All You Need is The Force, Trust and Pixie Dust! A May 2014 TR -- Updated 11/20

[natebenma]

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SO embarrassing when someone wears the same outfit as you to a party!




What a neat breakfast meet and greet at Sci Fi with some great characters. The trading with the Jawa must have been so much fun!

Some interesting food offerings.

Franklin- on the Toy Story pictures, did you use the same technique as you did during Philharmagic or just some typical camera settings to capture clear pictures in 3D scenes?

And oh, wow! An Ewok's Tale looked like a fantastic, interesting, entertaining event. Warwick Davis is amazing. How cool that he was able to do some Harry Potter stuff at Disney (HOW was he able to do HP stuff at Disney???)

 

[Ceryssa]

Just caught up, somehow I missed a bunch of updates! Wow, all the Star Wars stuff looks fantastic! The fireworks look awesome, not to mention the cool character meals! I love all the little details Disney does so well, right down to the Death Star glow cubes So of course, now I'm trying to figure out when's the soonest I could possibly go to SWW Because clearly I need to! Can't wait to hear about the rest of it.

 

[Pixel Dust]

Franklin- on the Toy Story pictures, did you use the same technique as you did during Philharmagic or just some typical camera settings to capture clear pictures in 3D scenes?

Yes, same technique. Circular polarizing filter. Just remember to focus first, before putting the filter on.

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[ElenaJane]

Wait, my mind was just blown. He showed you how to use a wand...while at Disney?! I can't believe US didn't have a big hook to swipe him off stage. I am a huge Harry Potter fan and I would have loved to have had a wand lesson! So cool!

 

[Missyrose]

Thanks for the shout out. Love helping others plan sww! It was great to finally meet you though it was oh so brief because we were exiting one show and ds and dh were entering the stand by line.

Love Warwick ' s show.

Saw you getting your picture taken. Was so excited for you. JAT and his family are so down to earth. Actually all of the Clone Wars actors are.

It was fun to finally meet you and I can't thank you enough for all the SWW help. I would have been completely lost without your guidance.

Soooo many updates at once!! The Sci Fi breakfast looks great!! Were the lights on in Sci Fi or are your cameras just that good? lol.....

Loved the blue milk!

I can see why you always lose at TSMM if he scores so high. You should make a point to ride with me and you may win!

What a neat show with Warwick Davis. I would have loved the HP part too!

The blue milk had a faint blueberry taste, it was actually really yummy! I've made peace with the fact that I will never be good at TSM. Sad, but true. Funny thing is, I'm much better at Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.

I missed the updates on the previous page! Great pics at Sci-Fi breakfast! I don't think I've ever gotten as high a score as Franklin on TSMM.

Franklin's little set-up for the Sci-Fi breakfast worked out great for pictures. It was a really dark restaurant for character photos though.

Awesome report and pics from Warwicks show!
Being chosen as one of the actors in the show that day was such an exciting opportunity!
I was by myself and had no one to take pics while I was on stage.
It was so much fun and meeting Warwick was an honor and something I will never forget!

You must have had so much fun up on that stage! I'm glad we got a few pictures of your performance!

Love, love, love your trip report Missy!

I am in severe post-trip depression and reading your awesome report and seeing Franklin's gorgeous pics is keeping me sane until our next visit home

Thank-you soo much for sharing!

Thank you so much! We love sharing our trips with everyone, it's always nice to hear that people are enjoying them.

I'm a big HP fan and would have been excited to take "flick and "swish" lessons from Warwick Davis, too.

The lesson will come in handy when I finally get my hands on one of the interactive wands in Diagon Alley.

I was a couple of updates behind- I'm back at your Star Wars dinner and dessert party.

They both look like a lot of fun.

Chipmunk Ewoks

I agree with Jedi Mickey- great selfies.




Oh, yes!

The dessert party looked fabulous! Great snacks, cool show and awesome fireworks.

Kudos to you guys for having a couple of seriously commando days!

I seriously loved the chipmunk Ewoks. They couldn't have been more adorable. Actually I loved that whole dinner more than I expected to. The Fab Four characters in their Star Wars gear were a lot of fun and added to the usual character interaction.

We had ridiculously commando days, I think we've fulfilled our quota for the year (maybe two years).

SO embarrassing when someone wears the same outfit as you to a party!




What a neat breakfast meet and greet at Sci Fi with some great characters. The trading with the Jawa must have been so much fun!

Some interesting food offerings.

Franklin- on the Toy Story pictures, did you use the same technique as you did during Philharmagic or just some typical camera settings to capture clear pictures in 3D scenes?

And oh, wow! An Ewok's Tale looked like a fantastic, interesting, entertaining event. Warwick Davis is amazing. How cool that he was able to do some Harry Potter stuff at Disney (HOW was he able to do HP stuff at Disney???)

I have no earthly idea how he was allowed to do the HP stuff at Disney. But I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Just caught up, somehow I missed a bunch of updates! Wow, all the Star Wars stuff looks fantastic! The fireworks look awesome, not to mention the cool character meals! I love all the little details Disney does so well, right down to the Death Star glow cubes So of course, now I'm trying to figure out when's the soonest I could possibly go to SWW Because clearly I need to! Can't wait to hear about the rest of it.

You're right, Disney does the details perfectly. Franklin treasures that glow-cube Death Star. We didn't get one, but they also had tiny glowing light sabres for drinks.

We're taking an April trip for my birthday in 2015, so I'm eyeing 2016 as our possible return to SWW.

Wait, my mind was just blown. He showed you how to use a wand...while at Disney?! I can't believe US didn't have a big hook to swipe him off stage. I am a huge Harry Potter fan and I would have loved to have had a wand lesson! So cool!

It. Was. Amazing. Seriously, he's such a likable actor to begin with. But the way he embraces his characters and the fans just takes it to whole other level.
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[Missyrose]

Welcome back, friends! We last left off with a fantastic Star Wars Weekend show with Warwick Davis. The park was fairly crowded when we got out of the show. It was at this moment we were very glad we’d used our FP+ reservation for TSM earlier in the day.

With the crowds building and the clouds overhead darkening, we decided to get out of the park for dinner. Franklin was craving Raglan Road, so we headed for Downtown Disney to see what the wait would be. We got there and the hostess said it would be 60 to 80 minutes for a table but we could look for seats at the bar while we waited. And so, we did. After about 15 minutes of hovering by the bar, we snagged a couple of seats. Score!

Just in time for a little dancing, too.

Franklin, of course, ordered a Guinness.

We ordered the Heaven on Earth ribs as an appetizer, my favorite!

And we split the schnitzel and chips.

It was a perfect spur-of-the-moment meal, something you don’t get very often at Disney. And luckily dinner didn’t take very long, we had another date with some Star Wars fireworks! So even with lovely Irish music playing on stage, we paid the bill and departed.

After being so close for the dessert party the night before, Franklin had a very particular spot he wanted to shoot from on this night.

Sadly, being this far back meant he couldn’t take a photo of the screen at the hat when my photo with Darth Vader was shown as part of the finale show. Boo! No bother though, the fireworks photos were totally worth it. I give you “Symphony in the Stars” take 2!

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[Missyrose]

We left with the masses after the fireworks, we had packing to do. And that packing included UNpacking all the bags we’d sent back to the resort that week. Yes, my name is Missy and I have a Disney shopping problem.

Before we hit the sack for the night, we spent a little time out on the balcony, enjoying the glorious view.

I love that resort so, so much. I can’t wait to return home to Boardwalk in just a few weeks! That’s where we’ll end things for now, but there is still one last day of fun coming up!
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[MonsterWDWmom]

The spontaneous dinner sounds great! I'm glad you were able to get in.

Those fireworks are awesome, great pictures!

Boardwalk looks like a great resort, I hope to be able to stay there one day.

 

[starousse]

What amazing pictures.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That's great that you were able to get some seats at the bar and have a spontaneous dinner like that! Sounds like fun and a nice break from the park for a bit

Great firework pictures - different angle than I have generally seen

I love the view from your balcony where Spaceship Earth is lined up so looks like in the middle of the lights on top of the ESPN club - very cool!

 

[Mom2m&k]

As always..best pictures ever!!

 

[khertz]

That's great that you were able to sneak over to Raglan Road in the midst of all the SWW fun.

Beautiful fireworks photos! I have still never had the pleasure of seeing fireworks at DHS, but it looks like a fun place to view them.

Okay, that's it, I'm OBSESSED with those nighttime Boardwalk shots! Stunning! I love that reflection of the lights on the water.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I'm glad that you were able to get a second chance to see the Frozen fireworks. Those were the most beautiful fireworks ever.

You got very lucky with your BWV view. The view and the pictures are spectacular.

We'll be back in WDW in April, too. It is such a great month for weather in Florida and we love the Flower & Garden Festival.

 

[lovethattink]

Raglan Road looks great. Good score on the seats too.

Love the firework pictures and the nighttime resort pics.

 

[Missyrose]

The spontaneous dinner sounds great! I'm glad you were able to get in.

Those fireworks are awesome, great pictures!

Boardwalk looks like a great resort, I hope to be able to stay there one day.

I was so happy we could squeeze in a meal at Raglan Road, it has rapidly become one of my favorite Disney restaurants!

Boardwalk is amazing. We own at three DVC resorts (BWV, BLT and VGF), but walking into Boardwalk really feels like going home to me.

What amazing pictures.

Thank you!

That's great that you were able to get some seats at the bar and have a spontaneous dinner like that! Sounds like fun and a nice break from the park for a bit

Great firework pictures - different angle than I have generally seen

I love the view from your balcony where Spaceship Earth is lined up so looks like in the middle of the lights on top of the ESPN club - very cool!

It was a lovely break from a very crowded park! The whole Epcot resort are is just so magical all lit up at night. I could stare at it forever.

As always..best pictures ever!!

Thanks so much!

That's great that you were able to sneak over to Raglan Road in the midst of all the SWW fun.

Beautiful fireworks photos! I have still never had the pleasure of seeing fireworks at DHS, but it looks like a fun place to view them.

Okay, that's it, I'm OBSESSED with those nighttime Boardwalk shots! Stunning! I love that reflection of the lights on the water.

I've been lucky enough to see four different fireworks shows at DHS in the past year or so (crazy, right?) and I really love that park for fireworks. I think Franklin's latest SWW photos perfectly capture how beautiful the fireworks are against the backdrop of the art deco architecture in the park.

One of the more popular DHS rumors has the park getting nightly fireworks once the hat comes down. I would be thrilled if that came to be (and ecstatic if those fireworks were the Frozen fireworks from over the summer).

I'm glad that you were able to get a second chance to see the Frozen fireworks. Those were the most beautiful fireworks ever.

You got very lucky with your BWV view. The view and the pictures are spectacular.

We'll be back in WDW in April, too. It is such a great month for weather in Florida and we love the Flower & Garden Festival.

We were so lucky with that BWV view! It was heavenly! i'm very much looking forward to the April trip. We've been there during F&G before, but never spend much time at the festival. That changes this year!

Raglan Road looks great. Good score on the seats too.

Love the firework pictures and the nighttime resort pics.

Raglan is amazing. The only problem is the food is so good, we almost never have room for their amazing bread pudding for dessert!
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[Missyrose]

Welcome back, friends. It’s time for the saddest day of any Disney trip: departure day! But luckily, we had our typical evening flight, so there was still plenty of Disney fun to be had. Since our next Disney trip would be in August at Villas at Grand Floridian, I thought it would be fun to have breakfast over at GF as a preview. We checked our baggage at Resort Airline Check-in and threw our carry-ons in the trunk of the car. Then we bid adieu to Boardwalk.

We had a lovely view of the GF grounds from our table.

Such a pretty resort! Franklin ordered his beloved lobster eggs Benedict.

And I had the chocolate chip pancakes.

As always, breakfast was delicious. Grand Floridian Cafe continues to be one of our low-key favorites at Disney.

We hopped on the monorail for a last trip to the Magic Kingdom.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was still a couple of days away from its official opening. Remember when it felt like that “opening May 28” sign would never come down?

No time for the dwarfs, though. We had a date with Arendelle royalty! Franklin hadn’t met Anna and Elsa yet, so they were our first FP+ reservation of the day. They were so much fun. And we even had a kinda-sorta chatty Elsa!

Franklin was dying to see if we could get all four of us in a selfie. And we did!

Soon after that trip, Disney split up Anna and Elsa to separate spots at Princess Fairy Tale Hall. Who knew our selfie would so quickly become delightfully retro? Aurora was waiting for us, she loved my snowflake bow.She asked if my fairies made it. I told her it was one very special fairy that I had met on the Internet.

She said our selfie with Anna and Elsa looked like so much fun, she wanted to try.

We were all pretty happy with the results.

We also snapped a quick “regular” group shot and were on our way.

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[Missyrose]

Next was a FP+ reservation for a must-do on any Disney trip: Peter Pan!

We made one more stop in Fantasyland. Who’s ready to sing?

After Philharmagic, I ran off to check us in for lunch, while Franklin grabbed a panoramic of the Hub construction. Yikes!

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[Missyrose]

Our lunch at The Plaza was quick and yummy. Franklin had a root beer float and we split the Philly cheesesteak.

I had to run off to buy a few last-minute snacks to take home to my co-workers. So Franklin took the bit of free time to take a few final (beautiful) photos around the park. Seriously, my words can’t do them justice.

Meanwhile, back at the front of the park… I was able to squeeze in a quick meet-up with Courtney, the beautiful bride who was just starting her Disneymoon!

I wish we could have spent more time together, but Franklin and I had to get back to GF and change for our flight. We took one last monorail ride around the loop.

We both changed into less sweaty attire for the flight home. We also took one more look around, excitedly knowing we’d be back to stay at this beautiful resort in just a few short months.

We had a completely uneventful airport experience (gotta love the “Fastpass” lane at MCO) and flight home.
And so with that, this trip and story come to a close.

Thanks so much for following along, we are so lucky to have so many friends with whom we get to enjoy these trips! Don’t forget about our August TR that is still underway.

And follow our Facebook page "The World of Yesterday, Tomorrow and Fantasy," for live updates before, during and after our trip in early December!
Till next time...
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[Wood Nymph]

I've really enjoyed your trip report. The Star Wars weekend activities were totally awesome. I do follow along on your Facebook page and have learned a lot of interesting things there. I also enjoy seeing some of your December plans.

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

Awesome report!

That is the perfect way to end a Disney vacation breakfast at the GF then to the MK!

I have never seen such nice pictures on Peter Pan before! They are awesome, I always thought it was just to dark in there to get anything good, you proved me wrong

Glad you got one last quick meet in.

What are your dates for December? I will be there from the 1st to the 8th, I love it at Christmastime!