Trip Report (Sept. 11-22)- The Magic is Back!... ish! (The Trip Summation)

[Jabroniville]

The flaw of park-going solo- the only pictures of you are ones other people took or when you get selfies with the characters.

DAY SIX (MAGIC KINGDOM):
-Back to the Magic Kingdom! This time around, I had a bit of an unusual vacation, as instead of 2-3 MK days, I had FIVE! This is kind of nutty, but I was thankful for it, as various things can happen to otherwise wreck a day- it's not so bad having everything rain out on your MK day when you have four more!

Today, I believe I forgoed the Mine Train and instead rope-dropped Peter Pan, which otherwise manages one of the most ridonkulous lines in all WDW all day long. Then I just sat there and waited for rope-drop to the OTHER half of the park, netting me a walk-on of the Haunted Mansion! I think it was during this day that I skipped over to Splash Mountain, which boasted a short line!.... aaaaaaaaand quickly revealed that the projected wait time was a BUNDLE OF LIES, because sure enough I was stuck in the massive winding queue. And then I realized it was dangerously close to the start time of the Magical Friendship Faire! So I did what any respectable park-goer would do- I waited until the queue reached the edge of the exit area and hauled my 200+-lb. frame over the fence and into the exit line and bailed XD. And boy, was I glad I did, because...

THE BEST DISNEY STORY EVER:
-SO, during the first day's MFF, I waited sort of to the right of where I normally do, because I got there a bit later (because of the Splash Mountain Queue of Lies up above). But no worries, because the family beside me had a tale to tell! So they were talking to a husband & wife about the show, and the mom let slip that "Our daughter's in the show!" and pointed to the shirts of herself, her husband and their son... revealing the face of my favorite character! The wife gasped and I nerded out internally as she talked about how their daughter had been downsized with everyone else during COVID, and that "they were all given the choice- do you want to leave or do you want to stay? She she said she wanted to STAY, so she had to take an extra job just to stay on". She then described her second workplace, which I shan't reveal here, in a vaguely-similar context ("She's the QUEEN").

And the mom's reactions during the MFF were priceless, as her daughter comes on stage, notices them, and does a little heart with her hands at them during the two numbers she gets during the show. The mom in tears as she watches her daughter be the star of the show for a time. And I nerd out like crazy extra-hard cuz she's the best and all that, maybe more than usual because now I have this extra insight into the show.

Naturally, when the show was over, I had to interject (attempting to avoid saying I was obviously eavesdropping, lol) "Just so you know, I overheard you a bit and that is AWESOME- she is my favorite character!" and the mom ran up and HUGGED me. When I went on about the movie and the movie's actress playing the character being my favorite and such the dad was like "People like YOU are the reason they do it!". The dad explained "She's a BFA (Bachelor in Fine Arts), and can actually sing this song!". He even asked "Do you work here?" and I said "No- you just make no MONEY" and he was all "yeah, but you LOVE IT" or "They LOVE it" or something, because I'm often having Disneyphiles try to convince me I should work in the parks, lol. A very nice family, and the person talking to them was the one who took the picture of me in front of the castle up above.

The family explained they were there from Texas for a short time and were seeing all the shows. Tragically, I had to miss the next show because I got Cinderella's Royal Table reservations and explained this, but I showed up a couple hours later, and I managed to get down just as the parade was starting, so I got to see all of that... and THEN the best part of the story happens!

So at the next Magical Friendship Faire (around 1pm), I stand more to the left- I didn't want to invade the family's privacy like a weirdo (again) or intrude upon their special time or whatever, but right before the show, the dad comes up to me and says "Just so you know, you were noticed. (the girl's name) said 'wow that guy beside you was REALLY excited!'"!!! "Do you think he's coming to the next show?" he says! He had to tell her that "I don't think he's at the next one, but probably later!".

And sure enough, once the show starts and her bit comes on, she actually DOES THE FREAKING HEART WITH HER HANDS AT ME DURING THE SHOW! Like does the lil' heart and pushes it at me!

I nerded out over this to the family after the show- they said the performers love it when adults go nuts during the show (one of the lyrics literally says "for the child inside!", after all). On the next show I saw, she did one of the standard "walks across the stage" and even did this "Oh HIIIIIII!" reaction/wave to me when she spotted me! So my favorite character gave me special acknowledgement she otherwise only did with her own freakin' FAMILY, and that is my greatest Disney story ever.

Unfortunately that was the last show as it got rained out the time before that, and I think the one after. But nothing was beating THAT. Unfortunately she wasn't there on either of the other days I went to the parks (some actors only seemed to perform this Saturday).

 

[Jabroniville]

The lovely (but cramped) restaurant! Cinderella! And pics I got of her seated on her "Resting Stool"! One of them even turned out!

CINDERELLA'S ROYAL TABLE:
-So I got reservations for this one because I hadn't been since 2014. I knew the experience was diminished a tad, but some things were still there, and I wanted to see the inside of the castle once again, and to peer down at the park from above. I was HOPING they'd have added more Character Dining since it'd reopened with none, but alas, there was none to be had. And unfortunately the only reservation I got was around noon. I was fine with this at first because eating during peak hours at supper time is kind of annoying, but I realized while at the park what a mistake this was, as this puts you in long sit-down restaurants for the duration of the PARADE (which is at noon) or a Magical Friendship Faire- in this case, I missed the second MFF (with the cool family and the performer I mentioned before) and only barely made the parade. Something I hadn't considered during my planning, but oh well.

One advantage of this place is you get to meet Cinderella beforehand, but in the special "Castle Entranceway"- right around the corner of the table manned by two staffers (who have to spend all day telling people they're screwed if they want to get in there day-of). Here, you find a long red carpet and wait in line to meet Cinderella herself, which you do before you're called to your table. I forget what we talked about, but halfway through the conversation she went "Oh right- we've talked before!" and I had to pretend I remembered which interaction that was! See, Cinderella's costume is among the most concealing in terms of outfit/wig/etc. so she actually tends to look alike between performers a lot- it wasn't until I looked at my vacation photos later that I realized which one she was. This is the kind of awkwardness that awaits those who do multiple meet & greets throughout the week, lol.

Then there was a bit where the line died down and so she just sat on her royal cushion or whatever- I ran back up and asked for a pic like that, which stands out as a bit unique (neither really turned out well, but whatever). I also spotted Gus & Jacques up in the walls, and pointed them out to some kids (I find that kids are usually pretty bad at noticing stuff like that, so I try to help out distracted families sometimes).

Gus & Jacques in blurry photos cuz iPhones can't project that far!

It's a prix fix menu, and I got some meat thing with... oysters, I think? The server was nice, but almost kind of nervous, as if he'd never done this before and wanted to be SURE he got it right. Thankfully/unfortunately I didn't get the classic "Loser Single Person Table" which is usually shoved into a corner or alongside the edge, but I realized that the tables alongside the edge get the best view of outside, while I was in the middle like... beside a post. It seemed like a table they just sorta shoved in there wherever it would fit to milk the most out of their seating. The food was fine, but not really worth the price- character dining can be fun and it's an easier way to meet characters with no lineup, but I know that performers tend to hate that job ("You always MISS a table and the guests get offended!" "sometimes they put the really BAD character attendants in there and it's miserable!") and it's kinda funny to meet Snow White or whatever when you're stuffing your face. Plus the one time in 2014 Snow called me out for being single "Are you here ALL BY YOURSELF?!" "Are you still looking for that special someone?" "Oh, I'm sure you'll meet them soon enough!".

Oysters! I'm adventurous on vacation (which is funny, cuz these prices should really make me want "Safe Bets". And my dessert, which was a fondant thing and this chocolate hockey puck dealie!

In any case, I charged my phone while eating, tried to deal with my fading memory resources, and fretted over possibly meeting the parade and not wanting to bail on this EXPENSIVE meal before I'd taken enough pictures or enjoyed the actual ambiance of what is, honestly, one of the best-looking restaurants on property. I mean, it's not worth it if you bail early, right? Thankfully I still met the parade after spending a decent amount of time here.

 

[Jabroniville]

THE OTHER STUFF:
-See, spending five days here and being more than a month removed, I probably forget a lot of what I did on each day without pictorial reference. Heck, I'm not even sure if this was the day I bailed on Splash Mountain to go to the MFF like I said it was!

I finally decided to see what the one "Adventure Cavalcade" was all about... but it was rained out today. I eventually saw it a bit later but today you just get the cars. It's mostly the minority characters here- including Pistole Pete & Joe Carioca... and some Jungle Book characters. Well I guess they're from India, even if they have Southern US & English accents. Also Merida gets to be here! Because... I guess her float died in the Festival of Fantasy parade? Because they used to have one!

Unfortunately, this parade kinda sucks for taking pictures in the rain, because everyone's deep inside a vehicle ("The costumes are VERY expensive, and we can NOT get them wet!" parade attendants tell me) so you get a lot of "Princess Elena... with the dividers between windows on one side of her face!" unless you're a master photographer or just hammer the thing repeatedly, which is tough when you're also trying to take in the parade and not just view it behind a lens. I managed to beat the vehicle down Main Street and got the other side, and still the pictures weren't great. Thankfully my chances were much better two days later. I'm pretty sure this is the same Elena who recognized me from the parade float last year- she spotted me a few times one day and shouted "You came back! So lovely to see you again!".

I took a picture of this courtyard because I think it's neat. I dunno- it's RIGHT next to the castle (you can SEE IT just by turning around) so it's weird in terms of ambiance but it's like this little constantly-empty part of the park right next to its busiest portion. This is like... backstage stuff or the outside of the Liberty Tree Tavern or something and there's nothing else much here since Meet & Greets are more assigned elsewhere, so it's a fun little do-nothing area now. Not a lot of those left.

When the Princess catches you taking the photo when they're not looking.

The fun part of multiple days in the parks is you can freely spend more time doing things like the meet & greets... where you can occasionally meet the same performer! Which sometimes catches you by surprise because you can't always tell on-sight who was whom.

It's hit & miss whether the attendant is close by or able to take photos- sometimes the Princess will try to get their attention and they're off doing something else, and I swear once or twice they were like "no" XD. I do miss PhotoPass being here, because while that does crowd the room a LOT, it makes paying for the PP photos a bit of a better deal, especially as I was in here a TON. So I have an interesting mix of "Princess Candids", close-ups, inopportune close-ups (where they start moving towards you and you click when not looking and end up taking a picture up their nose or something), selfies and proper "Princess Poses". I usually make sure I take a few actual posed photos at the end as well.

A video of one of the parades: https://jabroniville.smugmug.com/Disney-World-3022-Day-7-8/i-Htm5FbW

 

[Jabroniville]

THE FIREWORKS:
-This was a bit of a funny one- my third attempt at the fireworks and wanting to see how Tink shoots out of the window in person. Here, I sat next to a pair of women and their kid in a stroller- I noticed the little girl staring up and me and not stopping at all, and one of them noticed and said "You look like her dad" and showed me a picture of a much heftier bald guy with a beard, lol. They were kind of weirded out that she just KEPT staring and I think Facetimed the actual father so she'd get distracted. The fireworks viewing area was jam-packed, and naturally the person immediately to the side/front of me was a 6'5" guy with a child on his shoulders.

So remember when I said I wanted to see Tink come out in person? Well guess who decided to bail literally the SECOND BEFORE she came out? Yeah, the ladies decided to turn around with their stroller and leave, leading me to look down and try to shuffle out of there way... then hear the gasps as Tinker Bell swing overhead where I was, lol. WELL FOURTH TRY'S THE CHARM!!

After this, I forget what I did, but I probably ate at the ice cream parlor (sadly the people who kept noticing me come by last year appeared to be no longer there- I don't imagine many people stick around the quick-service locations for that long, as I am to understand people shoot around the parks a lot. Then it was another hour of doing shops and such after park closing. I checked out the crystal shop that nobody ever buys stuff in, and the gigantic Main Street store.

Next Up... Epcot!

 

[Jabroniville]

DAY SEVEN (EPCOT):
-So now, every park done and MK entirely travelled through, it was time to return to EPCOT- on my last trip, I'd actually over-Epcotted a bit because it was my fave in 2019, but I was more used to Frozen this time and "Wallcot" was getting on my nerves, so instead of making it my first & last park and going on three days I went on the first then my third-last days. Today, I rope-dropped Frozen once again (getting stuck at one of the walls by the big Disney store on property and a CM who did the "ask all the waiting guests a ton of questions" thing and telling jokes before we were off. This is an introvert's worst nightmare, so thankfully it was optional selection.

Elsa! Anna! Snow White!

This time, I met the characters again- curiously, Aurora & Belle were the same, while Snow White & Jasmine were different. By this point I'd met Belle so many times across the parks that I wasn't sure where I'd seen this one, but she recognized me. "Oh wait, when did I see you before...?" and I had to be "... was it the cottage, or here?" "HERE!" "Oh, it was last week then" because I guess she only works at Epcot, lol. I actually saw the same Elsa as last week, which was a rarity (they must have a LOT of rooms open). I ended up going into the Royal Somerhus THREE TIMES mostly because I wanted to go early, then saw a short line once, and then I think I LL'd one? I forget. In retrospect since I missed a couple things I could have cut off one of them but I wanted to tell Elsa she was the best, lol.

The English Pavilion's chandelier, I think.

The old issue with Epcot's huge size reared its head again, as when you wait for the characters, then try to head back for the big rides, then do a couple other things and have a sit-down meal, you end up running out of time! Despite like 12+ hours to do whatever you want, I still missed a couple of things because I would hang around Italy for a bit to take things in, or feel the "hollow wall" in Germany where a dark ride was supposed to go. I was like "oh yeah! the Werther's store!" in Germany but I was kinda between meals and there was a line by the time I thought to go.

And then, as I mentioned before, I left Mexico until it was way too late. I wanted to do it but literally ran out of time at 8:30-ish, because Frozen Ever After might have closed by the time I left it. Which is too bad- I learned last time that the Three Caballeros ride I'd often blown off was better than I'd remembered it, starting out as a cool dark ride through some ruins.

Unique merch! In 2021 the France pavilion had absolutely nothing for cool merchandise, despite being packed with it in 2019. Here I found an even SMALLER shop, but at least it had cool art like this on what little they did have. I really hope the shops start pickin up more unique merch, though.

I made a second trip on GOTG: Mission Rewind, and this one went a lot better- I made sure to eat fairly soon beforehand (which always struck me as odd advice, as you'd think the opposite would be true) and this was instead way smoother and I barely felt nauseous at all. I could keep my eyes open the whole time, and wasn't trying to hold anything in, which makes it a lot more fun, and you could spot all the neat background scenes and the spin around the Earth & Moon (though both look REALLY fake in that "this is obviously a piece of scenery" kind of way). They played "One Way Or Another" this time. The older dude I was in line with found it a bit more nausea-inducing- he said he probably hadn't eaten recently enough.

 

[Jabroniville]

SPACE 220 (aka "OH MY GOD LOOK AT THESE PRICES!"- The Restaurant):
-OKAY, so when researching this trip, I knew about this, but I also knew how hard it was to get in. I kind of glossed it over, and honestly knew nothing about it save some videos on the DFB YouTube videos. But when I went looking for restaurants... I found it available! Surprised, I grabbed it before looking stuff up. So I went in blind on this one, and kind of wanted to be surprised. And boy, was I!

So the whole set-up is quite interesting- you scoot in behind the "Mission to Mars" ride and meet an attendant, who brings you to a central table (the girl of course nerded out over my Wicked shirt). They assign you a seat or whatever, then you sit and wait for your name to be called. Then you're invited into an elevator, which brings you to an "elevator"- actually just a regular room with images above and below to make it look like you're shooting on a miles-long platform into outer space. You walk by a room with "lettuce" hydroponics and a giant wall of wine, and enter a singular room- tables on three tiers, with a REALLY long bar, each section manned by a different guy.

I was placed along the bar, next to one couple and a trio of girls who were admittedly fussy (one couldn't eat ANYTHING). The bartender was pretty cool and mostly chatted with them, which suits me just fine. The place itself does look very "current ideas of what space will be like" with bright, clean uniforms and silver metal everywhere, and there's a huge viewscreen with tons of things to see- mostly ships flying around, spacemen doing spacewalks, etc. I never did see Mickey, despite sticking around for several minutes after eating to see if he showed up (I know he sometimes does).

And once I sat down... I finally looked at the menu. And HOLY CRAP this place is expensive! Something like $79 for the full three-course meal! Now I wish I'd checked it out beforehand! I'd have eaten a smaller meal earlier (I had a pork bun in Japan's "Food & Wine" booth and that was mostly it), but by this point I hadn't eaten in so long I didn't want to split the meals up, as I'd waste both time and probably pay the same to add an extra bit on. So I went with the three courses. The food was perfectly fine, of course, and worth a bunch of money... maybe not THIS much, but still. It was nice to do this as a one-off I suppose, but this is the kind of meal where you think about your wallet the whole time, haha.

I had salmon I believe, with calamari as an appetizer. Good stuff, but the most fascinating part was the cocktail, which was like a blue slushy drink but with POP ROCKS added in. Now I had to be careful here, as occasionally it's a light fizzle, and the rest of the time it EXPLODES- at one point bursting out half a foot away from my plate and coming dangerously close to the girls beside me at the bar! I usually had my hands guarding things and they were more interested in what that was that disturbed that I was about to soak them in blue syrup, but yeah.

 

[Jabroniville]

Belle desperately trying to keep her hair intact while the wind roiled up.

LATER IN THE DAY:
The weather turned REALLY bad at one point (around 5pm), but actually shockingly didn't turn into rain. Lightning in the distance shut down nearly the entire Food & Wine Festival, however, sending CMs scurrying everywhere. Poor Belle's hair was flying around and she had to bail before returning- they always do wig touch-ups behind the scenes. Oddly the falling hair was more fitting, as in the movie it's always falling down (a way the animators tried to make the perfect, flawless Belle seem a bit more "human" and flawed). I tried to impress this upon her and the guests in line, but she was obviously desperately trying to keep the strands in place while maintaining her Princess poise.

The Rock Mickey in the aquarium.

I made sure to check out the aquarium again, though unfortunately I forgot to come in during the day. That was mostly to see the manatee/s awake and see the attendant talk about them. The issues with having such a massive park and then going "... oh yeah!". This happened last year, too!

When you catch a princess doing a "Mean Girls" pose by accident.

An unfortunate thing happened near 6pm when a mother came to see Aurora with her daughter- the attendant had already cut off the line and sent people away- "oh PLEASE!" the mother begged, but the CM had to tell her she'd already said no to a lot of other families. I saw them a bit later and told them Belle was still around, but nope- they'd already seen her yesterday. I felt bad for the kid, as the mom explained "Aurora's her FAVORITE princess!" and it's like... on one hand I wasn't sure why she waited until SIX to visit if it was that big a deal, but then a lot of people can't figure out all the rules and things to do. For all I knew they weren't even here earlier in the day. And I've noted that they do NOT advertise the meet & greets properly- most of the time I had to ask the CMs under the blue umbrellas when the characters even SHOWED UP! The poor girl had such a "hanging lower lip" about it, too.

Near the end of the night, I was gonna go on Ratatouille for one last time, using LL, but right as I was about to get on, it broke down. The lights came up and everyone was in a temporary "okay, what now?" about it, and ultimately they evacuated it. A man beside me was practically LIVID over this after all that waiting, with his wife admonishing him to watch his temper ("Well don't UPSET them!" she lectured- "it's not THEIR fault it broke down!"). I eventually waited for the staff to look less worried before asking if I could just bail (I wanted to get one last Frozen ride in)- they were like "do you not want a FastPass for another ride?" I was ready to go out wherever the evacuation line is (they were directing me, but it's against the flow of normal traffic), but there in fact was a CM who was tapping MagicBands to give us an extra ride. So I hauled over to Frozen (the literal opposite end of the World Showcase, mind you) and decided ultimately on using my pass for that, lest I wait too long and become unable to ride it again. I don't remember if I had time to or not, but it's fine.

Fun Fact: I had never actually noticed there were PUFFINS on this ride before. They're part of the original Maelstrom ride, and were repurposed here. I always skipped them as it's right after Elsa's song and before Marshmallow shows up, and there's other stuff to look at, so I'd never spotted them. This time I made sure to. I mean, they're not fancy, but it's kinda neat.

 

[Jsharp13]

Thank you for sharing your trip. It has been fun to read.

 

[Jabroniville]

Thanks

Thank you for sharing your trip. It has been fun to read.

Thanks so much! It's been fun posting stuff, mostly to job my own memory, haha. Two more days left! Then it's the meet & greet stuff (which took place over multiple days, and I don't know if people even read that stuff, lol).

 

[Jabroniville]

DAY EIGHT (Magic Kingdom)- aka "Wait, why is it BUSY?", finally seeing Tink shoot out the castle, and that time I helped a dude propose:
-Okay! So this is the second last day of my vacation, and by this point I'd already been at the MK for three days, so I was pretty much done all my to-do lists and everything. This was the most I'd ever been at WDW, so these were essentially "extra" days and I could take them at my leisure. This day kinda runs into the next one, as both were spent at MK and I won't remember what happened when, but these days were puncuated by a fair bit of:

* Mid-day rainstorms wrecking parades and the Magical Friendship Faire
* The Adventure Cavalcade actually showing up!

So this time around I skipped the Mine Train as I was kind of tired of it- I think I did Peter Pan, or this was the day I did It's A Small World (yes, I rope-dropped that once, lol). See, the issue on today (which was a Monday) was that for some reason, the park was immensely BUSY. As the previous whole week had been decently-crowded but hardly a mess, I was extremely surprised to enter a jam-packed queue to get in, a MASSIVE line down Tomorrowland (I knew at this point that if you were by the start of the Cheshire Cat Cafe, you were too far back to get into the Mine Train queue) and more. I asked around a bit, and was informed by guests & Cms that apparently weekends are now the QUIET times at Disney World, which hadn't shown up on any of the tourism sites that I'd seen (in fact, most still have things like "Don't visit Hollywood Studios on the WEEKEND if you really want to do ROTR!"). This would hold true for both days, though, as I would get hammered by crowds on Sept. 19-20th.

Between this and the massive amount of rain hitting at peak times, I was REALLY happy I'd done the whole week beforehand, as this was just a "gravy" day that mattered a whole lot less.

The Nautilus! I swear I couldn't find this on ANY of my prior visits, despite CM assistance at points. Turns out it's gigantic and easy to see- I was looking for a tiny one!

Woo- I saw Merida again! As I mentioned before, Merida is the least convenient Princess for me to meet, despite having her booth right next to the castle- there was nearly ALWAYS a parade or MFF about to happen around then, and she bails quickly.

So the Magical Friendship Faire got rained out at least 2-3 times each day, I think. At one point, rain started to pitter-patter during the Tangled bit and IMMEDIATELY everyone bailed as the music stopped- like, without a word they just hightailed it outta there. I don't know if they have a cue for that or what but it was SLICK. After a long delay, the rain let up a tad and so they did a different version of the final number, skipping all the other bits (like the Frozen one)- in this version, the choreography is MUCH simpler, as characters aren't spinning and twirling around what was now a damp stage- instead they just sorta did tiny hops left and right while the same song played.

I caught Anna & Elsa in mid "Let it Goooo! Let it Gooooo!" sashay.

I believe a single parade ran on Monday- on Tuesday the rain was absolutely non-stop and NOTHING ran, disappointing a ton of guests (I don't know how many ONLY do one day at MK, but I registered a lot of people in the dumps over that). A Rainy Day Cavalcade that happened featured some characters in covered vehicles, and the Princesses in the "Rolling Gazebo of Doom".

Since the Haunted Mansion stops running more than any ride in the parks, there's a lot of opportunities for even an iPhone to capture the ride's features. Kind of.

I rode the Haunted Mansion a TON on these days. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but it became my old standby, as it loads quickly, LLs were easy to get, and it never had the massive lines of the other attractions. Since they open up this area AFTER the "Early Morning Magic" ends, it rope-drops separately, and I was there both days to walk right in. Later I'd get another LL (I average 4/day now- slightly more than I got under FastPass+) and then probably hit it up later in the day.

Didja know Madame Leota pops up in the mirror in "Momento Mori"? It rarely happens but I finally saw it a couple of times, lol.

Next Up: The Disney Adventure Cavalcade- At last I get to see it!

 

[Jabroniville]

The Disney Adventure Cavalcade is a small parade that runs in the second half of the day, shortly before it gets dark. It's similar to the ones they ran during the Covid stuff, where you just get the two long floats. The theme here is obviously "The Minority Characters", though you also see Merida with the group (since she lost her main float) and tons of little-seen animal Head Characters. First up is Woody and Mr. & Mrs. Incredible walking about. The first float is Merida & Elena of Avalor in the front, Miguel from Coco up top, and Nick & Judy from Zootopia in the back.

There's also a long float with the Princesses- this one features Mirabel from Encanto in the prime position up top, doing a really elaborate (and probably exhausting) dance, twirling her long skirt about. Pistol Pete & Joe Carioca from The Three Caballeros are on the front, and Mulan and Pocahontas make up the rear. This is the ONLY time you'll get a good view of Pocahontas anywhere, so if you wanted to snap all the characters it's your best bet. Following behind all of them is a handful of animal characters like Max Goof, the female cat from Aristocats, Baloo, Terk from Tarzan (!!) and... oh hey, there's Moana! The only time you'll see HER, too! Aladdin & Jasmine also make up this crew... along with Mary Poppins & the Chimney-Sweep. They stick out like sore thumbs amidst all the foreign-themed characters, lol.

Oh, thank goodness I actually caught her doing the bow, lol. I'm not making it up!

The best interactions here came with Mulan noticing me, then giving the big formal "fist in the hand then deep bow" thing, and I responded in kind- she laughed when she came up and saw that I'd bowed, too. Mirabel, when doing her big dance, actually noticed my glasses and did the "OMG me too!" thing, grabbing her own to emphasize them. Elena also recognized me the second time I hit the float, and Mulan laughed when I managed to beat the float TWICE down Main Street to get better shots of the characters. Apparently even parade performers are doing safety, because at one point Elastigirl rushed over to the side and picked up a kid to put them back on the curb.

Mirabel noticing my glasses!

Adorably, each Cavalcade featured a teeny tiny little girl in a Mirabel costume as the "rope-holder"- they must have found one each time.

 

[Jabroniville]

The gazebo of doom during one of the rainy days, and Cinderella in the Fairytale Hall.

During these last few days, I did the "Hidden Pascale" thing- he's quite well-hidden through much of the "Tangled Bathrooms" choke-point in the park. Some are on trees, another's on this post here, some are under buildings, and they put a pile of them in the river area.

I saw this guy playing piano over on Main Street! I'm not sure how often he's there, but that piano's covered whenever there isn't someone playing it, and it's easy to miss. One peculiar thing I notice is that I almost never hit Main Street in the middle part of the day, when things like this are more likely to happen- I typically only show up around night time when things are busy or shutting down elsewhere- that's typically when I shop, too. So I've never seen the flag ceremony, and only barely see the Dapper Dans.

Only those TRULY in the know realize just how epic a sight this is. It's Princess Aurora... but in the FAIRYTALE HALL! This NEVER happens! When I told a CM about it, they were astonished- "Oh wow, AURORA in the Fairytale Hall? That's truly special!". I mean, literally every time I've visited this Hall in 2019, 2021 & 2022, it's been Cinderella & Elena in this room. So you can imagine my shock when I popped in on Monday night and saw AURORA there! Ironically, despite Aurora being a famous Princess and Elena rather obscure, she was meeting a little girl DRESSED as Elena who 100% was probably hoping Elena would be in here, because they were talking about Elena at the time, lol. It's kind of funny watching one of the "big name" Princesses have to make chit-chat regarding another character from Disney TV.

 

[Jabroniville]

THE FIREWORKS (and FINALLY Seeing Tinker Bell!):
-So if you followed from the beginning of this Trip Report, you'll recall that I REALLY wanted to see Tink actually burst out of the castle during the fireworks show- ever since I overheard someone say they could spot someone moving about in the large parapet, I wanted to catch the same thing. Now, on Day One, this failed (I actually sorta forgot about it and had wandered off to use the washroom as the show was winding down, then missed her passing under a tree). On Day Two, it was raining and she didn't come out at all. On Day Three, I missed it because the people beside me decided RIGHT THEN was an appropriate time to turn their strollers around and leave. So I decided THIS time I'd actually pull it off!

However, the central corridor was jam-packed by my arrival- CMs were waving people down Main Street and not letting anyone sit in the main area anymore. However, I found a perfect vantage point for the exact spot I needed... on the bridge to Fantasyland! Here, I stood between two rectangular trees and waited- I saw the projections on the sides of the castle, which removes most of the magic (they show SOME but nothing like what people at the centre get to see). But then, wonder of wonders, I see her! Out of the blackness in the parapet comes a girl, she actually LEAPS off the platform, and scoots out Superman style (almost parallel to the ground)... and lights up! The lights don't come on until she's about ten feet out! So I get to see the whole Tink arrival at long last! Only took FOUR TRIES, lol!

So coming down from that, I'm stopped by some young dude who wants me to take a picture of him and his girlfriend. I'm like "oh yeah, sure" and get ready... and when I look through the screen, I see he's down on one of his knees. I'm like "Oh crap, why's he on one knee- did he trip? Is he OH GOD HE'S PROPOSING OH MY GOD OH GOD OH GOD--" and I immediately hammer the button as many times as I can in a row desperately trying to capture the moment. His phone has some kinda timer preventing just a staccato burst of photos so I'm having a heart attack the whole time (plus people are literally walking in front of me) but I manage to get it all. I shake the guy's hand and make him check the camera ("I hope they all turned out!" I said. "Oh yeah, ME TOO!") and thankfully "They came out PERFECT!" so yay- I helped someone propose, lol.

Seriously though, that's a lot of pressure XD! What if I'd screwed up? Or hit the wrong button and gone out of the photos app on a mystery phone I've never touched before! He must've been there alone with her, cuz that's a heck of a thing to trust a stranger with ! People, please: WARN the person next time you want photos like that XD.

 

[Jabroniville]

DAY NINE (Magic Kingdom):
-Okay it's taken me like three months to get all this out, lol. But here's the last day! And... I kinda forget what happened between the previous one and this one. My big memory of this one was that it rained CONSTANTLY. I think we missed both parades in the afternoon, and only got the Adventure Cavalcade I already showed pictures for. We also missed most of the Magical Friendship Faire. This is the kind of thing that makes me glad I booked a REALLY long vacation, because you can have a "rotten day" of cancelled stuff like this and it doesn't really matter. Especially since you already did the stuff (vs. if your first day was rained out) so you don't spend your day worrying if you're EVER gonna see the stuff.

This day I was like "ah, screw it" about getting up super-early, so I headed to the park right at normal opening instead of "Extra Magic Mornings" (four days of that was enough!), so I was way too late for all the big rides. Just messed around instead, maybe doing Small World at opening. I was one of the first people in Haunted Mansion, though. I rode... stuff. Oddly I didn't check out Splash Mountain one final time, but the ride's in poor repair and I was wet enough, lol.

One particularly strong memory of this day was sitting in the crowd waiting for the MFF to start and someone came up to talk about my "Wicked" t-shirt (see? CONVERSATION STARTER!) and we discussed that, plus the "Frozen" connection, and then she went on about how she used to work for Disney World as a cultural representation for Latina America. She talked about being at the MFF for its last day "before everyone got fired" and how everyone watching it was a Disney staffer, and EVERYONE was crying. So she was happy to finally be back. Then the rain hit halfway through the show- sprinkling at first but then pretty bad- then she boasted/scolded about how "See, I used to live here, so *I* know how to prepare!" and promptly dropped her sneakers and jacket for a hidden poncho and flip-flops and put her shoes in her bag, lol. Alas I think all the other shows were rained out so after saying our goodbyes I didn't see her again, but it's always fun talking to staffers and ex-staffers, especially as everyone's good and cynical after a few years with the Mouse.

This time around I was in line at the Fairytale Hall and some Torontonians got all "Oh I'M SORRY" when I said I was from Edmonton- those butts. Also some lady with a busted leg was being pushed by a younger relative and she kept blathering to anyone who would listen "I'M SORRY! She's AUTISTIC!" despite nothing going wrong- like yeah she got pushed a little close sometimes ("Oh, you picked WRONG getting in line right ahead of us!" she shouted) but like... nothing was going wrong, lady. Relax. Everyone in line and the Cast Members didn't need to know about the poor kid's thing.

On this, my last night, I FINALLY went into the Winnie the Pooh ride, which has a monstrous line all the time. This time it was short... so of course it broke down, lol. But I naturally found some Disney Adults because that's my superpower now I guess, and I talked to a guy and his sister about what WDW used to be like- he remembered the Submarines and such (bringing up how they had to go- it was a huge chunk of real estate devoted to a ride that seated 12 people per thing and had no disabled access) and went yearly for ages. Thankfully the ride finally came back and I got in. I caught the scene where Mr. Toad gives the deed to Toad Hall to Owl, as well!

The incredible decor of Gaston's Tavern.

Thankfully the rain let up when it got dark, so I was able to see the Cavalcade a couple of times, figuring out the best angles for pictures. The last time I went into the Fairytale Hall I found a NEW Elena this time- she looked all of 12 years old, lol. I asked her to say goodbye to all my friends (as I was thinking I wouldn't be back for at least a year and a bit). I finally bought one of the Designer Collection Dolls- Belle, as she is Best Girl, of course. I hadn't bought one of these since the Disney Store had closed down, and I wanted some form of grand souvenir of this trip- not just the usual pins.

I got some last-minute pictures- one of me with Cinderella's magic slipper, one at the Beast's castle, and one behind the castle and the carousel. I honestly never saw these photographers on past trips- usually I'm busting past people getting their photos taken, but as this was now my FIFTH DAY in the park (!), I had run out of desire to do all the other stuff, lol.

Late at night, things were running down and I was pretty much out of things to do, so I spent an hour looking at Main Street shop stuff (I bought a few souvenirs that were last on my list- such as the doll and some princess pins). I went to the PhotoPass place on Main Street just as the day was dying down- there, I had a long conversation with the clerk at the stand as she cycled through my PP photos. Unfortunately, there was a micommunication- I had intended to pay for my PP privileges there, but SHE must have thought I was seeking to have a photo printed! So we cycled through the pics and I barely paid attention to them, and when I was finally like "man, when is she gonna ask me to pay?" I asked about it, and she was like "Oh, you don't do that HERE! Just online!" D'oh! So I wasted a bunch of hers and my time I guess... but it's not like they had anything else going on that late at night.

At least we had a good conversation about stuff- I talked about how I try to keep a respectful distance with characters, especially female ones ("I'm sure they appreciate that!" she said)- I mentioned never going in for hugs, and she ASSURED me they were cool with that, but man I dunno- if I was a girl (especially one in a job where I'm required to smile and be polite) I wouldn't want random dudes coming up and asking for hugs when I'm not in a position to say no. Finally I was like "Yeah but they have to watch out for guys getting grabby" or something like that, and she said "Yeah, but that's every job". So I think interally "Oh right- being a woman sucks. I forgot".

Aaaaaaaaaaaand that's about it! I had to hit the bus right after that (though I've learned they don't stop running those until the park is EMPTY) and headed back to the hotel. Next morning, I hit the bus and was on my way back to the airport.

Next Up: Character Meet & Greets (summing up the various ones through the parks)

 

[cheryllarsen]

What a great trip report!

 

[cheryllarsen]

Thanks for posting! I enjoyed reading about your experiences!

 

[BeckyEsq]

I really enjoyed your report! Thank you for all the time that went into this!

 

[kafitty]

Thanks for writing this TR! I love all of the nuances you have learned about the characters and how their movies translate to their appearance in the parks.

 

[Jabroniville]

What a great trip report!

Thanks a lot! Now I can just lay out the meet & greet stuff (since I was never sure what happened on which day, lol).

Thanks for writing this TR! I love all of the nuances you have learned about the characters and how their movies translate to their appearance in the parks.

Oh yeah, I've always been interested in that stuff! I'm glad other people are interested in it, too. It's really fascinating from a performative aspect, and I like giving the characters a different kind of experience (they do a LOT of one-sided conversations with little kids).

 

[Jabroniville]

MEET & GREETS:
-Back in 2021, you had to do "Distanced Meet & Greets", and so you could take pictures at your leisure from afar- I typically did this after a point, especially when I recognized the performer after a second time. I ended up trying to do this just a little bit even though the old style of meetings are back... but just ended up taking a lot of "up the nose" pictures at their once they got close. I eventually just sorta took one from afar, talked to them, then did a solo picture or two and a selfie. Selfies also don't always look flattering, so I imagine they hate them, lol.

So Princess Fairytale Hall is the basic meet & greet location now, with Tiana & Rapunzel on one side, and Cinderella & Elena on the other- it's often a "Visiting Princess" in the secondary role but I've literally never seen anyone but Elena & Rapunzel... EXCEPT FOR THIS TRIP, which floored me! Alternates apparently include Ariel, Mulan & (as it turns out) Aurora. The Cinderella side is clearly the "Main Event" one, as it usually has double the wait time during quieter bits and 10 minutes more during most of my trip (where it was 20-30 minutes for one and then 30-40 for the other).

A classical introvert (and being aware that characters probably always wanted to know where my hands were at all times!), my hands used to be clasped right in front of me during nearly all Princess visits until I became more aware of that. So these are the first meet & greet pictures where I actually have my arms out sometimes, lol.

On this trip, the old-school meet & greets have returned, to the point where even hugs are back! Of course, I never went in for those, lol. I mean, if I was a young woman in this role, having some random dude I didn't know come up and ask for hugs when I wasn't in a position to say "no" would be kinda weird (or even worse, if the guy didn't ask at all!). I actually saw an old guy twice in lines, and he'd ask for hugs. However, this trip was actually a bit of a surprise, as *I* even got hugged! Cinderella even DANCED with me one day! And I swear I never asked for any of that for the aforementioned reasons, lol. Maybe they're just contact-starved after having spent 2+ years either without a job or hanging out in a "Princess Pen" unable to properly interact with guests.