WDW Annual Pass Farewell Tour Oct 2010: Complete!

[sand2270]

This is a continuation of the trip report I started on the Universal Trip Report board. Since the second half of our trip took place at WDW I felt it made sense to continue the trip report over here. If you would like to read any pre-trip reports or the Universal/SeaWorld/Discovery Cove reports all the links are available below.

Our trip took place in October 2010 and was prompted by the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I also wanted to attend the Food & Wine Festival again and take my DD to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. This made her Fall Break in October the perfect time to go. More details about that are available in the pre-trip reports.

The cast of characters includes me and my DD11 (who was 10 at the time). We also have guest characters who happen to be other DISers who I have struck up great friendships with over the past couple of years. I have decided to give them names based on the first initials in their names, so joining us we have Aye (like the Fonz...AYE!!! LOL) and her BF Jay, Dee and Aye's children sprinkled in here and

I will get started in my next post...enjoy!

Pre-Trip Reports
Come on Hotel Deals!
Ok Let's Talk Tickets
Is Renting a Car Really That Interesting? You Tell Me.
How Are We Getting To Orlando?
Where Are We Going To Eat?
Itinerary Take 1
Resort Pictures
What Do You Mean the Fall Break Dates Changed?
Farewell Plan A...Welcome Plan B
Plan B
Adventures in ADR's - What Didn't Make The Cut?

Universal Trip Report Table of Contents
Intro
The Day Before The Day We Leave
Arrival Day: I Spent How Much on Pierogies??
Day 1: First Day at Islands of Adventure (Part 1)
Day 1: First Day at Islands of Adventure (Part 2)
Day 1: Haunted Carriage Ride (Part 3)
Day 2: Discovery Cove (Part 1)
Day 2: Discovery Cove (Part 2)
Day 2: Exploring Universal (Part 3)
Day 3: Islands of Adventure (Part 1)
Day 3: Universal, Outlets, Tu Tu Tango (Part 2)
Day 4: SeaWorld (Part 1)
Day 4: SeaWorld (Part 2)
Day 5: Islands of Adventure (Part 1)
Owl Post
Video of HHN and Final Thoughts

DisneyWorld Table of Contents
WDW Annual Pass Farewell Tour
Day 5: POFQ Check in and Epcot
Day 6: Animal Kingdom (Part 1)
Day 6: Animal Kingdom (Part 2)
Day 7: 1900 Park Fare and MK (Part 1)
Day 7: POFQ pool and Epcot (Part 2)
Day 8: Epcot and Garden View Tea (Part 1)
Day 8: MK and Wishes Dessert Party
Day 9: Hollywood Studios (Part 1)
Day 9: HS, Winter Summerland & MK EMH (Part 2)
Day 10: POFQ and DTD (Part 1)
Day 10: MNSSHP (Part 2)
Headless Horseman video
Last Day and Final Thoughts

 

[sand2270]

Most of my reports are picture heavy however looking through my pictures once we left the Hard Rock Hotel to check in at POFQ I didn't take many pictures that day.

I was calling this my WDW Annual Pass farewell tour. Actually I like that name better and just changed the name of the report. I had purchased an AP in Oct 2009 and it had been a crazy year. I ended up making 4 trips to WDW between Oct 09 and Oct 10 (which includes this one) and two others in 09 before I had my AP (4 adult trips, 2 trips with my DD)…plus a drama club trip for my DD to Disneyland in Oct 09…making that 7 Disney trips in two years. My family and friends thought I was nuts.

But I kept getting good deals on airfare and hotel rooms…also Aye kept encouraging me (i.e. hounding) to make the trips and called me often with said hotel and airfare deals. Plus after I bought the AP I really wanted to get some use out of it. It had been a crazy, fun year but it is time to take a Disney break…both financially and because there are some other places I would like to visit.

As hard as it is…and as much as I keep trying to figure out some way for me and my DD to get over to Disneyland I have been standing strong and have no trips planned this year.

We finally decided it was time to say goodbye to Hard Rock and leave. We got our stuff from valet…but I did something stupid. So the Hard Rock rooms do not have a mini-fridge you can use. I had refused the key for the fridge in the room because I did not want to accidentally get charged for anything. Well we bought milk for the cereal at Walmart. I knew we would get milk so I brought a small softsided cooler that I could pack flat with us. This was a pain, we had to keep changing out the ice twice a day. Actually my DD enjoyed running down to the ice machine to fill it up…this was her "responsibility" in the mornings. Well dumb me I should have dumped the milk, but instead I zipped it into the cooler with the ice thinking it would be ok until we got to POFQ. Well it wasn't…the stupid thing started leaking, I ended up just dumping the ice and throwing the milk away. I tried.

When we got in the car the tire pressure light went on again! At this point I had it with this car. It had been making this terrible noise the entire time where it would idle really high and than stop. It would do this constantly while driving. I wanted a new car. I called Alamo while trying to find the Target. I got lost and finally pulled over to talk to Alamo. The rep said that if I wanted a new car I had to drive back to the airport to which I got very upset. I asked why I couldn't trade the car in at the Car Care Center at WDW, to which he replied oh you didn’t tell me you were near that location and told me I had to contact them myself. Very bad experience, wouldn't you ask where the person is located and help them find a nearby location? I contacted Alamo after I returned but I never received a response. I got off the phone with him and called the Car Care Center at DisneyWorld directly (I should mention I programmed all the phone numbers and addresses that I could think of into my phone before the trip...this really helped since I already had the number handy). I explained the situation and they told me to bring the car in for a different one.

We found Target and I bought a new, much larger memory card. My original memory card holds about 800 pictures and I had almost filled that up already I couldn't believe it.

We went to Port Orleans French Quarter to check in and unload the car before trading it in. After we pulled up the attendant told us to park and they would help us with our bags after we checked in. When we were checking in the cast member said we had a gift. Our Small World TA had sent DD a gift of mouse ears, a pen and autograph book. I was really touched and immediately sent her a thank you email. Valet met us at our car with their golf cart, drove us to our room and brought all of our stuff up for us. After checking in we left to trade in the car.

We stopped at the Hess station and filled up the car. The Car Care Center is next store and they replaced the car for us with no hassles. Really the Disney Alamo location was wonderful, the car and paperwork were ready and waiting for us when we walked in. I think she even gave me a choice of two cars. I think the whole thing took less than 10 minutes. We picked the PT Cruiser and were on our way.

Than we headed to Epcot we were meeting Aye, Jay, Dee and the kids and to see Sugar Ray perform for the Eat to the Beat series. We also wanted to get some food from the F&W festival. We stopped at the Chile booth were I bought a gift card wrist band and got a ground beef casserole. After we got a pork skewer at the Brazil cart. This was DD's choice, I wasn't really interested in it, but it wasn't bad. We stopped at the Mexico cart and got a churro, chicken tamale and pork taco. I love the pork tacos at F&W. After this we rode the ride in the Mexican pavilion.

At some point we finally met up with everyone. DD wanted some pot stickers, we decided everyone else would go get in line for seats and I went back to the China booth and got her pot stickers.

The Sugar Ray show was a lot of fun, we all enjoyed it and were singing along. I didn't really know what to expect but it was a 30-minute mini concert. They played their hits and some other songs. There was lots of audience interaction. It was really great.

After the show we walked over to Journey into Imagination. We have never ridden and Aye kept saying we just had too! Well ok…I think it was the smelly part she wanted to trick me with it. Honestly I don’t really remember too much about the ride.

I remember this was an EMH night and DD and I were planning on staying. Since our friends were locals I think they left after Journey of Imagination. I can't remember, they may have done Captain EO with us. I haven't seen Captain EO in so long, but I remember when it was new at Disneyland and was so popular. I also remember thinking how cool it was back then. Wow how times change…I couldn't believe how silly and cheesy I thought it was now. I think even DD, who is a Michael Jackson fan, was like what the heck was that?

After Captain EO we went to MouseGears to get DD a jacket. It was a cold night and she did not bring a sweater. This drives me crazy! We have so many Disney sweatshirts because we too often misjudge the weather and need something warm to wear. You would like I would learn, most of the time I am pretty good about making sure we have jackets with us just in case.

We went to the Oceans pavilion, DD didn't see this at all last year. We rode Finding Nemo and played with Bruce the Shark (I think that one is Bruce).

We rode Spaceship Earth and decided it was time to go.

 

[sand2270]

Today was our Animal Kingdom day. I don't remember the morning much, I am assuming we ate breakfast in the room. Looking at my original plan I had left this day kind of open with tentative plans. We still had time on our Universal and SeaWorld tickets and I didn't know if we would want to do anything else at those parks. We decided we had seen enough of both parks and would spend today at AK. I had made a breakfast ADR at Kona and a dinner ADR at HOB, both of which we missed. I think we were going to try and make rope drop and take an afternoon break. We were tired, so we decided slept in a little and went to the park a little later.

Before we left home I had put all the Orlando addresses in my iPhone map program for the places we would be driving to…hotels, theme parks, etc. It had been working pretty well. We got in the car to drive over and instead of following the signs I follow the directions on my phone... which had us leave the DisneyWorld park. I couldn't believe it! This happened over and over again with the map program, we continually got lost or went the wrong way. If I would have just followed the signs early on in the trip we would not have had as many problems.

We finally found our way there, parked and got on the tram. We hadn't spent much time here during our last trip because it was so hot. I wanted us to see some of the attractions we hadn't seen the first time. However we were still planning on only spending a few hours in the park. We ended up staying the rest of the day but we had a great time!

First we went to Expedition Everest. I believe we got fastpasses and got in the normal line since the wait was not that long. I did not think DD was going to want to ride this at all this trip since she hated it so much on our last trip. But she had decided now that she knew what to expect she wanted to ride again and she ended up loving it.

We than walked through the Maharajah Jungle Trek and saw bats and the tigers.

We stopped and got a pretzel and some drinks, it was also a very warm day. DD than decided she wanted to try Dinosaur again, another ride she hated last time and swore off, so we rode that again. This time she told me she was going to cover her eyes during the scary dinosaur parts, which she did and she was fine.

DD wanted to play some carnival games at Dinoland so she bought a voucher with some of her souvenir money. We both did pretty good, and she walked away with a few stuffed animals.

At some point I know we did A Bug's Life. This was another surprise for me. The first time DD did this show in California Adventure she hated it and cried. She has never wanted to do it again. She asked if we could see it and she was just fine this time. As we were sitting there my sunglasses fell off my head behind me, we were in the middle section but in the last row so they fell in the aisle. There was no way for me to get them without disturbing the show. I was worried someone would step on them, but as the show ended a cast member walked by, saw them and grabbed them for me.

We used our fastpasses to ride Expedition Everest again. DD wanted to go again but I didn't so I walked her through the line and she rode by herself. I waited for her inside the gift shop. When we exited she wanted to ride again! Someone said they had an extra fastpass so we grabbed it and she rode again. I think she rode one more time after that. She couldn't get enough.

We had a late lunch ADR at Yak and Yeti. Unfortunately neither of us was very hungry. I had wanted to try the dim sum basket but DD wasn't interested, so we got pot stickers and lettuce wraps. They were both ok. I wasn't crazy about the lettuce wraps and wished I had ordered the dim sum basket. I was really thirsty and was more interested in getting my coke refilled than eating. However, I really wanted to try the cream cheese wontons with pineapple for dessert. This was so good, we finished the whole thing.

After lunch we decided to look in some of the little gift shops and I got us each a pair of mickey earrings. DD also bought a Vinylmation keychain…we are still not sure who it is. If anyone can tell us please do…I think it's Pinocchio…but not certain.

I wanted to do the Pangani ExplorationTrail so we started walking over. At this point the afternoon parade had started. Neither of us had interest in the parade so we just kept moving along the roped off area. When we got to a viewing area where no one was standing I asked DD if she wanted to watch and she said yes.

The parade turned out to be a lot of fun to see. Pluto, Brer Bear and a character from Lion King all walked up to DD and hugged or shook her hand. I was glad we stopped to watch.

I am at my image max for this post so will continue in the next post...

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

What fun! What did you think of your resort? by boyfriend and I were thinking of staying there on our next trip.

 

[sand2270]

What fun! What did you think of your resort? by boyfriend and I were thinking of staying there on our next trip.

I had stayed there in Oct 09 and liked it back then so decided to try it again. It is a very quiet, peaceful resort. Really pleasant to just walk around and look at the grounds. The boat to DTD is nice and you can walk over or take the boat to Riverside. Everything is so close that it is really easy to get around. I had paid for a preferred room so we were in building 2, I think on the 3rd floor so when we came out of the building we were right across from the pool and right next to the boat launch. The walk to the food court, etc. was also very close.

I am always torn...I also love Pop and Beach Club...so when I am at one, part of me misses the other ones LOL. But we had a nice stay...we really weren't at the hotel that much...the water was a little chilly for swimming so we ended up doing more park time.

 

[sand2270]

Animal Kingdom parade continued...

We made it over to the trail and they said they would be putting the gorillas away for the night. They do a special feeding with them at the end of the day that we could watch. So it turned out to be perfect timing. We got to watch the trainer throw food into the gorilla pen and they would come and grab it, it is so they can check the gorillas out. This was really a great thing to see.

We also saw the meerkats…

We saw lots of backsides...

The park was closing but we checked out a gift shop before we left where I bought a lanyard, since I had a small collection of pins but nothing to hang them on.

We drove back to the hotel where the plan was to go to the pool and do laundry. The first washing machine I used didn’t spin out the extra water, so I had to run a wash load twice. The dryers took awhile to dry our clothes. So overall laundry ended up taking about twice as long as I thought it would. Since it was a little chilly we also went into the hot tub but it was crowded so we didn’t stay long.

We showered and took the water taxi to DTD. I don’t remember what we did for dinner. We had an ADR at House of Blues but I wasn't up for it so we didn't eat there. I know I did not start feeling well after we got to DTD. We got a few things in Goofy's candy company and DD bought some sillybands in the dollar store.

DD took the camera and took some pictures of Goofy's Candy Company

After that I still didn’t feel very good and we took the water taxi back to the hotel.

There was a family sitting behind us and the father kept bugging his daughter. For the entire ride the girl yelled "STOP!" while the wife kept asking him to stop and he wouldn't. I wanted to turn around and smack the father, he just kept provoking his little girl and it was honestly annoying the entire boat. I was feeling worse and it was not helping, so needless to say once we got off that ferry I beelined it for the exit since they got off also. We went to bed after that.

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

bummer about the boat . I hate when I see kids not being treated teh best by parents, so sad and frustrating at teh same time.

By the way CUTE ghost cupcakes, not sure how I missed those when I was there last September, not like I could eat them, gluten-intolerance and all, but still how yummy!

 

[sand2270]

bummer about the boat . I hate when I see kids not being treated teh best by parents, so sad and frustrating at teh same time.

By the way CUTE ghost cupcakes, not sure how I missed those when I was there last September, not like I could eat them, gluten-intolerance and all, but still how yummy!

He must have missed his afternoon nap or needed a time out or something. I think he was overtired

I am not crazy about white frosting on vanilla cupcakes...so I was good with just getting a picture . Really except for pretzels and churros (we always seemed to be eating these) we did not really overdo it on the sweets this trip...neither of us was very hungry. We missed about half of our ADR's. I am really glad I did not bother with the Dining Plan this trip since it would have been a waste of money.

 

[sand2270]

This morning we were having a character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare. We had dinner here on our 09 trip and it was a lot of fun with the Stepsisters and Evil Stepmother. My DD and I both like all the British stories…Winnie the Pooh, Mary Poppins and Alice so we decided to try breakfast this year. In addition I am a sucker for a breakfast buffet. I don't eat like that normally but I love getting eggs, bacon, pastries, coffee and a mimosa and letting the characters come to us.

Again, instead of using the direction signs I used my iphone map program. We got there, but I think it took us a long way.

I decided I was going to pay for valet this day. This way we could park at GF and than take the monorail over to MK. We were going to Epcot later, and I would be able to use valet at BC and we could walk over to Epcot from there. We got to the GF before the restaurant opened and checked in. We got seated at either the same table we sat at last year or we were one table away, I guess there are not a lot of 2 tops in there. We both went up and got food before the characters made their way over. I ordered coffee and a mimosa…of course. She offered me a grand mimosa with a Grand Marnier float, so I said ok why not, I am on vacation. Honestly it was too strong for me…but I still drank the whole thing.

Me and my mimosa…I look really tired…

The food was good. DD met Pooh, Tigger, Mary Poppins, The Mad Hatter and Alice.

The Mad Hatter was funny when he saw my mimosa, he said "getting started a little early there"…that made me giggle. Alice came over and DD showed her the Alice in Wonderland silly bandz she bought the night before. This prompted Alice to call the Mad Hatter back over and DD had to show them the shapes that were Alice and The Mad Hatter. They were very excited to see themselves in silly bandz form. The Mad Hatter seemed offended there was Alice and everyone else but no Mad Hatter until my DD showed him his...this made him happy. This was a really great character interaction, I love when they do stuff like that.

We stuffed our faces, made sure we did not leave any bags this time (last year we had been shopping at DTD before our dinner and I accidentally left our bags under the table. We went right back and they had already put them in the back so we got them back no problem). We headed out to go over to MK.

We got on the monorail to go to MK. We took some pictures in front of the castle and the halloween statues in the hub and headed to Fantasyland.

Here we got into a little fight in the line for Peter Pan. I wanted to do the Jungle Cruise and DD was insisting that she didn’t want go on...it was boring. I got upset with her and had to remind her that the trip is not all about her and while I am happy to let her take most of the lead in the parks sometimes she has to do what I want to do also. We were both quiet briefly and eventually we both apologized. The fight had started and was over by the time we got to load the ride. That is how we are, we have little spats, we both say our piece than we apologize and are fine.

I wanted to show her the Giant peeking in the roof of one of the gift shops in Fantasyland.

We walked over to Adventure Land and rode Pirates, Big Thunder and maybe Splash.

We started heading out to go back to the pool. DD said she was hungry because again she hardly ate anything at breakfast. The character breakfasts always turn out to be more about me stuffing my face and her seeing the characters. We stopped at Casey's and she got corn dog nuggets and fries. The parade had started, so we found a bench off to the side. She ate and we watched the parade.

We took the monorail back to the GK and drove back to the hotel to go swimming. I am at my image limit so will continue in the next post.

 

[sand2270]

We took the monorail back to the GK. Once back at the hotel we changed into our suits, put some drinks in our Sea World mugs and grabbed the Pringles. The water was freezing! DD made me get in a few times, but the water was too cold for me so I didn't stay in long. I walked around taking pictures while DD swam the cold water didn't seem to bother her as much.

This cracked me up. As I was walking around I saw my DD just hanging out here letting the water hit her in the head.

We showered and drove over to Beach Club. I used my valet from earlier so we could park there. The lobby had that great smell. We sat outside by the beach for a little bit and than headed over to the Epcot International Gateway. It was a sunny, hot day and it was so nice sitting on the beach looking across to the Boardwalk.

We decided to do a Kim Possible mission before our dinner. We went to the kiosk by the International Gateway and checked in. We needed to check in at Germany I believe. On our way over we walked to the Japan sundries store. We always stop in there so I can get an iced green tea, DD got a mango water and the strawberry Hi Chews she loves. We checked in at the Kim Possible kiosk. Our mission was in Germany. Germany had a lot of great visual tricks, singing beer steins and nut crackers. These are always fun.

We had a little time before dinner. I think I went to check out the new caramel shop and DD looked in a gift shop across the way. This may have been after dinner, I seem to remember being full when I walked into the caramel shop. As much as I love caramel I didn't get anything, I just wasn't very hungry on this trip.

We checked in at the new Via Napoli pizzeria.

I was excited about this new restaurant that boasts authentic sicilian pizza..me being part sicilian and always looking for good pizza. The restaurant is beautiful inside.

We were seated at a two seater near the window. Our server was Robert, he was italian and very cute. I ordered the margherita pizza, a glass of red wine and DD had a child's pizza and water. The pizza was so good! Thin crust, but just the right amount of chewy, mild sauce and mozzarella. I was in heaven.

For dessert I originally wanted to try the deep fried ricotta balls. But I was full and decided to do something lighter. We each got gelato, me pistachio and DD chocolate, and I got a cappucino. I am not a huge gelato fan…but this was amazing. Large chunks of pistachios…generous serving. I loved this restaurant. It was pricey but I thought it was worth it. We had another ADR scheduled later in the week…we weren't able to make it back, but I would have loved to.

After dinner we got in line to see Sugar Ray again. There was already a good sized line with about 20 minutes to go until the show, so I was glad we got in line. When they let people in I remembered from the last show where the best places to sit were. We made our way near the front about 6 rows back, close to the aisle. We were right off to the side of the part of the stage that juts out. Mark McGrath came out into the audience a lot.

This was so funny…when the show started this guy said that he had bought Mark McGrath a beer so he came out into the audience to get it.

We need more cowbell…

The show was as much fun as the first one. It was great being so close. I was so glad we got to the see the show again. After the show I downloaded the Sugar Ray songs as we were walking out of the show. I love my iPhone, those songs are now the theme songs of our trip. Whenever I hear them I think of it.

We were walking out and DD said she wanted one of the hand painted umbrellas they sell in France. She bought a small white one and was very happy with her purchase. We decided to head out after this.

We went through the International Gateway. As we got close to the Beach Club we saw there was a movie showing on the beach. DD wanted to sit on one of the swings and some people got up as we were walking over. DD ran over and grabbed it. We sat, swung, talked and just enjoyed the nice evening weather and the pretty view. It was very enjoyable. We finally decided it was time to go. We stopped in the gift shop because I needed some postcard stamps. We got the car from valet and drove back to the hotel. I plugged my ipod in so we could listen to the songs on the drive back.

We looked in the gift shop before heading to our room. DD bought a mickey PDA and I bought a 2010 magnet and a collapsible brush for my purse. Finally back to the room to rest up for the next day.

 

[DizDragonfly]

Out of curiosity, what iPhone map app were you using? I want to make sure to avoid that one!

 

[sand2270]

Out of curiosity, what iPhone map app were you using? I want to make sure to avoid that one!

The one that comes on the phone...icon says Maps. For the most part it works ok, but it was a disaster on Disney property...just use the signs LOL.

 

[DizDragonfly]

The one that comes on the phone...icon says Maps. For the most part it works ok, but it was a disaster on Disney property...just use the signs LOL.

I was hoping one of the GPS apps that I downloaded may work. I think I got lost trying to get to Animal Kingdom every time I tried to get there in 2008. I finally figured out that there _wasn't_ a sign where I needed to turn. But, I still missed the turn every time.

 

[sand2270]

I was hoping one of the GPS apps that I downloaded may work. I think I got lost trying to get to Animal Kingdom every time I tried to get there in 2008. I finally figured out that there _wasn't_ a sign where I needed to turn. But, I still missed the turn every time.

The day we drove over to AK the map program had me drive all the way off property...it made no sense so I turned around and followed the signs. I noticed a few signs were "missing" as well, but after a few days I had figured it out...sort of. Let's just say driving around WDW property involved a lot of u-turns and back tracking.

I am pretty certain our first night driving back from Epcot we drove right out from under the DisneyWorld gates and it took me a long time to find a place where I could turn around. That happened more than once.

 

[sand2270]

This morning we slept in a little and had breakfast at the food court. I had a bagel and DD had a croissant. We sat at one of the outside tables while we ate. Today we decided to spend some more time in Epcot.

We went to Innoventions and played the Piggy Bank game which we had never played before. We had a lot of fun with that.

I thought this sign was funny…

After we rode Soarin'.

We stopped at a F&W kiosk and got a cheese fondue, this was served with small potatoes and croutons. I really enjoyed this. We looked in the F&W merchandise kiosks where I bought a magnet and apron. I didn't get a picture of the artist last year when he signed my F&W poster, and by luck he was there signing his work. He was kind enough to sign my magnet (LOL) and took a picture with me.

We took the friendship boat over to Morocco. I have never taken these boats before, it was a nice leisurely way to get across World Showcase if you don't want to walk.

We stopped in the Japan sundries store. I got a green tea, iced coffee and DD got another mango water. After we walked to the french bakery to get pastries for breakfast the next day. I got an almond croissant and DD got a regular croissant. We decided to leave since we had to meet Aye and the girls for tea.

I snagged a couple of pictures of the Tronorail as we were walking to the car.

We parked in the MK parking lot and took the monorail to the Grand Floridian. We were going to celebrate Jay's daughter's birthday but she didn’t come so Aye brought her son. We had a great time at tea. I have done this my last 3 trips and I love it, one of my favorite and must do things. We made sure to hold up out pinkies when we drank our tea and got some funny pictures, but since Aye's kids are in them I am not going to post them.

Continued in next post...

 

[sand2270]

I don't know if anyone is reading this thing but I am almost done so I'm just gonna keep posting

After tea we took the monorail to MK. The girls took DD on Stitch, I didn't want to go since I have read nothing positive about it. DD had met Aye's girls before and they get along great. I am glad she was able to get some kid time in this trip. Dee met up with us and we rode on the TTA.

And this gem…I am probably going to get hate mail but I love this photo…every time I look at it I crack up, I think they were sick of me taking pictures…

I know we went on some rides…I think we did Space Mountain. I think we also went over to Big Thunder with the girls.

DD and I had a reservation for the Wishes Dessert Party so we agreed to meet up afterwards. We made our way over and lined up early. Once they started letting people in the line moved pretty quickly, but I think we were in the first part of the line. We were shown to our table which was a table for two right in the front and center. It was a great table and had a little card with our party name on it. We made our way up to the buffet and filled our plates with dessert. I also got coffee and I think DD got juice.

DD went up for seconds of an item. The first EL Parade of the night started and we could actually see it ok. The only problem was people kept standing at the railing to take pictures. We also had this great view of the castle but again people kept standing taking pictures. This one family stood there for a long time. I had hoped they would take their pictures and sit down so we could see the parade.

I noticed as people were anticipating the fireworks they started lining up at the railing. I wasn't sure if we would be able to see so as much as I didn't want to we moved to the railing to watch the fireworks. DD and a girl at the railing were friendly so they chatted for a little bit. The fireworks and the view were great, we really enjoyed it. I don't know if I would do this again, but I was glad we did it once.

My pictures came out terrible, I had bought a tripod for the trip but did not bring it this night. This is the only decent one I got.

After I checked the table, I wanted the card with our name on it. Our table had already been cleared. We left to go find Aye and the girls, they were at Pecos Bill where they were eating. We went over to the Big Thunder area and I took the girls.

While we were on the ride Aye got us a spot at the end of the parade route for the ELP. We had a great spot to watch ELP and I was so happy to see it again. ELP has always been one of my favorites since I was a kid.

 

[sand2270]

dupe post

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

I'm reading I just didn't have time to post yesterday, sorry

I've never understood parades, we never really watched them except when I was real little, they just don't hold my attention all I can think is, wow I bet the line at space is liek really short right now, what am I doing standing here then?

 

[sand2270]

I'm reading I just didn't have time to post yesterday, sorry

I've never understood parades, we never really watched them except when I was real little, they just don't hold my attention all I can think is, wow I bet the line at space is liek really short right now, what am I doing standing here then?

LOL no need to apologize! You may be my only reader I don't want to upset you

I like the nighttime parades...ELP, Spectro...I think it's the pretty lights LOL. The daytime parades we generally don't make a plan to see but somehow we often end up watching. Usually it's because we are walking by when it starts and my DD decides now she wants to watch and we find an open spot.

I remember our first trip to Disneyland I did not want to see the afternoon parade, Main Street was packed and we were trying to leave. DD was only 4 and was insisting we stay. A nice family on the curb told her to come sit on the curb with them (I was right behind her). The mom said they always saved an extra spot for another kid...I thought that was really nice.

I won't sit on the curb waiting for parades during the day or crowd in after it has started, but we have had good luck being close when a parade starts and finding an open spot.

I will camp for a spot for the nighttime parades though.

 

[sand2270]

I probably won't have an update complete for a few days...expect one on Sunday