September TR... UPDATED on July 11th, 2009--FINAL DAY POSTED.

[Disneylove1228]

omg i want to hear more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Raecheal]

The picture from the tour is so cute. You guys are adorable

Thanks for reminding me that I did the pick-a-pearl once. I have no idea where mine is though (for some odd reason I never got a setting? ) Yours is pretty!

Is your future wedding site the Wedding Pavilion? That place is so gorgeous and romantic

Thanks. NOt my favourite photo.. but it's nice to have to remember the experience by.

You have to pay EXTRA for a setting... I love it.

Our future wedding site is def. the wedding pavilion.. as long as everything turns out A-ok with my family.. it should be a go.

omg i want to hear more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm hoping to post my favourite day by Wednesday evening. I'm so excited that this TR is almost over because I sooo want to start my pre-TR to our last minute weeekend gateway this coming August.

 

[Raecheal]

DAY 6

Dbf and I finally decided we would head off to

Blizzard Beach​

Dbf really wanted to head out to a water park while we were in WDW this time around (he only had mentioned it at least 4 times a day)… but I wasn’t so sure. I don’t do slide, I didn’t want to get my hair wet and to be completely honest I am NOT comfortable wearing my bikini out in public at my weight… but I’m open for some adventure. It was expected to be a beautiful day out—so we jumped at the opportunity. After getting our suits on, packed a bag (which didn’t include a camera- so not too many photos) we headed to the Classic Hall. We needed to buy our entry tickets and fill our tummies with some food.

We arrived at Blizzard Beach prior to opening – we grabbed a map at the concierge desk and decided we would have our main camp at the Melt away bay. We got front row lawn chairs and set up our things. It was already starting to get hot and I couldn’t help but love blizzard beach’s set up. I read on dis, that you should tackle the water slides first thing in the morning.. so as I laid out to tan (after applying my first layer of sun screen) dbf headed out for some slides.

What can I say about BB water slides… well first, go solo. Even if you’re there with friends or family, take the solo lane and deal with it. For example, to get to the top of the mountain you stand in line to ride gondolas up. If you stand in a group, the line can take 15-20 mins. If you take the solo riders line – 2 mins. And then reconvene at the top of the mountain people!! Secondly, if your board shorts have zipper pockets, do NOT assume that they will stay shut down the speed slides. They won’t; and everything IN your pockets will rain down on you like holy heck when you get to the bottom (or your money will disappear forever). Aside from that, at my age I found it entertaining to ride each slide once or twice, but I grew bored of them pretty quickly and just enjoyed the lazy river.

Mostly our day was spent apart, I would tan and dbf would go on the slides or enjoy the cross country creek (lazy river). Occasionally, I would ask the nice couple beside us to keep an eye out on our things (although most people around you, just get some lawn chairs and leave their things there and come and go as they please) and I would join dbf in the cross country creek. It was nice and we got to spend some time together.. Dbf swears that he was getting a better tan than me while being in the lazy river.. but I just couldn’t see it because half your body is in water (depending on how you sit on your tube). Yes, but the glare off the water! So you get sun coming down on you and then glare off the water coming up at you. The river is excellent. My only wish is that there were fewer children and/or parents reined in their kids. It’s a LAZY RIVER, not a horizontal water slide!! If I wanted to be splashed and listen to young teens horsing around, I would have found bumper cars or gone back to the water slide! IF (and this is the big ‘if’) you can get there at a time when there are fewer children or you are moving at a pace where there are no kids near you, it’s comfortable enough that you could float in circles forever – with the occasional stop for a drink and hamburger.

Unfortunately, against Dbf’s advice.. I left my favourite GOLD anklet bracelet on… and by the time we got back to the resort around 5pm, I LOST IT. I WAS and still AM devastated. I tried calling lost and found—but nobody had turned it in.. Maybe it’s in the sand.. ohhh.. dbf did tell me to take it off.. but I NEVER take it off—I honestly didn’t think I would lose it.. ohh.. I’m sad. I still haven’t replaced it. You heard it here first folks. On behalf of boyfriends everywhere, we ARE right some of the time. Put EVERYTHING in a locker that you do not need. I put a bit of cash in the inside pocket of my board shorts, or stick it under the insole in running shoes, but leave the wallet and jewellery safe in a locker. Your day will be much more stress free.

We ate at the quick service—it was your average ‘fast food joint’. Delicious tho. especially when your starving.

I will say just say a couple of things:
-I really did enjoy the Day.
-I really didn’t mind being in a bikini around so many people. I knew nobody. It didn’t matter
-LOVE BUGS- were EVERYWHERE…they were just annoying!!
-It started to get really busy around 11am- there was NO lawn chairs left… people were scrambling.

The love bugs are worst right at the edge of the water… the wading pool area at the base of the water slides. And then they get worse as the day progresses. I’d suggest getting there early so you have no problem getting a seat, you can get on the rides faster AND you can leave before the bugs get crazy and the temperature gets unbearable.

By 5pm, I was ready to leave.. and at this point I think we could realize that I forgot to put on some sunscreen and clearly I’m not used to the Orlando Sun. I WAS RED—I remember people just starring at me and asking if I was okay. I was so burnt… It hurt to sit, to walk, and to lean up against anything even to wear clothes. Bring a big bottle of aloe vera!

Once back at the hotel, we showered and got ready for our special evening. Disney’s Spirit of Aloha Show at the Polynesian hotel. From my pre-tr, you would have known that I bought this beautiful off white dress (which only made me look MORE burnt)—the dress made me feel extremely beautiful. I felt so in love with dbf, beautiful and truly happy to be in WDW on this night… but I’m not the only one who looked beautiful. DBf looked soo handsome—I love it when he dresses up. We forgot to get some photos of each other before we left-- but he's a photo of my dress from the pre-tr part.

We took a bus over to MK, where it hurt to sit on the bus and I was starting to get a headache, but the excitement of the evening was over powering the headache. Once we got to MK, for the very first time in both our lives we took a boat over to the Polynesian hotel by this time I was 7:05pm. What an amazing way to experience the transportation system in Disney… It was so relaxing.. and a truly beautiful sunset. I can’t agree more. Guys, if you want to impress your significant other… book a dinner at one of the Deluxe hotels and use this boat to get there from MK. It’s phenomenal. The staff on the boat seem to be even more courteous and cheerful than the rest of the Disney staffers and most of the people riding with us at least were older couples (who could afford the deluxe hotels) who were quiet the whole ride. After a long, busy and noisy day, this was 10-15 minutes of solitude that was much appreciated and really set the mood for the evening.

We took some photos of the beach and the Polynesian hotel.

It took us some time to find out where we were going (luckily we got there early). Once we were checked in at 7:42pm… we all waited in the waiting area. You really don’t have to arrive to this dining experience early because it’s assigned seating.. it really doesn’t matter if your first in line or last in line. We waiting in that waiting room for what seemed like forever. Dbf went over to the bar to get an alcohol drink, but they refused to give him one because we didn’t think to bring his Driver’s license. I was truly upset for him… I wanted him to relax and be able to enjoy his evening.

I would definitely recommend getting to the Poly early. The beach is nice (Dgf was much more impressed than I was), but the actual hotel is amazing. Maybe it’s just because my only WDW experiences include value resorts, but the atmosphere and architecture definitely sets it in a class of its own. As for arriving early, Dgf is half correct – if you want to get your photo taken out front, you need to arrive there early because they stand you in line for that and you’re stuck in line for awhile from what we heard from some of the groups. However, if you don’t need a photo in front of the Aloha sign, you can walk directly to the waiting area and find one of the very few seats.
As far as the alcohol situation is concerned, it was beyond frustrating. I didn’t keep my boyish looks when I passed puberty. I’ve had five o’clock shadow since I was 15 and I stand over 6’ tall. I was 26 when we were there and trying to pay for my drink with either room key or credit card. First off, it was obscure to me because in Ontario you only need to be 19 to drink so I initially could not figure out why I was being questioned. But even if the drinking age is 21, to look at me I don’t appear to be that far away from 30. It definitely put a hamper on my evening. I think I ended up buying a bottle of soda, which I didn’t really want, and then their POS system repeatedly crashed, meaning that it took an exorbitant amount of time to pay. Thankfully, the quality of my experience increased exponentially after we were seated.

By 8:00pm we were seating, In category (I think we were Category 2, Upper Floor, just to the right of center if you’re looking out from the stage and the second table back from the drop to main floor. )

Our table was one away from the railing.. and the table in front of us was empty for ¾ of show. Which was great because we had an amazing view…and the whole atmosphere of the dinner show was great.

My recollection of this is a little different… yes, it was great that the table was empty for ¾ of the show, however, there was more. This guy showed up (huge gorilla of a man) while we were wrapping up our main course. He came in with his 5-7yr old child and appeared to make no apologies for his timing. He was loud, he was curt with the server, and he gesticulated grandly blocking our view more so than some quieter and calmer individual who would have been there the entire time. So while all the servers were away doing their thing, our poor server was bringing out the appetizers, drinks and main dishes and running back and forth directly in front of us. In all fairness, it wasn’t her fault, it was that of the ignorant jerk who was let in late. Anyway, that’s my rant… back to the good stuff…

 

[Raecheal]

Back to the good stuff...

The food was amazing—I loved the whole atmosphere of the show, I think it helped we had the later seating. The dinner was beyond amazing! I loved the pineapple coconut bread, the fresh pineapple and the pork ribs fell off the bone. Oh, and dessert – I’m not normally a fan of chocolate, but it was excellent. I only wish that we were given more time to eat (and that asking for seconds was easier). In fact, even thinking about it now, I kind of want a recipe for that bread. And even the way in which it was displayed was phenomenal. They brought out these fancy trays raised off the table so you really thought you were partaking in a feast

Appetizer

Dinner

Dbf

Dgf

Dessert

During dinner, there was this little boy sitting to my right with his mom, dad and little brother. He must have had a crush on me because throughout the whole dinner he talked with me, asked me questions, wanted to see the photos I was taking. It was soo adorable, such a sweet family.

Photos from the show:

The story line of the show itself was a little boring and cheesy but the man with the fire make up for it.

I agree – the show was basically set up as a “homecoming” celebration for one of the main characters which dripped of cheesiness. All the demonstrations were really amazing (although the pillars made it somewhat difficult to see some of the dances/dancers. My favourite was the fire dancers as well. I don’t even want to guess what HIS investment in aloe vera gel is!

The plan was to catch the Wishes on the Polynesian beach in a hammick after our dinner—but 5 minutes left into the show (the encore).. I heard the fireworks. So we bolted out of there! Oh well—the fireworks were beautiful. We just ended up sitting on a log. I’d like to be able to go back to that beach one night, sit in a hammock with dbf, get a drink and just enjoy the evening there watching wish and the mini-light parade that passes by.

After wishes was over, to my surprise dbf suggested we head over via monorail to MK. There’s another thing I would want to do in the daytime and when it’s less busy – the view from the monorail could be cool, but you cannot see anything at night because the lights are on inside the cars and it’s obviously dark outside. PLUS there was the added joy of our car being overcrowded with sweaty people – not nearly the atmosphere of the boat ride. We hadn’t had the opportunity to see spectromagic it was one of my ‘must do’s’. We found the monorail (our first time on it in all of our trips together), and we were off to MK. We got to MK and found a seat on Main street at around 10:45-10:50pm. While we were sitting there, I never felt more in love with dbf in my entire life. We had spent a truly amazing day, which didn’t include any fighting or bickering. I felt so happy to be sitting in my favourite place in the world with my favourite person in the world. Aw, babe, that’s so sweet of you – you looked absolutely gorgeous in your white dress. I wish we had gotten some photos of the two of us (hmm... maybe we should have waited in line at Poly). And by the evening you didn’t look as red – it was sort of a tan by then. I agree though that that evening was probably our most romantic and most calm evening together. I think by this far into the trip I had seen/done all the things that were ‘essential’ for me, so I was much more relaxed and didn’t really care about how long anything took. If I can recommend anything for couples, I’d suggest creating a schedule for your days… and then taking out a few items each day so you have time to stroll from place to place and can do things that aren’t planned. It was hard to sit on the cement in my dress and with my burnt *** (yes even my butt was burnt) but dbf looked so handsome. That is something we ought to bring for next time, babe, a small cushion to sit on!
Spectromagic began at 11:00pm. Here are a few shots.

Prince Charming

Unlike Dgf, Spectromagic wasn’t that impressive to me – at least by Disney standards. There were a few interesting floats, but for most part it felt like they took the regular MK parade and added blinking lights to all of the characters’ costumes. My personal opinion is that if you’re going at this time of year (hint: Halloween parade to come) and want to skip a parade, this may be the one to miss. Don’t take it the wrong way, it’s still a Disney parade and all the characters are there and you’re completely enveloped in the Disney spirit, but the flashing lights just felt a little gimmicky. By 11:30pm, it was over and we were on a bus back home to POP Century. That night, I was so burnt we made a pitstop into the gift shop to purchase some of that green cooling gel for my body..way over priced… but totally worth it. Haha… again, something everyone should have packed pre-trip. Seriously though, babe, I felt so badly for you. I remember feeling helpless because I couldn’t comfort you and the only time you’d let me touch you was to put on the aloe. I was so burnt I couldn’t’ even lie in bed. It hurt and I’m not over exaggerating. Lucky for me, I had my BIG OVERSIZED Tshirt from the Aqua Sea Tour for pj’s that night. I needed the room to breath.. we didn’t even snuggle that night.. we both stayed on our side of the beds and it took for ever to fall asleep which only lead to me waking up a million and one times during the night in pain.

NEXT UP: Animal Kingdom, Dining reservation and MNSSHP.

 

[Raecheal]

Day 6-Part 1

Well we left off spending a truly magical evening at the magic kingdom. That evening spent in the Magic Kingdom made me feel completely in love with Disney and is the exact reason why when dbf and I arrive in Walt Disney world… I feel safe and home. It’s simply a magical feeling… that I wish dbf would understand. Ohh…

Anyways.. Day 6 started at Animal Kingdom. I was going to type that Animal Kingdom is my favorite park but I have come to love each park for many different reasons. We didn’t arrive for rope drop, but we were definitely there early arriving around 9:00am. Our first attraction, in Discovery Island was the 3d show It’s tough to be a bug, starring flik!

This is my favorite 3D show. Yes to me, it even tops philarmagic…sorry dbf. Wow, that’s a rave review. I think I’ll be a little more diplomatic. I like Philharmagic the best because it really appears larger than life. The screen is closer to the size of an IMAX presentation, the colours are more vivid, the sounds and smells are more brilliant. By comparison, I enjoy the Bug 3D show because it is the most interactive and creative – philharmagic is a show, Bugs 3D is a spectacle. The picture isn’t quite a sharp, bright and brilliant as my favourite, but the glasses and props make up for what the actual picture lacks. And really, it’s all Disney magic, so I’m splitting hairs here. Plus, who can argue with the glasses! Be sure to stop and enjoy the “movie posters” as you enter the tree theatre – there are some amusing parodies that I forgot to photograph.

Dbf showing me his best bug impersonation.

Next up, we walked over to Asia so dbf could ride Expedition Everest solo. I believe he took the single rides line. I will compromise and go on some roller coaster, because that’s what a relationship is, i'll do rock n’ roller coaster with dbf but NOT tot or Everest. The first year I rode Everest my stomach ended up in my throat; however, I think it was the shock of being sent careening backwards that left that feeling. The first year we rode Everest, I thought I was going to die. This time around I still enjoyed it, but it was nowhere near as intense an experience. There really isn’t a separate single rider line in this one – I just happened to get there at a time when the line was moving pretty quickly. If I recall correctly, Everest doesn’t open immediately when the park opens (either that or it just wasn’t a busy day) so I had plenty of time to do other things before this ride. My only recommendation (if you dare): request or attempt to get one of the front cars in the ride, that way, when it hits reverse you’re at the very back and force means that you’re going to feel the ride a lot more than anyone else!

I felt like I waited forever to snap photos of dbf on the ride, like a looser holding up the camera at the exact spot I wanted to take a photo of (which I never did get) oh well.. I tried… who knows who these people are though. Strangers. While I was waiting the scourging HEAT, a lonely young security guard came over and was hitting on me. After telling him I was waiting for dbf to ride Everest and that I was attempt to take a photo of him.. he casually politely said bye and walked away. Dbf finished up Everest by 9:40am. From Asia we slowly walked over to Africa.. one of my must do’s was to use the secret path behind the tree of life… dbf found it no problem with my initial directions of where it was. I totally didn’t believe him when he was leading us on this crazy adventure… eventually we found it. I thought this part was hilarious! Leading up to the trip, Dgf read me passages from books, guides and websites all touting the difficulty of finding this hidden pathway. It’s actually pretty simple. Google “hidden pathways of Animal Kingdom” and it’s actually quite easy from that basic map. It does save some time and very few people were using it when we were (maybe three other people at most) but there isn’t much to see. Never again was I given a hard time about my sense of direction though. As we were walking on the path (THAT WAS EMPTY), out of nowhere I heard something talk back to me. it was this big fellow,

I was so shocked yet surprised. I almost forgot about that. I remember that at first I thought there was someone else nearby, but couldn’t find them! I’m surprised he was even willing to interact with people; with so few passer-bys each day he’s bound to become mute. We were slowly taking photos of the great Disney scenery while we made our way over to the Tusker House Restaurant. We didn’t eat breakfast at Everything Pop that morning because we had an ADR for the character breakfast. Now I was in a bad mood this morning, I was burnt and feeling fat and didn’t want to be in any photos—so our photos suck… but I’ll post as many as I can. Our dinner reservations must have been before 10:30am. I loved the inside of this restaurant:

It is a buffet dinner; here is a photo of Dbf’s first plate:

My first plate:

We sat with our first plates at 10:35am and by 10:46am the characters had reached our table. I’m thinking Daisy is my favorite character; she’s just so girly.

We were done with the characters by 11:05am—in between we got more food but I forget to get some more food porn. Overall this buffet was great and would totally do it again. I have a somewhat different take on this breakfast. If you have small children, then it’s perfectly set up to guarantee you interact with all the characters. The hall is open concept so even when they’re not at your table, you get to see all the characters close up. Regarding the food, I have no recollection of what cost was, but you should bring a serious appetite if you want your money’s worth because if you’re hoping to break even based on quality, you won’t. They had egg quiches galore, which I’m not at all a fan of; the donuts and pastries already tasted stale by the time we got there; the cereals were… well cereal; the scrambled eggs were half liquid; and the foods that did look appetizing – the French toast, waffles, cakes and fresh fruit all disappeared faster than they could refill the trays. I’m HOPING that there is a better buffet breakfast somewhere else. In the years of going I have had some AMAZING food at WDW (some still to come in this report) but this just didn’t make the grade for me. WOW.. dbf and I are coming from two different angles here.. You’re going to make me out to be a liar. I honestly don’t remember it being that bad…

We finished breakfast around 11:25am and because of the heat we decided to head back to the hotel for the rest of the day. Yes, we hadn’t hit any more attractions but we agreed to come back the following morning for rope drop. We slowly walked back to the main gates while snapping a couple of photos.

We managed to leave the park around 11:45am. To be honest, this was perfect timing it was getting REALLY REALLY hot and it was actually getting pretty crowded by this time. We didn’t wait long for a bus and we were back at the resort where I put some more aloe gel on and took an afternoon nap. I wanted to be well rested and in good spirits for our ADR of the night and the MNNSHP.

 

[Raecheal]

After a relaxing afternoon in the air-condition/pool..we arrived at Magic Kingdom at exactly 4:30pm. Ohh.. I seen the MNNSHP sign and some Halloween decorations, it was our first time seeing Halloween decorations (not this week but out of all our trips) and I loved them. I’m a sucker for holidays, any excuse to decorate the house and I’m INN. I think I give Dbf a headache… but I know he secretly love sit. Before we walked over to our ADR’s, we seen these Cm dressed up in a festive outfit.

I knew from reading on dis that we had to get bracelet—we took care of that and headed over to our ADR’s at Tony’s Town Square, which was for 4:45pm but we were early.

We were seated in less than five minutes at 4:36pm, I guess we were seating outside but it was enclosed? I only had a brief look at the indoor seating and cannot recall much, our seating was in the sunroom, which is the area you actually see as you pass by the restaurant entering the park. Since it was a nice day outside the area was really well lit and we beat the dinner rush because there were only one or two other tables seated when we first sat down. That being said, I would DEFINITELY recommend making a reservation there, because the waiting area was packed with people when we arrived and when we left. Basically all those people were left waiting to find out if the reservations were going to be filled or no-shows.

I decided to take some photos of our entry bracelets(you can kinda see how RED my arm is here):

I’ve read a whole lot of negative reviews for this restaurant.. but dbf was so impressed and myself included. The service was excellent and the food was amazing. The service was, far and above the best I have seen in all my eating at WDW restaurants. It may have been our server, it may have been because it was not overly busy, but everyone was courteous and cheerful, our drink glasses never ran dry, our orders were taken promptly and the cleanliness was immaculate (and that’s before I even begin to talk about food!).

We both had the Caesar salad that was brought to our table by 4:45pm.

Dbf main course: NY Strip Steak - Port Wine Sauce, Baked Romano Cheese Potatoes and Broccolini!!! Strip steak from my knowledge is usually a medium grade steak, and I’m used to Canadian beef, so quality is important. This was phenomenal. The steak was tender and cooked EXACTLY as I had asked. The potatoes were cooked perfectly all the way through and everything had been seasoned so well I never touched the salt/pepper.

My main course: Grilled Pork Tenderloin - With a Caper Pomodoro sauce and Creamy Parmesan Polenta. All I have to say to my grilled pork tenderloin. Order it. It was delicious.

Dbf dessert: Tiramisu - espresso soaked lady fingers, whipped mascarpone and dark chocolate shavings. I ate a good serving from both of our desserts – while hers was clearly done up to look better (I have to give credit, that drawing of Lady and the Tramp was done in chocolate and it didn’t appear sprayed on), the Tiramisu took the lead for tastiness. Better still, I had the same dessert at other restaurants in WDW and this restaurant even beat the others head to head!

Dgf dessert: Chef's Signature Cheesecake

Oh my gawd… Dinner was amazing. I found my Grilled pork tenderloin and potatoes to be delicious and the cheesecake was just the best. I love cheesecake all of a sudden, I pretty much chose it at every ADR possible.

We finished an amazing dinner at 5:25pm and headed over to enjoy Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, but we first grab a map/schedule of events.

Next up: MNNSHP (Was it a waste of our money?)

 

[ArelysAdriana]

I hadn't realized you had done such a big update! I'll put my comments in bulletin points, since it'll be easier

- I know how you feel about going to Blizzard Beach. I'm super self concious in a bathing suit and as a large chested girl, I have a fear of falling out of my top on the slides. The lazy river sounds great though, can you drink alcohol in BB? If so, sign me up! That sucks that you got burnt though. That aloe gel is the greatest stuff ever, isn't it?

- Your dress for the Spirit of Aloha is so beautiful! And your DBF did look very handsome.

- The MK/resort boats are my favorite way to go to and from the MK and the resorts there, especially if the weather is nice. I love seeing the wedding pavilion and the Grand from the boat

- If your DBF is looking for a great breakfast buffet the one at 1900 Park Fare is the best ever. It is mine and Jamie's favorite and with the amount of food Jamie can scarf down, it is so worth every penny. It's about $20/per person, which is a bit cheaper then the ones in the parks. The food is just incredible though, everything always tastes fresh and I have never seen any of the food look picked over or almost empty. The characters are so much fun too...Alice and the Mad Hatter are a hoot. We went for Jamie's birthday last year and our waiter went out of his way for us, it was great.

- The desserts at Tony's look amazing. I'm totally drooling at work here. I'm glad you guys enjoyed your dinner there. I too have heard a lot of bad reviews and it's great to hear a good one.

 

[MaleDisneyBeliever]

Still loving the TR! Making me anxious for our time to come! lol

 

[Raecheal]

I hadn't realized you had done such a big update! I'll put my comments in bulletin points, since it'll be easier

- I know how you feel about going to Blizzard Beach. I'm super self concious in a bathing suit and as a large chested girl, I have a fear of falling out of my top on the slides. The lazy river sounds great though, can you drink alcohol in BB? If so, sign me up! That sucks that you got burnt though. That aloe gel is the greatest stuff ever, isn't it?

- Your dress for the Spirit of Aloha is so beautiful! And your DBF did look very handsome.

- The MK/resort boats are my favorite way to go to and from the MK and the resorts there, especially if the weather is nice. I love seeing the wedding pavilion and the Grand from the boat

- If your DBF is looking for a great breakfast buffet the one at 1900 Park Fare is the best ever. It is mine and Jamie's favorite and with the amount of food Jamie can scarf down, it is so worth every penny. It's about $20/per person, which is a bit cheaper then the ones in the parks. The food is just incredible though, everything always tastes fresh and I have never seen any of the food look picked over or almost empty. The characters are so much fun too...Alice and the Mad Hatter are a hoot. We went for Jamie's birthday last year and our waiter went out of his way for us, it was great.

- The desserts at Tony's look amazing. I'm totally drooling at work here. I'm glad you guys enjoyed your dinner there. I too have heard a lot of bad reviews and it's great to hear a good one.

Thanks for posting!!

-I'm not sure if you can drink in BB, never thought of it actually!! but that would be awesome..!! Thank god for the Aloe gel.. i dont think I would have made through our trip.

-Awww.... Thank you. I loved my dress.. the whole night was so amazing.

- I know... I was so excited to snap photos of the Wedding Pavilion... and they turned out great.

-I'm gonna suggest 1900 Park fare to him.. see what he thinks!!!

-Thats all i ever heard is bad reviews... but we haven't had a bad experience as of yet. For the past like 3 weeks...let alone dessert... for the past couple of weeks all i can think about is CAKE!!! I asked dbf if we could order one and have it sent to one of ADR's during our weekend there.. he say YES.

Still loving the TR! Making me anxious for our time to come! lol

Glad your still around!!

 

[ArelysAdriana]

Thats all i ever heard is bad reviews... but we haven't had a bad experience as of yet. For the past like 3 weeks...let alone dessert... for the past couple of weeks all i can think about is CAKE!!! I asked dbf if we could order one and have it sent to one of ADR's during our weekend there.. he say YES.

Ok, if he would have said no to cake I would have been worried about his mental health.

 

[hlrababy]

Well..I am joining in a little late. But, better late than never right!!

 

[Raecheal]

Ok, if he would have said no to cake I would have been worried about his mental health.

Well..I am joining in a little late. But, better late than never right!!

Glad your here... your right, better late than never!!!

-------

Alright.. I"m working on gettind bf to add in his comments for MNSSHP and our final day in the world right now... I should have it up in a couple of hours because I need to be a make pit stop to the local mall to pick up a new pair of shoes from Aldo. Hang in there, for anyone who's still sub and/or reading... I haven't forgotten this TR.

 

[Raecheal]

Day 6 –Part 2
Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

After our bellies were full from Dinner and according to pictures we walked straight over to the Haunted Mansion. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try this ride for the very first time. There was absolutely no line or wait (but later on in the evening we walked back to try to get on again and there was a 60 minute wait with NO FP). This was my third or fourth trip to WDW and I’ve been through MK more than once each trip, yet I had never been on this ride. I’m not sure why – it IS buried in the back of the park – but I never bothered. It wasn’t yet dark outside, so it wasn’t the ambiance, but I was really impressed. From the initial optical illusions right up to the surprise in your car at the end! I think next time I’ll opt for this ride again (maybe instead of that annoying ‘It’s a Small World’). However, timing is everything because I would not have waited an hour!

By 6:20pm we decided to walk around and do some Trick or Treating.. after getting some Candy we headed over to Philarmagic. Again there was no wait, but it was starting to get more busy.

After Philarmagic, it was now 7:07pm we decided to do some more trick or treating. While getting some candy I spotted a Halloween Dance Party. This was probably the point in the night when I realized I was once again too old for Halloween. I felt awkward walking up to the CMs to get candy (and it wasn’t exactly award winning candy either) and OBVIOUSLY the dance stations were for little kids. Even if you wanted to get signatures from the characters, there wasn’t really the opportunity at these places. Clearly, Dbf is a party pooper. I took a couple of photos of some characters in the Halloween costumes and dancing. They were so cute:

Next we went on Winnie the Pooh,

We then slowly walked over to the people mover, snapping some photos of the Halloween decoration on our way.

After riding the people mover around 8:06pm, we decided to find a spot for the first parade. It was so busy; we had a hard time finding a spot. That is an understatement! It was more difficult to find a spot to sit for the first parade that night than ANY other parade we have ever attended at WDW. To add insult to injury, a stroller then sidled up next to me so I had a stroller leg jammed into my elbow until the woman finally realized and gave some room. He’s right, we had horrible seats with really rude people to either side of us. We sat down eventually on Main Street and I tried to caption the mood of the night, but we don’t have that great of a camera.

At 8:14pm, the famous headless horseman went by. It was so cool: here is my best picture.

After the headless horseman, we still waited for about another 20 minutes until the actually parade started. In the mean time, as usual CM were playing games with little kids on the road, taking photo pass photos or even handing out balloons. Now, normally we don’t take pictures of other people’s kids because it’s rude and just wrong… but while we were waiting, there was this little girl who had just learned to walk and she was absolutely adorable in her snow-white costume. Watching her, made me want to have a children… I noticed a lot of other people snapping pictures and going up to talk to the little girl and her parents… so I took a picture to show everyone how adorable she was.

Finally at 8:34pm, Mickey’s “boo-to-you” Halloween parade started. I must say, I never got to actually enjoy the parade because I was too busy trying to get the camera to take some good shots…. But they all turned out crappy…Here we go:

The parade ended at 8:48pm, according to the pictures we headed to the Main Street bakery for some dessert. I didn’t get any photos of it, we grab a seat outside around the corner and enjoyed our dessert. HalloWishes started around 9:30pm.. we just stayed seated and enjoyed it.. but half way through we got up and went and stood on Main street with the rest of the thousands of people. With dbf standing behind me, we were hugging.. it was nice. I thought Hallowishes was amazing. I don’t know, personally I felt that (aside from Illuminations) a lot of the fireworks we’ve seen blend together and the only differences become in the music they add to it. I do enjoy watching fireworks, which is why I really cannot complain about them, but this set did not really stand out in my mind as anything special. No complaints though since we needed the break in the night anyway.

 

[Raecheal]

After Hallowishes, we went a got some good seats for the Villain mix and mingle at 10:05pm.

It’s a short show.. because my first photo taken with the villains was at 10:16pm.. which means the show was only 15 minutes long? I guess. I didn’t actually wait in line for the Villains just snapped some photos on the sidelines, Dbf was holding our ‘perfect spot’ for the next parade and I didn’t want to keep him waiting. This reminded me of the villains’ version of the Mickey/Minnie show that’s held daily in front of the castle at MK. It was interesting because you so rarely see any Disney villains out and about. That said, I think I was past the point in the week where I wanted to see the characters up close and personal, so I was happy to sit and hold a spot while she took her character photos. The line-ups would have been atrocious had she wanted a photo WITH them though. We actually ended up sitting on the ground directly in front of the roadway between the castle and the statue of Walt and Mickey – excellent spot but you have to set up early. I was so happy we agreed to stay and watch the second parade, I wanted the opportunity to en joy it because I was too busy fighting with out camera the first time around. I agree. In FACT, my tip: skip the camera for parades! There are plenty of things to take photos of on your vacation; get as close as you can to roadside and pay attention, rather than framing a photo or making sure nobody is blocking your video. It made a huge difference for both of us when we put the devices away.Here are the Villains I got:

The last photo of the Villain was at 10:28pm… We basically just sat around soaking in the atmosphere and enjoyed the second parade. I noticed this time when goofy went by with his candy shop.. IT ACTUALLY SMELT like Candy.. I was so impressed. This float came near the end of the parade, and up till that point the only difference between this parade and others was that this one had characters you don’t often see ANND others that were in costumes (my favourite was Winnie the Pooh the Superhero) -- realistically, no grand difference. But then there was the Goofy’s Candy Company float, complete with CMs tossing candy, noises, music and the strong odour of candied goodness as it went by – that made the entire parade.

Overall, I don’t think I would recommend the Halloween party over seeing MK during regular park hours, to adults and couples at least. I cannot recall the exact ticket prices, but at this time in the year the line-ups for rides are not that long during the day, so there is little benefit to sticking around at night. The decorations are still there during the day to enjoy and if you desperately need candy, it’s not THAT expensive. If you have kids that want to trick or treat or participate in dance parties, it’s well worth it; however, for the average adult, I’d spend my night at one of the other Disney events if they’re available… unless of course you REALLY enjoy dressing up or need to complete your signature book!

I completely disagree with dbf, as usual. I LOVED MNSSHP… and 100% recommend it.. I would have even dressed up but dbf wouldn’t allow it. After the parade, we fought with the crowd to head back to the hotel for the night. It was around 11:30pm and I was exhausted. This was our final night in Disney World and I was already feeling the blues….

Next up: AK, DTD, Home

 

[Raecheal]

Alright, No Dbf here… I’ll have to edit tomorrow with his thoughts.. he’s at work.. and I can honestly say I’ve spent half the morning shopping and the rest on Disboards. It’s been at least a couple weeks since I’ve been able to do NOTHING all weekend or at least do things that I want.

Our last half-day at WDW, we left off spending the night at MK. We had an amazing dinner at Tony’s Town Square and at least one of us enjoyed the MNSSHP!!! We usually leave our final morning open and the night before while packing we decided how and where we’d like to spend it. Occasional we have some last minute purchases to pick up, or one of us wants to go on that ride just one more time….

Just a fair warming… we were such in a rush this morning.. I don’t have many photos AT ALL.

This Monday, September 29th, 2009… we were headed off to AK for rope drop. We only had a couple of hours… so we arrived at AK for 7:48AM. Here are some photos of I took of AK and the opening act:

By 8:15am, we had made our way to Africa were the plans were to hop on the Kilimanjaro safari. Kilimanjaro Safari is an open-air safari vehicle that takes you through an African style savannah. We have never seen so few animals on this ride as we did this morning, here are a few pictures I was able to capture:

After the Safari, we decided we would walk over to Asia and for the very first time give Kali River Rapids at try. On our way over to Asia, we stopped into Ziwani Traders to browse.

After a bit of shopping, I snapped some photos of the AK.. which is truly one of my favorite parks… it’s just absolutely beautiful..

My Favorite pictures of the day,

Just incase we got lost,

Believe it or not, we got to Asia and Kali River Rapids at 8:37am.. but it was CLOSED. Apparently it doesn’t open at the same time as the rest of the park… so we had to sit around and wait, wait and wait… UNTIL 9:00AM. Yes, only 20 something minutes.. but it was really, really HOT outside and it seemed to last for ever.

While we were waiting, I took some photos of some friends.. LOL They were our entertainment!!

Finally, at 900A a lovely CM came and walked the gathering crowd up to the Kali River Rapids loading dock… here are some photos I took along the way:

Due to the nature of the ride, my camera was tucked away in the backpack… we were able to ride the rapids a total of 3 times without getting off before we were soaked from head to toe, so much so that I had to make a pit stop in the washroom and try to squeeze the water out of my clothes… WE HAD A BLAST. IT was so much fun…

Being soaked pretty much determined that we’d have to make a pit stop back to the hotel prior to going Downtown to squeeze in some last minute shopping… if you haven’t noticed we haven’t even had the opportunity to head DTD yet!!

Once we got the hotel, which I’m estimated was around 9:30Am, we quickly changed and headed off to DTD. We spent the morning shopping, we went into practically EVERY store… this is when I decided to buy my winter UGGS and Clutch/wallet. Although, I like to call it express shopping…we utilized every second down there. Although, I was really sad that the scrap booking store was closed. ohhh....

We raced back to the hotel, grabbed some lunch and packed up the rest of the room. At this point, we decided to check out of the hotel and wait in the main lobby for DME to pick us up. I always, always cry on the way back to the airport.. it’s just sad experience to be headed back to the airport… especially when I had to leave my really expensive, purple Mickey balloon in the hotel room.

Everything went smoothly all the way home…. Until I looked outside once we landed in Ottawa… I was completely devastated to be back in Canada BUT Dbf reminded me we would be back next year and Mickey would miss me just as much as I missed him.