Solo Trip Report 9/3-9/10

With MK still open, I wonder why they wouldn’t let you ride the ferry from the TTC? Never heard of the ferry being open but only for 1 way traffic. Very odd. When you said it at first I just presumed MK was already closed for the night…

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Good question. I have no idea. Maybe to discourage people from going into the park at this hour?

Thanks so much for continuing to share your trip with us! I loved your video of your walk to BOG in a very empty MK! So amazing to see the park that empty! Looking forward to your next installment! Thanks again!! :smile:

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And thank YOU guys again for reading it!

Yeah the walk to BOG is probably my favorite video I took. Wish I coulda been able to lose the Tie-Dye family a little faster though. They seemed to go exactly where I was going until we got to the castle. hahah

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I’m really enjoying reading this! Your writing style is great and it’s nice to hear from a different perspective!

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Thank you so much for this report! I’m having a rough week and you’re transporting me to my very favourite place! Looking forward to reading the rest :slight_smile:

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Did I miss that you are a writer? I’ll have to go back and read again to check. What fantastic use of language, and I’m not kidding in the slightest.

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Heh thank you! I’m glad you are enjoying it!

You n’ me both. :hugging: I’m finding myself going back and reading my own report. BTW, I don’t recommend this. I made a loooooot of mistakes above, and its glaring lol!

:blush: To quote Goofy: “Gawrsh”, you are far too kind. No, not a writer, as my horrid grammar and spelling has surely revealed.

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I laughed out loud when I read this! and identify :slight_smile:

I understand what you mean … but Oh Sally :heart: I don’t know if you put away the impatient curmudgeon you speak of when I met you?! I feel I definitely met the kind, patient Sally! You are included in some of my favourite peeps! Just sayin…! Hugs and love to you friend :heart:

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HA! I have a long stride and often leave my family in the dust. They always holler up to me, “Hey mom, we aren’t at Disney World!”

Phew, now that life is calming down a wee bit… time for another update. HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Day 6 - 9/8/16 - “Boo to you! And Boo to you! And Boo to you and you and you! Happy Halloween!”

Today is my first “off” day where I don’t have my schedule jammed packed. It is also the day for second chances and redemptions… and a party. Oook… so it’s a little jammed. :wink:

After a bit of a late start (8:00 AM) I am walking out the door of the hotel with a bit of urgency. Not because I’m late, but because I’m eager to get there. All week, while I’ve been up early, I keep missing the Welcome Show at the park and it was time to fix that. I step onto the walkway and enjoy a wonderful morning walk to the Kingdom. The weather is another perfectly warm day with low humidity.

I get through security and mickey posts and drift toward the center of the welcome area and take up a spot by the pumpkins. After a few minutes, the show starts with the Mayor coming out and greeting everyone. Show time!

A fun little show and having my favorite Singin’ in the Rain number just adds to the experience. Though it wouldn’t be until Mickey showed up that my jaw would actually drop.

He talked. He actually talked.

Obviously, I’m aware that there’s a strict “no talking” policy when it comes to non-face characters. I’m also well aware that the voice is likely a recorded setup as I seriously doubt there’s someone “off screen” doing a voice for this in every morning (but I could be wrong). But really, the fact that the character has a voice isn’t the impressive part to me. The impressive part is that the face moved with the voice. I was NOT aware that was a thing with full on moving mouth and blinking eyes. The other thing that was really cool was it was subtle, it was a few minutes into the show before I realized what I was seeing.

The mouse talked. hah!

After the show, I have time before my breakfast reservation at The Wave, so I decide to go into the park and enjoy a morning coffee. I merge with the flood of people and slowly make my way toward the court of the castle. Even at this early hour, the crowd is thick and movement is slow as people stop suddenly to take pictures.

As I get closer to the court, I’m reminded of one of the tips I was given during my Keys to the Kingdom tour: since human inclination is to go right, go left if you want to be on your own. So I did just that and headed toward Sleepy Hollow Inn to grab my prize.

As I order my coffee, I notice a woman depart the window with a delicious looking waffle with berries and whipped cream topping. Oh If only I didn’t have a reservation already… but I take solace in the fact that I don’t have one for tomorrow and I now know what I’m doing for breakfast then!

Coffee in hand (and at quite the Disney bargain at $2.49 for a large!), I make my way over to one of the benches up the walkway and take a seat to people watch for a bit. I know I keep saying it, but I really do love being in the park during this time. After the initial burst of people, the crowds have dissipated enough so there’s plenty of room to breath, at least for now. The park is still relatively quiet and serene and it’s just the best. As I sip my coffee, the warm morning sun feels good on the shoulders like a hot towel on sore muscles and the air is just cool enough to welcome the heat.

But as the crowds start to build up a little bit, and as we march closer to my reservation time, I decided I have had enough people watching for the moment and go walk the park instead. I make my way up through the rest of the pathway and behind the castle, to go through Frontierland and then into Adventure Land.

While the crowds are building, these two lands remain fairly empty and the cast members are able to bid everyone they see a sprightly good morning and still have time to chat amongst themselves. I take my time walking, enjoying the music of the lands, the architecture, and being practically alone in the park.

Eventually, I make my way back to the court yard and back down main street to go get some breakfast. On my way, I notice a woman handing out buttons to various guests. I had seen this all week, and of course seen the buttons on guests, but none that I saw seemed to jump out at me. Hoping that there was one in the basket that I hadn’t seen yet and with the crowds so low at the moment, I decided to take a chance and ask about them.

“They for celebrating special occasion. What you celebrate? First time here?” She asked in a thick spanish accent. The options included Honeymoon, First Time Visit, Birthday, and a general “I’m Celebrating:” where you are to fill out the occasion.

Unfortunately, it confirmed that none of them really “fit” me, because it wasn’t really my first time here, nor was I celebrating a birthday or honeymoon, or really anything in particular, so I found myself disappointed. When I mentioned I couldn’t think of anything, she could offer no suggestion that seemed to work. Shrugging it off, I thanked her and walked away, buttonless.

I left the park and made my way to the Wave in the Contemporary for breakfast. Originally, I had a Chef Mickey reservation, but as I got closer and closer to the trip, I realized that Character Dining wasn’t really for me because it makes me a bit uncomfortable. The cast member knows they’re not Mickey, I know they’re not Mickey, and because they can’t break character, I don’t feel there can be any real interaction between us. Without someone there to share in the experience with, I feel I’m a wasted effort on the Cast Member’s part. So with that I started looking at other options for breakfast for this morning and saw The Wave began doing a breakfast buffet, but without characters. Since this was in the same hotel, it wasn’t a far leap in logic to think they pull from the same “food stash” as Chef Mickey’s did. So since I was going for the food anyway (ahem, the mickey waffle in particular), this seemed like a perfect alternative.

And wow was I right! While the food wasn’t anything I would declare special (but still very good, just not quite Boma level), the service was probably the best I received all trip, and when you consider that the staff at Tiffins and Boma set the bar insanely high, this is quite the statement. My server interacted with me far more than anywhere else and made sure my coffee or orange juice cups were never empty. Further, I was given several samples of some sort of berry juice mixture. The rest of my breakfast consisted of an abnormal amount of Mickey Waffles, bagels, and various other forgettable breakfast fare.

The war of me vs. buffet raged for a long, drawn out, 5-plate battle, but in the end, the buffet had won yet again. Conceding defeat, I paid my check and left…or more like waddled… out of the restaurant.

But now was not the time to dwell on the culinary defeat, for it was time for Animal Kingdom’s second chance! Hopping aboard a bus, I start the day in earnest, even if it was already near noon.

Once at AK, I’m through bag check, security screening (ugh), and through the gates. I start to head up the right path from the oasis again when suddenly a girl starts freaking out. Laughing and screaming a bit in excitement. I look quickly to what has drawn her attention so completely but all I see is a bush.

A bush…In the middle of the path.
That’s … moving?
And…HOLY CRAP IS THAT A FACE?!

Realization drops on me like a cartoon piano as I finally make the connection that it’s DeVine!

After recovering my from my moment of “durr” I took a picture and headed off further into the park. Wow, what a difference in crowd level! The last time, it was apparently a 9 and it certainly felt a little stuffed. Today, it was a 1 and most definitely room to breathe Everything I would do would be a walk-on for the most part.

To start the park off right, I decided to revisit my favorite thing from the first time, which was It’s Tough To Be A Bug. Now that I was all experienced with this from my first time, I was able to score a perfect seating position this time cause there was almost no crowd. And, as I predicted, when you can actually SEE what’s going on, the show is that much better.

After I got out of the theater I meandered a little bit and came across a guy in stilts doing a show. Entertaining, but I caught it about mid way through so I wasn’t entirely sure what was the point of the show beyond banging on drums.

From there it was off to Kilimanjaro Safari. I was really eager for this one because it was the fast pass I had abandoned earlier because of the rain and because AK wasn’t really doin’ it for me. I checked the TP site from my phone and the site said it was a 15 minute wait. Comfortable with that, I ducked into the queue and snaked my way through the line until… gridlock.

Sadly, the wait-time estimation was grossly inaccurate. Even with a super low crowd, the wait to get on the ride was still 40-60 minutes, and I was easily half way through the queue when I started. Yikes. Easily the longest time I spent in any line the entire trip. Though I guess if this was the longest time I spent in a line, that’s certainly not a bad thing.

I stuck it out and eventually I did board a truck and the ride begins. The ride itself is a great ride. Being able to see all these animals in a more open habitat other than a cage really adds to the experience. I also loved that they can and do get really close to the truck.

But wow is the commentary for the ride a downer! So many of the animals you see, the tour guide needs to caveat it with something along the lines of “they’re endangered because [man sucks.]” I know this is a great venue for the message to get out for preservation to hopefully spark motivation and action, but I find the presentation depressing.

To get on my soap box for a moment: Ok fine… the situation sucks, we suck, and we are in agreement here: The world’s animals need to be preserved. I’m 100% for this, Disney. So how do we fix this? How do I help? At no point in the ride presentation were we given a solution to that question. There’s no phone number, website, or organization to contact mentioned. In fact, only twice I think it was mentioned that Disney itself stepped in and rescued a specific animal which is why they now live here. It felt like a giant “Well, if you don’t know, I can’t help you.” situation. Which is infuriating and leaves me with a sense of hopelessness.

I absolutely applaud Disney’s conservation and restoration efforts and using KS as a platform to bring awareness to the issue is absolute genius. But it’s not complete. You can’t show us these animals, say “they’ve been hit hard by poachers” and literally leave it at that. You have to give me more, you have tell me what we can/should do.

“Well why not just research it when you get home?” Because by then it’s too late, it needs to be done in the emotional moment. We liners (I can say “we liners” now, right?) are a rare type where we go back and relive minute details of our trips through these reports. Is it a reasonable expectation to think most visitors do the same? And will then remember to do some serious research on the subject once home? Until starting this day in the report, I had forgotten all about this and my frustration of the situation.

Ok, coming down off my soap box.

Ahem…. After KS, my mood was pretty down, so I decided to just tour the park for a bit and made my way back to Expedition Everest. After my experience with Soarin’ I knew there was no way I would be able to ride Everest, so I was content with just checking out the really cool gift shop.

From there, it was onto the train to check out Rafiki’s Conservation Station. This was really cool and I enjoyed getting a bit more behind the scene look at how Animal Kingdom is maintained. Though throughout the entire train ride, I kept hearing the Jurassic Park theme in my head.

Getting off the train, I made my way down the path to the conservation station. It was a surprisingly long walk. But thankfully, the weather was far more cooperative today and it was a very relaxing walk. Once inside, I was particularly fascinated by the full service medical room for the animals (I also rather enjoyed the hidden mickey in there). I also did the rainforest sound room (I forget what the official name of them was) and it was pretty cool.

I toured around the facility a little bit longer, feeling like I was on a field trip for school for the entire duration, before heading back.

As I stepped off the train back at the main park, I again was at a loss of what to do to spend any more time here. I had done everything I was looking to do and the only things left were things that wouldn’t be until night time (and for that, I couldn’t do tonight).

While I still don’t feel I connected with the Park like I did HS or MK, I was content in feeling I had given AK its second chance and that I didn’t regret it. It didn’t feel like a time sink and that was the most important part to me.

So with AK finished, I figured it was now time to finally give DIsney Springs its second chance and proceeded out of the park and to the bus station. But once at the bus station, I am still confused on how to actually GET to Disney Springs. It’s currently before 4PM so there seems to be no direct line to the park. Swell.

With that, I lay out my new plan: Get back to the hotel and then hop on bus to Disney Springs. Now, the intelligent man would choose a close hotel and make the switch there, but this is me we’re talking about! So with that, I board the bus to go back to the Contemporary! However, this would prove to be a wise decision as, once on my way, I run into a problem where I start falling asleep on the bus. Worried that I’ll not make the entire run of the party tonight, I decide to power nap at the hotel. Something I couldn’t do, without raising an eyebrow or two, at another hotel.

Walking into my room, I’m disappointed there are no new towel sculptures lying about. I thought we had something, Contemporary. I thought we were making progress! Oh well, I fall on the bed and it’s lights out for me.

Waking from my nap, I was energized and ready to go. Grabbing a light load out, I hopped aboard the bus and away I went. On the way to Disney Springs, I open the TP Chat to find out if there’s a possible opening ceremony for the party tonight. With the price of the ticket, I certainly don’t want to miss anything associated with this party. I’m told “no” and I’m glad, as that gives me a bit more time to be at Disney Springs. Not sure why, but I’m rather excited to be visiting this mall again.

I arrive and my immediate objective is to seek out this fabled Custom T-Shirt shop. It takes some time to actually find it, though, as it was tucked WAAAAAAAY in the back. Because it’s so far away, gone is the impression that DS is a tiny little mall.

Finally, I locate the t-shirt shop and enter. I remember when I went before there was a “mall” like place (somewhere) where t-shirts were made by a robotic arm airbrushing disney characters onto them. I remember always being fascinated by that robotic arm and I was hoping to see it here today, but it looks like no robotic arms were here. However, there were big computer kiosks with interfaces so you can customize your shirt, and so I started playing with those to try and locate this t-shirt design. Sadly, I struck out again, as nothing like it exists. Spending so much time at the kiosk though, eventually a cast member asks if I need help and I fill her in on my plight. She shakes her head saying she’s never seen that shirt and helps me search the interface as maybe it was just hidden. But it wasn’t and as it wasn’t there, I thanked her for her help and took my leave.

From there, I visited various other stores looking for more appropriate souvenirs for the family back home. Nothing really jumps out at me for them, but I’m finding all sorts of stuff I’d love to buy. And I would’ve too, but at this point in the week my resources were starting to get low and my mind started focusing on conserving the remaining funds rather than spending it.

After several stores (including a revisit to both Lego and Disney stores) it was now about 6:30 and the party started at 7, so I had to get back to the bus, and then back to the hotel to change into my “costume” (or as it is more commonly known: a Superman T-Shirt), and then get to MK. While there’s no opening ceremonies, I wanted to take advantage of all that happens in the park during the party.

So it’s back on the bus and we’re away, but the bus is slow and it takes about 45 minutes to get to the Magic Kingdom. Deciding that my costume is not really worth the effort of walking into the freeze blast of the lobby of the Contemporary, getting into an elevator, changing, and then back tracking, I just stroll over to MK instead. My super elaborate costume will just have to wait.

As I got in line and approached the the mickey posts, I fumbled in my pack for my wallet which housed my ticket. The line was moving really quickly though, so before I could grab it, the cast member is asking me to place my magic band against the mickey head. I explain I needed to get my ticket out and she informs me, very nicely, that she doesn’t need the physical ticket and it’s probably already linked to my band. Pensively, I place my band up to the post as the memories of the first day replay in my mind and… GREEN! Huh, well whattaya know?

“Have a great time!” She smiles and I’m off.

I want to take a quick moment here and just gush over the Magic Bands. What a beautifully ingenious and welcome addition to the Vacation Experience! I absolutely love that everything is so easily accessed using these things. To be able to access my room, the parks, photos, and my credit card (Though I didn’t do that), as well as any other tickets just makes everything so amazingly easy. Back in 1990, you had to carry room keys (I think it was still actual keys then), money, “disney dollars”, park tickets, and show tickets if you had them. The addition of the bands lightens the load and the mood as you can pass, stress free, to whatever destination you fancy. Sure, I might’ve run into a glitch at the beginning, but I would rather do that once a week than to carry all that stuff with me every time I stepped out my hotel room.

And to top that all off, you get to, somewhat, customize it and then get a personalized box mailed to you, all included in your price. And I feel it is superior that it’s not an app on your smartphone that houses all this. It’s tangible, it’s real. You can’t lose it due to a hard drive crash. Ultimately, it becomes a simple and elegant souvenir and all the happy memories associated with it. More than anything else on this trip that I noticed (and the MDE application came real close), this simple little band is a true testament of why Disney is still the gold standard and why we pay, happily or begrudgingly, the high cost.

So back to the party.

I walk toward the gate and am practically jumped on by a cast member offering a wristband to prove I belong here. I extend my wrist and she nimbly wraps the band around it in a blink of an eye. I’m impressed it’s actually not just paper, or sticky (so arm hair doesn’t get caught in it) and surprisingly durable.

Thanking her, I pass through the gate and see the plaza already in “spook mode.” City Hall’s clock tower is a deep red color and the buildings are lit up in purple, red, and green. It’s still daylight out so all the effects are quite muted.

I hadn’t really developed a solid Touring Plan for the party because I didn’t intend on riding too many rides, but the one ride I absolutely had to go on was the Haunted Mansion, for obvious reasons. I began heading toward main street when I suddenly realized no one was being allowed to travel up that way and instead all newcomers are being directed into the “run off” area we visited in the Keys to the Kingdom tour earlier this week.

Not one to distrust the herd at this point, I followed along and we flow into the run off area where there are carts and cast members scattered about, handing out little bags of candy and pamphlets.

And not crap candy either. Upon opening my bag, I see there’s a Kind Bar, a full M&M crispies, and some other higher end treats that I can’t remember right now. Where I live, Kind Bars retail for around $1.50+, so I was rather impressed yet again.

After stowing my candy safely away in my pack, I make a beeline for the Mansion. I make it and immediately notice the foretold extra that the Mansion has: many of the cast members are wearing zombie/ghoul/ghost makeup. Curious what other changes the Mansion undergoes during this, and since Fast Passes during a party were not a thing, I got in the 10-minute-wait line and proceeded down the queue.

We file into the main foyer and, once again, I missed the painting age and it’s already a skull. We’re immediately funneled into the stretching room. And that’s when something really cool happened.

As the presentation of the room begins playing, isolated voices start reciting the script verbatim. Shortly, the few are joined by more voices, then more, and soon nearly the entire crowd is getting in on it.

“OF COURSE, THERE’S ALWAYS MY WAY! HAHAHAHAHA” The whole room bellows in unison as the climax of the script thunders and the lights flash.

Then silence as the doors open to proceed to the next part of the ride. After a moment, with everyone clearly pleased with themselves for how that just played out, a single voice breaks the silence “Heeeyyyy wait a minute,” he says loudly, “have some of you been on this ride before?” Which garnered the desired chuckles from the rest of the crowd as we head for the doombuggies.

As I progress through the ride, I’m actually a little disappointed there’s nothing really different about the experience. I had hoped an extra or two would’ve been added as this was THE ride for this party, but, alas, nothing. Though, as I approached the graveyard scene, I could hear the various doombuggy riders singing along with Grim Grinning Ghosts, which I thought my hearing them quite the feat given the considerably loud music. I wish I knew the words well enough to have joined in.

With the ride concluded, I began making my way back to the castle to catch the first showing of the Hocus Pocus Spelltacular, but stopped short when I heard a woman off to my right doing a “one ghost comedy show” and interacting with the guests. I remember the tour guide on the Keys tour mentioning this, so I found a spot near the coach and watched Renatta (at least I think it was her).

I could only stand for a few moments before I got that nagging “gotta move” feeling in my gut. While incredibly entertaining, there was a lot to do at the party, and since I didn’t know how long this little routine would last, I decided I’d have to just hope I’d be able to catch the rest of the show later and headed for the castle.

In hindsight, I should’ve finished out the show. By the time I made it to the castle, I could only catch about the last few minutes of the first HPS show. Oh well, I then proceeded to head farther up main street to get a spot for the parade. Taking into account how the Main Street Electrical Parade started from the plaza and moved toward the castle, I decided Main Street was where I wanted to be for this and kinda wedged myself into a spot across from the Pandora store.

I guessed wrong on the starting point of the parade, though. As evident by the Headless Horsemen making his way down the street, coming from Frontierland. Once he passed though, unexpectedly, there was nothing behind him. I knew he was the first feature of the parade, but I thought he was only a few seconds out of the rest, I was, again, wrong. Because the parade started at the other end of the park, it was taking a while for it to get to us (I guess the horseman just moved that quick). Disney, however, realized the delay was not so good and deployed a quick little Zootopia Dance Party routine to keep everyone entertained. But they only had about a few seconds to do anything before needing to wrap up because the rest of the parade was now snaking its way through the courtyard and heading toward Main Street.

I can easily say the highlight of this party would be the parade for me. The song was catchy as all get out and I still find myself, months later, singing it as I go about my day. I also really enjoyed the Haunted Mansion dancers too… I was -ahem- not expecting them to scream, and I don’t mind sharing that I jumped a bit. I think it made the one dancers enjoy her job a bit more that night because suddenly she was a “grim grinning ghost.” (I’m not apologizing for this one, you just deal with it!). As the parade comes to its end, I can’t help but think just how weird it is seeing Maleficent and the Evil Queen bustin’ a move…

After the parade, I walk around all the lands to see their changes. As I passed by 7DMT, I notice the giant jack o lantern projected onto the side of the “mountain”. Very cool. Aside from different colored lights and the different characters out (such as Jack and Sally), not much changes throughout the park. I made my way back to the Haunted Mansion, to hopefully catch another performance, but sadly there was no sign of the wise cracking ghost.

As I walked around I lost track of time and the next showing of the Spelltacular starts and I, again, only catch the end by the time I make it back to the castle. I do, however, find a spot closer to the stage than I was before. So that’s progress, I guess. Determined not to miss the third showing, I set an alarm on my phone.

With my alarm set, I head to Frontierland to catch the Cadaver Dans. It was great seeing their ghost costumes and hearing some of the classic western ghost songs my dad would sing to me as a kid again. After they finished up, I grabbed a dolewhip and headed back to the castle. I will NOT miss the show this time, even if I was going to be a tad early.

Because of my early arrival, I was able to secure a prime spot right in front of the stage. I was all happy with myself until I felt it. I took a step and felt a spot on the ground, no bigger than a quarter, sit higher than the rest. Before I realized what was happening, my full weight pressed down on my foot, completing my step and filling me with disgust. In one last desperate hope, I began to raise my right foot but the resistance to detach from the ground confirmed my dreaded suspicion:

Gum.

Some jackwagon couldn’t go the few extra feet to the trash bin, that were everywhere, and decided to just drop their gum on the ground, where my foot would find it, waiting. There’s a special circle of Hell reserved for those who leave their gum on the ground. As I grimaced I remembered how all week long I had noticed Cast Members with little pronged “grabbers” picking up gum along the ground. I deem their efforts are likely very underappreciated, so to them I say: “Thanks for trying” and there’s a special level of Heaven for those that spend their days picking up after the slobs that I sadly have to call “fellow” man.

Deciding to deal with the filth at the bottom of my foot later, the show begins. It’s a great show, and the lip syncing and live performances mesh wonderfully. Even though this would mark the third time I watched the ending number, I didn’t mind as it was my favorite of the whole show.

Once the show is over, it was almost time for the second showing of the parade. Since I now know where the starting point is, I head toward frontierland (after grabbing a few napkins and dealing with the unwelcome nastiness on my shoe). I do this for a few reasons. The first being I want to see the cast members at their full energy, not that I feel their energy earlier was lacking, but I can only imagine how exhausting it is to dance the same routine for over a mile at a slow place. The second being I wanted to experience a parade in a different setting than Main Street, which is where I have been thus far. And finally, the third was I had every intention of riding Mansion again and I wanted to beat the crowd.

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As I waited for the parade, the music began to play and I happened to catch something I wasn’t expecting: the cast members dancing to the song. No, not the ones in the parade, the ones directing traffic around the parade. It was then that it occurred to me that this party, which is obviously a break from the norm, was just as fun for them as it was for the guests. I found that really cool.

The parade’s second viewing, I think, I enjoyed even more. The horseman clopping through Frontierland seemed a lot more ominous and fitting than it did down a 19th Century Middle America Main Street (no surprise). It also didn’t hurt that I was able to get right up to the rope for viewing this time.

After the parade was through, it’s about 12AM and I followed through on my plan to ride Mansion again (and again still not seeing that blasted painting change). After that, I made my way back to main street to catch the final viewing of the Spelltacular as well as the Kiss Good Night.

However, finally around 1AM, I determined the Kiss Goodnight wasn’t going to play tonight or at least not anytime soon, so I decided to head back to the hotel as I was pretty tired by this point. On my way out, with the crowds thinning, I took some photos of the plaza and the outside area.

It would take until next morning for me I realize I had completely forgot to go “trick or treating” throughout the candy stops.

Originally, in my planning of the trip, I had no interest in doing this party. The price was really high for what would, from what I could tell, amount to just candy and different characters appearing. After reading these forums for months, I talked myself into going under the guise of “experience as much as you can.” And while my original assessment of the party was correct (short of the few other additions), I have to say I’m VERY GLAD I talked myself into going. Those 6 hours I was there flew past far faster than I was expecting and I still have had a hard time thinking how 2 parades, walking around, and a short 15 minute show (even repeated in pieces) could take up all that time in a blink of an eye. If you are on the fence on going, I can only urge you to take the plunge and go for it, even if just once.

To Be Continued…

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Day 7 - 9/9/16 - [no song really fit for this day… so we’ll forgo it]

My last full day at Disney would start off a bit rocky (in the slightest sense of the phrase). I had awoke, what I thought was, on time to take advantage of the “Early Morning Magic” hour at the Magic Kingdom, but it would turn out I did not wake early enough as I realized I might be too late to witness this morning’s Welcome Show. To cut down on as much “held up” time as possible, I left my gear in the hotel and decided I’ll come back for it later.

As I dashed out the Contemporary’s lobby and walked briskly down the path to the Kingdom, I hoped luck would play into my favor and I would make it just in time. As I’m moving at speed, I end up getting behind a family who was not as interested in seeing the opening show as I was. Which wouldn’t be a problem except all 4 of them were walking side by side and spanned the full width of the walk way. For a moment, I contemplate whether or not I should dash through them (with subsequent apologies) or maintain politeness and remain behind them. As I decide, however, the father of the family must’ve noticed me and suddenly had everyone shift to the right to allow me through. I gave a quick “thanks” as I raced past them and was now full on speed walking toward the Kingdom. The fireworks still had not gone off so my hope of making it just in time remained and I poured a little more speed on my gait as I neared the entrance, any faster and I’d have been considered running.

BOOM! The sudden explosion of firework overhead let me know that my efforts were in vain and my hope of making the welcome show were now dashed as I was still roughly 100 yards from the gate and could see nothing.

With the fireworks signaling the end of the welcome show, my pace immediately slowed to a more casual stroll as I saw no reason to rush now. A bit disappointed, I consoled myself with the thought of a quiet park and a fluffy waffle waiting for me at Sleepy Hollow Inn. I smiled to myself at the thought of what lay ahead of me.

After passing through the “no bag” line, “randomly selected for screening”, and Mickey Posts, I stepped into a relatively quiet park as the initial crowd had already surged down Main Street and are now in line queues throughout the park.

I make my way to the courtyard and go left toward Sleepy Hollow Inn, only to be greeted by more disappointment: it was closed. Dejected, I look at the sign and reread it several times to confirm that it does say that it opens at 9AM. I have a full hour before it opens and I’m already hungry (and hankerin’ for coffee).

Deciding this can’t be the only eatery other than Star Bucks that’s open this morning, I start wandering the park looking for one, but, to my surprise, everything is closed. Which immediately begs the question “what’s the point of Extra Magic Hour if only very few things are open?” I knew the rides would be limited, but I expected most of the breakfast-serving restaurants to be open.

Finally I come upon Cheshire Cafe and they are open so I settle for whatever bounty they have for sale. Their selection is limited and a muffin and coffee is what I resign to. As I munch at my blueberry muffin and sip my coffee, I take the long way back to Main Street to people watch. The muffin is good, but not far removed to the ones I can get at my local convenience store.


Another beautiful day is dawning and even though I’m now without waffle or seeing the welcome show, I can’t help but smile. Still the best place on earth and I would rather be nowhere else.

After I finished my breakfast, I headed back to the hotel to get my gear. On the way out, a cast member was chiding a duck who was trying to wander into the park.

“Hey! You can’t come in here! You didn’t pay!” He joked loudly at the creature, assuredly for the kids in the line. Seeing an opportunity, however, a secondary cast member decided to throw in his two cents.
“Wait, no it’s ok! We’ll just put it on his bill!” He grinned from ear to ear.

Where was a rim shot or “Wakka! Wakka! Wakka!” when you needed it? But the first cast member must not have realized how he set up the exchange because it took him a second or two before he made the connection and started laughing. After an initial silent groan, I laughed too.

I love this place.

I make my way back to the hotel and room where I find the third disappointment of the morning: the Magic Express notice dangling from my door handle. In the back of my mind, I was already aware this was ending and it was a like dark cloud on the horizon, seeing this made the dark cloud thunder quietly. It was nearly over. I carefully untangled the notice from the door handle and walked inside, delicately holding it as if it were going to bite my wrist if mishandled.

Placing it on my luggage, I grabbed my gear and headed back out. My original plan for this day was to catch up on things I hadn’t done yet, but I couldn’t think of anything particularly evading me at the time, so I decided to spend as much time at MK as possible and then do Hollywood Studios again tomorrow.

I scheduled three Fastpasses: Mansion, Mine Train, and Jungle Cruise. And in the meantime I grabbed an ice cream from the Plaza Parlor and sat down to watch the Dance Party Parade.

I probably didn’t need to schedule a Mansion fastpass, but given that I had nothing else I really wanted to ride, I figured it’d be good. And as completely expected, it was a good time. While riding it, I realize that for this entire trip, almost no ride had broke down or paused. Which was a far departure from when I visited in 1990 where nearly every ride, at some point, ended up hanging or being suddenly closed. I’m not sure if Disney’s engineers got better or if I got lucky, but it was a pleasant realization.

After mansion, I just shopped and toured the parks. Somehow, this would take up the needed time it would take until my Mine Train Fastpass window would open.

Now, unlike before, I knew that the ride took a photo. So as I got up to the car, I became extremely concerned that I would, once again, ruin someone’s photos. I decided I needed to ham it up for the camera. Once my turn came, I noticed I was being placed with a family with the little girl’s first time on the ride. Please don’t let me screw up their photos. Please don’t let me screw up their photos.

The ride begins and I’m following along with the example that the rest of the riders are setting: hands up, big BIG smiles, and whooing whenever going into the fast parts. I’m hoping it’s enough.

The ride ends and we disembark, the little girl all smiles as we leave. I make my way out to the main thoroughfare and head toward the Ferry. I hadn’t been able to ride it all week so I figured today was a good day.

As we “sailed” the river, we happened to be running parallel to the Train. For such a momentous occasion, everyone got to enjoy a “Shave and a Hair Cut! 2 Bits!” whistle duel. I didn’t realize how long this ride was as it took a good amount of time to run through the whole thing.

Once the the ride was done, I decided to go check out Tom Sawyer’s Island. I don’t remember if we visited this when I was a kid, but I was pretty impressed with how large the area was. Since the island was practically empty, once I reached the fort, I couldn’t help it and found myself trying one of the mounted rifle. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I pulled the trigger on the first one and it actually made sound! Once I realized that, and because there was no one else around, just had to try all the rifles. Cause reasons!

After all that was done, it was time for my Jungle Cruise ride, but I decided to bail on it. I had seen it during my Keys to the Kingdom tour and it wasn’t something I was really biting at the bit to see again.

Instead I went to get dinner at Pinocchio Haus. In planning, I actually avoided this place because it seemed to be panned here, but it had almost no line and it had flatbread pizza that was relatively cheap, so why not?

As I looked at the menu, I couldn’t find a “basic cheese” so I debated between pepperoni or “caprese”, having never had a caprese before and not exactly feelin’ the pepperoni, the debate raged right up to the point where I ordered.

I ended up going with the Caprese and was more than “pleasantly” surprised! It was absolutely delicious. I actually felt a little cheated that I didn’t hit up this place earlier in the week. I might catch flak for this, but I enjoyed it even more than Via Napoli’s offerings in EPCOT.

As I enjoyed my pizza, I decided to check on my My Disney Experience app to see if the photos from 7DMT had been posted yet, and they had. Keying them up, I braced myself for badness…

The photos came out good! I actually look like I’m having as much fun as I was this time! So much so that I would end up actually buying the photos.

From there, I just toured the park more and shopped until it was time for the first showing of the Electrical Light Parade. I still don’t know how I was able to fill all that time with just walking around, a quick ride on People Mover, and a bit of shopping.

Once it got closer to the time, I picked out a spot right outside of the Emporium, which would end up being a rather awful location as they adjusted the rope area once the parade got closer to stepping off. Still it was better than nothing and seeing the classic parade was still as much fun as it was earlier in the week.

Once that was done, it was more wandering around and shopping until it was time for Celebrate the Magic, which I was particularly excited for as hadn’t seen it from ground level yet. I picked out a spot just off the bridge to Tomorrowland enjoyed the show. I have to say, It’s pretty cool when you’re watching it in the park, even if you do it without ice cream…

Once the show was done, I decided to take photos and tour some more. This was my last night in the Kingdom, so I take a long long walk through the lands. During this, the final showing of the Main Street Electrical parade for the night played and I used the opportunity to take night photos of a deserted park. But because I was moving fast enough, I was able to catch the whole parade as it made its way through frontierland.

As the night continued on, I resisted more and more the “adult decision” to go back to the hotel to pack. The park slowly started to close and we were on our third or fourth showing of the Kiss Goodnight before I was back at the courtyard. But I refused to leave yet, I decided to get more photos and began heading toward Tomorrowland.

But I stopped once a security guard gruffly informed me that I can’t go back into Tomorrowland as it had been closed off. I took this as the final nail in the coffin, and I finally gave in and headed back to the hotel.

Reluctantly, I dragged myself out of the gates and headed back to the hotel. I get back to the room and start to pack, putting the resort tv music on. It won’t be until almost 2-3AM before I finally fall asleep.

To be continued…

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Thank you for your report, it was very good, enjoyed it.

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Day 8 - The final Day - “It’s all pure magic! Wrapped up in pixie dust!”

The final morning starts with the usual routine and I take some extra time this morning to enjoy that view outside my room for a short while longer. As I sit there on the balcony, sipping my coffee with the resort sound track playing softly in the background, I reflect on the amazing week I’ve had so far. As I went through the checklist of everything I did, I was amazed I did as much I did. Never have I been on a vacation where I was able to do so much and feel like none of the time was wasted. Today’s objective would be to breakfast in the MK, then pack, and then head over to Hollywood Studios to take a final ride or two on Star Tours. Sometime in between all that, grab some souvenirs.

Down below, I see the morning crowd start to form, and I check my watch to ensure I have enough time to make the Welcome Show one more time.

After I finish my coffee, I pack up a little bit and then it’s time to leave and I head down to the park. I leave my luggage in the room yet as I don’t have to check out until 11AM and I expect to be back from breakfast long before then.

As I make my way through the lobby and onto the path to MK, I take note of the “resort check in” station and remember I need to make sure I’m back before they end their service (I think it was noon). Wisely, I had scheduled my flight for much later in the day so I could A) sleep in (aka not get up at 4AM for a flight) and B) enjoy some more park time.

I get past the Mickey Posts and it’s time to wait for the Welcome Show. I can’t help but take longing glances at everything knowing I’ll soon be leaving it all behind. I snap a few photos of the lake and the boats.

The music starts and the show commences and it’s just great. Since I’ve been back, Disney has changed the welcome show and relocated it to the castle and having seen it on youtube, what I witnessed was far superior.

The show ends and we’re let into the park. Everyone is out for rides, But I’m out for breakfast! Sleepy Hollow, here I come!

This walk down Main Street isn’t as impressive as it had been on the days where I’ve been nearly alone on the road, but still great, so I don’t rush.

As the crowd peels off to the right to go for their various rides (odds are most are trying to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train), I go left and find myself alone quickly and stroll up to Sleepy Hollow Inn. Only to find it closed!

But, unlike yesterday, I’m just about 10-15 minutes early. So I decide to do a circuit of Liberty Square, Frontierland, and Adventureland and then make my way back.

As I walk through the lands, I’m pretty much alone save a few Cast Members going about their morning-ready rituals. I take this opportunity to take some more photos of an empty park. As I come upon Pirates, I notice a cast member drawing a large Mickey Mouse on the ground using water and broom.

As I stand there, watching her craft the picture, the other Cast Members around and I comment on how we can’t draw a straight line and how we’re all very impressed. The girl stays silent though and soon finishes the illustration to a smattering of applause by us.

From there, I continued on through Adventureland and into the Court, taking note of the transition. The transitions are still impressive. Completing the circuit, I see that Sleepy Hollow is finally open and approach the window.

One waffle with coffee please!

The wait is agonizing, but thankfully short, and soon I’m handed a light and fluffy waffle with sliced strawberries sprinkled over it. As I take my prize and pull out a chair at the table, I take a look around at where I’m eating and smile contently.

No better way to end a trip than getting to eat a delicious breakfast in the shadow of the castle. Originally, I had contemplated scoring another morning reservation for Be Our Guest, but as I sat there, I quickly came to the conclusion that this was the much better choice.

I finish my breakfast and the nagging feeling that I should probably get back to the hotel to finish packing is gnawing at me, but the park is EMPTY. So I decide I can’t really justify the race back and instead tour the lands once more.

After I spent some time going through all the lands once more, I decided I had put off the packing long enough and started heading toward the gate.

As I turned to somberly stroll down Main Street USA for the final time, I happened to notice a cast member, once again, handing out buttons to celebrate events. Suddenly, I had an inspiration for exactly what I would put on a button and I headed over.

Now, it wasn’t surprising that I recognized this particular cast member as the woman who was handing out buttons early in the week, I tend to be ok with faces (not so much names). Nor was it surprising that when I greeted her, she returned my cheery greeting with the extra enthusiasm that I’ve come to expect from the cast members.

What WAS surprising was that she recognized me.

“You here earlier in the week wern you?” She said in her Spanish accent.
“Yeah, I uh… I… “ I stammered, completely shocked that she remembered me, out of all the faces she must’ve seen over the past few days. Have I mentioned how impressed I am with Disney’s Cast Members?
“You couln think of what button to say? You think of one?” She asked.
“Yeah, that was me.” I finally snapped out of my disbelief. “I finally figured out what to put on one. Do you have any of the blank ones?” I asked, and she immediately reached for a blank one and for the sharpie pen and handed both to me.

As I began writing down what I was celebrating, I kept an eye on the woman, still shocked she remembered who I was from earlier in the week. As she watched me, she gave the best reaction I could’ve hoped for, she just smiled a big smile. As I finished up the message and handed her back the pen, she simply nodded approval.

She asked me then if I was leaving and I told her I was and that it was my final day. She wished me a safe trip home and I expressed my deepest thanks for the button (and silently for giving me one the best memories of Disney World I could get).

And from there I strolled out of the, aptly named, Magic Kingdom for the last time and headed back to the hotel to gather my things.

Once in the room, I placed the button carefully in my suitcase, being sure to nestle it between soft clothing so as to avoid damage on the way home. And proceeded to pack up the rest of my stuff.

Once it was all packed, and again wearing the 3-ton-feeling backpack,I took everything down the front desk and asked if I needed to do anything more to be officially “checked out.” Apparently, I didn’t and the Cast Member says they will automatically check me out and and email will be sent to me confirming.

From there, it was out to the Curbside Check In. This is so much nicer than what I went through up in Philly and it couldn’t be easier. You give them your bags, they give you stickers saying they have your bags. I gave them my two “checked bags” and kept my somewhat heavy backpack that housed my breakables (mainly my camera equipment and binoculars).

Once that’s finished, I’m free until it’s time to go, so I decided now would be a good time to grab some souvenirs for the family. With yesterday being a wonderful example at how easily I can lose time in MK, I decide to avoid there because I don’t want to miss my flight.

This would be where I would do something I should never have done: I deviated completely from my touring plan. Because of my fear of missing my flight, I decided to avoid all the parks altogether. Even though the bus system had proven reliable all week, and I was able to set alarms and be back in plenty of time, I still feared I would end up missing my boarding time, so I bailed on everything. Which meant this day was now going to be grueling and more painful than it had to be.

Something I already mentioned that I noticed, it was that all gift shops nearly had all the same stuff, so I didn’t have to go back into the parks to get “park souvenirs.” With that, I decided to do the “monorail hotels” and pick out souvenirs from there. I figure between gift shops and exploring the hotels, that might tide me over for the… 4+ hours before I had to be back at the Contemporary for my Magic Express ride.

First stop was the Contemporary (cause I’m a yutz and should have kept this one until last as I had to come back here anyway), and I picked up 2 mugs. Not finding anything else of note there, it was off to the Grand Floridian, where I would get 3 pins (which would be just shy of $50 bucks, YOWZA!).

With items obtained, I’m pretty much done, and I consider going back to MK, but now with the extra load in my backpack, I don’t feel like going through bag check or metal detectors. After so many days, that novelty has worn completely off and I just don’t feel like going through the hassle (albeit small).

As I debate what to do, I realize I had not bought a mug for myself, so I decide to head to the Polynesian and grab one. The only time I had been here was when we attended the luau back in 1990, but I don’t remember it looking like this at all. Absolutely stunning!

I located the gift shop easily enough and just as easily found a mug, and now I have about 3 hours to kill.

I plop down in a very comfortable chair in their lobby, and I update my notes on my phone. After a few minutes, I realize I’m in the home of the Dole Whip, so I get back up and search it out. After standing in the line for Captain Cook’s for a few minutes, I realized I was not where I should be and left to find the right one.

I found Pineapple Lanai just outside the lobby and ordered myself up a float. It was then I learned that Magic Kingdom had spoiled me over the week. The float I was just handed was about 2/3rds the amount of ice cream I got at anytime from inside MK. Oddly enough though, this was the amount I was expecting each time I had ordered a float, so I wasn’t too taken aback.

Taking my treat back to the lobby, I again picked out a chair and sat down. Once my float was done, I decided to tour the grounds of the hotel.

Beautiful place, but the sun is really hot today and is baking everything, so as I don’t have my sunscreen anymore (it’s in my luggage) I don’t stay outside too long and soon I’m back inside, but not before grabbing another float, this time in a tiki glass!

As I continue updating and fleshing out my notes, I consider it has been a mistake making my flight so late in the day. But it fits with the day’s theme: sadness and torture.

Finally, it’s time to head back to the contemporary and board the Magic Express. As I sit on the bus, my mind flashes back to the first time I sat on the bus last Saturday. The bus soon leaves and we head for Orlando International.

Once at the airport, I already feel the lack of Disney. I had to use the restrooms, and they’re “clean” but they ain’t “Disney Clean.” I decide to get some chipotle for a late lunch, another regret is that I should’ve eaten at the Poly or anywhere else in Disney.

After lunch, I sit and catch up more on my notes and I have to say the time is going by pretty quick. I text the family letting them know my status.

Finally, we board and it’s back to Philly. On the way home, I did what I couldn’t do on the way down: sleep on the plane. So for me, the plane ride was roughly a half hour.

I had the good fortune to wake up as the sun was turning into a gorgeous sunset, and was able to snap a photo.

I felt it a very fitting end to the trip.

Once landed and luggage retrieved (and very disappointed that I couldn’t have my bags arranged to be delivered to my home like they were delivered to my room in the Contemporary), a shuttle from Preflight stopped and I climbed aboard.

The shuttle dropped me off at my car and I loaded up my bags into the trunk and then slid into the driver’s seat. Turning the key, the engine roared to life. I had forgotten I had primed the CD Player to play once I got back, and suddenly the cabin was filled with the theme song from the Main Street Electrical Parade. I had a CD from 1990 with all the theme park music from the time. The Electrical Parade’s music was track 1.

A huge grin spanned across my face as I pulled onto the road and headed for home.

The End.

EPILOGUE
And so ended my trip. I want to thank you for retroactively traveling along with me in my ramblings.

This trip contained a number of leaps of faith and I had many a high expectation and lofty goal, and to see it all be achieved with amazing results just made it all so much better.

When I went in 1990, even though we did so much, it felt like we had missed so much because there was so much going on at one time or the weather did not cooperate. For this trip, and with the help of Touring Plans, I felt I was able to capitalize on Disney’s schedule by aligning my schedule to match.

Additionally, I believe me traveling alone helped the success of the trip as I had to make no compromises nor be reliant upon anyone but myself and whatever Disney had to offer. While certain parts of the trip could certainly be enhanced with more people (like eating), I cringe at the thought of dragging someone back to the room to watch Wishes from the balcony when they would want to see it in the park. Or the thought of passing on a ride because I considered the line too long, when someone in my party wanted to ride it.

It’s now been five months since I’ve returned and I have yet to have a day pass when my thoughts don’t wistfully look back on my time there. “Boo To You” still plays in my head and brings a smile to my face. I often think back on the interactions with the Cast Members that I had and wish I could get that level of customer service… anywhere!

It feels like Disney is like a whole other dimension to me, almost like Narnia, where I want to get back, but I can’t quite figure out a way. I also fear that any trip I now take there will not have near the amount of enjoyment I experienced on this trip. I mean, how could I possibly top what I did? What was left in the tank?

For the time I was there, it was absolutely fantastic. As I said in the beginning, Disney’s price isn’t that high because people will pay it, it’s that high because it’s worth it. I spent a good deal of money and I feel I got my money’s worth. I could not have asked for better weather nor better circumstances surrounding the trip. When I look at the trip as a whole, so much had to line up just right to achieve what happened and I can’t express how thankful I am that it did.

So, ultimately, I believe what I wrote on the button was perfect:


(if ya can’t read my horrid handwriting: “I’m celebrating: A SUCCESSFUL VACATION!”

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Thank you for sharing! What a great button!

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Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you!

Thank you for sharing! Terrific trip report!

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Great details on your trip report.

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