PneumaticTransit
Are you the Key Master?
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2004
- Messages
- 663
The Players:
Me! - 23 year old Disney Cast Member and temporary pirate
Dad - 55 year old steel worker and unsuspecting temporary pirate
The Setting:
Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom on October 11th, 2005
Last year I attended MNSSHP because my uncle-in-law is willing to do anything that he can get a discount on. I went with my husband who <gasp> hates Disney. I dressed up, he complained a lot. So this year I was planning on going again only with someone who loves Disney as much as I do. My dad!
A quick back story: I grew up with my dad in Minnesota, and we took vacations to Disney every year. My dad is pretty cheap, so we never stayed onsite. We stayed at the Motel 6 across from Old Town. Well, I turned 18 and moved to Florida and got a job at Disney working at one of the resorts so I guess that makes up for all my unmentionable offsite vacations. Fast forward 5 years, and youre roughly up to speed.
So last year I was a vampire. This year I needed to find costumes for my dad and I. He didnt know he was dressing up yet, but hes a good sport.
I found him a nice pirate costume at the first store I went to. Literally, it was hanging on the first rack I checked. I thought, Hey, this isnt going to be so hard to find costumes after all.
I was wrong.
Finding a costume for a 55 year old steel worker is much easier than finding a costume for an adult female that doesnt flaunt my um assets. Who knew?
I checked Wal-Mart, Target, and Wal-Mart #2 on the first night. Nothing. I checked Walgreens, K-Mart, Target #2, and Wal-Mart #3 the second night. Nada. I checked Wal-Mart #4 on the third night. I found a Little Red Riding Hood costume that I thought might work, but I was wrong. Way too short. Who designs these costumes anyways? coughmen?cough
I was up to Wal-Mart #4 which sounds impressive, but I live in Central Florida and were lacking in community planning common sense. I believe the same statute that states that 60,000 houses be connected by one rural road also proclaims there must be Wal-Mart every three miles. I live within 20 miles of 10 Wal-Marts.
It was too late to order a costume online, so I held out that the Spirit Halloween Store by the Florida Mall would be my saving grace. I was not disappointed. They had so many costumes, it was hard choosing one. I thought it would be nice to match my dad, so I bought a pirate costume as well.
My dad flew down from Minnesota on Monday, October 10th and MNSSHP was the first father/daughter thing we had done together in awhile.
The day of the party I had to work. I was super excited for 4:30 PM to roll around. That just made the day drag on and on. Working for Disney is not one big pixie dust party as many imagine it to be, I actually have to do some boring real world work stuff. My boss would probably send me home if I skipped through the halls and answered every question with, What Would Walt Do?!?! Im not even sure if some of my co-workers have ever even been to the parks. They may have Masters degrees in engineering, but I know how to change the toner in the copy machine. They need me.
Finally it was quittin time, and I fought my way through traffic to get home.
It was time reveal my costume choices to my dad and my husband. My dad thought his pirate costume was cool, and I was just glad my costume didnt make me look skanky. My husband couldnt stop laughing. I threatened to make him walk the plank, or sic my faithful bilge rat on my (aka Binky the ferret).
My DH didnt want to be seen with me, and didnt want me going outside while he was outside so of course I had to. I made him take some pictures while several of the neighbors looked on with amusement. I gave them my best pirate Arrrrrrrgh, and my husbands eyes went straight to the ground as he quickly walked back in the house.
Here we are! Arrrrrgh!
It was about 6:30 PM, so I tried to hurry my dad to the car. My dad will find one hundred and one things to do before we go anywhere, which is why we are always late. For example, my dad must check the signal strength on my satellite dish every time he turns on the TV. It is always the same. Always. But he must check it, because you never know. Frankly, as long as I get a picture Im not worried about the signal strength. Ive only ever had to adjust the dish after last years hurricanes.
If you ever invite my dad and I anywhere, we will be late. Just assume my dad is checking all of the outlet covers to make sure all of the screw slots are vertical. Someone could have broken into the house and moved them.
Being in full pirate garb didnt detour him. He needed to check my cars coolant level for the 6th time. There wasnt a leak, but you never know. Squirrels could be sneaking up the engine, unscrewing the cap, siphoning out coolant, replacing the cap, and stock piling antifreeze for their acorn fueled dooms day device.
Finally, we were ready to roll. I paid extra attention to my driving skills, because I didnt want to have to explain my getup to one of the fine officers of the Kissimmee Police Department. The would have forced me to take a sobriety test, Im sure.
We made it to the Magic Kingdom after a slight detour. I have been working on Disney property for 5 years, and yet I missed the exit. I knew where to turn, and I gazed at it longingly as I drove straight past it. Oops.
It was about 7:30 PM when we finally parked in the Dopey lot. There were lots of girls dressed as princesses piling out of cars.
My dad noticed there wasnt any adult dressed up. I assured him that I wasnt pulling some sort of weird sick joke. Adults, indeed, were allowed to dress up. It didnt take too long to spot an entire family of Incredibles.
We got out of the car just as the parking tram was pulling away. A little girls witchs hat flew off the tram and landed in the road. Someone quickly ran out and picked it up just as another tram was arriving. The tram attendant announcer guy (Im pretty sure thats not the official role title) reminded everyone that costumes must not drag on the ground, etc etc and there was a mandatory bag check before entering the park. He also said he would be doing random candy bag searches at the end of the night and confiscating all Snickers for security purposes.
We arrived at the TTC, and the little witch was reunited with her hat. Everyone cheered. Only a few minutes into the night, and we were already witnesses to Disney magic.
At this point I noticed how hot it was. I was sort of wishing I had put some extra deodorant on. I figured real pirates probably smelled bad, so I didnt worry about it too much. We opted to take the ferry over, because we figured an open air boat would probably be more comfortable than the jammed packed monorail cars.
We arrived just as the ferry was pulling away. Figures.
It took another 10 minutes before we were floating towards the Castle which gave me time to play with my new camera. I had just bought it two days before. One thing about MNSSHP is thats its dark. The lights are very low, and they have a lot of dramatic green, purple, and orange lights throughout the park. It makes for difficult picture taking. I played with the camera settings throughout the night, forgive me if they are not great.
After entering through the turnstiles and getting our spiffy blue event bracelets, we were handed our candy bags. Those were very important. We may both be adults, but we love candy as much as kids. By the end of the night we were experts at holding out the bag, saying, Trick or Treat and smiling big. It works. We got a lot of candy.
We were stopped by a manager looking person, and my dad panicked. He thought she was going to take away his candy bag. She would have to kill him first, I saw him mentally preparing for the fight. She just wanted to hear our best pirate, Arrrrgh. Then she gave us Mickey stickers.
It was about 7:45 PM, and I knew the Headless Horseman was due to make his appearance. Main Street was already lined with people three layers thick. Using the sidewalk, we made our way halfway up Main Street before the lights dimmed, and they made the intro for the Headless Horseman.
I scrambled to get my camera ready. I had only heard of him thru the Disboards. I didnt not see him the year prior. I couldnt get a good view, and he was traveling pretty fast. I did manage to snap this picture. Pathetic, yes but you can kind of make out the horses head on the right. Its my proof that he ran for the first parade, and I saw him.
Continuing down Main Street, there was a Cast Member outside of the bakery handing out something. Traffic was moving to quickly to get a good look what she stuffed in our bags. When we got on the pathway to Tomorrowland, I saw it was an eyeball. My dad was looking at his too. I thought it was a bouncy ball. My dad threw his on the ground to test my theory.
It didnt bounce. I told you it was dark.
Dad picked it up and dusted it off. It had a wrapper on it. Turns out it was a chocolate covered peanut butter ball. Theyre pretty good. We got a lot of them throughout the night.
In Tomorrowland we stopped to have our free picture taken at the Time Traveler place. There wasnt any wait. All you have to do is fill out a slip with your name and address and they take your picture. I am expecting our pictures to come any day now.
Upon exiting, we saw the first free candy by The Carousel of Progress. There wasnt any wait their either. After getting our candy, we went on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. I was getting rather sticky and the breeze felt great. During the dark parts, I heard my dad unwrapping candy and eating it.
He swears he didnt eat any, see?
When the ride was over, we continued into Fantasyland. The Get Up and BOOgie Dance Party was just starting. If you only do one thing at MNSSHP, go to one of the dance parties. Seeing all the cute kids in costumes dancing with the characters is worth the admission price alone.
In the middle of the dance party, the villains come in which scared a few of the kids; but they honestly only came to dance. Im sorry not dance BOOgie. Get it? Working for Disney, I know they probably had 6 meetings just to come up with that.
And incase you women cant convince your husbands to go to MNSSHP, these girls escort the villains throughout the park. Im not sure how to describe them other than red haired vixens.
It was hard to convince my dad to move along since the vixens arrived, but we eventually made it to its a small world. I hadnt been on it since the rehab, and there wasnt any wait. It was 8:45 PM. I know, because the big clock by the queue line told me. It is pretty much the same, just very fresh looking. I did notice the sa wat dee krap sign was missing at the end though. Dang! I wanted a picture.
The fireworks started at 9:15 PM, so we got some more candy in Liberty Square and sat at one of the tables to wait. It gave us enough time to go through our candy bags.
We were getting into some very intense trades. I dont like peanut M&Ms. I like peanuts, and I like chocolate. I just dont like them together. Actually, I dont like nuts in any of my food. Separately they are fine, but I dont like them in my candy, ice cream, bread etc Its just one of those great mysteries of the world.
My dad gladly traded some Starbursts for them.
It was almost time for the fireworks. I wanted to try out the fireworks setting on my camera, so I got a good view of the sky. It was very humid, and the spray from the roof sprinklers felt good.
In case you didnt know, about 15 minutes before fireworks there are water sprinklers on the roofs that come on. Thats so any stray embers from the fireworks dont catch the buildings on fire. A lot of people dont know that - they think its raining or theres a plumbing leak somewhere. I worked at Epcot for a year, and you would get people calling maintenance in a tizzy if the roof sprinklers didnt go off before Illuminations.
As always, the fireworks were great. I thought the music was a little cheesy, but I digress. Midway through the show, I looked over to a man standing to my right at the exit of another event photo place. Doh! It was one of the secretaries from my office. He sometimes works extra hours at these events. I didnt want him to see me in my way cool pirate costume. Thats the beauty of MNSSHP. You dress up without the worry that youll see someone you know. He was ruining my sugar buzz.
I dont think he saw me, and he went back inside after a few minutes.
The fireworks ended, and Dad and I made our way into Frontierland. We got some more candy at the boat launch for Tom Sawyers Island. There wasnt any wait for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, so we went on it. We even got the very front, which turns out to be rather rough. We survived, and Briar Rabbit was near the exit. We took his picture.
We contemplated going on Splash Mountain, but the second parade was starting soon. I wanted to see it since we had missed the first one. We got prime parade watching real estate spots right in front of Splash Mountain.
The lights dimmed once more for the Headless Horseman. I saw him coming since we were at the very start of the parade route. I had my camera ready. I wasnt going to miss him this time.
Well, I missed him. Again, he was going pretty fast, and its dark. My camera couldnt focus on him. He is really cool though. The horse is very big, and his hooves spark on the asphalt street. Its one of the coolest things Ive ever seen in a parade. Just remember he comes about 15 minutes before the parade starts with very little warning just a small announcement about something about the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I dont know much about horses, but I would guess he travels somewhere faster than a trot but slower than a run. Would that be a gait? Gallop?
Right before the parade, some Cast Members come through with candy. Pretty good sized milk chocolate actually. I got about seven pieces. Just have your bag ready, open, and smile. I think I got some more of those chocolate peanut butter eyeballs that dont bounce too.
The parade route is pretty dark, and they dont really slow down for pictures. A lot of mine came out sort of blurry.
Here are the waltzing ghouls.
Here are the grave diggers. They are pretty neat to watch too. They do a routine with shovels that spark on the ground. You can sort of see it in the picture.
This guy here was the only bad experience I had at MNSSHP.
About three seconds after I took this picture, he took his wooden shovel handle and thumped it against my camera. On purpose. He held the shovel handle with both hands and pushed the camera against my face.
My new camera. My new $300 camera. My new $300 camera with a glass lens.
I was sort of in shock, which is probably good because as soon as I realized what he had done, he was gone. Im sure he didnt mean any harm and my camera was fine, but it was still very, very uncool. Rant over.
The pirate float came by, and Captain Hook pointed to me in approval. We were his peeps. It feels good to have peeps.
So good in fact, that after the parade we went to Pirates of the Caribbean. No wait, of course. Who is going to make a pirate wait for Pirates of the Caribbean?
Outside of POTC was another candy spot. They had treasure chests filled with booty around the candy. My dad was playing around with them and knocked one of the fancy gold cups over. The CM rolled his eyes in disapproval and loudly announced, Please dont touch the treasure.
Hundreds of kids had probably walked through that candy spot, and its a 55 year old man that causes all the problems. They gave us candy anyway.
Outside of The Jungle Cruise was a plethora of candy. The line wove through 4 or 5 different candy stations. There were also several characters.
I wanted to stop and have my picture taken with Tarzan because, well have you seen Tarzan? Happy Halloween to me! My dad wanted stay in the line to the next candy spot. He won.
Edible candy trumps eye candy. This time.
Baloo was there, but he wasnt moving. His handler was off in the distance just staring at him. Guests stared at him suspiously wondering if was a person or a statue. I watched him for a minute, and he didnt move much. I joked that he must of passed out and they just propped him against the wall.
It was getting late and I had to work in the morning, so we decided to head out. They were doing a Villains mix and mingle at the castle forecourt, so we stopped to watch that.
Actually, Dad just wanted to see the dancing Vixens. There must have been a lot of dads there, the Vixens got a lot of applause. When they came to the street for pictures, I said no way.
No Tarzan for me, no Vixens for dad. Fair is fair.
I snapped this picture as we left. I really love the colors they use during MNSSHP to light up Cinderellas Castle.
Exiting the park, they have one last candy spot in front of the train station. Mickey was there saying good night to everyone. There were a lot of little kids sleeping in strollers, I was envious.
We took the monorail back since it was quicker. My sugar high was wearing off pretty fast. We both had a really good time, and my dad wants to go back again next year.
That gives me roughly 365 days to find new costumes.
Thanks for reading. I will also be writing a trip report for Sea World within the next week or so. I think I have photographic proof of the secret squirrel antifreeze agenda.
UPDATE Here it is: Sea World Trip Report
Me! - 23 year old Disney Cast Member and temporary pirate
Dad - 55 year old steel worker and unsuspecting temporary pirate
The Setting:
Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom on October 11th, 2005
Last year I attended MNSSHP because my uncle-in-law is willing to do anything that he can get a discount on. I went with my husband who <gasp> hates Disney. I dressed up, he complained a lot. So this year I was planning on going again only with someone who loves Disney as much as I do. My dad!
A quick back story: I grew up with my dad in Minnesota, and we took vacations to Disney every year. My dad is pretty cheap, so we never stayed onsite. We stayed at the Motel 6 across from Old Town. Well, I turned 18 and moved to Florida and got a job at Disney working at one of the resorts so I guess that makes up for all my unmentionable offsite vacations. Fast forward 5 years, and youre roughly up to speed.
So last year I was a vampire. This year I needed to find costumes for my dad and I. He didnt know he was dressing up yet, but hes a good sport.
I found him a nice pirate costume at the first store I went to. Literally, it was hanging on the first rack I checked. I thought, Hey, this isnt going to be so hard to find costumes after all.
I was wrong.
Finding a costume for a 55 year old steel worker is much easier than finding a costume for an adult female that doesnt flaunt my um assets. Who knew?
I checked Wal-Mart, Target, and Wal-Mart #2 on the first night. Nothing. I checked Walgreens, K-Mart, Target #2, and Wal-Mart #3 the second night. Nada. I checked Wal-Mart #4 on the third night. I found a Little Red Riding Hood costume that I thought might work, but I was wrong. Way too short. Who designs these costumes anyways? coughmen?cough
I was up to Wal-Mart #4 which sounds impressive, but I live in Central Florida and were lacking in community planning common sense. I believe the same statute that states that 60,000 houses be connected by one rural road also proclaims there must be Wal-Mart every three miles. I live within 20 miles of 10 Wal-Marts.
It was too late to order a costume online, so I held out that the Spirit Halloween Store by the Florida Mall would be my saving grace. I was not disappointed. They had so many costumes, it was hard choosing one. I thought it would be nice to match my dad, so I bought a pirate costume as well.
My dad flew down from Minnesota on Monday, October 10th and MNSSHP was the first father/daughter thing we had done together in awhile.
The day of the party I had to work. I was super excited for 4:30 PM to roll around. That just made the day drag on and on. Working for Disney is not one big pixie dust party as many imagine it to be, I actually have to do some boring real world work stuff. My boss would probably send me home if I skipped through the halls and answered every question with, What Would Walt Do?!?! Im not even sure if some of my co-workers have ever even been to the parks. They may have Masters degrees in engineering, but I know how to change the toner in the copy machine. They need me.
Finally it was quittin time, and I fought my way through traffic to get home.
It was time reveal my costume choices to my dad and my husband. My dad thought his pirate costume was cool, and I was just glad my costume didnt make me look skanky. My husband couldnt stop laughing. I threatened to make him walk the plank, or sic my faithful bilge rat on my (aka Binky the ferret).
My DH didnt want to be seen with me, and didnt want me going outside while he was outside so of course I had to. I made him take some pictures while several of the neighbors looked on with amusement. I gave them my best pirate Arrrrrrrgh, and my husbands eyes went straight to the ground as he quickly walked back in the house.
Here we are! Arrrrrgh!
It was about 6:30 PM, so I tried to hurry my dad to the car. My dad will find one hundred and one things to do before we go anywhere, which is why we are always late. For example, my dad must check the signal strength on my satellite dish every time he turns on the TV. It is always the same. Always. But he must check it, because you never know. Frankly, as long as I get a picture Im not worried about the signal strength. Ive only ever had to adjust the dish after last years hurricanes.
If you ever invite my dad and I anywhere, we will be late. Just assume my dad is checking all of the outlet covers to make sure all of the screw slots are vertical. Someone could have broken into the house and moved them.
Being in full pirate garb didnt detour him. He needed to check my cars coolant level for the 6th time. There wasnt a leak, but you never know. Squirrels could be sneaking up the engine, unscrewing the cap, siphoning out coolant, replacing the cap, and stock piling antifreeze for their acorn fueled dooms day device.
Finally, we were ready to roll. I paid extra attention to my driving skills, because I didnt want to have to explain my getup to one of the fine officers of the Kissimmee Police Department. The would have forced me to take a sobriety test, Im sure.
We made it to the Magic Kingdom after a slight detour. I have been working on Disney property for 5 years, and yet I missed the exit. I knew where to turn, and I gazed at it longingly as I drove straight past it. Oops.
It was about 7:30 PM when we finally parked in the Dopey lot. There were lots of girls dressed as princesses piling out of cars.
My dad noticed there wasnt any adult dressed up. I assured him that I wasnt pulling some sort of weird sick joke. Adults, indeed, were allowed to dress up. It didnt take too long to spot an entire family of Incredibles.
We got out of the car just as the parking tram was pulling away. A little girls witchs hat flew off the tram and landed in the road. Someone quickly ran out and picked it up just as another tram was arriving. The tram attendant announcer guy (Im pretty sure thats not the official role title) reminded everyone that costumes must not drag on the ground, etc etc and there was a mandatory bag check before entering the park. He also said he would be doing random candy bag searches at the end of the night and confiscating all Snickers for security purposes.
We arrived at the TTC, and the little witch was reunited with her hat. Everyone cheered. Only a few minutes into the night, and we were already witnesses to Disney magic.
At this point I noticed how hot it was. I was sort of wishing I had put some extra deodorant on. I figured real pirates probably smelled bad, so I didnt worry about it too much. We opted to take the ferry over, because we figured an open air boat would probably be more comfortable than the jammed packed monorail cars.
We arrived just as the ferry was pulling away. Figures.
It took another 10 minutes before we were floating towards the Castle which gave me time to play with my new camera. I had just bought it two days before. One thing about MNSSHP is thats its dark. The lights are very low, and they have a lot of dramatic green, purple, and orange lights throughout the park. It makes for difficult picture taking. I played with the camera settings throughout the night, forgive me if they are not great.
After entering through the turnstiles and getting our spiffy blue event bracelets, we were handed our candy bags. Those were very important. We may both be adults, but we love candy as much as kids. By the end of the night we were experts at holding out the bag, saying, Trick or Treat and smiling big. It works. We got a lot of candy.
We were stopped by a manager looking person, and my dad panicked. He thought she was going to take away his candy bag. She would have to kill him first, I saw him mentally preparing for the fight. She just wanted to hear our best pirate, Arrrrgh. Then she gave us Mickey stickers.
It was about 7:45 PM, and I knew the Headless Horseman was due to make his appearance. Main Street was already lined with people three layers thick. Using the sidewalk, we made our way halfway up Main Street before the lights dimmed, and they made the intro for the Headless Horseman.
I scrambled to get my camera ready. I had only heard of him thru the Disboards. I didnt not see him the year prior. I couldnt get a good view, and he was traveling pretty fast. I did manage to snap this picture. Pathetic, yes but you can kind of make out the horses head on the right. Its my proof that he ran for the first parade, and I saw him.
Continuing down Main Street, there was a Cast Member outside of the bakery handing out something. Traffic was moving to quickly to get a good look what she stuffed in our bags. When we got on the pathway to Tomorrowland, I saw it was an eyeball. My dad was looking at his too. I thought it was a bouncy ball. My dad threw his on the ground to test my theory.
It didnt bounce. I told you it was dark.
Dad picked it up and dusted it off. It had a wrapper on it. Turns out it was a chocolate covered peanut butter ball. Theyre pretty good. We got a lot of them throughout the night.
In Tomorrowland we stopped to have our free picture taken at the Time Traveler place. There wasnt any wait. All you have to do is fill out a slip with your name and address and they take your picture. I am expecting our pictures to come any day now.
Upon exiting, we saw the first free candy by The Carousel of Progress. There wasnt any wait their either. After getting our candy, we went on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. I was getting rather sticky and the breeze felt great. During the dark parts, I heard my dad unwrapping candy and eating it.
He swears he didnt eat any, see?
When the ride was over, we continued into Fantasyland. The Get Up and BOOgie Dance Party was just starting. If you only do one thing at MNSSHP, go to one of the dance parties. Seeing all the cute kids in costumes dancing with the characters is worth the admission price alone.
In the middle of the dance party, the villains come in which scared a few of the kids; but they honestly only came to dance. Im sorry not dance BOOgie. Get it? Working for Disney, I know they probably had 6 meetings just to come up with that.
And incase you women cant convince your husbands to go to MNSSHP, these girls escort the villains throughout the park. Im not sure how to describe them other than red haired vixens.
It was hard to convince my dad to move along since the vixens arrived, but we eventually made it to its a small world. I hadnt been on it since the rehab, and there wasnt any wait. It was 8:45 PM. I know, because the big clock by the queue line told me. It is pretty much the same, just very fresh looking. I did notice the sa wat dee krap sign was missing at the end though. Dang! I wanted a picture.
The fireworks started at 9:15 PM, so we got some more candy in Liberty Square and sat at one of the tables to wait. It gave us enough time to go through our candy bags.
We were getting into some very intense trades. I dont like peanut M&Ms. I like peanuts, and I like chocolate. I just dont like them together. Actually, I dont like nuts in any of my food. Separately they are fine, but I dont like them in my candy, ice cream, bread etc Its just one of those great mysteries of the world.
My dad gladly traded some Starbursts for them.
It was almost time for the fireworks. I wanted to try out the fireworks setting on my camera, so I got a good view of the sky. It was very humid, and the spray from the roof sprinklers felt good.
In case you didnt know, about 15 minutes before fireworks there are water sprinklers on the roofs that come on. Thats so any stray embers from the fireworks dont catch the buildings on fire. A lot of people dont know that - they think its raining or theres a plumbing leak somewhere. I worked at Epcot for a year, and you would get people calling maintenance in a tizzy if the roof sprinklers didnt go off before Illuminations.
As always, the fireworks were great. I thought the music was a little cheesy, but I digress. Midway through the show, I looked over to a man standing to my right at the exit of another event photo place. Doh! It was one of the secretaries from my office. He sometimes works extra hours at these events. I didnt want him to see me in my way cool pirate costume. Thats the beauty of MNSSHP. You dress up without the worry that youll see someone you know. He was ruining my sugar buzz.
I dont think he saw me, and he went back inside after a few minutes.
The fireworks ended, and Dad and I made our way into Frontierland. We got some more candy at the boat launch for Tom Sawyers Island. There wasnt any wait for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, so we went on it. We even got the very front, which turns out to be rather rough. We survived, and Briar Rabbit was near the exit. We took his picture.
We contemplated going on Splash Mountain, but the second parade was starting soon. I wanted to see it since we had missed the first one. We got prime parade watching real estate spots right in front of Splash Mountain.
The lights dimmed once more for the Headless Horseman. I saw him coming since we were at the very start of the parade route. I had my camera ready. I wasnt going to miss him this time.
Well, I missed him. Again, he was going pretty fast, and its dark. My camera couldnt focus on him. He is really cool though. The horse is very big, and his hooves spark on the asphalt street. Its one of the coolest things Ive ever seen in a parade. Just remember he comes about 15 minutes before the parade starts with very little warning just a small announcement about something about the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I dont know much about horses, but I would guess he travels somewhere faster than a trot but slower than a run. Would that be a gait? Gallop?
Right before the parade, some Cast Members come through with candy. Pretty good sized milk chocolate actually. I got about seven pieces. Just have your bag ready, open, and smile. I think I got some more of those chocolate peanut butter eyeballs that dont bounce too.
The parade route is pretty dark, and they dont really slow down for pictures. A lot of mine came out sort of blurry.
Here are the waltzing ghouls.
Here are the grave diggers. They are pretty neat to watch too. They do a routine with shovels that spark on the ground. You can sort of see it in the picture.
This guy here was the only bad experience I had at MNSSHP.
About three seconds after I took this picture, he took his wooden shovel handle and thumped it against my camera. On purpose. He held the shovel handle with both hands and pushed the camera against my face.
My new camera. My new $300 camera. My new $300 camera with a glass lens.
I was sort of in shock, which is probably good because as soon as I realized what he had done, he was gone. Im sure he didnt mean any harm and my camera was fine, but it was still very, very uncool. Rant over.
The pirate float came by, and Captain Hook pointed to me in approval. We were his peeps. It feels good to have peeps.
So good in fact, that after the parade we went to Pirates of the Caribbean. No wait, of course. Who is going to make a pirate wait for Pirates of the Caribbean?
Outside of POTC was another candy spot. They had treasure chests filled with booty around the candy. My dad was playing around with them and knocked one of the fancy gold cups over. The CM rolled his eyes in disapproval and loudly announced, Please dont touch the treasure.
Hundreds of kids had probably walked through that candy spot, and its a 55 year old man that causes all the problems. They gave us candy anyway.
Outside of The Jungle Cruise was a plethora of candy. The line wove through 4 or 5 different candy stations. There were also several characters.
I wanted to stop and have my picture taken with Tarzan because, well have you seen Tarzan? Happy Halloween to me! My dad wanted stay in the line to the next candy spot. He won.
Edible candy trumps eye candy. This time.
Baloo was there, but he wasnt moving. His handler was off in the distance just staring at him. Guests stared at him suspiously wondering if was a person or a statue. I watched him for a minute, and he didnt move much. I joked that he must of passed out and they just propped him against the wall.
It was getting late and I had to work in the morning, so we decided to head out. They were doing a Villains mix and mingle at the castle forecourt, so we stopped to watch that.
Actually, Dad just wanted to see the dancing Vixens. There must have been a lot of dads there, the Vixens got a lot of applause. When they came to the street for pictures, I said no way.
No Tarzan for me, no Vixens for dad. Fair is fair.
I snapped this picture as we left. I really love the colors they use during MNSSHP to light up Cinderellas Castle.
Exiting the park, they have one last candy spot in front of the train station. Mickey was there saying good night to everyone. There were a lot of little kids sleeping in strollers, I was envious.
We took the monorail back since it was quicker. My sugar high was wearing off pretty fast. We both had a really good time, and my dad wants to go back again next year.
That gives me roughly 365 days to find new costumes.
Thanks for reading. I will also be writing a trip report for Sea World within the next week or so. I think I have photographic proof of the secret squirrel antifreeze agenda.
UPDATE Here it is: Sea World Trip Report
The party sounds great and I don't know if I can wait a whole year, oh well, guess I'll just have to eat some candy instead! Thanks again,
I Loved the pics. That was so sweet to go with your dad.
)
. I will be going next week to the party with my husband (to be), I can't wait! 
