There'’s Nowhere To Go But Down... To The Utilidors! NEW TR LINK 6/4

[CarolAnnB]

I just love the new FoF parade! The colors in the costumes are so bright and brilliant. Between the 2 of us, we get all the pictures, and always from a different perspective.

Dopey on the other dwarf's shoulders was awesome!!! I liked seeing Prince Philip and Flynn Rider too. I wish they dragged them out for more meet and greets than just the parties.

I love that some of the characters know it is the ASL interpreting section and sign to us. That must be magic for kids who are deaf or hard of hearing.

That was the most blazing sun and heat of the trip, I think. You know when Kylie thinks it's hot, it is HOT.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Yay for Anna and Elsa! You guys got such cute photos with them. Love how you brought Olaf into the photos and Elsa asked if you were keeping him cold with your ice powers haha

FESTIVAL OF FANTASY!!!!! You took some FANTASTIC photos of this parade. Based on my Twitter favorites, we were writing this update around the exact same time lol And OMG, Prince Phillip and Eugene and Naveen So glad you loved this parade

Can't wait to read more!

P.S. Hope you and your family had a fabulous Christmas Courtney!

 

[disneyjes]

All caught up to Chapter 33! Love it! Can't wait to read more.

 

[courtneybelle]

This parade looks AMAZING. I can't wait to see it in January! It looks so vibrant and detailed. I bet the soundtrack is amazing.

You are going to LOVE it. There are so many incredible details and it's just absolutely stunning!

WOW! Love the pictures!!! What great views for the parade!!!

Is that common, that characters sign during parades or shows?

Thank you!!! I wouldn't say it's common, but characters have signed to us when we have the interpreters with us. Fairy Godmother knows a bit of sign language, and Frozone signed to us during Move It Shake It Celebrate It too!

Great Anna and Elsa pics.

Isn't Festival of Fantasy great! I LOVED it in March and saw it twice. I wanted to see it again. It was so good! Your pictures are great!! And how cute Mickey signed I love you!

Thank you!!

I seriously considered making my way over to MK to see it again, it was that good! Mickey was amazing!!

Okay- WOW! Your FoF pictures are gorgeous!

But first...lemme back up to Anna and Elsa. I love Anna and that picture of her and Kylie. Elsa...well, I always find that she's a little harder to find good friends for if you know what I mean. It sounds like you had great interactions though which is obviously the best part!

Back to FoF! Philip is literally beyond dreamy I love that Mickey signed to you- talk about my heart melting!!

Thanks, Emily!!

The pic of Anna and Kylie came out great! She actually picked it for our Christmas card this year. I agree with you about Elsa but she was great to talk to so I was very happy with the meet!

Philip is perfect and Mickey was amazing!! So sweet of him to sign to us.

AWWW YAY ANNA!!! I feel like I got a sneak peak by way of your Christmas card!!!! What perfect timing.

Hahahaha, the Wishing Well. No splash in the face wish this time? (Yeah I still remember that).

I did the exact same thing for FoF Courtney. The odd photo was virtually unavoidable, but no video and no soundtrack.

Oh my goodness, there is no comparison between FoF and Celebrate. I was not a fan of Celebrate at all. FoF I want to watch all the time. So yeah, enormously better.

What amazing photos you got. And AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW Dale!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have some great timing together on this report, between the Big Al selfie and this one

HAAA I'm so glad you remembered! I think of that too every time. I think Kylie's improved her technique in the past year or so.

I wish I could have seen FoF more than once on this trip. It was truly amazing. I love even just looking at the pictures.

Thanks Rob!!! Dale was such a sweetie

Joining in and loving your report! The DisneyBounding is great!

Welcome and thank you so much for joining in!!!

I just love the new FoF parade! The colors in the costumes are so bright and brilliant. Between the 2 of us, we get all the pictures, and always from a different perspective.

Dopey on the other dwarf's shoulders was awesome!!! I liked seeing Prince Philip and Flynn Rider too. I wish they dragged them out for more meet and greets than just the parties.

I love that some of the characters know it is the ASL interpreting section and sign to us. That must be magic for kids who are deaf or hard of hearing.

That was the most blazing sun and heat of the trip, I think. You know when Kylie thinks it's hot, it is HOT.

We did a great job together on photos for this trip I can't wait to see what you do with the scrapbook for this parade!

If I could have met that Philip, Aurora would have gotten very upset with me

I know! It is so sweet of them. I remember Frozone signing to us during MiSiCi and Fairy Godmother knows some sign as well.

Ughhh it was SO hot during that parade but totally worth it.

Yay for Anna and Elsa! You guys got such cute photos with them. Love how you brought Olaf into the photos and Elsa asked if you were keeping him cold with your ice powers haha

FESTIVAL OF FANTASY!!!!! You took some FANTASTIC photos of this parade. Based on my Twitter favorites, we were writing this update around the exact same time lol And OMG, Prince Phillip and Eugene and Naveen So glad you loved this parade

Can't wait to read more!

P.S. Hope you and your family had a fabulous Christmas Courtney!

It was such an amazing meet! I'm glad I brought Olaf, he was a good conversation starter.

Eee thank you Timmy! That's too funny that we were writing at the same time! And the princes…SO. CUTE.

Hope you and your family had a great Christmas as well, Timmy!!!

All caught up to Chapter 33! Love it! Can't wait to read more.

Wow! Thank you SO much for reading so much!!

 

[disneyjes]

Wow! Thank you SO much for reading so much!!

I shamelessly admit I did nothing around the house this afternoon so I could read. I let the kid play Pokemon while watching Pocahontas and just drooled over Disney. Mom of the year, right here

 

[courtneybelle]

Chapter 34: The One Where We Get Trapped Inside It’s A Small World

The parade was unbelievable but by the end we were all dying so we booked it over to the nearest air-conditioned attraction…the Hall of Presidents! We had actually never done this before but we really needed to cool down, so we went in for the show.

I remember nothing about the film portion because of heat exhaustion, but the section with all the presidents was pretty cool!

Barack Obama and I are bros. He emails me several times a day. Always asking for money, but hey, it counts.

After that we headed over to Sleepy Hollow to get some ice cream. Kylie found this indoor seating area that was a godsend. Kylie, Dad, and Emily got cookie ice cream sandwiches:

And Mom and I got root beer floats:

They were delicious and much needed. I can't even begin to tell you how hot it was that day. I think it's because normally we are in and out of rides and shows, but that day we spent a lot of time out in the sun.

After our snacks, we headed over to our next FP+ reservation, Rapunzel and Cinderella!

Rapunzel was excited to see Olaf because he and Pascal are very close friends.

Next up was Cinderella! She was SO BEAUTIFUL.

Cinderella loved my “Live To Dream” shirt and said she believed that wholeheartedly. What a sweetheart! I told her we’d be seeing her for dinner at 1900 Park Fare in a few days, and she said maybe we could teach her stepsisters some manners.

Next, we went to our final FP+ reservation at SPACE MOUNTAIN!

We all posed like Frozen characters.

We came out to find Mom in the Space Mountain gift shop and a DOWNPOUR outside. Not just a sprinkle where you can poncho up and deal with it, but hard rain. Mom had gotten us a FP+ for it’s a small world since we felt like Emily should ride it, but we decided to see if the rain let up a bit.

So we were trapped in the Space Mountain gift shop with multiple tour groups hanging out in the arcade. We weren't happy.

NOTE: That is a joke.

Finally after just under an hour, we decided to suck it up and run over to it’s a small world. I literally couldn’t believe we were braving this rain for that, of all attractions, but we ran out.

We were ankle deep in water again, but this time it was SO MUCH FUN. Emily and I had a giggle fit as we were heading over there where literally everything we saw was so funny. Boys splashing each other in puddles…the quote “It was a two hit fight, I hit him and he hit the ground”…I don’t even know. It was so great.

I will say that I saw a lot of people going barefoot in the rain and I’m still not sure how I feel about that…

We got to it’s a small world and scanned our FP+s. The CMs at the front didn’t say anything to us so we assumed we’d get on right away…Well, we got in and learned from the CM there that the ride was not operating because the queue was being used as a rain shelter. More people came in behind us and before we could react…

WE WERE TRAPPED IN IT’S A SMALL WORLD.

Thankfully, they had the courtesy to turn off the song. Because we were there for 40 minutes and if that song had been playing I would not have been a happy camper.

The whole evening I was sick to my stomach because I was worried that Wishes would be canceled. Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal, I’ve seen Wishes tons and I’ll see it again, but this time we had the Dessert Party. I was freaking out.

My dad kept saying he wanted to go to Pinocchio’s to get some food, but my mom figured that everyone would be staying in there to avoid the rain and there wouldn’t be a table. Finally my dad decided he had enough and plowed his way upstream. We got a text from him five minutes later saying he had scored two tables at Pinocchio’s. The man works miracles.

We made our way through the mob in the small world queue and went to Pinocchio’s. We all got cheese flatbreads. The CMs were in such good moods given that it was chaos in there. I was worried my mom and I wouldn’t be able to carry all the food in one trip, and the CM behind the counter goes, “You can do it! I believe in you!”

I couldn’t tell you if this pizza was actually good. I was STARVING so it tasted great to me!

Once we had finished our meals, the rain had let up a bit, and we looked through the window and saw that small world was running again. So we hopped in line for the happiest cruise that ever sailed!

Olaf loved it. But he loves everything.

We wanted to do Pooh next, but the line was 40 minutes. We went over to a FP+ kiosk and were able to get a FP+ for literally five minutes later…and in that moment, we all loved FP+.

But then we had a really scary moment when Kylie went the wrong way and we couldn’t find her. Then lightning struck and Kylie is terrified of lightning so when we found her she was understandably pretty upset! It was so scary but thankfully we found her pretty quickly.

We rode Pooh. Olaf was a fan.

After Pooh we decided to have some retail therapy on Main Street. I really wanted the Belle Alex and Ani…but Uptown Jewelers was sold out! I still found some great stuff in the Emporium.

Fortunately, the CM at the Emporium told us that as long as it wasn’t thundering or lightning, Wishes would go on. This was a relief because the rain was letting up.

Continued in next post
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[emilyindisney]

Mmmm...that root beer float looks sooo good!

Hahaha- that kid in front of you on Space Mountain!

Glad Wishes is still on!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Those root beer floats look amazing! I WANTS.

Looks like you had wonderful M&Gs with Punze and Cindy! That's so funny how Cindy reacted to you telling her about seeing her at 1900 Park Fare. I'm excited to hear about how that night goes with Driz and Anastasia.

Love your Space Mountain pics! The kid in front of you looks terrified out of his mind. It's pretty funny juxtaposed to the excitement and happiness around him lol

I'm sorry to hear about being stuck in the SM arcade. LOL @ the snapchat. And that stinks that after you bolted through the rain to ride IASW and got stuck there too. I'm surprised they didn't at least let people who had FPs to ride. Weird...

Awww, sorry you didn't get your Belle Alex and Ani, but yay about Wishes and the dessert party. Can't wait to read all about it!

 

[SarahDisney]

I just read through your whole TR until this point. I wasn't really taking notes, so I don't have too much to say, but I do have 2 comments:

1 - I agree with you on the Frozen thing. I'll take all the Frozen they're willing to give me. And I would like them to please have an Olaf M&G. That's all I ask.
2 - You are awesome. I love the pictures, the writing, the fun ... everything.

 

[jrmint427]

I just finished reading your trip report so far and I am loving it!! It looks like such a fun trip and I love all the funny stories.

I really loved the trivia from your Keys tour. I hope I can take the same tour some day!

What kind of camera were you using? You have some awesome pictures, especially from some of the dark shows and rides.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Not gonna lie, you're title alone almost made me run away screaming.

I haven't seen Hall of Presidents in eons, but I will say it is impressive if nothing else.

Oh wow, is that your Dad, or is that Sven??

Oy, that rain really comes out of nowhere doesn't it? So glad it waited until after FoF though. Although you sadly missed seeing the awesome spectacle that is the Cavalcade.

Hahahaha, your arcade shots are priceless!!!!

Yup. That's an appropriate face for being trapped on Small World.

 

[Sisa]

Great family shots in front of the train station! Love the Anna & Elsa shots too!

The fact about Main Street being on an incline was interesting, I didn't know that one.

Yay, another Tiki Room fan...this makes me happy!

“Pins are my life.” Love it! So cool you got to see that pin room.

Thank you for describing the tour as best as you could. I really want to do it!

Sounds like an awesome meet with Anna & Elsa. Such a neat idea about characters signing the book and including your pictures is so creative! Olaf was reunited!!!!

FOF parade, I am dying to see this! It looks amazing! How awesome of Mickey to sign I love you....so neat!

Thumbs up for the Frozen posing on SM! Looks like Olaf was enjoying it too!

Bummer about being trapped in IASW, glad you were able to grab food and get back on.

Poor Kylie getting lost during lightening, glad you found her quickly.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I love that you made the best of the rain storm and giggled through it! That's exactly what we do--nothing dampens my Disney spirit
Hilarious that IASW is a rain shelter, and very lucky for you that they didn't force a sing-a-long while you waited
SOOO happy that the storm was letting up and anxiously awaiting the dessert party portion of the TR!! You left us hanging!
P.S. Happy New Year from Chicago!!

 

[RGirl]

Hi Courtney! I hope you had a great Christmas!

Thanks for the tour info.

What a great meet with A&E!

Thanks for sharing some pics of the parade. I haven’t really had a chance to see many pics of the new parade. It looks great!

I am CRAZY about the “behind the scenes” picture-taking moment at the parade! Classic!

Ooooh, the ice cream sandwiches and root beer floats look sooooooooo good!

Trapped in IaSW????? I might have had some kind of fit and had to be removed from the MK!

 

[khertz]

I was behind on a couple of posts, but I'm all caught up now. Great pics with Anna & Elsa. They are both so pretty! I hope we are able to get FP+ for them our next trip. I think Paxton would love meeting them.

OH THAT PARADE! It's soooooo incredible! Best Disney has ever done when it comes to afternoon parades, for sure. The music and the colors are just amazing. Love that behind the scenes photo.

Ice cream cookie sandwiches...YUM!

UGH downpours suck. I'm glad you were able to make the most of running through it, but being stuck in the Small World line for 40 minutes with tons of people in the steamy humidity doesn't sound very appealing.

 

[RGirl]

Hi Courtney! Willow and I wanted to stop by and wish you a ....

​

I hope 2015 is a magical year for you!

 

[jash08]

Oh man, getting stuck in It's a Small World?!?!?!?! Thank goodness they turned the music off. I would have lost it if it had been on.

That flatbread looks AMAZING! I bet it was perfect.

Oh man, I will end up buying several of those bracelets. I have some already. I am sure I will come home with some more!

 

[ariane37]

We caught FoF for the first time in Aug. and loved it Honestly from the pictures and video I'd seen online I wasn't sure how much I'd like it. I was so impressed! And older DS12 who swore he had no interest in seeing it, was glued to the rope the whole time in the 280 degree heat!

 

[KTwiegs]

gosh I love your trip reports!
I hope to do one after my trip in October!

I have to say you have opened my eyes to so much of Disney I have never done and my husband and I have been 4 times in the last 4 years!!

Our next trip will be the first with our (then) 22 month old son so it will be a very different trip! We are excited to see all of the shows and calmer rides!
Thanks again for your awesome report and hard work!

 

[courtneybelle]

Mmmm...that root beer float looks sooo good!

Hahaha- that kid in front of you on Space Mountain!

Glad Wishes is still on!

It was amazing!! Craving one right now, honestly...

I know, right? It looks like he's trying to jump out!

Coming up next

Those root beer floats look amazing! I WANTS.

Looks like you had wonderful M&Gs with Punze and Cindy! That's so funny how Cindy reacted to you telling her about seeing her at 1900 Park Fare. I'm excited to hear about how that night goes with Driz and Anastasia.

Love your Space Mountain pics! The kid in front of you looks terrified out of his mind. It's pretty funny juxtaposed to the excitement and happiness around him lol

I'm sorry to hear about being stuck in the SM arcade. LOL @ the snapchat. And that stinks that after you bolted through the rain to ride IASW and got stuck there too. I'm surprised they didn't at least let people who had FPs to ride. Weird...

Awww, sorry you didn't get your Belle Alex and Ani, but yay about Wishes and the dessert party. Can't wait to read all about it!

Every time I look at the picture, I want one. So delicious.

Cinderella was so great! The stepsisters are basically why I still go to 1900 Park Fare. They're hilarious.

Hahaha he does look like he just wants to get out of there!

I was really surprised that the CMs at the entrance didn't say anything about it being a rain shelter! I wish they had because we prob would have just gone straight to Pinocchio's, but it all worked out for the best.

Don't worry, the search for the Belle bracelet is not over just yet!

I just read through your whole TR until this point. I wasn't really taking notes, so I don't have too much to say, but I do have 2 comments:

1 - I agree with you on the Frozen thing. I'll take all the Frozen they're willing to give me. And I would like them to please have an Olaf M&G. That's all I ask.
2 - You are awesome. I love the pictures, the writing, the fun ... everything.

Thank you so much for reading the whole TR, Sarah!!! I know it's a lot to take in haha.

YESS I want all the Frozen. Olaf is meeting out in Disneyland and if money wasn't an object I would have booked a trip just to meet him already. Bring him to WDW!!

Thank you SO much for the nice comments

I just finished reading your trip report so far and I am loving it!! It looks like such a fun trip and I love all the funny stories.

I really loved the trivia from your Keys tour. I hope I can take the same tour some day!

What kind of camera were you using? You have some awesome pictures, especially from some of the dark shows and rides.

Hi!!! Thank you so much for reading, I know it's a lot to catch up on so it means a lot!

I would definitely recommend the tour! I learned so much and had a ball.

Thank you!! So my mom's camera is a Nikon D3200, and my camera is a Nikon Coolpix L830. I think most of the good ride photos come from my mom's camera. We also sometimes use our iPhone 5Ss in rides and shows and that works pretty well too!

Not gonna lie, you're title alone almost made me run away screaming.

I haven't seen Hall of Presidents in eons, but I will say it is impressive if nothing else.

Oh wow, is that your Dad, or is that Sven??

Oy, that rain really comes out of nowhere doesn't it? So glad it waited until after FoF though. Although you sadly missed seeing the awesome spectacle that is the Cavalcade.

Hahahaha, your arcade shots are priceless!!!!

Yup. That's an appropriate face for being trapped on Small World.

I do not blame you one bit. I'm not sure how you would have handled it.

The scene with all the presidents was really cool. The best part was the air conditioning, if I'm being completely honest...

Yes! It is Sven! Glad you saw it

Seriously! Things looked totally fine when we got on Space, then BAM. I know. I'm disappointed I missed the spectacle that is the Rainy Day Cavalcade, but FoF would have to do

HA thank you!! We like to make the best of these situations.

YEP. Scariest moment of the trip, for sure!!

Great family shots in front of the train station! Love the Anna & Elsa shots too!

The fact about Main Street being on an incline was interesting, I didn't know that one.

Yay, another Tiki Room fan...this makes me happy!

“Pins are my life.” Love it! So cool you got to see that pin room.

Thank you for describing the tour as best as you could. I really want to do it!

Sounds like an awesome meet with Anna & Elsa. Such a neat idea about characters signing the book and including your pictures is so creative! Olaf was reunited!!!!

FOF parade, I am dying to see this! It looks amazing! How awesome of Mickey to sign I love you....so neat!

Thumbs up for the Frozen posing on SM! Looks like Olaf was enjoying it too!

Bummer about being trapped in IASW, glad you were able to grab food and get back on.

Poor Kylie getting lost during lightening, glad you found her quickly.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday!

Thank you!!

I LOVE the Tiki Room!! Everyone else in my family hates it. Usually my dad will do it with me because he just wants me to be happy, but Kylie thinks it's so annoying. I just love the songs, though, and the jokes still make me laugh!

The pin room was definitely a highlight. I have two pin boards in my house and my collection just pales in comparison to all the pins I saw there. Too cool!

My mom came up with the book idea and my cousin loved it!! Olaf was very happy to see his royal friends

You are going to LOVE FoF. It's mind-blowing. Mickey was the absolute sweetest!!

Haha Olaf had a ball on Space Mountain! I couldn't determine which ride was his favorite since his facial expression never changed

It's definitely tough being trapped in one place when you just want to go ride rides and have fun, but we made the best of it and it was over fairly quickly!

I felt so bad but we recovered as we always do!

Thank you so much! Hope you and your family had a great holiday and happy New Year!

I love that you made the best of the rain storm and giggled through it! That's exactly what we do--nothing dampens my Disney spirit
Hilarious that IASW is a rain shelter, and very lucky for you that they didn't force a sing-a-long while you waited
SOOO happy that the storm was letting up and anxiously awaiting the dessert party portion of the TR!! You left us hanging!
P.S. Happy New Year from Chicago!!

Exactly!! A rainy day in Disney is still better than a sunny day at home.

Oh thank goodness. No way could they have gotten me to sing that song.

Dessert party coming up next!!

YAY! Happy New Year from Massachusetts!!