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Day 2
The next morning we got up early and made it
the Magic Kingdom . We had an 8:10 reservation for breakfast
at Crystal Palace. We were a little late (Ticket snafus) but
it was OK, we had to wait to be seated anyway. The Breakfast
buffet was GREAT, there was even smoked salmon on the buffet
for Mommie! Laura liked the Breakfast Lasagna too. We met Piglet,
Tigger, Eyore, and Pooh Bear. My daughter was most impressed,
but also a bit tired from being up late the night before….
Something I had not been lead to believe was possible.
After
Breakfast we headed over towards Tom Sawyers Island to give the
kids a wiggle, but it didn’t open till 10. So my wife and
daughter headed towards Pooh’s Playful Spot while my son
and I did The Haunted Mansion. The doors were closed!! and on
Halloween!!! My son knocked on the door and in a few min a lady
came out and took us in, without saying a single word. (She may
just have been filling in for someone else, but it was QUITE
eerie.)
My wife meanwhile saw that Princess Ariel had no line
waiting for her, so she went and introduced my red headed daughter
to Ariel, got a photo and then met us at Pooh’s.We all
went and got our photo with Princess Ariel and then did It’s
A Small World. My daughter liked it so much we were going to
go a second time when we saw that it was 10AM. Tom Sawyers Island
was open!!
My son and I headed over to Tom Sawyer Island, while
the girls did A Small World again, and again, and again from
what I hear... then rode Peter Pan’s Flight. We met up
at Tom Sawyer’s after about an hour. Tom Sawyer Island
is my son’s favorite spot in the park, so he had had a
good explore of the whole place., and we even played half a game
of checkers in the fort.
By now my daughter was getting very
tired and very very ratty so we went off and let her have her
tantrum where it wouldn’t disturb anyone. When she had
calmed down a bit we went to lunch. On the way we saw the Cinderellabration
again, and even though she was tired she was, as usual, enthralled
by it.
By now we were late for our lunch reservations, but we
went up into the castle. When my daughter figured out what was
going on her mood improved, a bit. Lunch was very very good,
and my daughter got to meet Belle, Mary Poppins, Princess Aurora,
and CINDERELLA HERSELF!! This was QUITE a deal for her, as she
has the Cinderella DVD and the blue Cinderella dress. My daughter
was enthralled and enchanted by Cindy. She couldn’t take
her eyes off her… I think she touched her to prove she
was real. Then after Cinderella left she went back to being a
two year old and dumped a whole bowl of ice cream on her head.
After lunch my son and I went and did the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway.
By the time we got off my daughter had actually FALLEN ASLEEP!!
(Thank God!).So I sat with her while wife and son did Tomorrowland.
They did the TTA at least twice, Buzz Lightyear’s Space
Ranger Spin, (our favorite ride), Stitch’s Great Escape,
and the Astro Orbiter. I did Buzz’s Space Ranger Spin with
son, and by now it was almost 4PM, and we were still full from
lunch; so we cancelled our dinner reservations at Liberty Tree
Tavern (my daughter was still snoozing) and the wife went
and did Space Mountain!
While we were waiting at Space Mountain
my son saw a cart with toys on it and said “STITCH!”,
which woke up my daughter instantly. Then we went to try and
get Stitch’s autograph, at the Tomorrowland character signing
spot, but sadly he wasn’t there. However The Incredibles
and Buzz Lightyear were; so we got their autographs and then
we went and did the Teacup Ride together. After that we went
to Pooh’s Playful Spot and let the kids have a much needed
wiggle. We went back to try and get Stitch’s autograph,
but he was still gone, so the wife and the two kids all went
and did Buzz Lightyear’s Ride again… only all together.
My wife said this was her absolute favorite part of the trip.
Apparently my daughter did the driving while the other two shot
the lasers, and she would spin them in random directions on a
random basis. A good time was had by all. (So much so they did
it again later in the evening).
Meanwhile I found out where to
get our Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween wristbands and
changed into my costume. Then we found a rest room and all changed
into our costumes in a restroom near the castle. MNSSHP is a “hard
ticket” event. That means you have to have a separate ticket
to attend, and they shut the park down early. People who have
their MNSSHP ticket can get in as early as 4:30, but those without
MNSSHP tickets are asked to leave at 6PM.. Folks with tickets
exchange them for wristbands. The colors change each night, (we
went twice, one night was green another was orange) I guess to
prevent re-use. I found one a CM and they told me where to swap
out my tickets for wristbands. At 6PM they asked all the guests
without wristbands to leave and all the ones with wristbands
to move over into Frontierland while they got the rest of the
park ready for the Halloween Party.
We headed over that way and
stopped at Sleepy Hollow and got Funnel Cake and Iced Cappuccinos.
Yum!! My wife said that watching us eat the funnel cake was like
watching a pack of Hyenas take down a Wildebeest in one of those
Discovery Channel shows. All I know is that it didn’t last
long. Then my son had a great idea, so we all went to the Adventureland
Shooting Arcade, which was great fun. This would have been the
perfect time to have dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern, but LTT was
booked up for this months in advance. I got us PS at Cinderella’s
for lunch, and Crystal Palace for breakfast, so I thought I knew
the system... but try as I might the best reservation I could
get for LTT was 4:30PM, even after many multiple attempts and
trying all the tricks I learned on-line.
By now it was almost
7PM… time for Stitch’s Dance Party at Cosmic Ray’s!!
We passed Merlin’s Magic Show (“Sorry, Stitch beats
Merlin”) and all had dinner at Cosmic Ray‘s. (Burgers
and chicken nuggets ) . We all had great fun at the party (again!)
with the kids dancing their hearts out. Then we went to try to
find the “Villain’s Mix and Mingle” that was
listed on the map, but ran into the crowd for the 8PM parade,
and saw that the Haunted Mansion was broken, (on Halloween!!).
So we went back to get our Stitch photo, but stopped to get our
family photo taken, (just as Stitch went on break! Alas!). Again
we tried for the “Villain’s Mix and Mingle” but
all we found was a mess of people with cameras on tripods and
a big crowd, so we found some seats outside of the place outside
the Plaza Restaurant We rested for about 20 min, then the 9:15
fireworks show started!! WOW!! Shock and Awe!!(We never did get
the hang of the “Villain’s Mix and Mingle”.
It was marked on the map as taking place outside the castle,
but no time was given , and we didn’t think to ask a CM.
All we saw was a huge crowd... which was great for us because
it meant there were zero or near zero wait times for the rides.)
At
this point we had accomplished all our goals but one... we still
hadn’t met Stitch... so we headed back to Tomorrowland.
This time we were lucky and we got Stitch’s autograph at
last!!! We wanted to try the Haunted Mansion again, but there
was a huge line at the Haunted Mansion, so we decided to wait
for the 10PM parade to try again. We ducked into Columbia Harbor
House to use the bathroom and ran into a guy who explained the
line. He told us that the Haunted Mansion had been broken since
about 2PM and had been down until just after the fireworks show!!
He said they had brought in additional equipment and everything… and
that the poor CMs who were out front telling everyone that the
Haunted Mansion was closed on Halloween weren’t to popular
with the crowd!!! By now though the 10PM parade had started,
so my son and I went and did the Haunted Mansion. Thanks to the
parade there was almost no line at all.
My son wanted to do Pirates
again, but we weren’t going to be able to cross the parade,
so my wife and son went and did Snow White’s Scary Adventure.
Between the parade and everything else, we pretty much had Fantasyland
to ourselves. I had heard on line that Snow White’s Scary
Adventure might be too much for small children... well it wasn’t
scary at all... in fact it was rather dull, so we all went through
and rode it. Then we did the carousel . Since there was literally
NO line at all we walked into Mickey’s Philarharmagic,
but when we found out it was a movie we figured two year olds
and movies don‘t mix so we pulled out and caught the last
Stitch Show at 11PM. It was, again, great fun, and we all danced
and had a great time. The CM’s who work the food counters
at Cosmic Ray’s had seen the show about 100 times by now,
so they all got out and did the macarena when that part of the
show came up. At the end the cast all did a special photo together
with the CMs and I thanked the guy who was Stitch’s D.J.
By now it was past midnight and Halloween was over, and we were
all exhausted, so we decided to go. On the way out we hit one
of the candy Trick or Treat stations, and they literally took
the kids bags, submerged them in the candy drum, and filled them
up as full as they could hold!! (We are still eating off it,
it is mostly WONKA chocolates.). Then we went back to the hotel
and collapsed.
Was it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!! The party was sold
out, but we did not find the park crowded at all...except around
the Villain’s Mix and Mingle. It was an event I don’t
think we will ever top. My advice. GO to Mickey’s Not So
Scary Halloween party. Go in costume. I’m told that if
you have a Disney Villain costume and you meet the villain you
are dressed as they really interact with you and have fun. Try
to get Liberty Tree Tavern Reservations for 6PM or so, but make
the reservations early. If you have kids you MUST check out the
dance parties. The kids have great fun and get to burn off some
serious energy dancing with their favorite cartoon stars. We
did the Macarena with Chip and Dale and a parade with Stitch
and even my 9 year old son had fun. It also gave them a way to
wiggle out some of the excitement they were feeling. Give
the kids opportunities for rest and wiggles. It improves their
mood greatly. I underestimated how much my normally insomniac
daughter would need to sleep, and that was a mistake. Just have
fun!
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