"Um do you not see the duck??" A Sept '17 WDW TR! COMPLETED 12/22

[dolewhipdreams]

Following along

 

[dolewhipdreams]

WANNA TAKE A PHOTO?

It seemed like only a few minutes later my alarm was going off and it was time to start getting ready. We wanted to be at the Magic Kingdom at park opening so that we could hit some Fantasyland dark rides first thing. After getting all dolled up we headed out to the bus station to await our chariot.

Not very long after, we were walking up the path and through the turnstiles and into the most magical place on earth! This was my first time seeing the Magic Kingdom decorated for Halloween and I loved it! I seriously got so many pictures of all the spoopy decorations.

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Before heading under the bridge and into town square, we stopped to get our first (of literally hundreds) photopass pictures in front of flower Mickey.

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Seriously thought since photopass is included with the AP and this was our first time using it, every time we saw a photopass photographer we were like "uhhh want to get a photo??" so we have so many!

Here's another showing off one of my favorite outfits from the trip:

[Give me Dole Whips and tell me I'm pretty]​

We took a few minutes just soaking everything up and taking loads of pictures before making our way back behind the castle.

[The most magical sight in the world **heart eyes emoji**]




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Our first ride of the day was Peter Pan which, I’ll be honest, isn’t my fave. I mean it’s cute and I like the queue but I don’t think I’ll make a point to ride it on my next couple of trips.

After rescuing Wendy and the Lost Boys from Hook we went across the way and hopped on it’s a small world. No matter how many times I ride it, I am tickled at the end when they say goodbye to everybody personally. That Disney magic, ya know?

The next order of business was breakfast and what better breakfast than Sleepy Hollow waffles?? We made our way to Liberty Square and followed our noses around to the waffles. I got the fruit and Nutella sandwich and M got a regular waffle with strawberries. Both were incredible but the waffle sandwich was really hard to eat!

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Right after we got our food they started setting up for the Muppets Present show. I’ve been so pumped about seeing this show ever since they announced it and oh man it did not disappoint! The humor is incredible and the songs are catchy (but mostly the American ones).

[If you haven't seen this show yet- do it!!]​

Haunted Mansion only had a 10 minute wait at this point so we decided to ride it before heading to our first FP of the day. There was an adorable 5 or 6 year old girl in the stretching room who knew the whole speech. At one point she yelled (in a squeaky-mouse-kindergarten-girl-voice), “And NO DOORS!” It was precious and everybody giggle-awwwed.

After meeting a few happy haunts we threaded our way back to the hub and down Main St. Our first FP was to meet the mouse himself, Mickey! But first we stopped because there was a photopass photographer and our general rule for the trip was: Seize every photopass opportunity.

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I debated getting this FP and I’m so glad I did! I haven’t interacted with talking Mickey before and it was really cool. Much more personalized than I had expected. When it was our turn, he even performed a card trick for us! It was awesome and the photos turned out really fun.

[The photographer told us to say our favorite cheese so this is apparently how my face looks when I say gouda]
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We had some time to kill before our next FP back in New Fantasyland, so we decided to check out some of the Main St shops (which we would end up doing quite a bit because rain was a constant companion on this trip). I can’t remember if we ended up buying anything on this particular foray but we knew we would be back at MK almost every day of the trip so we didn’t feel pressured.

When we left the shops we encountered on of the ubiquitous balloon peddlers and M helped me get a photo that I’ve been wanting for a while:

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Walking back to New Fantasyland (side note, I was about to abbreviate this but it would be NFL and I’m just not comfortable with that ) we went by the tea cups and decided to go for a spin. We had a good time and took some fun photos.

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Once we got off we decided to try to get into our next FP even though we had about 15 minutes until our window opened up. We walked up to Enchanted Tales With Belle and scanned our bands (which, understandably, turned blue) and we gave the CMs our best innocent “What’s going on?” kind of look. They kindly informed us that we were 12 minutes early but that we could go on in. So kind of them J

Enchanted Tales With Belle was another first for me and it was really cute, but another thing I probably won’t do again for a while. When we were done watching Belle fall in love with the Beast (side thought: do you think Belle still calls him Beast or does she call him by his actual name?) it was time for lunch.

Where did we go? Tune in next time to find out!

 

[paradesintherain]

Your outfit is SOOOO cute, I love that skirt! Can't wait to try the nutella waffle for myself soon, yum!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Your outfit is SOOOO cute, I love that skirt! Can't wait to try the nutella waffle for myself soon, yum!

Thank you! It was a lot of fun to wear

And OMG the nutella waffle is life. changing. I'm so excited for you to have one!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

WHERE DOES BUZZ LIGHTYEAR GET HIS TOWELS?

Our tummies in full grumble mode, we made our way just around the corner to the Beast’s castle for lunch at Be Our Guest. This is without a doubt my favorite restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. I know I’m not unique in saying so but I have been blown away every time I’ve eaten there (which, as of this trip, is twice but who’s counting?).

Even though we had ordered online the day before, it took forever to get our food. Probably 15 minutes, which is an eternity when you’re hungry. Seriously every time a tray rolled by with what looked like our food, I got so excited. Anyway, when our food eventually made its way to our table, I ate the French dip sandwich with the green beans (because ugh I’m healthy now). All I got of the restaurant was this low light photo of my food, which is admittedly making me very hungry. I guess I figured I had enough pictures from my last trip?

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Our hunger satisfied, we decided it was time for a little adventure! Pirates had a low ish wait so we made our way down to Adventureland to see how things were going on the Black Pearl.

Side note- I saw the first POTC movie before I had ever been to a Disney park so my first time riding POTC was awesome because I got to see where all the inspiration came from. As a massive fan of both Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp, the Pirates franchise quickly became one of my favorite movies and thus POTC one of my favorite rides.

When we got off the ride they were just beginning the Jack Sparrow show. We found a teeny spot in the shade and decided to watch… That is, until we got way too hot and sweaty (helloooo Florida sunshine). I opened up MDE and saw that Jungle Cruise was only at 20 minutes and we figured hey- that’s 20 minutes in the shade. Let’s do it.

This was one of the better cruises that I’ve taken. The skipper was really funny and she even complimented my skirt! We had a little bit of a delay while unloading at the end so she was telling her favorite Disney jokes. The best one was the title of this post!

Where does Buzz Lightyear get his towels? At Bed, Bath, and Beyond!

Cruising the rivers of the world is tiring work, so we were ready for a snack. What better way to refresh a weary world traveler than a delightful Dole Whip?? I decided to shake things up and get my first vanilla swirl and it did not disappoint. Mmmm my mouth is watering now

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[Now that’s the face of a happy lady]​

We ate the rest of our whips on the go because we had a FP for 7DMT that was about to open and we wanted to ride Under the Sea first. We hopped on, took a shell-fie, had a blast, and even had time for a photopass stop (because who DOESN’T have time for a photopass stop???).

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Man, I’m so glad we had FPs for 7DMT. It’s a fun ride, but I don’t think it’s fun enough to wait more than like 30 minutes tops. Anyway, we rode in the veeerrrryyy back of the train which was awesome! Our car rocked so much and I didn’t have to worry about my hair smacking anyone in the face.

[Probably one of my top 3 fave ride photos. My head looks like it’s on fire]​

7DMT was our final FP of the day and we were ready to head back to CBR to freshen up and get our Halloween costumes on for my very first MNSSHP!

On the way out, we stopped and got more photopass shots.

[I heart magic shots!]​

Coming soon to a trip report near you- do we stay dry at our first MNSSHP? Probably not!

 

[Raeven]

I love your outfit it's so cute!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

I love your outfit it's so cute!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

BOO TO YOU AND YOU AND YOU AND YOU AND YOU AND…

We rushed off our bus at CBR to get back and get ready for MNSSHP. M had a pretty easy time- she went with a super simple (but very cute) costume of some Sorcerer Mickey ears and t shirt. She used the rest of the time to rest and recharge.

I, on the other hand, am admittedly fairly high maintenance when it comes to getting ready so it took me a while. In my defense, Ariel bangs are hard to do right! Anyway, I thought the time was well spent because my costume looked great. I got the idea in my head wayyy back in March and had been working on putting it together ever since.

So without further ado, may I present:

The Little Newsie!
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This combines two of my very favorite things: Newsies and Ariel. Side note: if you haven’t already seen the live filming of Newsies that they produced this year go check it out on Netflix or download it on iTunes! It is seriously phenomenal.

Now that we were all prettied up, it was time to get back on the bus and make our way to the party. We got to the Magic Kingdom at about 4pm, which was 30 minutes later than I wanted, but security wasn’t bad at all. We took the Main St bypass and got our welcome bag, along with a few photos. That welcome bag ended up being the only candy we got that night but more on that later.

Here’s some of the photos we got:

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The first order of business was to head to the back of the park to meet Ariel (for obvious reasons). I love getting to swim with Ariel but it’s even more fun when I’m dressed like her. We chatted about ocean things and outfits and pretty soon it was time for us to swim on to our next adventure.

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When we got out, I knew that I needed to get a few more photos in front of Ariel’s castle since I was now in my costume. They turned out great and I even got a magic shot.

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After that it started to sprinkle a tiny bit. We saw that the wait time for Rapunzel wasn’t very long so we hopped in it. Tiana wasn’t up on the sign with Rapunzel so we figured it would just be her in the room. We were pleasantly surprised when we saw Jasmine there!

This was my first time meeting either princess and they are just the best! Punzie was so cute and sweet and Jasmine was confident and sassy. They made a great pair.

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When we got out of the princess hall it started to rain pretty heavily. I changed my shoes into my sandals (I am eternally grateful to myself for packing these. I almost didn’t and my feet would have been soaked and miserable for the whole night without them). We dashed around the corner to Winnie the Pooh since I know that ride’s queue is completely undercover. I almost regret doing that. The posted wait time was 25 minutes and the line filled up with other people trying to escape the rain. Let me tell you, that’s one noisy and uncomfortable place in the best of times. When you’re soaked and hungry and worried your night will be a soggy one (spoiler alert: it was), then it’s downright unbearable!

It was a cute ride and luckily when we got out the rain had stopped. We weren’t terribly hungry but we wanted to eat before the party time officially started. I had my eye on a certain carb-covered hot dog so we went down to Casey’s Corner.

While we were waiting in line there was a family that was trying to get their ish together. The kids were running in and out because they didn’t know where to sit or what they wanted and all that. Finally their mom told all but one of her kids to go sit with their dad but called her daughter to come wait in line with her and help carry the food back. The girl gives her mom one heck of an “are you serious??” look and says, in her most concerned voice, “Umm do you not see the duck??”

Apparently there was a duck outside and it was her life’s mission to watch it. How dare her mother ask her to come inside?? We both thought it was hilarious.

We placed out orders (I got the mac and cheese hot dog because I was ready for a meal with absolutely no nutritional value, and boy did it deliver) and found a seat outside. The duck was even out there! Sadly, I have no photos of the duck, only video.

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We were lucky because it was right in front (or is it behind?) the pianist so we got to listen to him. Man, this guy was phenomenal. I’m so glad we took the time to sit and listen to him play- it turned out to be a highlight of the night!

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It was 6:30 when we finished eating and we thought we would get in line for our first party characters- Donald and Daisy. We were expecting a fairly long wait because we were advised to be in line for the ducks by 6:15ish, so we were nearly 30 minutes late. When we got there, there were like 7 people in line. It was seriously so short!

By 7:15 it was our turn. We got some great photos. They look so dashing in their costumes! For some reason it just cracks me up that Daisy is a beautiful princess and Donald is a pumpkin

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When we were done we went in search of our next characters- Belle and Gaston. We were optimistic that their line would be similarly short but we were disappointed. After being in line about 20 minutes, the cast member said that they needed a break and that they wouldn’t be back for another 20 minutes. M’s favorite character is Belle and I’ve always wanted to meet Gaston so we decided to stick it out. It was closer to 30 minutes by the time they came back and there were still plenty of people in front of us, but at least the line was moving again. By this time it was dark and we could see lightning getting closer and closer. We were the next ones in line when the wind suddenly picked up and it started to rain.

We were scared that they would send Belle and Gaston away but luckily they just moved them inside Gaston’s Tavern! We had a great interaction with them and got one of my favorite photos of the trip:

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M also had a great time and was excited to meet her favorite princess.

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By the time we were done it was pouring. We decided to scrap our original plan (go get pumpkin Mickey waffles, ride haunted mansion, and catch the Cadaver Dans before doing the parade and fireworks) and instead go to Tomorrowland, where there is a plethora of indoor attractions. Space Mountain was down at first so we rode Buzz Lightyear.

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I absolutely love this picture. M looks super confused and I’m just way into it.

We went right next door to watch Monster’s Inc, which I think is a super underrated attraction. It is seriously so funny and I laugh so hard every time! Space Mountain was open when the show was over so we got in line there. It was only about a 20 minute wait and I got the first photo of my “Ann is Bored on Attractions” photo collection:

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During all the rain most people had the same idea- head to the indoor trick or treating stations. Which meant the lines were loooong. So we decided to skip on trick or treating. As I mentioned, I'm on a diet when I'm not at Disney and so I wouldn't be able to eat any of the candy anyway!

The rain had mostly stopped when we got out and we heard the first Boo to You parade going by at the hub. We got to it a little late and had a horrible spot. It was my first Boo to You and I decided that it was definitely worth it to get a good spot for the second parade later.

They made an announcement that HalloWishes had been delayed but would start ‘soon’. Since HalloWishes was important to us and we didn’t know quite how long ‘soon’ was going to be, we just parked ourselves on a curb near the start of Main St to wait it out.

The remaining Hocus Pocus shows were cancelled for the night but they did come out and do one song. I thought that was weird. Like why do just one song?

Anyway, eventually they announced HalloWishes and everyone went nuts. It’s such a fun show! I think I prefer Holiday Wishes but it was still a great show. We knew Boo to You was going to start again right after so we stayed where we were.

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In the meantime I took advantage of a lonely looking photopass photographer to get some nice night time magic shots.

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Pretty soon after that they started clearing the streets and we could hear the Boo to You music playing! Oh man, Boo to You was definitely my favorite part of the party. It’s such a great parade. Every single part was phenomenal. All of the characters and dancers made it so much fun! I listen to the soundtrack all the time now

[This is the only photo of Boo to You that I got. I guess I was just too enthralled to take photos!]
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The parade ended a little bit after midnight, which meant that the party was officially over. All in all, it wasn’t the worst but the rain definitely made things differently and I seriously regret not making more of an effort to put some pumpkin Mickey waffles in my belly. I am so excited for my next MNSSHP, whenever that may be! I can definitely see why people go to more than one party per year.

Up next: We see our first floating mountains!

 

[paradesintherain]

I love your costume! How clever and cute! It stink that your party got rained on but it looks like you made the most of it!

 

[stephtron312]

That costume is amazing!!! I went to a very rainy MNSSHP a few years ago and I remember everyone huddled around one lady who had a doppler radar up on her phone so we could see when the rain would hopefully stop hahaha, it def makes for an experience. Following along with your report and can't wait to see what other disventures you have!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Your MNSSHP outfit is phenomenal! I love everything - hair, makeup, outfit, on point!!
Your pictures are really awesome too. We had long lines for most characters too. I think we just got a few, certainly not Belle and Gaston as their line was insane. I will try another time though! Can't believe it was my first MNSSHP last week too! Mmm mac n cheese hot dog. I like Disney mac n cheese.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

Wow I need to step up my TR game here. I'm hoping to bust out the rest of the trip before the end of the year!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

IN WHICH PANDORA IS MORE AMAZING THAN EXPECTED

My alarm startled me awake on what I’m pretty sure was the shortest night ever. I was tempted to snooze but I knew we had a pretty full day ahead of us (again) and I wanted to be ready for it! Today we were going to get to see Pandora for the first time.

We got ready and were at the bus stop by 7:30 and at the gates to Animal Kingdom by 7:55. It ended up being one of our more efficient bus mornings. We decided to RD Kilimanjaro, thinking that most of the crowd was going to make a beeline for Pandora (we were right). We walked pretty much straight back to the safari and only had about a 5-10 minute wait.

Another reason we decided to hit Kilimanjaro first was because we thought the cooler morning weather would mean that more animals would be out and about (we were wrong). It’s not like there were very few animals that were active, just not as many as I thought. We got to see all the stars- rhino, crocs, hippos, elephants, giraffes, etc- but the very best part was the lions. When we pulled around they were hanging out on their rocks (as they do) but then they started doing what can only be described as singing. They were kind of meow-roaring back and forth but not at each other, just kind of out into space. It was incredible! Even our guide didn’t really know what was going on. Anyway, we couldn’t stay stopped for too long so pretty soon our ride was over. Here’s a few of the better photos I got:

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Our next stop was Pandora. We walked down through Africa and took the path by FOTLK. About halfway down the path we encountered the end of the line for FOP…. Not a good sign. Once we entered the Valley of Mo’ara we saw how packed the area was. One of the reasons the FOP line was so long was because they weren’t letting people into the queue. As we walked around, we realized that NRJ was also down. Uh oh! We had a FP for NRJ in about an hour and our original plan was to soak in Pandora, eat some breakfast, then use our FP. We decided to continue that plan and just pray that the rides would be back up soon.

So first up was exploring. Oh man. There isn’t a single square inch of Pandora that isn’t absolutely stunning. The floating mountains were so majestic and I loved how they blended earth plants with Pandora plants and all the sounds and oh my goodness how long until I can go back??

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We found a great backdrop for some photos that were uniquely Pandoran.

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After our exploration and photo session, it was time to get some grub. We went into the Satu’li Canteen to check out their breakfast options. I’m especially glad we did since they stopped serving breakfast soon after our trip. M got one of the hash options and I got the French toast, which was to die for. Seriously so good.

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Our FP window still hadn’t opened so we went over to Windtraders to see what sort of merch they had dreamed up for Pandora. A lot of really cute but mostly useless stuff! I saw the banshee rookery and had an idea for a funny photo. So I asked if I could just hold one for a quick photo and they pointed me toward someone who was demonstrating with a banshee. I asked if I could hold it and she said sure! So I went to pick it up and she said “Wait, no you can’t hold it, I have to. But you can pet it.” Uhh okay.

What I wanted to do was get an intense picture of me with the banshee and caption it “Mother of Banshees” #GoT but this is the best I could do:

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Both Pandora rides were both still down so we thought we would catch the first FOTLK. It was about 10 minutes to show time when we got in line so we didn’t get amazing seats but I feel like all the seats in that theatre are decent. Anyway, FOTLK was fantastic as it usually is. I cried as I usually do (during Can You Feel the Love Tonight when the birds fly). We got out and I checked the app to see that – surprise! – Pandora rides were still down.

By that time our FP window for Everest was about to open so we walked through Discovery Island to get to Asia and ride. We escaped the Yeti and exited through the gift shop, where I found a shirt that I absolutely fell in love with. I knew we would be coming back to AK at least one more time so I didn’t buy it yet but I was already 99% sure that it would be coming home with me.

MDE sent me a message that our next FP, Dinosaur, was also down. Seriously, three major attractions in a single park down at one time! We never did find out what the problem was. But that of course made the lines for all the functioning attractions even longer. We decided to do something that didn’t have any lines and walk around Discovery Island a bit to stare at animals and such. We also did a little bit of animal searching on the Tree of Life.

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While wandering around, we walked right past Russel as he was on his way to meet some friends. There were only a few people in line so we decided to stop and say hi.

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M mentioned how much she loved all the Lion King shirts she was seeing so we decided to try some shops to see if any sold Lion King stuff. We looked through the shops in African and near the entrance and had no luck! I guess they all bought them somewhere else. We decided we were going to go ahead and go to the next park of the day but I gave MDE one last glance and behold! NRJ was running!

We were already near the entrance to Pandora so we rushed over and asked the first cast member if the rides were really up again (when they went down, a CM told us to watch the app but warned us that it would randomly show a wait time even if the ride wasn’t running…cuz that’s cool…) and she said they were! So we finally got to ride NRJ.

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It was a really pretty and peaceful ride, and I absolutely adore the music, but I don’t think I would wait more than 30 minutes for it. I’m glad we had a couple of days to get AK FPs so we didn’t have to do standby for either Pandora ride. I didn’t get any good photos of NRJ because of the lighting but here’s just a few more of glorious Pandora.

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Up next: ‘Ohana means no one ever leaves hungry

 

[dolewhipdreams]

SEE MOM, THERE IS A STARBUCKS!

Having finally gotten to ride NRJ, we decided to make our way to the MK for the rest of our day. We got off the bus at around 1:15 and the first order of business was staking out a spot to watch FoF, which neither of us had seen. But before we did that, we needed some caffeine. We went in to Starbucks, which had a pretty hefty line and we had to decide between getting our drinks and getting a good spot for the parade. We decided the caffeine was worth it so we stuck it out.

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Drinks in hand, we left Starbucks about 5 minutes before parade time and were able to get a spot right on the curb, which was surprising. While we were waiting, a family walked by and one of the boys (who was about 8 or 9) grabbed his mom’s arm and pointed at us and was like “Mom look! See, there IS a Starbucks here. Where is it??” It was so funny to see how excited this kid was to find a Starbucks. I’ve been there too, kid.

The parade was fantastic and I’m so glad we got to see it. I loved seeing all the princesses and of course the dragon was magnificent. The performers were so involved and had such awesome interactions.

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Once the parade was over, we went toward Frontierland with one mission: ride BTMRR. The posted wait time was 45 mins but we didn’t have anything else planned so we went for it. The wait was only like 20 minutes tops so I’m glad we went ahead and got in line. We also hit up a photopass photographer on the way out, so that was a bonus.

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We went by Jungle Cruise so we could get some photos of my outfit for the day, which was JC themed. They didn’t turn out great but I did love that outfit.

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The only other thing I for sure wanted to do that afternoon before we went to dinner was watch Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire and we had some time before that started so we just wandered. We passed by Merida and the CM said she would be out meeting in just a few minutes and the line hadn’t gotten very long yet so we hopped on in. I think we waited around 15 minutes before we got to meet my main Scottish pal. I love her so much. She is my inspiration. It’s unfortunate that all of the photos we got together this time around were….unfortunate.

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Side note: In my notes for the day I have (DUCKS) written right after Merida but I honestly have no idea what it means. I don’t have any photos or anything sooo…I guess something noteworthy happened with some ducks??

Anyway, right before we met Merida it started to sprinkle and when we got out it was a little more of a steady rain. I had no desire to stand and watch Friendship Faire in the rain so we decided to skip that and head to our ADR a little early, so we meandered down to the monorail and were off to the Poly!

We went up to ‘Ohana and checked in 25 minutes early and decided to just lounge around in the comfy chairs upstairs. It was nice to rest our feet in the dry and the A/C. It was a little tortuous sitting there and smelling all of the lovely ‘Ohana smells but not being able to eat any yet! We were seated right at our reservation time and before too long they brought out the bread, which was heavenly. It was hard not to fill up on it, knowing there was so much delicious food to come.

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This was the first ‘Ohana experience for both of us and we absolutely loved it. The noodles were probably the most tasty part, I easily could have had a whole meal comprised completely of those noodles. Luckily, everything else was just as good. Neither of us tried the shrimp (M because she was just too full and me because I don’t eat food that swims), but the other meats were great, as were the other sides. And let’s not forget the real reason everyone comes to ‘Ohana- the bread pudding. My goodness I have dreams about this stuff. I’m actually drooling right now thinking about it.

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They pretty much had to roll us out of there when we were done, but we did manage to get a cute photo in front of the sign, thanks to a helpful CM.

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It was still raining when we left to go back to the MK so we did a little Main St shopping. I started a new tradition last year of gathering a collection of Disney Parks glassware so we went in to the crystal shop to get a couple of character tumblers. So now we have Goofy and Tink in our cupboard to keep Mickey and Minnie company.

Shopping can only keep you occupied for so long, so we opened up MDE to see what kind of waits there were for things that were inside. There was a low wait to meet Minnie and Daisy back in the Storybook Circus and we decided to go meet them! The line was actually longer than was posted but at least it was dry. When we finally got up to the front, the photographers were only taking a couple of photos each, probably because of how long the line was. We still got a few good ones, though.

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Since the railroad station was right there, we decided to take a ride to Frontierland. It was actually my first time on the RR! So many firsts on this trip. When we got off, there were about 45 minutes until Happily Ever After was supposed to start. We decided to try and sneak one more ride in before finding a spot, so we rode Pirates once again. The wait was a few minutes longer than posted and we got out with about 15 minutes until showtime.

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We scurried down to the castle to see if there were any spots left and (big shocker) there weren’t any. We squeezed in about ¾ of the way down Main St, which was packed. We were too far back to get any good photos, but that was kind of nice since I could just stand and enjoy watching the show for the first time.

Okay, so like most people I was very sad that they ended Wishes but I had a somewhat open mind about HEA especially after seeing the cute ‘making of’ video that they released. I had avoided watching any full videos because I wanted to be surprised by all the new effects and music. And oh man, I absolutely loved it. I understand the complaint that there isn’t as much of a strong storyline like in Wishes but I think the music with the castle projections and fireworks make for an excellent show.

The very best part of that particular show for me was that when they started the Moana portion, I heard hundreds of little kids singing “How Far I’ll Go” and it was just one of those magical moments where I could see the sort of impact that Disney can have. All these kids could just be singing along because it’s a catchy song, but hopefully at least a few are inspired by Moana’s story and truly want to see how far they can go. It made me tear up a little (okay, a little more. I was already pretty much bawling because Disney fireworks).

After the show we were exhausted and still in awe so we stumbled our way out of the park and to the busses with the rest of the mob. Another awesome Disney day!

Up next: Breakfast with the princesses and your basic Disney Instagram shots

 

[dolewhipdreams]

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR

The next morning we grabbed a bus to Magic Kingdom once again. I feel like we spent a ton of time at MK on this trip but it’s my favorite and I’m pretty sure I could live there and never grow tired of it.

Anyway, we had a breakfast ADR with Cinderella! When I initially made the reservation it was a PPO ADR but Disney scheduled one of the Extra Morning Magic events that morning so the park wasn’t as empty as I was hoping. We did stop for a few photos up by the train station but with the position of the sun and the cloud cover, they didn’t turn out too good. Which is unfortunate, because it’s one of my favorite places to take photos at MK.

After our failed photo shoot we decided to head down to the castle. Luckily, there was a photopass photographer by the pumpkins on Main St so we did get some good photos that morning!

[This is the moment I learned that this shirt does not like to be photographed]​

We went on down Main St and walked around to the back of the castle to check in at CRT! This was the first time eating here for both of us and we were very excited. First up, of course, is the meet and photo with the princes herself- Cindy!

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They let us straight upstairs from there and I felt like actual royalty going up that spiral staircase. It’s so magical! We got seated and they brought us our pastry plate which was just the cutest.

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The waitress took our orders and soon after our food arrived! I ordered the beef tenderloin and egg, which is a departure from my usual. I tend to stay away from steak-type breakfast options but this just sounded so darn good. M got the traditional breakfast.

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I don’t remember how M liked her breakfast. I think she said it was good but not amazing. Mine was quite good. I wouldn’t go as far as fantastic, but the steak was really tender and the flavors were very complimentary.

Soon after we began eating, it was time for the wishing ceremony! We grabbed our wishing stars and magic wands and made our wishes!

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By this time the princesses were beginning to make their way to our corner. I’m really surprised that we got to meet so many! Reviews have said that the princesses rotate in and out but I don’t feel like we missed any of the classics. We got to meet Snow, Aurora, Ariel, and Jasmine!

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With stars in our eyes (and pockets) we drank in the last bit of magic and left to continue our morning at MK. The plan was to spend the morning at MK doing whatever we wanted, then go to AK for the afternoon and evening. We decided that what we wanted was to take a ton of photos!

First things first we made our way to the infamous Purple Wall and I got my first #purplewall pics. I was telling M about it on the way and I don’t think she believed me that it’s like a thing to take pictures there, but when we got there a bachelorette party was gathered taking photos and I got to help them get some group shots. See M, I’m not crazy!

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We thought we would check the wait time on Space Mtn and found out that it was down, so we hopped on the People Mover so we could see inside with the lights on! That was really cool.

When we got off, we opened up MDE to see what characters were around. Specifically I was looking for Peter Pan’s schedule because I was Disneybounding as Smee and I knew I needed a photo with him. He was scheduled to come out in about 15 minutes so we walked over through Fantasyland and got in line! While we were waiting, I snapped a few photos of the buildings in the area and decided that I needed to hire someone from Disney to do my landscaping for me.

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We were the second group in line when Peter came out and we had a blast with him. He saw immediately that I was dressed like Smee and asked if I had kidnapped M. I said yes and he promised he wouldn’t tell anyone as long as I got him some ice cream. Then he promised M that he was going to help her escape after he got his ice cream.

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Peter is consistently one of my favorite characters to meet because he is always just so fun. He went on a cruise with us last year and tried to talk us out of becoming pirates!

When we were done with Peter we wandered just over to the Tangled area to take some photos. We noticed a really pretty doorway that we wanted some pictures in front of and some nice girls offered to take our picture!

Not wanting to waste any more time, we opened up MDE to check character schedules once again and decided to go hang out with Alice for a little while! Alice is just the cutest. Look at her sweet smile!

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Next up on the photo tour of MK (which is what the morning was becoming) was a stop on the Tomorrowland bridge with the castle in the background. This photographer made my DAY because she told me I looked just like a Disney princess!

[I bet you say that to all the girls]
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The next destination was the hub to get some #hubgrassandchill pictures.

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Then we noticed another photographer by the fountain and got some shots. The sun was directly in our eyes for those so we just look like we’re in pain in all of them…

To protect our eyes we made our way inside to the Main St shops (yet again) but this time I had a purpose! I was going to buy my first Alex and Ani bracelet! I ended up not being able to make up my mind and got two. Oops.

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While waiting for Friendship Faire to start, we grabbed a couple photos around the hub.

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Since we had missed out on Friendship Faire the day before, I was excited to finally get to see it. It was so cute! I loved Dreams Come True (is that what it was called?) and I thought Friendship Faire was a nice replacement.

M wanted to check out Mickey’s PhillharMagic because she’s a music teacher and she loves all sorts of music things! There were some really annoying girls behind us who were talking and singing the whole time. I was very tempted to turn around and ask them to quiet down but I didn’t want to freak M out.

We got out and realized that it was about time to head to AK but on our way out we saw Anastasia and Drisella meeting right behind the castle! They were also really fun to interact with. They realized that M is very musical so they started singing opera together. It was awesome.

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And with that our MK morning photo extravaganza came to an end!

Up next: We get matched with Banshees!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

I’VE RIDDEN EVEREST 14 TIMES

Once we got to AK, we decided to walk through some of the animal exhibits. There weren’t many out (probably because it was like 392827 degrees), but there was one tiger who was taking a nap on his back. He looked super silly.

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For lunch, we went back to Satu’li Canteen and lunch was even better than the breakfast! I got a bowl with the kale base, grilled chicken, and cream herb dressing. So. Good.

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After lunch our most anticipated FP opened up- Flight of Passage! While I’m definitely glad we didn’t have to wait in a 3 hour line, I’m bummed that the FP line bypasses so much of the interesting queue. The ride itself was phenomenal, though! I think there was a slight glitch because we were in the room where you get matched with the banshee for an awkwardly long time. But oh man I can’t wait to ride this again!

After FOP we decided to leave Pandora for a bit and went for our next FP, which was Dinosaur. We were supposed to ride it the day before but it was down for far too long. On our way over to Dinoland, we decided to stop for the photopass right in front of the tree.

This was my only negative CM experience this trip. M & I wanted separate photos for this one so I went first. The photographer asked me if I was done and I said yes. So he was getting ready to scan my magic band and I said, “M is with me so if it’s easier we can wait to scan until she’s done.” And he acted super annoyed with me and was like “Oh so you’re not done.”

Um yes, you asked if I was done and I am done. M still needs to go so she is not done. Ugh, he just didn’t have any reason to be that angry with us. At least the photos were cute

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Anyway, with that experience over we finally made our way to Dinosaur. It was exciting, as always, and I got another picture in my Ann is Bored on Rides collection:

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After that we met our friend Pocahontas. There was a little boy (maybe two?) in front of us who was more interested in running around and playing with the stuff around Pocahontas than actually seeing Pocahontas. He was pretty precious.

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Our next FP wasn’t for a few more hours, so we rode Expedition Everest a few times in a row. One of the times I rode with this awesome kid who talked to me the whole time. He told me how this was the 14th time that he rode Everest on this trip alone. Crazy! But I love kids like that. Here he is with me being bored again:

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When we were done riding I finally broke down and got the t shirt I had been eyeing from earlier. It’s an Expedition Everest shirt that’s made to look like a mountain rescue team shirt. It’s one of my new favorite shirts.

We slowly made our way around to Africa, where I stopped to say hi to the Fichwa wall and we grabbed a snack.

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By the time we were done eating our FP window opened. This was my first time at the Animal Kingdom since they started doing the sunset safaris, so we had a 7pm safari. It was actually pretty disappointing. There were hardly any animals out.

We had a few minutes after Kilimanjaro to check out Pandora at night. This was also disappointing as it wasn’t completely dark yet so we couldn’t really experience a lot of the bioluminescence.

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We had to leave Pandora to get to the RoL stadium for our FPs. So after sitting for a while in the stuffy amphitheater we saw the show for the first time. It was alright but honestly a little boring. I don’t think I’ll make an effort to see it again. In hindsight, I would have skipped RoL and stayed to see Pandora in the true dark.

And on that disappointing night we end Day 3!

Up next: Captain America tours Hollywood Studios

 

[dolewhipdreams]

MY FIRST DISMEET!

The next morning we were able to sleep in just a smidge (like 20 minutes longer. ugh.) because we were eating breakfast at the resort. This girl needs Mickey waffles on every trip, so we went to the buffet tent to get some! The breakfast buffet actually wasn’t bad. A lot of people rag on the temporary dining at CBR but it wasn’t terrible.

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Our main park for the day was Hollywood Studios! I put on my Captain America Disneybound since there’s somewhat of a Marvel presence at DHS. We grabbed a bus and got there right as the park officially opened. The plan was to RD RNRC but we had to make a pit stop when we saw this handsome fella by the park entrance.

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When we said goodbye to Donald we finally went back to the roller coaster. And I got my next addition to the Ann is Bored on Rides collection.

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On the way back to our next FP (Star Tours) we stopped at a photopass stop and I met the most dedicated Disney photographer yet. I mean- look at the lengths he was willing to go to to get the shot!

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Then we went and rode Star Tours, which I love so much. Even though I’ve ridden it a ton of times and almost every time I get the Hoth version, it’s still great.

When we got out of the ride I got a message from @chunkymonkey saying she was in DHS and heading toward Star Tours! So I had my very first DISmeet. It’s so cool being a grown up and meeting internet strangers in real life like our parents always taught us not to.

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Next on my personal to-do list was meet Star Lord and Groot. We were stopped on our way to watch the Imperial Troops march by. Very serious stuff here.

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The line for the GotG wasn’t too bad, maybe 20 minutes and we had a lot of awesome interaction with them! We took some great pictures and I even got a selfie with Baby Groot! Although the photo of my taking the selfie turned out much better than the actual selfie.

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Our Toy Story FP was open when we were done with Star Lord and Groot, so we rode that. This ride is so much fun! I wish the lines were shorter because I would ride it over and over again.

Next we wanted to do a few more character meets so we stopped at Red Carpet Dreams to say hello to movie star Minnie and Sorcerer Mickey.

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[Apparently my legs don’t know what to do while hugging…]​

Then we rolled on over to the Star Wars Launch Bay to say hi to BB-8! By far the most awkward meet and greet I’ve ever done. All of your interaction is through the CM since BB-8 can only move his head and speaks in beeps. He’s adorable, but I don’t think I’ll be meeting him again. Sorry Beebs.

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By this time we were feeling the faintest of hunger pains and we all know that you aren’t allowed to feel hungry at Disney. I had been wanting to try the famous carrot cake cookie, which I hadn’t before. My DH despises carrot cake and always convinces me to get another treat we can share. Well he wasn’t here this time to sway me!

[Pure carroty bliss]​

We had one last FP to use up, and that was ToT. I’m so glad that this ToT hasn’t been touched. I was sad when they remodeled the ToT at Disneyland because it was just such a beautiful building (even though the WDW ride was waayyy better). But I did recently get a chance to ride GotG: Mission Breakout and holy cow it’s amazing.

Anyway, I forgot where the camera was on this ride so unfortunately I couldn’t get a bored picture on it. Just a regular ole ride photo.

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And with that we were pretty much done with all that DHS has to offer these days… Although we did catch a showing of Muppet Vision 3D before we left.

After the Muppets, we exited the park (stopping for photopass, naturally) and got on the friendship boats.

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While on the boat to Epcot it began to rain, so we knew we were in for a bit of a soggy Food & Wine Festival.

Up next: I get my first special AP product!

 

[chunkymonkey]

After our exploration and photo session, it was time to get some grub. We went into the Satu’li Canteen to check out their breakfast options. I’m especially glad we did since they stopped serving breakfast soon after our trip. M got one of the hash options and I got the French toast, which was to die for. Seriously so good.

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I never got to try breakfast as they ended it so quickly! It looks good though!

We decided the caffeine was worth it so we stuck it out.

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does pink drink have caffeine in it? I think I've only had it once.

Side note: In my notes for the day I have (DUCKS) written right after Merida but I honestly have no idea what it means. I don’t have any photos or anything sooo…I guess something noteworthy happened with some ducks??

Haha maybe you thought you saw the duck again!

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This was the first ‘Ohana experience for both of us and we absolutely loved it. The noodles were probably the most tasty part, I easily could have had a whole meal comprised completely of those noodles. Luckily, everything else was just as good. Neither of us tried the shrimp (M because she was just too full and me because I don’t eat food that swims), but the other meats were great, as were the other sides. And let’s not forget the real reason everyone comes to ‘Ohana- the bread pudding. My goodness I have dreams about this stuff. I’m actually drooling right now thinking about it.

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Argh we just had this on Monday and seriously just fell in love with it all over again. We just love that place!!
The noodles are so good!

The very best part of that particular show for me was that when they started the Moana portion, I heard hundreds of little kids singing “How Far I’ll Go” and it was just one of those magical moments where I could see the sort of impact that Disney can have. All these kids could just be singing along because it’s a catchy song, but hopefully at least a few are inspired by Moana’s story and truly want to see how far they can go. It made me tear up a little (okay, a little more. I was already pretty much bawling because Disney fireworks).

That's my favorite part too!!!

We got to meet Snow, Aurora, Ariel, and Jasmine!

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We had a pretty good meal there in August! I was surprised. The food was ok to good but we saw a ton of princesses and the nieces were happy.

We got out and realized that it was about time to head to AK but on our way out we saw Anastasia and Drisella meeting right behind the castle! They were also really fun to interact with. They realized that M is very musical so they started singing opera together. It was awesome.

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How cute! I love the stepsisters. They are so funny.
Lady Tremaine is the best though, she points at kids and tells you who would make good servants.

For lunch, we went back to Satu’li Canteen and lunch was even better than the breakfast! I got a bowl with the kale base, grilled chicken, and cream herb dressing. So. Good.

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I LOVE the chicken bowl. I always get it with the rice and the chimichurri sauce. It's so good, that I had 2 lunches on my last trip because we had a Tiffins meal on our last day but I didn't want to miss out on the chicken bowl so I had a kids chicken bowl and then a full lunch at Tiffins about 30 mins later, LOL. #dedication

Haha so funny!

We had to leave Pandora to get to the RoL stadium for our FPs. So after sitting for a while in the stuffy amphitheater we saw the show for the first time. It was alright but honestly a little boring. I don’t think I’ll make an effort to see it again. In hindsight, I would have skipped RoL and stayed to see Pandora in the true dark.

I thought it was boring too. Pretty to look at but nothing that compels me to watch again.

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I don't know how you can be so still during the beginning of the ride!! I can't help but scream even though I want to pretend I'm sleeping!!

When we got out of the ride I got a message from @chunkymonkey saying she was in DHS and heading toward Star Tours! So I had my very first DISmeet. It’s so cool being a grown up and meeting internet strangers in real life like our parents always taught us not to.

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Hehe, I'm so glad I was your first Disboard internet stranger meet! You can tell your parents I'm not that strange (not all the time) and I look like an oversized Boo from Monsters Inc.

By this time we were feeling the faintest of hunger pains and we all know that you aren’t allowed to feel hungry at Disney. I had been wanting to try the famous carrot cake cookie, which I hadn’t before. My DH despises carrot cake and always convinces me to get another treat we can share. Well he wasn’t here this time to sway me!

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How did you like it!?! I have not had one in years but I remember it being pretty good!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

does pink drink have caffeine in it? I think I've only had it once.

Yeah! It has green coffee extract in it, which has a little bit of caffeine in it without the yucky coffee taste.

Lady Tremaine is the best though, she points at kids and tells you who would make good servants.

I've been wanted to try 1900 Park Fare to see her! I may have to do it now

I LOVE the chicken bowl. I always get it with the rice and the chimichurri sauce. It's so good, that I had 2 lunches on my last trip because we had a Tiffins meal on our last day but I didn't want to miss out on the chicken bowl so I had a kids chicken bowl and then a full lunch at Tiffins about 30 mins later, LOL. #dedication

The things we do for Disney food

I thought it was boring too.

So glad I'm not alone in that!

How did you like it!?! I have not had one in years but I remember it being pretty good!

Oh my gosh it was sooo good. It was massive so the last few bites were hard to finish by myself. But the spices with the cream cheese icing was just YUM

 

[dolewhipdreams]

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY

While on the friendship boats, the sprinkle became fairly steady. I could tell that it was about to get a lot heavier so we quickly made our way toward lunch at Tangierine Café. My poncho-d self did stop for a photo in front of the adorable Food & Wine display.

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We made it to Morocco just in time to take cover before the heavens let loose. We ordered our food and found a table tucked around the corner and waited out the shower. I neglected to take food photos (what a horrible DISer I am!) but I remember that I got the gyro plate because I always get the gyro plate because the gyro plate is fantastic (PS I recommend the gyro plate).

By the time we were done the rain was a slow sprinkle again so we ventured out and starting making our way around the World Showcase, with our destination being the Festival Center. We got some photos along the way.

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I got lost going to the Festival Center since I had never been there before, but we finally found it! My mission was to collect the special F&W AP button, which I was stoked about because I was finally an AP holder and could get stuff like that!

On the friendship boats we had made a FP for Soarin so with buttons in hand we walked to the Land Pavillion. I don’t know about you, but Soarin’ makes me cry every time. Plus I want to bottle the smell of Fiji and take it with me wherever I go.

After landing I wanted to stop by a couple of F&W booths for some snacks. I got the mac and cheese from Active Eats and the peanut butter mousse from Earth Eats (those totally could have been opposite, all I know is I went to those two booths and got those two things). I also got the corresponding AP buttons! Yay buttons!

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We knew we were spending the whole next day at Epcot so we made our way to the monorail for one last night at MK. The theme for the evening was off and on rain so of course by the time we got to MK it was raining. But right as we walked in we saw the wait time for Tinkerbell was only 5 minutes! I went in and asked the CM if that was correct and she said it was.

That ended up being a lie because even though there were only two groups in front of us, I think Tink may have been taking a nap because the wait ended up being closer to 20 mins. Which is still very short for her!

[She said I looked like a sunburnt bumblebee]​

On our way up Main St we did a little more shop browsing (and rain-avoiding), then decided to give Haunted Mansion one last ride. I tell you what, my appreciation for Haunted Mansion greatly increased on this trip.

HM put us in the mood for another nice, slow ride so we hopped on the People Mover. When we got off we had about an hour before HEA time. We grabbed food from Cosmic Rays (we were desperate, okay?!) because it was easy to carry and eat on the ground. With our nuggets and fries we found a spot for the show, plopped down, and ‘enjoyed’ our dinner.

Even though it felt like wasted time, by this time in the trip it was awesome to just sit and relax for a little bit. Everyone around us was sitting and we thought maybe, just maybe, they would sit through the shows. But that was optimism and as soon as Once Upon a Time began, everyone started standing up. OUAT was cute and I enjoyed it.

After watching HEA for the 2nd time, I was so so soooo glad that we made a point to come back and see it for real, from a good spot. The effects are amazing, the music is touching, and I promise I will cry watching it for many years to come.

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We joined the mob at the end of the show going down Main St toward the exit. We had to wait a little while to get on a bus to CBR but when it finally did come we got to sit down for the first time! What a way to end the night.

Up next: our last day