emilyindisney
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2012
After dinner, Cait really wanted to ride Winnie the Pooh. The line was too long to wait so we decided to grab fast passes. When the machine spit out two sets of tickets, we thought it was broken! Then, we looked at what it had given us and realized we got surprise FPs for Dumbo! 
Even though we'd already ridden we were pumped! (In hind sight, I've heard of this happening to a couple DISers who traveled around the same time. Maybe they were drumming up some interest for the redone queue?)
We decided to wait for our Winnie the Pooh window to open and give away the Dumbo FPs. We kept trying to ask families with kids but no one was interested. We were a little bummed we couldn't directly pass the magic but we decided to leave the FP on the counter in the Storybook Circus bathrooms in hopes that someone picked them up and used them.
As we passed by Casey's splash zone, a PP photographer stopped us and snapped some pictures.
I like this one with the elephant trunk coming up behind us!
We went back and hopped on the Winnie the Pooh with a minimal wait thanks to our FPs.
We wandered back towards Frontierland (obviously making some stops in between that I can't remember) and decided it was there we'd watch MEP. It was a little shorter than I remembered and not quite as impressive but still fun.
As we were watching I kept an eye on the time and found it was creeping closer and closer to 8:00 when we were supposed to be in the AAA preferred viewing area to watch Wishes. As the parade was still passing us we started to walk through Liberty Square and towards Crystal Palace. At this point, the castle projection show had started and we still didn't know exactly where we were going. It was crowded and we were starting to consider giving up and stopping anywhere that was open to watch.
Let me say now that I'm SO GLAD we kept going and were able to make it to the viewing space. It was just to the right of the castle, across the street from Casey's. I had forgotten our admittance ticket but luckily they took our names and let us right in. We were able to sit, relax, and not be shoulder to shoulder with people which was a nice change.
Wishes is my favorite and definitely one of the most magical things Disney does (IMO.) That's why I decided to watch the show with my camera put away. Even though it was cold, and a little windy (so Tink didn't fly) it was awesome and I definitely teared up a little bit.
We sat for a while waiting for the park to clear out. As we started back down Main Street we stopped for the castle photos I'd wanted this morning.
I'm happy we waited as I love the castle lit up! However, I'm a little bummed we caught the BRIGHT WHITE CM in the background.
Oh well! Cropping him out wasn't too hard!
We mingled in and out of the shops as we waited for the crowds to pass. After an hour we headed out for the bus, planning to hop on and head right home. However, as we got closer to the bus lines, it became clear this was not going to happen.
As a preface, we had great luck with the transportation all trip. This was the first and only time I was dumbfounded by the Disney buses, and it really wasn't the fault of the transpo system.
The lines were a mob scene with peoples snaked all over the place. As we got closer to the AoA corral, we learned ALL these people were waiting for AoA. The whole AoA line was full, it ran all the way back towards the MK entrance and than folded back to the entrance of the AoA line. For those of you not familiar with the exact bus layout, this means the line was wrapped all the way down AND back.
We were literally dumbfounded. Where had all these people come from? The hotel hadn't seemed crowded at all.
The best course of action seemed to jump into the Pop line and walk across the lake. The family in front of us had the same idea and we ended up striking up a conversation with the Dmom, Ddad, and their older (and very chatty) DS. He was happy to tell us all about their trip, where they were from and how he got to miss school to be here! I think he embarrassed his parents with how much he talked because his dad tried to shush him a few times. We didn't mind, though! He was definitely entertaining!
The Pop bus was crowded and a lot of the families around us were doing the same thing as we did. The walk through Pop was neat (seeing as I've never stayed) and a nice flashback (no pun intended!) for DSis whose stayed there before.
The walk to AoA probably took about ten minutes but it was worth the time we'd saved waiting in that crazy line!
At the end of the day, I still am a huge proponent of Disney transportation. I think with all the suites, AoA absorbed crowds really well so it didn't seem as busy as it actually was. Additionally, Disney was running as many buses as possible and sometimes had two or three buses loading at MK to AoA at once. I suppose this might have been the hazard of staying at a new hotel!
After our little Pop adventure, we headed straight to bed. As much as we loved Disney, our commando days were starting to take their toll and we were pretty tired!
Next Update: Stormy skies and a nasty CM
Even though we'd already ridden we were pumped! (In hind sight, I've heard of this happening to a couple DISers who traveled around the same time. Maybe they were drumming up some interest for the redone queue?)
We decided to wait for our Winnie the Pooh window to open and give away the Dumbo FPs. We kept trying to ask families with kids but no one was interested. We were a little bummed we couldn't directly pass the magic but we decided to leave the FP on the counter in the Storybook Circus bathrooms in hopes that someone picked them up and used them.
As we passed by Casey's splash zone, a PP photographer stopped us and snapped some pictures.
I like this one with the elephant trunk coming up behind us!
We went back and hopped on the Winnie the Pooh with a minimal wait thanks to our FPs.
We wandered back towards Frontierland (obviously making some stops in between that I can't remember) and decided it was there we'd watch MEP. It was a little shorter than I remembered and not quite as impressive but still fun.
As we were watching I kept an eye on the time and found it was creeping closer and closer to 8:00 when we were supposed to be in the AAA preferred viewing area to watch Wishes. As the parade was still passing us we started to walk through Liberty Square and towards Crystal Palace. At this point, the castle projection show had started and we still didn't know exactly where we were going. It was crowded and we were starting to consider giving up and stopping anywhere that was open to watch.
Let me say now that I'm SO GLAD we kept going and were able to make it to the viewing space. It was just to the right of the castle, across the street from Casey's. I had forgotten our admittance ticket but luckily they took our names and let us right in. We were able to sit, relax, and not be shoulder to shoulder with people which was a nice change.
Wishes is my favorite and definitely one of the most magical things Disney does (IMO.) That's why I decided to watch the show with my camera put away. Even though it was cold, and a little windy (so Tink didn't fly) it was awesome and I definitely teared up a little bit.
We sat for a while waiting for the park to clear out. As we started back down Main Street we stopped for the castle photos I'd wanted this morning.
I'm happy we waited as I love the castle lit up! However, I'm a little bummed we caught the BRIGHT WHITE CM in the background.
Oh well! Cropping him out wasn't too hard!
We mingled in and out of the shops as we waited for the crowds to pass. After an hour we headed out for the bus, planning to hop on and head right home. However, as we got closer to the bus lines, it became clear this was not going to happen.
As a preface, we had great luck with the transportation all trip. This was the first and only time I was dumbfounded by the Disney buses, and it really wasn't the fault of the transpo system.
The lines were a mob scene with peoples snaked all over the place. As we got closer to the AoA corral, we learned ALL these people were waiting for AoA. The whole AoA line was full, it ran all the way back towards the MK entrance and than folded back to the entrance of the AoA line. For those of you not familiar with the exact bus layout, this means the line was wrapped all the way down AND back.
We were literally dumbfounded. Where had all these people come from? The hotel hadn't seemed crowded at all.
The best course of action seemed to jump into the Pop line and walk across the lake. The family in front of us had the same idea and we ended up striking up a conversation with the Dmom, Ddad, and their older (and very chatty) DS. He was happy to tell us all about their trip, where they were from and how he got to miss school to be here! I think he embarrassed his parents with how much he talked because his dad tried to shush him a few times. We didn't mind, though! He was definitely entertaining!
The Pop bus was crowded and a lot of the families around us were doing the same thing as we did. The walk through Pop was neat (seeing as I've never stayed) and a nice flashback (no pun intended!) for DSis whose stayed there before.
The walk to AoA probably took about ten minutes but it was worth the time we'd saved waiting in that crazy line!
At the end of the day, I still am a huge proponent of Disney transportation. I think with all the suites, AoA absorbed crowds really well so it didn't seem as busy as it actually was. Additionally, Disney was running as many buses as possible and sometimes had two or three buses loading at MK to AoA at once. I suppose this might have been the hazard of staying at a new hotel!
After our little Pop adventure, we headed straight to bed. As much as we loved Disney, our commando days were starting to take their toll and we were pretty tired!
Next Update: Stormy skies and a nasty CM
Cait tried asking her about color suggestions and she was less then helpful. She pretty much stuffed a receipt in her hand and turned away from us. Not a very nice CM! 
)
Was Caitlin able to get one though?
