SWW, BCR & Technically, we were literally on Mars! New - 8/31 - Final Update

[wiigirl]

You will not regret it. We had so much fun! It also kept us out of the rain but still enjoying ourselves.

 

[lsenquiz]

Thanks

 

[indimom]

Ah, somehow I missed that last update. You got some really nice pictures of the family! I like the pix of Gabriel in front of Chef Mickey's.
Can't wait to hear more. I'll see ya in a week!

 

[lsenquiz]

Ah, somehow I missed that last update. You got some really nice pictures of the family! I like the pix of Gabriel in front of Chef Mickey's.
Can't wait to hear more. I'll see ya in a week!

Can't wait to hear about your awesome trip when you get back!

 

[lsenquiz]

Today = Monday June 3rd

Day 11– Magic Kingdom​

When I left off last, it was 8:15pm and we had just finished dinner at Chef Mickey’s and were trying to make it to MK in time for MSEP which started at 9pm. We decided to walk from the Contemporary instead of ride the monorail. We made it to Frontierland by 8:40 and had no problem getting a front row seat for the parade. We got what I now consider my favorite spot right near where you can cut through and get to the Magic Carpet ride. The parade was awesome as usual.


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After the parade we quickly cut through to Frontierland and made our way to the front of the park. When we got to Main Street they were just starting Celebrate the Magic and we were able to get a pretty good spot on main street so we stayed to watch it.


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After that we made our way right up to the railroad station and stood there to watch Wishes. It is not the best viewing point for sure and it is really hard to hear what they are saying. However, it was nice to be able to exit the park quickly when it ended.


DSC04197 by Disneyalwaysn4ever, on Flickr

Up next, early ADRs for Crystal Palace and a few more gallons of pixie dust.

 

[KittyKitty]

Started reading your trip report. Laughed out loud reading about your conversation with your Dad. Space book!

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

Now back to more reading....

 

[lsenquiz]

Started reading your trip report. Laughed out loud reading about your conversation with your Dad. Space book!

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

Now back to more reading....

I think the subject of parents and computers is something everyone can relate to (although I have to admit that I had to get alittle help from my DS8 the other day when I needed to find something on youtube)

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Your pictures of MSEP came out great!

Getting out of the park easily after Wishes sounds nice!

 

[lovethattink]

Love your MSEP pictures!

 

[lsenquiz]

Your pictures of MSEP came out great!

Getting out of the park easily after Wishes sounds nice!

I actually regret that we headed so far to the front for wishes. The who experience lost some of the Magic because of that. We will be staking out a spot closer to the Castle for this up coming trip and then will just hang out for a while until the crowds thin before heading out to the buses.

 

[lsenquiz]

Love your MSEP pictures!

 

[lsenquiz]

Today = Tuesday June 4th
Day 12 Magic Kingdom​

We were up early this morning because we had an 8:30am ADR at Crystal Palace. I wanted to be on the bus by 7am so we could have a little time to take Castle Pictures before we ate. A bus pulled up right at we made it to the bus stop and we were pulling into Magic Kingdom by 7:20am. I never really paid attention when we were on the buses but for some reason it felt like we took a different route this morning and got to the parks much quicker than it normally takes us.

We were through the turnstiles and heading toward the castle by 7:30am. I did find it strange that they did not require any proof that we had a reservation before they let us in. When you use the International Gateway in EPCOT for an early ADR they have a list and make sure you are on it before letting you in. I wonder what would stop any person from getting in Magic Kingdom early regardless of whether they had an ADR or not? This is the crowd walking down Main St. when we entered the park at 7:30am for a 9am opening.


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We did get a few Castle pictures without too many people in them.


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Then we headed over and checked in for our ADRs. We checked in at 8am even though our ADR was not until 8:30am and were called to be seated by 8:10am.


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Our first character was my daughters favorite:


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Then Pooh.


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And finally Tigger and Piglet.


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All the characters were fun and came quickly. The food was..... well to me it was just food. Honestly, I am probably one of those rare people that do not think much of the food at Disney. It was fine but IMO there is only so much you can do with breakfast. Especially for nonadventurous eaters.

We finished up and were out the door by 8:50 which was awesome. I wanted to do Enchanted Tails with Belle this morning and hoped to be in the first group. So the minute we got out of the restaurant we high tailed it there. We got as far as the backside of the castle and then were stopped and had to wait until 9am exactly to go the rest of the way. We were able to get into the first show and Gabriel got chosen to the be the Beast ( not sure it was much of a choice since he was the only boy there ). I need to confess that I did not tell Gabriel what we were doing because I know he would have deemed it a girl thing and want to skip it. I was so excited when he got to be the Beast but Gabriel was a little disappointed because he wanted to be Chip. However, he went with the flow and did an awesome job. His roar was very loud and believable .


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The part where he danced with Belle brought tears to my eyes. Kenny got a video which I have posted below:

Beast video

I do wish Kenny had video taped in portrait instead of landscape so we could see their whole bodies. I doubt I will ever get Gabriel to do this again but it was so awesome this time.

After spending some time with Belle we decided to go see Gaston.


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He was very much in character and Gabriel had a good time interacting with him. Then we headed over to Tomorrowland to ride.....Yep you guessed it Buzz. On the way there we stopped for a quick picture with another one of my favorites:


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After riding Buzz we headed back to Fantasyland to use FPs I had gotten for Peter Pan that morning. On the way there Gabriel had a pretty lengthy conversation with Push the Trash can.


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We had never had an opportunity to talk with him and I must say he is really funny. I managed to get some video.

Push video

We were lucky enough to see Peter Pan before we rode his ride.


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After that we headed back to the room for a little R&R because I had something very important on my agenda for that evening.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Wow you guys got to MK crazy fast! That is odd that they didn't ask for any proof. Maybe they assume since nothing is open except the restaurants people won't try to get in? How odd.

Love the family picture. Are there PP photographers there that early or did you ask another person to take it?

Great CP pictures. And wow you guys got done fast! Perfect for getting to Enchanted Tales!

Gabriel is precious as the beast! Even if he never does it again, that's an adorable memory! Also, I never knew you could upload video to Flickr!

Great Gaston picture! Love the smile on Gabriel's face.

Omg that conversation with Push is hilarious! I love that he got the whole family involved!

You guys found a lot of characters that morning! Can't wait to hear about what's next!

 

[lsenquiz]

Wow you guys got to MK crazy fast! That is odd that they didn't ask for any proof. Maybe they assume since nothing is open except the restaurants people won't try to get in? How odd.

If I was not such an honest person I might consider going through the reservation line again for our September trip just to get the Castle pictures

Love the family picture. Are there PP photographers there that early or did you ask another person to take it?

There were Photopass photographers all the way up main street.

Great CP pictures. And wow you guys got done fast! Perfect for getting to Enchanted Tales!

Yep we powered right through breakfast. We are actually really light eaters and only do the buffets for the characters. We never go back for seconds.

Gabriel is precious as the beast! Even if he never does it again, that's an adorable memory! Also, I never knew you could upload video to Flickr!

I didn't either and then just decided to try it one day and it worked! The only difference is when you go to grab it to post on the board get the URL and not the HTML/BBC code.

Great Gaston picture! Love the smile on Gabriel's face.

Gaston was a lot of fun!

Omg that conversation with Push is hilarious! I love that he got the whole family involved!

This was one of my favorite things of the whole trip. He was so entertaining.

You guys found a lot of characters that morning! Can't wait to hear about what's next!

If you think this was a lot of characters wait until you see the next update

 

[natebenma]

Got caught up on your report

Great photos with Pluto and Buzz at MK, but bummer about the meet line for Woody and Jessie.

Sounds like some nice, mellow, low key attractions and activities- Hall of Presidents, Sorcerer, Swiss, Pooh and Buzz.

It was good to Gabriel getting his groove on at the dance party. We watched people getting SOAKED at the dance party the night we were at MK.

What a great memory of pixie dust with the R2D2 spinner! Too bad the parade was cancelled, but you did get an awesome view and wonderful pictures on your next try.

The rain doesn't bother me much, but my husband doesn't really like getting wet.

How was Circle of Life? I think I went back on one of my first trips- but I'm not sure I have seen it since. I have read that it is a bit preachy.

Your "connection" to Spaceship Earth is really cool (I was going to say shocking, but I don't want the pun police after me)

Looks like a fun time at Chef Mickeys! Great pictures with the characters.

Having a pre-opening breakfast at MK is definitely on my bucket list!

That is fantastic that Gabriel was picked to be Beast, and that he met Push.

 

[lsenquiz]

Got caught up on your report

Great photos with Pluto and Buzz at MK, but bummer about the meet line for Woody and Jessie.

Buzz is a tradition for us so we never miss him. Pkuto was just a bonus because we saw him lots of times this trip with all our character meals. We have plans to see Woody and Jessie for our september trip so it will all work out

Sounds like some nice, mellow, low key attractions and activities- Hall of Presidents, Sorcerer, Swiss, Pooh and Buzz.

Having two whole weeks really makes a difference in the pace we take. Now I am not sure I will ever be able to do a short trip again.

It was good to Gabriel getting his groove on at the dance party. We watched people getting SOAKED at the dance party the night we were at MK.

Our Gabriel does love to dance

What a great memory of pixie dust with the R2D2 spinner! Too bad the parade was cancelled, but you did get an awesome view and wonderful pictures on your next try.

The CM interactions we had on this trip were amazing.

The rain doesn't bother me much, but my husband doesn't really like getting wet.

We aren't big fans of getting wet either but as long as we have a ponch and the right shoes I do not think the rain will bother us ever again.

How was Circle of Life? I think I went back on one of my first trips- but I'm not sure I have seen it since. I have read that it is a bit preachy.

Honestly it was just a movie about recycling. Absolutely nothing special and it will not be on our list to see again for several years.

Your "connection" to Spaceship Earth is really cool (I was going to say shocking, but I don't want the pun police after me)

Looks like a fun time at Chef Mickeys! Great pictures with the characters.

We did enjoy the character meals!

Having a pre-opening breakfast at MK is definitely on my bucket list!

It is definitely the way to go. So nice to be clear on the other side of the park when it opened.

That is fantastic that Gabriel was picked to be Beast, and that he met Push.

I am not sure he thought so but it is a memory I will keep forever


Hope you guys had a great trip. Do you plan to do a TR?

 

[lsenquiz]

Today = Tuesday June 4th

Day 12– DHS​

After resting up in the room for a good bit (I think we may have ordered lunch from room service again) we headed over to DHS. We got there around 4pm. My plan was to be over on the Streets of American for Characterpalooza when it started at 6pm. As you can tell by now I am a HUGE character hunter. That is my favorite part of Disney and IMO Characterpalooza is the gold mine of character interactions.
Because the first Fantasmic of the night was not until 9pm, Characterpalooza would start at 6pm and it would be just one session. If anyone wants more details on how this works check out www.Kennythepirate.com They use this interaction to train new characters. You never know who might come out during a specific session and they usually have about 15 characters.

Since we were early we went ahead and rode Star Tours and then managed to squeeze in Indiana Jones. Again thanks to Kenny the Pirate I knew that you could walk down after the show and get your picture taken with Indiana Jones himself! I do not think any of the 100s of people in that show knew because we were one of the few that did it.


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We made our way over to the Streets of America after that. I knew the characters came out from the backlot area but were not exactly sure where they stopped. We have done the characterpalooza for years but before this trip it was always held in the Animation building. This is the first time we would be doing it on the Streets of America. However, we were ready to go the minute I saw them coming out. Boy was it a sight to see for a character hunter like me. We got pictures with 13 characters in less than 15 minutes .


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This is the first time ever we have gotten a picture of Dale without Chip. I honestly thought it was a rule that they always had to be out together.

This guy was really hard to get a picture with as he was taking the part of a roamer seriously and would run away from you when you tried to get a picture. Thank goodness Gabriel had gotten good at this from all the Star Wars roamers so he just planted himself in front of Max until he relented.


In my book, that is a HUGE success. After that we headed back to the room because Gabriel wanted to see the movie on the beach that night. We did stop to get this picture on the way out.


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Sadly it started raining on our way back to the resort so the movie was moved inside to the solarium. Gabriel still wanted to see it so we headed in there. My review of the solarium is that it is not a good alternate choice for the movie. There are not a lot of seats (less than 15), The music that is piped into the solarium cannot be turned off so you hear it the entire time you are watching the movie and the lights cannot be dimmed. That night they also had a lot of trouble with the DVD (UP was showing). It kept freezing up and they would have to restart it. I aborted the mission with the third freeze and went up to the room but Kenny and Gabriel stayed to the end. Even though the movie started at 9pm it did not finish until 11:30pm.

A Mom Story:

This story just popped into my mind for some reason in the middle of the night last night when I was having trouble sleeping.

When I was in the 7th grade I started getting warts on my hands. Within a couple of months I had a total of 11 warts. As you can image this was very embarrassing for a 7th grade girl. I tried all the over the counter stuff available to get rid of them with no luck. My mom even took me to the dermatologist who tried several treatments including soaking my hands in an acid mixture several times a day and that did not work either.

One summer day we were all sitting around our kitchen table and I was complaining that I would have warts forever (it had already been over 8 months since they showed up). My mom suddenly jumped up and said there was one treatment we had not tried yet. She went and got her purse and took out $1.10. She handed me the money and told me that she was buying my warts from me for $0.10 each. Mom said that once I sold them to her then they would no longer be mine and I would have no control over what happened to them.

We all cracked up (and when I say we I should mention that our house was “that house” where all the kids in the neighborhood hung out so sitting around that table was not just my family but more than likely every kid on our street. ) However, even though I had absolutely no faith in the fact that my mom purchasing my warts would make them go away there was no way I was turning down a $1.10 so I happily took the money. Within two weeks all 11 warts were gone and never came back!

Up next, more catch all

 

[natebenma]

Hope you guys had a great trip. Do you plan to do a TR?

We had a fantastic fast-paced trip!

I have started a TR (see the Hijinks and Shenanigans link in my signature). Right now I am on the Universal part of my trip, still on the Hard Rock pictures and descriptions.

It's gonna be a couple of weeks before I get to the Disney parts

 

[lsenquiz]

We had a fantastic fast-paced trip!

I have started a TR (see the Hijinks and Shenanigans link in my signature). Right now I am on the Universal part of my trip, still on the Hard Rock pictures and descriptions.

It's gonna be a couple of weeks before I get to the Disney parts

Awesome I will be following along. Much to my dismay I think we may end up at Universal for parts of our trips as Gabriel gets older. This is exactly what happened with my DS25 & DD21. Once DS turned 12 he prefered Universal and IoA over Disney. We did not completely switch back until Gabriel was 1.

 

[indimom]

Wow, 13 characters in 15 minutes! That's got to be some kind of record!

I'm loving your mom stories! I felt your pain on the warts issue. I had one (but a HUGE one) on my wrist in seventh grade. Could not get rid of it no matter what we tried. And we tried for months and months, probably close to a year. I finally gave up and just covered it with a band aid daily. Then, suddenly, literally like overnight, it was just gone. Poof!

Can't wait to read more!!!