Make it Pink! Make it Blue! Make it ... a Girl's Trip!

[graypool]

AK morning was awesome!

Rope dropped Nav’i
Flight of passage ILL
Caring for Giants tour (more on this below)
Kilimanjaro Safari LL
Nomad Lounge rest time/lunch
Kali River LL
Everest LL

The Caring for Giants tour was amazing - this is the backstage Elephant experience. Our guide was Jake, and he was very knowledgeable and excited about his job! Took about an hour, we walked backstage, took a van even further, and stood behind one of the elephant areas while Jake told us facts, answered questions, and generally made us all love elephants more than we had. 12 people on our tour. We had four of the ladies there, and were probably within 30-50 feet of them.

Today continued the trend of perfect timing as well.

• Walked up to Nomad Lounge and no wait list (got the pork belly, bread service, and Snow Leopards

• Wandering and said “I wish we could see Kevin!”, and Kevin came around the corner minutes later.
• Everest was down most of the day, we were about to leave the park, I checked just in case, and it had come back up, but with no Genie+, but we headed that way anyway. Right when we were about to get in the standby lane (for 30 min), K refreshed the app and suddenly there was an immediate LL available, which we took and walked right on.
• We were walking to the bus stop, got under the cover, and the skies opened up with torrential rain the minute we stepped under cover.
• Walked up to our room just as Mousekeeping was leaving our room, and had nice little surprises from them.

Headed to MNSSHP tonight… can’t wait, one more post to go!

[LTinNC82]

What a nice surprise! Hope y’all have the best time tonight!

[graypool]

Speaking of Kevin…

[Enchantedbythemouse]

Loving the trip report! Enjoy MNSSHP!

[NervousRex]

I am loving the matching shirts!

[graypool]

We are headed to airport (very very sad face), but we are happily exhausted due to our great night at MNSSP.

First off - presenting, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather!

We arrived at the party around 5:45 with very few goals. We had ridden everything we wanted already, we were not going to be trick or treating or waiting for characters, and due to that, we had gone ahead and gotten a Be Our Guest dinner reservation for 6:25, as K had never been there.

The best part of this night was what we called “the bestowing”… a little background:

K’s mom passed away a few years back at this time of year. Since then, at this time of year, K does something that will make people smile in her mom’s honor. The last time we were with her for this was also at WDW, and she bought 15 Mickey balloons and handed them out to people who looked like they could use extra magic. She’s done other things in her neighborhood, but this year’s goal was that the three fairies would bestow blessings (in the form of light up fairy wands) to those who looked like they would enjoy it.

We had around 16 wands that K brought in her backpack… I was a little nervous that cast members might think we were trying to sell them, but we didn’t have any issues.

We started the “bestowing” after dinner, when it was dark and we could turn on the lights for a better effect. The majority were to young princesses… my favorites were when we found tiny Auroras… but the one that got the strongest reaction was actually to a mom. She walked up to me when we were on the way to Jungle Cruise, asking where we got the wands. When I said they were from outside the park, she said “Shoot, my kid would love that and I really wanted to get her one!” Of course, this is perfect for a Bestowing, so I curtsied and gave her mine. After protesting, she gave me a huge hug and said “Now I’ll be the best mom ever!”

The other goal of the night was to try to get K to get Galactic Hero on Buzz. I’ve gotten it, my DH has, her DH has, but she hasn’t. So we rode Buzz twice back to back with me piloting to get her turned to the right targets. Second time she almost got it - 957,700. Parade was starting 5 min after that, so we didn’t do a third time… but next time we make it here I know she will get it now!

We did:

Photos (while we were fresh)
Be our Guest dinner (was good, not great, but K & S both loved getting to see the ambiance)
Bestowing
Jungle Cruise
Buzz x2
Parade (watched from hub)
Bestowing
Fireworks (from Tomorrowland bridge)
Pirates
Haunted Mansion
Space Mountain

We walked out right at midnight as the last Hocus Pocus show was starting… with happy tears in my eyes… I’ll be back next April, so not too long. What a beautiful week.

[NervousRex]

@graypool

We started the “bestowing” after dinner, when it was dark and we could turn on the lights for a better effect. The majority were to young princesses… my favorites were when we found tiny Auroras… but the one that got the strongest reaction was actually to a mom.

Just a little pixie dust in my eyes this morning. The “bestowing” is a beautiful way to honor her mom’s memory. I just loved reading this and thinking about how many smiles your brought to others last night.

A great trip report. It sounds like an awesome time with your friends!

[gamusicman]

What a wonderful trip. And to take it with good friends is even better!

Thanks for taking us along!

[LTinNC82]

Fabulous night and what a beautiful tradition to honor her mom.

[Shmebulock]

@graypool

presenting, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather!

Awesome costumes!!!

[Shmebulock]

I love ‘The Bestowing’.
That’s beautiful

[missoverexcited]

You guys look amazing and the bestowing is such a sweet way to honour K’s mum. Safe travels home!

[paulasc]

@graypool

First off - presenting, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather!

OMG! I love your costumes!

And what a fabulous idea to bestow fairy wands.

So glad you had a great time.

[Dreamer]

Great costumes!

[ThorKat]

What an awesome trip and the bestowing is a beautiful tradition. Definite pixie dust in my eyes

[janamelia]

I’ve always favored Merriweather and love all y’alls take on the fairy costumes.

Sharing stuff is great! I did balloons one year in Christmas cards and I’m pretty sure that cemented me as the bona-fide family weirdo. We loved sharing the paper fast passes and extra ponchos when in the World. Your bestowing wands is over the top wonderful! Thank you.

K’s mom did a great job.

[graypool]

Some great ride pics!

[Enchantedbythemouse]

What an amazing trip. The bestowing of wands was such a sweet thing to do in memory of someone lost. I love that idea.

[mathhound]

Loved the bestowing. A wonderful idea. Great TR!

Did the new MB+ settings help make them less annoying?

[graypool]

Yes, it did! Thanks for the help!