TR - Halloween at DL & WDW

[bswift]

Hi all! My name is Bianca and I'm a young graphic designer based in Melbourne. I got back from my trip to the US a week ago and I'm missing it so much so I thought I'd write a TR to help bring back some happy memories

I left on the 15th of October, flying United direct to LAX. Unfortunately I only managed about 4 hours sleep the night before and then 1 hour on the plane so it was not the best start to my trip! United was a lot better than I expected though and I would definitely considering flying them in future. I was in a window exit row seat which was just a standard economy seat. The other seats in my row were economy plus seats which cost extra but I don't think I would pay extra for those particular seats. We were right next to the galley and the toilets so there was always quite a bit of noise around us. The food over was good, particularly the sticky date ice cream, but I always find the food leaving Australia is reasonable anyway. Once I landed at LAX it didn't take long to clear customs/immigration, partly due to us arriving about an hour early. Once I collected my luggage I grabbed a pumpkin chai iced frappe ('twas the season, after all!) and made my way to the Super Shuttle bus stop. It took a while for the shuttle to collect me and it was not the most pleasant ride. I don't think the driver indicated once and he slammed the door every time we stopped to let people out. I was the last to be dropped off at the Super 8 on Katella. I arrived around 9:00am and unfortunately they did not have a room ready for me. I quickly changed in the public bathroom and found that my foundation bottle had broken and made a huge mess in my liquids bag. I discovered this when I looked down at the clean dress I'd just put on and saw foundation all over it! At this point I was too exhausted to care so I just covered it up with a cardigan and headed to Disneyland!

I had bought tickets online through Park Savers, the cheapest at the time at $207USD for 2 day park hoppers. I was a little nervous collecting my tickets but thankfully I had no problems. I decided to head to DCA first because I didn't want my first DL experience to be while I was fresh off the plane and feeling gross! I only spent about an hour there, just to have a quick look and go on RSR once through the single-rider line. After that I stopped by CVS to grab a few things and then headed back to my hotel to check in. Although my room was ready, there was a sign in the lobby saying the water had been switched off due to a burst pipe. More fun! I decided to try the water anyway and ended up having a quick and refreshing cold shower. I decided to grab Subway for lunch on my way back to DL (boring, I know) because I knew I'd be overwhelmed by all the options otherwise. Then my holiday finally began when I saw Main Street and Sleeping Beauty's Castle for the first time! Not going to lie, I teared up just a little. I loved seeing the 60th decorations plus all the Halloween pumpkins around Main Street. I know I don't look too impressed in the photos below but I definitely was!

After taking the requisite castle photos I headed over to IASW, definitely one of my all-time attractions. I also rode around on the railroad for a while because a. I was tired, b. it was hot and c. everything had really long wait times! To cool off I decided to get some ice cream on Main Street and wait for the parade. Considering I have insulin resistance, I probably should have gotten a smaller serve... oh well, you only live once, right?

That night I had a reservation at Carnation Cafe and I have to say it was one of the most disappointing meals of the trip. It took about 20 minutes for me to be seated though the food did arrive quickly after that. I had the vegan burger and it was somehow both too spicy and bland at the same time. The fries were good though! After dinner I went out into Main Street to watch the fireworks. I can't compare them to the standard DL fireworks but they were definitely some of the best fireworks I've ever seen in my life! From memory the park was open til 12 that night with a second showing of Paint the Night but by that point I was exhausted and needed to take a real shower and get some sleep!

 

[mimishat]

Gosh you did well on only 5 hours sleep lol! I would have been one hot cranky mess Damn look at the size of that ice cream!

Look forward to reading the rest of your TR.

 

[bswift]

It was definitely exhausting! I forgot to mention that I developed blisters the moment I switched shoes upon landing so that's why I had to stop by CVS on the way back to my hotel. The special blister bandaids I got were amazing, I hope I can find them here if I ever need them again! Once I started walking down Main Street I just tried to forget about everything and focus on finally being in my happy place

On to day two!

The next morning I was up bright and early and made it to DL just after opening. I first rode PoTC as a walk-on with a boat all to myself before making my way over to HM, also a walk-on. I loved the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay! After that I wandered around for a bit before grabbing some pumpkin Mickey beignets from the Mint Julep Bar. I'd never had beignets before but the line was really long so I was expecting something really amazing. Unfortunately they didn't quite live up to the hype but they were pretty yummy! Afterwards I rode the BTMR, Matterhorn, Mr Toad's Wild Ride and the Storybook Boats before deciding on Rancho del Zocalo for lunch. I had the tostada salad with vegetables and it was soooo good.

After lunch I decided to head back to my hotel for a break as it was getting pretty crowded and hot. There was a MHP that night so I was planning on spending the evening at DCA but I stupidly didn't get a WoC FP before going back to my hotel. It was super crowded at DCA that night so after a quick meet with Oswald, I just waited around Cars Land for the neon lighting ceremony before riding RSR once more, again through the single rider line but it took much longer this time. Afterwards I went to Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta for dinner and had the pesto ravioli dish. I have an irrational hatred of jumbo ravioli (it just feels like you're not getting as much food???) and I thought the flavour was a bit off on this dish. Afterwards I grabbed an ice cream (I learned my lesson and just got a single scoop this time) and went to find a spot for WoC in the non-FP area. I really enjoyed the show, particularly the dedication to Walt but not so much the big Frozen scene, and wished I'd had a FP or dinner package for it. Oh well, at least I know for next time! After that I headed back to my early as I had an early flight the next day.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Nothing worse than being tired after that long flight and hot and cranky! Your first proper day sounded much better. Where does Oswald come from btw - I notice a few reports he is popping up in. Like your Paradise Pier pic espy. Generally I find food hit or miss - some great stuff-and some not as great! The beignet you posted looked too flat rather than round and fluffy - not like the POFQ ones in Orlando. The icecream looked pretty good! I see you ticked off DL and WDW this trip - good going!

 

[mindy32]

Yay for another Aussie trip report! Looks like you had a fabulous time. Love that Paradise Pier photo!

 

[bswift]

Nothing worse than being tired after that long flight and hot and cranky! Your first proper day sounded much better. Where does Oswald come from btw - I notice a few reports he is popping up in. Like your Paradise Pier pic espy. Generally I find food hit or miss - some great stuff-and some not as great! The beignet you posted looked too flat rather than round and fluffy - not like the POFQ ones in Orlando. The icecream looked pretty good! I see you ticked off DL and WDW this trip - good going!

Oswald is the Lucky Rabbit, one of Walt's first characters! You can read more about him here

As for the beignets, I was expecting something more like this:

But yeah they were completely flat and also hollow inside. I guess I'll have to go back and try them again sometime in case I just had bad luck that day!

 

[bswift]

I'm just going to skim through the rest of my trip until we get to the good bit - WDW!

After DL, my next stop was Sacramento to visit family friends. I've visited them every time I've gone to the US and it's always been a highlight. We mostly just spent time catching up, hanging out and eating lots of good food. If you're ever in Sacramento, definitely check out Hot Italian, Old Soul Co. and Tower Cafe! On the Sunday we took a trip out to an old mining town which was really quaint and cute. On the way back we visited a pumpkin farm that had more varieties of pumpkin than I'd ever imagined. On Monday I went with my friend to the school where she teaches German to talk to the kids about Australia. I honestly felt like I was on the set of High School Musical or some other American teen movie. The students were all in casual clothes, they were loud and obnoxious and they started class at 7:30am! My dad had visited them a few years ago and some of the older students remembered him fondly. He gave a speech about German settlement in South Australia, and in the first class I showed the same presentation but it wasn't as interesting coming from me since I was just reading off the slides. For the next two classes I just spoke in general about Australia and showed some of the fun animals that can kill you here. I think Tourism Australia must hate me now because I definitely scared almost 100 young people so much that they'll never travel here.

The next day I flew to Greensboro NC via Dulles and let me tell you, I got the most amazing chocolate chip cookie at the IAD airport. I would actually just fly there for that cookie. In Greensboro I met up with a friend from Australia who I travelled with for the rest of the trip. We were just in Greensboro for two nights (Tuesday and Wednesday) to see Taylor Swift in concert, which was the other main reason for the trip. We saw her 3 times and in Greensboro we had front row (but off to the side) seats in the stands and she brought out Miranda Lambert as a special guest. The next day we took the Amtrak to Raleigh which was really nice. I'd never taken the Amtrak before and it was really scenic and so much nicer than plane or bus travel. I spent a semester on exchange at NCSU in Raleigh so I took my friend to the campus dining hall and showed her the building where I lived. We then flew from Raleigh to Atlanta, where we stayed with one of the friends I met while on exchange. We stayed there for 3 nights but were about 45 minutes away from downtown Atlanta so we didn't see much of the city. In one of the photos below we're actually in her driveway, it felt really secluded like we were out in the middle of nowhere all alone but the suburb is actually huge with a population of 30,000. On the Friday we went to the mall during the day and then at night we went to a corn maze! I didn't really have any expectations of the maze but it was a lot of fun. I think it took us about an hour to complete it, we definitely kept going around in circles for a while. On Saturday we saw another Taylor Swift concert and then on Sunday was the flight I'd been waiting all year for - Atlanta to Orlando!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Your experience of the high school class was interesting - you do wonder what the're really like. Love scaring o/s people about Aus wildlife and insects! Pumpkin farm would have been different too. I have always wanted to visit a corn maze - thought might seen one on our 2014 trip but no luck. You really do like Taylor Swift - lol!

Many of us regulars love hearing about other places as well as Disney so don't skimp on other stories we won't be bored. But also looking forward to your tales of WDW.

 

[bswift]

Eep - sorry for the delay in posting the rest of my TR! I'm moving into my first home in a few weeks so my lunchtimes have been spent researching energy companies, removalists and what ISP to go with and disboards is always down in the evening!


On Sunday the 25th we made our way from Atlanta to Orlando. It was a short flight but we were both exhausted from the night before and slept through most of it. When we got to MCO, it took ages for us to get on DME and I remember feeling as though I could just fall asleep while standing there in line. I think that was mostly poor planning on our part, we should have left an extra night after each concert before travelling instead of moving onto our next destinations. Lesson learned for next time!

We got to All Star Sports just before 3pm and checked-in. Our room was on the top floor of Center Court. I'm not sure if that's a "bad" building or not but we didn't have a problem with the walk to and from the bus stop/food court. Having just spent the last three nights sharing a mattress on the floor we were very excited to have actual beds to ourselves but unfortunately we had no time to nap! We ate a quick meal at the food court and I actually REALLY liked the cheese pizza there. I think I ended up eating it 3 times that week. After our late lunch we went back to the room and got ready for the MNSSHP that night! I went as Snow White and my friend went as Alice. Not exactly the most flattering or comfortable costume I've ever worn but at least it wasn't too hot outside.

Everything is already pretty much a big blur of excitement and exhaustion now but I do remember riding SDMT, Peter Pan, Barnstormer and IASW during the party. We collected as much trick or treat candy as we could (I really liked the one between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland where there's like 3 stations in a row). We watched the first parade which I really enjoyed even I'm not really a parade person. We only made our way to Main Street about 10 minutes before the parade started but still got a decent enough spot. I'm not sure if our party was sold out or not (I assume it was being that close to Halloween) but it really didn't feel crowded at all. After the parade we found a spot kind of near the Plaza to watch the fireworks. The fireworks were amazing (of course) and I think that's when it finally hit me that I was back in WDW. Afterwards we decided to just head back to our hotel as we didn't want to start the week off completely exhausted.

(I just took photos on my phone so sorry they're not great quality!)

 

[Aussie Wendy]

You both look very pretty in your outfits. Nice start to the trip even if you were a bit tired! So did you get through all your candy!