Here We Go Again! 2 Weeks in the Most Magical Place on Earth..and the Dark Side

[SnapesGirl]

Hi everyone! Welcome to my second trip report! If you read my first trip report, you’ll know we spent 2 weeks at the Art of Animation resort in May 2014. Unfortunately, Diagon Alley opened a few days AFTER we left, and being a massive Harry Potter fan, I knew we had to go back and check it out. We had such a great time at AoA that we decided to stay there again for another 2 weeks from April 30th to May 14. 2015.


The Crazy Duo

What has become an (almost) annual tradition, my mom and I take a yearly trip together – in reality, she’s the only one crazy enough to vacation with me! I’m not really a commando vacationer like a lot of people on the Dis, but I like to have a plan of action

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In case you haven’t read my previous trip report, I’m Tonia and this is my mom, Josie!

So come along and join us on a 2 week whirlwind of a trip!

 

[SnapesGirl]

Day 1 – We Leave the Cold Behind for Some Sun and Palm Trees!

Our travel day began early. I mean really early. Our flight was at 6am, leaving from Montreal, Quebec to Orlando. Being an international flight, we had to be at the airport at 4am. With the excitement building up, I don’t think either of us slept more than a couple of hours.

Even though we were ready to go before the sun had even risen, we were in a good mood and managed a smile for a picture. Try to get me to smile at 4am on a regular day and you might not survive. But in this case, we were headed to Disney, so even I managed to not be grumpy

We had a moment of dread before boarding the plane as there was a group of cheerleaders headed down to Disney as well. But thankfully the girls slept the entire flight. In fact, most of the people slept. Including this man next to us who looked like something straight out of a horror movie:

Other than that scary sight, the flight was uneventful and we landed at Orlando around 9:15am. I had rented a car with Thrifty through Bookit for only $240 for 2 weeks. We had 3 days planned at Universal, so it was just more convenient to have a car.

I brought my trusty GPS with me from home and he (we call him Mick) has never gotten us lost…until today. I had programmed it to go to Walmart and I missed an exit. Mick re-routed us.. right into the Florida Mall and then round and round in circles. A good hour later we finally found Walmart. We made a quick stop to get some breakfast foods and souvenirs and off we went! Thankfully Mick found AoA with no problem.

We got a room in the King Triton building as last time. I had done online check in 30 days prior and had requested a room on the second floor and close to transportation. Last time we had a view of the Little Mermaid pool. This time we had what they call a courtyard view room, closer to the parking lot. We were actually able to see most of the Illuminations fireworks from our room.

I know a lot of people complain about the walk from the lobby to the Little Mermaid section, but I actually timed it on a night that we were pretty tired and it took us 5 minutes and 24 seconds. Really not that bad at all, although I can see how it can be far if you have little children to carry (or drag, whichever).

We also picked up our Magic Bands from the lobby. I had bought stickers ahead of time so once we got to our room, I stuck them on:

I got the green with a Loki decal and my mom got yellow with a Queen of Hearts decal. They actually stayed on the bands the entire trip, even though we went in the pool almost every day. Loved them!

We quickly unpacked and then jumped in the pool. It was a REALLY long winter this year so we wanted to soak in as much heat and sun as we possibly could. Around 3pm we got showered, changed, and headed to Downtown Disney for dinner. Of course, I had to stop and take some pictures of the resort along the way to the bus:

We also made a quick stop at the gift shop and food court to pick up gift cards (which we loaded with money and used for the duration of our trip) and to get 2 refillable mugs.

You’re probably wondering why I’m wearing long sleeves in my pictures when all I wanted to do was soak in the sun and heat. Well, I wore long sleeves because Disney likes to keep it’s buses cold enough to store meat. Seriously though, what is up with the air conditioning in these buses?

I didn’t make many ADRs this trip like I did last year – just a few that we really enjoyed. However, this time I did want to try Raglan Road as it seems to get a lot of love on the DIS. So off we headed for our 5pm ADR.

We were given seats right near the stage so we got a great view of the wonderful dancers:

I forgot to take a picture of the bread, but our waitress brought us bread with oil, Guinness, and sugar. For our meal, I ordered the Bangers and Booz – sausages with mashed potatoes and Guinness beef stew, which was about $20:

Mom chose the Fish & Chips, but changed the chips for onion rings. I believe this was also about $20:

We both really enjoyed our dishes. I found mine was a bit heavy and would have been better in cold weather, but overall, we enjoyed the food and entertainment. I wouldn’t necessarily say this would be a must-do for future trips, but I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to others!

DTD had undergone a few changes since last year, so we walked around to see some of the new additions (and to walk off our meal!). I really liked Boathouse and what they did with the inside and outside of the restaurant:

I found the menu to be just a bit too pricy for my liking, but I’m interested in seeing more reviews as time goes by.

As we were walking, I noticed there was no line at Ghirardellis. I thought there must be something wrong – every single time we walk by this place, the line is out the door. There was not a soul in sight! So I finally got to try this ice cream:

We shared the Sea Salted Caramel sundae and it was definitely worth $10!

After walking around for a bit, we were so stuffed and exhausted from our long day that we decided to head back to the resort around 7:30pm. Before we caught the bus, we just had to stop into Goofy’s Candy Co to pick up some snacks (did I mention we were stuffed?). Mom got some Jelly Bellies and I got my favourite treat:

Red velvet Mickey cake pop – yum!

It didn’t take long before we were in bed and lights out at 8:30pm!​

 

[SnapesGirl]

Day 2 – Every Morning Should Start Like This!

We always start our Disney vacation at Magic Kingdom. So after sleeping a good 10 hours or so, we got up, grabbed coffee at the food court and headed to MK by 8am. We arrived a few minutes before the Welcome Show so we got a nice view in the front. I love starting our day with this show and only wish we could start our day like this every day back home

We let the massive hoards run off to Seven Dwarves Mine Train and Anna and Elsa. In the meantime, we took a pleasant stroll to (old?) Fantasyland.

There’s really nothing like walking into the park in the morning, turning the corner and seeing the castle for the first time. It’s just such an amazing feeling!

I really like what they did with the Hub expansion; there’s so much more room to move around now. Most of the expansion seems to be complete, but there were some walls up around Walt’s statue and surrounding area.

The first stop of the day was Peter Pan. They installed a new queue since last year, so I wanted to check that out. They did a great job with it! Unfortunately it was hard to take pictures in there without flash, so I only got one usable picture:

Next stop on the agenda was… the restroom. Hey, it’s an attraction in itself!

Pete and others have mentioned on the podcast that the bathrooms lately have been atrocious, but I’m happy to report that all the bathrooms were clean during our trip and there was almost always a cast member nearby cleaning up.

Now we were ready to continue – off to one of my favourite attractions. Haunted Mansion!

There was a photographer outside the attraction once you get off the ride. We got Memory Maker last year and I really liked it since I’m always the one behind the camera, so it’s nice to get some pictures with my mom. So I made sure to buy it again this year. We stopped at practically every photographer we saw, including the one outside the Haunted Mansion. But, unfortunately, I didn’t like any of the 3 photos he took, so you don’t get to see those

I wanted to go see if Aladdin was around as I have a tiny bit of a crush on him. Ok, a huge one, but who doesn’t? One the way, I had to snap this picture:

Be warned- this is what happens when parents misbehave at Disney.

We got to Adventureland, but Aladdin seemed to have taken the day off and it was only Jasmine. As lovely as she is, I wasn’t willing to wait in a scorching hot line just for her. So we walked around and did a few more rides, including Pirates, Winnie the Pooh, the Teacups, and the Little Mermaid:

We want the redhead!

We then used our first FP of the day for the 7DMT. This opened the day after we left last year, so this was going to be the first time we would experience it. I’m a huge rollercoaster fan – the bigger and scarier, the better. So I was ready to be disappointed with this one. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it!

And although Mom looks like she’s praying for it to end in the photo, she says she really enjoyed it as well.

I love the video that is included with Memory Maker:

By now it was 12:10pm and it was time for our ADR at Be Our Guest. We ate there last year and enjoyed it, so this was one place on my must-do list again.

Now that ADRs are required for lunch, I found it so much quieter and less hectic than it was last year when there were FPs available. Last year we sat in the West Wing, so this year I wanted to try the Ballroom:

Beauty and the Beast is one of my favourite Disney movies and Belle is my favourite princess. This room really does take your breath away. It’s just like stepping into the movie – absolutely gorgeous.

For lunch, we shared the roast beef sandwich and the French onion soup. Both were very good:

Before leaving, I walked around a bit to snap some pictures:

Once we were out of the restaurant, it was incredibly hot and I was very happy I had made a FP for Splash Mountain:

We didn’t get too wet and were dry within a few minutes. I originally had a FP for Pirates at 1:30, but since we did it in the morning, I changed it to Buzz Lightyear. We had some time to kill before Buzz, so we did Peoplemover (one of the most underrated rides ever!) and Carousel of Progress.

As you can see, we take our job of defeating Zurg very seriously

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[SnapesGirl]

Day 2 - continued

We were going to catch the parade another day, so we left the park at 2pm and went back to the resort to swim for a bit. I didn’t have anything planned for dinner, so we decided to use our Parkhoppers and head over to Epcot to find something to eat.

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We stopped at Sunshine Seasons to see what they had to offer, but couldn’t find anything we liked. So we decided to get something to eat in Morocco:

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I got the chicken wrap with no sides and mom got the lamb wrap with couscous and lentils. They were both just alright. We have Lebanese stands in the food courts in Montreal that make similar wraps, but they put this really good (and strong) garlic sauce in the wraps (called Shish Taouks). These wraps in Epcot were plain and came with Tziziki on the side, which I found a bit strange. Again, they were fine, but just lacked a bit of taste.

We did some more exploring of World Showcase:

Fezzes are cool.

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We just couldn’t resist the smell from the Werthers store. I got the salted caramel milk chocolate and Mom got the caramel pecan bar. Word of advice – get a plastic container for the caramel pecan bar, not the bag!

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Quick stop at Mexico:

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As we were taking the bus back to the resort, we didn’t want to run into the Illuminations crowd so we left the park at 8pm. I turned 30 this year and my body was definitely feeling it! I found I was more tired and sore this trip, so like two old ladies, we were in bed by 9pm!

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[SnapesGirl]

Day 3 – Going to Space Nearly Kills Me

Since we had a nice long sleep, we got up around 7:30am and went back to Epcot as I had some FPs planned for the morning.

Our first stop was Snorin. I mean Soarin. It’s a nice ride, I just can’t understand the massive waits for this ride. By the time we got off the ride, the wait was already at 40 minutes.

Next ride was Living with the Land. I’m weird – I find Soarin boring, but love this ride!

I’m not into gardening or farming, but I still find this ride fascinating.

We then headed to Mission Space for our 10:30 FP. I did Orange while Mom did Green.
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For some reason, this ride gave me a massive headache for the rest of the day. Must be that 30 years old thing again.

Last trip, we didn’t get to do Ellen as it was closed, so after Mission Space, we went straight to Ellen’s Energy. And that was 40 minutes of my life I will never get back. I’m a believer that you should try every attraction at least once, so I’m glad I got to try it, but that will definitely be the last time we do that one.

We then used our 12:50 FP for Spaceship Earth. There really wasn’t a need for the FP, but since you can pick 3, I just picked this one.
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Apparently in the future we will vacation in outer space while a robot takes care of our dog. And we will still look as fabulous as we do now ​

We had a bit of a wait until our Test Track FP, so we walked over to France for lunch.

We shared a ham, cheese and butter sandwich and a dessert from the Boulangerie Patisserie les Halles. The baguette was so fresh – crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside! The sandwich and dessert came out to $12, so it was a good deal.

Last year, I bought the Grey Goose slushie. It was okay, but I didn’t really enjoy it. This time I tried a Grand Marnier slushie. Much better I had no trouble finishing this one!

While outside, we saw the “Serveur Amusant” perform. Great show!

We walked around and took some pictures on our way back to Future World:

It was then time to use our 1:50 FP at Test Track. I would love to tell you that we put a lot of thought and effort into designing our car, taking all the categories into account. But in the end, we just go with what looks cool and has as much power as possible

We decided we were done with Epcot for the day, so off we went back to the resort for some pool time. I just released I didn’t take a picture of the Little Mermaid pool, so I’ve borrow this one from the amazing Easywdw.comwebsite. Seriously though, if you ever need to plan a WDW vacation, check out that site! The Little Mermaid pool is considered one of the smaller, quieter pools, but as you can see, it’s still fairly big.

For dinner, we decided to go back to DTD and go to Wolfgang Puck Express for some pizza.

We shared the Margherita pizza and an order of sweet potato fries for $20 total. Although I was full, I was thinking of the ice cream from the other day, so we went back to Ghirardelli. This time I got the Famous Hot Fudge Sundae and mom got the butter pecan ice cream in a sugar cone. I preferred the caramel sundae.
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We walked around a bit more and then headed back to the resort around 8. We had a big day tomorrow that I had been looking forward to for a year! Before leaving I took a short video of the trees at DTD. I absolutely love these twinkling trees!
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[jandlinz]

Wow! Looks like you did quite a lot. I think it's great that you can take a mother, daughter trip.
-Lindsey

 

[SnapesGirl]

Thanks, Lindsey! We try to travel as much together now as we're not getting any younger, so these are definitely memories we (and I especially I) will cherish for a long time!

 

[SnapesGirl]

Day 4 – It’s Time to Go Back to School!

Universal haters – you might want to stop reading for this section. Better yet, read this and see what you’re missing out on!

I wasn’t sure what the crowds would be like on a Sunday, so we got up at 6:45am and were at the park for about 8am. There were only 2 families in front of us. Within 20 minutes though, the entire area was packed. They opened the gates at 8:40am and we hussled over to Diagon Alley as quick as our feet could bring us!

While I do love Disney, Universal has Harry Potter and man did they did an amazing job with Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. The theming is just unbelievable. So you can imagine my excitement when they announced there would be a Diagon Alley. Last year, I was able to see Kings Cross station and London… right behind a nice big wall. I had purposefully not looked at videos or many photos of Diagon Alley as I wanted to be surprised. And I was not disappointed! Ok, enough talk – here are the pictures!:

You have to walk around the brick wall before getting into Diagon Alley. It can be a bit hidden as there were a few people asking Team Members how you get to Diagon Alley. Excitement building…

I nearly cried. I originally wanted to bring my Slytherin robes, but I thought I might pass out in the heat. So I brought my Hogwarts dress instead

This guy breaths fire every few minutes. So cool!

I said before that seeing the castle for the first time is quite an experience, but as a HP fan, walking into Diagon Alley just took my breath away.

I stored my bag in the locker and we walked right onto Gringrotts ride with no wait. Pictures really don’t do Gringrotts justice. It’s gorgeous in there and the animatronic goblins are awesome!

There’s a cute pre-show where you see a holographic Bill Weasley and one of the goblins. They explain you’ll be taking a tour of Gringrotts to see if you want to open an account. You then take an elevator down to the carts. It’s really well done.

I can’t really explain the ride other than its partially a roller coaster and partially 3D screens like Spiderman and Transformers. Bellatrix (one of my favourite characters) and Voldemort himself make an appearance in the ride. Seeing You -Know-Who in person did give me chills, I’m not going to lie.

There wasn’t any wait so we rode Gringrotts again. We then took some time to tour the area:

I could totally use a house elf at home. I would pay him of course.

One of the areas I was most looking forward to was Knockturn Alley. It’s a really cool area, but due to the really dark lighting, I couldn’t get many pictures as I didn’t want to use my flash and blind everyone:

There were some pretty sketchy wizards and witches about, but I wasn’t leaving until we went into Borgin and Burkes. For my 30th birthday, I told my family to give me money as I really wanted a Death Eater mask. I had read that Borgin and Burkes sold them, so I couldn’t wait to go in!

It’s the vanishing cabinet, just like in the movie! You can even hear the bird chirping inside :

So in we went… only to be informed by the lovely saleswitch that they were completely sold out of Death Eater masks. None left. Zero.

But this is Borgin and Burkes! Aren’t there any wizards that can just conjure them up?? Apparently not. Ah well.

With my dreams crushed, we left Diagon Alley and took some time to do Men in Black and the Simpsons, both very fun rides! After doing those, we decided to take the Hogwarts Express over to Islands of Adventure.
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[SnapesGirl]

Day 4 continued...

In case you didn’t know, you need a 2 Park ticket (essentially a park hopper) to do this ride and they do check your ticket before they let you get in line for the Hogwarts Express.

There’s this neat illusion when you pass through the wall to get to Platform 9 3/4. You can see people actually walk right through the wall!:

And yet again I wanted to cry – passing though to 9 3/4 and seeing the Hogwarts Express pull up… dream come true!

The train ride is a neat experience. There are screens where the windows are and there are also shadows that move across the doors showing you dementors, Harry, Ron & Hermione. Again, hard to explain and just has to be experienced!

Our first stop in Islands of Adventure was to find my mom’s Crocs flip flops. She got a pair last year outside the Jurassic Park ride and wanted to get another pair. IOA has changed the area a bit as they are currently making the King Kong ride, so I didn’t see the entrance to Jurassic Park from Hogwarts. Instead, we walked ALLLLL the way around the park to get to Jurassic Park.

Well hello there, Captain.

This is all I could snap of the new Kong ride. Universal seems to move really fast when constructing their rides, so hopefully it shouldn’t be too long before its completed.

Once my mom picked up her Crocs, we headed back to Hogwarts, but this time through the much shorter route! Forbidden Journey only had about a 10 minute wait so we hopped right on. This used to be my favourite ride until Gringrotts came around, but I still really enjoy it, especially the Quidditch scene!

Once we came off the ride, we went directly into Filch’s Emporium, the gift shop associated with the ride. I found one of the items I was looking to buy – a Dobby doll!

Ok, he’s a bit creepy and much smaller than I thought, but I still had to get him

While walking around the store, Mom spotted a death eater mask that was on display. I had noticed it in previous years, but it’s always been one of those background items and never had a price tag. We decided to ask the saleswizard if they sold the mask in the store and lo and behold, they do! He went to check in the back and they still had some masks! I’ve never whipped out money so fast in my life lol

The only mask they sell (or seem to had at the moment) was the Lucius Malfoy mask which is exactly the one I was looking for. He asked if I was a member of the Malfoy family. I told him I married into it

The mask was only $100, which isn’t bad considering you get the mask and the wooden base (which is really heavy, so something to keep in mind if you’re flying!).

Now that I had my mask, I was happy and ready to eat lunch. So we took the Hogwarts Express back to Diagon Alley and headed to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch at 1:30.

The inside of the Leaky Cauldron looks pretty similar to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade:

I’m not really a fan of the food at the Three Broomsticks, so I didn’t have high hopes for the food at the Leaky Cauldron either.

First we ordered a glass of regular butterbeer and a glass of frozen butterbeer:

I ordered the sausage sandwich (in front) and Mom ordered the toad in the hole (back):

While the food was better than the Three Broomsticks, I wouldn’t rush back to eat here.

Although Diagon Alley seemed to be full of people, Gringrotts only had a 20 minute wait at 2pm, which wasn’t bad at all. It was getting really hot by now so we decided to head back to the resort for some pool time. On the way out, we stopped at Transformers. It had a 45 minute wait posted, but with the single rider line, we were on the ride and out within 7 minutes. If you go to Universal, definitely utilize their single rider lines!

We also noticed poor Dora and Diego with no one waiting to meet them, so we decided to get a picture with them for fun:

We found an Aunite Ann’s pretzel stand in Citywalk, so we grabbed one on our way out.

Once we got back to our room (around 3:30), we found this cool little guy hanging out on our bed:

I think this was one of the few days we were too tired to swim. We just chilled in the room and watched tv a bit. Mom fell asleep for a bit and I was very close to falling asleep as well, which NEVER happens during the day. Around 5:30, we decided we should stop hibernating and get moving. After all, you don’t come to Disney to sleep, right?

We decided to go to the Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney for dinner. I got the holiday turkey sandwich (top) and Mom got the Original with a cup of chicken soup (bottom):

They don’t look very appetizing in the pictures, but they’re actually very good and only about $6 each.

We stopped at Goofy’s Candy Co again for a couple of snacks before going back to the resort.

Before going to bed, we walked around Pop Century a bit as Mom didn’t come walking with me there last year.

It had been a long day so we were in bed and lights out by 9:30pm.








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[SnapesGirl]

Day 5 – Into the Wild

We were up at 8:45am and took the bus for our first morning at the Animal Kingdom. Our first stop was Expedition Everest to use our 10am FP.

Favourite magic shot ever:

Mom was getting quite adventurous this trip and actually put her hands in the air on the rides!

Next stop was Dinosaur:
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And then the Maharaja Jungle Trek. Mom doesn’t seem to think bats are as cute as I do:​

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I really like how Animal Kingdom can make you forget that you’re in a theme park. Everything is so beautiful!​

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We slowly made our way over to Kilimanjaro Safari for our 11am FP:​

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Hippos are my favourite animal! Those tiny little ears are just so cute!​

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We also did the Pagani Trail before going to find some lunch.​

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I find there’s not many dining options in Animal Kingdom that we really like, so we decided to split the Teriyaki Beef Bowl and 2 Spring Rolls from the Yak & Yeti CS location:

It’s a good thing we got those spring rolls because there isn’t really much to that beef bowl. For $18, this lunch was definitely too expensive!

We then headed over to the Festival of the Lion King and used our 12:20pm FP. This show is definitely worth seeing:
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The area outside the theatre gets very crowded after the show so hold onto those little ones! Unless you want to lose them. Then just let them go

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[SnapesGirl]

Day 5 continued...

By 2pm we went back to the resort and found another awesome towel animal!

We didn’t get any towel animals last year (except a flower on Mother’s Day), so I was quite excited every time we would find one in our room

Mom decided to stay in the room a bit while I went to the pool. It was really windy in the afternoon which made it quite chilly in the pool, so I didn’t stay too long.

Mom got bit by something pretty nasty on her leg. We don’t know what it was, but it just looked like a nasty bite and it was really itchy, so we drove over to the Walgreens on Vineland Ave to pick up some Cortisone cream. It only took us about 30 minutes to drive there, pick up the items, and drive back to the resort. We hopped onto the Magic Kingdom bus at 4pm as we had an ADR at 6pm for one of my favourite dinners!

After getting to the Magic Kingdom, we took the monorail over to this gorgeous hotel:

We were at the Grand Floridian for dinner at 1900 Park Fare!

This is a must-do for us. We had so much fun with the characters on our first trip and always look forward to coming back here. I didn’t take pictures of the buffet, but only what I got. There was a lot more to offer than what I picked, but a lot of it was seafood and my motto is “fish are friends, not food.”

I ordered the Primm Punch (front) and Mom had the Bahama Mama (back), both of which were very good and strong!

I started with the salads first:

Then onto the meats and side dishes.

After about 20 minutes, the characters started coming around our table:

I love watching Cinderella and Prince Charming dance. So cute!

None of the little girls wanted to dance with Prince Charming, so he asked Anastasia. As you can see, she was pretty happy!

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Last year, Lady Tremaine complained that I hadn’t done a drawing of her, so this year I gave her a drawing of her and her two lovely daughters:

I also gave a drawing to Cinderella of her and her prince. She was so cute and said she would make sure Lady Tremaine didn’t see it. She then walked over to show Prince Charming

Mom asked Prince Charming when they were going to have kids. He said they already have kids – mice. Tons of them. He didn’t seem too pleased about Cinderella’s little friends.

Anastasia got very confused when we said we were having some mother/daughter bonding time. She said her mother said it’s a myth and doesn’t exist! I guess Lady Tremaine is not really the motherly type…

I went back for more meat and side dishes:

Then onto dessert!

For $40, we really enjoy this meal. The food is great and the character interaction is some of the best on property! Just one small thing to mention about the bill and this goes for all dining locations. Originally our waitress brought 1 bill (even though I asked for 2 separate, but she must have not heard). So we asked if we could just split it in half with 2 gift cards and she said no problem. We then got 2 receipts back (one for my card and one for my mom’s) with a place to write in the tip and sign.

Like all Disney dining, they have the 18% and 20% tip suggestions at the bottom, so I wrote in the 18% on each receipt. Only later did I realize that the 18% suggested tip at the bottom of the receipts was for the ENTIRE cost of the meal. Meaning, although my bill came out to $40, the suggested tip was 18% of the $80 total. So our waitress got 2 nice tips that night lol.

I wanted to see Wishes, so we took the monorail over to Magic Kingdom around 7:30.

We cut through the castle to get to New Fantasyland:

Last year I met Ariel in her grotto alone (as Mom was sick at the resort), so this time I wanted to get a picture with both of us. Although her line said 30 minutes, we were in to see her in about 8 minutes.

It’s a bit hard to see in the photo, but it was a drawing of her and Scuttle on her leg. She loved the drawing of her and Scuttle I gave her. She was debating whether to put it in her castle under the sea or on land, but I explained the drawing probably wouldn’t do too well under water

We had a bit more time to kill before Wishes, so we did Mickey’s Philharmagic and then Dumbo.

I picked up a bag of cotton candy in the big Circus tent and then we went to grab our spot for Wishes. Ever since last year, we prefer seeing Wishes behind the castle and sit on the benches outside of Pinnochio’s. It’s such an amazing view of the fireworks as they go off all around you and above you.

I wouldn’t recommend that spot if it’s the first time you see Wishes (as the fireworks won’t be lined up behind the castle), but you should definitely try it once. Just don’t spread the word too much. Right now, the entire area is practically empty, even 5 minutes before the show, so I wouldn’t want too many people knowing about this secret spot

Wishes is definitely my favourite fireworks show at Disney and gets me every time

We didn’t want to fight the crowds leaving the park, so we decided to do one go on the Peoplemover before leaving the park.

The only downside to going to Magic Kingdom at night is the amount of time it takes to get back to your resort. Even with numerous buses coming, it still took about an hour to get back to the resort and we were in bed by 11:45pm.

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[SnapesGirl]

Day 6 – It’s Show Time!

Because of the late night before, we slept in a bit until 8:50am and then headed to Hollywood. Hollywood Studios that is! I know this park gets a lot of hate, but I love it!

I never really disliked the Sorcerer’s Hat, but neither did I care when they announced it was being removed. I think the area looks more open now.

The first thing I wanted to do was the Animation Academy drawing class. If ever I got a job at Disney, this is the one I would want. I’ve never taken formal art classes, but I still looooove to draw, especially Disney characters. I find it so relaxing and time just goes by so fast . Mom, on the other hand, would disagree, but she still came along for the class.

The artist let us vote which character we wanted to do – Buzz, Dopey, Eeoyre, or Baymax. I voted for Eeyore, but in the end, Dopey won.

Here’s my Dopey:

And Mom’s Dopey:

I know Mom didn’t like her drawing, but for someone who cannot draw at all, that’s pretty darn good! Much better than my first drawings as well!

This is a fun 20/30 minute class, and even though the artist does make it easy to follow along, small kids might get discouraged or find it a bit too hard.

When we came out of the drawing class, we saw Baymax! The line however, was already at about 60 minutes, so we decided we would see him another day and instead got a picture with Minnie with no wait.

After meeting Minnie, we went over to the Great Movie Ride. I told Mom I really hoped we would get the cowboy scene as we had always gotten the mafia guy. And sure enough, we got the cowboy! Or rather, cowgirl.

I tried taking some pictures on the ride, but it’s a bit hard so there aren’t too many:

We then headed to our first FP – Star Tours at 11:10am.I really like this ride. I wish I had a system like this at home for when I play my video games

When we first entered the park, there was the sign with show times which said Beauty and the Beast was at 12:10, so we walked over to Starring Rolls and got a croissant and bagel and then walked over to the theatre to see the show. Well, it actually started at 11:45am so we missed the first part of the show. We had seen the show before, so decided to just stay and watch the rest rather than waiting for the next show.

Next stop was the Tower of Terror with a 12:25 FP. I like the new ride video that’s included with Memory Maker!

I love seeing the other people in the ride pictures. Especially the terrified kids lol

We then walked around One Man’s Dream and saw the movie. I think this attraction often gets overlooked, but it’s definitely worth checking out, at least once!

We learned from a tour guide later in our trip that the liquid used in the animatronic presidents used to be red, until they started bleeding out. Not a good look lol.

Our final attraction at the park was Toy Story Mania with a 1:25pm FP.

We had done everything we wanted to for the day, so we headed back to the resort around 2:15. It got pretty windy and cloudy again in the afternoon so we didn’t stay too long in the pool.​

​

 

[SnapesGirl]

Day 6 continued...

I had read on the DIS that you should allow at least 90 minutes when trying to get to an ADR using Disney transport. That’s good advice… which I didn’t take on this day.

We had a 5:20pm ADR at ‘Ohana and decided to leave the resort at 4:15 and take the bus to Magic Kingdom. Once we got there, we found out the monorail was having issues so we had to take the boat over to the Poly. By the time we got to ‘Ohana , it was 5:45pm. I was freaking out a bit, but they were very nice at check in and within a few minutes, we were seated.

I was able to snap a couple of pictures before we were called. I was apprehensive when I heard they changed the lobby at the Polynesian, but I love what they did!

We had eaten at ‘Ohana a few years ago and Mom really enjoyed the shrimps, so I decided to book it again this year. We enjoyed the meal, but found it was WAY too much food for 2 people:

Ah the famous ukulele lady. She has a nice voice, but after a few minutes, you just want to take that ukulele and toss it right out the window.

The meat was a bit of a hit or miss. The first piece of steak was perfect. Second piece was too fatty and chewy so I left it. The next one the server brought over was too well done.

The chicken was cooked perfectly. Mom had mostly shrimp, but I forgot to take a picture of her plate. She said she found the shrimp to be more peppery this time.

Overall it was a good meal. I wish they had smaller portions for two people as there is way too much food wasted here.

I purposely did not order the Lapu Lapu as I wanted to try the drinks at Trader Sam’s, so we went off downstairs hoping to get in. At 7pm, there was already a 45 to 60 minute wait for the inside bar, so we decided to come back another day.

While we were taking the boat back to Magic Kingdom, I mentioned to Mom that we had never done the train ride around the park. So we decided to do the train before going back to our resort. The train stops at 2 locations – Splash Mountain and behind Storybook Circus. It’s a nice relaxing ride around the park and a way to get around if you don’t feel like walking.

After admiring the view a bit, we headed back to the resort around 8:30pm. It was a strange feeling to go into the Magic Kingdom (and around in the train), but not actually go in and do rides.

Bit of a side note – last year, we did not hear our neighbours at the resort at all. This year, there was a definite increase of guests at the resort, especially during our first week. There was one family for the first half of our trip that insisted on slamming the doors all night long. I understand that the doors are heavy and can shut pretty hard, but please be considerate of others, especially when coming back late and when going outside for smoking breaks practically every hour at night - 2am, 3am, 4am... Ok, mini rant over.
​

 

[SnapesGirl]

Day 7 – We Vacation Like We Mean It!

Today was our second day at Universal. I purchased the Express Pass a couple of months prior as I wasn’t sure what the crowds would be like due to Diagon Alley. There really wasn’t any need for the Express Pass though. Since we had it, I figured we might as well use it!

We arrived at Universal Studios at 8:30 and the park was already open. We headed to Gringrotts first:

Originally when we got on the ride, the lockers were free for 20 minutes. Since the ride was a walk on, we decided to do it twice in a row. Well, when we got back to the locker, it said we had to pay. That’s all fine and well, but our money was in the locker!

We found a nice witch nearby and explained the situation to her. She said the ride wait time had increased, but the lockers hadn’t been updated. Since we were only 2 minutes over, she magically opened the locker for us and didn’t make us pay We learned that next time, if we wanted to ride something twice, just to change the locker first.

Since we had the Express Pass, we were able to do all the rides before lunch, including

Transformers:

Despicable Me:

We walked around the I Love Lucy Tribute a bit:

We then did the Terminator attraction, which I like, but it needs to be updated. Across from the attraction, was a magic show indoors that had room for about 20 people max. It’s in a store that sells the magic tricks and the salesperson demonstrates the products. Very cool show and they don’t push you at all to buy the products.

We also did the Simpsons and E.T. I’ve been terrified of E.T. since I was a kid, which is really strange since I love horror movies. I just don’t like this ride AT ALL. So no pics!

After reading so many good reviews about Cowfish, we decided to have lunch there. The decor is pretty cool and they have an extensive burger and sushi menu. We decided to both go with burgers.

First I ordered the Ruby Panther and got carded. I was very happy about it until the waitress said everyone under 40 gets carded. Ok then, just crush my dreams of looking really young.

I ordered the C.B.C.L.T (first pic) and Mom ordered the Shroomin Swiss Burger:

We both loved our burgers! The buns were very light and fresh and the overall burger was really tasty. They were only $14 each, which is about the same price you would get in the park, but just much better quality.

After lunch, we headed to Islands of Adventure to get all the rides done there.

My first stop was the Hulk (Mom sat this one out). I’m proud that I can still eat an entire burger, have a drink, and go right on this ride without any problem

Universal has really cracked down on not bringing things onto rides. This was the first time I had to go through a metal detector to go onto a ride, but it’s a smart idea. I don’t want someone’s cell phone and selfie stick flying into my face while I’m on a ride!

We did a few more rides including Storm Force Accelatron (which is the teacups on steriods) and Spiderman:

We also did Jurassic Park and cooled off a bit with the water before heading over to Hogwarts.

We then took the Hogwarts Express over to Universal again. Unfortunately there is no Express Pass on this ride and this was the one time we needed it. When you take the train from King’s Cross Station in London, you’re indoors in air conditioning. When you take the train from Hogsmeade, you’re in a covered area, with NO air conditioning. It was the longest 30 minute wait ever! It was so hot that the girls sharing our cabin on the train were nearly passed out.

Once we got to Diagon Alley, Mom got a butterbeer to cool herself down. I went into Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor to finally try butterbeer ice cream! The fact that there is no picture shows you how disappointed I was. It was essentially vanilla ice cream soft serve with caramel swirl. I think getting the ice cream was just a bad idea as I was so thirsty and the ice cream somehow made me even more thirsty.

One of the best tips I ever learned about Disney and Universal is that you can ask for a free cup of ice water at basically any location that has a soda fountain machine. Which is practically everywhere in the parks…except Diagon Alley. The only place that seemed to be able to give out free ice water was at the Leaky Cauldron and I was not going to wait in that line. So I caved in and did something I never do – I bought a bottle of water. But being the Wizarding World, it was not just a bottle of water. No, no. It was a $4.00 bottle of water. And I didn’t even buy the $5 elixir (colour & dye) to put in the water!

Needless to say, I won’t be throwing out this bottle for a long time.

We walked around Diagon Alley a bit more and did some shopping. I picked up a wand (Sirius Black) and a couple of water bottles – a Slytherin one for me and a Hufflepuff one for my friend. See – houses can get along!

Mom also bought 2 quills – one for me and one for her.

It was getting unbearably hot, so we left the park at 5:30. We hit some traffic on the way back and only got to the resort at 6:30. We jumped in the pool for about 10 minutes and then went back to DTD for dinner. We went to the Earl of Sandwich and got the same thing again (I know, so adventurous!). We made one more stop at Goofy’s (I might need to marry a dentist at this rate!) and picked up a Rice Krispie with mini M&Ms and milk chocolate:

We watched a bit of Forensic Files before turning off the tv around 9:30pm.

​

 

[SnapesGirl]

Day 8 – We Travel Around the World

We were officially exhausted from the day before and I had a terrible night’s sleep, so I set the alarm for 9:30am. I hadn’t booked any FPs for today, so we decided to go to Epcot and walk around a bit.

We took our time and made it to World Showcase around 11am. There was a massive school group visiting so it took some time to actually get into the park. Once we got in, we did something we had never done – we took the boat over to World Showcase!

Apparently Olaf was supposed to be in this Magic Shot, but he must have melted before the photographer pushed the button.

The first thing I wanted to do was meet Belle. I gave her a drawing I did of her and Gaston. She said Gaston would absolutely love the drawing.. if it was just him

Next we walked over to Morocco. I had hoped to meet Aladdin, but it was only Jasmine. Aladdin was proving to be very difficult to find this trip! So instead of waiting in line, I did some shopping! I got an ankle bracelet and Aladdin’s lamp:

We also went to Japan so I could do the pick a pearl. I bought a necklace a couple of years ago there that I love wearing and this time I wanted a ring. The cast member at the counter warned me that there was a size limit for the pearl to fit on the ring and as we had to buy the pearl ahead of time, there was no refund if the pearl was too big.

I picked out an oyster and luckily enough, it fit into the ring! I was panicking a bit as she kept measuring it bigger and bigger lol. So my mom bought me the lovely ring above.

We had 2 hours to wait for the ring to be ready, so we continued walking around.

While we were in China, I wanted to meet Mulan as I had a drawing for her. She said that Mushu loves to draw and paint, but he gets it on his tail and then leaves a trail of paint on the floor in the house

The school bread from Norway was on my list of things to try last year, but we didn’t get around to it. So this time, I wanted to make sure we got to try it!

It was really good! I needed something to quench my thirst so naturally we headed to Mexico for a margarita!

We went inside to La Cava del Tequila and I ordered the Pomegrante Margarita; a drink that I really enjoyed last year. Unfortunately this year was a different story. It tasted so much of tequila that it was really overpowering. We both had a couple of sips and decided it wasn’t worth getting sick over, so in the trash it went!

On our way back to Japan, Mom wanted to stop in America for a funnel cake and I wanted to try the Piggylicious Cupcake:

I took one bite of the cupcake and nearly spit it right back out. It was so gross, I just couldn’t do it and I love bacon. And so it joined my margarita in the trash. Thankfully the funnel cake was ok!







​

 

[SnapesGirl]

Day 8 continued...

We picked up my ring in Japan and took the boat back to Future World. I wanted to do another thing we missed out on last year – the Behind the Seeds tour at the Land Pavillion. We signed up for the 3pm tour. It was $20 each and lasted about 1.5 hours.

We were joined on our tour by a microbiologist from Europe and a father with his teenage son, who was interested in gardening. Our tour guide was Rebecca, who is one of the interns in charge of the greenhouse with the melons and peppers. We got to go behind the scenes in the greenhouses and see how the things are grown up close and personal. We also got to try the cucumbers that were grown hydroponically. We even got to take a picture of the ingredients you need to grow your own plants hydroponically. Doesn’t seem too bad , right?

I asked Rebecca what happens to the alligators once they get bigger. She said they are given back to the farmers who lend them to Disney. Basically, Disney are alligator babysitters.

It was a great tour for the price and if you like the ride, you would love the tour!

We made a quick stop at the Seas pavilion to check out the aquarium. This was the first time we caught the cast member interacting with the dolphins.

We also got to speak with the cast member (or intern I believe) working with and feeding the manatees.

By now it was about 5pm and rather than going back to the resort, we decided to take the monorail over to the Poly and try to get into Trader Sam’s again. We arrived at 5:30 and were given a pager. We only waited about 10 minutes before being called in.

This place is really cool inside and I’m happy we waited to be seated indoors. My only warning is – just because you get inside does not mean you will have a place to sit. We had to wait about 10 minutes inside for 2 seats to become available at the bar. In the meantime, I walked around and snapped some pics:

Once we got seated, we ordered a couple of drinks. I got the HippopotoMai-Tai, but opted not to buy the glass. My drink was $10.50 (on the left). Mom got the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum (and you better make sure you get the Tikis right!) for $11 (on the right).

My drink was pretty strong and not really being a fan of rum, I only had one drink. We also got an order of the pork tacos for $10:

It’s a really fun bar with great drinks and food, so if you have to wait a bit to get in, do it!

Although the tacos were tasty, they weren’t too filling, so we went upstairs to Kona Cafe to see if they had any spots available. They didn’t have any tables, but they said we could sit at the bar. We ended up getting seats near the window bar, which had a nice view.

We shared an order of pot stickers and chicken wings. I thought these would be the same as the ones at ‘Ohana, but they were actually different. Still good!

By now we were nice and full, so we took the monorail back to Magic Kingdom and hopped on the bus back to the resort. It was still hot and humid at 8pm so we jumped in the pool before heading to bed.
​

 

[SnapesGirl]

Day 9 – We Discover the Undiscovered Future World

Our day started quite early as I had booked a tour. I had to snap a picture of Mufasa as we left as I loved walking by him every morning. If you look closely, you’ll see Zazu flying close by

Last year we did the Keys to the Kingdom tour and absolutely loved it. This year I was looking for a tour that wasn’t too expensive, so I settle on the Undiscovered Future World in Epcot. The tour started at 9am and we checked in at 8:40am at Guest Relations in the park. We were 16 people total, including our tour guide, Julie. There were 2 people in scooters, so this tour is definitely accessible for those who cannot walk.

I don’t have many pictures as we obviously couldn’t take any pictures backstage, but here is a breakdown of our tour:

We all met at Guest Relations where Julie handed out headsets to us all and introduced herself. She had worked in Epcot for a few years at different attractions and was currently working in Guest Relations. We discussed what Epcot was supposed to be, what Walt’s vision was, and what the park turned out to be. We then headed outside.

Julie was very good about making sure we stopped in areas with shade and seating (when possible). We walked around outside and discussed Spaceship Earth (we got to touch the material it’s made out of) and discussed the Fountain of Nations. We then got to go into the VIP lounge at the Seas pavilion where we were allowed to take pictures:

Apparently you can rent the space for weddings, so I think I should book it now… and then worry about finding a husband.

We also talked about Turtle Talk with Crush and someone asked how they do it, so Julie told us

After visiting the lounge, we went to the Land Pavilion where we got a 15 minute break. Lunch is not included in this tour (whereas it is in the KTTK), but if you wanted to grab anything to eat or drink, now was the time. Once we all met up, we walked backstage a bit where they are building the new Soarin theater. I asked Julie if she knows what the new “rumored” movie is supposed to be about. Not sure if it’s common knowledge what it will include, so I’ll keep my mouth shut, but she did tell us

We then walked over to the other side of Future World and discussed Ellen’s ride and Mission Space. Apparently Mission Space was Julie’s least favourite attraction to work out. All she had to say on the matter was that it was the only ride with puke bags. Enough said.

We then got to go into a backstage area right behind Test Track. This was the part I was really looking forward to – the costuming area! We got to see where the Cast Members from Epcot get their costumes. We also got to see the area where the costume designers work. We were also told that we would be walking by the dressing rooms and we might see characters getting ready to go on stage. Sure enough, as we walked by a room, I saw Aladdin… in shorts and a t-shirt with his wig and hat. I thought that was the coolest thing ever lol. There was a princess getting ready in there as well, but honestly, who on earth was paying attention to her when Aladdin is getting ready?!

It was interesting to learn that the princesses (and all face characters) do their own makeup! They get taught by a makeup artist how to do their look and then they do it on their own. I asked Julie if she knows what makeup they use (as they never seem to sweat in the heat!), but she wasn’t sure. So if anyone knows, let me know!

We finally ended up in the backstage area where the Test Track cars are serviced. To end the tour, Julie gave each of us a Figment pin and a Fastpass to be used at any attraction in the park until May 31st. The tour ended around 1:30 right behind the China pavilion.

My overall thoughts on the tour was that it wasn’t quite as informative as the one in Magic Kingdom, but we still learned a few things we didn’t know. I wish there were more backstage portions to the tour, but again, the costuming area is worth the price of the tour itself, which was only about $65 per person. Julie was a great tour guide so we made sure to stop at Guest Relations before going back to the resort to fill out an appreciation card for her and Rebecca (since we had forgotten to do it before).

Once the tour was over, we decided to grab lunch at the park before leaving. So we took the boat over to World Showcase and went back to France. Instead of getting a sandwich, we settled on this very healthy lunch:

After that delicious meal, we decided to use our Fastpass and go to Test Track, where we made this pitiful little car:

I think the only category we won was efficiency. How boring is that?

We went back to the resort around 3pm and swam for a bit before heading to Wolfgang Puck Express for dinner. We ordered the margherita pizza again and a plate of the ravioli with rose sauce. I thought I took a picture, but apparently not!

On the way back to the room, we saw our first frog of the trip. These guys seem to all come out at night so watch where you’re walking!

Once we got back to the resort, I noticed I didn’t have my visa card with my gift card and money in my bag. We searched high and low and could not find it at all. Now, I’m pretty OCD when we travel and I always make sure our gift cards and credit cards are properly stored away and never hanging around. I just couldn’t think of where I could have lost it. So I called my credit card company to cancel it, which really sucked. Thankfully I brought enough cash with me to cover the two weeks and I had a travelling bank account – Mom hehehe.

Once I got off the phone with the credit card company and the agent told me the last purchase was for $50 I realized where I could have left it. The last time I used it was at Cowfish, so I must have left it there. It’s better that I didn’t take a chance and just cancelled it. In Canada, if you want to use your credit card, you have to enter a PIN number (just like when you go to the bank and use your card). In the US, they just need a signature, so basically anyone could use my card. Ah well, better safe than sorry!

​

 

[SnapesGirl]

Day 10 – Down the Rabbit Hole

I was still upset at myself about losing my credit card, but we had a fun breakfast to look forward to so I lightened up soon enough. Our breakfast was only at 11am, so we got up at 9am and slowly made our way over to the Grand Floridian for the last time.

We were having breakfast at:

Breakfast was very good and my favourite items are the pancakes and Mickey Waffles with banana sauce!

Yes, you can have rice krispies at breakfast when you’re in Disney World.

I don’t care what anyone says – adults can have just as much fun at Disney and at character meals as the kids. The characters have always had great interactions with us and it’s so much fun to just forget reality a bit and enter a story world!

Once we were done with breakfast, we hopped on the monorail and headed to Magic Kingdom.

I had some FPs planned in advance, but since we had some time before our first FP, I dragged Mom over to see Aladdin. He was finally there, but we were told the line had just closed, but would reopen at 1pm. Since we had 30 minutes, we walked over to Pirates, but it had a 40 minute wait. On our way to Pirates, I just had to take a picture of this woman’s shoes. I will never understand women who walk around in these in a theme park. Heck, I can’t even walk in those on a regular day.

We decided to watch the Pirate show with Jack Sparrow a bit instead.

It’s always fun to watch the Captain, but as much as we like him, it was just too hot in the sun. So we went to the Tiki Room for a nice, cool break!

We got in line for Aladdin at 1pm and already had about 10 families in front of us meaning we were waiting in the sun. And I have to say this was the longest 30 minute wait in my life. Both Mom and I were melting and I would not have done this for any other character. But for Aladdin, I’m willing to suffer

I brought a drawing of Aladdin and Jasmine on their carpet and gave it to them. They were both super sweet and we had a nice chat with them.

We were finally ready to use our first FP at 1:30pm and the timing couldn’t have been better. We were going to cool off at Splash Mountain!

I think we were dry within seconds of coming off the ride. Our second FP was at 2:45pm for the Festival of Fantasy Parade, but we didn’t feel like walking all the way to the front of the park, so we decided to watch the parade in Frontierland for the first time. We got a spot right outside the Convenient Store. Since we didn’t need the FP, I changed it for the meet and greet with Tinkerbell at a later time.

We had a great spot; however, yet again, I was on the wrong side of the parade route for Flynn Rider. You think I would learn by now! I still managed to get a couple of pictures though! Such a shame you can’t meet him!

Oh my goodness, that smoulder!

​

 

[SnapesGirl]

Day 10 continued...

Tinkerbell spotted Mom’s t-shirt and was very excited!

Finally saw the dragon breathe fire!

I think these are my favourite costumes in the parade:

We had a FP for 7DMT and let me tell you, it was quite a fight to get through the crowds to Fantasyland. Once we got to the ride, we found out it was down and were told we could come back later if it was up or change it for another ride. We chose to just come back later.

We decided to walk over to Starbucks and get something to drink.

I ordered the Very Berry Hibiscus and Mom got a Frappacino.

We sipped on those for a while and then decided to take a break on the Peoplemover. We’ve never come to the Magic Kingdom on a Saturday and I don’t think we ever will again. The lines for everything were pretty long, including Peoplemover! I snapped this picture once we were on the ride – that’s where the line ends for the Peoplemover!

Around 4:50pm we wandered over to 7DMT and it was working again, so we used our FP.

We then walked to the front of the park to meet Tink. I had to get a picture of the Fairy Godmother on the way as we always joke that Mom will come work at Disney as her once she retires.

Tinkerbell was super cute. She was so excited to see Mom’s shirt, but couldn’t understand how she was on there.

We forgot to ask her for some pixie dust to go. Next time!
​

 

[SnapesGirl]

Day 10 continued...

I wanted to see Fantasmic! so we decided to grab a quick bite to eat back at the resort. Both Mom and I got the make your own salad for $11 each. The bowl is actually bigger than it looks and it was a filling meal:

We quickly took a shower and got changed and made our way to Hollywood Studios at 7:30pm.

We were going to stop at Tower of Terror first, but as it was 8pm and there were a lot of people walking to the theater, we figured we might as well get seats. We watched the show a couple of years ago, but there were so many mosquitoes and gnats at the time that we didn’t really enjoy ourselves.

We were able to get seats about 3 rows from the front. Mom was worried about getting wet as we had seen some sign or heard something, so I went to speak to a Cast Member in the front. She said that you only get a bit wet if there is a lot of wind and there was absolutely no wind so we would be fine. Well, just as the show started, the wind really picked up, so we got quite “misted.”

Not sure what Ariel was doing here..

It’s a neat show, but not one of our must-dos for every trip. However as I'm writing this, I realized we never got around to Characterpalooza. Next time!

Before we left the park, we decided to do Tower of Terror, which was a walk on. I love going at night since you can actually stop and take pictures with no one around.

We stopped at a gift shop on the way out to grab some final souvenirs for friends and co-workers. I also picked up a bag of Mickey Mac & Cheese which I had been wanting to buy for the past couple of trips! (I actually ate it a few days after coming home as I was in some post-Disney blues. Very good!).

We were at the resort and in bed by 10:30pm.​