NO CAPES! A Nov. 2014 TR ~ 12/31: Departure Day - TR Complete
- Thread starter SarahDisney
- Start date
SarahDisney
So ... Yeah
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
SarahDisney
So ... Yeah
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
Day 2: Tuesday, November 4th
Part 6: Thus With a Kiss I Die
(Okay, fine, nobody’s dying (I hope), but I wanted to sound educated, and I feel like Shakespeare fits that bill)
In my many trips to Magic Kingdom, I always wanted to walk through the castle, but I never got a chance to.
Not until this trip, at least. It was the easiest way to get from Fantasyland to Main Street USA. So we walked through the castle. And, of course, we stopped to take pictures of the mosaics:
We tried to take pictures of each of us in front of the nicely lit up castle, but alas, the pictures didn’t really come out very well. We do have a nice picture of the lit up castle, though:
After our picture stop, we continued heading for the exit. It really is something special to see Main Street USA all lit up with so few people there …
As we were almost at the exit (right in front of the train station, actually), we heard the start of an announcement:
“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, on behalf of everyone here at the Magic Kingdom, we thank you for joining us today for a magic gathering of family, friends, fun, and fantasy.”
We’ve seen the Kiss Goodnight before (we’re almost always at MK past closing), but I still wanted to turn around and watch the castle changing colors. My view was blocked a bit by some nutcrackers (stupid Xmas), but I snapped a few semi-decent shots:
One last MK picture, ending the day right where we started it …
And so we exited the park. We were directed to our bus stop (for those of you who have never taken the resort buses long after the park closes - there's a point where they start combining buses, so the bus stops change) and caught a bus right away – and we were the first stop. I, as usual, was in need of the facilities, and rather than wait the less than 10 minutes until we got back to the room, I decided to use the facilities in Animation Hall.
And, since it’s Disney, the magic even makes it into the bathrooms. I was greeted by something I had to take a picture of:
(not sure why it came out so blurry)
Of course, I then had to run and tell Beth. Taking bathroom pictures is a bit of a tradition in our family … but this is actually much better than the old family pictures, which involved the three of us standing in the bathroom (or, in the case of the Hershey Museum, me sitting on an old toilet).
Once we had been sufficiently entertained by my bathroom picture, we refilled our water bottles and headed back to the room, where we were greeted by some presents from Mousekeeping:
I’m fairly certain the towels are supposed to be a flower of some sort. And the toilet paper (which was originally attached to the roll - I took it off for the picture) is a very nice bow.
We were tuckered out, so we got ready for bed. I took out my clothes for the next morning, because I knew I’d be getting up and out the door super early (Beth was sleeping in a bit), but everything else could wait, because Wednesday was scheduled to be our “take it easy in the morning” and AM resort exploration day.
Bedtime: 12:20am (Both)
Day’s Totals (according to Sarah’s Fitbit):
Steps - 23,628
Flights of Stairs – 10
Miles – 9.98
End of Day Recap – Our Favorites:
Day 1: (I forgot to post this with day 1, so I’m posting it here)
Favorite Part of the Day:
Beth – Test Track, Chip-n-Dale, Sticker Dude, Bus Friends
Sarah – Test Track, Jeweled Dragon Acrobats, Pandora bead
Favorite Character Meet:
Beth – Chip-n-Dale, Goofy
Sarah – Chip-n-Dale
Day 2:
Favorite Part of the Day:
Beth – Dinner, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, FP+ and getting right on rides
Sarah – Dinner, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, Getting pretty much everything done after 5 PM
Favorite Character Meet:
Beth – Rapunzel
Sarah – Beast
Coming Next … Day 3: A Bit of My Normal Routine
Part 6: Thus With a Kiss I Die
(Okay, fine, nobody’s dying (I hope), but I wanted to sound educated, and I feel like Shakespeare fits that bill)
In my many trips to Magic Kingdom, I always wanted to walk through the castle, but I never got a chance to.
Not until this trip, at least. It was the easiest way to get from Fantasyland to Main Street USA. So we walked through the castle. And, of course, we stopped to take pictures of the mosaics:
We tried to take pictures of each of us in front of the nicely lit up castle, but alas, the pictures didn’t really come out very well. We do have a nice picture of the lit up castle, though:
After our picture stop, we continued heading for the exit. It really is something special to see Main Street USA all lit up with so few people there …
As we were almost at the exit (right in front of the train station, actually), we heard the start of an announcement:
“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, on behalf of everyone here at the Magic Kingdom, we thank you for joining us today for a magic gathering of family, friends, fun, and fantasy.”
We’ve seen the Kiss Goodnight before (we’re almost always at MK past closing), but I still wanted to turn around and watch the castle changing colors. My view was blocked a bit by some nutcrackers (stupid Xmas), but I snapped a few semi-decent shots:
One last MK picture, ending the day right where we started it …
And so we exited the park. We were directed to our bus stop (for those of you who have never taken the resort buses long after the park closes - there's a point where they start combining buses, so the bus stops change) and caught a bus right away – and we were the first stop. I, as usual, was in need of the facilities, and rather than wait the less than 10 minutes until we got back to the room, I decided to use the facilities in Animation Hall.
And, since it’s Disney, the magic even makes it into the bathrooms. I was greeted by something I had to take a picture of:
(not sure why it came out so blurry)
Of course, I then had to run and tell Beth. Taking bathroom pictures is a bit of a tradition in our family … but this is actually much better than the old family pictures, which involved the three of us standing in the bathroom (or, in the case of the Hershey Museum, me sitting on an old toilet).
Once we had been sufficiently entertained by my bathroom picture, we refilled our water bottles and headed back to the room, where we were greeted by some presents from Mousekeeping:
I’m fairly certain the towels are supposed to be a flower of some sort. And the toilet paper (which was originally attached to the roll - I took it off for the picture) is a very nice bow.
We were tuckered out, so we got ready for bed. I took out my clothes for the next morning, because I knew I’d be getting up and out the door super early (Beth was sleeping in a bit), but everything else could wait, because Wednesday was scheduled to be our “take it easy in the morning” and AM resort exploration day.
Bedtime: 12:20am (Both)
Day’s Totals (according to Sarah’s Fitbit):
Steps - 23,628
Flights of Stairs – 10
Miles – 9.98
End of Day Recap – Our Favorites:
Day 1: (I forgot to post this with day 1, so I’m posting it here)
Favorite Part of the Day:
Beth – Test Track, Chip-n-Dale, Sticker Dude, Bus Friends
Sarah – Test Track, Jeweled Dragon Acrobats, Pandora bead
Favorite Character Meet:
Beth – Chip-n-Dale, Goofy
Sarah – Chip-n-Dale
Day 2:
Favorite Part of the Day:
Beth – Dinner, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, FP+ and getting right on rides
Sarah – Dinner, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, Getting pretty much everything done after 5 PM
Favorite Character Meet:
Beth – Rapunzel
Sarah – Beast
Coming Next … Day 3: A Bit of My Normal Routine
KatMark
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2007
Sarah, I am glad you finally got to walk through the castle and see the mosaic tiles. They truly are beautiful.
Okay, I've been to Disney over 25 times. WHAT is the Kiss Goodnight?
Despite the pretty Christmas decorations, you still got great shots.
Lucky you with getting a bus so quickly.
Okay, I've been to Disney over 25 times. WHAT is the Kiss Goodnight?
Despite the pretty Christmas decorations, you still got great shots.
Lucky you with getting a bus so quickly.
SarahDisney
So ... Yeah
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
We've had to wait a while at the end of the night for a bus on past trips, so we were glad to not have to wait. I knew I was getting up at 6:15 the next morning, so I really just wanted to get to sleep! We actually had decent luck with the buses the whole trip, which was really good.
----
REAL LIFE UPDATE:
A little bit of insanity. I didn't finish my coffee until almost 5pm today - I've been too busy to drink it. I got an email yesterday, "can you create this for us?" Sure, no problem. "Can you do it by next Tuesday? We want to start distributing the flyers on Wednesday." Sure, no problem - are you printing in house or sending it to a printer? (makes a difference because they print B&W in-house, but I can use color if they're sending it out to be printed). "Actually, we want to send it to a printer that takes a few days - can you have it for us tomorrow?" Sure, no problem...
I don't usually charge them a rush fee, but I'm so tempted to round up my hours just to charge them more on this project ... but I won't because they usually don't do this to me (which is why I don't charge them rush fees).
The rest of life ... is terrible. Those of you who read my PTR may remember that at the time of my PTR, I was unemployed. Well ... that hasn't changed, and it's getting harder and harder to cope with every day. My health insurance runs out in a few months, I don't know if I'll be able to get other coverage, and I really can't take much more of this unemployment thing. I had an interview last week that went badly - well, not so much badly as that they basically said I wasn't what they're looking for (the woman said she'd get back to me by the end of this week, but I'm not expecting it to be a positive response). One of my teachers said something this week along the lines of "I'm sure you all have jobs right now..." and I really wanted to cry. It's hard for me to understand what's happening to me, and it's hard to stay positive.
It's hard for me to sit down and focus on anything, including this TR. I have parts 1 & 2 of day 3 written out, but when it comes to the actual posting part ... I just never get around to it. Even now, when I'm already on the DIS, I'm still not posting. So the updates will come eventually ... but not necessarily when they should. Oh well, at least it'll keep me immersed in the Disney for a little longer.
I don't know if I've mentioned this on here yet. but I'm registered for the Princess 5K in February. I've been working on trying to get all my ducks in a row so that I can go, and I honestly think it isn't going to happen, which sucks. For reasons I can't really go into, this race means a lot to me, and the fact that I most likely won't be able to do it ... it's just another piece of bad news as part of what seems to be the worst year of my life. And the hits just keep on coming.
Anyway, trying to end this on a good note ...
I got my parents all of the FP+ they wanted for their January trip! Granted, they didn't really want any of the hard to get ones (other than TSMM, which I logged on at midnight to get them). My sister and I spent Sunday morning micromanaging their trip. I really hope they don't mind...
SarahDisney
So ... Yeah
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
Day 3: Wednesday, November 5th
Wake Up Time: 6:15 AM (Sarah), Approx. 6:50 AM (Beth)
Outfits:
Sarah – Anna (Coronation Dress)
Beth – Sorcerer Mickey
Part 1: I Could Go Running ...
Always nice to name a post with a quote from a princess we saw the day before. But I chose this particular quote from Tangled on purpose.
Why?
A few months ago I started running. Just twice a week, pretty casual, no big deal (I don’t even straight run – I do walk/run intervals). I ran on Sunday before leaving for the Disney trip, but I didn’t want to have to push off my next run to Friday afternoon (especially because I had a lot to do when I got home on Friday), so I decided to go out one day while we were in Florida – and Wednesday was that day.
For me, each run has 3 parts: warm up, walk/run, cool down.
Those of you who read my PTR may remember that I came up with these crazy courses for my warm up, walk/run, and cool down … I kinda ignored those.
Warm up consisted of walking around Art of Animation a bit – down to Animation Hall (at which point I checked my watch – it’s a 5 minute walk from Little Mermaid to Animation Hall, so I don’t know why people complain that it’s so long), around the Nemo section, and then down to the lake and across the Generation Gap Bridge. As I was walking across the bridge, I took the opportunity to take a few pictures.
View of the bridge (kinda blurry):
A nice view of a Pop Century building (I’m going … 70’s):
Once I got across the bridge, warm up was over and it was time for my walk/run to start – 35 minutes, running around the lake (mostly – one trip up to Everything Pop Dining to refill my water bottle).
Here’s the course (with all of my stats – that's about my average pace, which is impressive if you take into account the fact that I did extra walking when going to refill my water bottle):
I started my walking, and there were a few runners out, and some carts taking housekeepers to where they needed to be and assorted other things. After almost getting run over by some sort of vehicle during one of my walk periods, I commented to one of the runners, “I have to avoid the drivers and the runners!” Mostly I was fine, I only had to get out of the way a few times … and I don’t mind running on grass a little.
My biggest comment on the run (I had a few in my running journal) is that I loved having the little facts around to look at/read both while walking and running. I thought they might be a distraction, but they really weren’t.
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s what’s in this picture – there are little trivia facts on those (also, this is proof that I shouldn’t try to take pictures when running – that thing blocking the top of the picture is my water bottle, may it rest in peace (it broke when I dropped it today … it’s taken a lot of abuse over the years)):
I did get a few nice pictures during my walk periods – like Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head:
Beautiful view of AoA from across the lake:
I finished just over the “border” at Pop Century, so for my cool down I walked back to the bridge, across, and back to the room. I got back around 7:35, and Beth was already out of the shower and blow drying her hair, so I hopped in the shower quickly.
By the time we were dressed and ready to go to breakfast, we realized it was too late to do our planned resort exploring, so we decided to do it Thursday night instead. There was one picture we wanted during daylight (we didn’t have a good one from last year), so we snapped that picture on our way to breakfast:
Of course, I realized before we got to Animation Hall that I had left my instant coffee packets in the room, so I had to go back (say what you will about instant coffee, and even I only drink it sometimes and only drink certain brands, but I wanted iced coffee and wasn’t going to pour hot coffee over ice and call that iced coffee because it’s not the same). And then I broke my sunglasses (they fell off my head when Beth called to ask me to get something else from the room), which would have been a huge problem (I’m sure they sell sunglasses somewhere at Disney, but I’m super picky about my sunglasses), but I managed to fix them. Breakfast was coffee and cereal – I believe Raisin Bran Crunch for me, and Special K for Beth (with freeze dried berries).
When we were done with breakfast, we headed over to the buses. There was a bit of a line for the Hollywood Studios bus, so we didn’t get on the first bus. There was a CM there coordinating (or something) who said that the next bus would be there in 6 minutes.
About a minute later … our response to the guy was “that was the shortest 6 minutes ever.” He was entertained (and explained that it was because of estimates of how long it would take based on where the bus drivers said they were) and we started talking as we were boarding the bus. Turns out, he’s from the same area of NY as we are – he knows our neighborhood well. Small world.
Anyway … on to Hollywood Studios.
Last year we saw a pretty cool Monsters University topiary outside Hollywood Studios. This year it was something different, but equally cool:
And of course, a picture of us with the topiary:
We got through the gate with no problems, and went for a picture that was part of one of our resolutions for the trip.
Because the hat is coming down soon, we wanted to get as many pictures with it as possible. So this was picture #1. We didn’t get as many as I wanted, but there will be a few more over the course of the day.
We still had some time until our first FP+ of the day, so we decided to see what characters were out. Donald and Daisy were both out, but we knew we probably only had time for one. So who did we choose?
We had seen Donald at Epcot, so we decided to go with Daisy.
And, of course, pictures of her signing our bags:
And then it was time for our first FP+. But we had a few stops to make before we got there. First, a picture by something that wasn’t the Sorcerer’s Hat:
And then, as was my pattern, I needed a pit stop. The closest bathrooms were by Magic of Disney Animation. On the way we saw a store with some cool stuff. And we needed to stop to take a picture of Pascal and Beth:
Our first attraction of the day was something we initially discovered in California in 2009 … it was brand new then and looked interesting, so we tried it out … and we were hooked. So hooked that I bought a game for Xbox (the Xbox, by the way, is not even mine – it’s my brother’s, but I can usually get access to it).
Confused?
This is what we went on next:
BEST RIDE/GAME EVER!! I only wish we could have gone on more than once … but we didn’t have the time for a 70 minute wait (we would have done it if we had the time… I can handle waiting for something I like if I have to).
Some inside pictures:
We got on with not too much of a wait and it was awesome. Except my arm hurt. I had the same problem with Buzz. I don’t know what’s up with me.
Final Score:
I know what you all must be thinking – how is it possible for someone to get less than 100,000 points? I don’t know either, but apparently I did it. I get the impression that I stink at this game. I think I have to go back and practice more.
End of Ride Selfie (no idea what I did with my glasses, I’m probably holding them):
Next up were the stars of Toy Story. One of the things I love about Woody’s Picture Shootin’ Corral is that there are so many fun picture taking opportunities.
Instructions:
Buzz Lightyear:
The Claw …:
And finally, at the end, we met Woody and Buzz:
By this point, it was about time for our second FP+ … Voyage of the Little Mermaid. But that’s pretty far away – did we really want to walk that far? Find out … coming soon (or eventually).
Coming Next: It’s Not Real Snow!
Wake Up Time: 6:15 AM (Sarah), Approx. 6:50 AM (Beth)
Outfits:
Sarah – Anna (Coronation Dress)
Beth – Sorcerer Mickey
Part 1: I Could Go Running ...
Always nice to name a post with a quote from a princess we saw the day before. But I chose this particular quote from Tangled on purpose.
Why?
A few months ago I started running. Just twice a week, pretty casual, no big deal (I don’t even straight run – I do walk/run intervals). I ran on Sunday before leaving for the Disney trip, but I didn’t want to have to push off my next run to Friday afternoon (especially because I had a lot to do when I got home on Friday), so I decided to go out one day while we were in Florida – and Wednesday was that day.
For me, each run has 3 parts: warm up, walk/run, cool down.
Those of you who read my PTR may remember that I came up with these crazy courses for my warm up, walk/run, and cool down … I kinda ignored those.
Warm up consisted of walking around Art of Animation a bit – down to Animation Hall (at which point I checked my watch – it’s a 5 minute walk from Little Mermaid to Animation Hall, so I don’t know why people complain that it’s so long), around the Nemo section, and then down to the lake and across the Generation Gap Bridge. As I was walking across the bridge, I took the opportunity to take a few pictures.
View of the bridge (kinda blurry):
A nice view of a Pop Century building (I’m going … 70’s):
Once I got across the bridge, warm up was over and it was time for my walk/run to start – 35 minutes, running around the lake (mostly – one trip up to Everything Pop Dining to refill my water bottle).
Here’s the course (with all of my stats – that's about my average pace, which is impressive if you take into account the fact that I did extra walking when going to refill my water bottle):
I started my walking, and there were a few runners out, and some carts taking housekeepers to where they needed to be and assorted other things. After almost getting run over by some sort of vehicle during one of my walk periods, I commented to one of the runners, “I have to avoid the drivers and the runners!” Mostly I was fine, I only had to get out of the way a few times … and I don’t mind running on grass a little.
My biggest comment on the run (I had a few in my running journal) is that I loved having the little facts around to look at/read both while walking and running. I thought they might be a distraction, but they really weren’t.
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s what’s in this picture – there are little trivia facts on those (also, this is proof that I shouldn’t try to take pictures when running – that thing blocking the top of the picture is my water bottle, may it rest in peace (it broke when I dropped it today … it’s taken a lot of abuse over the years)):
I did get a few nice pictures during my walk periods – like Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head:
Beautiful view of AoA from across the lake:
I finished just over the “border” at Pop Century, so for my cool down I walked back to the bridge, across, and back to the room. I got back around 7:35, and Beth was already out of the shower and blow drying her hair, so I hopped in the shower quickly.
By the time we were dressed and ready to go to breakfast, we realized it was too late to do our planned resort exploring, so we decided to do it Thursday night instead. There was one picture we wanted during daylight (we didn’t have a good one from last year), so we snapped that picture on our way to breakfast:
Of course, I realized before we got to Animation Hall that I had left my instant coffee packets in the room, so I had to go back (say what you will about instant coffee, and even I only drink it sometimes and only drink certain brands, but I wanted iced coffee and wasn’t going to pour hot coffee over ice and call that iced coffee because it’s not the same). And then I broke my sunglasses (they fell off my head when Beth called to ask me to get something else from the room), which would have been a huge problem (I’m sure they sell sunglasses somewhere at Disney, but I’m super picky about my sunglasses), but I managed to fix them. Breakfast was coffee and cereal – I believe Raisin Bran Crunch for me, and Special K for Beth (with freeze dried berries).
When we were done with breakfast, we headed over to the buses. There was a bit of a line for the Hollywood Studios bus, so we didn’t get on the first bus. There was a CM there coordinating (or something) who said that the next bus would be there in 6 minutes.
About a minute later … our response to the guy was “that was the shortest 6 minutes ever.” He was entertained (and explained that it was because of estimates of how long it would take based on where the bus drivers said they were) and we started talking as we were boarding the bus. Turns out, he’s from the same area of NY as we are – he knows our neighborhood well. Small world.
Anyway … on to Hollywood Studios.
Last year we saw a pretty cool Monsters University topiary outside Hollywood Studios. This year it was something different, but equally cool:
And of course, a picture of us with the topiary:
We got through the gate with no problems, and went for a picture that was part of one of our resolutions for the trip.
Because the hat is coming down soon, we wanted to get as many pictures with it as possible. So this was picture #1. We didn’t get as many as I wanted, but there will be a few more over the course of the day.
We still had some time until our first FP+ of the day, so we decided to see what characters were out. Donald and Daisy were both out, but we knew we probably only had time for one. So who did we choose?
We had seen Donald at Epcot, so we decided to go with Daisy.
And, of course, pictures of her signing our bags:
And then it was time for our first FP+. But we had a few stops to make before we got there. First, a picture by something that wasn’t the Sorcerer’s Hat:
And then, as was my pattern, I needed a pit stop. The closest bathrooms were by Magic of Disney Animation. On the way we saw a store with some cool stuff. And we needed to stop to take a picture of Pascal and Beth:
Our first attraction of the day was something we initially discovered in California in 2009 … it was brand new then and looked interesting, so we tried it out … and we were hooked. So hooked that I bought a game for Xbox (the Xbox, by the way, is not even mine – it’s my brother’s, but I can usually get access to it).
Confused?
This is what we went on next:
BEST RIDE/GAME EVER!! I only wish we could have gone on more than once … but we didn’t have the time for a 70 minute wait (we would have done it if we had the time… I can handle waiting for something I like if I have to).
Some inside pictures:
We got on with not too much of a wait and it was awesome. Except my arm hurt. I had the same problem with Buzz. I don’t know what’s up with me.
Final Score:
I know what you all must be thinking – how is it possible for someone to get less than 100,000 points? I don’t know either, but apparently I did it. I get the impression that I stink at this game. I think I have to go back and practice more.
End of Ride Selfie (no idea what I did with my glasses, I’m probably holding them):
Next up were the stars of Toy Story. One of the things I love about Woody’s Picture Shootin’ Corral is that there are so many fun picture taking opportunities.
Instructions:
Buzz Lightyear:
The Claw …:
And finally, at the end, we met Woody and Buzz:
By this point, it was about time for our second FP+ … Voyage of the Little Mermaid. But that’s pretty far away – did we really want to walk that far? Find out … coming soon (or eventually).
Coming Next: It’s Not Real Snow!
stacy~**
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2006
Sooo happy to hear that your BOG dining experience was magical! I am hoping to get an ADR for our trip in June and your review just made me that much more excited.
We've rarely walked through the castle too. It is kind of weird if I think about it. I do love the mosaics....I need to make time to see those (and getting some pictures) a priority.
Yay for getting your run in.
Looks like you had a good one.
My arm is always sore after Toy Story so its not just you.
We've rarely walked through the castle too. It is kind of weird if I think about it. I do love the mosaics....I need to make time to see those (and getting some pictures) a priority.
Yay for getting your run in.
Looks like you had a good one.My arm is always sore after Toy Story so its not just you.
SarahDisney
So ... Yeah
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
Sooo happy to hear that your BOG dining experience was magical! I am hoping to get an ADR for our trip in June and your review just made me that much more excited.
I really hope you can get an ADR! It really is amazing (although I might be a bit biased, because I love Beauty and the Beast).
We've rarely walked through the castle too. It is kind of weird if I think about it. I do love the mosaics....I need to make time to see those (and getting some pictures) a priority.
I might be wrong, but I think that during the day you sometimes can't walk through the castle, so we've never gotten to do it before ... but I really love those mosaics!
Yay for getting your run in.
I really enjoyed it and was glad I was able to get it in!
My arm is always sore after Toy Story so its not just you.
Glad to know it's not just me! I don't remember it happening last year, but I tend to not remember things like that. I still love it, even if it makes my arm hurt.
KatMark
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2007
Fun update, Sarah.
Good for you running on vacation (I don't even run in real life...I'm afraid I'd pass out after the first block).
Great pictures of you and your sister in front of the topiary and the hat. It's funny how they change how the characters appear. In 2013, we got Daisy and Donald together at that same spot in the Studios.
What a cute Pascal.
We love Toy Story Mania too. If it weren't for that and TOT, we wouldn't even both with the Studios. And trust me, you are NOT the only one with a sore arm after. My arm kills me each and every time when I get off.
Good for you running on vacation (I don't even run in real life...I'm afraid I'd pass out after the first block).
Great pictures of you and your sister in front of the topiary and the hat. It's funny how they change how the characters appear. In 2013, we got Daisy and Donald together at that same spot in the Studios.
What a cute Pascal.
We love Toy Story Mania too. If it weren't for that and TOT, we wouldn't even both with the Studios. And trust me, you are NOT the only one with a sore arm after. My arm kills me each and every time when I get off.
SarahDisney
So ... Yeah
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
I'm so glad to know it's not just me!Fun update, Sarah.
Thanks!
Good for you running on vacation (I don't even run in real life...I'm afraid I'd pass out after the first block).
Despite what some people say, I firmly believe that running is not for everyone.
It's good for me, though, because as a kid I was always active, and I stopped being very active when I started having knee problems about 15 years ago, so running is what's gotten me to be active again. Not always so easy on my knees, though.
Great pictures of you and your sister in front of the topiary and the hat. It's funny how they change how the characters appear. In 2013, we got Daisy and Donald together at that same spot in the Studios.
Thanks! I don't remember if we saw Daisy and Donald there last year (we definitely didn't stop for a picture, because we were pressed for time). I remember there being Winnie the Pooh characters there in 2011. I wish we could have seen Donald and Daisy together (we haven't seen them together in a long time), but I'm okay with just one if it makes the line shorter (I'm guessing that's why they do it - divides the line in half).
What a cute Pascal.
We love Toy Story Mania too. If it weren't for that and TOT, we wouldn't even both with the Studios. And trust me, you are NOT the only one with a sore arm after. My arm kills me each and every time when I get off.
Toy Story Mania really is one of my favorite things at the park ... I would do it over and over again if the line wasn't always so long! TOT on the other hand ... you'd have to sedate me pretty heavily to get me on that. I actually would probably go to HS for just Toy Story & characters (we like seeing Woody and Buzz together, Lightning and Mater, and Mr. Incredible and Frozone, all of who are only at HS). Although I do also like a few other things there ... nothing else is an essential for me.
Animal Kingdom I could skip (and actually will if I manage to end up going on February, which is unlikely but still a slight possibility).
SarahDisney
So ... Yeah
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
Day 3: Wednesday, November 5th
Part 2: We Don’t Need a Bucket!
When you last saw us, it was time for our FP+ for Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We weren’t sure if we wanted to use the FP+ or not … so we decided to go with our higher priority …
CHARACTERS!
VOTLM wasn’t so important to us (although I do want to see it again eventually) – we decided that characters were more important, so we stayed where we were and saw more characters.
Last year we missed Mike & Sulley because the timing was just never right (their line was too long, or we didn’t have time, and when we did have time they were gone). So this year we made sure to see them. As was often the case with us, shortly after we got there, they left for a break (which led me to start a discussion with my sister as to whether she thought weather affected length of shifts for characters … I think about strange things).
Their M&G area was super cute, so we took some pictures:
And finally, they came back and we got to meet them!
They were fine, but nothing special.
Since we were right there, next up was something I was super excited for …
And, of course, Sauna:
First we wandered around the trading post and saw all the awesome Frozen stuff. And my sister made me try on a hat (my apologies to the hat picture expert out there … you know who you are)
I kinda like the Olaf hat … but it was too heavy, so I couldn’t get it. And I couldn’t really close it well.
Anyway … next we went to the Frozen Snowground.
First, some pictures:
After some deliberation (aka trying to decide if we were too old), we decided to answer the age old question if “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” in the affirmative.
As we were waiting for them to finish cleaning up the snow, we were chatting with a CM, and we asked what the snow was made of – we’re NYers, we know snow, and we weren’t buying what Disney was selling. He insisted that it was real snow – made of frozen water.
End of story – My sister accepted that it was snow, I think it was more ice.
Anyway, they were ready to start letting people into the snow. They said that there were buckets and tools on the side, but I said we didn’t need any – we’re New Yorkers, we can build a snowman.
Here’s our snowman:
I know, that’s the most pathetic snowman ever. IT WAS COLD! Normally I wear gloves when I handle snow (also, I don’t normally build snowmen so much as just shovel). Beth says we should have taken a bucket. Maybe that would have helped … but also, gloves.
So anyway, after about 2 minutes of snowman building, we were done. I love us, we’re so awesome.
One last picture before we left the snowground:
After exiting the snowground, we saw some of the props that used to be part of the Studio Backlot Tour. I had to snap a quick picture of the Heart of Gold escape pod:
We still had a little bit of time before our next FP+, but it was not too far away, so we wandered around a bit. We went into Streets of America and looked at the (not lit up) lights.
Like any Jews would, we took pictures of the Chanukah-related lights:
Side note: I really wish we could have seen the lights. They started the day we left. I like nice light displays (my dad drove me past the very decorated house in my neighborhood a few days ago), and I like that one of the songs they use is TSO’s “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”, which is one of the few Christmas songs I know well and like. I did watch a video online, which did not amaze me the way I thought it would, but I imagine it’s probably better in person, and I did want to see it.
Anyway … back to the day. We kept exploring, and saw lots of fun Muppets stuff (because who doesn’t love the Muppets):
Beth tried on a Kermit hat:
Finally, it was time for our FP+ … we went, we scanned our bands, and went right into the theater for
Really, no need for a FP+ for this one. We got to skip the pre-show (fine by me, I don’t particularly like it), but I assume that would have happened even without the FP+ since we got there right before the show started.
I love me some Muppet*Vision 3D (so super cute), so I enjoyed. Although the theme of the trip seemed to be “3D glasses hurt Sarah’s eyes.” I had a little trouble with convergence (every so often the images were just two images and not one united 3D image), but mostly it was just the pain. But I enjoyed anyway.
We got out so early that it wasn’t yet time for our ADR. We had a little time to kill, but we knew exactly how to kill it.
Coming Next … Cast Members Really Can’t Tell You Much
Part 2: We Don’t Need a Bucket!
When you last saw us, it was time for our FP+ for Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We weren’t sure if we wanted to use the FP+ or not … so we decided to go with our higher priority …
CHARACTERS!
VOTLM wasn’t so important to us (although I do want to see it again eventually) – we decided that characters were more important, so we stayed where we were and saw more characters.
Last year we missed Mike & Sulley because the timing was just never right (their line was too long, or we didn’t have time, and when we did have time they were gone). So this year we made sure to see them. As was often the case with us, shortly after we got there, they left for a break (which led me to start a discussion with my sister as to whether she thought weather affected length of shifts for characters … I think about strange things).
Their M&G area was super cute, so we took some pictures:
And finally, they came back and we got to meet them!
They were fine, but nothing special.
Since we were right there, next up was something I was super excited for …
And, of course, Sauna:
First we wandered around the trading post and saw all the awesome Frozen stuff. And my sister made me try on a hat (my apologies to the hat picture expert out there … you know who you are)
I kinda like the Olaf hat … but it was too heavy, so I couldn’t get it. And I couldn’t really close it well.
Anyway … next we went to the Frozen Snowground.
First, some pictures:
After some deliberation (aka trying to decide if we were too old), we decided to answer the age old question if “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” in the affirmative.
As we were waiting for them to finish cleaning up the snow, we were chatting with a CM, and we asked what the snow was made of – we’re NYers, we know snow, and we weren’t buying what Disney was selling. He insisted that it was real snow – made of frozen water.
End of story – My sister accepted that it was snow, I think it was more ice.
Anyway, they were ready to start letting people into the snow. They said that there were buckets and tools on the side, but I said we didn’t need any – we’re New Yorkers, we can build a snowman.
Here’s our snowman:
I know, that’s the most pathetic snowman ever. IT WAS COLD! Normally I wear gloves when I handle snow (also, I don’t normally build snowmen so much as just shovel). Beth says we should have taken a bucket. Maybe that would have helped … but also, gloves.
So anyway, after about 2 minutes of snowman building, we were done. I love us, we’re so awesome.
One last picture before we left the snowground:
After exiting the snowground, we saw some of the props that used to be part of the Studio Backlot Tour. I had to snap a quick picture of the Heart of Gold escape pod:
We still had a little bit of time before our next FP+, but it was not too far away, so we wandered around a bit. We went into Streets of America and looked at the (not lit up) lights.
Like any Jews would, we took pictures of the Chanukah-related lights:
Side note: I really wish we could have seen the lights. They started the day we left. I like nice light displays (my dad drove me past the very decorated house in my neighborhood a few days ago), and I like that one of the songs they use is TSO’s “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”, which is one of the few Christmas songs I know well and like. I did watch a video online, which did not amaze me the way I thought it would, but I imagine it’s probably better in person, and I did want to see it.
Anyway … back to the day. We kept exploring, and saw lots of fun Muppets stuff (because who doesn’t love the Muppets):
Beth tried on a Kermit hat:
Finally, it was time for our FP+ … we went, we scanned our bands, and went right into the theater for
Really, no need for a FP+ for this one. We got to skip the pre-show (fine by me, I don’t particularly like it), but I assume that would have happened even without the FP+ since we got there right before the show started.
I love me some Muppet*Vision 3D (so super cute), so I enjoyed. Although the theme of the trip seemed to be “3D glasses hurt Sarah’s eyes.” I had a little trouble with convergence (every so often the images were just two images and not one united 3D image), but mostly it was just the pain. But I enjoyed anyway.
We got out so early that it wasn’t yet time for our ADR. We had a little time to kill, but we knew exactly how to kill it.
Coming Next … Cast Members Really Can’t Tell You Much
SarahDisney
So ... Yeah
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
Day 3: Wednesday, November 5th
Part 3: Bag? Hat? Halloween?
When you last saw us, we had just finished Muppet*Vision 3D. We had a little bit of time until our ADR, but we knew how to fill that time.
First up was the nearest FP+ kiosk. This was the one day that we had specifically planned our FP+ with the intention of getting a 4th one. We were hoping for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Alas, no luck, but we did get a Great Movie Ride for that afternoon.
Next up were two characters with pretty much no line … and they didn’t even leave right when we got there!
We saw something cool that we wanted a picture of:
It was almost time for lunch, but still first we saw a PhotoPass photographer near the Muppets fountain, so we got our picture taken (and he made sure to get one where you could see Miss Piggy’s face):
This picture was supposed to be Stich, but the guy gave us Olaf instead (yay!) … and it was taken a month and a half before Chanukah (there’s a story to this border, and it’s actually on day 4 … so if I forget to tell it at the end of day 4, someone ask about it).
Finally it was time to check it for our ADR at
We were doing the Fantasmic! Dining Package, and I was a little nervous because when I made the Kosher order, I skipped appetizers (which are normally included in the package).
As great as our experience at BOG was, this was the exact opposite. Don’t get me wrong, the place was adorable, but our server had no idea what was flying. She didn’t know that we had pre-ordered (even though it was ON THE TICKET). She brought us a bread basket that we couldn’t eat, did not at all understand the concept of the kosher food … it was pretty uncomfortable for us. So while I thought the place was good and I would recommend the environment for the general population looking for a cute place to eat at HS (I really did like the décor a lot, even though I didn’t take any pictures) … I, personally, wouldn’t go back, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else looking to make a kosher reservation. (As always, I can’t comment on the regular menu, but our food was decent but nothing special).
Anyway … while we were eating lunch, we worked on determining our next move (I wouldn’t have done it at BOG, but this seemed like a more casual place, so I was fine being on the phone the while we were waiting for our food). While we originally had planned to skip the Frozen Sing Along (we figured it would be too little-kid centered), someone recommended that I try it (because I love me some Frozen), so we looked at the times guide and saw that there was a 2:45 showing. We decided that if we finished lunch in time, we would try to get into that show. At some point in time we moved our Great Movie Ride FP+ - but I don’t remember if that was during lunch or later.
Best part of lunch: I got double points on my credit card! I wasn’t sure if I would because I wasn’t sure if it would come up as a restaurant or a travel destination (with this card I only get double points on dining … I used to have a card that got double points on both), but it came up as a restaurant. Score!
So, we finished lunch, and as we got to the area of the Frozen Sing-Along, we saw that they were starting to let FP+ people in. We went to the standby line and asked a cast member if we could still get in for the next showing or if there were already too many people waiting. She said we could wait in line, but how many people got in depends on how many people come back for the FP+. I tried asking it differently – “Do people who come at this time usually get in?” Still no answer.
Seriously, at least when I wait in line for Shakespeare in Central Park they tell you whether you have a good chance of getting in, borderline odds, or no chance (then again, I also show up in Central Park at 7 AM for a 12 PM ticket distribution, so I guess that’s a little different). But seriously, the CM could not give us any information. So we decided to wait in line, and if we didn’t get in for this show, we’d get out of the line and move on to our next step.
A few minutes later, we were sitting down, looking at this:
We were off to the side, not in the center section, but that was okay with me – I’d rather wait a shorter time and be on the side than wait forever and be in the middle.
We LOVED it! It was hysterical and super cute. I’d do it again … assuming we didn’t have to wait too long. The historians stole the show … and the characters were okay too (especially Kristoff … I love Kristoff … especially in last week’s episode of Once Upon a Time, which I have watched several times now).
Some pictures from the show:
As we left, they gave us souvenirs: (they both have Olaf and Anna/Elsa – it’s two different sides of the same thing).
I like that Beth put them on the snowflake garbage can to take the picture. I think they’re supposed to be some sort of Christmas ornament, but I really couldn’t tell you.
Next on our agenda was … MORE CHARACTERS! We love us some characters. So we headed over to Magic of Disney Animation to see some awesome friends.
First up was Beth’s matching character: (my flash was off (it seemed to be a theme this trip), so no image stabilization)
While waiting on line for Sorcerer Mickey, we got involved in a conversation with two families, including one from New Jersey. It was at this point that we realized that Jersey Week really is a thing, and New Jersey really was all up in this place. Seriously.
Anyway … next on the list was a long wait for some great characters (who, as was the trend all trip, left right when we got there):
This is a bit of a story. Let’s see if I can tell it in approximately the right order, and do it something close to justice.
We got to the front of the line and Beth went to meet them as I gave her phone (which would be our camera for this M&G, since she wanted to send this picture to her co-workers) to the CM:
Then I went up to meet them too.
Frozone signing my bag:
Mr. Incredible signing Beth’s bag:
Switching bags:
(I really should not be posting pictures of me from the back in that dress …)
While Mr. Incredible was signing my bag, we had a little (one-sided) chat … and I mentioned that I would have worn a cape, but I know that’s a bad idea. Because, as we all know … NO CAPES! (If you don’t know why … ask Edna).
Meanwhile, Frozone was giving my sister a different costume: (Beth put the sorcerer hat on his head on the PhotoPass site … Frozone put the bag on Beth’s head)
Seriously, Frozone seemed to think it was a hat, not a bag. So hysterical.
While this was happening, on the other side of the M&G area, Mr. Incredible used my bag to go trick-or-treating. And a girl at the front of the line gave him her pen (she put it in the bag). It was hysterical! Awesome awesome awesome interaction. And, at the end, we stopped being silly and posed for some pictures:
Superhero Pose:
And then it was time to say goodbye:
We waited a long time for them, and I was quite the crabby, but it was worth it!
Coming Next … In which we finally go on a ride … for the first time in 4 HS visits!
Part 3: Bag? Hat? Halloween?
When you last saw us, we had just finished Muppet*Vision 3D. We had a little bit of time until our ADR, but we knew how to fill that time.
First up was the nearest FP+ kiosk. This was the one day that we had specifically planned our FP+ with the intention of getting a 4th one. We were hoping for Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Alas, no luck, but we did get a Great Movie Ride for that afternoon.
Next up were two characters with pretty much no line … and they didn’t even leave right when we got there!
We saw something cool that we wanted a picture of:
It was almost time for lunch, but still first we saw a PhotoPass photographer near the Muppets fountain, so we got our picture taken (and he made sure to get one where you could see Miss Piggy’s face):
This picture was supposed to be Stich, but the guy gave us Olaf instead (yay!) … and it was taken a month and a half before Chanukah (there’s a story to this border, and it’s actually on day 4 … so if I forget to tell it at the end of day 4, someone ask about it).
Finally it was time to check it for our ADR at
We were doing the Fantasmic! Dining Package, and I was a little nervous because when I made the Kosher order, I skipped appetizers (which are normally included in the package).
As great as our experience at BOG was, this was the exact opposite. Don’t get me wrong, the place was adorable, but our server had no idea what was flying. She didn’t know that we had pre-ordered (even though it was ON THE TICKET). She brought us a bread basket that we couldn’t eat, did not at all understand the concept of the kosher food … it was pretty uncomfortable for us. So while I thought the place was good and I would recommend the environment for the general population looking for a cute place to eat at HS (I really did like the décor a lot, even though I didn’t take any pictures) … I, personally, wouldn’t go back, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else looking to make a kosher reservation. (As always, I can’t comment on the regular menu, but our food was decent but nothing special).
Anyway … while we were eating lunch, we worked on determining our next move (I wouldn’t have done it at BOG, but this seemed like a more casual place, so I was fine being on the phone the while we were waiting for our food). While we originally had planned to skip the Frozen Sing Along (we figured it would be too little-kid centered), someone recommended that I try it (because I love me some Frozen), so we looked at the times guide and saw that there was a 2:45 showing. We decided that if we finished lunch in time, we would try to get into that show. At some point in time we moved our Great Movie Ride FP+ - but I don’t remember if that was during lunch or later.
Best part of lunch: I got double points on my credit card! I wasn’t sure if I would because I wasn’t sure if it would come up as a restaurant or a travel destination (with this card I only get double points on dining … I used to have a card that got double points on both), but it came up as a restaurant. Score!
So, we finished lunch, and as we got to the area of the Frozen Sing-Along, we saw that they were starting to let FP+ people in. We went to the standby line and asked a cast member if we could still get in for the next showing or if there were already too many people waiting. She said we could wait in line, but how many people got in depends on how many people come back for the FP+. I tried asking it differently – “Do people who come at this time usually get in?” Still no answer.
Seriously, at least when I wait in line for Shakespeare in Central Park they tell you whether you have a good chance of getting in, borderline odds, or no chance (then again, I also show up in Central Park at 7 AM for a 12 PM ticket distribution, so I guess that’s a little different). But seriously, the CM could not give us any information. So we decided to wait in line, and if we didn’t get in for this show, we’d get out of the line and move on to our next step.
A few minutes later, we were sitting down, looking at this:
We were off to the side, not in the center section, but that was okay with me – I’d rather wait a shorter time and be on the side than wait forever and be in the middle.
We LOVED it! It was hysterical and super cute. I’d do it again … assuming we didn’t have to wait too long. The historians stole the show … and the characters were okay too (especially Kristoff … I love Kristoff … especially in last week’s episode of Once Upon a Time, which I have watched several times now).
Some pictures from the show:
As we left, they gave us souvenirs: (they both have Olaf and Anna/Elsa – it’s two different sides of the same thing).
I like that Beth put them on the snowflake garbage can to take the picture. I think they’re supposed to be some sort of Christmas ornament, but I really couldn’t tell you.
Next on our agenda was … MORE CHARACTERS! We love us some characters. So we headed over to Magic of Disney Animation to see some awesome friends.
First up was Beth’s matching character: (my flash was off (it seemed to be a theme this trip), so no image stabilization)
While waiting on line for Sorcerer Mickey, we got involved in a conversation with two families, including one from New Jersey. It was at this point that we realized that Jersey Week really is a thing, and New Jersey really was all up in this place. Seriously.
Anyway … next on the list was a long wait for some great characters (who, as was the trend all trip, left right when we got there):
This is a bit of a story. Let’s see if I can tell it in approximately the right order, and do it something close to justice.
We got to the front of the line and Beth went to meet them as I gave her phone (which would be our camera for this M&G, since she wanted to send this picture to her co-workers) to the CM:
Then I went up to meet them too.
Frozone signing my bag:
Mr. Incredible signing Beth’s bag:
Switching bags:
(I really should not be posting pictures of me from the back in that dress …)
While Mr. Incredible was signing my bag, we had a little (one-sided) chat … and I mentioned that I would have worn a cape, but I know that’s a bad idea. Because, as we all know … NO CAPES! (If you don’t know why … ask Edna).
Meanwhile, Frozone was giving my sister a different costume: (Beth put the sorcerer hat on his head on the PhotoPass site … Frozone put the bag on Beth’s head)
Seriously, Frozone seemed to think it was a hat, not a bag. So hysterical.
While this was happening, on the other side of the M&G area, Mr. Incredible used my bag to go trick-or-treating. And a girl at the front of the line gave him her pen (she put it in the bag). It was hysterical! Awesome awesome awesome interaction. And, at the end, we stopped being silly and posed for some pictures:
Superhero Pose:
And then it was time to say goodbye:
We waited a long time for them, and I was quite the crabby, but it was worth it!
Coming Next … In which we finally go on a ride … for the first time in 4 HS visits!
KatMark
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2007
Sarah, sorry I got a bit behind again.
First, I am sorry I missed your post about not being able to find a job. I hope something turns up soon for you. I know how disappointing it can be with Mark having lost his this past June after 29 years.
Sully and Mike...we had pictures with them a couple of years ago. As you said, nothing special (although for Sully it's probably very hard with all that fur).
I love your Olaf hat picture. You did great.
I love the Muppets too...it's a cute show (but I feel it needs an update of some sort).
That is too bad about Mama Melrose. We've always enjoyed our meals there, but the CM's can be a bit clueless in that restaurant for some reason.
I am so glad you enjoyed the Frozen Sing-Along. I agree with you that the Historians definitely stole that show! They were great.
First, I am sorry I missed your post about not being able to find a job. I hope something turns up soon for you. I know how disappointing it can be with Mark having lost his this past June after 29 years.
Sully and Mike...we had pictures with them a couple of years ago. As you said, nothing special (although for Sully it's probably very hard with all that fur).
I love your Olaf hat picture. You did great.
I love the Muppets too...it's a cute show (but I feel it needs an update of some sort).
That is too bad about Mama Melrose. We've always enjoyed our meals there, but the CM's can be a bit clueless in that restaurant for some reason.
I am so glad you enjoyed the Frozen Sing-Along. I agree with you that the Historians definitely stole that show! They were great.
SarahDisney
So ... Yeah
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
Sarah, sorry I got a bit behind again.
No worries. I appreciate you taking the time to catch up.
First, I am sorry I missed your post about not being able to find a job. I hope something turns up soon for you. I know how disappointing it can be with Mark having lost his this past June after 29 years.
Thanks. When I read about Mark on your TR I totally understood ... I'm glad that he's working again, and I hope that I can follow in his footsteps and start working again soon. It's hard for me to stay optimistic (hence my occasional whining on the internet), but I'm trying.
Sully and Mike...we had pictures with them a couple of years ago. As you said, nothing special (although for Sully it's probably very hard with all that fur).
I think part of it is definitely the nature of the character suits ... Sulley has all that fur and I don't think Mike's arms move much. We still like to get the picture, even if it's not a great interaction.
I love your Olaf hat picture. You did great.
Thanks! I really liked the Olaf hat ... I love Olaf.
I love the Muppets too...it's a cute show (but I feel it needs an update of some sort).
Agreed about the update - I love it, but it gets a little dull seeing the same thing so many times. I'd love for them to update it!
That is too bad about Mama Melrose. We've always enjoyed our meals there, but the CM's can be a bit clueless in that restaurant for some reason.
I think it would have been much better if we were just ordering off the menu. I really liked the decor and the place in general, our only problem was really our server. Oh well, not every experience can be great, and I understand that it's hard for servers to understand the weird nature of the kosher meals.
I am so glad you enjoyed the Frozen Sing-Along. I agree with you that the Historians definitely stole that show! They were great.
I loved them! I also loved the singing, but those historians really were hysterical. I'm trying to convince my parents to do it when they go in January (like I originally was, they're a little scared off by the "sing-a-long") - I think my Dad will love the historians (and not just because he's a history teacher)
SarahDisney
So ... Yeah
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
Day 3: Wednesday, November 5th
Part 4: Whose Phone Should We Believe?
Once we finished seeing characters, next on our agenda was an attraction that I had wanted to experience, but on previous trips we just kept not having time for it (which made Beth perfectly happy)…
We didn’t have an overabundance of time, but we knew that if the wait was less than an hour, we could do it (we were willing to miss our GMR FP+ if necessary). We both happened to have our phones out, so we both checked the wait time on the official My Disney Experience app.
Mini-interlude: Beth has an iPhone 4 (still running iOS7, I believe) and I have a Motorola Droid Ultra (running KitKat, but apparently I am getting a Lollipop upgrade eventually…).
Beth’s app said 80 minutes. Mine said 20 minutes. That was a bit of a discrepancy. I exclaimed grumpily that Beth’s must be right because of Disney’s relationship with Apple. We figured the only way to know for sure was to actually go and see … and lo and behold, Android won this round!
Getting to the actual ride…
Really, it wasn’t even a 20-minute wait. It was basically a walk on, with a 5-10 minute wait between the pre-show and actually getting on. We took that time to befriend two very sweet 7-year old girls who were standing in front of us in line with their dad.
Official On-Ride Picture:
What I imagine everyone was thinking:
Beth: I hate this please let it be over soon!
Me: This is awesome but I feel like I’m about to fall out (a common problem I have at Disney … but this one at least makes sense because it’s a shoulder thing … but that’s a rant for a different day)
Guy behind Beth: *Zen trance meditation* (someone on FB loved that guy when Beth posted the picture)
Guy behind Me: This is no Harry Potter. (okay, that’s just what I’m imagining him saying because of his shirt)
It was our first time, and I was very happy we did it – I loved it! Beth didn’t like it, but we were expecting that.
Once we got off, I put the rest of my outfit back on (I took off my necklace and headband for the ride), and we took pictures. As we were exiting the area, wanting to take a picture under the car, we saw a PhotoPass photographer … so we had him take the picture.
Next up it was time for our 4th FP+ … Great Movie Ride.
But first we stopped for another Sorcerer’s Hat picture:
Then it was time for …
Before we went in, Beth took some pictures of signatures & footprints (I wasn’t necessarily impressed, as I’ve been to the actual Grauman’s Chinese Theater … but then again, so has Beth):
Then it was time to go on. With our FP+, we had no wait (which was awesome, because last year the wait for GMR put me in a terrible mood because there was a kid climbing all over the place). Oh, and a CM said she liked my necklace … first comment I’d gotten all trip on any of my homemade jewelry.
As we were sitting on the ride, I was not enjoying myself, and I mentioned that I hadn’t wanted to do it and only did it because Beth did.
Beth’s response: “I thought you wanted to do it!”
My response: “I thought you wanted to do it!”
Turns out, neither one of us wanted to do it, and we each agreed to it because we thought the other one liked it. So we’re not going to be doing that again (unless we hear that the TCM refurb makes it significantly different, in which case we’ll have to try it again).
But I maintain that I called it a 20-minute nap several times, so Beth should have known that I had no interest (I couldn’t actually nap … I’m not allowed to nap with my contact lenses in).
Anyway …
One last hat picture (this one was very dark, but we like that it was all lit up) and then we were off to
Sorry, the billboard did not come out so well.
Last year, during Fantasmic!, I was so busy taking pictures that I barely got to enjoy the show (and I pissed off the woman in front of me with my flash). This year we took no pictures at Fantasmic! so that we could just watch the show and not be seeing it through the lens of a camera (or cell phone screen, as the case may be).
But we did have really good seats – 10th row or so, middle section. Awesome view of everything, and no getting wet. But I think there were fewer characters than last year – there was only one boat of characters at the end, and I think last year I remember two boats, one coming from each side. Am I crazy?
They were forcing people out of the park (that night was the cast member preview of the Osborne Lights, so they needed us non-CMs out of the park), but we managed to sneak back for one final picture:
The exit:
And so the Hollywood Studios portion of the day was done. But we weren’t fully done for the day just yet. We went back to the hotel, switched to smaller bags, and headed off to…
We went in and out of some stores … but we were cranky and hungry (okay, fine, I was cranky and hungry), so we went a little out of order and went to Ghirardelli for dinner.
I forgot to take a picture at the beginning, but here’s our half-finished dinner:
That’s the The Ocean Beach Sea Salt Caramel Sundae (vanilla ice cream, caramel, hot fudge, and sea salt). It was good, we just didn’t finish it (we never do). I liked the sea salt flavor a lot.
Once we were fed, we went back to the shopping. We stopped in at Marketplace Co-Op, where they had some amazing stuff … seriously, amazing stuff. I loved that place.
The Mary Poppins fan had to take a picture of one of the signs:
At one point in time, in one of the stores (I want to say it was Marketplace Fun Finds), I decided to try on some Minnie Ears Headbands to see if I wanted to buy one for day 4 (to go with my Minnie Mouse shirt).
Sparkly ears:
(Did I mention that I changed into my glasses when we went back to the room? This is really the only time you will see me wearing my glasses … I don’t wear them much outside the house)
Regular ears:
I liked the second pair better, but didn’t end up getting them.
Beth took a picture of something for her boss (who we had discovered is terrified of IASW):
Finally it was time for the main highlight of DTD…
Yay! I love that place. Although we were a little cranky and didn’t really enjoy it as much as we normally do.
Beth’s boss had wanted her to take a picture with someone eating a turkey leg. We did that at MK (it was pretty awkward, except that the guy’s kid loved it), but also took this picture:
We made a few purchases, but neither one of us was really into it so we didn’t have as much fun at World of Disney as we normally do. Sad!
Here’s what I bought:
I think it has a bit of an IASW feel ... I think it's pretty awesome.
For my mom (it’s a tray):
My mom actually used it the day we gave it to her! Yay – that means we picked something good!
By minor way of explanation: One of our Disney trips was shortly after I broke a trivet in the kitchen, so when we saw Mickey Mouse trivets, I had to buy one. Since then it’s been a tradition to buy something for the kitchen.
Beth got a pin for herself, and I don’t remember what else (probably some gifts for work people). I do know that she didn’t get all the gifts she needed, so we needed to do more shopping. We took a bus back to Pop Century (it came first) and looked in the gift shop there, but got nothing. We got back to the room and were more than ready for bed … especially because we had to be up early the next morning.
Summary of Downtown Disney: We were cranky. Not the best of trips in a place we normally enjoy. Oh well.
Bedtime: Approx. 12:15 AM (Both)
Day’s Totals (according to Sarah’s Fitbit): - For Sarah only (Beth got about 7,500 fewer steps and about 4 fewer miles)
Steps – 29,684
Flights of Stairs – 4
Miles – 13.02
My goal for the day was 30,000 steps. I was just short! I didn’t realize it until after midnight or I would have gotten in those steps somehow. I’m still pretty annoyed.
End of Day Recap – Our Favorites:
Favorite Part of the Day:
Beth – Winning TSMM, we built a snowman, Frozen Sing-a-Long
Sarah – Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, building a snowman
Favorite Character Meet:
Beth – The Incredibles
Sarah – The Incredibles
Coming Next ... That's a Long Line
Part 4: Whose Phone Should We Believe?
Once we finished seeing characters, next on our agenda was an attraction that I had wanted to experience, but on previous trips we just kept not having time for it (which made Beth perfectly happy)…
We didn’t have an overabundance of time, but we knew that if the wait was less than an hour, we could do it (we were willing to miss our GMR FP+ if necessary). We both happened to have our phones out, so we both checked the wait time on the official My Disney Experience app.
Mini-interlude: Beth has an iPhone 4 (still running iOS7, I believe) and I have a Motorola Droid Ultra (running KitKat, but apparently I am getting a Lollipop upgrade eventually…).
Beth’s app said 80 minutes. Mine said 20 minutes. That was a bit of a discrepancy. I exclaimed grumpily that Beth’s must be right because of Disney’s relationship with Apple. We figured the only way to know for sure was to actually go and see … and lo and behold, Android won this round!
Getting to the actual ride…
Really, it wasn’t even a 20-minute wait. It was basically a walk on, with a 5-10 minute wait between the pre-show and actually getting on. We took that time to befriend two very sweet 7-year old girls who were standing in front of us in line with their dad.
Official On-Ride Picture:
What I imagine everyone was thinking:
Beth: I hate this please let it be over soon!
Me: This is awesome but I feel like I’m about to fall out (a common problem I have at Disney … but this one at least makes sense because it’s a shoulder thing … but that’s a rant for a different day)
Guy behind Beth: *Zen trance meditation* (someone on FB loved that guy when Beth posted the picture)
Guy behind Me: This is no Harry Potter. (okay, that’s just what I’m imagining him saying because of his shirt)
It was our first time, and I was very happy we did it – I loved it! Beth didn’t like it, but we were expecting that.
Once we got off, I put the rest of my outfit back on (I took off my necklace and headband for the ride), and we took pictures. As we were exiting the area, wanting to take a picture under the car, we saw a PhotoPass photographer … so we had him take the picture.
Next up it was time for our 4th FP+ … Great Movie Ride.
But first we stopped for another Sorcerer’s Hat picture:
Then it was time for …
Before we went in, Beth took some pictures of signatures & footprints (I wasn’t necessarily impressed, as I’ve been to the actual Grauman’s Chinese Theater … but then again, so has Beth):
Then it was time to go on. With our FP+, we had no wait (which was awesome, because last year the wait for GMR put me in a terrible mood because there was a kid climbing all over the place). Oh, and a CM said she liked my necklace … first comment I’d gotten all trip on any of my homemade jewelry.
As we were sitting on the ride, I was not enjoying myself, and I mentioned that I hadn’t wanted to do it and only did it because Beth did.
Beth’s response: “I thought you wanted to do it!”
My response: “I thought you wanted to do it!”
Turns out, neither one of us wanted to do it, and we each agreed to it because we thought the other one liked it. So we’re not going to be doing that again (unless we hear that the TCM refurb makes it significantly different, in which case we’ll have to try it again).
But I maintain that I called it a 20-minute nap several times, so Beth should have known that I had no interest (I couldn’t actually nap … I’m not allowed to nap with my contact lenses in).
Anyway …
One last hat picture (this one was very dark, but we like that it was all lit up) and then we were off to
Sorry, the billboard did not come out so well.
Last year, during Fantasmic!, I was so busy taking pictures that I barely got to enjoy the show (and I pissed off the woman in front of me with my flash). This year we took no pictures at Fantasmic! so that we could just watch the show and not be seeing it through the lens of a camera (or cell phone screen, as the case may be).
But we did have really good seats – 10th row or so, middle section. Awesome view of everything, and no getting wet. But I think there were fewer characters than last year – there was only one boat of characters at the end, and I think last year I remember two boats, one coming from each side. Am I crazy?
They were forcing people out of the park (that night was the cast member preview of the Osborne Lights, so they needed us non-CMs out of the park), but we managed to sneak back for one final picture:
The exit:
And so the Hollywood Studios portion of the day was done. But we weren’t fully done for the day just yet. We went back to the hotel, switched to smaller bags, and headed off to…
We went in and out of some stores … but we were cranky and hungry (okay, fine, I was cranky and hungry), so we went a little out of order and went to Ghirardelli for dinner.
I forgot to take a picture at the beginning, but here’s our half-finished dinner:
That’s the The Ocean Beach Sea Salt Caramel Sundae (vanilla ice cream, caramel, hot fudge, and sea salt). It was good, we just didn’t finish it (we never do). I liked the sea salt flavor a lot.
Once we were fed, we went back to the shopping. We stopped in at Marketplace Co-Op, where they had some amazing stuff … seriously, amazing stuff. I loved that place.
The Mary Poppins fan had to take a picture of one of the signs:
At one point in time, in one of the stores (I want to say it was Marketplace Fun Finds), I decided to try on some Minnie Ears Headbands to see if I wanted to buy one for day 4 (to go with my Minnie Mouse shirt).
Sparkly ears:
(Did I mention that I changed into my glasses when we went back to the room? This is really the only time you will see me wearing my glasses … I don’t wear them much outside the house)
Regular ears:
I liked the second pair better, but didn’t end up getting them.
Beth took a picture of something for her boss (who we had discovered is terrified of IASW):
Finally it was time for the main highlight of DTD…
Yay! I love that place. Although we were a little cranky and didn’t really enjoy it as much as we normally do.
Beth’s boss had wanted her to take a picture with someone eating a turkey leg. We did that at MK (it was pretty awkward, except that the guy’s kid loved it), but also took this picture:
We made a few purchases, but neither one of us was really into it so we didn’t have as much fun at World of Disney as we normally do. Sad!
Here’s what I bought:
I think it has a bit of an IASW feel ... I think it's pretty awesome.
For my mom (it’s a tray):
My mom actually used it the day we gave it to her! Yay – that means we picked something good!
By minor way of explanation: One of our Disney trips was shortly after I broke a trivet in the kitchen, so when we saw Mickey Mouse trivets, I had to buy one. Since then it’s been a tradition to buy something for the kitchen.
Beth got a pin for herself, and I don’t remember what else (probably some gifts for work people). I do know that she didn’t get all the gifts she needed, so we needed to do more shopping. We took a bus back to Pop Century (it came first) and looked in the gift shop there, but got nothing. We got back to the room and were more than ready for bed … especially because we had to be up early the next morning.
Summary of Downtown Disney: We were cranky. Not the best of trips in a place we normally enjoy. Oh well.
Bedtime: Approx. 12:15 AM (Both)
Day’s Totals (according to Sarah’s Fitbit): - For Sarah only (Beth got about 7,500 fewer steps and about 4 fewer miles)
Steps – 29,684
Flights of Stairs – 4
Miles – 13.02
My goal for the day was 30,000 steps. I was just short! I didn’t realize it until after midnight or I would have gotten in those steps somehow. I’m still pretty annoyed.
End of Day Recap – Our Favorites:
Favorite Part of the Day:
Beth – Winning TSMM, we built a snowman, Frozen Sing-a-Long
Sarah – Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, building a snowman
Favorite Character Meet:
Beth – The Incredibles
Sarah – The Incredibles
Coming Next ... That's a Long Line
Elevationist
Princess No-Pants
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2004
I love your Anna DB!
Daisy! How cute is Daisy, omg!
You got some really good character meets, ones I've never done!
Mmm. Ghiradelli.
The perfect cure for when you get hangry! (Hungry + Angry.) 
Congrats on the running! I can't imagine working out on a Disney vacation. I'm DEAD when I get home just from exploring the parks! You got some fortitude, girly!
Everybody in your RnR picture looks asleep but you!
The Olaf hat! Totally pro!
If we're ever at WDW at the same time, you can totally take a photo of me nommin' down on a turkey leg, I won't even care.
Daisy! How cute is Daisy, omg!
You got some really good character meets, ones I've never done!
Mmm. Ghiradelli.
The perfect cure for when you get hangry! (Hungry + Angry.) Congrats on the running! I can't imagine working out on a Disney vacation. I'm DEAD when I get home just from exploring the parks! You got some fortitude, girly!
Everybody in your RnR picture looks asleep but you!
The Olaf hat! Totally pro!
If we're ever at WDW at the same time, you can totally take a photo of me nommin' down on a turkey leg, I won't even care.
SarahDisney
So ... Yeah
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
My sister's boss gave her that challenge ... I had no idea how we would do it. But the guy we asked, while a little confused, was very nice about it. Next time she gets that challenge we'll just have to make sure to be there at the same time as you and we can track you down for the picture!I love your Anna DB!
Thanks! I think that was my favorite outfit ... it was also the first DB idea I had.
Daisy! How cute is Daisy, omg!
I love Daisy! As a kid, one of my favorite shirts was my Daisy Duck shirt. In 2011 we printed a picture of her to give to family members.
You got some really good character meets, ones I've never done!
Thanks! Our goal was to see as many characters as we could ... there are some we wanted to see and missed (Peter Pan and Tiana are the first two that come to mind), but we really are impressed at how many characters we got to see!
Mmm. Ghiradelli.
Agreed. We always make sure to stop at Ghirardelli, no matter what the weather is (when the weather gets cold, we swap out hot chocolates for the ice cream - they have some great hot chocolates!). Once I get to Ghirardelli, my "diet" becomes a 4-letter word for me.
Congrats on the running! I can't imagine working out on a Disney vacation. I'm DEAD when I get home just from exploring the parks! You got some fortitude, girly!
I don't think I could have done it at the end of the day ... I'm generally dead by the end of the day. I'm also usually dead at the end of my run ... which is why I almost always have coffee afterwards. I love coffee
But it was something I wanted to do ... and now I can tell people that I've run at Disney (I'm hoping to eventually be able to tell people that I've run a race at Disney, but ... we'll see about that).
Everybody in your RnR picture looks asleep but you!
Good call
The Olaf hat! Totally pro!
Thanks, I tried!
If we're ever at WDW at the same time, you can totally take a photo of me nommin' down on a turkey leg, I won't even care.
SarahDisney
So ... Yeah
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2014
Day 4: Thursday, November 6th
Wake Up Time: 6:15 AM (Both)
Outfits:
Sarah – Minnie Mouse (inspired)
Beth – Rafiki
Part 1: Chef Brad’s Scissors
This morning we had to be up early because we had an 8:40 ADR … and when we asked CMs, we were told to take the 7 or 7:30 bus to MK (really, we could have taken an 8 AM bus, but we didn’t know that). So we got up, got dressed, got ready, and around 7:10ish we headed out to the bus. Or, rather, we headed out to the really long line to the bus.
Holy cow … there was no way we were going to make it on to the 7:30 AM bus with this many people in front of us in line. This was bad news. We didn’t know when the next bus was scheduled for (my guess was 8) and I didn’t know how long it would take once we got to MK (I knew it would take 10-15 minutes to get to MK). I did not want to miss our ADR. Was it time for us to think about Ubering it?
Beth had an idea – “Are there maybe Extra Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom today?” I looked it up, and lo and behold, there were. I figured that with EMH the buses would be more frequent, so … no worries. We were actually on a bus before 7:30, made some awesome new friends (and one of the girls was dressed up as Mary Poppins, complete with umbrella – she was adorable, as was little Minnie Mouse) and were at MK before 8.
Or at least at the gates outside MK. MK was not our destination. We were headed here:
Our destination was the last stop on the monorail – the Grand Floridian. But I was excited about the monorail in and of itself, so I took me some pictures.
Our monorail approaches: (Beth said maybe I shouldn’t be taking flash pictures of the driver … oops)
Monorail Silver:
Monorail Selfie: (don’t mind my hair, it looked bad the whole time and the headband came off at some point later)
We’re inside a hotel! (I knew the monorail goes through the Contemporary, doesn’t make it any less cool):
Part of the Mary Blair murals @ Contemporary:
And finally, we arrived at the Grand Floridian. It was now shortly after 8 … and our reservation was for 8:40. So we had tons of time to kill. We wandered around a bit and then took some pictures.
View from the second floor (arrival area):
The Cinderella lover of the group (aka Beth) loved the floor/carpet:
Piano:
GF actually reminded me a bit of the Alexander Hotel in Miami Beach. Maybe because they’re the two fanciest hotels I’ve ever been in (well, them and the St. Regis, but both times I went to the St. Regis it was for events and I went straight up to the top floor). It was very nice, but not the kind of place I’d feel comfortable staying … too fancy for me. I like a hotel where I can scream as loud as I want, not one where I feel like I should be whispering.
Beth sat down while I did something (used the bathroom? Explored more? I don’t remember, I just remember us being separated and I couldn’t find her even though she was right in front of my face). At 8:20 we decided to check in and see if they would seat us 20 minutes early. But first, a picture:
One CM asked another CM if we could check in that early, and she said yes, so they sent us to get our picture taken:
After they took our picture, they took us right in and seated us in the back annex area (which was fine with us … we didn’t need to be close to the buffet, it’s not like we were eating much off of it).
Our server had a small idea what was going on with the Kosher meals, but was still a little confused – so I’d rank her below BOG but above Mama Melrose. This does go lower on the list than those two for atmosphere – but more on that later.
But we did have a first (in terms of the Kosher) at this meal – the chef came out to talk to us! Chef Brad came out to our table almost right away, talked to us about what he had for us in the kitchen, and took our orders. He was great (you’ll hear/see me say/write that again, I’m sure … we really liked him).
Our first character visit (even before the food!) was…
Beth recited supercalifragilisticexpialidocious forwards and backwards (as she always does for Mary Poppins), and Mary Poppins did not seem at all interested. We were very upset. Every other Mary Poppins we’ve ever met loved that Beth can do that. She was a very disappointing Mary Poppins, which is especially sad because Mary Poppins is the reason we booked this breakfast, and we hadn’t seen Mary Poppins at any other point during the trip (we figured it was okay to miss her on other days because we’d be seeing her at breakfast – bad call). So, not starting off on the right foot.
Me and Mary:
Shortly after Mary Poppins left, Chef Brad came out with our breakfast.
And a pair of scissors. With which to open the food. Because the kosher meals are very difficult to open with just utensils.
Seriously, he brought us scissors. Best Disney food story ever!!! Chef Brad is the best!!!
(The reason why my camera is in the picture and not taking the picture is because this picture was taken on my phone so that it could go straight to facebook).
Before he returned to the kitchen, Chef Brad asked if there was anything else he could do for us, so we asked him for to-go cups for our coffee because we wouldn’t drink from the regular ones and our server didn’t seem to understand that. Chef Brad really was the best.
Anyway, back to the characters.
Next up:
Alice was pretty good. She was very happy when I told her it was my unbirthday – apparently it was her unbirthday too. No way!
We started to eat as more characters came around. Next up was …
I’m a big Pooh fan, so this was exciting for me. Except not, because it was kinda hit-and-run Pooh. I was not impressed at all.
Next up:
He was very loud and talkative … I kinda wasn’t in the mood for it that early in the morning. But he wasn’t bad.
And they saved my favorite character for last…
Tigger was the best character we had all day. He was fun, he interacted with us, and he seemed excited to see us.
Before he left, I got a hug from Tigger. He was the redeeming character of the meal. I’m glad he was last, because any of the other characters coming after him would have been a big disappointment.
All of the characters came pretty early in the meal, so after they came we sat and finished our food … or ate as much as we could. I went to the buffet at one point in time to check out the fruit … it was bananas, oranges, and cut fruit (which we wouldn’t eat – you don’t know what else that knife was used for) or fruit with utensils to dish it out (also, wouldn’t eat because of the utensils). I grabbed a banana and brought it back to the table to take with us for later. Beth saw it … and sent me to get her a banana too.
Once we were done, we packed up our bananas, paid, thanked our server and asked her to thank the chef for us (we don’t think she understood why we specified thanking the chef), and left. Oh, and I took one last picture before we left:
Overall Review:
Food – I had cheese blintzes with potatoes, Beth had cheese omelet with some sort of vegetable hash. The food was very blah and not at all good (although Beth did like her hash). Overall, I don’t think I’d choose to do a breakfast again (these were our only breakfast choices). After 3 ADRs, I think we prefer the Quick Service Kosher food (except when my bun is overcooked – see day 1). I didn't even really look much at the buffet to see if there was anything we could eat, so I can't comment on the regular menu at all. Oh, and I had like 1.5 16-oz cups of coffee. I never have more than 16 oz of coffee in a day (I don’t even get a Venti with my free drink at Starbucks anymore). It’s just that it was there and I didn’t have anything else right in front of me to drink.
Characters – Tigger was the best, Alice was good, Mad Hatter was okay, and the rest were bad
Staff – Server was whatever, Chef Brad was the best (we so should have gotten a picture with him!)
Atmosphere - Maybe it was because we were off in the side area and not the main dining room, but I thought it was nothing special - I could have been eating anywhere. I know it's not the main dining room, but if you're going to seat people there, it should be visually interesting.
The big question: would we do it again?
We would not do this particular breakfast again. Beth said she has no more interest in character dining. I might do a different character dining experience – but not this one again.
We headed out and caught a bus right away to our next destination. A guy was talking to us on the bus, but we really didn’t feel like chatting, so we didn’t so much become friends, we just answered his questions and tried to act like we were interested in the conversation.
Where were we headed? You’ll have to wait for the next post to find out
Coming Next: Never again … I do not want to be assaulted by an attraction
Wake Up Time: 6:15 AM (Both)
Outfits:
Sarah – Minnie Mouse (inspired)
Beth – Rafiki
Part 1: Chef Brad’s Scissors
This morning we had to be up early because we had an 8:40 ADR … and when we asked CMs, we were told to take the 7 or 7:30 bus to MK (really, we could have taken an 8 AM bus, but we didn’t know that). So we got up, got dressed, got ready, and around 7:10ish we headed out to the bus. Or, rather, we headed out to the really long line to the bus.
Holy cow … there was no way we were going to make it on to the 7:30 AM bus with this many people in front of us in line. This was bad news. We didn’t know when the next bus was scheduled for (my guess was 8) and I didn’t know how long it would take once we got to MK (I knew it would take 10-15 minutes to get to MK). I did not want to miss our ADR. Was it time for us to think about Ubering it?
Beth had an idea – “Are there maybe Extra Magic Hours at Magic Kingdom today?” I looked it up, and lo and behold, there were. I figured that with EMH the buses would be more frequent, so … no worries. We were actually on a bus before 7:30, made some awesome new friends (and one of the girls was dressed up as Mary Poppins, complete with umbrella – she was adorable, as was little Minnie Mouse) and were at MK before 8.
Or at least at the gates outside MK. MK was not our destination. We were headed here:
Our destination was the last stop on the monorail – the Grand Floridian. But I was excited about the monorail in and of itself, so I took me some pictures.
Our monorail approaches: (Beth said maybe I shouldn’t be taking flash pictures of the driver … oops)
Monorail Silver:
Monorail Selfie: (don’t mind my hair, it looked bad the whole time and the headband came off at some point later)
We’re inside a hotel! (I knew the monorail goes through the Contemporary, doesn’t make it any less cool):
Part of the Mary Blair murals @ Contemporary:
And finally, we arrived at the Grand Floridian. It was now shortly after 8 … and our reservation was for 8:40. So we had tons of time to kill. We wandered around a bit and then took some pictures.
View from the second floor (arrival area):
The Cinderella lover of the group (aka Beth) loved the floor/carpet:
Piano:
GF actually reminded me a bit of the Alexander Hotel in Miami Beach. Maybe because they’re the two fanciest hotels I’ve ever been in (well, them and the St. Regis, but both times I went to the St. Regis it was for events and I went straight up to the top floor). It was very nice, but not the kind of place I’d feel comfortable staying … too fancy for me. I like a hotel where I can scream as loud as I want, not one where I feel like I should be whispering.
Beth sat down while I did something (used the bathroom? Explored more? I don’t remember, I just remember us being separated and I couldn’t find her even though she was right in front of my face). At 8:20 we decided to check in and see if they would seat us 20 minutes early. But first, a picture:
One CM asked another CM if we could check in that early, and she said yes, so they sent us to get our picture taken:
After they took our picture, they took us right in and seated us in the back annex area (which was fine with us … we didn’t need to be close to the buffet, it’s not like we were eating much off of it).
Our server had a small idea what was going on with the Kosher meals, but was still a little confused – so I’d rank her below BOG but above Mama Melrose. This does go lower on the list than those two for atmosphere – but more on that later.
But we did have a first (in terms of the Kosher) at this meal – the chef came out to talk to us! Chef Brad came out to our table almost right away, talked to us about what he had for us in the kitchen, and took our orders. He was great (you’ll hear/see me say/write that again, I’m sure … we really liked him).
Our first character visit (even before the food!) was…
Beth recited supercalifragilisticexpialidocious forwards and backwards (as she always does for Mary Poppins), and Mary Poppins did not seem at all interested. We were very upset. Every other Mary Poppins we’ve ever met loved that Beth can do that. She was a very disappointing Mary Poppins, which is especially sad because Mary Poppins is the reason we booked this breakfast, and we hadn’t seen Mary Poppins at any other point during the trip (we figured it was okay to miss her on other days because we’d be seeing her at breakfast – bad call). So, not starting off on the right foot.
Me and Mary:
Shortly after Mary Poppins left, Chef Brad came out with our breakfast.
And a pair of scissors. With which to open the food. Because the kosher meals are very difficult to open with just utensils.
Seriously, he brought us scissors. Best Disney food story ever!!! Chef Brad is the best!!!
(The reason why my camera is in the picture and not taking the picture is because this picture was taken on my phone so that it could go straight to facebook).
Before he returned to the kitchen, Chef Brad asked if there was anything else he could do for us, so we asked him for to-go cups for our coffee because we wouldn’t drink from the regular ones and our server didn’t seem to understand that. Chef Brad really was the best.
Anyway, back to the characters.
Next up:
Alice was pretty good. She was very happy when I told her it was my unbirthday – apparently it was her unbirthday too. No way!
We started to eat as more characters came around. Next up was …
I’m a big Pooh fan, so this was exciting for me. Except not, because it was kinda hit-and-run Pooh. I was not impressed at all.
Next up:
He was very loud and talkative … I kinda wasn’t in the mood for it that early in the morning. But he wasn’t bad.
And they saved my favorite character for last…
Tigger was the best character we had all day. He was fun, he interacted with us, and he seemed excited to see us.
Before he left, I got a hug from Tigger. He was the redeeming character of the meal. I’m glad he was last, because any of the other characters coming after him would have been a big disappointment.
All of the characters came pretty early in the meal, so after they came we sat and finished our food … or ate as much as we could. I went to the buffet at one point in time to check out the fruit … it was bananas, oranges, and cut fruit (which we wouldn’t eat – you don’t know what else that knife was used for) or fruit with utensils to dish it out (also, wouldn’t eat because of the utensils). I grabbed a banana and brought it back to the table to take with us for later. Beth saw it … and sent me to get her a banana too.
Once we were done, we packed up our bananas, paid, thanked our server and asked her to thank the chef for us (we don’t think she understood why we specified thanking the chef), and left. Oh, and I took one last picture before we left:
Overall Review:
Food – I had cheese blintzes with potatoes, Beth had cheese omelet with some sort of vegetable hash. The food was very blah and not at all good (although Beth did like her hash). Overall, I don’t think I’d choose to do a breakfast again (these were our only breakfast choices). After 3 ADRs, I think we prefer the Quick Service Kosher food (except when my bun is overcooked – see day 1). I didn't even really look much at the buffet to see if there was anything we could eat, so I can't comment on the regular menu at all. Oh, and I had like 1.5 16-oz cups of coffee. I never have more than 16 oz of coffee in a day (I don’t even get a Venti with my free drink at Starbucks anymore). It’s just that it was there and I didn’t have anything else right in front of me to drink.
Characters – Tigger was the best, Alice was good, Mad Hatter was okay, and the rest were bad
Staff – Server was whatever, Chef Brad was the best (we so should have gotten a picture with him!)
Atmosphere - Maybe it was because we were off in the side area and not the main dining room, but I thought it was nothing special - I could have been eating anywhere. I know it's not the main dining room, but if you're going to seat people there, it should be visually interesting.
The big question: would we do it again?
We would not do this particular breakfast again. Beth said she has no more interest in character dining. I might do a different character dining experience – but not this one again.
We headed out and caught a bus right away to our next destination. A guy was talking to us on the bus, but we really didn’t feel like chatting, so we didn’t so much become friends, we just answered his questions and tried to act like we were interested in the conversation.
Where were we headed? You’ll have to wait for the next post to find out
Coming Next: Never again … I do not want to be assaulted by an attraction
KatMark
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2007
My face would have looked just like Beth's on Rock & Roll; I hate that ride. That is the ONE ride I would NOT give into on the girls trip.
I like your choice of dinner places (although I would have had a hot fudge sundae). I'm sorry you weren't "feeling" it shopping this trip. I do like that new Marketplace store...very nicely done and some great things.
We were not impressed with 1900 Park Fare either The food was mediocre at best and we were very unhappy with the character interaction (and Mary Poppins was out "ill" that day). We are going to try dinner in October only because we love the stepsisters.
I like your choice of dinner places (although I would have had a hot fudge sundae). I'm sorry you weren't "feeling" it shopping this trip. I do like that new Marketplace store...very nicely done and some great things.
We were not impressed with 1900 Park Fare either The food was mediocre at best and we were very unhappy with the character interaction (and Mary Poppins was out "ill" that day). We are going to try dinner in October only because we love the stepsisters.
stacy~**
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2006
Love your interaction with Frozone and Mr. Incredible. We usually have a great experience with them too and always try and stop for a visit.
So glad you were able to see the Frozen sing along. I knew you would love it!
Bummer about the DTD night not being as good as usual. I tend to think DTD often ends up that way for me because we are almost always trying to sneak it in on a day after being at the parks all day and are just too tried to truly enjoy it. I think it is much more enjoyable on it's own day. Just need to have a trip long enough to make that possible.
but hey....ice cream for dinner is always a win in my book!
I think your glasses look really cute. You should wear them more often.
I kinda feel the same way about the Grand. It is beautiful but doesn't really feel like "home" because it is just TOO beautiful. My youngest, who loves all things fancy, is dying to stay there and maybe we would for a night or two someday (if I could find the right deal!) but never for a whole trip!
Sorry your Park Fare meal wasn't very good. What a bummer! I have never done breakfast but we have always enjoyed dinner. I do have mixed feelings about character meals in general. I like the idea but I wish they would change the set up so you have the meets before you sit down or something. I feel like so many of our pictures end up awkward because either we are eating or it's hard to get up from the table, etc. Character meets in the parks are typically so much better.
I do love the pre-meal picture of you and Beth and glad the chef was so accommodating.
So glad you were able to see the Frozen sing along. I knew you would love it!
Bummer about the DTD night not being as good as usual. I tend to think DTD often ends up that way for me because we are almost always trying to sneak it in on a day after being at the parks all day and are just too tried to truly enjoy it. I think it is much more enjoyable on it's own day. Just need to have a trip long enough to make that possible.
but hey....ice cream for dinner is always a win in my book!I think your glasses look really cute. You should wear them more often.
I kinda feel the same way about the Grand. It is beautiful but doesn't really feel like "home" because it is just TOO beautiful. My youngest, who loves all things fancy, is dying to stay there and maybe we would for a night or two someday (if I could find the right deal!) but never for a whole trip!
Sorry your Park Fare meal wasn't very good. What a bummer! I have never done breakfast but we have always enjoyed dinner. I do have mixed feelings about character meals in general. I like the idea but I wish they would change the set up so you have the meets before you sit down or something. I feel like so many of our pictures end up awkward because either we are eating or it's hard to get up from the table, etc. Character meets in the parks are typically so much better.
I do love the pre-meal picture of you and Beth and glad the chef was so accommodating.
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