The Tweet Repeat: Live Twitter Trip Report Recap - Lots of Photos (Part 31 11/1/09)

[scoot241]

I finally got here! I did read your TR from links on Twitter, but I reread the entire thread, so I can get the complete picture in my head.

Wow! what a fun time so far! So much to comment on, be prepared.

And let me repeat what others have been saying: Hailey is GORGEOUS and your pictures are AMAZING.

I thought I loved my camera (cool digital point & shoot), but those photos are WOW! I haven't gone to the SLR world yet. So crisp & clear.

The Spectro pics are my favorite (other than Hailey of course ). Spectro is on the top of my list of things to do on my trip. I'll have to keep in mind to stay near Casey's.

I totally get meeting Sleeping Beauty as that was the main topic for my niece's bday trip in May. I'm glad it happened, though she wasn't at Akershaus.

The bronze statues in front of the Castle are the coolest. I thought I took more pics of them on my last trip, but could only find one. I must have been capitvated by Walt & Mickey statue and the Castle. It's one of my missions for December to take pics of them.

Oooh, the murals are awesome. I like your pics way better than mine, but I'm going to try to take better pics of them next time. I do have a CRT for December and I do feel a little odd about going without a child in tow, but I'm going to do it anyway. I always wanted to eat at the Castle.

To round up MK...I love Philarmagic!! I thought it was great. I can't wait to do it again....multiple times.


I totally agree with you about Nemo. The show is just brillant; way better than FOTLK! I don't even think I need to see FOTLK again. I'm going to see Nemo though. I also sat to the left side of the catwalk and it was a perfect place to sit. I love everything about the show; everything meshes together so well - actors, costumes, puppets, the singing.....wonderful!

For DTD, I'm definitely going to get a Potatoe Head parts. I have never done since I always think "how am I going to get this home?" I have a car and therefore I will stop at a post office and mail myself a big 'o box. Problem solved. I did get the small box from the NYC store when I was there a few months back. But, somehow, it doesn't compare.

Ok, I think I exhausted all my topics.

I look forward to more!

Thank you!

Spectro is by far my favorite parade; these new "block party" parades aren't too bad though. The normal day parades, to me, seem like they could use something fresh.

If Sleeping Beauty hadn't been at CRT, we would have gone to Toontown and waited in the princess meet and greet line. Having her at CRT took the princess meet and greet off of our things to do list.

I actually have a small version of the B'rer Rabbit bronze statue that's about eight inches tall with the base. Found it on eBay, but they used to sell it at the Art of Disney. Always thought they were really cool, and I'm very glad the pictures I took came out so well.

I have pictures from all the parts of the mosaic inside the castle, but the first one was the one that came out the best since it was next to the opening on the Main Street side.

We are big Philharmagic fans. Had we had time, we probably would have done it a 3rd time.

I'm with you; FotLK is something I would only need to do every once in a while. Nemo is on a completely different level. Aladdin in DCA is on a similar level.

We bought the $20 Potato Head box (as opposed to the $60 or so Potato Head plastic case) and just left it all in the box and left the box in the bag and stuffed it somewhere in our luggage. It wasn't very difficult to bring home. The box idea is a good one too.

Time to take a shot at an update.

 

[scoot241]

Coming out of Cosmic Ray's, my mom really wants to ride the train. Yes, of all the things to do in the Magic Kingdom, my mother's favorite might be the train that you can't see anything from for half the ride. Well, the nearest train station is in Toontown, so we head over there.



Toontown is all decorated for Halloween. Before getting to the station, we take a walk through Minnie's house, then Mickey's house. Hailey really likes Minnie's house because you can play with the stove and other things. Both houses were rather crowded, so it was tough taking pictures.







After visiting their houses, we went to the train station and rode the train one and one-third times around the park. Why one and one-third? We wanted to get off at Main Street, but also wanted to ride the entire way around the park.

9/9/2009 1:46 PM EDT When did they start playing Pocahontas on the train between Frontierland and Toontown?

I really don't remember hearing it, but apparently Pocahontas has been playing on the train for quite some time.

Now that we're on Main Street, it's time to take Hailey back for a nap. Mom wants to stay and watch the parade because she knows one of the girls dancing in it, so she does. Dad wants to go find a photo frame he saw at the Contemporary and didn't see anywhere else so far. My sister goes with my dad. So my wife and I head back to Pop with Hailey. But first, we had to do one thing.

9/9/2009 2:13 PM EDT Got Hailey's birthday fun card! Quite simple, especially at 2pm

For some reason, the woman at the window thought we were rolling up at 2 in the afternoon to get free admission. Nice try, but no thanks.

We went back to Pop, put Hailey to bed, and hung around for a while. Eventually, everyone else showed back up. My mom's trip was rather uneventful. She saw the girl she knew in the parade, then came back. My dad and sister, on the other hand, were a different story. When they left, the monorail was not running. So they walked over to the Contemporary. When they got there, they found out the monorail was not running because they were doing work involving scaffolding in the Contemporary. Fantasia had the frame my dad was looking for; however, they only had one left and it was broken. He asked the CM there if they had any more; they didn't, but after searching inventory across the entire property, the Poly did. According to the system, the frame is discontinued. Since the monorail isn't running, my dad and sister found a temporary bus to the Poly. At the Poly, they found the frame and bought it. Finally, the monorail was up and running again, so they hopped on, headed back to MK and rode the bus back to Pop.

We hung out for a while at Pop while Hailey got a nice long nap. I switched back to my 30mm lens.

9/9/2009 4:24 PM EDT Wife got the tie-dye cheesecake. Tried a bite: it's rather good.

9/9/2009 4:54 PM EDT 9/9/09 pin: http://twitpic.com/h493b

Finally, Hailey got up and we gathered everything and headed back to MK.

Right as we're walking into MK, the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It Party is going on in the hub. We head down and get a nice spot.







Woody keeps showing up everywhere.



We had a few rides in mind; on the way to the first, we stopped by Cinderella's Wishing Well. Hailey wasn't very interested in taking pictures, however.

After the wishing well, we headed back to Toontown for:



Hailey LOVED the Barnstormer. We rode it twice because there was such a short line. After the second time, it looked like the line was starting to build up.

9/9/2009 6:32 PM EDT Back in MK. Stopped by the wishing well and rode the Barnstormer so far.

Next up on the "doing things we haven't gotten to yet in MK" tour, the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. It was decent, but I'm not sure how often I need to do this in the future. I tried to text a joke in but it didn't go through. Maybe it was because it was a joke Pal Mickey told me a few minutes prior.

Following the Laugh Floor, we made our way across the hub and back into Adventureland for the Jungle Cruise. I know it's corny, but I'm always amused by the Jungle Cruise. This barrel can be found on end of the dock.





The best part was when my dad got involved, though. Near the end of the cruise, Megan (our skipper) started going into a routine about how to become a skipper (get a degree in nutrition) and how proud her parents were... of her sister... she's a doctor. She then started talking about needing vaccines. My dad added "which you could get from your sister?" and Megan just busted out laughing. It was pretty funny.





9/9/2009 7:35 PM EDT Monsters Inc. and Jungle Cruise. Had a great skipper named Megan. Time for dinner.

Dinner tonight was at Pecos Bill's. We sat on the stools with the backs cut off of them. Not all that comfortable. We all had the standard burgers and fries. Nothing to write home about, but not bad either.

We must have been talking about Hollywood Studios at some point (we'll be going there tomorrow), because I posted this randomly on Twitter:

9/9/2009 8:23 PM EDT Still can't completely get MGM out of my Disney vocabulary.

Once finished, we planned to see the Tiki Room. Along the way, I took a picture of the Pirates sign at night:



However, Tiki Room closed at 8:00 PM. We'll just have to save it for Friday. At this point, we wanted...

9/9/2009 8:34 PM EDT One more thing tonight: Mickey bar.

You'd think this would be easy in the Magic Kingdom, right? Wrong. All the carts were closed at this point, and they don't sell them in any of the stores.

My wife remembered seeing Mickey Bars at the hotel. So...

9/9/2009 9:00 PM EDT Looks like we are getting Mickey bars at the hotel. Kinda lame; MK packs every Mickey bar location up at night.

While waiting for the bus, we watched some of Wishes from the bus stop. It finally arrived, and we headed back to Pop Century. Upon arriving, we got Mickey Bars from the food court, refilled our mugs and settled down at a table. We gave Hailey her bar:







I think you can tell how she liked it. We finished up and headed out.

9/9/2009 10:31 PM EDT Back in the room for the night. Hollywood Studios tomorrow.

Coming up: shows, shows, and more shows

 

[VBsHustla]

Love the updates! I love the photos of your daughter eating the Mickey bar! Excellent shots. The one of Mickey and Donald at that great dance party is also an awesome pic.

 

[scoot241]

Love the updates! I love the photos of your daughter eating the Mickey bar! Excellent shots. The one of Mickey and Donald at that great dance party is also an awesome pic.

The dance parties are pretty cool; something different at least. I did notice CMs picking the streamers out of the trees in the hub afterward though. They may not appreciate the dance party as much.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Great updates! But wait, you got the pin - I want to see it! Picture please

 

[scoot241]

9/9/09 pin linked here: http://twitpic.com/h493b

That's from my iPhone camera. Didn't take one with my other one. The link in a post earlier linked to Disney's pin site with a picture too.

 

[scoot241]

9/10/2009 8:20 AM EDT Getting ready to go to MG... Hollywood Studios.

When I'm talking and not thinking about it, I still call the Studios "MGM". Will I ever stop calling it that?

The entrance makes sure I know what the park is called today.



We got to the park a little after 9:00, delayed breakfast yet again and headed straight for Toy Story Mania.

9/10/2009 9:33 AM EDT 30 minute wait for Toy Story. Not my idea.

I wanted to FastPass TSM because of the 30 minute wait; everyone else wanted to wait in the standby line. Good thing they did, because the standby line is very well decorated, and you don't even get to see Mr. Potato Head unless you are in the standby line.







Toy Story Mania was a whole lot of fun and everyone really enjoyed it. I tried looking for all the triggers for the high-value targets for each scene. I probably was looking a little too hard, because my wife beat me by 100 points.

Coming out of TSM, we were planning to go get some breakfast until we passed by Voyage of the Little Mermaid and it was seating.

9/10/2009 10:04 AM EDT Don't think the TSM wait was actually 30 minutes. Really cool ride; we got fastpasses to ride again later. Little Mermaid is about to start.



I don't think any of us had actually watched this before Of course, Hailey enjoyed it. I didn't really appreciate going "under water" with my camera in my lap, and the lasers are very dated now. The actors were quite good, however. Overall, this isn't something I need to do every trip.

Now can we get breakfast? No! Playhouse Disney Live on Stage is now seating!

Hailey watches Playhouse Disney all the time, so this show is right up her alley. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Little Einsteins, and Tigger and Pooh.







At this point, it's after 11:00 AM. We are definitely stopping to eat, but...

9/10/2009 11:26 AM EDT Early lunch at ABC Comissary. We always seem to eat lunch here, probably because it's inside. Selection isn't all that great though.

9/10/2009 11:33 AM EDT Oh and before this, we walked right out of Little Mermaid and right into Playhouse Disney. It was alright, but Hailey really liked it.

Hollywood Studios needs some better dining overall. I know lots of people complain about Magic Kingdom's dining, but I think Hollywood Studios is worse. We had trouble finding something to eat for lunch, period. We didn't want pizza because we're eating at Mama Melrose for dinner. We didn't want burgers and such. I think everyone ended up getting the chicken cordon bleu, but removed various parts of it. I ate it as is, but I think everyone else got it without ham. It was either this or curry (not really something to eat before going to walk around a theme park for hours again), fried fish, or a burger. We ate until we were full, but we were really looking forward to dinner after this meal hoping we would be eating something better.

9/10/2009 11:36 AM EDT I think people believe DDP is so much food because they've been walking around all the time and their body isn't as hungry.

Coming up: more shows!

 

[scoot241]

After leaving the ABC Commissary, we headed back toward Sunset Boulevard.





My dad, my sister, and I grabbed FastPasses for Tower of Terror, then:

9/10/2009 12:31 PM EDT I do believe Fantasmic has made an impact on the crowds today. Waiting for the 12:45 Beauty and the Beast.







It was a decent show, but another dated one in my opinion. Hailey really liked it, especially when Gaston poked his head out from stage right at the end and waved. Again, the performers were really good, but the large characters (Cogsworth, Lumiere, etc.) look outdated.

Afterward, we split up for a little while.

9/10/2009 1:32 PM EDT 3 of us fastpassed Tower of Terror while the rest went to HISTK playground.

We really flew through the line, so I hardly got any pictures at all. Best one of the bunch:



Tower remains my favorite ride in DHS. The theming here is top notch, and the attraction is extremely immersive. And I absolutely love when the elevator moves horizontal. It's a shame that the other parks with ToT don't have the horizontal part. Instead, you drop right after the window scene. Still a good ride, but not as good as the original right here in DHS.

Getting through Tower was really quick, even with spending a few minutes in the gift shop. My sister got a couple of shot glasses, then she, my dad and I headed back to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground to meet the rest of the group.

When we got there, my mom was sitting in the shade and my wife and Hailey were in the playground. Hailey didn't want to come out! To us, it's the HISTK playground (yuck), but to her I guess it's just a bunch of gigantic things which must look like a lot of fun.

Once we finally got Hailey out of the playground, we walked over to MuppetVision!





Until Philharmagic came along, this was my favorite of the 3D movies. It's still quite excellent. Hailey knows the Muppets thanks to a video I found online of The Muppets at Walt Disney World. This video is probably 15 years old now, but it was a good way to show her WDW and the Muppets. Needless to say, she really liked it. Of course, the rest of us did too. However, I did have one complaint:

9/10/2009 2:42 PM EDT MuppetVision was great as always, but can we please get a new print of the film? The number of marks were extremely distracting.

Fortunately, the D23 Expo answered my plea!

We really zig-zagged around the park today; we headed back up front for Block Party Bash.

9/10/2009 11:50 AM EDT Just when you thought the sorceror's hat couldn't get any worse... http://twitpic.com/h7ufm

The block party took up all of Hollywood Boulevard from the Crossroads up to the BAH. Very fun, although I'd imagine it would be extremely difficult to leave the park while this is going on. Hailey danced in a group with one of the CMs.



Woody and Jesse are everywhere in WDW. Seems like you can't get away from them sometimes!





Coming up: a repeat visit and One Man's Dream

 

[annnewjerz]

Great updates, Scott! ToT is my favorite ride (only in DHS, of course---remember the official 1 per park rule? ) I've got to say though, it doesn't look like you really needed the CP filter for your trip after all, so I'm sure you are glad you didn't bother getting one. All of your skies look nice and blue, not blown out at all.

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[scoot241]

Great updates, Scott! ToT is my favorite ride (only in DHS, of course---remember the official 1 per park rule? ) I've got to say though, it doesn't look like you really needed the CP filter for your trip after all, so I'm sure you are glad you didn't bother getting one. All of your skies look nice and blue, not blown out at all.

Can't wait to read more!!

I did pretty well without the CP; I'll also admit to adjusting the blue saturation level in Lightroom where I could without affecting the rest of the picture though.

We don't have too much left here; the rest of DHS day, one more full day and departure day.

 

[VBsHustla]

Yay! So pleased to see that my fav place, MGM, is the star of this update. However, I'm now desperately craving TSM, the Tower (completely agree on the horizontal motion - love hearing those doors at the top whooshing open!), and Muppets 3D.

 

[scoot241]

Yay! So pleased to see that my fav place, MGM, is the star of this update. However, I'm now desperately craving TSM, the Tower (completely agree on the horizontal motion - love hearing those doors at the top whooshing open!), and Muppets 3D.

Maybe it was the amount of back and forth around the park that we did, but MGM is really lacking in the shade department. I think we were the hottest we were all week at the Studios.

 

[UncleOrville]

Love all the recent updates! This is such a great photo! You'll have to submit it to the baby photo section of her high school yearbook!

 

[Kurby]

what kind of camera do you use? you're pics are always so clear and great

 

[scoot241]

what kind of camera do you use? you're pics are always so clear and great

It's a Canon XSi digital SLR.

 

[disneygirlinnj]

Loved the last two updates. The Mickey Bar series had me giggling! The DOF on all your shots are just perfect. I still kept calling DHS MGM too. I still will...don't think I'll ever stop. I still call the TTA the Wedway People Mover too

 

[scoot241]

Loved the last two updates. The Mickey Bar series had me giggling! The DOF on all your shots are just perfect. I still kept calling DHS MGM too. I still will...don't think I'll ever stop. I still call the TTA the Wedway People Mover too

For some reason, WEDWay People Mover never stuck in my mind. I don't really remember calling it that even though I'm sure I was there when it was called that. The 2nd trip I took was in 1991 or so, and I have one of those "pictorial souvenir" books from the trip and it's old Tomorrowland and even says WEDWay People Mover. I've bought one of those books every time since (well, this time it was a 5 book box set). Who knows...

I'm working on processing the last day of pictures. A few of the best ones have shown up on Flickr already. On departure day I didn't even pull out the camera. Wouldn't have been much to take photos of anyway; it was raining most of the time.

 

[scoot241]

9/10/2009 3:28 PM EDT Block Party Bash was different but good. Fastpassing TSM for a 2nd time. Fastpass line is quite different than the regular one.

That's right, we're back at Toy Story Mania, because it's just that great of a ride. We FastPassed it this time, and the queue actually isn't quite as good, because you don't see a lot of it including Mr. Potato Head. However, we were breaking plates pretty quickly.

After Toy Story Mania, we headed over to One Man's Dream. I think this attraction is excellent; the models and all the other paraphernalia throughout the years are wonderful. My favorites are the models of the park attractions.



This Sleeping Beauty Castle is a reproduction; I saw the original in Disneyland in 2005. From what I heard, the original was just in storage somewhere and someone happened to come across it one day.






We made it up to the movie, but looking at the time, it was getting close to 4:45 PM and we wanted to see Lights, Motors, Action!

9/10/2009 4:31 PM EDT Went through One Man's Dream but skipped the movie because we had to get to Lights Motors Action.

I'll be honest here; LMA didn't hold anyone's interest. Each stunt sequence was really cool, but then there's a ton of downtime between the stunts. I know they need to setup and such, and a couple of the things they do between the stunts such as the backwards car and the car where the guy drives on the side were cool, but there's only so much you can do when you need 10-15 minutes to get everything ready.

Bring the longest lens you have, and get here early to get a better seat than I did.






9/10/2009 5:22 PM EDT Lights Motors Action was pretty good but there is a lot of downtime between each "shot". Dinner is at Mama Melrose.

Coming up: dinner and Fantasmic!

 

[scoot241]

It's not a very long walk from Lights, Motors, Action over to near MuppetVision where Mama Melrose is located. However, with the crowd coming out of LMA, it took a little while to make the walk over there. We made it just before our ADR time, and it was fairly crowded. I checked us in and they told us it would be about 10 minutes. While standing around I overheard:

9/10/2009 5:29 PM EDT Note: Mama Melrose is completely booked tonight, probably because of Fantasmic.

We booked this 90 days out and couldn't even get the Fantasmic Package, so I wasn't very surprised that the restaurant was booked.

A few minutes pass, and the pager buzzes. One of the hostesses brings us to our table, and a minute or two later the waitress comes. She explains how the dining plan works (which we know back and front by now) and then disappears. A good 10 minutes pass at least and we are wondering where she is.

9/10/2009 5:49 PM EDT Service is SLOW. Waitress told us what the dining plan entitled us to and then left and hasn't returned. Nevermind, she just got here.

Literally as I was typing that tweet, she showed up. We ordered, and from this point on the meal went fairly smooth.

9/10/2009 6:23 PM EDT Had the spaghetti fra diavolo. Pretty good; however I would prefer not to be pulling the meat out of clams and mussels.

The spaghetti fra diavolo was quite good. I just don't want spaghetti sauce-covered hands while I'm trying to get the meat out of the clams and mussels. Decor in here is alright; I guess it's supposed to be like a local Hollywood establishment where a lot of famous people ate. I know Hailey had the spaghetti, but I'm having trouble remembering what everyone else ate. A lack of pictures isn't helping here. Overall I think everyone enjoyed the dinner, though.

Dessert time: most of us had the Warm Chocolate Truffle Cake. Don't be fooled by the fancy name; it's a chocolate lava cake. It was quite good, but it's nothing more than that. My mom got the tiramisu; we weren't sure it was tiramisu at first, but she enjoyed it. Hailey had ice cream, and of course she enjoyed that.

This dinner lasted a good while, and after we were done, we meandered back over to Sunset Blvd. to get in line for Fantasmic. The line wasn't there, as they had already let people into the theater. We took the long walk off Sunset to the theater, dropped the stroller off, and found seats to the left of center down near the bottom.

When I posted this, we had an hour to go:
9/10/2009 7:33 PM EDT Arrived way early for Fantasmic at 8:30. Pretty good seats but it's getting crowded. http://twitpic.com/h8yf2

The theater is filling up quick. One problem: there were swarms of gnats everywhere. Everyone is swatting at them, which of course doesn't really do much good because they're so small.

At this point I start posting random things:
9/10/2009 7:49 PM EDT I've only brought one lens each day. 30mm every day except AK and yesterday at MK (had the 18-55 IS for those).

Finally getting closer to showtime; the CMs are trying to keep the crowd under control by doing the wave. Personally, I am not a fan of the wave. Never really have been.

9/10/2009 8:14 PM EDT 15 minutes until Fantasmic.

At last, the show starts! This was the first time my wife and Hailey saw the show. Everyone else had seen it once before. Unfortunately, my wife and I didn't get to see the DL version when we were there because it was being refurbished.

Picture time:


There's really quite a bit of randomness at the beginning of this show.










Some imagination, huh?

9/10/2009 9:03 PM EDT Fantasmic was wonderful as usual. Smoke really burned my eyes at the end though.

Seriously, the fuel in the lake and the smoke did a number on my eyes. I was having major trouble shooting pictures and eventually I was just lining it up where I thought it should be and clicked. I had the wrong lens to shoot with anyway; on the other hand, the 18-55 IS may not have been fast enough. Another reason why I should get a nice long lens.

We take the long walk back down and the path that veers off toward Tower of Terror. I saw the Fantasmic billboard and took a photo:



One last thing left to do tonight: Rock 'n Rollercoaster! This was another ride just for my sister, dad and I. My wife, mom and Hailey hung out outside even though we suggested they head back to the room instead.

We thought this was pretty funny:
9/10/2009 9:16 PM EDT Since when has RnRC been sponsored by Hanes? Is that in case you ruin your underwear on launch?

We picked up FastPasses much earlier in the day and used them now. The line was quick and we were in the studio in no time.

9/10/2009 9:22 PM EDT Automated announcement system in the studio isn't working. Someone please fix that.

Some poor CM was sitting in a booth somewhere talking to "Aerosmith" on the screen because the automated one wasn't working. Come on Disney, how hard is it to fix this?

Finally we boarded our super-stretch. I really like Aerosmith and saw them live in August; great show by the way. The car we rode in had my favorite soundtrack:

9/10/2009 9:34 PM EDT RnRC soundtrack: Young Lust, F.I.N.E. and Love in an Elevator with love in a rollercoaster ending.

RnRC, once again, was a ton of fun. I could run back and forth between Tower of Terror and RnRC and I'd be fine with doing just that for a while. Anyway, we met back up with the others and started heading for the exit. Took a few PhotoPass pictures, and Hailey saw a horse she wanted to ride outside of a shop on Hollywood Blvd. After letting her ride for a few minutes, we left the park and headed back to Pop.



9/10/2009 10:30 PM EDT General DHS thought: not as much shade as the other parks. We're back at Pop drinking from our mugs and about to bathe and call it a night.

End of Day 5

Unrelated note in the present: We saw the Imagination Movers in concert today! They put on a great show with an "idea emergency" for the kids so that it's similar to the TV show. Warehouse Mouse was in charge of lights and mixing. The Movers are from New Orleans (like us), and off stage left, someone was holding up a chalkboard with the Saints game score written on it. Rich even announced the score once during the show; speaking of which, we also met Scott (Hailey's favorite) and Rich after the show.

Coming up: our last full day

 

[VBsHustla]

Firstly, at the Hanes comment

Secondly, OMG! Gnats + Fantasmic = Sounds like my biggest nightmare. I'm terrified of both bugs and Fantasmic!

I LOVE your pics from One Man's Dream. Such a lovely attraction, and I'm really loving the photo of the little Emporium model. It's making me nostalgic for the America I certainly never even experienced! Plus, I spy an HSM3 poster behind that Parisian castle model!