"I am so hungry I am going to eat your arm off" Ohh motherly love... A Nov 2013 TR!

[DisneyMountainWoman]

So we went in the line for Brave, right now Merida is on break, so we are waiting outside her area. It was easy to sit on the wall and eat our lunch. No pics of our lunch it is just sandwiches with some snacks, but it hits the spot. We kept our food cool with a little backpack cooler mom was wearing.

After we finished our lunch they opened up the meet and great area. We waited about 15mins. The area is soo cute a lot to look at while you wait.

They have a cute area for kids to draw and learn how to shoot arrows.

Next our turn not bad only had to wait 30 mins to meet her and half the time we were eating. It was fun, we talked about the good points and the bad points of having curly hair. For those who do not know curly hair and humidity do not mix.

We also talked a bit about my pins, I told her I am hoping to trade to get her pin. But sadly do not have hers yet ( I do end up just buying her pin, since I could not find any CM with hers to trade)

So forgot to mention while heading to Merida we grab a fp to the Jungle "Jingle" Cruise it had a 30 min wait. By the time we were done with Merida it was time for our fast pass slot! I love the perfect timing.
So we cross the castle again and luckily it is really close and head right to the fp line. I am soo happy we had the fp because now it was a 45 min wait. I read the online that it was longer than normally because of the x-mas theme.

Here was our tour guide:

The jokes are all x-mas themed and man do they take cheesy to a whole new level.

I wish they would have carried the x-mas decor throughout the whole ride not just in the queuing area and the jokes though, I think that would have been really cute.

It was a nice ride though, we laughed. Now would I do this ride, over and over again, nope but it was nice to sit and relax with a CM who is trying hard to be funny. I would not want to wait 45 mins for it though like the poor other people waiting in the regular line.

After the ride we had a CM survey us, we gave our opinion on it which is what we just told you

And next we had to get a snack since we were right across from here:

MMM Dole Whip

We found a seat in the shade and shared of course. Soo good and hit the spot. As we were sitting in this great spot we notice some people start to smoke near us and realized we stumble upon a smoking area Woops, no wonder it was such a nice place to sit. So we quickly eat up our dole whip and head on out of there before we start smelling like smoke.

As we head on out we notice the shake and move it parade happening we stop and watch a little of it. It was cute to see the kids all danceing and having fun.

Next up we go to our next fav ride and I will give one hint....Disney does not cut the grass around it.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

WOW! So many updates!!

Your Epcot report is making me thirsty And HOLD THE PHONE! There are pork buns all the time in China? I have made this note for our next trip!

Haha, we had fun drinking around the world, it was our fav activity to do in Epcot! Just remember to drink water, we drank water the whole time from my camel pack.

I know those pork buns are delicious, man I miss them right now.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next on our trip was Haunted Mansion, I have such great memories of this ride as a kid. I just could not understand how they were doing everything. My goal is to get some cool pics from this ride. It was walk on no wait, loove it

This ride has one of the best pre shows

I tried so hard to get a good pic in here, no go... Here is the best which is sad.

As we left time we get a few more pics, since no of my inside pics turned out.

Next mom needed to go the bathroom, so I took this opportunity to go to the new Tangle Bathrooms!

(Only in Disney would I get excited about bathrooms )

I wonder who's hooves prints are these

Love the decor, strait out of the movie:

And yes I am the weird one taking pics in the bathroom, I just could not help myself

And more pics, I just could not stop seeing details that I loved...

And look they even themed the staff sign!!

I want to use these lights on my deck!!

Man did I take a lot of pics of the bathroom area!! Wow if it was not for haunted mansion this one post could have been all about the bathrooms?! Only in Disney....

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

After the bathroom we head on over to its a Small World, it is a 15 min wait, not bad for the middle of the day

We were seated in the back of the boat. I had fun taking pics on this ride

We had a back up

Next it is snack time!!

Soo yummy and it hits the spot!

Next we get a Fp for new Under the Sea ride it had 30 min wait. While waiting we head to the Gaston Taverns to sit down, our feet are getting tired and sore.... So we sit in here for a little bit, our poor feet

Of course had to pose in the chair!

And we get a the new yummy drink at the tavern, LeFous Brew. We decided not to go with the special cup to save some money and we did not want to have to carry it around. It is very yummy, but I have to say after trying the Butterbeer, Butterbeer is just a little better, but it is now on my list to get every trip soo still really good.

Next the parade!!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

After our refreshing drink we figured out our game plan for the parade. We have a fp that needs to be used right after the parade so we picked our spot so we can get easy access in and out of the parade route.

We decided to watch the parade at Liberty Square next to the bridge, that we can leave easily and I heard this area is less crowded. We started waiting about 45 mins before hand. The CMs start putting out the rope and we grab a seat in the front.

We then had another family sit next to us. Slowly but surely the crowds start filling in and I am happy we saved our spot so early. There looks to be no room anywhere.

And here beings the pics enjoy

The parade is cute, it is nice way to see alot of characters and the hard to see characters.
The end of the parade

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next we went out the back way to Fantasy Land from Liberty Square. I was so happy we did this since this was much less crowded than going through the Castle after the parade.

We head out to the new Under the Sea ride with our fp.

And eep!! right before the ride my phone/camera dies from low battery

Man this is why I should have bought that battery booster thing. Grr....

So no pics in this ride. It is a really cute ride love the Ursala in this ride looks soo real. Mom and me were singing along together in it.
After the ride, we also spotted a rare creature in MK... a photo pass photographer so we quickly jump in that line. (Seriously they need more of them throughout the park)

I love getting pics at places you do not normally see all that time and I do loove the little Mermaid
Man the light was bright facing right into the sun, so eyes look all funny

We looked at the little mermaid line to meet Ariel, it was long about 45 mins and mom is now weary of meet and great estimate times after the Mickey wait in Epcot taking way longer than was posted. So we decided to skip it.

Mom noticed her phone is about to die too, so we decide this is a good time to find a plug to charger our phones/cameras. I mention that I remember reading there is a phone charging area in Tangled area, but I was not sure what it looked like. So we head over there.

So this pic I did not take again, because my phone/camera is dead.

This area is nice little resting spot, in the shade with lots of seating and tables. I saw a few parents and kids taking naps here which I thought was funny.

Here are what the outlets looks like, soo convenient.

We grabbed one of the unoccupied tables and plug in our phones and just relax.

Hmmm... our feet are now happy

While we sat there, we had fun playing the game of spotting Rapunzel's pet lizard named Pascal. They have them hidden around the area. We spotted quite a few and watched other kids try to find them too.

After our phone was charged we had enough time to do one thing before our ADR, we loved watching Gaston interact with guest but the line was too long before to meet him, so we decide to check how the line was. The line was not too bad so we hopped in it. Ohh my gosh he is a ham. A grandmother was ahead of us and he was just hilarious with her.

Mom was not going to be in the picture, she really does not do character meet and greets, but Gaston being Gaston egged her on to come on in, I mean who would not want a pic with Gaston?!

We ended up getting a cute pic showing off how strong we are.

Out of all the characters I met I have to say he is the funniest, made us laugh even while we were waiting in line to me him, soo worth the wait. He will now be a must for every trip. Also here is a tip, if you have a pin of Gaston make sure you bring it, he loooves, seeing pins of himself (imagine that )

Next we head to our ADR at Be Our Guest!!!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

So for people who do not remember, we got ADR for Be Our Guests last min. I have been checking every day to try and get a ADR for Be Our Guest Restaurant and we finally got it while waiting in line for Snow White in Epcot! Talk about disney magic!

You can see his castle in the distance

We check in out the hostess and we get handed a dinner pager.

We take this time for pics, I am just super excited if you cannot tell

After waiting about 5mins the buzzard go off!!

Ohh my gosh.... this place is stunning, the pics just do not even do it justice.

We were seated in the main ballroom.

I loved how they even folded the napkins like roses, as a wedding planner I start deconstructing how they made them and wanting to do this napkin fold at some of my weddings this year

Next we meet our waiter, he is a super friendly guy, who mentioned he loved my mickey ears being the ones that he does not see very often.

They have a great wine list, we decided to get a bottle of a refreshing Chardonnay and we put in our app order. We are soo happy we can get alcohol here, so nice to relax and drink a little wine after a busy day in Magic Kingdom.

Our waiter took a cute pic of us with our drinks

Our apps came fairly quick, we picked this:Assorted Cured Meats and Sausages served with Cornichons, Pickled Onions, and Toasted Baguette 14.99
I know everyone seems to go for the french onion soup, but I hate onions and this is better to share since we are shearing our meal.

So like always mom digs in before I can get a pic, the presentation again is really nice. The food delicious. The bread nice a fresh, the meats super yummy and included some plump sweet cherries. Moms fav there was the patee and the Prosciutto, I looved the sausages, they were unique and scrumptious.

Also during this time, the Beast was announced and welcomed us to dinner, soo cute.


Next we had our dinner:
Thyme-scented Pork Rack Chop
with Au Gratin Pasta, Seasonal Vegetables, and Red Wine Au Jus 21.99
(Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages, Burgundy)

I got a pic of it before mom ate it, she almost started in on it, when I stopped her.

The thyme-scented pork rack chop that was juicy and delicious. It was served with a to die for, melt in your mouth mac-and-cheese that any adult or child would love.
Our server also brought out an extra plate for us to share our food without even having to ask. I love good servers.
Soo good, now here is the sad part we did not do dessert here, we had the dessert party after this so we needed to save room for it.

Next I wonder around for pics, I really feel like I am in the movie.

I love that they put up x-mas decor here too!

I love this rose!!

I want to find these ornaments.

Now we are just being goofy

This guy looks so sad, for how happy we are right now.

And we got to see the Beast himself!

Summary: Fantastic, Walt would be proud of this restaurant, great food, great atmosphere and great service. Our server came back many times to check in on us and refill our wine glass. I am soo happy after all the days trying to get a ADR we were able to get a reservation, it is was soo worth it and I would love to come here again.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

After a fabulous dinner we head on out to see how the line is to see Tink. I looove Tink, but I was not sure if I will be able to see her since the lines are long. We had time between dinner and dessert party for something.

As we head on out, we see this gorgeous sight

We both just stop and stare and realize that yes we are really here!

The line is a little long we ask how long it will be and they estimate around 1/2 to 45 mins. The line did not fill up the room so I thought that was a good sign. I head in to the line, while mom spots an outlet and asked the CM if she can cross the rope to sit next to the outlet by the wall while I wait in the line. The CM was really nice and said yes. Yeah, great, our phones were already at half life again, man do you use up your phones when they are your cameras too. I pull out my ipad and watch some Tina, I love this movie too While watching it, the little girl in front of me noticed I was watching a movie and she saw it was The Princess and the Frog, she started telling me how she loved that movie too. Her parents asked her to not bug me and I let them know it is fine and she can watch it with me if she liked. Her parents and me start chatting, they are super fun family to pass the time with. It takes about an hour to get through the line...longer than we thought and we are now cutting it close to 8pm dessert party. But at least I had great family to talk to keep me having fun while waiting in line.
Next it was my turn to go in, ooh my can I say I love the decor they did in here, you really feel like you have shrunk to fairy size.

Tink was soo cute! She also loved my lanyard since it had her on it.


Next up Periwinkle, now I never watched the fairy movies so I am not famliar with Periwinkle other than knowing I love her outfit since I am a winter person and now that I met her I think Periwinkle is my new fav fairy.

We chatted about how I loove snow and how I am from Colorado. We started chatting about how she would love to visit Colorado and it sounds perfect for her too. Then we find out the CM Photopass Photographer was from CO too! And lived in a town right next to us. We all chatted about CO even got mom into it, again she is not a big meet and greet person but she loves talking about snow and CO. I think we spent more time talking with Periwinkle than we did with any other Character

We said goodbye than walked really fast to head to the dessert party, we have about 5 mins before 8pm which is when Dessert Party starts.

Next up Dessert Party and Fireworks!!!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

(Wow, it has been awhile since I posted since I have been so busy, I need to get some post done!)

We rushed across the park, man the crowds are already huge with all the people waiting for the fireworks. We arrive about 5mins after 8pm. We can see they already started letting people start eating and we quickly jump into the short line. When they ask our names and we give it to them, they quickly smile and say you guys have the best table, fabulous! I did stake the boards to find out when they would open up reservation and got in within a hour of it opening up

Our table is fabulous, here is our view:

We were front row on the corner.

Our waitress is very nice, she lets us know about the rules with taking chairs up to the rails, etc... I also mentioned to her that I would like to save some food to eat after the fireworks to wait for the crowds to die down and told her I would only pick finger food to save that way less to clean up. She said np and thanks for thinking of her for clean up She also took our pic for us.

Time to get some desserts! They had lots of options, i read people talking about how desserts run out quickly, but I never saw that as a problem here. They were really good about making sure there was never anything empty. I did have a problem with no spoons but told a CM and they quickly came out for more.

Man do I love our view!

My favs: Chocolate strawberries, creme brulee and ice cream.
Mom also loved the coffee too.
After I had some desserts I set up my dlsr camera with my travel stand right in the corner. One problem with my stand, too short. Bah... I need to bring my real size one next time.

Next fireworks!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

I spent some time trying to get my settings right on my DSLR camera and travel stand falls apart on me, bah... now I will have to do all pics with my elbow propped up on the railing.

Mom stay at the table since she said she can see everything from our seats even with everyone standing at the railings.

The castle light show is cool, we can still see it pretty good from here, my camera just sucks a getting it. I love seeing the new Frozen part of the show in it.

And then we spot Tink, flying above us.
Man she looks soo cool and we get the best view but sadly I could not get a good pic of her.

And then fireworks!!!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

So we finish up the desserts and head on out. First we take this opportunity to go the bathroom, mom was drinking to much coffee

I take this opportunity to take a pic of tomorrow land pic at night, this area looks soo cool at night. To bad I did not have my camera stand, I was shaking, so pic is a little fuzzy.

Next we needed to get a pic in front of the castle, the lines are super long, but we get in to a line and wait our turn.

We finally get to our turn and guess what the goodbye show happens, now as cools as that it does not have the x-mas theme castle in it with the icicles.
As you can see in the pic behind us, no icicles and as a winter, mountain girl I was a little disappointed after waiting 30 mins to get the pic in front of the castle.

The photographer was really nice and said wait on the side here and after the end show is done, we will get you another pic. Yeah!

After a few mins, the icicles came back and he fit us in a few more pics!

Next we head down to main street and stopped and got another pic, because the line was soo short, only one person ahead of us. And the view is fun during x-mas with all the x-mas decoration on main street.

Then we finally head on out to go to sleep. We take the boat back since the line was still long for the monorail. Mom starts falling asleep on the boat I need to wake her up and luckly we can just walk to car since it is soo close and head back to our hotel and crash. First night I have no trouble sleeping.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Today we woke up for the first time not early, we were both tired from two full days at Disney.

We shower and grab our yummy free breakfast and then head on out to IOA to see Harry Potter!

I am a huge Harry Potter person, read all the books multiple times, even went to England and got to see many of the places they used to film

I put on my Gryffindor tie, I wanted to bring my wand, but I have read that the lockers do not fit wands (talk about bad planning).

Sadly weather does not look great today, it is cloudy and has been raining on and off already this morning.

We got there early and parked on the top of the Garage. We head on down I had fun goofying around in the city walk area.

Next we wait in line. It is interesting after being in the Disney bubble for a few days and getting out of it. We already noticed some differences, while walking up we saw lots of employees coming in for work, while in disney it was much more hidden.

Another issue we noticed while waiting, no maps outside the entrance gates. They were all on the other side. Mom and me normally like to look at them to pass the time. As the CM ( are they called CMs at universal?) came in we asked one of them if they could pass us a map and they got one for me and a few other people who heard me ask and asked for one too. I am not sure why they do not have maps on this side of the gates? As we wait we talk to a very friendly CM he use to work for Disney but has now moved over to Universal, is the up in coming place now. He is working on learning his Harry Potter trivia because he wants to work in the Harry Potter area of IOA but you have to pass a Harry Potter test to work in that section. So we talked about a lot the Harry Potter lore Not a bad way to pass time.

Then next they welcomed us in and I am off! I was fast walking through Dr Sesus world, and other worlds off to Harry Potter world! Mom is dead tried today, so she is going get a locker to put our lunch in it and then she will catch up to me after I head to Ollivanders, to choose a wand. This tends to be the longest wait because it is soo small only allowing about 25 people in it at a time.

I walked through the gates and was just floored by all the detail, right down to the snow on the roofs. I take a few quick pics before the crowds arrive.

Perfect timing, no line at Ollivanders, I can just walk right in.

This pic is from later in the day, after the crowds caught up, but this is what the front looks like.

Now I really wanted to get chosen but I knew my chance were small because they tend to choose kids first. But looking around the group everyone was at least 18 and older, I thought yes, I have a chance. Me and one other girl are the only two people wearing HP things, so we have a good chance of getting picked and then at the last min a Mother, Father with their two preteen girls walked in and I realized now we do not have a chance.

They told us to put away our phones, so I was not able to take pics of the show.

And they start off by picking the people who get to chose a wand and of course the preteen girls were chosen.

The show was still super cute and to watch. The room itself has so many details I had a hard time watching the show and not looking at all the details. I really felt like I was in the movie

After the show they direct you to the shop where you can purchase your wands, I already have a replica wand of HP so I skip this and call mom to find out where she is. She is waiting at the base of the HP ride and we head on in!

We choose the single rider line, to be even quicker.
Man I love the queuing Universal did here, they blow Disney out of the water.

Here is the famous hat!

It looks just like the hat in the move and he talks too!

Love all the fun details!

In the single line we were able to walk right on basically. Except when I stopped to look at things. The line was already backing up in the regular line. The CMs were all great here dressed up in the outfits just like they were students at Hogwarts. I got hassled by the CM who was Slytherin for my Gryffindo tie too.

When we got to the loading rooms it was amazing, I could not stop staring at the ceiling with the candles, the pictures do not do it justice.

Ohhh my gosh this ride is amazing!!! It is like nothing I have ever experience and I mean ever!!!! It is also just really hard to explain. One thing I was not warned though, that your feet swing up in the air, so take off your sandals and sit on them. I had to clinch my feet the hold time to not lose my sandals! You need to do this ride, Disney better watch out, let me tell you. After we finished, me and mom both agreed to rush around and do it again. We picked the single line again, the regular line is already at 20 mins wait. We walked on basically again. But this time I had to wait for mom longer because she was a couple rides behind me. That is when I noticed the cute waiting area for parents with kids, it is really nice.

Next up more Harry Potter!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Next went to the dragon challenge ride that I guess was here before HP took over but they did a great job re tooling it, it feels like it was always here.

As you walk through the que you see all the signs from the Triwizard Tournament.

Man I would love to buy one of these.

And then you get to see Hagrid's cottage, I wish we could go inside.

And then of course Weasleys' crashed car

Man they could make a fun ride using this, think like the Star Tours ride.

Then we go into a room to see the Triwizard Cup glowing at the top of pedestal, very cool!

Next I get too see the golden eggs we are suppose to steal! Strange they only have three instead of 4 though, anyone know why?

We were able to walk onto the ride, well except for the fact I kept stopping to take pics.

We noticed a line for the front, but no one was in the back and as most people know the back is were you get most force, so I suggest lets do the back!

I grab our sandals and put them on the side and grab my seat.

Next we are rocketing off on a fun roller coaster ride!! This ride is alot of fun, my mom got a slight headache from it so she did not want to do it again but she stilled liked it. I of coursed loved it.

So it is about 10am and we already did the main HP rides and the main one twice, what do we do next, take lots of pics of course!

Also one quick tip: Even if you do not like thrill rides both the HP ride and the Dragon ride are worth walking through to see the all the cool stuff they put into the que, you do not need to ride them. We saw a few people do this.

We wanted to make sure we got a pic in front of Hogwarts so we saw another couple taking each other pic and I offered to take their pic if they took ours. They were a nice couple and took our pic.

Next I started going photo happy, so I will leave that to my next post.

 

[BOG Obsessed]

Hi there,
Great report, your HP pics turned out really well. Love HP.
Your pic infront of the castle turned out amazing, well worth the wait. Wish my family would have had a chance to stop and get that pic when we were there this past Christmas but the crowds were crazy each evening.

 

[JulieODC]

Yum! Looks like a good meal at BOG!

And a perfect night at MK! Your view of Tink was pretty cool!!

Someday, I'd love to go see HP world --- maybe when DD has read the books?? Looks super cool!

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Hi there,
Great report, your HP pics turned out really well. Love HP.
Your pic infront of the castle turned out amazing, well worth the wait. Wish my family would have had a chance to stop and get that pic when we were there this past Christmas but the crowds were crazy each evening.

Thanks, I will have even more HP Pics soon.

The lines for pics in front of the castle are soo long after the fireworks but worth it.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

Yum! Looks like a good meal at BOG!

And a perfect night at MK! Your view of Tink was pretty cool!!

Someday, I'd love to go see HP world --- maybe when DD has read the books?? Looks super cool!

The food at BOG is just as good as atmosphere, so glad we kept checking for last min cancellations

You guys need to see HP too at some point, so worth it.

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

So here are a bunch of the HP photos that I took, enjoy

Had to get a cool pic of the snowman and Hogwarts

Why do they not sell this dress? (I ask this question a lot here)

I love how they even made these!

Wow that is kinda of gross.

The monster book of monsters! Watch out or it could bite your hands off

Make sure you do not get hit by any bird poop!

We decide to head on out as the crowds come in, we plan on coming back to try Butterbeer since we are just not thirsty yet.

Next up the rest of IOA!

 

[Zeebs]

lots of great updates, really enjoying your trip report

I managed to get a BOG dinner reservation not sure how, some one on one of the threads said they had opened up some more so I had a check and we got lucky so I am looking forward to that.

Kirsten

 

[DisneyMountainWoman]

lots of great updates, really enjoying your trip report

I managed to get a BOG dinner reservation not sure how, some one on one of the threads said they had opened up some more so I had a check and we got lucky so I am looking forward to that.

Kirsten

Thanks!

You will enjoy your BOG dinner