"We've gone too far"-A sister trip with surprise guest Irma! Sept 2017 - Completed 4/16

[buzzrelly]

All caught up! I guess if I'm going to be in the eye of a hurricane, I'd want to do it at Disney because it actually doesn't seem that bad. So happy everyone was okay and well-fed throughout. Love that you got to watch so many great movies!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Day 5, Part 1 - "Yes, I look like you!"

As a preface to this day, when I originally started writing up my notes on the Trip Report the commando park-goer in me cringed. Just so few crowds and so many wasted opportunities to hit every single ride over and over and over. But then, I started thinking more. On this trip, I think we did everything I wanted to do. Every attraction, multiple times if desired, every show, every planned dining location. Sure, there were some things I would have liked to spend more time at, but we still experienced them, and it helps for future trips. So, really, I don't regret this day, and in the end I think we did accomplish a whole lot. So, yeah, I'm just weird and crazy and yeah... Now, onward with the trip report!


We got up bright and early with alarms at 6:30. Even though it was early we were still excited to be getting back to the parks! Got a bus fairly quickly and ended up making friends with a cute family with 1-yr old who was just super flirty the whole trip! And it was a long trip! For some reason the traffic was insane entering Magic Kingdom! Like, stop and go traffic! It took us almost 30 minutes to get there from leaving POFQ to arriving at the drop off location! I really don’t understand what the crazy hold up was, as there didn't appear to be any road blockages or anything (best guess-maybe trees caused some roads to be blocked so everyone had to use the main one?). But pretty annoying when all we wanted to do was get to MK!

Anyways, we got to MK about 8:10 and first tried to check in about my lost sunglasses, but when we found out they were at TTC we gave up. I also tried to get an extra FP for missing 7DMT from Sunday (that day was also when we had 2 bonus multi-experience FPs each, so was actually a big bummer!) but the CM wasn’t the most helpful so didn’t give us anything. Oh well, didn’t hurt to try!​

We strolled up to Crystal Palace at our reservation time (8:15) and were seated almost immediately. It was pretty empty inside with only a few people in our section.

Our server was very sweet but explained that Piglet had a tummy ache so wouldn’t be out that morning (sad, because I really wanted to meet him/her)! But because it was so slow he happily offered to take group photos whenever possible. And everyone loved our Disneybounding as Pooh/Tigger! (though I think my eyes look weird because I was still tired and not wearing any makeup...)​

We could see Tigger arriving to our section but knew we were the last table so did a quick stop at the buffet. (I think I missed a photo of one of the stations, because I have scrambled eggs on my plate but not in the photos-sorry!) Cold items: mini-pastries (chocolate croissants, muffins), granola, jams and cream cheese, hard boiled eggs, pastrami smoked salmon, cottage cheese, ambroisa salad, honey yogurt, strawberry yogurt, fruit (strawberries, pineapples, fruit salad). Hot items: potato casserole, breakfast potatoes, biscuits and sausage gravy, Western breakfast pizza, smoked sausage, bacon, sausage, [the missed photo included the omelet station and scrambled eggs, not sure if they just had plain eggs or also one with spinach...]. Center station: bagels, breakfast lasagna (layers of waffles, pancakes, and pound cake, topped with banana pastry cream, strawberries, sliced banana's, and caramelized sugar). Kid's corner: Mickey waffles, Winnie the Pooh's puffed French toast. ​

We were still filling our plates and saw Tigger was about to get to our spot so quickly went back and dropped off our plates to take some photos. Tigger loved my sister’s outfit!​

My first plates (I know pretty basic, but whatever, it’s what I wanted!): ​

Next came Pooh Bear, who also loved my outfit!

​

And finally came Eeyore​

​

Plate 2 for me was a custom omlet (just cheese, again because I’m plain and boring), as well as breakfast lasagna. I think I may have gotten another helping of the puffed French Toast, but don't have photographic evidence.

The characters were able to come around a lot because there were so few people, so Pooh stopped by and started playing with my homemade ears!

Another absolutely awesome thing happened when Eeyore was doing his second round. He came up to a table with a lady (her husband was getting food) who was on her phone and she didn’t notice her. She kept typing away and then Eeyore decided to mimic her. It kept going on and on and on and everyone in the section was watching and smiling, including the servers. Her husband also came back around but stopped a few tables away (maybe to take photos too). Finally after several minutes of him playing with his imaginary phone, she looked up and just jumped! Everyone in the section burst into laughter and clapped! It was hilarious!!!​

I really liked this whole breakfast. The character interactions were on-point. The food was very good, loved the puffed French toast and omelet. I would definitely consider doing this again. I would absolutely recommend early bookings as it was definitely filling up throughout our meal and people were having to wait for tables.

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Day 5, Part 2 "Oh *@&#$*"

While we were finishing up in Crystal Palace the welcome show went off and we saw/heard the fireworks. Disney has actually added a morning EMH that day (due to the hurricane closures) but because we already did so much of everything we wanted to do we didn’t really care to rush out to be first on rides!

Once we finished up at CP, we decided to head over to Tomorrowland.

Thought the topiary was cool

First, time for Space Mountain. It had a 10 minute standby wait time but was literally a walk-on (though all my photos of the empty queue area were blurry since we were walking so fast).

This was much more jumbly than I even expected. The amount of swear words and screams that came out of my mouth during that ride was pretty insane! I love the version in DLR but not so much here. It’s also so much harder to get in/out of, even though it’s a similar ride vehicle as matterhorn, but matterhorn just has belts, not awkward bars.

After Space, we decided since we were there to check out Carousel of Progress. I thought it was very well done. I wouldn’t be opposed to doing it again, but maybe once per trip!

And then, over to Philharmagic. Also liked it, especially Donald at the end!

Continuing on our low-wait shows, we hit up Country Bear Jamboree. We walked in right as they were about to start so no wait for that. It was cool to see again, since everyone knows the one at DL was removed for Winnie the Pooh. Though I never had that crazy sentimentality about it and it was always more of an A/C rest spot.

Looking back on this morning it definitely feels weird that we hit up so many attractions that normally don’t have waits, even though the crowds were so low that we could have done other things. But I think we were just making sure we hit everything we were interested in at least once!

We then planned on seeing the next Muppets Present..Great moments in American history show, which was about 15 minutes away. We wandered through the Christmas ornament shop and chatted with one of the CMs, who was very sweet and very bored! She also had a stuffed Kermit the frog, who she would have look out the window and wave to guests passing by!

And then of course we had to stake out our spot for the show…

I’m honestly happy the Hall of Presidents was still closed when we got there; I still don't think I will see it until we get a President I can actually respect again...

Time for the show! We ended up getting Paul Revere, which meant no JJ, so we couldn’t see the CM we had talked to in line for Joy/Sadness . But we really liked the show! Maybe next time we’ll try to catch the other version!

We decided then to head back into Fantasyland and use our multi-experience pass for 7DMT. If you weren’t following my PTR, I had originally booked us FPs for Tuesday afternoon during the Halloween party. Some people who did so (without a park ticket for that day) began to experience glitches and some lost their final day of fastpasses. That ended up happening to my sister, but thankfully I was able to get back the final day (which had included a Flight of Passage pass) due to a kind CM. To be safe though, I had cancelled her party FPs. By the time the dust had settled, all of the 7DMT passes were gone so I wasn’t able to rebook her. I contacted Disney guest services asking if there was some way to get her a pass and they went ahead and gave both of us a multi-experience pass for that day! So, of course we had to use it for my favorite MK attraction-7DMT!

I love the clock for the fastpass entrance and how the hands look like shovels/picks

I think at this point we decided to do the character meet with Pooh and Tigger (even though we had seen them at breakfast, we wanted to get a group shot)! It was very cute and again, everyone loved our outfits!

Cont.. Lunch and a parade!​

 

[Mollydolly334]

Love your outfits for Crystal Palace, so cute!

OMG, we were at MK that exact morning/afternoon! September 12 right?! Can't believe we didn't run into you! Ill be looking for us in the background of your pics

 

[Raeven]

On this trip, I think we did everything I wanted to do. Every attraction, multiple times if desired, every show, every planned dining location. Sure, there were some things I would have liked to spend more time at, but we still experienced them, and it helps for future trips.

You guys got a lot done! You'll be back so I wouldn't worry about what you missed. I think we tried to do so much on our first trip, I wouldn't have stressed so much if I knew we'd be back. We don't even get to all we planned in a day usually so you really did get everything done!

, as well as breakfast lasagna.

Yum!

I love the version in DLR but not so much here.

Ugh I don't like Space Mountain that much

It was cool to see again, since everyone knows the one at DL was removed for Winnie the Pooh.

What? I love Country Bears.

I’m honestly happy the Hall of Presidents was still closed when we got there; I still don't think I will see it until we get a President I can actually respect again...

I have no desire to see it, but it does make a nice nap spot.

 

[Lesley Wake]

What? I love Country Bears.

Yeah, so they decided to add a Winnie the Pooh ride to WDW and DLR. in order to make room they decided to remove Mr Toad in WDW and keep it at DL, and the opposite for Country Bears. So no more Country Bears at Disneyland! There is a part in the Winnie the Pooh ride though if you turn your head around you can see the animal heads on the wall!

 

[thumper*]

Cute Picture

 

[Lesley Wake]

Wow I didn't realize that POFQ had that much damage. LOL sis & gators, & no wake zone. The Rams slamming the Colts wasn't a surprise to anyone. I'm more surprised that we won the games we did I'm from Indy). Where is Luck it's still a mystery?

Yeah, the first time we were on a boat and saw a "No Wake" sign I was so confused!
Too bad about the Colts. I know my dad was looking forward to seeing Luck, and either he must be more badly injured than originally thought, or just realized they were collapsing as a team, so there is no reason playing and getting injured for a throwaway season. At least you'll get a strong draft pick though!

All caught up! I guess if I'm going to be in the eye of a hurricane, I'd want to do it at Disney because it actually doesn't seem that bad. So happy everyone was okay and well-fed throughout. Love that you got to watch so many great movies!

They were very good to us! Before the trip I had attempted a Disney movie marathon at home but didn't get around to a bunch of the animated ones. Luckily a lot of those were played during the storm!

OMG, we were at MK that exact morning/afternoon! September 12 right?! Can't believe we didn't run into you! Ill be looking for us in the background of your pics

Haha! I will totally look for us too! Too bad we weren't able to coordinate (I think I remembered you were leaving that day but didn't know what time)

Cute Picture

Thanks! It did turn out well!

 

[Lesley Wake]

First, I realized I forgot to put my step count from the hurricane days, not exactly like we did that much walking!

Health data (via app on my phone, not Fitbit):
Day 3:
Walked: 2,136 steps (0.8 miles) - Though I think I did at least twice this amount walking around the room, just wasn't carrying my phone with me
Flights climbed: 2 floors (back and forth to food court)

Day 4:
Walked: 7,162 steps (2.8 miles) - Not too shabby for wandering around the resorts!
Flights climbed: 6 floors​

Day 5, Part 3 "Why are you making me order ahead of time?"

After visiting with Pooh and Tigger again, it was then time for lunch at Be Our Guest!

We were originally going to have lunch here on Sunday, but obviously that wouldn't have happened! I was able to rebook for Tuesday after people started cancelling their trips outright (due to low crowds I was fortunate enough to rebook every ADR we would have missed, and they were pretty high demand ADRs: Le Cellier, Cinderella's Royal Table, and Be Our Guest!). With the original Sunday plan we weren’t going to have any big breakfast before, but then Lauren wanted the CP meal, which ended up being very nice but very filling. We did have a 3-hr break between breakfast and lunch but I was still not too hungry when we actually got to BOG. I did suggest sharing a meal, but I think Lauren wanted something different than me. She also was hungrier since she tends to pick more at buffets. While we were in line for Pooh/Tigger I did the online pre-order; Lauren first was annoyed that I was making her order early, but when we got to the restaurant and saw we could walk right up to the cashier, while the other line stretched all the way back down the bridge, she was very happy!

Unfortunately, I also was a bit of a brat when paying. There was only one family in front of us but they had some issues. They didn’t realize it was Quick Service and that they could use their dining plan credits, but originally paid with credit card. Then they needed to void out that transaction and redo with the dining plan. I sort of sighed under my breath (again, it was hot and I was tired…) and I think they heard, so the dad originally was saying, oh, its ok I’ll just pay with credit, but the manager was very good and told him they would get it figured out while the family took a seat (they ended up sitting at a table nearby so I did see the manager come out and take care of it, plus give them an extra cupcake for free). Yeah, I was a bit ashamed of my behavior, as it really wasn’t much of a delay.

We were seated at the ballroom windows which was pretty cool-unfortunately the glare from the glass makes for crappy photos.

I ended up getting the Braised Pork (Coq Au Vin Style) [Eight Hour Slow-cooked Pork with Mushrooms, Onions, Carrots and Bacon served with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans Jardiniere], as well as The Master’s Cupcake [Chocolate Sponge Cake topped with Lumiere’s special “Grey Stuff”]

Lauren got the French Dip Sandwich [Served on a Baguette with Au Jus and Pommes Frites].

Lauren loved her sandwich. I, on the other hand, wasn’t as big a fan of my pork. It was, again, too salty! I seriously don’t know if was me or Disney! I mean, it was good, except for the salt. I only ended up eating half, partially because of the salt and partially because of breakfast. I did really like the cupcake though and would order it again!

After lunch, we explored the castle. If you look at my West Wing photos, you can see I got photos of the portrait mid-transformation!

It was certainly easier to explore and take photos at lunch than dinner. I think because more people are up getting drink refills or finding tables, so it doesn't feel as intrusive as during the seated dinner.

Outside the castle…

We then realized there was some hurricane damage to the outside of the castle, with trees down in the moat area.

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Day 5, Part 4 "You've done this before..."

It was about 12:45 and the only thing we had scheduled was Festival of Fantasy parade at 2pm, so we had time to kill! We ended up heading to Tomorrowland and did another spin on one of my favorite rides, the Peoplemover!

This was also the start of my realization that my feet were not doing too good! I had brought so many different pairs of shoes on this trip, various sandals and sneakers and whatnot, hoping to prevent my feet from getting blisters or worn out. Most days I also had a change of shoes in my bag so I could switch it up mid-day. I also tried to break them in on various Disneyland trips leading up to WDW. Unfortunately, all of that didn't help much. I realized I should have just stuck with one comfy pair of sneakers, because if the morning shoes weren't good, then it wrecked my feet for the rest of the day. So, lesson learned!

After Peoplemover, we decided to hit Monsters Laugh Floor again-where Lauren was picked to be on screen a second time! And this time she had her mind read! It was awesome!

We then used our Fastpass for Peter Pan Flight. Originally all of our FPs were in the afternoon when we planned to have Lauren just use the party ticket for entrance. Once we realized we would spend the morning at MK too, I was able to move the Peter Pan FP to earlier in the day. Another FP was for Enchanted Tales with Belle, but that would stay in the afternoon, and I can't remember what the third FP was for and if I moved it around.

On the ride I tried to take some in-flight pictures, but sorry, they are pretty bad!

Then, down to Liberty Square to see the parade! You can get a sense of the crowds, as we walked up 5 minutes before the parade and found a spot against the ropes and in the shade!

The family next to us had a bunch of kids. Because my feet were sore I was sitting on the ground with them but one of the younger girls accidentally knocked over a water bottle and I had to jump up to keep from sitting in a puddle! The mom was so apologetic, but I said, don’t worry-it was just water, I do it all the time to myself, and I really should have gotten up anyways!

Cont.. Parade time!​

 

[thumper*]

Yeah, the first time we were on a boat and saw a "No Wake" sign I was so confused!
Too bad about the Colts. I know my dad was looking forward to seeing Luck, and either he must be more badly injured than originally thought, or just realized they were collapsing as a team, so there is no reason playing and getting injured for a throwaway season. At least you'll get a strong draft pick though!

There is speculation that Luck and Irsey are having issues. Hate to say it but I think Luck having no blocking and constantly getting hit for several years has most likely ruined his career. Kinda weird how everything has been hush hush, but I think Luck is a class act isn't going to publize anything negative.
On a side note I loved the Rams when they were in St. L and even got to go to a game (that was a blast we all continue to talk about) haven't followed them much since they moved to the CA.

I did the online pre-order; Lauren first was annoyed that I was making her order early, but when we got to the restaurant and saw we could walk right up to the cashier, while the other line stretched all the way back down the bridge, she was very happy!

I loved the online ordering option.

Yeah, I was a bit ashamed of my behavior

This should have put you on Santa's naughty list.

 

[disneyAndi14]

Looks like you were able to make up some of the lost time, very productive morning so far.

I really enjoyed the CP breakfast with Pooh and Friends. We did this once, I would do again.

Love your pictures around the Beast’s castle.

 

[missangelalexis]

Your Pooh themed outfits are so cute! Sounds like it was a great breakfast! I'm sorry Piglet wasn't there though

Sounds like you were having a great morning with all the low waits!

Wow you can really tell how empty the park was when you were able to stroll up and find a spot for the parade !

 

[Mollydolly334]

OMG OMG. I SEE US!!!




This is Dad and Tom! You can also see my coral shirt and ponytail peeking through between them!





The girl in the white tank top is Haley, and the guy in the orange shirt and baseball cap is Ryan!!

That is soooooo funny that we literally had an ADR at the exact same time!!! I'm kicking myself for not recognizing you, haha!

 

[Lesley Wake]

OMG OMG. I SEE US!!!


View attachment 290869

This is Dad and Tom! You can also see my coral shirt and ponytail peeking through between them!


View attachment 290870


The girl in the white tank top is Haley, and the guy in the orange shirt and baseball cap is Ryan!!

That is soooooo funny that we literally had an ADR at the exact same time!!! I'm kicking myself for not recognizing you, haha!

OMG that's hilarious!!!! We were standing right next to each other!!!!! I also can't believe I didn't look for you!

 

[Lesley Wake]

OMG OMG. I SEE US!!!


View attachment 290869

This is Dad and Tom! You can also see my coral shirt and ponytail peeking through between them!


View attachment 290870


The girl in the white tank top is Haley, and the guy in the orange shirt and baseball cap is Ryan!!

That is soooooo funny that we literally had an ADR at the exact same time!!! I'm kicking myself for not recognizing you, haha!

OOOh, and I see you again in the Rose Gallery, off to the side!

 

[Raeven]

I sort of sighed under my breath (again, it was hot and I was tired…) and I think they heard, so the dad originally was saying, oh, its ok I’ll just pay with credit, but the manager was very good and told him they would get it figured out while the family took a seat

I doubt they did it because you sighed they probably didn't want to make everyone wait while they tried to figure it out.

I, on the other hand, wasn’t as big a fan of my pork. It was, again, too salty!

I've had really salty food at Be Our Guest too!

This was also the start of my realization that my feet were not doing too good! I had brought so many different pairs of shoes on this trip, various sandals and sneakers and whatnot, hoping to prevent my feet from getting blisters or worn out. Most days I also had a change of shoes in my bag so I could switch it up mid-day. I also tried to break them in on various Disneyland trips leading up to WDW.

Aw, Disneyworld is hard on the feet. I always end up wearing only one pair, and I find it's almost impossible to avoid blisters in hot weather like September's. The only time I've been able to avoid them is when it's cooler out.

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

Glad to hear that you survived the hurricane! That was a lot of movies! But sounds like you were able to make up for the time missed with the empty parks!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Day 5, Part 5 - "But how do you hear through those flowers?"

After a short wait it was finally parade time! And I was really excited for this one, based on all the photos I had seen previously!

My sister pointed out that Tiana was the same one we met on Saturday.

I was a big fan of the spinning princess floats. I always feel bad when some couples are only viewable from one side of the float and some kids don’t get to see their favorites. This allows everyone to see them!

Time for one of Lauren's favorite princesses-Rapunzel. Loved Flynn and the other guy on the swinging pieces!

Little Mermaid...

Loved the lost boys and the Peter Pan float! Also liked how Tink and Smee were making fun of each other!

And now for Lauren's other favorite princess-Merida:

For the Malificient float, I figured she wouldn’t be doing fire because there was a breeze, so I didn’t catch the photo when she did, though it wasn’t right in front of us!

There was a baby right next to us so we had a lot of characters come up to play with her! Alice asked how my sister could hear with flowers in her ears!

And then the rest of the Disney characters

We really liked the parade, and Lauren was happy that her favorite princesses had their own floats. I thought the detail was awesome with so much movement associated with it. I would have liked to see it another time, but our schedule wouldn’t allow for it…

Once the parade was over we planned to head briefly back to the resort, get changed, and come back for the Halloween party (we didn’t need to enter right at 4 anymore though). So to avoid the parade we were going to head back thru Adventureland and down main street, cutting through the Emporium shops for the A/C and lower crowds. This would have worked out fine in Disneyland, but for WDW, not so much!

We made a few quick pauses-nothing major, but arrived at Town Square just as the parade did. And because we were on the west side, the exit route was blocked off! I figured there would be breaks in the parade for people to cross (as there are in DLR), but nope. So, we were held up in town square until the end of the parade, in effect getting to watch it twice (and I swear some of the lost boys recognized us from earlier in the parade, especially with our Pooh/Tigger outfits)! Which, would have been fine, if we weren't stuck in the hot sun and knowing we just wanted to get back to the resort.

But I was at least able to get a dragon fire pic!

So we didn’t get out of the park until close to 2:45, and ended up having to wait until after 3 for a bus to pick us up. Didn’t hit any traffic on the roads, but still took time to get back to the room, so it was closer to 3:30 by the time we got back! We didn’t get much rest time then, instead needing to put our dresses on and collect anything needed for that evening! So it felt very rushed.

We also discovered at that point, we are not mid-hotel break people, at least not when reliant on Disney transport! We need to keep the touring momentum going! Maybe if we could take a proper break, but it felt like we shouldn’t because that would be wasting valuable park time! Instead we did better if we took a 30 minute A/C and sitting in restaurant/café break. Oh well! Live and learn! And maybe it's different if you are in a resort closer to everything or with some other transport option than the buses.

Cont..Halloween party time!​

 

[missangelalexis]

Great parade photos, I'm glad you enjoyed it!