am just cautious about writing about my friends or family on the internet, so I usually speak in first person in these reports no matter how many people I go with. Still, for this report, that just isn’t going to cut it since who is in the cast will really add to and affect the report. So, here it is, my first Cast List:





Cast

Meeko: Me (of course). What is there to say? I’m a Disney fan and have been going to WDW longer than I can remember. I’ve been a member on the DIS for over six years and have written 12 photo trip reports in that time. I’m also a fan of the characters at Disney World (see my website for further proof), and I enjoy the attractions and shows just as much.

Buzz: My brother. He’s just as big of a Disney fan as I am and has been with me on every trip I’ve taken. Buzz is really into animation which gives him an appreciation for everything from the earliest Mickey Mouse cartoons to audio-animatronics to CGI films, all of which helps in enjoying WDW. In the parks, he’s most interested in the attractions and the overall Disney experience.




Background and Planning

Well, this trip really was not planned for. It just sort of happened. Buzz and I were talking one day about Disney you see and the Pirate and Princess Party sort of came up into conversation. I have no idea how that happened. The more we talked about it, the more fun it sounded. I explain how the tickets are only $40. He’s a bit more attentive. How long does it last exactly? 7:30-12:30pm, but you can get there starting at 4pm. Over 8 hours! He’s a bit more attentive. He thinks about it and finally we decide that we’ll do it. We order the tickets online, and we’re going to the party!





Now, this all happened about two weeks before the party. I’ve never had to help plan a trip that fast. Granted it would just be one night, but still getting a hotel room, figuring out what you're going to do, scheduling, and everything else that even goes with an overnight stay takes some time to do.





After the tickets are bought, we decide to call Disney and try to get a room at Pop Century or the All Stars. After all, neither of us wants to spend too much money since it is sort of an impulse trip. Buzz checks online, but is having problems. He tries to make a reservation for Pop Century and the computer takes him to a page about Port Orleans. Enough of that, let’s try calling. Buzz calls and asks if there any rooms available at Pop Century. Nope. All Stars? Nope. Anything? oveThe CM says that there are some rooms left in Caribbean Beach, but the rates are now $225. Now, I like the Caribbean Beach, but over $200?! That’s a bit more than we were hoping for Pop Century. We don’t make a reservation and decide to check elsewhere. Eventually, we find Best Western Lake Buena Vista. It’s a Downtown Disney Resort so at least it’s on property and an “Official Walt Disney World Hotel”. Under most other circumstances I wouldn’t even consider it, but the price was right and it was on property. We’ll take it!




Now we’ve gotten the tickets and the room reservations, now all we need to do is the rest of the planing. Since neither of us had ever done an after-hours ticketed event before, we both kind of had to learn how to plan as we went along. We knew that we wanted to get to the park as early as we could- 4pm if possible. We both wanted to see the Magic, Music and Mayhem fireworks and the newly-improved Dream Along with Mickey, but after that, we both had different ideas of what to do at the party. Buzz wanted to concentrate on rides since lines would be short. Now I was interested in rides too, but there were also a lot of characters that I wanted to see. The Party is going to have 11 characters I’ve never seen doing meet-and-greets before and some other rare characters I want to see again. Because of this, we figured that we’d be sure to see the fireworks, Dream Along and some of the rides together, but also split up at different points of the night so he could do rides and I could see characters. It seemed like a fair compromise, and it all works out. We both get to spend some time together, some time solo, and you get not one but two different views of the Pirate and Princess Party! You'll also get to see some of my photos too. Hopefully you like character photos, since that seems to be primarily what I came back with.




So that, roughly, was the plan. Be sure to stay tuned for our adventures with the pirates and princesses!

 

[meeko_33785]

Chapter Two: We're Here!

Less than two weeks after beginning to plan the trip, Buzz and I were arriving at Walt Disney World. In the first of a number of departures from other recent trips, we arrived mid-afternoon as opposed to early morning before the parks open. Well, if you consider that we won’t be allowed in the park until 4pm, then in a way we’re continuing that tradition, it just looks different because of time.

And now the second departure from past trips- the hotel. For everyone who doesn’t know what hotel this is (and that would have included me before I stayed there), this is Best Western Lake Buena Vista located in the Downtown Disney area and sits at what is pretty literally the very edge of the property. It is apparently one of the oldest hotels at Walt Disney World and was built in 1972. It was actually renovated in the last few years and is a very nice hotel, but has a completely different feel than the themed resorts. We arrive a little after 2pm, a bit early for 3pm check-in, but we figure that we might as well run by the desk anyway to see if a room is already available. And there is! We get our keys and head up to our floor to discover that our room is right next to the elevator. Convenient.





The room was nice. It was larger than a standard moderate resort and had a balcony. After staying at the balcony-less moderates and values so much that almost seems like a luxury in itself. Now, the more expensive rooms face the property and have theme park views for which they promise you’ll be able to see fireworks from. Well, here’s the secret: the rooms on our side have a theme park view too. If you look hard enough, you’re sure to see Sea World far in the distance. You could even see some of the Disney property if you look down. All in all, the hotel was even nicer than I pictured it. So it’s not themed; at least it’s pleasant. Buzz and I hang out in the room for a little while before heading over the TTC.





Even though there is a bus that goes from the hotel to the parks, we still decided to drive instead. We never could figure out if the bus would be running for the party, so we figured it’s better to park at TTC than have to take a cab back to the hotel because the bus isn’t running.





I can’t even remember the last time I was in the Magic Kingdom parking lot. It had to have been back when I was a kid. This almost made arriving by car instead of bus, boat or monorail a completely new experience for us. We ended up getting a parking spot nor far from the Richard Petty Experience (that defiantly wasn’t there last time we parked here!) in the Donald Duck Lot. While there, I take a picture.

Buzz thinks that’s a great idea and that it will help us remember what lot we parked in. Now I was actually just taking a picture just for the heck of it, but that plan sounds great. We hop in a tram and are whisked to the TTC. Once there, we head straight to the will call window to exchange out receipts for tickets. The CM at the window tells us we’re going to have a great time and explains to us that we will get out wristbands as we go through the turnstiles. Because we had some extra time before we could get in the park, he also suggested we head over to Kona Café for some coffee. We had other plans. Buzz went off to take pictures of some of the topiary in the area and I ducked into a gift shop to buy a new autograph book. Once we were done, we headed over to the ferry boat dock. Neither of us could really remember the last time we had taken the ferry boat to the park either, so it became our choice form of transportation to the park that day. The ride was very pleasant. Just check out that view:

We arrive at the park just as the throngs of people who are leaving after the Dreams Come True Parade ended flood out the turnstiles. It’s still not quite 4pm yet though. There’s a number of families waiting around in the area- some with kids in Captain Jack or Cinderella costumes. It’s pretty clear what they’re waiting for. We all just sit down and wait for it to be time. It won’t be long now.

 

[KimAshton]

cannot wait to read more.

 

[serendipity]

looking foward to more!

 

[IATink]

I'm anxious to see how you like the party. Great report, so far! I'm looking forward to the rest.

 

[meeko_33785]

Thanks KimAshton, serendipity, and IATink. I'm glad you're enjoying the report so far. I promise that Chapter Three will get Buzz and I inside the Magic Kingdom, so that means that I'll be starting to post about the Party very soon.

KimAshton- Looks like you're trip is coming up soon. That's exciting!

 

[meeko_33785]

Chapter Three: Waiting…

The waiting is over, and the party has begun!!!



OK, well, not officially, but at 4pm Pirate and Princess Party attendees are welcomed into the park. A group of CMs lead us all over to a blocked-off group of turnstiles, and usher us in. We’re given our wristbands and loot bags and walk down the red carpet into the park. Buzz and I decide to split up right away and meet up again at 5:40 for Dream Along with Mickey. We’ll meet in front of the Castle on the Liberty Square side where we saw the show on out last trip. OK, got it. First stop for me is the Expo Hall to see if there’s any characters around. Not that I’ve seen any on my last couple of trips, but you never know. This location can be pretty sporadic. After a quick peak in, I discover there aren’t any, but find out that there are some cool ones outside.




It’s the Family Fun Day Parade. Clarabelle, Horace, Daisy, Pluto, Chip and Dale are all riding in a fire truck down Main Street… hmmm ... almost sounds like the beginning of a joke…. “So, Clarabelle, Horace, Daisy, Pluto, Chip and Dale are all riding in a fire truck down Main Street and they say…”…ummm….. Oh, never mind. Anyway, it’s a great photo opportunity, but unfortunately, the fire truck is going just fast enough to where if I walk at a normal pace I won’t be able to get anything more than a shot of the back of the truck. Now, there’s no way I’m going to run down Main Street in order to catch up with the truck and take a picture, so I do the next best thing- walk calmly (but briskly) up Main Street behind them and when they make the turn around the Hub to get to the Castle, I’ll walk through the middle of the Hub and get in place to take a picture just before they reach their stop.

Worked like a charm, though you can’t see Dale in the picture (or is it Chip; it’s hard to tell from the back). After the parade, I take the path than leads from Liberty Square to Fantasyland to find some new characters. I had heard on the internet that Cinderella’s stepfamily had recently been doing meet-and-greets behind the Castle during both regular park hours and at the Party. Since I was here for the Party, I could wait and see them then, but I figured that if I meet them now, that will save time to see other rides and characters during the Party. Plus the photos will come out better in the daylight as opposed to trying to take them at night.




When I get to the Courtyard, Let’s Have A Ball was in the middle of a performance and I stop to watch the end of the show where Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip (the “most well-rested royals in Fantasyland” as the are announced) come out and dance with the kids. It was cute. I can’t believe this show is gone already. It seemed like a nice addition for the preschool set, but I guess it just never became as popular as Disney had hoped, Then again, maybe it would have been more popular had they published its schedule in the Times Guide. After the show ends, there’s still no sign of the stepfamily, so I decide to just hang around the area and wait for a while. That’s alright though; the Castle Courtyard is one of my favorite spots in the park and I take this opportunity to explore it.




First stop is Tinker Bell’s Treasures. Now, I found out here on the DIS that if you look in the key hole of the dresser drawer inside the shop that you can see Tinker Bell. I’ve tried this before, but have never actually seen her. Since there seems to be some time to kill before the Stepfamily arrive, I figured that I might as well try again. Still, there appears to be nothing inside the drawer; it’s just pitch black inside. I can only imagine of what other people in the shop are thinking as I’m peeking into this keyhole. I step away. Just then, Tink’s pixie dust flies around the room on a direct route to the dresser. As it finishes, the key hole lights up. That’s it! It has to light up to allow guests see her! I wait for a while, but Tink isn’t flying anymore. Well, enough of that. Maybe someday I’ll see Tink.




Meanwhile, back on Main Street, Buzz is over at the VMK Central. Over the past year or so, he has been a casual player Virtual Magic Kingdom, so he decided to try his hand at some of the quests that they have available at the shop. He picked out a couple that didn’t appear to be too tough, found a quiet spot on a stoop leading to a fake door near the Emporium and began completing the quests. As he was doing this, he caught the attention of a small boy around age 3 who seemed curious and confused over him. Buzz couldn’t decide if the child was interested in what he was doing or if he thinks that Buzz was part of the show. Whatever the reason, the boy just sort of stood there for a a few seconds before rejoining his parents. A bit later, the family continued walking down Main Street, and the boy gave Buzz one last puzzled look. Buzz finished up his quests pretty quickly, and go to claim his virtual prizes.

In Fantasyland, my time exploring the Castle Courtyard brings me to Sir Mickey’s. The theming in this shop is so cool. Just take a look at Willie the Giant from “Fun and Fancy Free” peeking in through the ceiling. Next is the Castle. Most of it was blocked off due to Dream Along with Mickey, but you could get into the Kings Gallery shop. I hadn’t been in there in years, but back when I was a kid that they shop was full of interesting medieval European items like swords and suits of armor and such. I also remember rather vividly a certain trip in which a CM showed me and my family a glass display case with two crowns which she said belonged to Cinderella and Prince Charming. The shop wasn’t anything mind-blowing, but it was nice diversion and added to the Castle theming. After looking around it this time though, it was clear that everything is different. It’s been changed into nothing more than another Art of Disney gallery shop with collectables. I'm going to guess that the suits of armor and other medieval items weren't selling very well. Still, I was a little disappointed. It was like a little bit of the feel and fantasy of it being a fairytale castle was gone and replaced with something more generic. Even Cinderella and Prince Charming’s crowns were nowhere to be found. For all I know, they might have taken them out years ago or just moved them to the Castle Suite. Oh, well. This is Disney after all. Things like this are bound to change. At least it’s not a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique… yet.

Upon leaving the Castle, I head down the path to another great hidden treasure- Cinderella’s Wishing Well. I had just taken a photo when my cell phone began to ring…

 

[KMH1]

Love your character reports and pictures Meeko! Looking forward to reading more!

Amy

 

[meeko_33785]

Love your character reports and pictures Meeko! Looking forward to reading more!

Amy

Thanks Amy. Glad you like them.

 

[meeko_33785]

Chapter Four: Meet the Tremaines


I answer the cell phone to find that it’s Buzz calling from Main Street. He says that he’s checked the tip board and all the lines seem to be pretty long, and he was wondering if we wanted to try and see the 4:40 Dream Along with Mickey show instead of the 5:40. As he’s saying all this, an announcement comes on proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom’s would-be royals- Cinderella’s Stepmother Lady Tremaine and her daughters Anastasia and Drizella. They enter with much fanfare accompanied by music from Cinderella III. I tell Buzz that the Stepfamily is about to come out and that I’ll call him when I’m done so we can meet up. He decides to take this time to just walk around Main Street and take some pictures. As soon as I’m off the phone, the Stepmother and Stepsisters come out complaining, “We’re meeting guests!”, and stop near a specially decorated window at Sir Mickey’s with a Cinderella III theme.

A line forms pretty quickly for the trio and a number of people were actually standing by the window waiting for them to return. Hmmm… didn’t really notice that before. I get in line behind them. The Tremaines seemed pretty popular, but with good reason to be. They really were great at interacting with the guests. They were so popular that CMs were having trouble trying to control the crowd to keep a clear path next to the ever-growing line so people would still be able to walk through the path that leads from the Castle past the Wishing Well and Belle’s Storytime will not be blocked. Everyone in line was had a hard time keeping a straight line, and people were just stopping in the middle of the path to watch their antics and causing traffic jams. After a little while of waiting, it was my turn. I greet them and ask if I could have their autographs and take their photos. They were extremely flattered and agreed as long as Lady Tremaine was the first to sign my book. “Mother always goes first!”, the explained. They even agreed to take separate photos when I mentioned my character journal.

Drizella was first. Everyone has little quirks, right? Well, one of mine is that I sometimes greet people when I first meet them with what some of my friends have described as a very little bow. It’s not on purpose really or a full bow, it’s just something that somehow I’ve grown accustom to doing. Well, Drizella noticed and makes a big deal out of it saying how much she liked it when people bowed to her. I hadn’t even realized that I’d done it, but as soon as she said that, I made sure to bow to Anastasia and Lady Tremaine as well.

Next was Anastasia. I told her how I’d seen Cinderella III and that I thought she was great in it. It is true. I thought that the movie did a nice job on taking her from a selfish spoiled brat to a heroine in her own right. It’s really made her my favorite out of the three. She started to talk about the movie and sweetly said how she’s still on a search for her true love. I encouraged her by saying that I hope that she finds him. It was a nice touch that she was the reformed Anastasia instead of the Anastasia from the first film. That made meeting her all the better.

Lady Tremaine had heard the conversation with Anastasia and with a sly smile brought up how she had taken the Fairy Godmother’s wand. She poses for her photos and wants me to clearly see her jewelry and know how wealthy she is. After getting autographs and photos of all three, I say my goodbyes, and Lady Tremaine says to be sure to come back and see them again.




Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drizella really did a great job staying in character without being too obnoxious, and the costumes were so close to the ones in the movie it was amazing. I’d say they were defiantly nice additions to the character line-up in the park, and it’s nice to see some classic characters finally appearing for meet-and-greets. I’m not sure how long they will stay out, but I’m hoping it will be for a while. They’re also a nice change since most of the face characters that have been out lately have all been the more saccharine sorts, and it’s nice to have a variety of different personalities around. Plus, you can’t deny that they were attracting a quite a crowd! If you ever get the chance, defiantly go and meet them.




By now it was getting close to 4:40 and I wanted to be sure to get to find Buzz and see Dream Along with him. I try to call him a few times between leaving the Stepfamily and getting to the Hub but I don’t get any answer. I head over to the Hub anyway.

 

[KimAshton]

Love those pics.

 

[csuzannet]

Yeah!! More character pictures and more sightings of rarely seen characters.

Thanks, Meeko!

 

[IATink]

Were you there the same week as the Cinderella III DVD came out? I hope the step family will still be there when we go. They sounded like fun!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[meeko_33785]

Were you there the same week as the Cinderella III DVD came out? I hope the step family will still be there when we go. They sounded like fun!

Can't wait to read more!

Hi. Actually, I was there about two weeks after it came out on DVD. I think I've heard that they are going to be staying through May, but hopefully they'll stay longer. And yes, they were a lot of fun to interact with.

Glad that you all are enjoying the photos.

 

[meeko_33785]

Chapter Five: Mickey’s Mouth is Moving!



As I get to the Hub, Dream Along with Mickey has already started. I know that Buzz had to be here. Seeing the new-and-improved version of this show was one of his main priorities for the Party. When I get to the Hun though, I have somewhat of a Dory moment and forget where we agreed to meet. I was thinking it was near the Partner’s statue, but he wasn’t anywhere in that area. I try calling him, but he can’t hear it ring over the show. Having no luck, I try text messaging him but still get no response. Eventually, I just decide to watch the show and find Buzz later, and I settle into a spot in front of the castle on the Tomorrowland side.




I had seen the show at Christmastime, but between then and now there had been somewhat of a revamp to the show. Now, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy all are able to move their mouths and blink their eyes. I don’t think anything like this has ever been done to this extent in a theme park show, and it really added a lot to their parts. In addition, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee are now face characters in the show, which was pretty interesting. All the changes seemed to be going over well. The only problem I saw was that Donald and Goofy did have some problems with their hats coming off at the wrong times.

The show ends and I found Buzz in front of the Castle on the Liberty Square side. That’s where we were supposed to meet! Oops. It’s ok though. At least we met back up eventually. All in all, I have to say that I thought that new Dream Along was defiantly an improvement over the version I saw last year, but I still don’t like it better than Cinderella’s Surprise Celebration or even Cinderellabration. Buzz defiantly disagreed with me, at least with the last one. He’ll take Mickey and friends over the fairytales any day. He was thrilled to see all the changes. I think he was thrilled to see Mickey and friends in a Castle Show at all after a year of them being missing due to Cinderellabration.




By now, the lines are still a little long at most rides, but I suggest It’s A Small World. I know Buzz likes the ride. He even likes the song and has more of a tolerance for it than anyone else I’ve ever met. I don’t claim to understand it, but there you go. I think the ride is charming too and would like to ride it, so we head to Fantasyland to do it together. There is a line, but it moves quickly.

Last time we were on this ride, Buzz took a number of photos of it because he wanted pictures of how it looked after it had finished it’s refurbishment, but as we were getting in the boat this time, he says that he won’t take any photos. No, this time he’s just going to enjoy it. We go through the ride passing happy children and animals from all the continents of the world. Once we get to the finale room, the boat stops due to a backup at the unload station. As we’re at a standstill, Buzz gives in and proclaims that as long as we’re stopped, he might as well take some pictures. He takes a few and we finally reach the unload area.




Next stop? One of the rides that Buzz wants to do most is Splash Mountain. We haven’t been on it in a few years, and it’s his favorite ride in the park. It seemed like a good time to ride it since it will most likely get colder as the night goes on, and it’s just not fun to get splashed once the temperature gets too low. As we’re walking through Frontierland to get to the ride, an announcement goes out throughout the park that Wishes will be shown at 6:30pm as opposed to 7pm as listed in the Times Guide. Good to know! When they say entertainment is subject to change apparently they mean it.




We make it to Splash Mountain to discover that it had over a 40 minute wait. I’m not too thrilled about it. Waiting 40 minutes for a ride that will have little to no wait later on doesn’t interest me. Buzz and I decide to split up again. We’ll meet up again at 9:30 in front of Casey’s Corner to see the Pirate and Princess Party’s fireworks. He is going to get in line for Splash Mountain, and I head to Adventureland. As Buzz is about to enter the queue, a CM tells him that the wait is actually 60-70 minutes or more and that the sign just hasn’t been changed yet. Buzz bails the line and walks through Frontierland as he trys to figure out just what to do.

 

[Joanna71985]

Great report Meeko. I always love hearing about the characters you see.

And I agree about the shows. I think I prefer CSC over DAwM.

 

[meeko_33785]

Great report Meeko. I always love hearing about the characters you see.

And I agree about the shows. I think I prefer CSC over DAwM.

Thanks Joanna. Glad to know I'm not the only one who feels that way about the shows. Buzz still can't decide though. He seems to like them both just about equally. Now Cinderellabration, that's a whole different story.

 

[meeko_33785]

Chapter Six: And The Lines Get Shorter



After Buzz and I split up in Frontierland, I head off to Adventureland. According to the Times Guide, there was still some time left before the Peter Pan characters are done doing meet-and-greets for the day. It’s been almost 5 years since I’ve gotten a picture of Peter, so I see if he’s still out. Sure enough, as I get there, he and Wendy are skipping away from their location chanting “Hook is a codfish!” and heading offstage for the day. Oh, well. Maybe next time. As I’m trying to decide what to do next, I remember that Snow White’s Scary Adventures looked like it had a short line earlier. It’s been a few years since I’ve done this ride, I so head to Fantasyland. Along the way, I pass by where Captain Jack would be appearing once the party started. Nearly two hours before he was to show up, there’s already a line! I was planning on skipping the Captain anyway because I heard the lines were ridiculous, so this just proved me right. No Jack Sparrow tonight.




Buzz is still in Frontierland trying to figure out what to do next. He’s checked out the Country Bears, but has just missed getting in the show. Jungle Cruise is another option, but the lines are pretty long there too. He tries to call me to find out what I was doing, but I miss his call, unable to hear it ring as I’m walking between Liberty Square and Fantasyland. Oddly enough, I do hear the beep that says I’ve missed a call. Go figure. I try calling him back a few times, but he keeps missing my calls. I keep calling him until I get to Snow White.

Outside the ride, they have some really nice looking topiary of Snow White and Dopey out for the party. Nice touch. There really is no line to speak of and the CMs have roped of the queue so that you go directly to the loading station after entering. Now this is more like it! I was beginning I’d have to wait for the Party to start before I saw a ride with no wait. The ride was fun. It really is the most under-estimated of the dark rides in my opinion. At the end of the ride, everyone is directed back out the entrance. The entire Castle Courtyard has now been blocked off in preparation for Wishes. By now, I’m still wondering why Buzz was trying to call me, so I try to call him back again. He still doesn't answer. The music in the park is just too loud to hear his ringtone, and he doesn’t really think to put it on vibrate. I figure if it’s important enough, he’ll try to call me back or text me. It’s getting close to 6pm, so I decide to head to Toontown. The Hall of Fame is set to close soon, so lines might be shorter than usual, or so I've heard. The only other times I’ve been there have both been at opening, but it seems logical that the waits at the end of the day would be shorter too. I figure it's at least worth a try. On my way, I spot another nice topiary out for the party near where Belle apparently would be appearing.

By this time, Buzz is still trying to figure out what to do. He has already been back to Splash Mountain and even stood in line for a few minutes before having second thoughts and bailing. There’s no way that he’s going to be able to stand in line and do the ride before Wishes starts. He heads back to Country Bears again and has just missed another performance. Might as well see how the line is at the Jungle Cruise again.




On my way to Toontown, I pass a few characters along the way. First, Pooh and Tigger were appearing at the Playful Spot. Over the past few years, I have the worst luck with Tigger. No matter how I may try, it never fails that I always miss him. The one time I waited in line at the Hall of Fame to see the Pooh characters, he wasn’t there- only Pooh and Eeyore were. When I went to 1900 Park Fare for breakfast, he wasn’t there either (though I was thrilled that Rabbit took his place since I’d never seen him before). Of course, when I do see him out, I always get there too late and the line is closed off. Today is no exception. As soon as I am walking over to get in line the CMs announced that Tigger was about to leave, and only guests already in line will get to see him. Eventually, this streak has to end, but for this trip at least, it still continues.

As I'm about to enter Toontown, I spot Abby Mallard from Chicken Little near the Welcome sign. I’ve never met Abby before. In fact, I only saw her in the parks one other time before the movie came out, and I wasn’t very interested in a character from a movie I hadn’t seen. I was not even expecting to see her out today, so it was defiantly a pleasant surprise! The line was short and about to be cut off, but I’m able to be one of the last people to see her before she leaves for the day. We do the whole autograph and photo bit and I tell her that I think she's beautiful. Poor things gets called Ugly Duckling so much in the movie, I thought that she's appreciate it. Abby is flattered and blows me a kiss. I'm glad I got to see Abby. As great as it would have been to see Peter Pan or Tigger, it was great getting to see Abby instead. There's just something fun about meeting a character for the first time. After Abby, I continue to Toontown and the Hall of Fame.

 

[SmallWorld71]

Can't wait to read more about the party. We are hoping to catch it in August.

 

[Shubunk]

WOW! Best report ever!!!! I want more! lol.