The Painted Faces Halloween trip report day 3, MNSSHP and last day

[DLPdaft]

Day Three 8th October

We were up early today for EMH - hit the park around 8.15. We rode the omnibus (on the top deck) from the bandstand up to the Castle, and while waiting to get going, heard screaming and crying coming from the Dentist window -

we also heard the voiceovers coming from the laundry near the Discovery arcade the following morning - I'd never heard either before! Through the castle we found these new decorations for MNSSHP that night -

We rode Dumbo, Peter Pans flight twice, and Buzz by just after 9am. So off to Salon Mickey again for breakfast. Then, as yesterday, we headed to the Studios at around 9.30. Again, the turnstiles were open, and some rides were open (including Crush) - but not Toy Story playland . Eventually at 9.50 the CMs let us into the land, but unfortunately, the Parachute Drop ride wasn't open, although the other 2 rides were. I asked a CM when it would open, and unfortunately he couldn't say. As the Parachute Drop was the only ride we wanted to do, we had a quick go on Cars and then left the studios, and were back in the main park by just after 10am.

BTM wasn't yet open when we reached it, and we couldn't see any facepainters out yet either, so we strolled over to Phantom Manor to wait a few minutes for the Villains to come out - sure enough, within about 5 minutes this tall young man came striding out -

things started to pick up now, we could see BTM was open, so we rode that with about a 5-minute queue, then found the facepainters again -

POTC next (I have so many photos of the ride photos this trip its ridiculous ) then we decided to have lunch at the Agrabah Cafe. I've reviewed this also in the restaurant thread, lovely food and the restaurant is just amazing to walk through, lots of little rooms and visual treasures in each one .
DD and I practised our scary faces for MNSSHP later -

We hadn't really spent any time at all in the Studios so far this trip, which is very unusual for us, so after lunch we went off there for the afternoon. We checked out the TSPL rides, 5 minutes for both Slinky and RC Racer, but 45 minutes for Parachute Drop, so we gave that a miss and went to Cinemagique, then another ride on Cars, Stitch Live, and Animagique. Parachute Drop stayed steady all afternoon at 40-minutes wait - even Crush was only 25 minutes!

It had turned into another baking hot afternoon, so by 4.30ish we decided to leave the parks and try to get a bit of rest ahead of MNSSHP, as we intended being there until the bitter end .

 

[DLPdaft]

Day Three 8th October - MNSSHP

Well we tried to rest (I think I even turned back the bedcovers and laid in bed for a while) but we were clearly both too excited, so after an hour we gave up and got ready for our MNSSHP evening -

we jumped on the shuttle bus, along with various little witches, aliens and pirates, and arrived back at the entrance to the park for around 6.15, to quite a few of the CMs complimenting DD in her "el diablo" guise . After we picked up our wristbands at the park turnstiles, we grabbed something to eat at Caseys and ate it while watching the non-party goers leave the park, and the party-goers coming up Main St . Showing our wristbands, we entered Frontierland -

and rode BTM twice just as it was getting dark (my favourite time for BTM ). Leaving there we went through the Castle -

and rode Peter Pans flight, then Dumbo and teacups in full dark - again, love both these rides in the dark -

it was now just after 8pm, and as we came off teacups, we could see characters about - just about everywhere -

that last pic with Drizella is my absolute favourite from this trip I think - she is Scottish, and when she heard my accent, hers all of a sudden got a lot stronger !

Mickey, Captain Hook, and Mary Poppins and Bert were also around in Fantasyland.

 

[scampbunny]

elaine - drizella was the same as ours - and being with katrina (whos scottish) it was all scotland against england lol - she was very funny and a good laugh!!!

love all ur pics - mnsshp was as good as u said, and uve got sum fab pics!!!!

 

[DLPdaft]

Day Three 8th October MNSSHP continued ....

We then rode POTC twice in a row - the second time there was no-one in the boat in front of us, no-one else in our boat with us, and no-one in the boat behind us either, so it really was like we were on the ride all by ourselves . Then we walked to Frontierland again, only this time the entrance through Fort Comstock was full of dry ice and coloured lights - very spooky and atmospheric mwah-ha-ha. In the midst of all this there were freaky jesters and ghouls - I thought it was a fabulous touch, but DD really did get a bit scared, she was clinging on to me. We rode BTM again, and had time to get some more photos -

Jack Skellington was also around, but being a bit mobbed when we saw him.
DD wasn't keen on having to go through Fort Comstock again to get out of Frontierland, but as all the other ways out of the land were blocked off tonight, she really didn't have much choice . We made it in one piece, in time to catch the Halloween show on the hub stage - very very good I thought, heros/heroines and villains all in the one show . Then we caught the last Merlin show in the castle courtyard -

by now it was about 10.45pm, and I couldn't believe the time had gone so fast! we took a couple more photos as we moved back through the castle -

then had a seat on the kerb near Gibson Girl to wait for the final Cars n Stars parade at 11.15. DD was really tired, but determined she wasn't leaving yet! Sonya, her mum and Ash joined us, it was lovely to catch up with them . Cars n Stars with all the characters from the Halloween hub stage show was great to see, and at the bandstand area, all the cars stopped, and all the characters were available for photos and autographs . DD found the ones she wanted -

and with that, we left the park. It was about 11.45, and there were still lots of party-goers around, goodness knows what time it all finished! We dragged ourselves off to the shuttle stop, got on, reached our hotel room and flopped into bed.

Last day tomorrow - booo .

 

[mommy2ash]

great pics elaine. it was great to catch up. i noticed the cars stopping as we left but once i put ash in the buggy she was asleep in an instant lol. i have never seen her fall asleep so fast.

we didnt spend any time in the other lands except fantasyland, at the start of the night i had a quick ride on phantom manor and ash saw the jesters so that was the end of that. she was terrified.

i loved your dds costume so cute.

 

[DLPdaft]

elaine - drizella was the same as ours - and being with katrina (whos scottish) it was all scotland against england lol - she was very funny and a good laugh!!!
love all ur pics - mnsshp was as good as u said, and uve got sum fab pics!!!!

on the night i thought it went by in a flash, but looking back now, we had around 5 hours doing walk-on rides, meeting characters and watching exclusive shows - so it was definitely worth doing

great pics elaine. it was great to catch up. i noticed the cars stopping as we left but once i put ash in the buggy she was asleep in an instant lol. i have never seen her fall asleep so fast.

we didnt spend any time in the other lands except fantasyland, at the start of the night i had a quick ride on phantom manor and ash saw the jesters so that was the end of that. she was terrified.

i loved your dds costume so cute.

thanks Sonya, i think i carried her trident around more than she did though

 

[loladelorean]

Wow it all sounds and looks amazing! My sister and I are already planning a Halloween trip for next year after reading all the trip reports on here. MNSSHP looks fantastic!

 

[pyebibby]

We loved Drusilla too, when she signed her name she sounded out the letters as she went. so funny!

We were stood next to you at the last Merlin show, my children were a witch and Grim reaper. Wish i had said hello but i wasn't sure it was you until i saw your daughters photo here

Jackie

 

[CRITCHK]

Your pictures are great. I have always wondered about MNSSHP and now I can see for myself, Thank you.

 

[DLPdaft]

thanks everyone . What a shame we never got to meet properly Jackie - please post some of your photos up, see if I recall seeing you guys around the parks .

 

[DLPdaft]

Day Four 9th October

Our last day - so Mickey woke us up for the last time, we dressed, packed, said "Goodbye Room" and were on the shuttle bus by 9am. We dropped our bags off at Guest Storage, and walked through Discovery arcade to the Plaza Gardens, where we had a breakfast slot for 9.15. A lovely relaxing breakfast later (love that you are seated by a waitress here) we were ready to see what a Saturday in the parks looked like.

Blimey !!!!! We walked out of the Plaza Gardens and into a 10-deep crowd waiting at one of the Discoveryland entrances. We got to the front, showed our easypass and had a look around - Buzz had a pretty big queue, so we walked around Fantasyland - queues - and over to POTC - erm hello - 20 minute queue at 10.10am !!! Strangely Peter Pans flight was only showing a 10-minute line, so we did that twice without fastpass, I think this was probably only our 2nd ever time going through the regular line -

(the photo of the gate is because my mum lives near Kirriemuir ).

IASW was open again this morning, for the first time since Tuesday - and it had a ginormous queue (are you getting the theme here ?). We strolled down to the seats at the castle stage, enjoying the sunshine -

At 10.35 there was already about a dozen people starting to queue for the Princess meet n greet, and it wasn't starting until 11.15!
Then we watched the Character Express come up Main St, and walked through Fort Comstock for our final stroll through Frontierland. BTM was showing a 60-minute queue, and there were more Villains around in front of Phantom Manor. We watched the antics of the Pumpkin men and women for ages - they were in good form this morning !

At just before noon, we left the park and DLP - people still queueing all over the place, at the turnstiles, at the toilets, at the ticket booths, at Guest Services and Guest Storage (I was beginning to panic I wouldn't be able to collect our bags in time to catch our TGV ). We caught our train just in time, and it was so busy we just sat on the pull-down seats in the corridor rather than struggle through the carriage trying to find our reserved seats. Uneventful flight, got home eventually, with some great memories .

We're going back to The Magic next March, from a Thursday to a Monday, and I'm going to have a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C and possibly even a Plan D to get us through the busy weekend days . Oh and I'm going to treat myself to a new camera as well .

 

[Ms Poppins]

Fabulous report - read all your days together.

Love all the character pictures and MNSSHP - I think Lewis is still a bit too wee - he'd be scared, but i'd love to do it one day. Scary Saturday too!!

Thanks for sharing

 

[Ware Bears]

A great trip I loved your DD's costume and what a fab time you had at MNSSHP.

 

[Mum to Belle]

Great TR! The Saturday queues sound like the one we experienced on a Bank Holiday (Thursday?!!) and I am a bit worried about our next trip being a weekend, but not planning on doing too many rides so hope we'll be ok!

I can't get over how many characters there seemed to be around the parks, is this a special thing for Halloween? Might have to try it!! Love the face painting too!

 

[mommy2ash]

great report elaine, i really enjoyed it. i was like agh at the queues on saturday, i dont know how people do it. we headed over to the studios and watched animagique, ash loves this and caught a few characters, i wasnt prepared to wait or battle it out in the scrums lol

 

[kizzabel]

oh god, saturday sounded crazy!!! id be no good with huge waits on everything.

is mnsshp only on weekend nights?

great TR, really enjoyed it!

 

[loladelorean]

Great trippie, thanks so much for sharing. The Saturday queues sound awful, but I'm fully prepared for similar levels on crowds on Armistice day while we're there. Luckily that's on our 5th day so we won't be in a mad rush to do anything, and have booked a park tour in the afternoon.

 

[LoodlesNoodles]

Fantastic report. Makes me itch to go back!

 

[DLPdaft]

I can't get over how many characters there seemed to be around the parks, is this a special thing for Halloween? Might have to try it!! Love the face painting too!

I don't remember there being so many opportunities for so many different characters last time we were there for Halloween in 2008, but there were loads this time, and all well publicised too in the park programme.

great report elaine, i really enjoyed it. i was like agh at the queues on saturday, i dont know how people do it. we headed over to the studios and watched animagique, ash loves this and caught a few characters, i wasnt prepared to wait or battle it out in the scrums lol

if we'd been staying longer on the Saturday, I would have gone to the Studios after breakfast too I think - because I can't imagine we would have got much done at all in the main park that day.

 

[DLPdaft]

oh god, saturday sounded crazy!!! id be no good with huge waits on everything.

is mnsshp only on weekend nights?

great TR, really enjoyed it!

mnsshp is on Friday nights through Halloween season, and on the Tuesday night of Halloween week too .