MeghanEmily
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2016
MNSSHP Continued...
Aug. 24—Part 4
Since we were in the area and the line wasn't long, now seemed like as good a time as any to check in with our pal, Mickey. He was dressed for the occasion and looking not-so-scary.
Next, I knew I was running out of time for the character photo op I'd had my heart set on. We headed over to the teacups to get in line for the Queen of Hearts/Tweedles, and Alice/Mad Hatter. Since we were dressed as the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter, I just couldn't pass up these character meets!
We were in line, but just before we reached the front all the characters had to leave for the upcoming second parade. Anyone else who was waiting at the time decided to bail, but I said "no way!" We were way too cute in our costumes not to meet the Alice gang. We decided to sit and wait until after the parade when they returned, being promised by a character attendant that we'd be first to meet them in their next set.
While we waited, we chatted with the character attendant, learning that her name was Heather, and that she was a big Star Wars fan. Galaxy's Edge was still in development at this time, so she and N geeked out together about what they were most excited to experience when it opened. We all talked about our favourite things to do at Disney, and Heather mentioned to us more than once that she appreciated that we didn't get upset about the character wait, that we were her favourite kind of guests, and talking with other young-adult-mega-Disney-fan types made working at WDW the most magical for her, etc. She really did make our night extra fun and helped keep the wait from feeling too long, so a huge shoutout to Heather the character attendant from summer 2018! Thanks for the memories!
The Mad Tea Party ride was lit up for the party—I think it's a stretch to call this a party "overlay," but it was pretty nonetheless!
The only unfortunate moment of the night also happened to occur during our wait for these characters. As I've mentioned before in my TRs, I'm highly emetophobic, i.e. I super phobic of vomit. It sounds silly, but the anxiety I experience around seeing/hearing others puke is no laughing matter. I even turn the tv channel or ask N to screen movies for me if there are vomit scenes. My niece got a stomach bug a week ago, and I have still yet to emerge from my basement bedroom to the rest of the house. Fortunately, other than the occasional witnessing of an upchucking incident on a Disney bus, or at Food and Wine, I don't normally have too much trouble at Disney World. I don't ride rides that are especially intense for motion sickness anyway, and most Disney rides aren't super vomit-inducing...except for the aptly nicknamed, "puke cups"...which happened to be right beside us. While we were sitting waiting, I heard someone come running off the tea cups and spew into the bushes behind us. (N had also heard it, but he didn't mention it at the time in case I missed it. Not so!) I went into an immediate internal panic, heart racing, breath shallow, palms sweating, stomach in my throat. My first inclination in these situations is to get as far away as possible. I would NOT, however, be missing our character meet now, after we'd waited so long. I swallowed hard, took a few deep breaths, and engaged my brain as fully as possible in the conversation with N and Heather. Before too long, I was feeling much saner, and the characters arrived!
We had THE MOST AMAZING interactions with the Queen of Hearts and the Tweedles! We were there to play, and so were they! The Queen, especially, was incredibly in character. She made N kiss her hand, she posed for photos, and when I tried to take a selfie with her she made herself the star of the show. The Tweedles were also lots of fun, stealing N's hat, and dancing around dopily.
My only complaint about the whole shebang was that I had stupidly set my camera off to the side on the ground to participate more fully in the interaction, but the characters ended up being all over the place, and one of the Tweedles accidentally kicked my camera. It didn't seem any worse for wear aside from a bit of a scuff on the exterior. The Tweedle seemed horrified and incredibly apologetic, and I told him not to worry about it. I never should have left it on the ground in the first place, and I was very happy that it seemed to still be functioning properly.
Next, we got in line to see Alice and the Mad Hatter! There were only a few people ahead of us, so we didn't wait long. I reminded Alice that we'd met them earlier that morning at 1900PF, but that she probably wouldn't recognize us because now we were disguised as her friends!
After our character meets, the night was almost over.
I still hadn't managed to watch the Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular, however, so we decided to stick around for the last showing around midnight.
On our way out of the park, we stopped for one more photopass photo, before heading toward the monorail.
By the time we got to bed at the GF, it was around 1:30 in the morning. Yes, it was waaaaay past my bedtime, but we'd had a wonderfully productive and fun Halloween party. I was beginning to feel the need to make the most of the time we had left in WDW, as we were headed into our second-to-last day.
Up next: our next morning would have a later start, but we were in for some pampering, and then some fun at EPCOT!
Aug. 24—Part 4
Since we were in the area and the line wasn't long, now seemed like as good a time as any to check in with our pal, Mickey. He was dressed for the occasion and looking not-so-scary.
Next, I knew I was running out of time for the character photo op I'd had my heart set on. We headed over to the teacups to get in line for the Queen of Hearts/Tweedles, and Alice/Mad Hatter. Since we were dressed as the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter, I just couldn't pass up these character meets!
We were in line, but just before we reached the front all the characters had to leave for the upcoming second parade. Anyone else who was waiting at the time decided to bail, but I said "no way!" We were way too cute in our costumes not to meet the Alice gang. We decided to sit and wait until after the parade when they returned, being promised by a character attendant that we'd be first to meet them in their next set.
While we waited, we chatted with the character attendant, learning that her name was Heather, and that she was a big Star Wars fan. Galaxy's Edge was still in development at this time, so she and N geeked out together about what they were most excited to experience when it opened. We all talked about our favourite things to do at Disney, and Heather mentioned to us more than once that she appreciated that we didn't get upset about the character wait, that we were her favourite kind of guests, and talking with other young-adult-mega-Disney-fan types made working at WDW the most magical for her, etc. She really did make our night extra fun and helped keep the wait from feeling too long, so a huge shoutout to Heather the character attendant from summer 2018! Thanks for the memories!
The Mad Tea Party ride was lit up for the party—I think it's a stretch to call this a party "overlay," but it was pretty nonetheless!
The only unfortunate moment of the night also happened to occur during our wait for these characters. As I've mentioned before in my TRs, I'm highly emetophobic, i.e. I super phobic of vomit. It sounds silly, but the anxiety I experience around seeing/hearing others puke is no laughing matter. I even turn the tv channel or ask N to screen movies for me if there are vomit scenes. My niece got a stomach bug a week ago, and I have still yet to emerge from my basement bedroom to the rest of the house. Fortunately, other than the occasional witnessing of an upchucking incident on a Disney bus, or at Food and Wine, I don't normally have too much trouble at Disney World. I don't ride rides that are especially intense for motion sickness anyway, and most Disney rides aren't super vomit-inducing...except for the aptly nicknamed, "puke cups"...which happened to be right beside us. While we were sitting waiting, I heard someone come running off the tea cups and spew into the bushes behind us. (N had also heard it, but he didn't mention it at the time in case I missed it. Not so!) I went into an immediate internal panic, heart racing, breath shallow, palms sweating, stomach in my throat. My first inclination in these situations is to get as far away as possible. I would NOT, however, be missing our character meet now, after we'd waited so long. I swallowed hard, took a few deep breaths, and engaged my brain as fully as possible in the conversation with N and Heather. Before too long, I was feeling much saner, and the characters arrived!
We had THE MOST AMAZING interactions with the Queen of Hearts and the Tweedles! We were there to play, and so were they! The Queen, especially, was incredibly in character. She made N kiss her hand, she posed for photos, and when I tried to take a selfie with her she made herself the star of the show. The Tweedles were also lots of fun, stealing N's hat, and dancing around dopily.
My only complaint about the whole shebang was that I had stupidly set my camera off to the side on the ground to participate more fully in the interaction, but the characters ended up being all over the place, and one of the Tweedles accidentally kicked my camera. It didn't seem any worse for wear aside from a bit of a scuff on the exterior. The Tweedle seemed horrified and incredibly apologetic, and I told him not to worry about it. I never should have left it on the ground in the first place, and I was very happy that it seemed to still be functioning properly.
Next, we got in line to see Alice and the Mad Hatter! There were only a few people ahead of us, so we didn't wait long. I reminded Alice that we'd met them earlier that morning at 1900PF, but that she probably wouldn't recognize us because now we were disguised as her friends!
After our character meets, the night was almost over.
I still hadn't managed to watch the Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular, however, so we decided to stick around for the last showing around midnight.
On our way out of the park, we stopped for one more photopass photo, before heading toward the monorail.
By the time we got to bed at the GF, it was around 1:30 in the morning. Yes, it was waaaaay past my bedtime, but we'd had a wonderfully productive and fun Halloween party. I was beginning to feel the need to make the most of the time we had left in WDW, as we were headed into our second-to-last day.
Up next: our next morning would have a later start, but we were in for some pampering, and then some fun at EPCOT!