Mike & Missy's Grand Adventure! 9/5/09 DCL Western & WDW TR w/ pics! COMPLETE!

[UGAFan0829]

As we were leaving Pinocchio’s, we realized that the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It parade was going on, so we walked to the front of the castle to check it out. There were a ton of characters all around on some very colorful floats. The atmosphere was really fun and upbeat! And of course I took a ton of photos since this was our 1st time seeing it…

All of the performers and the characters were really into it, and that made it a lot of fun to watch! I’m glad that we didn’t miss it!

With the parade over, we decided to head for some more exploring and check out another place that we’d never been before-The Swiss Family Treehouse. Mike had always wanted to see what it was all about, but we’d just never taken the time before. As we made our way from the castle over to the treehouse, I snapped this side shot of the castle, which I thought turned out really nice:

We were then making our way around the Swiss Family Treehouse and seeing what everything was about.

It was a neat little place to explore, but probably not something I’d want to do over and over again. There were some pretty views from the bridges and walkways though!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Love the character pictures and how lucky you were getting all those short lines!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Love the character pictures and how lucky you were getting all those short lines!

Thanks for sticking around, Lessa. Yes, we were definitely lucky with the wait times...which is one reason why I love going in September!!

 

[Jennifer48]

for line mojo!

Aww Ariel is my sister too!

That castle shot is gorgeous! You should frame it!

Did the parade music get stuck in your head the rest of the day? Its stuck in mine now! Pumpin' up the party now!

 

[UGAFan0829]

for line mojo!

Aww Ariel is my sister too!

That castle shot is gorgeous! You should frame it!

Did the parade music get stuck in your head the rest of the day? Its stuck in mine now! Pumpin' up the party now!

Yea, then I guess that means we're sisters too then!!

I'm glad you liked the castle shot. It's one of my favorites.

You know what, I guess I was paying so much attention to the characters and the floats that I totally ignored the music.

I'm glad you're still reading!

 

[mousetravel]

I finally got caught up again! We were at Disney and Sea World last week, so I'm trying to catch up on everything! Hoping to get our TR started soon.

 

[UGAFan0829]

I finally got caught up again! We were at Disney and Sea World last week, so I'm trying to catch up on everything! Hoping to get our TR started soon.

Yeaaa, I'm glad you're back!! How awesome that you just got homoe from Disney. You gotta start a TR so I can hear all about it!!!

 

[mousetravel]

Yeaaa, I'm glad you're back!! How awesome that you just got homoe from Disney. You gotta start a TR so I can hear all about it!!!

Finally got my TR started! Hope you'll join!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2443520

 

[UGAFan0829]

Sooooo, when I last left off we'd just finished exploring the Swiss Family Treehouse.

We then decided that it was time to head over to Tomorrowland to spend some time on some of our favorite attractions over there.

On the way over, we noticed a Photopass photographer right outside the Tomorrowland sign at the Mickey and Minnie topiaries, so guess what we did. The photographer had an "Earning My Ears" ribbon on her name tag, but she was one of the best that we encountered during our whole trip. She ended up taking a ton of pics, but I won't bore you with all of them...

It turns out that the "Dream Along with Mickey" show over at the castle was going on at the same time, so we had perfect timing with the fireworks, which I thought was really cool...

After moving along from our "photo shoot", we decided to check out the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor for the first time. This turned out to be a really funny show. For anyone who hasn't been before, as everyone is waiting for the show to start, the camera person will find random people in the audience and put their picture on the screen at the front for everyone to see, along with a funny comment. One lady was caught looking around and the caption said, "I have no idea where I am." We were sitting there laughing at all the silly things they were coming up with, when suddenly Mike came up on the screen with the caption, "this guy feels like randomly dancing." Normally, Mike and I are very shy people, but for some reason, he seems to really open up at Disney. So he gets up and starts busting a move and I'm sitting there just dying laughing. I would have given anything to have captured that on video. The when he sits down the camera is still on him, and he starts pointing to me, so then I have to get up, and I am SO embarrassed at this point, but I start doing one of the moves from Saturday Night Fever. It was totally hilarious, and definitely a moment that we won't ever forget!! Now Mike calls my dance "the Disney dance"!

With the show being over and a sore tummy from so many laughs, we decide to try out another first...the Astro Orbiter. I'd always wanted to ride just to see what the views were like from up there. I have to admit that the line for this ride is really odd. I hate how you have to stand there at the bottom, then everyone in your group has to cram into the elevator only to get to the top and have to wait again. The views were pretty cool though...

Mike almost looks scared in this one:

I have to say that I was a little disappointed in this ride. I just thought that it was kinda lame, and definitely not worth the wait...just my opinion though--I'm sure there are lots of others who love it.

After our ride in space, we decided to take a nice relaxing ride on the TTA. This is definitely one of my favorite things in the MK!

We were able to see some of the work going on as part of the Space Mountain rehab:

Our nice relaxing and refreshing ride was over way too soon, and as we exited we decided that it was time for a little competition on Buzz Lightyear.

I didn't even think to take a pic of the score, but I'm certain that I get my butt kicked, just as I always do. And of course the ride wouldn't be complete without a RRP:

Now that I'd officially been beaten, we both decided that it was time for some yummy tropical goodness that's a must on every trip...So we headed straight for Aloha Isle, where we picked up one of these lovely concoctions to share...

We found a seat on the bench across the way and savored every bite of that yummy goodness!!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I love the pictures with the fireworks going off in the background, what great timing!

 

[UGAFan0829]

I love the pictures with the fireworks going off in the background, what great timing!

Thanks, Lessa! They turned out to be some of my favorites, too!! It was just luck that we timed it the way we did!

 

[mousetravel]

What a great photographer she was! Love those pics.
We loved the new "version" of Space Mountain. It's neat to see your pics of the construction!

 

[UGAFan0829]

What a great photographer she was! Love those pics.
We loved the new "version" of Space Mountain. It's neat to see your pics of the construction!

Thank you!! I was disppointed that Space Mountain was closed, but I thought it was neat to see part of the construction, too!

 

[UGAFan0829]

Once we'd litterally sucked every last bit of our float down, we decided to take a little trip down Main Street and check out some of the shops there. I honestly don't remember which ones we went into, but we did stop along the way to take a pic here and there:

Mike would probably kill me if he knew I posted this one, but since he doesn't DIS, then I'm going to do it anyway:

Since we were finally finished loafering around at the front of the park, we decided to catch the train over to Toontown since we still had some time to kill before our 6:00 ADR at Crystal Palace.

We really weren't sure exactly what we wanted to do in Toontown, but I remembered that the Fairies were now out, so I wanted to try and see them. When we got inside, you could definitely tell the difference in the wait times between the Fairies and the Princesses. In the past, the line for the Princesses was always backed up, but not this time--and not compared to the line for the Fairies at least. The wait time for the Fairies was posted as 30 minutes, and we had about an hour to kill, so we decided to go for them. Well, what was supposed to be a 30 minute wait turned into what seemed like forever. I think the way that they only take a few people at a time through is what slows up the process. Either way, we ended up waiting nearly a whole hour for them. Thankfully, we made it through just in time to see all of them before we had to head back across the park for our ADR. Mike decided that he didn't want his picture with any of them, so he stood back and watched as I visited with each of them. And you'll have to forgive me, because I can't remember any of their names, except Tinker Bell of course.

Tink was really cute--she was asking me about my shirt, which as you can tell is Pooh. She said, "Now you have a bear on your shirt"!. She was the most fun of all!

Finally done with the Fairies, we hoofed it back down Main Street towards CP. Turns out, we were right on time for our ADR!

I was really excited about this meal since Pooh is my fave. We'd eaten here for breakfast a couple of times, but this was our first for dinner. I'd heard good things about the food, so we were anxious to try it for ourselves! We did end up waiting just a few minutes before we were finally seated, but it really wasn't long at all. And before I knew it, my friends were already making their rounds:

Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic with Tigger this time. He posed with Mike, then totally ignored me and went to the next table! Kinda weird, but oh well. Sweet Piglet made up for it though!

The came the best for last!!

I hate to sound negative, but I have to be honest here...I was really disppointed in the food. I barely ate anything. Yes, I am a pretty picky eater, but I can usually find something on a buffet that I like--but not this time. And to make it even worse, Mike didn't care for it either, and he eats mostly anything. We decided that we definitely wouldn't go back for dinner. I'm glad we tried it though, and the experience with the characters is the main reason we go anyway!

 

[UGAFan0829]

With our tummies barely full, we headed out and decided to scope out a spot for Wishes. The last time we'd seen it, we watched from a sidewalk on Main Street, but this time we found a spot right in front of the castle, just a little ways back. I guess it's what they call the hub?? As we were waiting, I noticed all the Halloween themed statues that they had positioned all around the circle, so while Mike kept our spot I got up and took a few pics...

Before long, it had started to get dark, and the castle began to light up. Sitting there, relaxing while watching the colors change was one of my favorite parts of the day...

And I bet you can guess what happened next...the show began!! I was so happy to finally be seeing Wishes again!!

Oh, I can just hear the music playing now..."and all our Wishes"...

And this was the one that turned out the best:

We then slowly made our way out of the park. It was a bit of a bittersweet feeling--we'd just seen such an amazing show, but yet it was our last night in Disney...I snapped a few pics as we walked out...I love seeing the park all lit up at night:

So this is where I started to cry:

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Sorry about the not so good food at Crystal Palace, we have only eaten there for breakfast and it was excellent. It is hard to mess up breakfast though.

You got some great pictures of Wishes! I wish I was standing in front of the castle watching it right now.

 

[UGAFan0829]

Sorry about the not so good food at Crystal Palace, we have only eaten there for breakfast and it was excellent. It is hard to mess up breakfast though.

You got some great pictures of Wishes! I wish I was standing in front of the castle watching it right now.

Thanks!!

I agree about breakfast at CP...it is very yummy!!! I hope to eat there when we go back!

I know what you mean about Wishes...the soundtrack was playing in my head as I was posting the pictures. I guess I need to pull my CD out and listen to it again!

 

[Jennifer48]

Sorry to hear you didn't like the dinner food at CP. In my opinion, the buffet food can go either way.

Your Wishes photos came out great! Did you use any type of mono/tripod?

 

[UGAFan0829]

Sorry to hear you didn't like the dinner food at CP. In my opinion, the buffet food can go either way.

Your Wishes photos came out great! Did you use any type of mono/tripod?

I agree with you, Jennifer--buffets can go either way. It's just that normally I'm able to find at least one thing that I like, but not this time. It's okay though...I can't expect EVERY meal in Disney to be fantastic. Plus, we really go more for the characters than anything!!

Actually, I didn't use anything with taking my pics of Wishes. I think if I did have something, some of them would have come out better. Next time I'd like to try using a gorillapod or something!

By the way, did I miss something, or are y'all now DVC members?? I just noticed your siggie!

 

[UGAFan0829]

With heavy hearts, we slowly made our way to the bus stop to catch our last ride home...

It was an uneventful ride back, and even though the bus was full, it was mostly quiet. I guess everyone else was sharing in our sadness, too!

Within a few minutes we were back at the BoardWalk. While Mike went to check on our account, I took a few last shots of the beautiful lobby that I failed to get earlier in the week.

Once everything was in order, we made our way back to the room to finish our packing. It was nearly midnight by the time that we were finished. So, we finally hit the hay for our one last sleep in Disney. We'd be rising early in the morning to check out and pack the car before we headed over to Chef Mickey's for our last meal in Disney.