Yes, We're Satisfied With Our Care! October 2015 TR **NEW 8/21 Final Thoughts

[Dugette]

Cute costumes! So cute to see DD on her first Disney ride. Can't wait to hear about the rest of the party!

 

[khertz]

MNSSHP time! I love seeing Main Street all decked out for Halloween!

I love DS's costume! And he looks just so happy on the tea cups!

DD is way cute in the pictures from Winnie the Pooh. She's like "what in the world are we doing now??"

I love Main Street dressed up for Halloween! It's the first way I ever saw the parks decorated, so it holds a special place in my heart.

He definitely loves spinning in those teacups!

lol I think she probably looked like that for 95% of this vacation! I would love to know what was really going through her mind during all of this.

Cute costumes! So cute to see DD on her first Disney ride. Can't wait to hear about the rest of the party!

Thanks!

 

[khertz]

Day 4 Continued: Tuesday October 20th

After dinner, we made our way over to Storybook Circus so that we could join the line for Minnie, Daisy and Donald. Once we saw the line, we realized we probably should have gotten in line sooner. The line started at the point where the water play area is closest to the big top tent where Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy normally meet during the day and it wound its way around along the wall towards the bathrooms. We were down pretty close to the bathrooms so there were quite a few families ahead of us and we knew we wouldn’t make it for the characters’ first set.

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We got in line at around 6:45 but we probably should have gotten in line closer to 6:30 so that we wouldn’t waste a lot of party time in line. This was pretty much the only character meet DS had asked to do during the party so we didn’t have too much choice but to just stand in line and wait.

Eventually we had creeped along close enough to at least finally see the characters.

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DD & I waiting


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DD was not impressed with the wait
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It took about 45 minutes for us to make it to the characters. Daisy & Donald were up first. It was a must to have DD in her costume for this meet because Donald was also dressed as a pumpkin! Needless to say, he loved it!

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Although he loved DD’s costume, Donald was a little scared of DH.

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And now some Photopass versions of the meet.

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Kisses from Donald


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I love this one!


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Then it was time to move on a little and meet Minnie in her witch costume!

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The meet had ended up taking longer than we had thought it would, so we knew it was time to be finding a spot for the parade. We knew we didn't want to fight the crowds on Main Street, and we'd had luck in Frontierland before. Since one of our priorities at the party was also trick-or-treating, we decided to go kind of out of our way by taking the trick-or-treat trail from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland, then cutting across the hub to make our way to Frontierland. It took us awhile to get over to Frontierland where we could find a spot, so we ended up finding an open area behind a couple of ladies across from Pecos Bill’s. Not ideal, but about the best we could do for a sold out party. We had a little time to sit and wait before the parade made its way to us, but soon enough, it was time for Boo to You!

UP NEXT: Boo...to...YOU!

 

[Dugette]

It was a must to have DD in her costume for this meet because Donald was also dressed as a pumpkin! Needless to say, he loved it!

Way too cute!

Yeah, that's a long wait, but glad you got DS's must-do out of the way. Hope the parade view works out okay.

 

[missangelalexis]

The pictures with Donald and Daisy are absolutely adorable! It looks/sounds like such a great meet! The pics with Minnie came out great too!

 

[trackie]

Looked like a cute meet and greet with Daisy and Donald!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Big Hero 6! DS had picked Baymax as his costume choice, and DH took that idea and ran with it by putting together a Yokai costume. He borrowed the black trench coat from someone to bring, and bought the mask online, painting the design on himself.

What a cute idea!

DD didn’t fit in to the theme, but I had found this cute pumpkin costume well before we had found the Baymax one for DS, so that’s what we went with.

The perfect Pumpkin!

 

[afwdwfan]

We got in line at around 6:45 but we probably should have gotten in line closer to 6:30 so that we wouldn’t waste a lot of party time in line. This was pretty much the only character meet DS had asked to do during the party so we didn’t have too much choice but to just stand in line and wait.

You can't say no to a request to meet these characters! I'm just sorry the line was so long! It seems that at the Christmas party anyway, the character lines in Storybook Circus tend to be pretty manageable.

It was a must to have DD in her costume for this meet because Donald was also dressed as a pumpkin! Needless to say, he loved it!

Great pictures! It was probably worth the wait for that reason alone. Especially since your DH is a Donald Duck fan.

Not ideal, but about the best we could do for a sold out party. We had a little time to sit and wait before the parade made its way to us, but soon enough, it was time for Boo to You!

Looks like you're making the best of it with the crowds, and as long as you get to see the parade, that's better than nothing.

 

[Sailormoon2]

That plan was all well and good but I got totally lost trying to take what I figured would be a shortcut through the pool area, but then I couldn’t find the entrance to the hotel from there! I had actually passed it up, so I walked way too far in the heat getting frustrated before I backtracked and found the entrance.

OMG! I totally did this too when we stayed there! Thank you for posting the beautiful pics of the walk way as they are completely helping me relive our August 2015 trip their. The area and hotels around Universal are absolutely stunning!!!

 

[Sailormoon2]

Ok, I'm a little late to this TR party...but I can't get over all the amazing photos!! I loved the recount of HHNs, which is something I would love to do, but will never be able to get time off in October. So thanks for letting me live it vicariously!!! I have to ask...what is a trick or treat trail???

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Too bad the line was so long but super cute pictures and love how into it Donald was

Also love that the meet included Dinald and Daisy together

 

[khertz]

Way too cute!

Yeah, that's a long wait, but glad you got DS's must-do out of the way. Hope the parade view works out okay.

Thanks!

I was not expecting that long of a wait for them, but I guess compared to Jack & Sally or something like that, we made out okay. And we didn't have a long list of must-dos besides the parade and fireworks, so it was okay to spend a little time waiting to see them since DS really wanted to!

The pictures with Donald and Daisy are absolutely adorable! It looks/sounds like such a great meet! The pics with Minnie came out great too!

They were both great meets!

Looked like a cute meet and greet with Daisy and Donald!

DD in her pumpkin costume meeting Donald in his was one of the highlights of the night for me!

What a cute idea!

The perfect Pumpkin!

DH did a great job putting his costume together to go with DS's, and it was a big hit throughout the night!

Thanks!

You can't say no to a request to meet these characters! I'm just sorry the line was so long! It seems that at the Christmas party anyway, the character lines in Storybook Circus tend to be pretty manageable.

Great pictures! It was probably worth the wait for that reason alone. Especially since your DH is a Donald Duck fan.

Looks like you're making the best of it with the crowds, and as long as you get to see the parade, that's better than nothing.

Yeah, I was glad he had picked them, actually. I had wanted to meet them at our 2013 party but we were so busy doing everything else we didn't really stop for character meets! But when I asked DS what he wanted to do, that was one of the first things he said.

The few minutes with Donald ended up being totally worth it!! And of course, DH was totally loving it.

We went in knowing that the party would most likely be sold out because so many already had been. So I came up with the best plan possible to get in what we wanted to do and try to avoid a majority of the crowds. It ended up working out pretty well!

OMG! I totally did this too when we stayed there! Thank you for posting the beautiful pics of the walk way as they are completely helping me relive our August 2015 trip their. The area and hotels around Universal are absolutely stunning!!!

I was getting SOOO mad pushing that stroller around and cursing under my breath that I just wanted to find a way inside!!! Didn't seem like it should be that difficult!! lol

The walk from the resorts to the parks is just beautiful there. We never end up taking the boat because the walk is just so nice!

Ok, I'm a little late to this TR party...but I can't get over all the amazing photos!! I loved the recount of HHNs, which is something I would love to do, but will never be able to get time off in October. So thanks for letting me live it vicariously!!! I have to ask...what is a trick or treat trail???

No worries, there is still a lot more to come so you're not late at all!

I'm glad you enjoyed the HHN updates. It's something DH really enjoys but is just not for me. I hate being scared!

Oops, sorry! I guess I take it for granted that everyone is familiar with MNSSHP. There are several trick or treating spots around the park where there are just a couple of barrels of candy with CMs to hand it out. But there are also a couple of trick or treat trails, which are pathways that have several of the candy stops along the way. One was on the pathway between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, and there were maybe 4 or 5 candy stops along the path.

Too bad the line was so long but super cute pictures and love how into it Donald was

Also love that the meet included Dinald and Daisy together

Donald got so excited to see DD in her pumpkin costume, which was just what I had been hoping for! Totally ended up being worth the wait, but it just felt like we were using up valuable party time.

Overall, I liked how this meet was set up. I liked standing in one line to meet all three instead of having separate lines for them. I just wish Minnie still met with Mickey like she used to. The first year we went to the party was the first year they were starting to introduce talking Mickey, so they didn't have him in his Halloween costume and he didn't meet with Minnie. The night we went happened to be a talking Mickey night. So we never got the chance to meet them together in their costumes.

 

[IowaTater]

Once we saw the line, we realized we probably should have gotten in line sooner.

Wow, I had no idea their lines were that long. I guess because it was a sold out party??

Those pics of Donald with DD are so cute. It looks like it was a really good meet.

 

[amberdc1987]

Okay so I did this a little backwards, I read all of your November trip and now i'm on this one Oh well, at least I got here. I can't wait to read more. I loved your report on Universal. I've read a few reports on Universal and never had a "need" to go there. It never looked like fun. However, you report as made me change my mind and now i'm trying to work it into our trip in February . I never knew there were so many things for kids to do. And Diagon Alley looks awesome! MNSSHP looks like so much fun! I love his Baymax costume and her pumpkin. The pics with her and Donald Duck are adorable. Keep it coming.
(PS I hope after this is done, you do a February report. That's when we are going next year. )

 

[skier_pete]

Ugh. Remind me why I don't like the parties. Lines for everything! What we do for our kids.

 

[khertz]

Okay so I did this a little backwards, I read all of your November trip and now i'm on this one Oh well, at least I got here. I can't wait to read more. I loved your report on Universal. I've read a few reports on Universal and never had a "need" to go there. It never looked like fun. However, you report as made me change my mind and now i'm trying to work it into our trip in February . I never knew there were so many things for kids to do. And Diagon Alley looks awesome! MNSSHP looks like so much fun! I love his Baymax costume and her pumpkin. The pics with her and Donald Duck are adorable. Keep it coming.
(PS I hope after this is done, you do a February report. That's when we are going next year. )

As long as you made it, that's the important thing!! lol

I'm so glad my posts on Universal helped sway you! I hope you will not be disappointed. We have such a blast there, and look forward to it just as much as our Disney time. DH and I have always been fans of the Universal parks, but the addition of the Harry Potter areas brought it up to an even higher level. They are just getting better & better, in my opinion! It was hard the very first year we took DS when he was 3. He was just a hair too short for a lot of the attractions. He still had fun, but we were able to accomplish everything in a single day. This time, it was definitely better having 2 days to really get into the parks and explore.

We love the Halloween party! I can't believe we went on so many October trips before 2013 and never did the party. We were totally missing out.

I will definitely work on the February TR, hopefully soon once DH starts editing the pictures. He had a good system for this trip and November by rotating which trip he worked on, so that allowed me to get that TR done quickly. I'm hoping to have the same plan going forward with the February trip.

Wow, I had no idea their lines were that long. I guess because it was a sold out party??

Those pics of Donald with DD are so cute. It looks like it was a really good meet.

It could have been. This was our first experience with a sold out party, and it was definitely noticeable compared to our previous party. But it seems like this past year, there were a lot more parties selling out than in previous years, so it was not too much of a shock that ours sold out.

It was a great meet! Although it ate up more time than I would have liked, it was still worth it.

Ugh. Remind me why I don't like the parties. Lines for everything! What we do for our kids.

lol Yeah, I had reconciled with it though since there wasn't much else we wanted to do at the party outside of the parade, fireworks, and a little trick or treating!

 

[khertz]

Day 4 Continued: Tuesday October 20th

When I left off, we had just found our spot for Boo to You in Frontierland. This post will be pretty photo heavy since DH took a LOT of parade pictures! It wasn't the best viewing spot, but it was what we had to work with. Although the parade was a priority, we were not willing to sit on the curb for over an hour just to stake out a spot, so we took what we could get.

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Soon enough, the Headless Horseman was making his ride down the parade route!

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I spotted Courtney (@courtneybelle ) who was working the party during her college program, but she didn’t have time to do any more than say hi because it was pretty hectic for the CMs working the parade route that night. But it was still nice to see someone I have interacted with on the boards for years in person!

Soon enough, it was time for Boo to You! I absolutely LOVE this parade!!

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Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Day 4 Continued: Tuesday October 20th

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Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope were additions to the parade since we saw it in 2013, so we enjoyed that new section of the parade! They are a favorite in our household!

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After the parade, we didn’t have time for much before we needed to be getting to our spot for the fireworks. But we figured we had enough time to Trick or Treat, since that was all DS really wanted to do. So we walked through the trail at Splash Mountain, then made our way through the stops in Adventureland at Pirates, the Tiki Room, and Jungle Cruise.

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DH was happy to get to see inside of the Tiki Room stop since he had missed doing it with DS and I last time. It is pretty neat to get to go inside and see and hear the birds shifting around while you Trick or Treat!


UP NEXT: Happy Hallowishes, Everyone!

 

[trackie]

That parade is the best! Love it!

 

[hokieinpa]

I'm sorry about the long line in Storybook Circus but it looks like a fun meet! I love the pictures of the two pumpkins - DD and Donald!

Even though it wasn't a front row spot, it seems like a great place for the parade. Especially with not having to sit there for an hour and waste so much pay time.

I love the Boo to You parade pictures. Having seen the Christmas and Halloween parades, I really can't pick a favorite. Both have such great music and costumes and characters!