paradesintherain
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These are so cute!!
Meet me at the Snuggly Duckling! A June 2018 TR. UPDATED 3/8
- Thread starter Lifelong_Dreamer
- Start date
These are so cute!!
amazingact21
Upendi
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That calzone you ordered at breakfast looked delicious! Without even seeing the pancakes, I think you picked the winning dish...
The interaction with Flynn sounded hilarious. I love that he sat down and chatted with your mom for a few minutes.
People holding their phones up during shows can be so aggravating. It's definitely become more of a "me, me, me" mentality in the parks.
That poor woman who thought Harry Potter was in Hollywood Studios! Oh gosh, what an unpleasant shock for her!!
Love the new park bag you got in DHS as well as your new ears, the "cherry blossom" pink color is gorgeous.
The interaction with Flynn sounded hilarious. I love that he sat down and chatted with your mom for a few minutes.
People holding their phones up during shows can be so aggravating. It's definitely become more of a "me, me, me" mentality in the parks.
That poor woman who thought Harry Potter was in Hollywood Studios! Oh gosh, what an unpleasant shock for her!!
Love the new park bag you got in DHS as well as your new ears, the "cherry blossom" pink color is gorgeous.
bluejasmine
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The calzone at Al Forno looks amazing! Those ears from japan are so pretty I love that color
Lifelong_Dreamer
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Love the ears, they’re so pink
Thanks!! I just love them so much! Now just watch, the American Disney parks will release some just like them.
Lifelong_Dreamer
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I think so to! I get hungry just thinking about it.
It is so funny, at WDW you definitely see those "all about me" people but then you also meet amazingly kind people too. The parks can bring out the best and worst in people.
It was a pretty great bag and I will probably use it as my park bag when I go to our local theme park "Canada's Wonderland".
The calzone was delicious! I love the bright pink of the ears, so pretty!
Lifelong_Dreamer
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The food at that meal was delicious! I highly recommend it and I will definitely be going back to get that calzone again!
Lifelong_Dreamer
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June 12 - Hollywood Studios
After Beauty and the Beast we made our retreat back to the resort. It was time to hit the pool!
We stopped in The Mara and picked up some refillable mugs. We figured we would get them this trip as we were planning to spend time at the pool almost every day so we would get good use out of them.
We found some good chairs poolside in a nice partly shaded spot and then dived in. Well, gently climbed down the ladder but you get the idea.
I was so happy to get some relaxing pool time. I so miss having a pool at home. When we lived in Virginia Beach when I was in high school we had an in-ground pool and it was lovely. Here in Canada though no pool for me so it is great when I get some pool time on vacation. I just love to float in the water, so relaxing.
Mom even got in the water for a bit! She spends most of her pool time on the lounger but does get in the water from time to time.
Here's our spot. It was a pretty good spot but the tree that shades the area does drop it's leaves onto the chairs so we had to brush them off but that was no big deal.
I think we spent about 1 1/2-2 hours at the pool. I spent half that time floating around and the other half I started reading the book I brought along for the trip, "The Death of Mrs. Westaway".
After the pool we dried off and then caught a bus back to Hollywood Studios for the evening.
We caught the Citizens of Hollywood again. This time they were objectifying one of the park guests. It was pretty hilarious.
After watching those hilarious gals we had to make our way to our fastpass at Star Tours. It was so confusing trying to get there though. The pathway that you would usually take to get there was all closed off and there were arrows taped to the ground pointing towards the Celebrity Spotlight area where Olaf meets. This area was confusing because you had the queue for Olaf and then they had taken two of the "lanes" of the queue and opened them up for foot traffic with arrows pointing the direction you were supposed to walk in in each "lane". I should have taken a picture to show you all as it is hard to explain, it was confusing though. I later found out on the vlog Paging Mr Morrow in a video that was shot this same evening that the usual walkway was closed for repaving. We did make it through and found our way to Star Tours. The fastpass line was closed so we couldn't go in that way but the standby wait wasn't bad so we just got in line.
It was a fun ride as always but once again I did not get to be the rebel spy. Both my brothers have been and I keep hoping that one of these days I will get picked!
We wandered around in the former Streets of America area and saw where Star Wars Land will soon be.
So excited!!!
I felt uncomfortable lingering in the area though as there were a team of paramedics there with a child on a stretcher and I counted four Disney suits in attendance. I hope the kid was okay! I wonder if it is normal for that many "suits" to show up when medical assistance is needed or if they were there because something happened that the park could be liable for?
Mom and I moved into "Muppet Square" or whatever it is actually called.
We thought about trying out dinner at Pizzerizzo but it was closed. Didn't this just open?
Neither of us felt like seeing the Muppets show. I like the Muppets but this show just feels so outdated. It would be nice if they would keep the muppets theme but give us a new show.
Since we were in the area I decided to stop at Baseline Tap House and try out the Bavarian Pretzel with beer cheese fondue and spicy mustard.
We got a nice shaded table outside and as we sat there I saw two very familiar looking people standing by the entrance. I said to Mom, "Isn't that Nate and Veronica from Paging. Mr Morrow?".
It was indeed Nate and Veronica. If you don't know, Paging Mr. Morrow is a hilarious WDW vlog and Nate and Veronica are the stars. They are so funny, especially Veronica. Mom got excited and debated over whether or not she should go say hello. She did eventually decide to be brave and go say hi and tell them that she loved their vlog. Once I finished chewing I went over as well. Paging Mr Morrow and The WDW Couple are my favourite Disney vloggers and they happen to be friends and so often appear in each others vlogs. You should definitely check them out! If you want a really good belly laugh you should watch Paging Mr Morrow's "Thrift Store Challenge at EPCOT". We didn't take too much of their time just told them how much we enjoyed their vlog and that was it. It was really funny that I spotted them as before the trip Mom was talking about vloggers and if we would see any and I said it was highly unlikely as there are thousands of people at WDW so what are the odds that you would see them. Well, guess I was wrong! Here is the channel for Paging Mr. Morrow -https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCscn2aSpMrS2U_mf7OF-UwQ/featured
Back to the pretzel!
It was a nice soft pretzel and it was pretty big. I really liked the beer cheese sauce but wasn't a huge fan of the mustard but I am not a mustard person to begin with so that wasn't a surprise. It was a nice satisfying snack.
After I finished my snack we decided to get in line for Mickey and Minnie! The line was about 30 minutes but we didn't care as we had lots of time to kill before the fireworks.
We saw Minnie first and she made a big deal out of my ears. I told her she was my fashion inspiration.
Mom then joined us
Next up was Mickey! On our 2011 trip I believe, back when the Animation Studio was still operating, we got our picture taken with Sorcerer Mickey but our photopass photo disappeared and probably ended up on some other family's photopass cd. So we needed a redo with Sorcerer Mickey!
Well, as I approached Mickey I had a wardrobe malfunction.
Luckily it isn't too obvious in the photos but I was so anxious about it at the time as I couldn't tell how bad it was and I was right in the middle of my Mickey meet. The front of the dress had a little snap at the top so that you could have the neckline be more open if you chose. Well, if I left the snap open I would be showing off A LOT of chest. When I approached Mickey and put my arms out for a hug I must have put just enough pressure in just the right way that the front of the dress snapped open!!! 
I braved it out though like nothing had happened. In the future if I wear the dress again I will get a little safety pin to make sure it stays snapped or have Mom stitch it closed.
Given the circumstance of my chest being more on display than I wanted I find this photo kind of funny. I am sure there are some great captions that could be added to it...
As soon as it was Mom's turn I turned my back on Mickey and his entourage of cast members and did my dress snap back up.
Mom said she didn't notice anything had happened with my dress but you could definitely tell I was on display. On somebody smaller chested it might not have been so bad or obvious. Luckily though the way I am angled in the pictures my overexposure is obscured or I probably wouldn't be sharing the photos.
After we said goodbye to Mickey we had to figure out what else we could do. There wasn't much on offer. Since we had figured out the maze of confused arrows and lines at Celebrity Spotlight earlier we decided to go visit Olaf.
Aww, a warm hug
The character photos this night were some of the few that Mom participated in during the trip. In fact, other than at character meals I don't think she got her picture taken with any other characters. Not sure why since she stood in line with me for most of them. All these years going to Disney and I still can't figure out why Mom will get her picture with characters some days and not on others. Maybe she will chime in and solve this mystery.
Coming Up: What to eat for dinner at Hollywood Studios and making friends while waiting for fireworks
After Beauty and the Beast we made our retreat back to the resort. It was time to hit the pool!
We stopped in The Mara and picked up some refillable mugs. We figured we would get them this trip as we were planning to spend time at the pool almost every day so we would get good use out of them.
We found some good chairs poolside in a nice partly shaded spot and then dived in. Well, gently climbed down the ladder but you get the idea.
I was so happy to get some relaxing pool time. I so miss having a pool at home. When we lived in Virginia Beach when I was in high school we had an in-ground pool and it was lovely. Here in Canada though no pool for me so it is great when I get some pool time on vacation. I just love to float in the water, so relaxing.
Mom even got in the water for a bit! She spends most of her pool time on the lounger but does get in the water from time to time.
Here's our spot. It was a pretty good spot but the tree that shades the area does drop it's leaves onto the chairs so we had to brush them off but that was no big deal.
I think we spent about 1 1/2-2 hours at the pool. I spent half that time floating around and the other half I started reading the book I brought along for the trip, "The Death of Mrs. Westaway".
After the pool we dried off and then caught a bus back to Hollywood Studios for the evening.
We caught the Citizens of Hollywood again. This time they were objectifying one of the park guests. It was pretty hilarious.
After watching those hilarious gals we had to make our way to our fastpass at Star Tours. It was so confusing trying to get there though. The pathway that you would usually take to get there was all closed off and there were arrows taped to the ground pointing towards the Celebrity Spotlight area where Olaf meets. This area was confusing because you had the queue for Olaf and then they had taken two of the "lanes" of the queue and opened them up for foot traffic with arrows pointing the direction you were supposed to walk in in each "lane". I should have taken a picture to show you all as it is hard to explain, it was confusing though. I later found out on the vlog Paging Mr Morrow in a video that was shot this same evening that the usual walkway was closed for repaving. We did make it through and found our way to Star Tours. The fastpass line was closed so we couldn't go in that way but the standby wait wasn't bad so we just got in line.
It was a fun ride as always but once again I did not get to be the rebel spy. Both my brothers have been and I keep hoping that one of these days I will get picked!
We wandered around in the former Streets of America area and saw where Star Wars Land will soon be.
So excited!!!
I felt uncomfortable lingering in the area though as there were a team of paramedics there with a child on a stretcher and I counted four Disney suits in attendance. I hope the kid was okay! I wonder if it is normal for that many "suits" to show up when medical assistance is needed or if they were there because something happened that the park could be liable for?
Mom and I moved into "Muppet Square" or whatever it is actually called.
We thought about trying out dinner at Pizzerizzo but it was closed. Didn't this just open?
Neither of us felt like seeing the Muppets show. I like the Muppets but this show just feels so outdated. It would be nice if they would keep the muppets theme but give us a new show.
Since we were in the area I decided to stop at Baseline Tap House and try out the Bavarian Pretzel with beer cheese fondue and spicy mustard.
We got a nice shaded table outside and as we sat there I saw two very familiar looking people standing by the entrance. I said to Mom, "Isn't that Nate and Veronica from Paging. Mr Morrow?".
It was indeed Nate and Veronica. If you don't know, Paging Mr. Morrow is a hilarious WDW vlog and Nate and Veronica are the stars. They are so funny, especially Veronica. Mom got excited and debated over whether or not she should go say hello. She did eventually decide to be brave and go say hi and tell them that she loved their vlog. Once I finished chewing I went over as well. Paging Mr Morrow and The WDW Couple are my favourite Disney vloggers and they happen to be friends and so often appear in each others vlogs. You should definitely check them out! If you want a really good belly laugh you should watch Paging Mr Morrow's "Thrift Store Challenge at EPCOT". We didn't take too much of their time just told them how much we enjoyed their vlog and that was it. It was really funny that I spotted them as before the trip Mom was talking about vloggers and if we would see any and I said it was highly unlikely as there are thousands of people at WDW so what are the odds that you would see them. Well, guess I was wrong! Here is the channel for Paging Mr. Morrow -https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCscn2aSpMrS2U_mf7OF-UwQ/featured
Back to the pretzel!
It was a nice soft pretzel and it was pretty big. I really liked the beer cheese sauce but wasn't a huge fan of the mustard but I am not a mustard person to begin with so that wasn't a surprise. It was a nice satisfying snack.
After I finished my snack we decided to get in line for Mickey and Minnie! The line was about 30 minutes but we didn't care as we had lots of time to kill before the fireworks.
We saw Minnie first and she made a big deal out of my ears. I told her she was my fashion inspiration.
Mom then joined us
Next up was Mickey! On our 2011 trip I believe, back when the Animation Studio was still operating, we got our picture taken with Sorcerer Mickey but our photopass photo disappeared and probably ended up on some other family's photopass cd. So we needed a redo with Sorcerer Mickey!
Well, as I approached Mickey I had a wardrobe malfunction.
Luckily it isn't too obvious in the photos but I was so anxious about it at the time as I couldn't tell how bad it was and I was right in the middle of my Mickey meet. The front of the dress had a little snap at the top so that you could have the neckline be more open if you chose. Well, if I left the snap open I would be showing off A LOT of chest. When I approached Mickey and put my arms out for a hug I must have put just enough pressure in just the right way that the front of the dress snapped open!!! I braved it out though like nothing had happened. In the future if I wear the dress again I will get a little safety pin to make sure it stays snapped or have Mom stitch it closed.Given the circumstance of my chest being more on display than I wanted I find this photo kind of funny. I am sure there are some great captions that could be added to it...
As soon as it was Mom's turn I turned my back on Mickey and his entourage of cast members and did my dress snap back up.
Mom said she didn't notice anything had happened with my dress but you could definitely tell I was on display. On somebody smaller chested it might not have been so bad or obvious. Luckily though the way I am angled in the pictures my overexposure is obscured or I probably wouldn't be sharing the photos.
After we said goodbye to Mickey we had to figure out what else we could do. There wasn't much on offer. Since we had figured out the maze of confused arrows and lines at Celebrity Spotlight earlier we decided to go visit Olaf.
Aww, a warm hug
The character photos this night were some of the few that Mom participated in during the trip. In fact, other than at character meals I don't think she got her picture taken with any other characters. Not sure why since she stood in line with me for most of them. All these years going to Disney and I still can't figure out why Mom will get her picture with characters some days and not on others. Maybe she will chime in and solve this mystery.
Coming Up: What to eat for dinner at Hollywood Studios and making friends while waiting for fireworks
petals
Irish Princess because Cinderella said so!
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- May 18, 2010
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- 5,181
My Momma is the same. The odd occasion she will get in a character photo but for most she refuses and will sit somewhere nearby while I wait for characters. Character meals are the funniest because she tries not to get into photos and usually ends up with the characters sitting beside her 
I love Sorcerer Mickey's set up.
I love Sorcerer Mickey's set up.
Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Legend
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- Jan 10, 2007
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- 15,138
Character meals are the funniest because she tries not to get into photos and usually ends up with the characters sitting beside her
She is getting her picture whether she likes it or not!Me too!
paradesintherain
DIS Veteran
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- Apr 17, 2013
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We found some good chairs poolside in a nice partly shaded spot and then dived in. Well, gently climbed down the ladder but you get the idea.
NO DIVING
This is so pretty! Makes me wish I had brought my camera in
How cool to run into vloggers you love!
The picture turned out great, in spite of the wardrobe malfunction! Buttons and snaps on dresses can be the absolute worst
missangelalexis
DIS Veteran
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- Apr 27, 2012
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I love Paging Mr. Morrow! I actually ran into them during my last trip too! They are awesome
Great character pics!!
Great character pics!!
Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Legend
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They totally are! This dress I had ordered online and if I had known it had a snap I may not have bought it. It was nice and cool though in the Florida heat so I can't complain about that. Sometimes a little too cool and breezy!
I love Paging Mr. Morrow! I actually ran into them during my last trip too! They are awesome
That's awesome! They are hilarious. Love the life you live; Live the life you love!
LeiaIsAPrincess2
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Loving your trip report and heading over to your PTR for Tokyo too! You have more self restraint than me, I would have reported the smokers so fast. That's just horrible, especially on the savanna.
petals
Irish Princess because Cinderella said so!
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Yes and I being the lovely daughter that I am lol alot when it happens
Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Legend
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If I had known for sure which room it was I probably would have place the call.
I just showed Jimmy Paging Mr. Morrow and the episode on the the Kitchen Sink. He now wants one
I have never had it as it grosses me out but my brothers always try and accomplish eating one just the two of them. Yes and I being the lovely daughter that I am lol alot when it happens
Naturally!
amazingact21
Upendi
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I'll have to check out Paging Mr. Morrow. It sounds like a fun vlog channel!
That walkway sounded so confusing. A lot of work to get to Star Tours...
Getting to relax at the pools is one of the best parts about going on vacation; glad you were able to get a few hours to hang out at AKL's pool.
Oh goodness, sorry about the wardrobe malfunction at the meet and greet! Thankfully, your pictures still turned out great and now you've got those elusive Sorcery Mickey Photopass shots!
That walkway sounded so confusing. A lot of work to get to Star Tours...
Getting to relax at the pools is one of the best parts about going on vacation; glad you were able to get a few hours to hang out at AKL's pool.
Oh goodness, sorry about the wardrobe malfunction at the meet and greet! Thankfully, your pictures still turned out great and now you've got those elusive Sorcery Mickey Photopass shots!
Lifelong_Dreamer
DIS Legend
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June 12 - Hollywood Studios
After Olaf we decided to go scout out a place for the nighttime shows. We had decided to skip Fantasmic in favour of something new for us which was the Movie Magic show and the Star Wars Fireworks. I did not research ahead of time
guilty to see where the best spot would be so Mom asked a cast member and we relied on her advice. The advice would be pretty solid except for one thing, that giant stage that is front of the Chinese Theatre for the Star Wars shows. I really really hope that once Galaxy's Edge opens that they get rid of that stage, it is an eyesore, and that they keep the Star Wars stuff to that area of the park. I doubt it though. I enjoy Star Wars and I am really looking forward to the new land but I dislike how Star Wars has taken over the whole park. For example, we loved the Animation building and we were really disappointed when it was closed to make way for Star Wars Launch Bay. So my hope, as hopeless as it may be, is that once Galaxy's Edge opens all the Star Wars stuff will be relocated there and that the rest of the park can feature other themed attractions. Am I alone in this?
The spot that Mom and I settled on was along a fence right where Hollywood Blvd widens and becomes the large courtyard with the Chinese Theatre at the far end of it. Once we had our spot it was decided that I would venture off and try and find something for us to share for dinner. Neither of us were terribly hungry so I thought maybe I would get a chicken nuggets and fries meal for the two of us to share. I wandered around and took some pictures and then went over to ABC Commissary thinking they would have chicken nuggets there but I did not see them on the menu. I looked over the options and none appealed so I moved on. Next I thought about Backlot Express but it was so "far" so I didn't want to go there either.
Well, I noticed a little food stand by Indiana Jones so I decided to see what they had there and then it was decided, we were having dessert for dinner. I got the Cookies and Cream funnel cake. A nice and nutritious dinner!
Several cast members called out to me as I walked back to Mom carrying our treat asking if it was for them. One tried to convince me it was his birthday.
When I got back to Mom I found that she had made some friends, a honeymooning couple from LA. We dug into our food and chatted with our new friends. We used the garbage can we were standing next to as a table.
As it got darker we started to notice dark clouds in the distance and then flashes of light. We were getting nervous and hoped that it was blowing in the other direction. It did lead to a beautiful sunset though so I took some more pictures.
Luckily the weather held off and the shows began. First up was Movie Magic. This was a fun show but nothing I will go out of my way to see again. I did like the Guardians of the Galaxy sequence.
And then the main event, Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular Fireworks.
The show was great and would have been better if the silly stage didn't block part of the projections. This show heavily depends on projections as does Movie Magic and it seems silly to have a huge stage obstructing the view except for a few people who stand in front of the stage. However, if you stand in front of the stage (between the stage and the theatre) then you don't get the full effect of the fireworks. That is why we chose the spot we did, we had a partly obstructed view of the projections but we got the expansive view of the fireworks.
There was one "torch" on the right wing of the theatre roof that seemed to be out of control and I joke with our LA friends that we may have another Festival of Fantasy dragon situation on our hands. This torch was always throwing flames up much higher and bigger than the other ones and always seemed to take longer to go out.
Even though I enjoyed the fireworks I kinda wish we had just gone to see Fantasmic. I just wasn't wowed by the Star Wars fireworks which is disappointing because I thought what could be more epic than fireworks paired with that amazing soundtrack and Disney.
After the fireworks show it was time to head back to the hotel. A bus showed up shortly after we arrived, lucky!
Maybe not so lucky.... We would have been better off if we hadn't made it on that bus.
Mom and I were able to grab seats but not next to each other. We were both at the back of the bus but on opposite sides. The bus kept getting fuller and fuller. People were being told to move back so they could squeeze even more on. It was pretty warm on the bus but the doors were open, it would get cooler once the air conditioning wasn't escaping through the open door right?
Once we were truly a bus of sardines we departed and the bus started to make its way to AKL.
I was wrong about the air conditioning kicking in. The complete opposite happened, it just got hotter and hotter. The lady sitting next to me was freaking out. She said it was so hot that she felt she was suffocating. It was so hot that you couldn't see out the windows as they were obscured by a thick layer of condensation from all the people crammed on the bus. The children in the seats across from me were writing "HELP!" on the windows. Finally somebody yelled at the bus driver to turn on the air conditioning. Well, the a/c didn't turn on, the lights did. Not sure if the bus driver turned the lights on because he was trying to find the a/c controls or if he was trying to see who was yelling at him. The yeller said "we want the a/c not the g.d. lights!". The lights then went off but still no a/c. I thought that there was going to be a riot. There might have been if anybody could actually move but we were so tightly packed that you could barely even shift an inch. The bus ride felt like it took forever and we were all miserable. I was seriously concerned for the lady next to me. Her kids kept saying "mom, are you alright?".
What a relief it was when we got to Kidani Village as half the people got off the bus. At least we weren't pressed all together anymore and there were half as many heat generators.
When we finally stumbled off the bus at Jambo House there were some guests that had a few words for the bus driver. I felt bad for him, I can't imagine he willingly subjected himself and a massively overcrowded bus full of people to that suffocating heat. That being said, if he knew there was a problem with the air conditioning there is no way that he should have loaded up that bus let alone allowed so many people to get crowded onto it. At that point in time I wished I hadn't been so cheap and paid the $500 for the rental car.
It was so nice to step into that nicely air conditioned building, I wanted to collapse on the floor. What a way to end the day.
Coming Up Next: A Pre-Park Opening Breakfast
After Olaf we decided to go scout out a place for the nighttime shows. We had decided to skip Fantasmic in favour of something new for us which was the Movie Magic show and the Star Wars Fireworks. I did not research ahead of time
guilty to see where the best spot would be so Mom asked a cast member and we relied on her advice. The advice would be pretty solid except for one thing, that giant stage that is front of the Chinese Theatre for the Star Wars shows. I really really hope that once Galaxy's Edge opens that they get rid of that stage, it is an eyesore, and that they keep the Star Wars stuff to that area of the park. I doubt it though. I enjoy Star Wars and I am really looking forward to the new land but I dislike how Star Wars has taken over the whole park. For example, we loved the Animation building and we were really disappointed when it was closed to make way for Star Wars Launch Bay. So my hope, as hopeless as it may be, is that once Galaxy's Edge opens all the Star Wars stuff will be relocated there and that the rest of the park can feature other themed attractions. Am I alone in this?The spot that Mom and I settled on was along a fence right where Hollywood Blvd widens and becomes the large courtyard with the Chinese Theatre at the far end of it. Once we had our spot it was decided that I would venture off and try and find something for us to share for dinner. Neither of us were terribly hungry so I thought maybe I would get a chicken nuggets and fries meal for the two of us to share. I wandered around and took some pictures and then went over to ABC Commissary thinking they would have chicken nuggets there but I did not see them on the menu. I looked over the options and none appealed so I moved on. Next I thought about Backlot Express but it was so "far" so I didn't want to go there either.
Well, I noticed a little food stand by Indiana Jones so I decided to see what they had there and then it was decided, we were having dessert for dinner. I got the Cookies and Cream funnel cake. A nice and nutritious dinner!
Several cast members called out to me as I walked back to Mom carrying our treat asking if it was for them. One tried to convince me it was his birthday.
When I got back to Mom I found that she had made some friends, a honeymooning couple from LA. We dug into our food and chatted with our new friends. We used the garbage can we were standing next to as a table.
As it got darker we started to notice dark clouds in the distance and then flashes of light. We were getting nervous and hoped that it was blowing in the other direction. It did lead to a beautiful sunset though so I took some more pictures.
Luckily the weather held off and the shows began. First up was Movie Magic. This was a fun show but nothing I will go out of my way to see again. I did like the Guardians of the Galaxy sequence.
And then the main event, Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular Fireworks.
The show was great and would have been better if the silly stage didn't block part of the projections. This show heavily depends on projections as does Movie Magic and it seems silly to have a huge stage obstructing the view except for a few people who stand in front of the stage. However, if you stand in front of the stage (between the stage and the theatre) then you don't get the full effect of the fireworks. That is why we chose the spot we did, we had a partly obstructed view of the projections but we got the expansive view of the fireworks.
There was one "torch" on the right wing of the theatre roof that seemed to be out of control and I joke with our LA friends that we may have another Festival of Fantasy dragon situation on our hands. This torch was always throwing flames up much higher and bigger than the other ones and always seemed to take longer to go out.
Even though I enjoyed the fireworks I kinda wish we had just gone to see Fantasmic. I just wasn't wowed by the Star Wars fireworks which is disappointing because I thought what could be more epic than fireworks paired with that amazing soundtrack and Disney.
After the fireworks show it was time to head back to the hotel. A bus showed up shortly after we arrived, lucky!
Maybe not so lucky.... We would have been better off if we hadn't made it on that bus.
Mom and I were able to grab seats but not next to each other. We were both at the back of the bus but on opposite sides. The bus kept getting fuller and fuller. People were being told to move back so they could squeeze even more on. It was pretty warm on the bus but the doors were open, it would get cooler once the air conditioning wasn't escaping through the open door right?
Once we were truly a bus of sardines we departed and the bus started to make its way to AKL.
I was wrong about the air conditioning kicking in. The complete opposite happened, it just got hotter and hotter. The lady sitting next to me was freaking out. She said it was so hot that she felt she was suffocating. It was so hot that you couldn't see out the windows as they were obscured by a thick layer of condensation from all the people crammed on the bus. The children in the seats across from me were writing "HELP!" on the windows. Finally somebody yelled at the bus driver to turn on the air conditioning. Well, the a/c didn't turn on, the lights did. Not sure if the bus driver turned the lights on because he was trying to find the a/c controls or if he was trying to see who was yelling at him. The yeller said "we want the a/c not the g.d. lights!". The lights then went off but still no a/c. I thought that there was going to be a riot. There might have been if anybody could actually move but we were so tightly packed that you could barely even shift an inch. The bus ride felt like it took forever and we were all miserable. I was seriously concerned for the lady next to me. Her kids kept saying "mom, are you alright?".
What a relief it was when we got to Kidani Village as half the people got off the bus. At least we weren't pressed all together anymore and there were half as many heat generators.
When we finally stumbled off the bus at Jambo House there were some guests that had a few words for the bus driver. I felt bad for him, I can't imagine he willingly subjected himself and a massively overcrowded bus full of people to that suffocating heat. That being said, if he knew there was a problem with the air conditioning there is no way that he should have loaded up that bus let alone allowed so many people to get crowded onto it. At that point in time I wished I hadn't been so cheap and paid the $500 for the rental car.
It was so nice to step into that nicely air conditioned building, I wanted to collapse on the floor. What a way to end the day.
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Our Go-To Disney Snacks & Meals: Magic Kingdom
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Race Weekend Discount + New Menu Items in Disney Springs
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