So- where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?
Ah yes, Cinderella’s coach at
MNSSHP-
Before I begin--- I must apologize for the quality of the pictures. I had not checked my camera's manual under the heading "What settings to use in order to get the best shots in the dark."
and dark it was!
As I said- we were third in line waiting for the party to actually begin. When 7:00 on the dot occurred, they allowed the first guests to get their pic taken standing by the coach. It was really pretty. People were desperately trying to find a spot to squeeze into to hide- away from CM’s looking for the non-paying, no wrist band wearers. A few tried sneaking into the line behind us. No go. The CM’s truly were on top of their game and kicked them out of the line and ushered them toward Main Street. When we were called forward, the Photopass guy wanted to take TinkerBell’s picture alone next to the carriage. Belle was in her element, grinning and smiling the whole time. Then he took the three kids together, and then finally the whole family. They were taking their time- the line was beginning to build however.
When we finished here, we decided to walk thru Liberty Square towards Frontierland and see what was happening there.
By now, the crowds had thinned significantly and it looked like everything would be a walk on. All of the CM’s were dressed in their Halloween garb and telling everyone to have a fun night at the party. It was quite festive.
When we got to Frontierland the kids said they wanted to ride BTMRR- and I said yes to that but no to Splash, since I didn’t want them all soaking wet. Belle was very excited to ride BTMRR- she had remembered riding it in 2006 but she also remembered being scared of it. I had told her that if she could get thru Splash, she would be fine. We walked right thru the queue, right up to the front, and there was a train just pulling in. It was already dark and as we loaded the ride, the Villians show fireworks over the castle went off. Belle couldn’t believe that she could see the castle at night- she still talks about how pretty it was.
As we got off- mind you- the party is soooooooooo dark- up ahead of us leaving the train was a family and their backpack was sporting a LGMH! I tried ever so hard to catch up to them to talk just a bit- but unfortunately, the crowds had gotten between us and I lost them in the dark. Shoot. Whoever you were…. Hi from the JoBird’s!
It was here that we all had a disagreement.
Everyone wanted to do something different. Mark wanted to ride every single ride b/c they were walk on’s. The kids wanted to ride AND Trick or Treat. I wanted to see the Villians- b/c, well ya’ just don’t get to see evil up close and personal and live to tell the tale every day.
No one wanted to concede what they wanted to do. So I gave in. The Villians that I paid a hefty amount to take a gander of? Forgotten. Gone. No pics with the Evil Queen, my twin.
I was sad, but had to take one for the team. I took one look at Mighty Good Man and realized he needed sugar and a hefty dose of it so that he wouldn’t become Mighty Grumpier Man than he was. So I said “trick or Treat trail. Now.” And the Kids were happy but Mighty Grumpy Man steamed that he didn’t pay all that money to go trick or Treating.
He thought that there was going to be lines out the wazoo- boy did he have a change of heart when he saw the handful of candy he got. There were no lines for the candy- you just found the trail, went down it and came out the other end with loot in your bag.
You would have thought he was a kid again and his mission that night was to find each and every candy trail. As we loaded up on the candy, he ate. We hit the trail by the landing for Tom Sawyers Island first, and then walked by the water towards Liberty Square- and hit the trail that goes down by the Liberty Belle boat. After that one we went to the one inside Columbia Harbor House. All of this was done in under ten minutes. The bags were getting full- just my intention. By then, DH was feeling much better after his sugar rush and was on a sugar high and said “Let’s Ride”.
We headed to Toontown to ride Goofy’s Barbstormer- walk on—and then headed to Alice’s Trail in the back of the park headed towards Space Mtn.
A lady all excited came rushing up to Mcat and asked for her autograph- and then very perplexed looked at her and said “Wait- you aren’t the REAL Alice, are you?”
We all laughed- it made MCat feel good- which is what the lady had intended- and then we saw Mr Walrus from Alice in Wonderland. Mighty Good Man was not interested in getting his picture made with him- he wanted more candy! So we stood in line for walrus while Mighty Mighty scoped out the candy.
We got really good at approaching the CM’s handing out the candy- there would always be two lines- with two CM’s and we’d look to see whose hands were bigger, thus the bigger handfuls. LOL!!!! We’d approach and either say “Left, Left!” Or “Right, right!” Some CMs were stingy- only giving three pieces to a person- but Lordy- there were some BIG guys that were just tossing it in your bag! We happily hummed down the trail- bypassing Alice’s line for pictures as well as the Mad Hatter- we could see them any day.
We came out behind Space and thus rode it. Wlak on. I didn’t feel like riding it- my back was hurting from carring my backpack- oh yeah- and from BTMRR! So I sat with Belle- and we looked through the bags of candy. Mighty Mighty came walzing out with the kids not 5 minutes after I left them- it was of course a walk on- and we decided to put all of the candy into one bag- remember the Halloween bag he bought me? Our little bags were filled to the brim- so we dumped them all into the big bag AND IT WAS FILLED ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP. Holy Moley!
We made Mighty Muscley Man carry it for us as we attempted to get more candy. We went thru all of the trails again and rode Pan, Pooh and then Pirates before walking to Frontierland to get a spot for the parade.
I have a spot that I love to go to for the parades in Frontierland- BUT IT WAS TAKEN-
so we went right in front of the shooting arcade and waited only a bit before the parade started. I had wanted more than anything to see the Headless Horseman on his Black stallion ride past- and so I decided I wouldn’t attempt to take any pics of the parade at all. I am so glad that I didn’t but sad at the same time. The parade was phenomenal. I can’t even tell you how awesome it was. It makes Spectro seem like a two bit parade in some one horse town. And I love Spectro!!!
The guy from the Haunted Mansion with the real bloodhound is so good- and the bloodhound was beautiful. The pirate ship was unbelievable. Barbossa was walking past, speaking to people- he reached down and took my hand and kissed it. Boy- if he didn’t look like the real deal. Captain Jack was gorgeous- the Haunted Mansion Gost dancers were eerily beautiful.
Cruella DeVille came sauntering down the street and walked up to MCat- Alice- and said in her almost drunk voice—“ Dah-Ling, You must remember to say ‘Yes Your Majesty' to the Queen"!- just as the Queen of Hearts came walking up- and MCat didn’t say anything so Cruella yells “GO ON THEN! SAY IT!” and MCat curtsied and said “Yes your Majesty.” And so the queen of Hearts shooed her with her hand and off they went. We were left with singing the “Boo to yOu” song for weeks.
After the parade- we went to the hub to sit for a minute- and wait for Hallowishes to start. There were already tons of people there- so we got a spot in the back and sat down to wait. The villains show began not long after we go there and again- the pics are not good- were so far back.
Hallowishes was good, however it doesn’t compare to my all time favorite- the plain Wishes.
Afterwards we walked onto Dumbo (It was my first time ever riding it!), walked into Adventureland to wait for my TinkerBell to see Captain Hook. Just as we got up there, Hook went for a break and we were left to talk with some Alabama fans- who commented on our Gator shirts. We waited a good 15 minutes, the longest wait of the night. As we were waiting, I was prepping Belle- saying “Hook is afraid of TinkerBell- when it’s your turn- run up there like you’re gonna get him and he’ll run.” Well, when it was her turn, Hook saw her coming and made a beeline for the side- she took off after him with her wand and they sort of played cat and mouse for a bit. It was so cute.
Pics- of course are blurry b/c again I never read the manual on how to do nighttime shots. I’m so dumb.
After that, it was well beyond midnight and we walked backwards, ending up leaving the park when it was rather quiet.
Went into the shoppes on Main Street and got Ghiradelli chocolate as we were leaving. We were back to the resort and in the bed after showers by 1 am.
And here-
is all the candy we got!!!
Up next-
“It sounds like an infirmary in here-
who’s coughing? Who’s sneezing? And who’s throwing up?” And- no- those AREN"T the names of the dwarves!!!