The COME HELL OR HIGH WATER, We're Going! Trip Report

[RVGal]

i hear you on the crowds.

some nights i have done mnsshp have been extremely crowded while others on the same trip have had zero lines.

i agree, long lines and crowds takes some of the fun out of it.

i try to avoid fridays and sundays for mnsshp nights.

This was a Tuesday, which is why the crowd level took me completely by surprise. A packed house on a random Tuesday? Of all the stinking luck.

 

[nascarcheshirecat]

I loved your pics! I totally agree it is hit or miss on the crowds.

 

[trappednabox]

SO CUTE!! I've always wanted to go at Halloween time, but things look CRAZY! maybe someday

 

[loribell]

We were lucky on our only MNSSHP but maybe it was because we didn't do any trick or treat trails. We did our pic early, did rides & watched the parade. I don't think we did a single treat thing.

We were too excited because it was Ally's very first time at being tall enough to ride my favorite, Splash Mountain (Joshua has good taste!) and BTMRR. We rode them multiple times because we thought the height was from her snow white heels. Come to find out a couple of days later she was tall enough in her tennis shoes too.

Of course this was 7 years ago. I wish you would have been able to visit on a less crowded night.

Thanks for the last two updates! They are great.

By the way, most of my MNSSHP pics were terrible too.

 

[RVGal]

Am I the only one that thinks the indoor part of that ride is weird? I mean LSD weird. Kinda like the Alice ride... er, wait, you don't have an Alice ride, right? Well, it's trippy. Trust me.

No, we don't have the Alice ride. I bet I can find a ride thru video on YouTube and it will not be just as good.

I loved your pics! I totally agree it is hit or miss on the crowds.

Thanks! My pics are not really great from this trip. I mean, some are, but not like last trip where I seemed to have tons of perfect shots.

SO CUTE!! I've always wanted to go at Halloween time, but things look CRAZY! maybe someday

Trapped? Is that you? You look different. It's the avatar, right?

We were lucky on our only MNSSHP but maybe it was because we didn't do any trick or treat trails. We did our pic early, did rides & watched the parade. I don't think we did a single treat thing.

We were too excited because it was Ally's very first time at being tall enough to ride my favorite, Splash Mountain (Joshua has good taste!) and BTMRR. We rode them multiple times because we thought the height was from her snow white heels. Come to find out a couple of days later she was tall enough in her tennis shoes too.

Of course this was 7 years ago. I wish you would have been able to visit on a less crowded night.

Thanks for the last two updates! They are great.

By the way, most of my MNSSHP pics were terrible too.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one with bad luck on the nighttime picture taking.

There were lines everywhere when we went. When we went through Fantasyland, they had the meet and greet area near Pooh's Playful Spot set up with Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger... all in halloween costumes. (Eeyore was a clown, which I thought was hysterical!) The wait time posted was an hour. Near there, behind the Teacups, was Snow White and all seven of the Dwarfs. Holy schmoly. You should have seen the line for that.

It was just a bad luck of the draw.

 

[loribell]

It was just a bad luck of the draw.

That just plain SUCKS!

 

[DorkyDisneyMom]

I am late to the party but I do love your trip reports. I followed the link in your signature.

It looks like a great trip. The boys are so cute.

I saw the pink cowboy hat in the packing picture and wondered what in the heck was up with that. LOL! I see it was for the Halloween Party.

Indy is adorable and Manny too.

I agree with Heidi what does it's a small world look like on the outside? Is it just a building? DL has the clock thing with the little show but it's all outside. My kids loved that ride too. We had the Jingle Bells version though so it made it a little more bearable.

I really am glad that you were able to get away. It sounds like you needed it.

 

[RVGal]

I am late to the party but I do love your trip reports. I followed the link in your signature.

It looks like a great trip. The boys are so cute.

I saw the pink cowboy hat in the packing picture and wondered what in the heck was up with that. LOL! I see it was for the Halloween Party.

Indy is adorable and Manny too.

I agree with Heidi what does it's a small world look like on the outside? Is it just a building? DL has the clock thing with the little show but it's all outside. My kids loved that ride too. We had the Jingle Bells version though so it made it a little more bearable.

I really am glad that you were able to get away. It sounds like you needed it.

Oh, geez! I never thought about the pink princess cowboy hat showing up in the packing pictures! You guys probably thought Brad & I were going to "play dress up" or something.

The outside of IASW at Disney World looks like this.

That is a totally random shot I stole off the internet.

 

[romymichelle21]

Whoa!! I never realized it was indoors! How weird. I wonder if you go to the same place ours is, in the Magic Kingdom, what would be there? Hmm.

(As you've probably seen before), this is the DL version:

 

[loribell]

I have been on both, although the DL version only twice and the last time was way back in 2000, and the outsides are very different. They are placed totally different in the park as well. The entrance to the one in DL is much more elaborate too. It makes it seem more special.

 

[RVGal]

Day 5 - Wednesday, October 22nd


Even though we were up a little late the night before, we were still up at about the same time. Joshua is on a pretty strict sleep schedule, so his internal clock goes off at almost exactly the same time every morning.

We had a quick breakfast in our room and then caught a bus back to AK. We really hadn't done much on the other day we went. Mostly just the Donald Safari Breakfast and then we hopped to a different park. Daniel wanted to see the animals and Joshua wanted to dig for dino bones, so AK it is. We arrived shortly after opening and headed straight for the safari.

Every time we ride, I chastise myself for taking pictures of the same stuff over and over. I mean, how many pictures of a giraffe do you really need? And yet...

... I can't resist. The elephants always get my camera's attention too.

But how can you pass up a baby elephant?

I sure can't. Oh, and I also caught the ever elusive, super rare...

... rhino butt.

After the safari, we headed for DinoLand. We rode Triceratops Spin again, then headed for the Boneyard.

This playground is a bit more open than some of the others (like Honey I Shrunk the Kids), but it is still hard to keep up with where my kid is. I can see most of the areas that he can climb up, but there are still some spots that are blind and there is more than one option of where he will come out. At the age my boys are, I'm not comfortable just turning them loose and leaving it up to them to find me. Anyway, they played in the playground area for a little while.

Then we headed for the dig site.

We let them dig around for quite awhile and then convinced them it was time for lunch. We ate at Flametree Barbeque, which is a really good CS spot with a ton of seating. We managed to snag a table on the lowest level, overlooking the water with EE in the background. It is a nice, peaceful break from the rush and noise.

After lunch, we went to the character greet area to meet Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger.

Tigger was great. He is a favorite of both boys and he seemed to clue in that they were fans.

I made sure that we had hit all the sights that the boys were interested in and then we decided to hop over to MK. On our way out, there were a ton of characters at the gates for AK. Joshua was in Autograph Book heaven! We met Timon.

And then King Louie, who was one of my favorites from this trip. He walked up to Joshua and started checking him out.

He circled all the way around Joshua like he was trying to figure out who or what he was. He even sniffed him a few times.

Then he did a little dance step before posing with Joshua.

It was really funny. Joshua laughed the whole time.

Next we met Rafiki.

Then Meeko.

And last was Brer Bear.

I asked Brer Bear if he could sign. I knew King Louie couldn't because of his extended arms and formed paws, but I couldn't see if Brer Bear had hands he could use or not. Brer Bear held his hand up flat and rocked it side to side. It took me a minute, but I caught on. He was telling me he could sign, but only so-so.

Next up: Back to MK

 

[loribell]

It looks like a perfect outing to AK. I bet the boys had a great time!

Many years ago at AK we had stopped back by a bathroom around Camp Minnie Mickey. While there Brer Bear came out of the back. He walked up behind Ally and when she turned and saw him it scared the pooey out of her! He felt so bad and stayed with us until she finally warmed up to him.

 

[romymichelle21]

MEEKO!!

I've been wanting to find Meeko forever! We don't have one here though except - maybe - at one of the character breakfasts, which we haven't been to yet.

I did get a picture with Rafiki a few years ago at WDW though (I'm a monkey fan).

I love those Louie pictures! I'll have to look for him.

 

[RVGal]

I asked the boys where they wanted to go and, big surprise, they picked MK. So, we hopped from AK to MK, which is a pain. The bus from AK takes you to the Ticket & Transportation Center instead of the gates at MK. Oh, well. It's been a few years since we rode the ferry, so we enjoyed it.

MK was not crowded at all. I guess everyone that wanted to go went to MNSSHP the night before. Since there were no crowds, we headed for Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan with practically no wait. The boys decided to try Snow White next.

Blurry pics. I know, I know.

We caught Mickey's Philharmagic just as a show was about to start. That is always so much fun. Daniel begged for a ride on "the horsies", so that came next.

Joshua asked if we could take another turn on Buzz Lightyear. Why not? He was so proud of his score that he made me take a picture.

Blurry. Yeah. The curse of this trip.

The big moment came when Joshua annouced that he wanted to ride Haunted Mansion. Really? I mean, I'm all for it, but last trip I tried to convince him to go and he kept telling me it would be too scary for him. I guess he decided to give it a try.

The four of us squeezed into a doom buggy and... the boys loved it. Joshua declared that it was mostly funny. He liked the ghosts dancing and the hitchhiker too. Daniel kept talking about the "ghost birthday party" over and over. This was my first ride since they shut down for the major rehab. I thought it was still a great ride. I like the attic scene they've added, but the one with Madame Leota seems to have lost something. I don't think they set up the scene like they used to, with the Ghost Host explaining that you are trying to reach the spirits. The never ending stairs were pretty cool too. All in all, it is still among my favorites.

 

[burly]

Thanks for the update. My littlest one decided to finally do Haunted Mansion too. And kept her eyes closed or head down the entire time.

 

[miprender]

RVGal your pics are great outdoors, too bad the inside ones get blurry but at least you can still make out what is going on.

DD5 can't wait to ride HM. She was too scared back in 2006 but she says she a big girl now. We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[bubba's mom]

Ta-da...I made it!

First..."hi" to Heidi...hope things are working for ya!

I loved all your pix.. LOVED Joshua in the sombrero. And the pix with the characters....score sister! What an awesome surprise for you that Joshua wanted to do the HM...and he liked it! Score again! It will be a must do every trip now

I don't care if you take the same pix of the same things over, I still like looking at pictures...even if they are rhino butts and baby elephants

Your trip looks like it was so much fun, wish I coulda went Eh...no matter....I'll live thru you

 

[DorkyDisneyMom]

I don't blame you for taking a picture of the baby elephant. How freaking cute! I also think taking pictures of animals is one of those things we do. You are so close to something that you don't get to see everyday and so you can't help but take a picture.

It's a small world looks boring compared to DL. At least at DL there is the trick of the facade to lure you into the world's most annoying ride.

Great pictures of the costumed characters. I have never seen any of those. i know Meeko is at a character breakfast in DCA but my kids don't know who it is so I guess it wouldn't matter.

The ferry looks pretty cool too. It give me a great perspective on how big the place really is. HUGE!

 

[RVGal]

I don't blame you for taking a picture of the baby elephant. How freaking cute! I also think taking pictures of animals is one of those things we do. You are so close to something that you don't get to see everyday and so you can't help but take a picture.

It's a small world looks boring compared to DL. At least at DL there is the trick of the facade to lure you into the world's most annoying ride.
Great pictures of the costumed characters. I have never seen any of those. i know Meeko is at a character breakfast in DCA but my kids don't know who it is so I guess it wouldn't matter.

The ferry looks pretty cool too. It give me a great perspective on how big the place really is. HUGE!

It's always nice to commiserate with somebody else who finds IASW annoying. Honestly, it is just the song that really, really gets on my nerves. The ride itself is okay I guess. I think I'm becoming numb to it because my boys love it, so I know I have to ride it anyway.

 

[DorkyDisneyMom]

It's always nice to commiserate with somebody else who finds IASW annoying. Honestly, it is just the song that really, really gets on my nerves. The ride itself is okay I guess. I think I'm becoming numb to it because my boys love it, so I know I have to ride it anyway.

I know it really is the song that kills me too. The way I solve that problem is I go to Disneyland in December so at least it has Jingle Bells as the song. I can tolerate that a little more and the outside is so beautiful. You almost forget that your kids will be singing the song for the rest of the trip.