Star Wars Weekends, 24 Hour Party and Shenanigans UPDATE10/16 Star Wars Sci Fi bfast

[kastoney]

I'm very excited! I just booked our September trip!!

We are headed down on September 9,

Yeah, we'll be down there at the same time, leaving on the 5th (will be there for the OSU/VT game) and coming back either the 12th or 13th. I'll have to keep an eye out for ya.

As our usual luck would have it, neither Brian nor I won but his mom and sister both did. Each winner was allowed to have one guest, so this meant we all got to go. In retrospect, this was kind of a bad thing because we ended up losing about an hour of sleep we desperately needed.

Boo for no sleep, but cool they won

headless Olaf on a stick (I think you were supposed to put your head where Olaf's would go? it was really quite weird and I don't think we ever got the Olafs back out of the bag after looking at them the first time).

Random and weird indeed

Love your make-up!

here were some bright lights and Minnie and Mickey in their pajamas were on top of the platform posing for pictures.

Too cute!

My beloved orange bird!!

Well I was gonna say this wasn't the best prize in the world, but than orange bird. How cool would it be to have one of those in your house?

didn't think a free movie was worth leaving the MK, especially on the 24 hour day and Brian agreed with me.

Definitely not worth leaving for, especially since the movie was being released that day. For "winning" at least they could have brought George Clooney in.

I love the Tiki Room. As much as I love a fast paced ride like Expedition Everest, and as much as I love technological marvels like Soarin, I have just as much room in my heart for attractions like the Tiki Room. I would love to have an animatronic bird of my own, I am partial to the tucans.

I'm right there with ya. Tiki Birds, Country Bear Jamboree, Carousel of Progress, all make my heart melt.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

It's our first family trip. The twins are 8, so lots of character meets and meals. Oh, and roller coasters. My daughter rode the coaster at Jungle Jack's Landing 6 times in a row over the weekend and her only regret was that she didn't get to ride in the very front car. I had no idea she was such a daredevil given that it took forever to convince her to go down the slide at the park when she was little. It's my son's dream to go in May for Star Wars weekends, but that probably won't happen next year (newish job = less vacation time since my years of service with the state didn't roll over to years of service with the city... sadness).


I'm pretty sure it's the latter. Because that's how Matt rolls.

Well there are plenty of great coasters to get going with at Disney I was just trying to think of which Disney coaster I think is the most intense and I'm stuck between Everest (for the going backwards) and Rockin (for the fast start and the loops).

Ooooh you have to go to Star Wars weekends!! So much epic fun. It might actually be better to go the year after next, though. Everyone thinks next year will be pretty insane since the Force Awakens will have just come out.

That is very odd about the vacation time. You'd think it would since the city is in the state and part of the same government (kind of).

Ugh! I don't think my alert thingie is working properly. I had no idea you had updates here (and was starting to wonder about you). Anyways I caught up last night before bed but was too tired to comment, let's see what I remember.

So that fountain at Universal looks JUST like my kind of thing. Harry Potter, SpongeBob....not too impressed....water fountain that talks and randomly sprays its victims....YES! Haha!

You got some very nice pictures of the HP castle (or whatever that is called. ). And I loved your butterbeer count

Very happy you have your September trip in place!! I'm crossing my fingers that those are dates that I might be able to head down. Any fall trip I make will be on pretty short notice and just a few days but anything is possible. I love that you guys are trying out loads of new things. I have quite a few new things planned for us too and it's making me want to burst with excitement.

Yay the 24 hour day! How neat that Stephanie and her mom won that contest although I really agree with you that it wasn't worth giving up time on the 24 hour day over. But free swag and some pastries are never a bad thing!

I loved your costumes (and Brian's! ).

I didn't even know we could set alerts! I'm going to have to look into that.

The fountain is really quite lovely. Nothing better than seeing kids get surprisingly water drenched hahaha. It is also a very clever fountain too, lots of good jokes and puns.

What kinds of new things do you have planned for your trip?! Sometimes I think a last minute trip would be excellent. Even though I love planning...just imagining waking up and saying hmm, I have no weekend plans, lets go to Disney!!

Oh, by the way, we'll be headed back to Columbus about a month from now. We have to finish cleaning out our condo basement and my little sister is graduating from Akron's graduate speech pathology college. I am so beyond excited to go back to my beloved Columbus zoo and the 16 bit bar and see everyone. Will your Disney store be open by then?!

Interesting about the contest - I had no idea. But congratulations on knowing some winners!

I'm enjoying seeing the wee hours of the 24 hour day. We were still on the cruise ship at that time, so I had no idea of what it was like. I love Mickey and Minnie in their pajamas - too cute!

Nice costumes for (most of) your group as well!

Morning hours of 24 hour days really are the best. The parks don't really get busy until around noon. I was a little sad this time we had the breakfast, I was imagining all the walk on repeatability of a lot of the popular rides. Oh well.

Thanks! I love dressing up at Disney.

I just found your trip report now and I am enjoying it.

It is killing me that I haven't been to Universal at all since the Harry Potter Lands opened. I just NEED to see all that stuff in person.

I can't wait to hear more about the 24 hour day!

Also looking forward to Star Wars Weekends stuff. We are thinking about planning a trip for it next year for our 6 year old Star Wars obsessed Son!

Well, I know just what you should do. Star Wars weekends trip for next year with a stopover at Universal to see Harry Potter!! I haven't seen any pictures that do all the HP stuff justice. The level of immersion just can't really be explained or imagined until you are there. Especially now with the interactive wands. Your basically walking through what looks like a real town/city and looking at Wizarding products advertisements on the walls and all the great window displays and people are running around in robes and doing spells that have real physical reactions and its really all very great

Yeah, we'll be down there at the same time, leaving on the 5th (will be there for the OSU/VT game) and coming back either the 12th or 13th. I'll have to keep an eye out for ya.


Boo for no sleep, but cool they won


Random and weird indeed


Love your make-up!


Too cute!


Well I was gonna say this wasn't the best prize in the world, but than orange bird. How cool would it be to have one of those in your house?


Definitely not worth leaving for, especially since the movie was being released that day. For "winning" at least they could have brought George Clooney in.


I'm right there with ya. Tiki Birds, Country Bear Jamboree, Carousel of Progress, all make my heart melt.

You know a real Buckeye fan when they quantify a period of time by which OSU game is on. Love it. We also had already checked the OSU schedule and planned for game time and where we'd watch it. Maybe our paths will cross!!

Yeah, I'm going to do a wrap up of the contest, and not to sound ungrateful (cause I kind of do) but I thought it was mostly lame. The orange bird blow up and the rocket pack guy kind of made up for it, but I think on a special day like the 24 hour day I'd rather just enjoy the park.

I almost wish we had more old WDW nostalgia, like those rides/shows. Not that I don't like the new stuff, but the older stuff has that something special.

 

[soniam]

@OhioStateBuckeye
If you watch a thread, it will show up in your alerts at the top right. If I haven't checked the boards in a while, I sometimes have to click the alerts twice to go to the list of all. It seems like the badge expires after a time for posts, unless you get new ones. If someone quotes you, replies to you, or tags you with your username, it will show up there too. There's an option when watching a thread to be sent emails as well. You might be able to change personal options to have all alerts sent as emails. There are some old, large threads, like the one of things no longer seen at WDW, that I sometimes quit getting the alerts for. I then have to go mark all threads in that forum as read to get them to show up again.

 

[bearcat97]

Well there are plenty of great coasters to get going with at Disney I was just trying to think of which Disney coaster I think is the most intense and I'm stuck between Everest (for the going backwards) and Rockin (for the fast start and the loops).

We'll be doing both of those. I'm sure. Possibly even more than once. You know. Like you do.

Ooooh you have to go to Star Wars weekends!! So much epic fun. It might actually be better to go the year after next, though. Everyone thinks next year will be pretty insane since the Force Awakens will have just come out.

That is very odd about the vacation time. You'd think it would since the city is in the state and part of the same government (kind of).

We'll definitely go. And I agree about next year. Plus, if we wait a year, maybe I'll have enough time built up so that we can stay longer than a week.

I'd be more upset about the vacation time not transferring over, but my PERS (retirement) did and also I hated my old job. This one is SO much better. They never expect me to work unpaid overtime. (Never work for the legislature. It's miserable. I STILL have nightmares about the budget in 2009.)

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

MK 24 Hour Day Part 2

You might think that's water coming out of their trunks, but itsnot.

We had just finished singing like the birdies sing.



Next up we felt like some high adventure, so we headed for the Magic Carpets. Get it, high adventure?! Bahahahaha. I am apparently in a Jungle Cruisey mood.



This malcontent, the front and center camel, is my mortal enemy. That camel zeroes in on me like nothing I've ever seen. I think it's my hair that attracts his wraith. He tries his best to spit on me every single time I walk innocently by. Usually I'm onto his games and I'm able to avoid his spit. However, one fateful MNSSHP, he got me pretty bad. The jet of water went bullseye right smack into my eye. It actually stung a lot and my eye was red and irritated for a couple hours afterwards. That water has some power behind it. That episode only heightened our mutual hatred of one another. One day camel...one day you'll get what is coming to you.

Anyway, we walked onto the carpets.





Now see this fellow here? I was unaware that he spits as well. We don't really go on the carpets a lot. We were about done with our magic carpet ride and the carpets locked and were being lowered. So imagine my surprise when we flew by this camel on our descent and he spit right on us!! How unfair is that?! Our carpets were locked into position. We both got pretty spitty.

Here is Brian wiping his eye off afterwards:



I got the brunt of the attack. I'm pretty sure it is not paranoia speaking and my mortal enemy made him do it. Grr that camel...



That's right buddy, I'm comin for you.



Well, I'll try to get this TR back on track with a walk on ride of the epic Jungle Cruise. If you don't like the Jungle Cruise, well, my friend, you must be deep in de-nile.

If I ever worked at WDW I'd want to be a JC skipper. This is exactly my kind of humor. I highly enjoy popsicle stick jokes, which I think are a lot like JC jokes/puns. For instance: what washes up on small beaches?....

Micro-waves!! Bahahahaha!

Want another? What do you call a witch that goes to the beach?....


A sandwich!!!


OK. I've probably lost a few of you at this point.

Fun Fact:

there have been many JC skippers who went on to be famous: Kevin Costner, John Lasseter (my hero) and Conan O'Brien (another hero of mine who makes great strides for pasty faced redheads everywhere). I believe this is true, but really, how much can you ever really believe the internet?!

We've had some really great skippers over the years. I really appreciated the one guy who sang, in a very creepy voice, it's a small world after all. This was after he did a part of the Willy Wonka speech from the boat scene of that movie...

There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going.
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing.
Is it raining?
Is it snowing?
Is a hurricane a blowing?

Not a speck of light is showing
so the danger must be growing.
Are the fires of hell a glowing?
Is the grisly reaper mowing?
Yes! The danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing.
And they're certainly not showing
any signs that they are slowing!

My other favorite skipper was a woman who really sold all the jokes and had such great timing. She did the story about her boyfriend coming for dinner blah blah, then at the end said that she was just kidding, then paused the exact amount of time and said 'I don't have a boyfriend'. When the hippos were attacking she just shouted at them 'Commitment!! Why won't you love me?! We can move in together!'. She was just so great.

I took this picture because I feel like the water looks red:



These 3 canoe head carvings are supposed to represent Mickey Donald and Goofy.



Looks like they got it to turn over...



I'd always read that Walt wanted real animals on the JC. It wasn't feasible back then, but I always take a moment on the Safaris to think that one of Walt's ideas has finally come true.



Thanks goodness they have their trunks on, wouldn't want to get points from the DIS boards.



I like the lens flare on this pic (JJ Abrams much, anyone?), it looks like the elephant's water spray turns into a great circle.



I've always wondered why this poor elephant has to stand with it's butt to everyone. Is the animatronic maybe broken so they turned it around like the paper boy in Spaceship Earth? Anybody know?



I also have another Tomorrowland contest picture in the timeline here:



We had one more thing to do in Adventureland: POTC!! Like Brian would let us leave the area without going on that ride. We didn't take any pictures this ride, but we enjoyed our trip with the pirates.

Having finished up what we wanted to do in Adventureland it was almost 9 am. We decided to check out some Fantasyland rides so we headed to Pooh.



Pooh probably needs to get some help about his honey addiction. The next pic is blurry, but it is my favorite scene of the ride:



Happy as a clam, just shoveling honey in his face.

Honey is sticky, so we decided to take a dip under the sea.







If Scuttle is the narrator, we should probably doubt the authenticity of the story. Silly seagull. At least he isn't as selfish as those Finding Nemo gulls.

I don't know why, but the kiss the girl scene on this ride always gets to me. I think it's the nighttimieness of it all. I always like nighttime scenes in rides and the Mexico pavilion.







I like this pose of Scuttle's. He is just kicking back. Too bad he doesn't have one hand under his head.

We were somewhat in the area so we figured a ride on Dumbo was in order, after all, Brian did have his dumb shirt on that day.



Dumbo is just so pretty with the water. I think it is the only ride that I think is just as pretty during the day as it is all lit up at night.



Look at that elephant soar.



We were both getting hungry (huh, there is a surprise, the free pastries weren't really that filling) but we had a little bit of time to waste before our BOG lunch reservation. There is no better time waster than People Mover, so off we went!



I think this robot is very sad because he knows that print media is going the way of the dodo, so he won't have a job soon.

Requisite foot picture on People Mover (when did this even become a thing?)



You'll all note that I matched my tennis shoes to my Anastasia outfit.



We tried to page Tom Morrow, but he didn't answer. Someone needs to tell Disney that no one uses pagers anymore, good old Tom probably threw his out ages ago.

It was still a little early but we decided to go check in for our 11 am lunch anyway. We thought Stephanie and her mom might be able to make it, but it was looking bad.



I love that even this rickety old gate is themed. Looks like it should lead somewhere interesting.











These knights always remind my of Monty Python.

We were let into the restaurant a couple of minutes early. I had suffered a slight lapse into idiocracy though (yeah I know that is not a word, but it is a movie I enjoy) and we didn't pre-order. Everyone, if you have BOG breakfast or lunch reservations for the love of everything right and holy in this world PRE ORDER!!! We were stuck in line forever, when we were finally directed to a kiosk to order we were behind a family of five. This family had already been there for quite some time and they were taking forever!!! I think they changed the kid's dessert orders 20 million times. I don't think they knew what they were doing though because I noticed that they ended up with 10+ desserts. So slow. Finally we got to go and we were done in less than 2 minutes. Really, I can't complain too much thought because I should have known better and pre-ordered. I think you can even do it the morning of the reservation. Oh well, lesson learned.

There was a silver lining though, when we got out of the line I saw a single empty table right next to the windows. Now, a window seat in the ballroom is probably the best thing ever to me. We were randomly seated there for our first ever BOG dinner ADR, and I was entranced with the falling snow outside. I love Disney scenes like that. Anyway, I zeroed in on the empty table the moment we entered the dining room, left Brian in the dust and speed walked like my little life depended on it. I'm pretty sure I heard the opening strains of Oh Fortuna as I flew toward the table....


Aaaand looks like I reached my picture limit. <WWII movie theater news reel announcer voice> I'm leaving you with a real nailbiter here folks. Will I make it?! If I don't, will I throw an epic 5 year old fit?! Stay tuned...

 

[soniam]

So, do you prefer JC during the day or at night? We ride for the first time at night in March. I must say that it really added something.

I bet you can't wait until the JC restaurant. They are supposed to tell corny jokes at dinner. I am hoping we can get an ADR on our next trip. It's where the Peter Pan M&G was, next to Sunshine Terrace/old Aloha Isle. It's supposed to open at the end of this year.

I think the robot is sad too. We were just saying this in March. Maybe they'll repurpose him but not remove him. We like him.

 

[Dugette]

Love all the Jungle Cruise references in the update! That's one of my DH's favorite rides (and I like it too, of course). We also got spit on by that camel while on the ride last time! Ooooh, I hope you make it to your table! We got a snow window seat last time and really enjoyed it (well, our two year old especially did - she has fond memories of our Minnesota winter and doesn't yet understand that the snow will be back...)

 

[jane2073]

Oh Fortuna! So funny! I totally understand!

We have also had a Jungle Cruise captain recite Willy Wonka while we were going through the caves. So awesome!

Your picture of Ariel and Eric (from the ride) cracks me up. She is making nervous laughter and Eric is all like "Awww, yea!"

 

[mindylee847]

Me too, me too!!

Favorite Park: Hollywood Studios – even though it’s basically all closed up now
Favorite Characters to Meet: Merida, Minnie Mouse, Stitch, Chip and Dale
Favorite Movie: (classic animation) Robin Hood, (Pixar) Finding Nemo or Inside Out, (live action) Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl OR Tomorrowland
Favorite Nighttime Show: Wishes
Favorite Counter Service/Snack: CS: Yorkshire County; jalapeno cheese pretzel or dole whip
Favorite Disney transportation: the Magical Express <3
Favorite Disney horse: Maximus
Favorite Hotel: (value): POP Century, (mod): Riverside, (deluxe): Beach or Yacht Club


Wow! Great report so far! I’m hoping to go about the same time next year so I’m so glad I found this.

I had no idea about the fireworks in Weasly Wizard Wheezes. I’ll have to keep an eye out next time for that. There are just so many details there. Huge HP fan myself. Your report actually made me download the audio books so I could listen to them at work too!!

Glad to see a fellow lover of the Tiki Room! It’s so classic and I don’t think enough people love it the way they should, lol.

Looking forward to more!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Love, love Jungle Cruise - being a Skipper would be my dream Disney job. Love all the puns and how each trip is a little different due to having different skippers. Only downside is when you are in a boat where no one else is into it at all it can be a little awkward.

If Scuttle is the narrator, we should probably doubt the authenticity of the story. Silly seagull. At least he isn't as selfish as those Finding Nemo gulls.

Speaking of puns, I am disappointed you didn't say "At least he is as shellfish as Sebastien"

I think this robot is very sad because he knows that print media is going the way of the dodo, so he won't have a job soon.

Wow, I never noticed how sad that robot looks. That is pretty funny ... in a sad way, I suppose. Is funny too that the "news printed while you wait" is so not useful when you can just read it on your smart phone right away. Also, not very green of that robot.

I think the new Dumbo area is very pretty with the water, though I actually think it looks nicer at night with the colored lights involved.

When we ate lunch at BOG we didn't pre-order because it is hard to know what the kids will want any more than like 1 minute in advance - though we did try to be as efficient as possible and decided while in line and then one person spoke / ordered rather than waiting until we were up to the kiosk

Quite the tease you are leaving us with!

 

[MrsSkellington]

You'll all note that I matched my tennis shoes to my Anastasia outfit.

I totally noticed in that picture with the Tomorrowland guy! I was hoping it was intentional.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

@OhioStateBuckeye
If you watch a thread, it will show up in your alerts at the top right. If I haven't checked the boards in a while, I sometimes have to click the alerts twice to go to the list of all. It seems like the badge expires after a time for posts, unless you get new ones. If someone quotes you, replies to you, or tags you with your username, it will show up there too. There's an option when watching a thread to be sent emails as well. You might be able to change personal options to have all alerts sent as emails. There are some old, large threads, like the one of things no longer seen at WDW, that I sometimes quit getting the alerts for. I then have to go mark all threads in that forum as read to get them to show up again.

Ah this is very useful, now I can keep up with others' trip reports much easier than just randomly hunting for them.

We'll be doing both of those. I'm sure. Possibly even more than once. You know. Like you do.



We'll definitely go. And I agree about next year. Plus, if we wait a year, maybe I'll have enough time built up so that we can stay longer than a week.

I'd be more upset about the vacation time not transferring over, but my PERS (retirement) did and also I hated my old job. This one is SO much better. They never expect me to work unpaid overtime. (Never work for the legislature. It's miserable. I STILL have nightmares about the budget in 2009.)

Well it sounds like it all worked out. Maybe a loss of preferred vacation time isn't as important as going to work happy. I've always said that if I could work a job that I really enjoyed and thought was fulfilling that I'd be willing to take less pay.

So, do you prefer JC during the day or at night? We ride for the first time at night in March. I must say that it really added something.

I bet you can't wait until the JC restaurant. They are supposed to tell corny jokes at dinner. I am hoping we can get an ADR on our next trip. It's where the Peter Pan M&G was, next to Sunshine Terrace/old Aloha Isle. It's supposed to open at the end of this year.

I think the robot is sad too. We were just saying this in March. Maybe they'll repurpose him but not remove him. We like him.

I much prefer it at night! It seems a little more real. Also, I like to try to catch the Skippers at the end of a long shift at night, they seem to be a bit more loopy and fun

I am so so so so beyond excited for the JC restaurant! I really hope it opens early Or else I'll have to plan another trip and my wallet just won't support that, even with all these crazy OT hours I'm working. We just got approved for up to 70 hours a week and I'm like...hmm....kill myself now working...more Disney later....

I like the robot too! Maybe they could give him a little digital news display. He could give ride times or the temperate or something.

Love all the Jungle Cruise references in the update! That's one of my DH's favorite rides (and I like it too, of course). We also got spit on by that camel while on the ride last time! Ooooh, I hope you make it to your table! We got a snow window seat last time and really enjoyed it (well, our two year old especially did - she has fond memories of our Minnesota winter and doesn't yet understand that the snow will be back...)

We did the Keys to the Kingdom tour and got our own private little boat. So I got to hear tons of little trivia about the JC, most of which I still remember. Like the dancing natives that supposedly say 'disco'? Well, they do say it, but it is actually DIS co.

2 year old has good taste For a just a second or so I can lose myself and feel like I'm really at a fancy restaurant on a snowy mountaintop.

Oh Fortuna! So funny! I totally understand!

We have also had a Jungle Cruise captain recite Willy Wonka while we were going through the caves. So awesome!

Your picture of Ariel and Eric (from the ride) cracks me up. She is making nervous laughter and Eric is all like "Awww, yea!"

I wonder if we had the same skipper?! I'm not sure how much they are supposed to go off script, I've heard varying stories that say they could get in a lot of trouble. I hope not though, I enjoy the ones that go off script.

Me too, me too!!

Favorite Park: Hollywood Studios – even though it’s basically all closed up now
Favorite Characters to Meet: Merida, Minnie Mouse, Stitch, Chip and Dale
Favorite Movie: (classic animation) Robin Hood, (Pixar) Finding Nemo or Inside Out, (live action) Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl OR Tomorrowland
Favorite Nighttime Show: Wishes
Favorite Counter Service/Snack: CS: Yorkshire County; jalapeno cheese pretzel or dole whip
Favorite Disney transportation: the Magical Express <3
Favorite Disney horse: Maximus
Favorite Hotel: (value): POP Century, (mod): Riverside, (deluxe): Beach or Yacht Club


Wow! Great report so far! I’m hoping to go about the same time next year so I’m so glad I found this.

I had no idea about the fireworks in Weasly Wizard Wheezes. I’ll have to keep an eye out next time for that. There are just so many details there. Huge HP fan myself. Your report actually made me download the audio books so I could listen to them at work too!!

Glad to see a fellow lover of the Tiki Room! It’s so classic and I don’t think enough people love it the way they should, lol.

Looking forward to more!

I really like DHS too. I know a lot of people rip on it, and I'm not really pleased that they keep closing things without even starting on anything new there. But I've always loved Star Wars and Indiana Jones so those are both big wins with me right away.

Just the Magical Express when it is going to Disney...the way home is not so nice hahahaha.

We'll be at Riverside for a couple nights our next trip!! Any recommendations?!

The audio books are sometimes the only way I get through work Right now I've just started on Order of the Phoenix. I still feel like I haven't seen half the little details in the Wizarding World.

I think people should have to appreciate the Tiki Room to get access to WDW <evil laughter>

Love, love Jungle Cruise - being a Skipper would be my dream Disney job. Love all the puns and how each trip is a little different due to having different skippers. Only downside is when you are in a boat where no one else is into it at all it can be a little awkward.



Speaking of puns, I am disappointed you didn't say "At least he is as shellfish as Sebastien"



Wow, I never noticed how sad that robot looks. That is pretty funny ... in a sad way, I suppose. Is funny too that the "news printed while you wait" is so not useful when you can just read it on your smart phone right away. Also, not very green of that robot.

I think the new Dumbo area is very pretty with the water, though I actually think it looks nicer at night with the colored lights involved.

When we ate lunch at BOG we didn't pre-order because it is hard to know what the kids will want any more than like 1 minute in advance - though we did try to be as efficient as possible and decided while in line and then one person spoke / ordered rather than waiting until we were up to the kiosk

Quite the tease you are leaving us with!

I'm a little disappointed I didn't try to shell the puns more, too.

Sometimes the JC ride can be made by the skipper as well. If they're just phoning it in, boo on them.


Ahahahaha not very green. Poor guy, just trying to do his job.

Dumbo does look better at night, but is still pretty during the day.

That makes sense about your BOG. I think most people do try to order in a timely fashion, and I hope I didn't sound like I was being rude towards kids or families. I am pretty sure the family in front of us was very out of the norm. It also looked like they were having trouble navigating the touch screen interface, and there wasn't a CM stationed there to help.

Hahahaha yes, the tease of the century. Will Rachel get the table or will their be embarrassing tears?!

I totally noticed in that picture with the Tomorrowland guy! I was hoping it was intentional.

We are now best friends

I wanted this pointed out because my shoes for the nighttime costume change did not go with the outfit, and I'm really not pleased with how dumb they look in all the pictures hahaha.

 

[MrsSkellington]

We are now best friends

 

[mindylee847]

Just the Magical Express when it is going to Disney...the way home is not so nice hahahaha.

We'll be at Riverside for a couple nights our next trip!! Any recommendations?!

Haha! You're right about the ME! I should have specified, but you knew what I meant.

We stayed in room 2829 in the Alligator Bayou at Riverside. It was a ground floor corner room, just as we had requested. I really recommend requesting ground floor because there are not elevators in all of the buildings. Also, the corner room was phenomenal. We had TWO windows!! Really brightened up the room. The details where just amazing and I really wanted to steal one of the Louis pillows!!

We loved the food court and all the CMs were super wonderful.

The resort can be kind of big feeling... and there are four different bus stops. We never had an issue with buses except for one morning when a dance group joined us to DHS. But on a good note, the resort grounds are just gorgeous. The walking never bothered us as two adults. The river and the ferry and everything, just beautiful!

We ate at Boatwright's and I really loved it. Great fritters and jambalaya! Also, check out Yeehaw Bob if you can, we only got in a few minutes as we were walking through the resort but I wish we could have grabbed a drink and really enjoyed the show.

And finally, my husband would want to tell you that the arcade is awesome. There were two games in particular that he was obsessed with... lol. There was this insane PacMan air hockey table. Seriously, tons of pucks... it was insane. And the other game is this fun button smashing game... two people get a wall of buttons and whoever hits more of the lighted ones wins. We are staying at French Quarter next time and he's already requesting we walk over to play those two... lol!!

 

[soniam]

Haha! You're right about the ME! I should have specified, but you knew what I meant.

We stayed in room 2829 in the Alligator Bayou at Riverside. It was a ground floor corner room, just as we had requested. I really recommend requesting ground floor because there are not elevators in all of the buildings. Also, the corner room was phenomenal. We had TWO windows!! Really brightened up the room. The details where just amazing and I really wanted to steal one of the Louis pillows!!

We loved the food court and all the CMs were super wonderful.

The resort can be kind of big feeling... and there are four different bus stops. We never had an issue with buses except for one morning when a dance group joined us to DHS. But on a good note, the resort grounds are just gorgeous. The walking never bothered us as two adults. The river and the ferry and everything, just beautiful!

We ate at Boatwright's and I really loved it. Great fritters and jambalaya! Also, check out Yeehaw Bob if you can, we only got in a few minutes as we were walking through the resort but I wish we could have grabbed a drink and really enjoyed the show.

And finally, my husband would want to tell you that the arcade is awesome. There were two games in particular that he was obsessed with... lol. There was this insane PacMan air hockey table. Seriously, tons of pucks... it was insane. And the other game is this fun button smashing game... two people get a wall of buttons and whoever hits more of the lighted ones wins. We are staying at French Quarter next time and he's already requesting we walk over to play those two... lol!!

We stayed at POR AB in March in a corner top floor room. The extra light and fewer neighbors was nice. We didn't spend enough time at the hotel, so we are going to stay again in June.

Are the fritters the pimento fritters in the pool bar and Boatwright's menu? Those look awesome!

For anyone interested in POR or POFQ, here's a good link.

www.portorleans.org

 

[mindylee847]

We stayed at POR AB in March in a corner top floor room. The extra light and fewer neighbors was nice. We didn't spend enough time at the hotel, so we are going to stay again in June.

Are the fritters the pimento fritters in the pool bar and Boatwright's menu? Those look awesome!

For anyone interested in POR or POFQ, here's a good link.

www.portorleans.org

I'm not sure if they are the same fritters, but it would make sense if they are! They were so delicious. I'd probably go back just for those! lol

 

[stacy~**]

Yay for a visit back to Columbus! Let me know if you have any free time! Unfortunately I don't think the Disney Store will be open yet.

Some of the new things we are doing (we leave tomorrow!!) are: Hoop Dee Doo, Pirate and Pals fireworks cruise (a last minute booking and will be a surprise for my girls), Behind the Seeds, and Typhoon Lagoon. Three nights at the Poly and several new dining spots. Can you tell I am excited??

I've always enjoyed the Jungle Cruise but these last few trips I have really felt like the skippers are stepping it up and the old standby jokes seem to be mixed in with some new really great ones. This has become one of my absolute favorites!

I loved your jokes.....and I just took a picture of the sandwich one. I'm gonna use it when we go on the Laugh Floor. I enjoy jokes but am the worst at remembering them (and telling them). I'll let you know if it gets used in the show.

Sorry the ordering at BOG was such a pain. I always pick the lines with those families or worse when we were at Disneyland I got behind the camp counselor that was ordering for 200 kids (that were all already seated so I had no idea). That was fun.

 

[chunkymonkey]

Love the 24 hour day so far...because we were there too! At least for the first half. We had BOG reservations that morning for breakfast! It wasn't that crowded for breakfast but I'm sure lunch was crazy. The park was PACKED that day. It was sad that both our MK days were so crowded that I missed some of my favorite attractions...like Enchanted Tiki Room! (It's ok because I had a Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room cocktail at the Poly that week...kinda of makes up for it...ok no it doesn't).

LOVE Jungle Cruise! It's the skippers who make it. I'd love to be one too. I've always wondered if they are actually piloting the boat...or is it more for show?

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Day 3 24 Hour MK Day Part 3 11 am-6 pm

Never give up! Never surrender!!

Or yes, maybe strategically give up sometimes.





Success!!



Brian told me later that he turned his head for one second at the entrance of the dining room and when he turned back around I was gone. He knows me well though, he just headed straight for the windows and caught back up with me. I guess going to the parks with me is good practice in case we ever have kids.





Oh the outside balcony, so difficult to photograph. I wish we could go out there.

This is the best pic we could get:





I got the croque monsieur (read: ham and cheese)



Brian got...was it roast beef?



And the delicious grey stuff...



All the food was good, but it didn't blow me away like BOG dinner does.

During lunch we were texting back and forth with Stephanie. The movie was over and they were on their way back. We made plans to meet up and then finished our meal.

I believe we were done eating around noon. We finally met up with the rest of our group in front of the Princess Hall.

Stephanie showed us some cool Tomorrowland pins that they got at the movie:



Apparently everyone got 4 and were instructed to share them with other dreamers. So of course Brian and I both got one. I believe at this time these weren't even available at stores.

I am going to stop for a minute here and do my overall review of the Parks Blog contest:

I don't want to sound like an ungrateful winner, but I'm afraid I'm going to sound like an ungrateful winner (or at least, guest of winner).

Low Points:
-having to wake up an extra hour early to make it to the ticket and transportation center before 5. When you are trying to stay at the MK for 24 hours, an hour more sleep is huge.
-the breakfast was a little cheap
-I was hoping for more special meet and greet characters at the breakfast, since special appearances were advertised to us. Maybe characters in their pajamas, or they should have brought Olaf and Kristoff over from the morning show
-having to give up park time to see the movie

High Points:
-the special area roped off for us to watch the morning show
-free food (even if it was mediocre)
-the jet pack guy
-Orange bird blow up
-the special pins

Overall, I think the contest would have been amazing had it been on a different day than the 24 hour party. Seeing Tomorrowland (which I was super excited to see) for free just didn't trump funning it up in the MK. Though I do think Stephanie and her mom had a good time at the movie, especially because we were all pretty tired and they had a good time getting to relax.

All right, back to our regularly scheduled activities. We met up in front of the Princess Hall and had a debate. We had a few characters that we needed to meet with our costumes. Brian and I were wiped out...and I was ready to throw in the towel already and have a nap.

Don't judge me poorly!!! I'd managed to stay 24 hours the year before, so I already knew that I could do it. And we had just had such poor sleep (only a few hours the night before). We really wanted to be able to enjoy the nighttime and made the sad decision that we needed naps.

So, we had some characters to meet. The first was Cinderella. Unfortunately, her line was half an hour and I felt like I'd fall asleep if we waited that long.

*Disney Magic Alert!!!!*

The amazing FP+ CM heard us debating and arguing and told us that Cinderella's family didn't wait in line and we were all welcome in the FP+ line!!! Yay nice CM! There is a positive feedback card in your future!! (just to make it clear, we don't only leave positive feedback for CMs who give us stuff. We also leave positive feedback for CMs who talk to us, or who give us great JC ride experiences!).

First we met Rapunzel who really appreciated our costumes and when we let her know that Stephanie made all the skirts she was super impressed and talked about all her sewing adventures.



I love Rapunzel. I feel like they should let her and Merida meet together. I think they would be bffs.



I appreciate this book in between the princesses and I think it is nice that Snow White gets a little tribute, since this space used to house her Scary Adventures.

Side story: we did dinner with an Imagineer once and we got the CM in charge of MK's finances. At that time New Fantasyland was being built and we discussed the shuttering of Snow White's Scary Adventures. She explained to us the constraints for making new attractions or deciding what will go in which space. When they want to use an existing building, they have to work within the confines of it. I thought it was an interesting thought.

We had decided ahead of time that we were going to be mean to Cinderella and stay in character. But as soon as we got up there none of us could do it! She is just too nice and sweet! I challenge anyone to be mean to that poor girl, it's impossible. Inconceivable, even.



We did make bad faces in our picture though:



After we were finished meeting the princesses we had some time before the Tremaine family was scheduled to come out and we saw that the carriage had no line so we got a picture:



Meanwhile, Brian had gone off on his own and managed to see most of Festival of Fantasy, which he had not seen before.







Maximus looks very fierce, as usual. For all those Maximus fans out there, Disney threw in a Maximus picture for photopass:



Pretty sweet, huh? The real Maximus.

We lined up early for the Tremaines and Brian met back up with us. We were the third group. Then about 15 minutes before they were scheduled to come out a CM came over and told us they were meeting on the other side of the castle because of the heat (since there was shade on the other side). Bleh, so we had to move over and there were already about 4 groups in line on that side. So we moved back to 7th or 8th. It turned out being ok though, we made some new friends in line and when the Tremaines came out they were super entertaining to watch.

Finally it was our turn and the family was very pleased to see us! Earlier in the day Brian and I had walked by their meet and greet and Drizella had seen me and shouted and pointed me out to Anastasia, so Anastasia said she had been wondering when we would stop by.











Anastasia asked me if my hair comb decoration was solid gold, and I told her it was just gold plated, but who could tell. All in all, we had a very fun and entertaining time with the Tremaines. After we were done, Brian and I broke the news that we were headed back to a nap. We said that we'd bring the change in costume back with us. With that, we were off to the buses. We wanted to leave the car since we had a front row spot with it and wanted to be able to get to DHS the next morning to get in line for our Star Wars celebrity autographs.

But first, two photopass pictures I forgot to include before:





We didn't have too long of a wait for the bus and were quickly back at the resort (thank goodness for the room right next to the main lobby). Very soon we were in bed and napping. Except half an hour later, Stephanie and her mom ended up showing up, they were very hot and tired also and wanted a nap and a swim. We had our alarms set for 5ish.

Luckily, Brian and I had decent naps and felt somewhat refreshed for that evening's festivities. We all got into our nighttime costumes, except Brian, of course, though I'd begged him to participate. My hair took quite a while to get just right. I wanted perfection.

Soon enough we were headed to the bus stop. We had to wait a good 15 minutes (and by good, I mean bad), we were all very eager to get back to the parks and our first FP+ started soon.

 

[kastoney]

So imagine my surprise when we flew by this camel on our descent and he spit right on us!! How unfair is that?! Our carpets were locked into position. We both got pretty spitty.

I despise those camels as much as you. I always forgot where the one is and he gets me without fail. I like you had no idea the one on the ride spit too until he got me. Though thankfully not in the eye

what washes up on small beaches?....

Micro-waves!! Bahahahaha!

Want another? What do you call a witch that goes to the beach?....


A sandwich!!!

Good ones. I'm gonna take the credit and share these with my daughter. She'll love them!

We've had some really great skippers over the years. I really appreciated the one guy who sang, in a very creepy voice, it's a small world after all. This was after he did a part of the Willy Wonka speech from the boat scene of that movie...

How awesome is this!!!! Would love to get someone with that much personality

Having finished up what we wanted to do in Adventureland it was almost 9 am.

Can't believe you got so much done before 9am!!!!!

Requisite foot picture on People Mover (when did this even become a thing?)

How did I not know this was either requisite or a thing?

don't want to sound like an ungrateful winner, but I'm afraid I'm going to sound like an ungrateful winner (or at least, guest of winner).

You don't sound ungrateful at all. Winning is only good if you win something good ; )

Don't judge me poorly!!! I'd managed to stay 24 hours the year before, so I already knew that I could do it. And we had just had such poor sleep (only a few hours the night before). We really wanted to be able to enjoy the nighttime and made the sad decision that we needed naps.

Wow impressive you made it last year. And no judging it all, I would have still been in bed with that little sleep ; )

Finally it was our turn and the family was very pleased to see us! Earlier in the day Brian and I had walked by their meet and greet and Drizella had seen me and shouted and pointed me out to Anastasia, so Anastasia said she had been wondering when we would stop by.

These pictures are classic!!!! Great job on the costumes.

Luckily, Brian and I had decent naps and felt somewhat refreshed for that evening's festivities. We all got into our nighttime costumes, except Brian, of course, though I'd begged him to participate. My hair took quite a while to get just right. I wanted perfection.

Can't wait to see what you have in order