cherrymarzipan
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2010
- Messages
- 1,340
Loved the Halloween music playing in Frontierland.
Adventureland had this by the exit to POTC:
By the weekend there were sound effects too in Main Street and Town Square.
Fantasyland had villain banners behind the castle which was also one of the best places to meet the villains.
We were blessed with the weather, hitting just the right window of sunny days. It makes such a difference to be walking around in T-shirts with all the Halloween stuff dazzlingly bright under a beautiful blue sky. The photos look so much better too.
The sky was completely clear for our first nights Dreams. Having left our home at 5 am Oliver was pretty tired by then and cannot stand for long periods at the best of times. We went in the disabled enclosure and as I stood more or less holding him up in a corner that soon filled up with others I was tapped on the shoulder by a CM. I was surprised he noticed us in with everyone else but he did and said he would get Oliver a seat. He showed us to the back of the enclosure and asked an able bodied person to move off a seat so Oliver could sit and I stood behind him. I was very grateful to the CM for his attention.
We were offered breakfast in the park for one day and ate in the Plaza Gardens on Saturday. We havent eaten there for a while and I was a little disappointed to have polystyrene bowls and plastic spoons to eat with. I used to think PG was better than Le Chalet de la Marionette but wouldnt bother with either again. It was nice to be given the choice however.
On the other hand Café Mickey was a pleasant surprise. I had always been rather sniffy about CM, assuming it was simply an expensive MacDo but it was a good experience all round. We had booked the meal as a birthday treat for Oliver on Saturday and thanks to those who helped me on here in organising it. I had booked by phone a week previously but on the morning I checked our reservation and I was very glad I did as they appeared to know nothing about it. It was only after the manager came out and asked for my Christian name that they found my reservation under a very badly misspelt surname! We ate the Lilo and Stitch soup and garlic bread and the Genies Tortiglioni both of which were nice and then the cake came out. In fact I had been astonished at how many birthdays there were that day. Perhaps it is like that every night, I dont know, but cakes seemed to come out about every ten minutes! Oliver was a bit shy and I had warned the staff to tone it down a little for him and as the characters had been so fantastic with him he enjoyed it. Not the cake itself of course I knew he would never eat any of that! I offered some to the family on the table next to us as their little girl had been very interested (!) but they politely declined. We were given it in a box to take back though at the end so it wasnt wasted. All the staff were friendly and attentive and the characters were great. Mickey was just AMAZING spending so much time and being so understanding and entertaining with Oliver. He even wrote Oliver a little letter to keep as we didnt have an autograph book. His photographer was lovely too. I took some video which I havent even downloaded yet but my stills were not great mainly because we were enjoying the experience and it was all very active. We got a lovely official photo of Oliver with Mickey though.
This one was taken just as we were leaving:
We had fantastic character and cast member interaction everywhere and this is what really makes or breaks the holiday for us. This was definitely the best holiday ever from this point of view. I had to count up the characters we met for a survey Disney sent me today and it came to 40! It is hard to single out the exceptional ones as almost all were brilliant (I think only Rapunzel was a little wooden and didnt actually say anything) but I have to heap extra praise on Mickey (Café Mickey), Minnie (queued meet and greet), Goofy, Mad Hatter, Dr Facilier, Cinderella and Lady Tremaine and her (not so) ugly daughters. These last three sang a hideous rendition of Happy Birthday especially for Oliver!
Oliver, DH, Lady Tremaine and the three ugly sisters...
One of many villains and Oliver talking with his hands:
We also met Esmeralda and Clopin for the first time since our very first visit for the 5th anniversary.
As I said before, to Oliver ALL the CMs are characters now and he insisted on having his photograph taken with almost everyone he met! They were all so lovely with him. DS has cerebral palsy, severe learning difficulties and a degree of autism. He can say very little and is physically unsteady yet hugely sociable and now quite tall so for CMs and characters alike he must seem a little intimidating yet they all respond so sympathetically. The only problems I have now are out of Disneyland where Oliver seems to think anyone in any kind of uniform is fair game for interaction not to mention a photo opportunity which can be a tad embarrassing!
I am not very good at doing this in chronological order Im afraid. Going back to Friday which dawned bright and clear, we saw that the Panoramagique balloon was operating and as Oliver loves this and we have been unlucky with it all year so far we decided to head there straight away on our way to the village and park.
Back at reception in the hotel when we were asking about something different Oliver had spotted a picture of the balloon on a flyer behind the desk and pointed to it. I asked if he could have one and was given a few which I discovered were vouchers for buy one get one free on the tickets perfect! The view was good but I wish it stayed up a little longer. I have timed it lots of times and it is never longer than five minutes from lift off to landing so you dont get very long at all at full height. Nice while it lasts.
Final part to come...
Adventureland had this by the exit to POTC:
By the weekend there were sound effects too in Main Street and Town Square.
Fantasyland had villain banners behind the castle which was also one of the best places to meet the villains.
We were blessed with the weather, hitting just the right window of sunny days. It makes such a difference to be walking around in T-shirts with all the Halloween stuff dazzlingly bright under a beautiful blue sky. The photos look so much better too.
The sky was completely clear for our first nights Dreams. Having left our home at 5 am Oliver was pretty tired by then and cannot stand for long periods at the best of times. We went in the disabled enclosure and as I stood more or less holding him up in a corner that soon filled up with others I was tapped on the shoulder by a CM. I was surprised he noticed us in with everyone else but he did and said he would get Oliver a seat. He showed us to the back of the enclosure and asked an able bodied person to move off a seat so Oliver could sit and I stood behind him. I was very grateful to the CM for his attention.
We were offered breakfast in the park for one day and ate in the Plaza Gardens on Saturday. We havent eaten there for a while and I was a little disappointed to have polystyrene bowls and plastic spoons to eat with. I used to think PG was better than Le Chalet de la Marionette but wouldnt bother with either again. It was nice to be given the choice however.
On the other hand Café Mickey was a pleasant surprise. I had always been rather sniffy about CM, assuming it was simply an expensive MacDo but it was a good experience all round. We had booked the meal as a birthday treat for Oliver on Saturday and thanks to those who helped me on here in organising it. I had booked by phone a week previously but on the morning I checked our reservation and I was very glad I did as they appeared to know nothing about it. It was only after the manager came out and asked for my Christian name that they found my reservation under a very badly misspelt surname! We ate the Lilo and Stitch soup and garlic bread and the Genies Tortiglioni both of which were nice and then the cake came out. In fact I had been astonished at how many birthdays there were that day. Perhaps it is like that every night, I dont know, but cakes seemed to come out about every ten minutes! Oliver was a bit shy and I had warned the staff to tone it down a little for him and as the characters had been so fantastic with him he enjoyed it. Not the cake itself of course I knew he would never eat any of that! I offered some to the family on the table next to us as their little girl had been very interested (!) but they politely declined. We were given it in a box to take back though at the end so it wasnt wasted. All the staff were friendly and attentive and the characters were great. Mickey was just AMAZING spending so much time and being so understanding and entertaining with Oliver. He even wrote Oliver a little letter to keep as we didnt have an autograph book. His photographer was lovely too. I took some video which I havent even downloaded yet but my stills were not great mainly because we were enjoying the experience and it was all very active. We got a lovely official photo of Oliver with Mickey though.
This one was taken just as we were leaving:
We had fantastic character and cast member interaction everywhere and this is what really makes or breaks the holiday for us. This was definitely the best holiday ever from this point of view. I had to count up the characters we met for a survey Disney sent me today and it came to 40! It is hard to single out the exceptional ones as almost all were brilliant (I think only Rapunzel was a little wooden and didnt actually say anything) but I have to heap extra praise on Mickey (Café Mickey), Minnie (queued meet and greet), Goofy, Mad Hatter, Dr Facilier, Cinderella and Lady Tremaine and her (not so) ugly daughters. These last three sang a hideous rendition of Happy Birthday especially for Oliver!
Oliver, DH, Lady Tremaine and the three ugly sisters...
One of many villains and Oliver talking with his hands:
We also met Esmeralda and Clopin for the first time since our very first visit for the 5th anniversary.
As I said before, to Oliver ALL the CMs are characters now and he insisted on having his photograph taken with almost everyone he met! They were all so lovely with him. DS has cerebral palsy, severe learning difficulties and a degree of autism. He can say very little and is physically unsteady yet hugely sociable and now quite tall so for CMs and characters alike he must seem a little intimidating yet they all respond so sympathetically. The only problems I have now are out of Disneyland where Oliver seems to think anyone in any kind of uniform is fair game for interaction not to mention a photo opportunity which can be a tad embarrassing!
I am not very good at doing this in chronological order Im afraid. Going back to Friday which dawned bright and clear, we saw that the Panoramagique balloon was operating and as Oliver loves this and we have been unlucky with it all year so far we decided to head there straight away on our way to the village and park.
Back at reception in the hotel when we were asking about something different Oliver had spotted a picture of the balloon on a flyer behind the desk and pointed to it. I asked if he could have one and was given a few which I discovered were vouchers for buy one get one free on the tickets perfect! The view was good but I wish it stayed up a little longer. I have timed it lots of times and it is never longer than five minutes from lift off to landing so you dont get very long at all at full height. Nice while it lasts.
Final part to come...
I am blubbing reading your TR, you can just sense how much Oliver (and you) enjoy it from the photos and your descriptions.
