I just got back from a 5 day trip “home” to celebrate my recent 50th birthday. I went with my aunt, who is only two years older than I am, and more like sister to me than anything else. We’ve been talking about a Disney trip together for about 40 years, and I was certain we’d have tons of fun. Still, I had some concerns going into the vacation:
- I’d never been in the summer time. (Could I handle the extreme heat?)
- I’ve never been there with crowd levels so high before (all 8’s and 9’s).
- Could I tour with someone who was really into meeting characters? (I mean REALLY into it!)
- Would she be able to handle Liner-style touring? (She’s been teasing me about it for weeks!)
Instead of a day-by-day trip, I’ll give you the highlights, a few things I learned, and the answers to the 4 questions above!
I MUST HAVE A DISNEY-CHARMED LIFE
- We would have gotten the EXACT room at POP that we requested on our TP fax - the CM at the desk mentioned it! - but we decided we didn’t want to wait. Instead, we got the same room in the opposite building in the 50’s section overlooking the very cool bowling pin pool!
- We never waited more the 10 minutes for a bus at any time during the trip, though they were very crowded at all times.
- We were taken to our table within 5 minutes of check-in at every single ADR we had!
- 5 minutes or less through every bag check - including all 3 times we were “randomly screened” through the metal detectors!
- We got great spots for Festival of Fantasy, Fantasmic!, CTM/Wishes and Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular!! And we didn’t stake spots out more than 20 minutes before each show (excpet SW, which ended up being delayed.)
The view from the DVC booth in Frontierland
I FINALLY MET MICKEY MOUSE! (AND A LOT OF OTHER NEW FRIENDS)
OK, so maybe I’ll have to turn in my Disney Lover Card by admitting this, but I’ve never met Mickey Mouse in person. All of that changed when we stopped by the Main Street Theatre and met the head mouse! It was an absolutely amazing experience. He talked to us all about being scared to go to the house down the street with three ghosts hanging around outside, and then we posed like the Hitchhiking Ghosts. I felt like a kid again…HE TALKED AND HIS MOUTH MOVED! I have to admit I was a little overcome when we left. Magical!!
I’d also never done a character meal before (and I wondered if it would be fun for a table of just adults) and we scheduled TWO! First up, Crystal Palace breakfast. Two words: POTATO CASSEROLE. It was so good, I’d go back just for that. The food and our server were fantastic. And meeting Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore was a lot of fun. Pooh was particularly cuddly, but i think I liked Eeyore best.
The other character meal we had was a Tusker House breakfast - which was just as delicious (the ham was amazing). Oddly, it was almost empty, which shocked me considering how tough it was to secure the ADR. The advantage was that we got to meet each character TWICE! It was fun to see Mickey again, and I’d never met Daisy before, but the draw for me was meeting Donald again (met him and Goofy last year). He was fun to interact with, and expressed his love for Daisy when I told him what a lucky duck he is to have her! Daisy came over and insisted on doing selfies! But the really magical thing for this Donald fan was when he and Daisy took an empty table and played sugar packet hockey (Donald was really bad at it, and Daisy had to make the “goal” wider than the table! Then they stood up and hugged and kissed each other. What a great thing to witness!!
Before the trip was over, we met Flick, Tarzan, Joy and Sadness, Baymax, Rafiki, and Chip and Dale and Mickey and Minnie (at AK)!
And so, I’m a convert of sorts. Turns out I really like meeting characters. So much so, that when DBF and I go back in January, we are doing both TH and CP meals and I can’t wait to meet talking Mickey, Baymax and Joy and Sadness again. PLUS Olaf, Gaston, Chewie and Kylo Ren!
More tomorrow…
