October Anniversary Trip: MNSSHP, D23 Sip and Stroll and Food & Wine

[Aburns8]

We decided we had enough of HS studios for the day so we headed out with the MK in our sights. We wanted to go see the Mainstreet Electrical Parade so hopped on a bus to the Contemporary to walk over to MK.

We were able to get a picture taken with not as many people walking behind it!

We hit the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade again. Here is the funny story that I mentioned on Day 4. While I was waiting for Brian to take pictures I was window shopping. I happen to hear the MC on the parade float (and I am quoting) “you can even celebrate a bucket of chicken”. I turned around to look at the float and you can tell he really said it since everyone working the parade was cracking up. Even Brian heard it!

This is what I saw while “window shopping”:

It was still way too early to wait for the parade we decided to take the train around the park. We got off at the Toontown exit and walked over PhilharMagic. This is one my favorite 3D shows!

We still had some time to kill so we went on the Haunted Mansion, again. By the time we got off the ride we noticed that people were starting to line up for the parade. So we found a spot so we can be in the front.

Warning, I have a miniature rant here:

While we waited the 45 minutes for the parade to start we noticed how crowded it was getting. Yes, we got there 45 minutes before the parade was going to start because I wanted to take good pictures of the parade. Well, during that time people felt the need to either push us up against the rope so they could make room behind us, or seat their children around my feet so they could see. Now, I get blisters every trip we take to WDW and this day 5 so they were bad. At one point all I said was “ouch” and moved my foot because someone’s child decided to put their entire weight onto one of my feet. Then this woman, who even told me this wasn’t her child, decided to yell at me. Yes, yell at me. Why you may ask? I to this day still don’t know. I think she was frustrated because there were some people who were near her who decided to let their children sit down in front with her kids. Well, this lady basically told me that I shouldn’t be there in the front row because this was a place for children. I bit my tongue because I wasn’t going to stoop down to her level in front of her children. I really want to tell her that Walt Disney didn’t create these parks for children, but for families, and just because my family doesn’t have children in it doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t be standing where I was standing. Also, that maybe next time she should have gotten there an hour ahead of time to be standing where I was. But I decided to be the bigger person and ignore her. In fact I was nothing but nice to what I was assuming were her children. After the parade was over her little girl had problems with her popcorn bucket and I helped her with it because that lady wasn’t even paying attention to her kids.

OK rant over, here are the pictures from the parade (these pictures are taken with 2 different cameras and are not in any order):

After the parade there were so many people that we just decided to walk around Liberty Square for a little bit so that the crowds would lessen. Once we got back to the room we both passed out for the evening.

Up next: Animal Kingdom – yes a park we haven’t been to yet!

 

[Disneygrl36]

Another jam packed day!!
Love the pics of the parade & hate that you had to deal with drama. I get really upset about that kind of behavior too because I paid the same admission price & I DID my planning to be able to enjoy things like parades the way I want to & just because we don't have kids doesn't mean that other people should just assume it's ok to try to put their kids in front of us. WDW is for everyone not just kids!

 

[Aburns8]

Another jam packed day!!
Love the pics of the parade & hate that you had to deal with drama. I get really upset about that kind of behavior too because I paid the same admission price & I DID my planning to be able to enjoy things like parades the way I want to & just because we don't have kids doesn't mean that other people should just assume it's ok to try to put their kids in front of us. WDW is for everyone not just kids!

I knew that you would understand. It was really hard not to give that lady a piece of my mind!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

thanks for the picture, now i just have to remmeber to bring my philips head with me, and get me that souvenior.

think how much i could get for it on ebay





and those families like that at the parades are the same ones who book the trip, do no research, or planning get honked off after one day because they only did 2 rides in the MK for a 4 hour period because they slept in till 10 didnt get to the park till after 12, had lunch at 2 because they couldnt find a place...and waited 3 hours to ride splash because they didnt want to "pay" for fast passes.

and walk up to the parade as they are turning out the lights, and you need to move so there kid can have a front row....which you were sitting and relaxing in for the last hour because you researched your vacation.


that pretty much sums up what some people think.

 

[Aburns8]

thanks for the picture, now i just have to remmeber to bring my philips head with me, and get me that souvenior.

think how much i could get for it on ebay





and those families like that at the parades are the same ones who book the trip, do no research, or planning get honked off after one day because they only did 2 rides in the MK for a 4 hour period because they slept in till 10 didnt get to the park till after 12, had lunch at 2 because they couldnt find a place...and waited 3 hours to ride splash because they didnt want to "pay" for fast passes.

and walk up to the parade as they are turning out the lights, and you need to move so there kid can have a front row....which you were sitting and relaxing in for the last hour because you researched your vacation.


that pretty much sums up what some people think.

If you steal that key let me know!

I am hoping for better parade experiences in the future. But you have had your own drama in parade situations.

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

If you steal that key let me know!

I am hoping for better parade experiences in the future. But you have had your own drama in parade situations.

if i take it, then i wont tell you because then they can track me down.


you might be in on the hunt for the finders fee of the key.

 

[Aburns8]

if i take it, then i wont tell you because then they can track me down.


you might be in on the hunt for the finders fee of the key.

You do have a point I wonder if anyone has taken it before.

 

[Aburns8]

Today we knew we were going to Animal Kingdom since I had a reservation at Yak and Yeti for lunch. We only visit this park once each trip so we seem to take a lot of pictures.

We had no specific plans for the day so we decided to head over to Everest and get a FP. On our way we met Eyore, Tigger and Pooh. There was no one in line to meet them so we decided to take some pictures.

We got to Everest and grabbed our FP. Since the wait in line was only 10 minutes we decided to get in line and go for a spin. As we were waiting the line never moved. Then a CM came out and told us to come back later since there was something wrong with the ride. A little bummed, we walk out knowing that we would be back to use our FP later on.

We decided to head over to the other end of the park. On our way we decided to go through the Maharajah Jungle Trek to see the tigers. Here are some of the pictures we took:

We haven’t been on this trail a lot and forgot that there is an area of birds:

And one of Brian:

On our way to Kilimanjaro Safaris we ran into Divine. Out of our many trips to AK we have never seen her, just heard stories of her. So we stood there for a moment and watched her. I was amazed on how many people were walking past us wondering what we were looking at.

 

[Aburns8]

And we had our picture taken again…

We were able to grab a FP for the safari, but decided to get in line any ways. The line was supposed to be a 10 minute wait, but after 30 minutes we were off on our adventure.

When we got off the ride there was a PhotoPass photographer taking pictures. So we thought it was a good opportunity to get some more photos of us.

Side note – since we have barely any pictures of us together from our honeymoon, we went overboard this trip to make sure that we got enough pictures of the two of us.

It was time to use our FP for Everest so we headed over there and found another PhotoPass photographer. This girl was the best photographer we ever encountered. She even told Brian that he had his camera on the correct setting, so we knew that she knew what she was doing.

We then used our FP for Everest and picked up another one for later. We still had time to kill before lunch so we thought we would wait for It’s Tough to be a Bug! Here are some of my favorite posters:

Finally we could head over to Yak & Yeti. We were still a little early, while we were waiting to be seated Brian took only a couple pictures.

We started off with an appetizer of egg rolls.

Then we got some wonton soup:

And shared the shrimp lo mien:

The egg rolls and soup were delicious, but the shrimp lo mien was gross. I don’t even think we finished the whole thing. From what I heard the thing to get is the orange chicken.

 

[Aburns8]

We got out of the restaurant in time to see the Flights of Wonder show. We have never seen this show and thought we should give it a try. Now, we missed a couple of minutes of it, but it was a cute show.

We decided to use our FP for the safari. On our way over I found a hidden Mickey:

And Divine was out again:

Here are some more safari pictures from our second trip:

I love the ones with the mommy and baby elephant:

 

[Aburns8]

After we went on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail to see if the gorillas were out. This time there weren’t very many gorillas out. We were a little bummed since I have pictures from previous trips with water bowls on their heads, but we got some great napping shots.

Here are some other pictures from the trail:

We decided to take the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch and back. We just didn’t feel like getting off the train, it was time for a little rest. I happened to get a behind the scenes shot.

After leaving the train we enjoyed a Mickey ice cream bar (which part of always falls down the front of you while you are eating it) before riding Everest for the last time. Our last ride of the day was Dinosaur. Brian loves this ride and we didn’t have a FP so we had to wait over 30 minutes to get on.

Once we were done with Dinosaur we were done with AK for this trip. We hopped on a bus to Hollywood Studios because they were going to show Fantasmic this evening. Once we got there we walked around and tried to get into Mama Melrose’s for dinner. They were booked solid so we decided to get some food at the commissary. I didn’t bother to take a picture since we just got some burgers and fries.

 

[Aburns8]

After dinner I had a sweet tooth so we picked up a churro. These churros were the only free things (except for what we got at the Hollywood Brown Derby, more to come) we got the entire trip since we were wearing our anniversary buttons. Then we hopped on the Great Movie Ride, ToT and Rock’n Rollercoaster before waiting in line for Fantasmic!

Here are some pictures ove DHS at night.

I really like Fantasmic, just not the line you have to wait in. The first seating the line was bad, so we decided to wait for the second seating (and ate some cookies while we waited). The second seating’s line was just as bad. Once we got in line they moved us forward toward the seating. I felt like we were being herded like cattle. Finally we got a seat and watched the show.

After finding our way out of the park it was time to get some much needed rest.

Up next: More of Epcot and the beginning of D23’s Sip and Stroll

 

[BettyBeBop]

What awessome pictures!!! You make me feel like I am right there!!

 

[Aburns8]

What awessome pictures!!! You make me feel like I am right there!!

Thanks! It is so easy to take pictures there. I really do like the park, but we never make it a priority when we are there!

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

i havent seen flights of wonder since tarzan was still at AK, need to go back and see it, always skip for some reason.

the baby elephants are my favorite as well.

 

[Aburns8]

i havent seen flights of wonder since tarzan was still at AK, need to go back and see it, always skip for some reason.

the baby elephants are my favorite as well.

We have always skipped it as well. I should have another update this week so I can finish this up and maybe start one from our May trip before the cruise in September.

 

[Disneygrl36]

Great day at Animal Kingdom. Cool pics of Devine....we have never gotten lucky enough to see her!

 

[Aburns8]

Great day at Animal Kingdom. Cool pics of Devine....we have never gotten lucky enough to see her!

Sounds like us! And then we see her two times in one day. It is really funny how many people are walking right by her and not paying attention to what is going on

 

[Aburns8]

I thought that I would have gotten this one out sooner, but it didn’t happen. I am trying to finish this one so I can start, and finish, the May report I would like to do before our cruise in September. We were originally scheduled to go on the October 9th sailing of the Dream. But Brian’s schedule got in the way and we moved to it September 11th. We will be driving down to Georgia the day before, spending the night and hopefully boarding the Dream around noon on the 11th. This will actually work out better than our original plans. We are going to spend two days in Port Orleans Riverside so that I can do a proper review on it. We stayed there in May and didn’t have time to even go swimming. We are also going to do MNSSHP, which will be the second one of the season and hopefully less crowded. Now, on to the trip report.

By now we have been to every park. We have decided to just hang out at Epcot and DHS the last couple of days since it is easy to travel between the two of them. Yes, as crazy as it sounds we like to walk between the two parks. Our day started at with getting a FP for Test Track. The line was too long to wait in so we decided just to come back later and use the FP.

We then took a stroll to the other side of Future World to ride Journey into Imagination with Figment. This was the second time we went on this ride this trip. I don’t mind it, but it makes me wish I came in the 90’s to see the other version. What I do like about this ride is that there is never a line! After the ride we took our picture with the three hitchhiking ghosts. Well it was Brian and I in front of a green screen and then the computer added the ghosts. Sorry, the picture isn’t on my FP and I could take a picture of it with my camera if there is a demand for it.

Since we were in the area we caught another showing of Captain EO before we headed over to Test Track to use our FP. We had a lunch reservation at Mama Melrose’s and we thought that we should head over to DHS. On the way I picked up a cute Halloween t-shirt at one of the shops before we got on the Friendship II.

Here are some pictures from our boat ride.

Once we entered DHS we headed straight to Mama Melrose’s. This is Brian’s favorite place to eat! We started off with an appetizer of calamari. If it is one the menu we usually get it. This was some of the best calamari that we had in recent times.

The bread basket.

Next we shared spaghetti con vongole, which has sautéed clams, pancetta in a white clam sauce.

It was good, but a tad on the spicy side. For desert we had the chocolate cannoli cake.

This dessert was really good and the sauce was really yummy! We didn’t want to spend any more time at DHS so we hopped on the Friendship IV back to Epcot. But we did take some pictures on our way out.

 

[Aburns8]

Once we got to the International Gateway we stopped in France to get an apple tart for later. Then we walked back over to Test Track to get another FP for later in the evening (that we ended up not using). As you can tell here we are killing time because the park was super busy and we didn’t want to wait in long lines since we were eagerly waiting to check into the D23 event. After getting our FP we walked back to American Adventure.

Here are some pictures of us killing time!

We waited by the fountain for the event to start. While we were waiting I was on the lookout for Lurkeyloo (Carrie). I have read her TRs and I knew that she was going to be at this event. I was so excited to meet another DISer. Finally we could check in. The line was long, but at least we were not in the back of the line. Once we got into the American Adventure rotunda we quickly picked up some drinks. Brian got some beer (his drink of choice) while I tried the specialty drink of the evening, the Pinktober. This was a really good drink, and very girly. It was nice and sweet and didn’t have any after taste.

Our passes to the event!

The Pinktober:

The lines for the appetizers were supper long. So while one of us waited in line, the other one stayed at the table we got. We of course let other D23 members share the table with us. We met some very nice couples, sorry don’t have their names. We were the only one at the table not going to the dinner for retiring Disney Archives Director Dave Smith. It was tempting to go to this dinner, but I already spent enough money to attend this event.

Pictures of the buffet:

The crowd:

My favorite items on the table were the honey, the Canadian cheese fondue and pretzel bread. It was enough food to keep us happy for the rest of the night. Stephen Clark, the head honcho of D23, started the evening out by introducing the beer guys (more to come in the next report) and more importantly Dave Smith (who started the Disney Achieves). Here are some pictures of the evening:

Brian and I with Dave Smith

In case you were wondering, I did meet Lurkyloo.

We decided to close out the evening with a trip to the Magic Kingdom since it was open later. One the way to the monorail we took some pictures.

Once we got to MK we took one more picture before we headed to
Adventureland.

We decided on another Dole Whip since we were in the neighborhood. We talked to the CM who was taking our order and he was from Michigan, can’t remember the city but close to where we grew up. After we paid for our order we ended up with a pretty big cup!

After we finished our treat we headed to the Swiss Family Treehouse. I really like going up there at night and looking at the park. Here is a picture of Space Mountain.

We then took a night cruise on the Jungle Cruise, a trip on Pirates and then I convinced Brian to go on Splash Mountain again. For some reason he didn’t want to go on it. I said I was going to by myself and he felt bad and decided to go on it with me.

We didn’t get too wet since it was a cooler evening, which was nice. Then we went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to “dry off”. This is another ride that is really cool at night. It was getting close to the time that Wishes was going to start so we headed to Haunted Mansion for one more ride and then to Peter Pan. For once there wasn’t a long line to Peter Pan since the fireworks were going to start.

I love this ride. I really don’t know why. Maybe it is because it is one of the rides I remember going on when I was four years old. After we got off Peter Pan, Wishes had started. We never watched the fireworks from Fantasyland, but it was well worth it!

Up next: A full day of D23 Sip & Stroll!