"Smile like you're massaging my feet!" A Nov '14 TR! *Updated 6/17 & 6/18- NEW TR LINK POSTED*

[missangelalexis]

Donald and Daisy together just made me melt!

I'm so excited that you have another trip in the works! Fun! fun! FUN!

They were so adorable! Thank you, I'm excited too! It certainly will be FUN

Loved all of your character pictures, especially the one with Pluto.

Aw, so happy for you getting to go back so soon! It sounds like a fun, fast-paced trip. You will love your meal in the castle, it was our favorite on the October trip. I also have to admit that I'm a little jealous as I don't have a trip planned any time soon.

Cute pictures with Santa Goofy! I thought about meeting him there but the line was supper long so I caught him at AK instead.

Love the PP picture with Mike W. I haven't seen that one before.

It's going to be a fun trip I think! And I'm glad to hear the castle meal won't disappoint, I'm really looking forward to that.

I was glad we didn't have to wait too long to meet Santa Goofy. But I'm sure meeting him at AK was just as good!

 

[RunnerMommyof4]

All caught up and can I just say I love all your photos!!! So many awesome new things to see and plan for on our 1st trip!

 

[KatMark]

Alexis, I am new to your TR, but I have seen you around on numerous ones I follow and am joining in.

Nice easy travel day is always a good start. Oh, and if you ever get a chance to stay at the Coronado, do so. It's a great resort (I've stayed there ten times).

You had a great day at Epcot. Love all your PP pictures and all your character meet and greets. I'm with you...I'm not a big fan of Illuminations and we usually always skip it.

Great start to your MK day. Crystal Palace before park opening is a must do for us every trip.

Gaston is great. So glad you had a great interaction with him.

More great photos with characters. Columbia Harbor House is a favorite of ours.

We missed the Festival of Fantasy parade in September. It is on the top of my agenda to hit for sure on one of my three upcoming trips.

Great pictures of the castle all lit up.

I'm glad you had a good meal at Ohana. Unfortunately, we did not and we won't go back. But I'm glad others love it (my DH did LOVE the dessert).

Your fireworks pictures are spectacular.

Studios -- great start. And way to go Mom in putting your hands up on TOT!

Love all the photopass pictures...they are terrific. Those frames are a favorite of mine.

And congrats on another trip. Our dates overlap a bit...I arrive on the 3rd of May.

 

[missangelalexis]

All caught up and can I just say I love all your photos!!! So many awesome new things to see and plan for on our 1st trip!

Thank you so much! You're going to have so much fun planning your trip!

Alexis, I am new to your TR, but I have seen you around on numerous ones I follow and am joining in.

Nice easy travel day is always a good start. Oh, and if you ever get a chance to stay at the Coronado, do so. It's a great resort (I've stayed there ten times).

You had a great day at Epcot. Love all your PP pictures and all your character meet and greets. I'm with you...I'm not a big fan of Illuminations and we usually always skip it.

Great start to your MK day. Crystal Palace before park opening is a must do for us every trip.

Gaston is great. So glad you had a great interaction with him.

More great photos with characters. Columbia Harbor House is a favorite of ours.

We missed the Festival of Fantasy parade in September. It is on the top of my agenda to hit for sure on one of my three upcoming trips.

Great pictures of the castle all lit up.

I'm glad you had a good meal at Ohana. Unfortunately, we did not and we won't go back. But I'm glad others love it (my DH did LOVE the dessert).

Your fireworks pictures are spectacular.

Studios -- great start. And way to go Mom in putting your hands up on TOT!

Love all the photopass pictures...they are terrific. Those frames are a favorite of mine.

And congrats on another trip. Our dates overlap a bit...I arrive on the 3rd of May.

Hi Kathy! Thanks so much for joining in!

I definitely want to stay at Coronado one day. 10 times? Wow!

Glad to hear someone else shares the same opinion about Illuminations.

Festival of Fantasy is incredible, glad to hear you're putting it on your list!

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy Ohana it's unfortunate that reviews of the restaurant seem to be either really good or really bad.

So funny that our trips will overlap!

 

[missangelalexis]

Day 4 - Characterpalooza!!

When we got off Tower of Terror it was around 3:20. I timed our FPs to coincide with the 3:35 Characterpalooza, since it was now meeting back by ToT. So we grabbed a seat across from the exit shop and waited. I was pretty sure we were in the right spot, but I was a little nervous! However, I saw a couple of other groups lingering around so I felt confident that we were ok. While we were waiting, I changed the time of our Star Tours FP on my phone. We were scheduled for 3:25-4:25, but I didn't want us to have to rush over there, so I changed it for 5:05-6:05. That's one part of FP+ that I totally loved, just changing stuff on the fly!

And then right on time, the gates opened and those of us waiting went rushing in for Characterpalooza!

My heart nearly dropped when I saw Mary & Bert meeting together!! I have been dying to meet Bert, and I planned on trying to at MVMCP but seeing him here made me so happy! I literally passed right by the other few characters that were out ahead of them and beelined right for them Mom knew exactly where I was going and made sure that Dad kept up.





After that we backtracked to the front and met DOPEY! Another character I was SO surprised to see out. I've mentioned my mom loves Snow White & the Dwarfs, and Dopey is her fave so I am so glad we got this opportunity!









After that we met Tiana who was lovely as always!





And then the Evil Queen!









Continued in next post!​

 

[missangelalexis]

Then we got in line to meet Aladdin & Genie! There was a little backup to meet them, and Pocahontas was just standing there with noone meeting her So Dad and I hopped over and each took a quick pic with her!









We headed back towards the front of the gates and even though we met her at Epcot, we stopped and said hi to Mulan since noone was meeting with her! She was really fun and talked about me training to become a warrior.







We were walking out to leave and Dopey was still there and with noone waiting, so I hopped over to get a quick selfie with him Dad also wanted some solo fun, so he got a pic as well!









We finally left and we heard the CMs say that the characters would only be out for a few more minutes. But we successfully met every character at Palooza! There weren't many people back here and except for the 2 or 3 minutes we waited for Aladdin & Genie, there was no wait to meet any of the other characters. AND on top of that, we got some GREAT characters! Major pixie dust!

Up next...One Man's Dream
​

 

[Pluto0809]

Oh man, you got some great characters too. I ended up doing 4 of the character paloosas and I did get Mary and Bert but never Dopey. I did see him at the Christmas Party but it wasn't the same since it was all the Dwarfs and basically just a quick photo op.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

I like the ability to change FP's on the fly too Alexis, now that finally I was able to download the app (and WiFi works). It made a HUGE difference.

You got some GREAT character options. WOW. Dopey??? Seriously??? I only made it to one Characterpalooza last trip and didn't get one photo since the characters weren't rare at all.

 

[hokieinpa]

Great Characterpalooza!! So many great meets!

We did one on our trip and had the same "are we in the right spot?" feeling. They changed the meeting spot the week before our trip so I had to change up some of our plans to make everything flow. Not to mention that since it was our first trip, I really had no concept of where the ToT exit was. I asked a CM and he said "There is no exit...you never get to leave." Great in character answer, but not exactly helpful!

 

[KathyM2]

Loving your report so far. Love that you are having such a great time with your parents and they seem to really enjoy Disney as much as you do!

 

[scrpbookr]

LOVE, Love, love all the Character Palooza pics! What a treat!

 

[missangelalexis]

Oh man, you got some great characters too. I ended up doing 4 of the character paloosas and I did get Mary and Bert but never Dopey. I did see him at the Christmas Party but it wasn't the same since it was all the Dwarfs and basically just a quick photo op.

I was SUPER surprised to see Dopey out! I agree, the photo op at the parties is so quick and rushed.

I like the ability to change FP's on the fly too Alexis, now that finally I was able to download the app (and WiFi works). It made a HUGE difference.

You got some GREAT character options. WOW. Dopey??? Seriously??? I only made it to one Characterpalooza last trip and didn't get one photo since the characters weren't rare at all.

As long as the app and internet are working, MDE really is a great tool. We really got lucky with our Characterpalooza, I was so surprised and very happy!

Great Characterpalooza!! So many great meets!

We did one on our trip and had the same "are we in the right spot?" feeling. They changed the meeting spot the week before our trip so I had to change up some of our plans to make everything flow. Not to mention that since it was our first trip, I really had no concept of where the ToT exit was. I asked a CM and he said "There is no exit...you never get to leave." Great in character answer, but not exactly helpful!

HAHA funny response from the CM, but not helpful when it was a serious question! Can't wait to hear about your experience!

Loving your report so far. Love that you are having such a great time with your parents and they seem to really enjoy Disney as much as you do!

Thank you so much and thanks for joining in! They really do enjoy Disney and it's great that we can all enjoy it together

LOVE, Love, love all the Character Palooza pics! What a treat!

Thank you! It was such a great time, definitely one of the best memories of the trip!

 

[KatMark]

WOW! What great characters at Character Palooza. I never knew about that (25+ visits and I knew nothing about this) and have seen a lot about it lately and it is on the top of my list for our October trip. You got some unique characters that you never see out -- Bert and then, of course, one of my favorites -- the Genie.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

You guys totally scored with Characterpqlooz hitting up a couple of characters you thought you might have to go to the Halloween party to see - and so cool that Mary and Bert were there!

Must be fun to be the person who gets to pick which characters will appear.

 

[alicat130]

Just joining in! Looks like you had a great time so far! You got to meet so many fun characters at characterpalooza! I'm sad I missed that. I bet it saved some time at MVMCP!

 

[missangelalexis]

WOW! What great characters at Character Palooza. I never knew about that (25+ visits and I knew nothing about this) and have seen a lot about it lately and it is on the top of my list for our October trip. You got some unique characters that you never see out -- Bert and then, of course, one of my favorites -- the Genie.

It's such a cool and fun experience, I hope you get to do it in October!

You guys totally scored with Characterpqlooz hitting up a couple of characters you thought you might have to go to the Halloween party to see - and so cool that Mary and Bert were there!

Must be fun to be the person who gets to pick which characters will appear.

It really was such a score! I do wonder how they decide who comes out!

Just joining in! Looks like you had a great time so far! You got to meet so many fun characters at characterpalooza! I'm sad I missed that. I bet it saved some time at MVMCP!

Welcome, thanks for reading!! It was a great time, and more fun times ahead! Characterpalooza really was awesome, I hope you get to experience it one day!

 

[KelleyK75]

What a great Characterpalooza! How fun meeting everyone and your pictures are great!

 

[missangelalexis]

What a great Characterpalooza! How fun meeting everyone and your pictures are great!

Thank you! It was so fun!!

 

[missangelalexis]

Day 4 - One Man's Dream

Since we had time before our Star Tours FP, we headed over to the Animation Building to see if we could get into one of the drawing classes!



A lot of people were doing the same thing though and the line was pretty long! But I really wanted to get a class in, so I decided to wait. I wouldn't get into the 4:00 class but knew I'd be able to get into the 4:30 class. Mom & Dad hung out on one of the couches down near where the characters meet. When the time got closer, Mom joined me and decided she would do the class too, even though she's not the biggest fan. It was a boring wait but finally we were let in. The animator named some characters and we voted on who we would want to draw. The winner ended up being Jiminy Cricket! I voted for Jack Skellington but was more than happy to draw Jiminy!



We also spotted Baymax, but we didn't wait to meet him.



After that we went over to check out One Man's Dream. SO glad we finally got to do this! So much history to look at! We didn't stay for the movie so that's still on the to-do list.













I loved all these models from Disney parks around the world!



And I especially loved the model of Peter Pan's Flight, so cool!







I loved Honey I Blew Up The Kid when I was younger so this was fun to see as well.







Then it was time to use our Star Tours FP! My mom took this pretty photo along the way.



I know nothing about Star Wars so I am sorry that I cannot even tell you what kind of scene we had but I do know I enjoyed it and that's all that matters right??

Up next...Osborne Lights and I fall in love ​

 

[Pluto0809]

It makes me sad that the drawing classes are so popular now! Unless you go first thing in the morning, you almost always have to wait through two classes to get in. Great drawing of Jiminy!

Ah, One Man's Dream is such an emotional place to visit. I definitely don't remember the props from Honey I Blew Up the Kid. I wonder if they are new in there? I didn't visit there in Oct or Dec.