TR(tdl/sdl/hkdl)-> This Is Where Your Dream Begins; A New World in Every Chapter. COMPLETED 12/8!!!

[katt789]

With shows on our minds, we knew we wanted to see a few more today! There was a Tarzan acrobatic one starting soon, but I pointed out I didn't think we'd make it with the size of the park. A bit later than that start time was a Pirates Stunt show, so we headed to Treasure Cove to see what Jack was up to!
v22 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

IMG_3147 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3148 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr



The show began out in the lobby, with some pirates taking over & reminding us to boo the admiral... Or... That's the extent we got since it was 100% in Mandarin.



We then entered the theater & took out seats, which is when Jack showed up, the Admiral showed up to blow some stuff up, and there were some pretty cool stunts. It seemed like it was all really kitchy humour, which we enjoy, so it was a bummer we couldn't understand it! The sword fighting was all cool, and there was a part where the stunt guys were "swimming" I guess... On gusts of air blowing upwards. Pretty neat, but not as awesome as I had hoped it would be. Lol.As we came out of the show, the sun was starting to set, and naturally that meant it was photoshoot time! We had a lovely skyline of the horizon and the castle with the sun going down creating a whirlwind of colors.
a14 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v23 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3150 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3154 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr



For the better angle, we ended up on the ship they have open for exploration for some of the pictures; also ran into one of the roaming atmosphere pirates! She said hello to us but that was it, probably didn't know a lot of English, lol.

IMG_3160 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
a13 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3167 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

v24 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v25 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
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IMG_3175 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
v26 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v27 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v28 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

I'M NOT EVEN SORRY FOR HOW MANY PHOTOS THERE ARE CAUSE IT WAS SO FREAKIN PRETTY

IMG_3177 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3184 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
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IMG_3242 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

 

[katt789]

Sun moving further and further down, we knew we had to head over to the Jungle to see the ape man. This theater was similar to FOLK at DAK, with the stage in the centre & seating all around 3 of the 4 sides.

IMG_3244 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3248 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3254 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr


The show was absolutely breathtaking!!! I ended up taking more video than pictures (easier to actually watch and nicer to have in the end) It was all told through song & various forms of acrobatics, some stunt like stuff, some gymnastics/dance, and lots of aerial/silk stuff! It definitely added on to the reasons behind me wanting to learn more aerial arts stuff!! We all almost reached the point of tears, but like, how can you not?! Tarzan is A REALLY EMOTIONAL MOVIE OKAY?!??



The emotion taking over after however, was HUNGER! I'd heard glorious things about Barbossa's Bounty so we headed there.

IMG_3287 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3288 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr


Abby & I went adventurous and ordered the squid, and it came in a little boat!! So cute!!

a15 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3289 by Katt mccluskey, on FlickrIMG_3290 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr



The food was super good, it was more flavorful than lunch which was nice too! While we were eating a bunch of awesome songs came on, including Whale of a Tale which we all sang along with!



With dinner finished we took a few more pictures on our way out of Treasure Cove as we headed back to the land of castles & magic for our last fast pass at Mine Train.

IMG_3271 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3273 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
v30 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr



The ride was cute, exactly the same as at home, but with 1/4 of the wait time! Lol!! Kara & I were sitting beside each other, and went to rock our mine car/dance along to the music & were less than coordinated, we BASHED heads super hard but it was just hilarious! When we rounded the bend where we were expecting the picture, we posed, held it, only to NOT have a picture taken! ACK! We tried again on the next drop, but NOTHING, which just made the whole thing even funnier!!



Still laughing from our trip to the mine, it was getting close to park closing, which meant it was getting close to Ignite the Dream, their nighttime spectacular, so we hurried around the castle to get spots for that. This was another thing I hadn't seen a LICK of, heck, the song was ON my IPod, but I wouldn't listen to it! Lol.

IMG_3292 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

The show absolutely blew me away, all of us. It naturally, opened with a Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, but in Mandarin, which was beautiful!

v32 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

It then switched over into Circle of Life & a whole Lion King segment, quickly followed by a Little Mermaid segment, which reduced me into a puddle of feels on the floor.



There was a large Aladdin segment, all in English, a huge Pirates part, and a Star Wars segment that opened with Han's line "Chewie, we're home" followed of course, by Let it Go, again all in English, but everyone knew all the words anyway! It cut into the reprise, which at first instinct was weird, but then I realized that was the emotional bit leading into the finale.

v33 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

The show is much like Celebrate the Magic/Once Upon a Time, with castle projections, but adds in fireworks and the water fountains. There are points where the projections are done on the water as well.



When the show ended and we were simply BURSTING with emotion, everyone was bursting to get out of the park. Not wanting to leave, or deal with that hot mess, we moved down closer to the castle to enjoy the magic, the after show and the music.

a16 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3298 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3300 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr



At one point, Once Upon a Dream started playing; Kara & I looked at each other and just instantly started to waltz around, it was hilariously perfect. The three of us danced & derped & arm bursted our way around for a while until the crowds had died, and then took some time exploring all the shops along Mickey Ave. One of the MOST EXCITING THINGS WE NOTICED, was in the shop closest to what would be Casey's in MK (at the end of Main st on your left) THERE WERE A TON OF OLD SOUNDSTATIONAL/ALADDIN SPECTACULAR COSTUMES LIKE WHAT IS THIS?! IS THIS REAL LIFE?! HOW MUCH DO I HAVE TO PAY FOR THAT AURORA DRESS?!?

IMG_3311 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3312 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

v34 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v35 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

 

[katt789]

Mickey Avenue is seriously too short, and we reached the exit much too quickly,

IMG_3315 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

I tried some fun, UN focused photos, I'd wanted to play around, especially with nighttime stuff this trip!
IMG_3318 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3321 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3323 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3326 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
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I may have found a LOT of things I wanted in the shops….

IMG_3332 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3335 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

Abby ended up buying that pin…cause like…duh…

IMG_3345 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

G'night Shanghai Disneyland!!!

At least we knew we'd be back again in the morning, and we headed to the train for home!!



All in all, a VERY successful first day in Shanghai Disneyland. We thoroughly enjoyed everything we had done and seen, and were still casually freaking out that we'd met Bob Iger. Shanghai Disney had pleasantly surprised me, I had heard so many negative things about it leading up to the trip, but things were looking up so far! Abby was 10000% IN LOVE with the place, like, I cannot describe it, the girl could legitimately stay there forever. It was amazing, full of magic, and distinctly Chinese.

 

[missangelalexis]

Such beautiful photos at sunset! Sounds like rest of your day was very magical! The nighttime show sounds awesome!

 

[Karin1984]

I wanted to get an idea how much you can achieve in one day. With plenty of time to explore, shop, take photos and just enjoy the surroundings you did the following from open to close:
1. Get FP for Soaring
2. Pirates of the Caribbean
3. Snack at Remi’s
4. Golden Fairytale Fanfare
5. Explore castle
6. Meet Belle
7. Voyage to the Crystal Grotto
8. Get FP for Peter Pan’s Flight
9. Soaring
10. Peter Pan’s Flight
11. Get FP Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
12. Lunch at Tangled Tavern
13. See Mickey’s Storybook Express
14. See Frozen Singalong
15. See Pirates Stunt Show
16. See Tarzan Show
17. Dinner at Barbossa’s Bounty
18. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
19. See Ignite the Dream

Did I miss anything? It's a lot!

 

[katt789]

Such beautiful photos at sunset! Sounds like rest of your day was very magical! The nighttime show sounds awesome!

Thank you!!! It was pretty awesome!! And the show certainly was incredible, I THINK it was my favorite fireworks from all 3... (Fant from DisneySea not included cause that was a whole nother level!)

I wanted to get an idea how much you can achieve in one day. With plenty of time to explore, shop, take photos and just enjoy the surroundings you did the following from open to close:
1. Get FP for Soaring
2. Pirates of the Caribbean
3. Snack at Remi’s
4. Golden Fairytale Fanfare
5. Explore castle
6. Meet Belle
7. Voyage to the Crystal Grotto
8. Get FP for Peter Pan’s Flight
9. Soaring
10. Peter Pan’s Flight
11. Get FP Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
12. Lunch at Tangled Tavern
13. See Mickey’s Storybook Express
14. See Frozen Singalong
15. See Pirates Stunt Show
16. See Tarzan Show
17. Dinner at Barbossa’s Bounty
18. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
19. See Ignite the Dream

Did I miss anything? It's a lot!

I feel like that's about everything!!! I was typing up that day's update as we went so it should include everything!! Lol. It's definitely easy to accomplish a lot if you stick to one side of the park and don't try to criss cross it so many times as it is LITERALLY HUGE

 

[petals]

Great report. Luvin the pictures and how cool that you met Bob Iger

 

[nancygirl1]

I've been enjoying your trip report. It's been my late-night reading. This is the first time I've caught up and now can't wait for more ! Thanks for all your hard work!

 

[katt789]

Hey team!!! Thank you to EVERYONE who's out there reading!! I WILL be posting the rest of this TR rather quickly, I feel like it's just been going on for a LONG heck of a time and I've got so much else going on! I finally sat down and finished most of it this past week so here we go!!

Wednesday November 2nd

Mornings are stressful.



Mornings are EVEN MORE STRESSFUL when you wake up to see that Disney Careers HAS FINALLY POSTED CANADIAN CRP APPLICATIONS AFTER MONTHS AND MONTHS OF WAITING AND YOU'RE HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD WITH NO WAY TO APPLY!!!



CRAP!!



Luckily, we had a bit of extra time to freak out that morning & attempt to contact people back home to try to help us apply or at least send us resumes & cover letters to see what we could do. (Ie, Abby managed to get hers in, Kara & I had to end up waiting until we got home to reapply, I was super stressed that might effect things, but who knew?!)



It was stressful to say the least.



We arrived at the Disney Metro station at 8:30 and stopped in the little bakery for coffee & breakfast. It was surprisingly cheap & had lots of options. Food in hand we did the same routine as the day before, but were off on the left side instead, baring ourselves for the race for Tron. While we waited we wondered to each other if the cast members stationed along the route, telling people to walk, were scared of being trampled. We thought so.
a3 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
a4 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Our thoughts were confirmed when the rope was dropped in the center but not the sides & people got angry. The girl on our side with the rope undid it & promptly RAN herself out of the way, not wanting to get hit by the crazies. After our fast pass experience the day before, it had been decided that we would simply jump in the standby line.
k1 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

First, we had to grab a locker for all our belongings. This added to the stress as it was not in English, and it assigned us a locker that was 3 stations away from us. We got it sorted out & through the queue. None of us knew anything about the movie Tron, but that "this is what It looks like". There was barely any wait & we were boarding our light cycles before we knew it. They put us in the first & second row, I refused the first, and ended up with a random beside me.



This was when things took a turn for the worst. You pull the handlebars down, and lean forward, causing the seat back to come down on your back. Problem is, that's it, no belt, nothing locked into place, the seat back was 100% moveable, it did NOT feel safe & I IMMEDIATELY wanted to get off. I could feel the anxiety creeping in, and not like the fun adrenaline when you board a fun yet scary ride. The FULL BLOWN panic & terror that made me barely able to breathe, trying to hold it together as we were blasted off onto the course, holding on for dear life because it truly felt like I could fall off. I started worrying about an inversion, but that didn't last long as I literally could have no thoughts aside from clinging to that bike because my life depended on it.



THANK GOODNESS the ride was short, and I managed to clamber off that bike. Kara & Abby shot off the exit, meanwhile I instantly needed to sit down, thankfully, they had an area for just that at the ride's final point. I felt like I couldn't breathe, like I was going to throw up, my chest was tight, I was shaking horribly and I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. It was HANDS DOWN the worst panic attack I'd had in months, and it made it worse that I held so much of it in; there were no tissues around, mine were back in the locker & it was humiliating to be sitting right at the ride exit with everyone getting off staring at me. I took a few minutes to attempt to calm down, drank a bit of water, and finally started to exit Tron.



Up at the entrance to the gift shop I found Kara & Abby, confused as to how and where I had disappeared. I told them what happened & they got super awkward about it. I get that a lot of people don't know what to say (hence WHY I share all those articles on Facebook) and admit that I snapped at them a bit, saying they didn't have to get all awkward and quiet, giving me those sympathetic pity looks. They said they didn't know what to say. Just acknowledge it, and then move on, I said to talk about how much they'd love the ride, something, anything but dwelling on it. It helped a bit.



For what it's worth, they both ABSOLUTELY LOVED Tron.



Since we had planned to conquer Tomorrowland that morning, Buzz was next on our list. That quickly changed when Kara spotted her favorite little alien heading over to his meet & greet spot! And with no line either!

k8 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
k7 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
k4 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
k5 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

He was super adorable, gave us all big hugs & surfed with us for pictures!
k3 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr



Then, we made it to help Buzz save the galaxy!! I had heard that this ride was far superior to it's Florida brother, and man oh man was that ever RIGHT! You could take the guns right off the ship, your lazer was a different color than your co pilots, and you could actually tell where you were shooting! It was SO MUCH MORE FUN!

k2 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr



We all achieved the second highest of ranks & were pumped when we got off the ride! We got even more pumped when we saw that this gift shop was FULL of Stitch merchandise!! They EVEN HAD A SCRUMP DOLL!!! Kara knew she would be coming back to buy that! They also had a super fuzzy Stitch hoodie with the hood being his head that she REALLY wanted, and I REALLY wanted to buy it for her as a surprise, but it was nearly impossible since we were almost always together. AND it was expensive, I was running low on cash and felt bad that I wasn't able to get it for her, but hey, it's the thought that counts? Bahahahaha! I ended up finally finding post cards, and decided on a Treasure Cove pin to be my bit of "Shanghai Disney exclusive merchandise"!



Despite seeing it the previous day, we had a very important date with the castle show, and a very good reason that we were all wearing our matching Aladdin shirts from Tokyo Disney. To make sure we had good, front row seats, we were there early, and ended up being early enough to have a little photoshoot! Yay!

IMG_3352 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3353 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
a by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3356 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3359 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
v1 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
a2 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
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[katt789]

SHOWTIME!!

IMG_3365 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
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v10 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
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So in love with these water effects guys!

IMG_3456 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
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v14 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

IMG_3479 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr


Seriously just all the feels when Aladdin came out on that stage, casually owning it, no big deal.
IMG_3482 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
v15 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v16 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


IMG_3491 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
v17 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
v18 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
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[katt789]

IMG_3517 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3519 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
v19 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3528 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3534 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr



Forever in LOVE with Elsa's Golden dress!!!

IMG_3539 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr


IMG_3556 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

BABIES!

IMG_3559 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
v20 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3574 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3575 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

v21 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3590 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

Again, really enjoyed the show. I think I put everything into detail with yesterdays update, so I won't bore you with it all again lol.

IMG_3597 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr


Castle show finished, Abby suggested that we go meet the main Mouse himself, and the wait time wasn't too long either! The wait itself, was probably the worst line we encountered our entire time. Too many shovy people, ugh. The queue room itself was super cute, with all sorts of portraits of Mickey & the gang. My favorite was the one of him & Minnie in Starry Night! That was, until we were ushered through a room that had GORGEOUS "paintings" of Mickey and the various castles from all around the world! I WISH WE HADN'T BEEN SO RUSHED I WANTED PICTURES *cries*

IMG_3598 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr



It's okay, Mickey was waiting for us in the next room. He greeted us each with a hug and a kiss on the hand & it was just so kawaii of a meet and greet.

v9 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr



Mickey's meet exited right beside the Marvel fortress, so we figured we would go explore! There was a big Iron Man area all set up, some sort of video game? And a bunch of Doctor Strange posters. Both Spider Man & Captain America were available for meet and greets. Spidey barely had a wait, so we jumped in to say hi. Completely unaware of what language he would speak, we tried to figure it out in line. It backfired when he said "Hi" to a group in front of us, but when we got up to him it was a heavily accented "hello, goodbye" and that was it. Lol.

v8 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr



Captain America DEFINITELY spoke English, and we never really saw him around, so it was a natural progression to head there next. It was quite funny as we noticed that while we were in line, performers would always give us a little love. He gave us a small wave & "Hello" when we got up closer, we guessed he was relieved to see someone that spoke English. Well, imagine our surprise when we got up to see him and he greeted us with a "Wow! Hi! Finally someone I can TALK TO! It's been such a long morning!"



Bahahahahahahahhahaha!!!



I kid you not.



I guess that's what we get from a super hero instead of a princess, bahaha!! We had a nice little chat with him about where we were from & our adventures so far; he had us pose like superheroes, and then salute. It was a reference to the movie but we all thought of rhe finale girls in DEP.

k15 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr



Lawl. It was a fabulous meet & greet, so despite not knowing like, anything about the movies, we enjoyed our time in Marvel Island.



Having conquered so many things already that morning, you can assume correctly that we were hungry! We had knocked out our "must eats'" the previous day, but knew we were close to Pinocchio's, and who doesn't like pizza?!

IMG_3600 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr


They had a pork one, a margherita style one, and a duck one. The girls both got the pork one, which would take a 5 minutes, so I took mine out into the patio and started without them, lol. Hey, I didn't want it to get cold!

a5 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3602 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr


My pizza was VERY similar to the balsamic glaze one at Pinnochios in WDW, but it was Mickey shaped, so it wins. All our meals so far apparently came with drinks. We weren't sure about how that worked because of the language barrier. One time Kara was handed this weird & gross orange/yellow drink so she would now make sure to ask for Pepsi (also weird that they're Pepsi products here...) I usually swapped out for water & was pleased to discover that this was not an extra cost!

v22 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


Lunch was fully enjoyable, more so because the patio was legitimately empty aside from like, 5 cast members. We were blessed with low crowds so far, and noticed that most people brought lunches in (we'd also noticed this at most tourist destinations) thus keeping the restaurants pretty empty, even at peak meal times.

 

[katt789]

With lunch finished, we ventured further into Fantasyland, picking up a fast pass for Winnie the Pooh, and jumping in line for the Hunny Pot Spin!
k16 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


Throughout the morning, I had been chatting with a friend who works at Shanghai Disney, and he was going to come up during his lunch break to say Hi & hangout for a bit! I let him know where we were while we were waiting in the line & he said he'd head that way; letting me know that he was just across from the ride watching the Belle show while he waited for us to finish! AHHHH!

k17 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
k18 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


The ride was super cute and fun! I'm pretty sure it didn't spin as fast as the teacups do, but I love myself some Winnie the Pooh, so we enjoyed it. And hey, isn't spinny yourself to a tizzy always THE most fun?! We found the exit, and I sent Steve a message saying we were done & he said he was coming our way! It was actually like, the most exciting thing ever. Kara & I used to pat visits to him at work in WDW EVERY Friday for the first few months of our program until the bid changed. We'd still see him around all the time, and we'd obviously kept in touch when he took the contract out in Shanghai. Both of us were CRAZY excited to see each other & when we finally spotted each other, there was a bit of shrieking and lots of THE greatest, longest hug of my life! I'm pretty sure Kara recorded it, but I'm not sure if it will end up in the trip video. (ETA: IT DID! Lol, makes me super happy, I miss him lots!)



Steve asked if we'd seen the Belle show yet, I said no, and the four of us set off over there. The whole thing's in Mandarin, and it's a cute show to kind of teach children about proper manners. It has a similar style to the shows over in DLR, with the princess & 2 hosts/assistants to help to act out all the other roles. It was pretty cute, and Belle definitely noticed some familiar faces watching!

k19 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
k20 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
k21 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
k22 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
k23 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
k24 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
k25 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr



Steve needed a picture of the new hat he was wearing, it was a super cute Aladdin themed hat with a lamp on the front & the pattern under the brim was the carpet! We obviously also needed some pictures together, so we all headed to the most obvious of spots, the front of the castle!

k27 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3603 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3605 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3607 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr


We took a couple of cute hugging ones & then he grabbed my hands & asked "are we going to be *those* people" and I was all confused until he put me into an Agrabah pose, bahahahaha.

IMG_3612 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr


We cute.

k28 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr



While we were catching up and having our photoshoot, Steve saw some more familiar faces down a level closer to the castle, and we were excited to see someone else we knew, that we weren't sure if we'd see in Shanghai! It was really funny because she saw Steve, got all excited because she saw him, and then panned over to us, and was super surprised and excited since she'd had no idea that we were there! It was super hilarious. Her & her friend that was visiting came up for hugs & catching up for a bit. The funniest was when we were saying that we'd have to get used to having our filters back on once we were home! It was pretty standard that you could say something that may not be that nice, and no one around you would understand. The new pair had been on the metro the other day, where it reminds you to make sure your party is together since the doors will NOT bounce back open; a girl ran onto the metro, and found that her boyfriend was now on the other side of the closed door. Bahahahah! The guy we were chatting with then said that he'd mentioned something to his friend about keeping parties together & the girl he was talking about turned around & in perfect English said "I thought he was gonna make it!"



Bahahahaha.



It was a good time. The two said their good byes & then went along there way, and the four of us decided we needed to move too. There were multiple locals around that had begun both videoing and taking pictures of us, and it was awkward.



The four of us moved up in the hub towards Mickey Avenue, when we were joined by another visitor! Apparently a bookworm had told her there were some cool people in the park & she'd popped out to hang out for a bit! We spent a good chunk of time just hanging out talking, catching up & talking about the various parks around the world & how they compared. Steve was headed to Tokyo in a few days, and obviously we were headed to Hong Kong next week, so we kinda amped each other up for those trips. Steve also gave us tips on where good places to watch parade & the nighttime show were. Specifically for parade he suggested right beside the lamp post near Mickey Avenue that had the garden directly behind it (and thus a fence) to help with the people shoving in around you problem.

IMG_3616 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr


Steve went through some stuff around the park, making sure that we knew all the secrets lol. When Abby mentioned being bummed that the Baymax & Hiro aerobics show was down, Steve mentioned that they would be out doing sets instead of the show! Yay!

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm so sorry about your panic attack That must have been an awful feeling. But I bet meeting Stitch helped you feel better, cute pics with him!

Love the castle photoshoot photos! I always love the photoshoots you do, no matter which park, they always come out so great!

Mickey shaped pizzas!! We need those in the states haha

The Hunny Pots are too cute!!

 

[Karin1984]

That was one serious panic attack If it's of any consolotion, if they have benches just outside the unloading area, then you are probably not the first and most likely not the last

I absolutely adore the pictures of the castle show, how long before the show did you claim your spot? Also which settings do you use on your camera for shows & parades. Also on Instagram you have such great pictures!

I had already seen the hug in the Shanghai Video and I thought: Who is this guy? It's not Bob Iger ;-)

 

[petals]

Love the castle show pics.

 

[katt789]

I'm so sorry about your panic attack That must have been an awful feeling. But I bet meeting Stitch helped you feel better, cute pics with him!

Love the castle photoshoot photos! I always love the photoshoots you do, no matter which park, they always come out so great!

Mickey shaped pizzas!! We need those in the states haha

The Hunny Pots are too cute!!

It was AWFUL! Certainly wasnt expecting it lol! It was so nice to see Stitch! He was awesome!!

Awee!! Thank you!!! It means a lot!!! Well, we're back in disneyland in Oct! There'll be plenty of photoshoots!!

RIGHT?!
MICKEY SHAPED EVERYTHING

 

[katt789]

That was one serious panic attack If it's of any consolotion, if they have benches just outside the unloading area, then you are probably not the first and most likely not the last

I absolutely adore the pictures of the castle show, how long before the show did you claim your spot? Also which settings do you use on your camera for shows & parades. Also on Instagram you have such great pictures!

I had already seen the hug in the Shanghai Video and I thought: Who is this guy? It's not Bob Iger ;-)

I'm assuming the benches are for motion sickness but i sure was happy they were there!!!

Thank you so much!!! Uhm, it was about 20-30 mins? The first day we walked up right at it was starting & were just behind the first set of gardens! As for settings, I shoot manual, so it changes a lot during the sjow! Sports/kids setting works pretty well if you dont wanna delve into manual stuff, i'm usually between 1/2000 and 1/4000 depending on how bright it is, automatic white balance most days, the focus setting that focusses on moving & still subjects, and ISO depends on how bright it is. It's good to leave it on auto most days

Thank you so much!! It means a lot! A lot of work goes into photos!

Hahahah!!! Yeah!!! A great friend who I FREAKING MISS since he keeps extending his contract!!

Love the castle show pics.

Thank you so much!!!

 

[katt789]

Eventually, it was time for our friends to head back to work, hugs were had, and we went our separate ways, knowing that we'd see Steve again tomorrow! The three of us took his advice, choosing to watch parade from the suggested spot & it was definitely an incredible tip! He'd also said he'd told a few of his parade friends that he had friends in town, so we got some extra love which was super nice!!

k26 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr
Kara captioned that pic on Facebook with something like "yeah girl… I feel ya…sometimes I wanna kick guests in the face too" BAHAHA!

IMG_3631 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3633 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3635 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3639 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

Jumping Stilts always freak me out to be totally honest lol.

IMG_3642 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3644 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3651 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3655 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3659 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
That cutie though!

IMG_3662 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3663 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3664 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_3674 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_3685 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

IMG_3690 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3704 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
IMG_3708 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr
UGH SO PERFECT MUCH POWER MANY WARRIOR

IMG_3714 by Katt mccluskey, on Flickr

 

[katt789]

Post parade, the girls wanted to see if they could pull a fast pass for Tron that would give them a time after dark, so it was back to Tomorrowland!

15032219_10157918908530647_7979147075638336821_n by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Prior to even getting to the fast pass machine, we noticed that Bay & Hiro were OUT DOING SETS NOW, and with practically no line!! Abby BOOKED it over there, while Kara ran to pick up the fast passes, and made it back in time to meet the pair!

v6 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr



It was a super cute interaction, as always is with Baymax. I was also pleased to see Hiro out, obvs a little easier in China, but hey, he should still be around in WDW!Excited by how we were kicking butt at character meeting (remember, Kara & I averaged 2 per day in Tokyo... And none of them were special) we figured it'd be nice to jet into hyper speed & visit Launch Bay! Upon arriving, we saw Kylo Ren with legitimately NO ONE in his line. Despite being absolutely terrified, we went to see him. While in the queue, I noticed Darth Vader was chilling all alone, watching us, I waved, and he shook his fist in return...

v4 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr


Kylo's scary, so we sent Kara in first to stand next to him, so naturally he walked all around us, speaking in Mandarin, probably demanding that we join the Dark Side.
v5 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr



Vader was practically calling to us when we finished with his Grandson, so we paid a visit to him. Especially exciting since we don't see him often!! He wasn't quite as scary.
v3 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr



Across the way, again with no wait, were R2D2 and a fighter pilot (who spoke very little English) but it was beyond exciting to meet R2! We were sad C3PO was nowhere around, but oh well.

v2 by Katt McCluskey, on Flickr

Beside them was a queue to have your picture taken in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, which we skipped. There was a small merchandise shop, and a small lego(?) area. I honestly can't remember what was in that last room but it wasn't interesting to us.

 

[missangelalexis]

Great parade pics!

Ahh Hiro & Baymax- awesome!

Great Star Wars character pics!