Touring the Tower of Terror and other Ghoulish Delights! Sept 13 TR | FINALx2 4/17!!!

[emilyindisney]

Have a great time in Disneyland! I'm sure that will be a great remedy to a crappy week!

I will most certainly be following on twitter/instagram to get my DL fix!

 

[missangelalexis]

Have a wonderful time! I'm sure I will be living vicariously through your Instagram!!

 

[gracer9977]

Have a fabulous time in DL!!!! Glad you are able to escape your terrible/stressful week.

Finally caught up on your last 2 updates. Yeah!!! Now I just have to wait till you get back and watch for the next ones.

First off glad Matt's mom is okay. Scary that she had those complications but glad everything worked out.

How awesome to finally get to meet up with Jenn and her family. I love that you became friends on the DIS and have "known" each other for such a long time but finally got to meet face to face. Great picture of you and Jenn together.

I have never eaten ice cream at Ghiradelli but I am going to have to do that this time and have that Gold Rush cause it looks delicious!!!!!

Awesome that you got to go behind the secret gates in Epcot but how hilarious that you had to be escorted so that you couldn't sneak into the event going on. The Vinylmations that you got for attending the event are really cute, especially Pluto as Scar.

The 3 foot Vinylmation is CRAZY!!!! How cool would it be to have that in the entry way to the house. My DH would not be amused.

Anyway have a fabulous time and look forward to your next update when you get back!!

 

[okw19]

Oh man, I hate that there were problems with Matt's mom's surgery.

Yay for DTD and Jenn! I can't even handle how cute the photos of this are. I want to hang out with y'all so bad!

I am the same way as Matt with debating all week on purchases. I make mental and physical notes of things I love.

Man, those EPCOT pins are my favorite. I wish I had the whole set because hello, childhood.

Okay, I know the boardwalk melting feeling all too well. The day Anna was sick I parked at Boardwalk, ate at Beaches, walked to Epcot, proceeded to walk to FW, then all the way back to my car. IN LATE APRIL. Pretty sure I looked like a wet dog.

DUDE, YOU GO TO DISNEYLAND TODAY WOOOOOO

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Your trip snuck up on me, as well! I knew last week that you were leaving now, but somehow it slipped my mind over the weekend. SO I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU RIGHT NOW!!! Have so much fun, you guys!

 

[Terkina]

You're so lucky going back to Disneyland. Have a fabulous time

 

[__disneygirl]

I love that Haunted Mansion bag cause it's one of those things that most people would just think is a nice bag, but Disney fans will get it and geek out when they see you with it. I WANT IT!!!

I'm with you on eating several different foods to make a meal as opposed to one big meal. That's why I love the Food and Wine Festival so much. It's so fun to have a variety.

YAY BASIN!! I'm so happy my recommendation helped you. I'm so crazy about those shampoo bars.

The story about getting recognized from your trip video is SO hilarious. She must have been shocked to see you there at that moment!

The sandwich Matt got at Earl is the one I get every single time at the NYC location. I want to try another one but I'm just in love with it.

This Vinylmation event sounds so awesome! How much was it to get in? Pin trading + Vinyl trading + Villain M&Gs = extremely happy Lia.

You are SO LUCKY to be in Disneyland!! I hope you guys are having a beyond magical time!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Have a great time you two! Hopefully no whipping rain on Mickey's Fun Wheel this time!

 

[JDUB]

Hi Dani! Finally caught up on your TR and loved the video!!!

Music with Fresh Feeling is one of my faves and fits great with your video!!!

So much fun and can't wait to hear more. Thanks for sharing!

 

[danimaroo]

Aaaaand we're back from Disneyland! Well, we've really been back since last Sunday, but this week has BONANZA BONKERS! No surprise, since coming back from vacation means lots of catch up at work, PLUS our company threw a huge open house to debut our remodeled office. Soooo I just haven't had ANY time to actually give you guys any updates.

I owe a TON of replies, and I'm planning on getting to them here soon, but I thought in the meantime, I'd actually get an update out for you guys so you wouldn't forget about me or think I forgot about you.

This next week is going to continue to be crazy. Matt and I are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time this year, so we have a ton of food shopping to do tomorrow. Plus we're decorating our house, and his parents' house, oh and did I mentioned that my birthday is on Thanksgiving? Yep, because it is. First time I've had a birthday land on Thanksgiving in a loooong time. So with all of that, I'll try to be around and keep updates flowing, but just bear with me since life is just crazy right now.

OH! And I will be writing a Disneyland TR. We had a fantastic trip, and I got some fabulous photos while we were there. I'm debating on when to start it, since I have a LOT of photos to edit, plus I'm still writing this one and I don't want to overwhelm you guys with two TRs... So I don't know, if anyone has a preference or an opinion on this, please let me know.

And with that, here are some new updates... finishing up Day Three!

Continued in next post​

 

[danimaroo]

***Read the post before this first, for a quick little update. Replies will be posted to previous comments here soon!***

Chapter 18: TRUFFLE SHUFFLE, yo.
Day Three: September 13th, 2013

After securing a cookie to surprise Danni with later on, Matt and I went to Italy, because we were eating dinner at one of my absolute favorites, Via Napoli! I always flip flop back and forth as to whether or not Via Napoli or Raglan Road is my favorite... They're both just so wonderful.

Anyway, we got there a half hour early and were seated pretty much right away. Our waitress was very friendly and nice, which was awesome. I feel like we always have awesome service there.

Since we weren't on the DDP, we decided to split a large Carciofi pizza!

In the meantime, while Matt made friends with a little lizard who was staring at him from outside the window, I had looked at my phone really quickly and noticed that my friend Theresa (Gertie's #1 Fan, AKA arbolita here on the DIS) had tweeted at me about a contest that had been posted on the Disney blog, saying I should enter it as SOMETHING was going on while we were on our vacation. I figured what the heck, I'd enter myself in it, and throw Matt's name in, as well.

If you haven't caught on, I'm clearly foreshadowing over here.

Our amazing pizza showed up shortly thereafter, and seeing that lovely sight again made me so happy.

Evidently I was so happy our waitress offered to take our photo with this epic pizza. I mean, hey, why not?

THAT PIZZA... gahd it's so good. Anything that has truffle oil, truffle salt, truffle ANYTHING on it I am obsessed with. I LOVE TRUFFLES. So I really love this pizza, as does Matt.

We knew we wouldn't be able to bring back any leftovers with us since we had plans that evening, so we ate as much pizza as we possibly could.

As we were waiting for our check, a bunch of the waitresses and waiters came out clapping with a little treat for us. I pulled out my phone excitedly to record them singing to us, and they finished their adorable happy anniversary song, and I pressed the stop button... only to realize I had never hit the record button in the first place. WOMPWOMP. I was sad, I'm not going to lie, and then felt like a dork for holding up my phone only to not be recording, hahaha. What a goob I am.

But the dessert was delightful, as usual!

We hung out in Italy for a few, and I'm not really even sure why, but we sat and relaxed. I think Matt may have been texting someone? I'm not sure.

We got ourselves going and started making our way on over to Mexico!

We couldn't help but stop and check out Tiny Town, as I like to call it, and say hi to all our little friends in there. Matt still jokes about what we'd do if we looked down and saw actual tiny people living their life in their mini town.

Then, Matt saw it... there were little lizards hanging out on the roofs, actin' all Godzilla-like.

I could see a movie being made about it... Tiny Town: ATTACK OF THE LIZARDS.

ANYWAY, we moved along, and we were both definitely happy that the sun was going down!

We finally made it to Mexicoooooo.

We hung around there for a while, waiting to meet up with Jenn and her family. Matt and I decided to hop on the Gran Fiesta Tour, and her family arrived at Mexico right after we got on, so they hopped on it as well.

We waited for them by the exit, and we were greeted by BIG hugs from the kids and Sawyer telling us about how much he loves "Donald's boat". It was adorable, to say the least. After hugs and a potty break, we headed out to World Showcase, and Brynn took hold of my hand. My heart totally melted!

We walked outside to a very pretty sunset!

The kids saw ducks and of course wanted to check them out. I can't blame them, Disney Ducks are quite amazing.

We strolled on over to the International Gateway and said goodbye, as we needed to head out and head on over to meet up with our friends Danni and Johnny. As we walked by the Epcot boat launch to HS, we noticed a MASSIVE line waiting for the boats to head to Hollywood Studios for the big Villains event that night.

We caught Danni and Johnny over near the path to Beach Club, as they had gone and eaten at Beaches and Cream. We walked over to catch a boat from the Beach Club/Yacht Club boat dock, in hopes of it being a little less insane than it was over at Epcot.

Yeah, nope. The line was HUGE.

Now I understand you can easily walk from there to Hollywood Studios. EXCEPT my feet. My poor, poor feet. Even though I was wearing sandals and they were a lot happier than they were the day before, I had so many blisters from those stupid Crocs, there was no way I could walk to Hollywood Studios.

Thankfully everyone was okay just hanging out and waiting... and waiting... and waiting some more.

So basically, the way the boats work is they go from Epcot, to Boardwalk, to Beach Club, to Swan/Dolphin, then finally Hollywood Studios. The problem with this is Disney had not thought to increase the amount of boats they were running, and so every time a boat would leave Boardwalk, it'd skip us because it was completely full!

What I didn't understand was why they didn't have boats go strictly from one place to another (one Epcot to Hollywood direct, one Boardwalk to Hollywood, one BC/YC to Hollywood, etc.)... or ya know, think to add additional boats in considering how many people were heading to Hollywood Studios.

FINALLY a few CMs in suits came by and apologized to the crowd, saying that more boats were coming out, blahblah. It was just frustrating... but at the same time, I guess it didn't matter since it was probably better to arrive at Hollywood Studios later than earlier.

After waiting for around an hour, we finally got onto a boat and made our way to HS... Thank goodness!

Continued in next post​

 

[danimaroo]

Chapter 19: I hit my wall and enter the GRUMP ZONE... then win a contest?!
Day Three: September 13th, 2013

Upon arrival, I really was wanting to store my Vinylmation I'd picked up at registration in a locker. I'd done a little research prior to our trip and found out there were lockers outside of Hollywood Studios where you pay $1 and can store your stuff in a locker! You just need to make sure you have quarters.

I ran over, put my stuff in the locker (they're kind of near the bus stop area, near some drink vending machines), and we grabbed a few waters as I was starting to feel kind of dehydrated.

We walked through the bag check, and into some bigger lines, but nothing too insane.

I thought this was a perfect time to take a photo of Matt, Danni and Johnny!

Let's notice the photobomber behind Johnny, hahaha. I can't tell if he was horrified about the lines in front of us, or just decided to make a ridiculous face for the photo, but needless to say, the dude definitely enhances this photo, clearly.

We finally got inside the park and were greeted by HUUUUUGE crowds. I mean, this wasn't a shocker since we knew a ton of people would be there, but this was pretty crazy.

We didn't really feel like standing around dealing with crowds (at least, yet), so we headed over towards a different area of the park, hoping we could escape people for a bit.

I could not believe the lines to meet the villains! People must have been waiting at least 2-3 hours! I did catch a photo of Oogie Boogie meeting people though... He looked pretty awesome.

Fortunately, the area near Star Tours wasn't nearly as packed with people, and since Star Tours only had a 20 minute wait, we decided to hop on it to burn some time.

We lucked out in getting the Wookie scene, which is definitely my favorite!

After Star Tours, I really had to go to the bathroom, so we headed there really quickly.. where I discovered a nice huge hole in the crotch of my shorts, hahaha. All I could really do was laugh! I mean, what the heck do you do in that situation? It wasn't large enough for people to notice, but large enough for me to not be able to wear them again, which was sad.

The Villains firework show was going on at 11, so we decided to head to the main area at around 10 to find a spot to watch from. There weren't any places on the sidewalk curb to sit on, so we hung back by a store for a bit before finally just standing and waiting. Things had gotten even busier... and I was disgustingly sweaty, my feet hurt, and I was definitely people'd out.

When I hit my wall (and trust me, I'd hit my wall at this point), I shut down. I don't want to talk to anyone, I just want to go find a place to be quiet and not be around people. And I get grumpy. Soooo I wasn't really happy standing there and really just wanted to go back to our resort, but I finally made myself be a little more social and try to at least be excited for the fireworks.

Fortunately, everyone else was in a good mood behind me.

In the meantime, I watched the show/concert they were putting on towards the Hat on my FAVORITE STAGE IN THE WORLD!

I'm sorry, I try so hard but I just don't like the music choices in Hollywood Studios. I'm just not a fan of old school 80s rock.

It's okay, you can shun me now.

Those of you who graciously decided not to shun me get to see some fireworks photos!

Once that show started, it was just REALLY impressive.

There was all sorts of Villains music and the show was really amazing. I was glad we got to see it, and at least it made the waiting a bit more worth it!

After the show, we headed out of the park. There was no way we were going to last until 1am, and there were so many people heading into the park, it wouldn't have really been worth it.

Danni and Johnny offered to drive us back to Wilderness Lodge, which was really nice of them.

This was my first time taking the parking lot tram! It was weird, haha. We found their car, and ended up getting back to Wilderness Lodge at around 11:40. We thanked them a million times for the ride, and I apologized for being grumpy/quiet earlier. They're such a great friends, and we were looking forward to seeing them again on Monday!

Once back in our room, I immediately ran for the shower and I'm not kidding, it had to be one of the best showers ever. Unfortunately my feet were in terrible shape. I mean, I might as well have stuck Moleskin all over my feet. The humidity was absolutely destroying them and I had so many blisters I didn't know what to do with myself.

Unfortunately, while I did bring a pair of sneakers, they weren't the best for my Plantar's Fasciitis. I wanted to try to avoid wearing them, but knew I'd have to give them a shot to give my blisters a break, blergh.

After our showers, we put Stacey on for a while and I checked my email... where I saw an email from the Disney Parks.

Remember that little contest I'd entered earlier at dinner? I found out I'd won! What exactly had I won?

A one-day park admission to Hollywood Studios and a Limited Time Magic Tour of Great Movie Ride WITH the Disney Ambassadors!... or so I thought. I went back on the Disney parks blog and noticed that they had changed the attraction to...

THE TOWER OF TERROR.

OH MY GOD.

I flipped out right then and there! Don't get me wrong, I love Great Movie Ride, but I think the details in the queue of the Tower of Terror are just unreal, so the thought of getting to take a walking tour of the Tower of Terror was just mind-boggling! The email told me that I was going on the 19th!

Matt ended up actually winning, as well! But unfortunately he was placed in on the 20th, which he didn't really want to do since it was the second to last day before the end of our trip. Neither of us were really thrilled that we'd have to go alone, but Matt encouraged me to go to it on the 19th anyway.

I mean, when in my life would I ever get a chance again to walk through the Tower of Terror, right?! And we were going to walk with the Disney Ambassadors, who are usually super busy but really are the official spokespeople for the resort that they represent (there are different Ambassadors for all Disney resorts around the world).

I didn't really know exactly what the tour entailed, but I was really excited to see what it'd be all about. Little did I know how amazing it would end up being, but we'll get to that later...

For now, I typed up my notes in the dark while Matt conked out. As much as I wanted to sleep, I didn't want to forget the details of our day, so I trudged through note-taking, then finally called it a night!

Tomorrow we FINALLY get to Animal Kingdom, spend some time by the pool, then have a night at Magic Kingdom to remember!

Continued in next post​

 

[gracer9977]

WELCOME BACK!!!!

So happy to see new updates.

Wow I can't believe the crazy crowds and how long you had to wait for the boats during the Villians event. 2-3 hours wait to meet the characters, CRAZY!!!! Bummer that it ended up being a kind of bust but the Fireworks looked amazing.

Love that guy that photo bombed your picture. His expression is great.

Your poor feet. I hope that wearing the sneakers for a day make a difference for you.

That's awesome that you and Matt both won the contest although Matt had to miss his since it was after you left. I am looking forward to seeing what that tour entails.

Happy you are back. Sounds like you have a lot of stuff going on last week and this coming week. Busy, Busy, Busy.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

Video fail? Been there! A couple years ago on christmas morning I thought I was recording the girls opening gifts but I so wasn't. In my sleepy excited rush I didn't start recording but thought I was. Then I pushed the button again to stop and put the camcorder down, then picked it up to record and pushed the button again stopping the video. See what I was doing? Yeah....we have a lot of video of our living room carpet and the wall and none of present opening. Sometimes technology is hard!

Anyway....boo to waiting so long for a boat, but yea for seeing friends and the awesome fireworks at HS! Those are so cool! As is oogie boogie! Love nightmare!

Can't wait to hear about this TOT tour--sounds like it would be so amazing!

My vote on the DL TR--wait until this one is done. I like instant gratification as much as the next person, but it's also fun to have something to look forward to!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

YAY, so glad your back and updating (of course that doesn't mean I'm happy your trip is over). Pretty excited for Xmas cards though.

As for a DL TR opinion, do what works best for you! Simple.

I love that your 2 fav restaurants are completely different experiences. Not that I've experienced either, but I do know they're different.

Haha, I actually remember that tweet which is surprising since I don't tend to check twitter all that often. Except when people are IN Disney. Then I stalk.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Disney underestimated the Villains party transportation wise all the way around. Just crazy!

I did not know about those dollar lockers. Great info Dani!!

Uh oh, sounds like you got into a state of DON'T... TALK... TO... ME!

Yay I am really excited for the whole blow by blow account of the Tower Tour!

 

[okw19]

, yo.

Can I just say that I hate the fact that I've never eaten at your two favorite restaurants? Because I hate it. I'm trying really hard to learn to like truffle related things, but it's not working out well. I mean, I don't hate it anymore, but I don't really care for it either. Tastes like the earth. I love the earth, but I don't like eating things that taste like her.

I am so excited for this day. I am so lame for getting excited, but Jenn's family and now Danni/Villians event?!?

January goal: Get Riley to ride Star Tours and love it.

I hate the stage, hate the BAH, but I love Morris Mulch/Jim. I never stopped to watch them before if we are being honest, but now that I know Jim & Nicole I always stop to watch and say hey to him. I won't shun you though, no worries.

I love the viewpoint of your fireworks photos! Keystone is one of my favorite storefronts at MGM. Okay, I'm actually obsessed with all of the storefronts there.

WOOO Dani's first tram ride!

 

[marDgreen88]

I haven't been to Via Napoli in almost THREE YEARS so THAT isn't okay. Yum yum yum!

You couldn't pay me to wait three hours for a meet with a villain... unless it was like, a lot. Hahaha. Crazy people!

The fireworks look so cool.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DharmaLou]

I'd totally wait to see Oogie Boogie.

And I totally feel ya - the second I'm done, I'm DONE. I can't even pretend to be enthusiastic about anything.

 

[407-W-DISNEY]

Welcome back!!
Can't wait to hear all about it...take ur time...we will be waiting!!!

 

[407-W-DISNEY]

Welcome back!!
Can't wait to hear all about it...take ur time...we will be waiting!!!

That is sooo awesome you won the contest!!! I can't imagine how excited you were!!