Come On, Drink the Fart! DIS Mega Meet July 2016 TR *NEW TR LINK 2/5

[Terra Nova guy]

Well, it's certainly been a wild couple of weeks with the holidays around here, but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I know we certainly did! But I have missed all of my trip reports in the meantime, so with this 4 day weekend I have, I'm hoping I can get caught up on reading everyone's that I feel like I have neglected.

Same here, been very busy with all the holiday merriment. I did enjoy Christmas with my family. Catching up on the DIS now.

It had been a very long time since we had taken the monorail into Epcot, so we had both forgotten what a great view of the park you get as you go around it before getting to the platform to unload.

I've always liked that ride through Epcot too. I usually try to sneak in at least one monorail trip into Epcot each time.

Unfortunately, the app was wrong and the wait was actually 45 minutes. We didn’t want to chance it, so we went on Living with the Land instead.

As much as I like Soarin' (although I have not seen the new version yet), there's nothing wrong with Living with the Land as a back up plan. I've always enjoyed that ride, ever since I was 9 years old.

The wait was posted at 75 minutes! We definitely would have been skipping this if not for FP+. I’m glad at this point I have a boy who could take or leave Frozen, so we didn’t even really mention it for October. I feel bad for parents who have little girls obsessed with it who stand in that forever long line to make their kids happy!

I don't think I'd be in a good mood after waiting 75 minutes for anything. I did that one time, waiting 90 minutes to visit Tinkerbell & her fairie friends. It was nuts, but it was a few years back when they had the limited time magic events and one was meeting the fairie friends, plus DD had just gone to BBB and was all princessed up, so it was kind of a throw everything out the window and just take pictures all afternoon kind of day. Anyway, hopefully once I have a chance to see FEA the wait time will have calmed down a bit. DD is not really obsessed with Frozen, but does like it so I expect this will me a must do at some point.

Also, we discovered later it takes your photo, which seems completely random and useless. But it does offer a cute border!

I've seen a few of these on ride pictures and I always think how tacky it looks with the plain concrete stairs and handrail. Couldn't they at least throw on a coat of blue paint or something for a decent back drop? The border does make up for some it it though.

 

[Dugette]

I met them at the pediatrician's office when I got off of work, and we found out DD had an ear infection and DS’s eardrum had ruptured. 10 days of antibiotics for them both and 7 days of ear drops for DS, plus no swimming for him for 2 weeks which he was devastated about.

Ugh, that sounds awful! Poor kiddos!

As I was fussing him a little bit and telling him we only had a short time left, he looked at me and said, “My stomach hurts.” Oh no. I barely had time to grab him a plastic shopping bag I had stuffed somewhere before he puked. A lot. Most of it didn’t end up in the bag. :-/

Really poor kiddo!

Then we got to watch them make all of the desserts while we waited for our food to be ready, including many, many Kitchen Sink sundaes.

We sat at the bar there once and it was pretty neat seeing what they actually put into those things!

Our server insisted on taking one of both of us with our desserts.

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I remember this photo from FB! I can't believe you both ate your own (though you did share a meal, so that helps). You picked my favorite too!

That's cute!

You may know from my other TRs how much DS loves building a droid in the exit gift shop before we leave. So we thought it would be fun to let Lightning build one!

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Haha, love it!

DH knows all about gas, so I found this review of his to be appropriate.

And appropriate given your TR title...

We poked our head in a couple of shops to kill a little time until we were supposed to meet the group. The one that caught my eye was this place, The Ganachery. I wanted to eat literally everything in here!

Good thing I didn't set foot in there either.

DH managed to sneak a paparazzi style photo of Pat & Vanna.

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Wow, impressive!

Also, we discovered later it takes your photo, which seems completely random and useless. But it does offer a cute border!

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Haha, least excited group ever. People are going to have to get on that whole silly-photo-staging thing there, I guess.

 

[missangelalexis]

Glad to hear you all had a nice holiday! Happy New Year!

Awesome shots of Epcot from the monorail!

Great pictures of the Frozen ride. I'm glad you were able to get a FP for it!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Glad you had a nice holiday - definitely can be a busy time though! (it's like I could use a vacation from my vacation)

Seems like a smooth trip over to EPCOT from the Contemporary - and I too love how the monorail goes through Future World, giving you a preview of what is to come. If you time it right you can watch Illuminations while you go by as well

Bummer about the app being wrong about the wait for Soarin' but at least you have the FP+ for another day - and riding living with the land (AKA - "How many hidden Mickey's can you spot?- the ride") is a good alternative.

DH got some great photos on Frozen Ever After (I found it to not be the easiest ride to get pictures or video on). I agree with you about enjoying it but that it isn't worth the wait. I've heard some people complain that they thought there was no clear storyline or that they didn't get it or whatever, but I felt the same as you that it was nice it didn't just follow the storyline of the movie

Wow - the guy behind you looks thrilled to be there .... based on his face I assume he waited 75 mins

Very excited to hear (and see pictures) from you Connecting with Walt DISmeet!

 

[jediprincess23]

Hi there! It's been a hot minute since I've been able to catch up with any of you TR's but I'm finally here and I'm glad I can read this one! You're kids have grown up so much, they are so adorable

I've never seen this dog before at DHS and I was wondering where it was, it's so cute!

DS always likes to stop for a picture with this guy.

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Excited to see what happened on the rest of your trip!

 

[khertz]

Same here, been very busy with all the holiday merriment. I did enjoy Christmas with my family. Catching up on the DIS now.

Glad you enjoyed your Christmas!

I've always liked that ride through Epcot too. I usually try to sneak in at least one monorail trip into Epcot each time.

It is really cool the way it loops around and you get some neat views of the park.

As much as I like Soarin' (although I have not seen the new version yet), there's nothing wrong with Living with the Land as a back up plan. I've always enjoyed that ride, ever since I was 9 years old.

I don't ever remember going on it as a kid, but discovering it as an adult, I have really come to appreciate attractions like that. It's nice to go on something slow and relaxing every once in awhile.

I don't think I'd be in a good mood after waiting 75 minutes for anything. I did that one time, waiting 90 minutes to visit Tinkerbell & her fairie friends. It was nuts, but it was a few years back when they had the limited time magic events and one was meeting the fairie friends, plus DD had just gone to BBB and was all princessed up, so it was kind of a throw everything out the window and just take pictures all afternoon kind of day. Anyway, hopefully once I have a chance to see FEA the wait time will have calmed down a bit. DD is not really obsessed with Frozen, but does like it so I expect this will me a must do at some point.

I totally agree! 75 minutes is way past my limit for anything. We did 90 minutes for Rip Ride Rockit a few years ago and were pretty disappointed in it, so I don't invest that much time anymore, especially not for something new. I'm hoping by the time DD is super excited about it, the waits either won't be so outrageous or it won't be impossible to get a FP while staying offsite.

I've seen a few of these on ride pictures and I always think how tacky it looks with the plain concrete stairs and handrail. Couldn't they at least throw on a coat of blue paint or something for a decent back drop? The border does make up for some it it though.

It really does! The border draws your eye away, but still. It seems like a random ride to have a photo on. I hate that they have added photos to rides that don't really need them. I guess to make it easier to sell Memory Maker packages? But what is up with the photo points on rides like this, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, etc??

Ugh, that sounds awful! Poor kiddos!

It was terrible!!! Luckily, neither of them ended up feeling really bad, aside from DS's protein spill, so they didn't have a miserable time while we were gone.

We sat at the bar there once and it was pretty neat seeing what they actually put into those things!

We liked guessing what they were making by the items they took out to prepare each dessert!

I remember this photo from FB! I can't believe you both ate your own (though you did share a meal, so that helps). You picked my favorite too!

I can't believe we did either!!! Although we didn't come close to finishing, it was fun to do at least once. Because if we ever go back, we are absolutely sharing something!

Good thing I didn't set foot in there either.

It is sooooooo tempting!

Haha, least excited group ever. People are going to have to get on that whole silly-photo-staging thing there, I guess.

Yeah, that's what that ride needs. It's right up there with Space Mountain for pointless ride photos for me.

Glad to hear you all had a nice holiday! Happy New Year!

Awesome shots of Epcot from the monorail!

Great pictures of the Frozen ride. I'm glad you were able to get a FP for it!

Thanks & Happy New Year to you as well!

Thanks! It's a fun way to scope out the park before going inside.

I was definitely glad we had gotten a FP. There's no way we would have waited that long, even without kids. I figured it was our one chance to check it out for awhile, because I knew there was little to no chance of getting a FP when we went in October since we were offsite.

 

[khertz]

Glad you had a nice holiday - definitely can be a busy time though! (it's like I could use a vacation from my vacation)

I totally agree!! Last weekend, I was home with the kids 4 days in a row and cooped up inside because of rain. I was actually not that disappointed to go back to work on Tuesday. lol

Seems like a smooth trip over to EPCOT from the Contemporary - and I too love how the monorail goes through Future World, giving you a preview of what is to come. If you time it right you can watch Illuminations while you go by as well

That would be a cool ride to take at night! That's something we've never done or ever even thought of!

Bummer about the app being wrong about the wait for Soarin' but at least you have the FP+ for another day - and riding living with the land (AKA - "How many hidden Mickey's can you spot?- the ride") is a good alternative.

We are not huge Soarin' fans, so it didn't disappoint us too much, and LWTL is always a nice, relaxing ride!

DH got some great photos on Frozen Ever After (I found it to not be the easiest ride to get pictures or video on). I agree with you about enjoying it but that it isn't worth the wait. I've heard some people complain that they thought there was no clear storyline or that they didn't get it or whatever, but I felt the same as you that it was nice it didn't just follow the storyline of the movie

I enjoyed that it was something different. As is evident from the Little Mermaid ride, trying to condense an entire feature length film into a two minute ride leaves a lot of things out and can be totally confusing if you're not familiar with the movie. So I think this was a good way to go about it.

Wow - the guy behind you looks thrilled to be there .... based on his face I assume he waited 75 mins

Must have been one of those people!!

Hi there! It's been a hot minute since I've been able to catch up with any of you TR's but I'm finally here and I'm glad I can read this one! You're kids have grown up so much, they are so adorable

I've never seen this dog before at DHS and I was wondering where it was, it's so cute!

Excited to see what happened on the rest of your trip!

Glad you could join in!! And thank you so much. I can't believe how fast they are growing, and time just won't slow down.

It's at the last shop on the right as you're exiting DHS. It used to have a bunch of old movie posters and stuff, but I think the actual shop has closed. But the dog was still out on the porch!

 

[khertz]

Day 3 Continued: Sunday July 24th

When I left off, DH and I had just hopped over to MK from Epcot ahead of our Connecting With Walt DIS Meet!

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When we got into the park, Move It Shake It (I don’t remember what the rest is called because they keep changing it) was happening, so we stopped to watch for a minute.

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We got to see the newest additions, Nick Wilde & Judy Hopps!

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We spent a little bit of time shopping on Main Street. We didn’t want to stray too far with the meet coming up. I stopped in the Confectionary to see what the options were for Mickey rice krispie treats, because DS had requested that as his souvenir from us. I took a picture of Lightning with one of the bigger ones to send to him. No, I didn’t end up getting him this one! Lol

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We poked around the Emporium, and ended up getting a Lightning McQueen art kit for Christmas, and a Minnie Mouse squeaker toy for DD. It was actually a dog toy, but she had a blast playing with dog squeaker toys at my mother in law’s house over the summer, so I thought she might enjoy having one I would actually let her play with and put in her mouth since it wasn’t actually for a dog! We had our purchases sent to the resort, then decided to spent the last little while before the meet started by sitting on a bench outside of Town Square Theater and resting. The heat was totally sapping our energy, and our feet were tired!! We knew the meet was going to involve a lot of standing and walking, so we thought the break would be a good idea. It was nice to get a little bit of shade for a few minutes.

Now a little bit about what exactly we were doing at this particular meet. It was the Connecting With Walt meet with Michael & Tom from the Disneyland team, and Craig from the Orlando team. In case you aren’t familiar, Connecting With Walt is one of the shows on the DIS Unplugged podcast network. It’s a history series mostly, focusing on Walt Disney and the WDW parks in particular. It’s considered a “special event” show, in that it does not occur weekly. Every 3 months, they do a show each Friday just for that month. This had been DH’s #1 choice when it came to meets because he really loved the show. I had only listened to a couple of them because they weren’t my favorite. We were really lucky to get in to this meet, because the max number was set at 35, and it was one of the more popular choices, so it filled up FAST!

On to the day of the meet. The instructions we had been given said to meet up at the flagpole on Main Street at 2 pm. We saw as the first few people started showing up a little before 2, but they quickly moved from the flagpole to the front of the Emporium where there was actually some shade, instead of waiting out in the direct sun! Once it got closer to 2 and there were more people milling around, we headed over there.

We chatted with a few of the other DISers, some of whom recognized us from the ABD Viva Italia we did a couple years ago with the DIS team because they had done the DIS exclusive Germany trip with a lot of the same people. And we got a drive by DIS meet with @TheMaxRebo which was so cool! It was so great to meet him and his family after following each other for so long on the DIS. Unfortunately it was pretty quick because the group had come together and we were ready to get started.

I will preface this by saying although DH took some photos of the windows, I did not write down any of the information Michael gave us about the men and women listed on them. However, all is not lost! Episode 19 of Connecting With Walt has all of the same information we learned during the meet.

The meet had been timed pretty poorly, as Main Street was getting pretty busy with people waiting for the parade at 3. The goal was to get some of the history behind a few of the windows on Main Street. We started off over in the corner by the barber shop, looking at a few windows I had honestly never even noticed before because they are so tucked away.

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After spending a little while there, we crossed over to the other side of Main Street in the corner in front of the Confectionary, Chapeau, and Tony’s.

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A Photopass photographer caught our meet happening, and I think someone in the group asked them to take a few photos of us, so that was kind of cool.

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We made our way down Main Street, but it started getting a little more difficult now as there were a lot more people congregating on the sidewalks and it was getting harder to find a place for us to congregate. So we were probably moving a little faster than Michael had actually planned for us to be going.

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We stepped off onto Center Street, which was a little better. But by that point, the sun and the standing around was getting to me, so I sat down on the curb for a while and missed a lot of what was being said during that particular stop.

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Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Day 3 Continued: Sunday July 24th

The Main Street Philharmonic came down the street, which certainly didn’t make it any easier to hear, but it was a nice musical interlude!

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We made it off of Main Street just before the parade and made a right into Tomorrowland next for a couple of attractions. First up, we stopped at the Carousel of Progress.

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After CoP, we went over to my favorite, The PeopleMover!

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There was a bit of confusion to figure out how to get us all on at the same time, but DH and I ended up in a car with Michael and another DISer.

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As we passed through Space Mountain, the lights were on!

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It was nice getting to chat with Michael again during this part of the meet.

The meet wrapped up at Tomorrowland Terrace where we stopped for a place to sit and use the restroom.

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We were all given a little gift, a Connecting With Walt button!

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That was supposed to be the end of the meet, but we decided to head down to Main Street for a big group photo before dispersing.

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All in all, we both really loved this meet. Although the heat and sun were totally brutal, it was cool hearing all of the information Michael had to share with us. It also made me give the show another shot. Once we got home, I binged on all of the episodes I had missed. They are really interesting and informative!

Finishing off in Tomorrowland Terrace, something had caught my eye…a poster for booking the Tomorrowland Terrace Wishes Dessert Party same day! I convinced DH we should go up to the podium and at least ask the CM about it. She gave us all the information, and we decided to talk it over an early dinner. Basically, if we booked it same day, we would get to enjoy our desserts in the upper section of the restaurant, then when it got closer to the time for Celebrate the Magic, a CM would bring us down to a section of the Plaza Gardens with only a handful of other people.

Taking all of that info, we went over to grab a quick bite from Casey’s and enjoyed it with a view of the castle that Lightning also got to enjoy.

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After eating and discussing, we decided what the heck, book the party!! So we went back over to the podium to pay and get our wristbands. Then we decided to go back to the room for a rest and to get out of the heat. I actually felt so hot and disgusting that I decided to take a quick bath and change dresses. This ended up being a great decision! The weather was so nice that evening! So I didn’t have to feel grimy all night like I would have after sweating all afternoon at the meet.

On the way out, we stopped at the Mickey statue I have seen in so many TRs but never knew where it was!

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Then we were ready to make the trek back over to MK for the evening!

UP NEXT: Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party!

 

[Dugette]

Looks like a cool meet that you did. I didn't realize just how many names/windows there were along Main and Center Streets. When we did Keys to the Kingdom, I felt like we saw a lot, but you had pictures of many more. Very cool to see the "credits reel" for WDW.

Ah, CoP! I haven't been on for quite a while. Love the close-ups of details I've never noticed!

So strange to see Space with the lights on.

Can't wait to hear about the dessert party!

 

[missangelalexis]

Nice PP pictures!

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the meet! And how awesome to see Space with the lights on!!

How fun that you booked the dessert party on a whim! I can't wait to read about it!

 

[afwdwfan]

As we got down to the bottom, I told DH the pineapple juice tasted like a fart smells, to which he replied, “Yeah, you would know all about that.” As I’m cracking up laughing at him, he offers me the last bite of soft serve and sip of juice and says, “Come on, drink the fart!” We laughed about this so hard, we just knew it had to be part of the TR title!! Maybe it was a "You had to be there" moment, but we really couldn't stop laughing for the longest time.

If a fart smells like pineapple juice... well, it could be a lot worse!

Lmao We were on the opposite track of the one we had ridden earlier in the day, and I’m not sure if it was the different track or because I was in the very last seat, or if I’m just getting old, but it seemed a lot rougher this time!

I've always thought that the right side is rougher than the left. But then again, you're probably thinking the opposite.

If you have followed my other TRs from earlier in this year of APs, you might remember that I had terrible luck with getting on the PeopleMover. So this trip, I more than made up for that. Since we were in Tomorrowland and it was hot, we took a spin.

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The wait was posted at 75 minutes! We definitely would have been skipping this if not for FP+. I’m glad at this point I have a boy who could take or leave Frozen, so we didn’t even really mention it for October. I feel bad for parents who have little girls obsessed with it who stand in that forever long line to make their kids happy!

Holy crap. I mean it looks like a cool ride, but wow. That's a long wait.

As we passed through Space Mountain, the lights were on!

Awesome!!! Not only do you get multiple rides on Peoplemover, but you get Space Mountain lit up! I'm sure they did that just for your tour!

Your Sip & Snack and the tour in MK both look like they were a great experience. I'm glad you were able to take full advantage of what they were offering!

 

[bartleyosu]

Love your report! It was my first Dis Meet since I am a teacher and can never go in December. I had a great time. Craig is my favorite as he reminds me of my husband. I was at the Sip with Corey and Julie! Are you going in June for 20th?

 

[Imagineer5]

What an awesome day - love the DIS meet, sounds like it was really neat and informative. Glad you got on FEA - while I do have a little girl who is into Frozen, even she wouldn't want to wait that long for it thankfully lol. I can't imagine waiting that long for anything, actually. Between FP and Akershus PPO BF, we rode it twice in December with no wait and it was fun.

 

[khertz]

Looks like a cool meet that you did. I didn't realize just how many names/windows there were along Main and Center Streets. When we did Keys to the Kingdom, I felt like we saw a lot, but you had pictures of many more. Very cool to see the "credits reel" for WDW.

Ah, CoP! I haven't been on for quite a while. Love the close-ups of details I've never noticed!

So strange to see Space with the lights on.

Can't wait to hear about the dessert party!

A lot of the windows were pointed out when we did the Keys to the Kingdom tour several years ago, and before then I had never really noticed them either. I thought it was really interesting that Michael pointed out mostly ones that weren't discussed on KTTK. He is such a wealth of knowledge on all things Disney history! It was very cool to be able to experience that with him.

I liked that DH went for a few more detail photos this time, since we have several photos from inside CoP. There are so many hidden gems in the scenes!

Nice PP pictures!

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the meet! And how awesome to see Space with the lights on!!

How fun that you booked the dessert party on a whim! I can't wait to read about it!

Thanks!

The meet was a lot of fun, so I was glad we had been able to sign up for that one before it got too full. I had been a bit skeptical at first just because I wasn't a huge fan of the show before the meet, but it ended up changing my opinion totally. So fun & interesting! And it was very cool to see Space with the lights on. Michael Bowling was amazed and made DH promise to send him the pictures he took! lol

Spoiler: It ended up being a GREAT spur of the moment decision!

If a fart smells like pineapple juice... well, it could be a lot worse!

Yeah, it could be, but it was the first thing that came to me at the time!! lol I love pineapple, but pineapple juice seems skunky to me for some reason.

I've always thought that the right side is rougher than the left. But then again, you're probably thinking the opposite.

Who knows?! They are both getting rough in my old age!!!

Holy crap. I mean it looks like a cool ride, but wow. That's a long wait.

OMG YES! Waaaaaaayyyyyyy too long for a couple minutes on a re-themed Maelstrom. I was definitely glad we had managed to score a FP to see what it was all about.

Awesome!!! Not only do you get multiple rides on Peoplemover, but you get Space Mountain lit up! I'm sure they did that just for your tour!

Your Sip & Snack and the tour in MK both look like they were a great experience. I'm glad you were able to take full advantage of what they were offering!

I hadn't been expecting to do any attractions during the meet, but CoP and Peoplemover were both excellent choices given the topic of the show.

The meets were really fun, more so than I had even anticipated they would be when we had signed up. I had really only been interested in doing the podcast taping and the dessert party in Epcot on the last night. I'm glad we ended up signing up for more meets, and that we were able to get in to them. Some of them filled up crazy fast!! We were lucky that we ended up getting all of the ones we wanted.

Love your report! It was my first Dis Meet since I am a teacher and can never go in December. I had a great time. Craig is my favorite as he reminds me of my husband. I was at the Sip with Corey and Julie! Are you going in June for 20th?

Thanks so much for joining in! It was the first podcast event DH and I had been able to do too, and it was SO much fun! Despite the heat of course. lol I love Craig on the shows, but he was a lot quieter in person than I had expected, so I didn't really end up talking to him much. We had a great time at the Sip & Snack! Corey & Julie are just awesome. Unfortunately, we had already planned a trip to Disneyland for the same time as the 20th anniversary, because I think DH and I would be trying to find a way to go again. We had so much fun! We'd love to do another event in the future.

What an awesome day - love the DIS meet, sounds like it was really neat and informative. Glad you got on FEA - while I do have a little girl who is into Frozen, even she wouldn't want to wait that long for it thankfully lol. I can't imagine waiting that long for anything, actually. Between FP and Akershus PPO BF, we rode it twice in December with no wait and it was fun.

It was really cool to get kind of an unofficial version of KTTK with someone who is so knowledgeable about Disney history.

Thankfully Aria has some sense!! lol That's great you were able to ride so many times without having to wait. I think we will have to go the breakfast route whenever Delilah is finally interested, and if the level of frenzy is as high as it is right now, since we always stay offsite and the chances of getting a FP are slim. It's definitely a fun ride, but had I waited longer than the 10 minutes I did with FP, I might not have thought so highly of it!!

 

[rdkeim]

Very much enjoyed reading about your Connecting WW meet. I never really paid attention to the windows until we did the Keys tour. It would be interesting to hear the story behind them all. I love seeing things and rides that I know Walt had a hand in. The heat - ugh. The frozen ride looks cute but I probably would only ride it with a FP. No little girls in my family. I bet your DS was getting a kick out of the Lightning sightings - great idea!

 

[khertz]

Very much enjoyed reading about your Connecting WW meet. I never really paid attention to the windows until we did the Keys tour. It would be interesting to hear the story behind them all. I love seeing things and rides that I know Walt had a hand in. The heat - ugh. The frozen ride looks cute but I probably would only ride it with a FP. No little girls in my family. I bet your DS was getting a kick out of the Lightning sightings - great idea!

I'm the same way, didn't really notice the windows until doing the tour. Michael pointed out a lot of other ones I had never noticed either.

The heat was TERRIBLE on this trip, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised that most of the evenings it was tolerable. Most of the time the humidity is still so bad it doesn't feel much better than during the day.

Definitely only ride it with FP if you get the chance. It's a cute ride, but not worth an enormous wait time!

He loved getting the pictures of our adventures of Lightning, so I was glad we had come up with that idea to keep him from being disappointed to miss out on going to Disney World with us.

 

[khertz]

Day 3 Continued: Sunday July 24th

A little before 7 pm, we started walking towards MK, catching the train passing by along the way.

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We decided to head over to Pirates first because it only had a 10 minute wait.

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This ended up being the most annoying ride in Pirates history! The group of people behind us WOULD. NOT. STOP. TALKING. Not even whispering, talking in a normal tone of voice and narrating the entire ride to each other. First the mom wouldn’t stop talking, then the dad actually tells her, “You don’t have to keep talking, you can just enjoy the ride.” Then he proceeded to start doing the exact same thing! “Hey, they’re drowning that guy…Look, there’s Captain Jack Sparrow.” I seriously couldn’t wait to get off that boat. It’s like people talking all during a movie! Now you can enjoy some photos of the ride without all of the annoying chatter.

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It was that perfect time of the evening when the sun is starting to set and there’s a gorgeous glow around Cinderella Castle. So of course, we needed some photos!

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Under the Sea only had a 10 minute wait also, so we made our way into Fantasyland next. Another pretty castle under the setting sun!

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Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Day 3 Continued: Sunday July 24th

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After our journey under the sea, we took some time just walking around Storybook Circus and enjoying the atmosphere.

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Then we made our way around to check in for the dessert party. When we had paid and gotten our wristbands, the CM had told us we could go straight to the podium and go up without having to wait in line. Unfortunately when we tried to do just that, the CM now working there said we did need to wait in line. So that was kind of silly because once we got up to the podium again they waved us up the ramp to the upper part of the restaurant since we already had our wristbands.

It was just before 9 when we got up there, and although there were several tables, there were very few other guests. The lower level terrace was pretty full. They offered us sparkling cider and let us choose whatever table we want, so we claimed one, then went down to check out the dessert buffet.

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On our first pass, I think we grabbed one of pretty much everything!!

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To be fair, my plate is so loaded down because I was sharing with Lightning, obviously!

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Everything was good, but the winner was the little mini brownie cheesecakes. That’s the one with whipped cream and chocolate chips on top between the chocolate covered strawberry and the strawberry panna cotta. I’m pretty sure I got a couple more of those plus we each went down to get a scoop of ice cream with sprinkles.

Oh my gosh, we totally stuffed ourselves. It was totally worth it!! At about 9:30, a CM came to our section to round us up and bring us down to the viewing area before Celebrate the Magic started at 9:45. We had a roped off section of the plaza gardens with just us and maybe 20 or so other people total. So everyone had room to spread out! DH was annoyed with his choices for setting up the tripod, which were limited so as to not be in anyone else’s way, but eventually he settled for somewhere while I chose to sit down and relax.

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Clearly, it wasn’t a perfect spot because of those light poles, so DH was a bit frustrated. But I tried to convince him to go with the flow. It’s not like he’s never taken photos of Celebrate the Magic and Wishes before! Soon enough, Celebrate the Magic began.

Celebrate a world filled with magic
wish upon a star that shines so bright
enter a world of make believe
let your dreams come true tonight!

Celebrate a world filled with magic
Where happiness is found around the bend
where all your dreams and fantasies
magically will never end​

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“I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing…that it was all started by a mouse.”


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And then it was time for the one…the only…WISHES!!!

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Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Day 3 Continued: Sunday July 24th

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Once Wishes was over, we hung out in the garden area to let the crowds die down a bit. People were pouring out of the park, and Main Street was a total mess. I have to say, I totally loved the dessert party! The desserts were really good, and I enjoyed watching the nighttime shows from the garden area. It was SO nice to have room to breathe, to sit down and spread out and enjoy instead of being packed in like sardines on Main Street with the rest of humanity. I don’t think DH enjoyed the garden viewing part so much, only because he didn’t love his choices for tripod setup and photographing the fireworks.

Once the crowds dispersed and we could move a little easier, we ventured out towards Frontierland to use our Big Thunder Mountain FP.

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We took the path through Adventureland to get to the entrance since it was 5 minutes to closing time. But we thought maybe we could squeeze in one more ride on Pirates. As we walked past it, we saw the CM just about to rope off the entrance. She noticed we had been starting towards it, and told us we could go, but hurry!

We hurried through the line and actually encountered another CM walking down through the queue to make sure it was clear. We were the very last ones on the very last boat of the night!

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We weren’t ready to leave just yet because we wanted to try to stay for the Kiss Goodnight, which we thought might be around midnight and it was only a little after 11. DH decided to set up for some nighttime shots. He always seems to find himself in Fantasyland for that, so he decided to get a few in Adventureland instead.

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While DH set up in front of the Castle, I had a little shopping to do! First, I made a stop in the Emporium to get a stuffed Dumbo for DD. It was the theme of her first birthday, so I definitely wanted her to have one! And DS had asked for us to bring him back a Mickey head Rice Krispie treat, so next I had to make a stop in the Confectionary. That ended up being a bit of a mess trying to check out, as no one could figure out how the check out counter was supposed to work, and I was getting nervous I was going to miss the Kiss Goodnight! Eventually, I made it out of there with DS’s treat and found DH in the hub.

It started right at midnight! If you don’t know what this is, check it out on YouTube, or better yet, stay after park closing on your next trip and see it for yourself. It’s a perfect way to end a night in MK! Basically they twinkle the lights on Cinderella Castle and play their closing announcement for the day.

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Actually, just after taking this photo at 12:07 am, they did the Kiss Goodnight a second time! It was really cool to see it once from in front of the castle, but then hear it again as we were exiting, just like you’re supposed to, I guess.

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We headed down the walking path towards the Contemporary.

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I ended up going up to the room by myself to shower and get ready for bed while DH stayed down for a few minutes to take some nighttime photos of the resort.

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Weird to see this lobby so deserted!!​

He came up to bed, and we finally hit the pillows at 1 am!

UP NEXT: Kona