Our Not - So - Scary - Halloween - Week at the World!

[Sarah28]

Welcome to my first Trip Report!

After reading many of the ones on here and loving them so much, I thought it would be great to write my own of our trip just past this October. Hope you come along for the ride!

Cast members:

Me - Sarah (3rd left)
Huge fan of Nightmare Before Christmas (including tattoos and countless memorabilia) / Alice in Wonderland / Haunted Mansion / Rex from Toy Story and general Disney Obsessive!

Andrew (4th left)
Puts up with my Disney obsession and all my Disney things at home (but secretly enjoys it I think!) Fav rides are Buzz Lightyear / Toy Story Mania / RnRC

Chelly (2nd left)
Huge Stitch fan and Pin Trader - shares my Disney Obsession!

Si (1st left)
Huge Pirates of the Caribbean fan

Background:
This is my second time to WDW after my first visit back when I was younger in 1999 and my first time with my DBF Andrew (now my DFi!) and 2 best friends Chelly and Si. We are annual pass holders and I am a shareholder at DLRP so we visit there a couple times a year, but Si found us a good deal online back in June 2010. We are limited to school holidays as all 3 of them work in schools / college so we took advantage of this great deal with VH for the half term week in October. We are all huge Halloween fans too so this suited us greatly - we also got tickets for MNSSHP for Thursday 27th October!

Dates:
Saturday 22nd October 2011 to Saturday 29th October 2011

Flights:
Virgin Atlantic Gatwick to Orlando Flight VS027 departing 11:15 and arriving 15:25 (seats 64D - 64G)
Virgin Atlantic Orlando to Gatwick Flight VS028 departing 17:55 and arriving 06:05 (seats 63D - 63G)

Accommodation:
Staying at Disney All Star Music Resort with 7 Day Ultimate Tickets

Itinerary:
Saturday 22nd October - Fly into Orlando / ADR at T Rex at 9pm
Sunday 23rd October - Hollywood Studios / ADR at 50s Prime Time at 8:45pm
Monday 24th October - Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom / ADR at Tony's Town Square at 6:50pm
Tuesday 25th October - EPCOT / ADR at Coral Reef at 7pm
Wednesday 26th October - Animal Kingdom / ADR at Planet Hollywood at 7pm
Thursday 27th October - Magic Kingdom / MNSSHP / ADR at The Plaza at 5:25pm
Friday 28th October - EPCOT and Hollywood Studios / ADR at Sci Fi Dine in at 5:30pm
Saturday 29th October - Downtown Disney / Fly back to Gatwick


Trip Report:


Friday 21st October 2011 - Day before we go

I got up early with Andrew as he had to go to work and I had the day off. I had a few things to sort out before I went to Chelly's house - I had to go to the post office to pick up the suitcase locks from amazon (last minute panicking that the locks we had were not TSA approved so ordered some just in time to have them delivered), and I also had to go to boots to get some last minute bits.

I met Chelly just after 12 and we popped into HMV to look for a DVD that she wanted, and then we decided to go and get a cupcake and coffee as we hadn't had any lunch. We then went into the Disneystore to get us in the mood which made us very excited!

We then got a bus to Chelly's new house (which I hadn't seen yet). We watched 'scared shrekless' while we packed and sorted out the last bits - Chelly was still sticking bits into her holiday journal and I couldn't sit still as I was so excited!

Andrew then finished work and got to theirs with our suitcases (he had taken mine and his in the car so I didn't have to bring it up on the train and I just had my hand luggage and other bits I needed for the overnight stay at Chelly and Si's house). Si came home shortly after Andrew - we were watching Disney's 'Once Upon a Halloween' DVD to get us in the mood and were talking about how excited we all were and how it was finally here!

We then finished our packing and thought it would probably be a good time to make our way to Gatwick for Twilight Check in as they lived so close to the airport. We had to go to the South Terminal and park in the short stay car park - it was very quick, I think we were only there for about half an hour as there was no queue at the desk. We sorted all the paper work and handed over our cases (mine was heaviest surprise surprise) and Si's could have fitted in his hand luggage as it weighed so little!

We then got back and as we were very hungry, we ordered some pizza and we even had a little drop of champagne to celebrate the start of our holiday (which went straight to my head!) We watched TV for a bit, but then decided to to go bed ready for the next day! I didn't sleep too well as I was very excited, but also as Andrew had given me the start of his horrible cold so I was feeling quite rubbish. I had set my alarm for half 6 but I woke up about 6...

 

[Sarah28]

Saturday 22nd October 2011 - After booking the trip June 2010, it was finally here!

I was first up so I jumped in the shower and got ready. The taxi was picking us up at 7:45am and by the time I was ready and everything had been double checked, the taxi was there. We only had our hand luggage as we had done the Twilight Check in so there was lots of room in the taxi.

We got to the airport very quickly and as we had our boarding passes from Twilight Check in, we headed straight for security. We all went through with no problem, so we then headed for the V-Room ready for our flight.

It was very busy in there, must have been quite a lot of Virgin flights taking off shortly. It was all themed Halloween with decorations on the wall and things on the tables which was very cool. The boys had a small fried breakfast while we had some fresh fruit to start with some orange juice (didn't want to eat too much as had to sit on the plane for a long time so didn't want to be uncomfortable). We then had some pastries and I was drinking water to try and flush out the rubbish cold I was starting to get!

It didn't take too long for the time to pass - we could start boarding at 10am. Our number was called and we headed for gate 19. We had seats in row 64 so by time we got to the gate, we were allowed to get on. The flight took off on time at 11:15 which was great, we could see out the windows during take off and it wasn't long before the in-flight entertainment kicked in. I started off with Cars 2 while we had some yummy pretzel things. Then it was time for lunch - we had sausage and mash with a side salad and a chocolate mousse pudding thing for afters. It was a very good meal for plane food so we were all happy

I watched Bridesmaids next which was good to see again and took us into about half way on the flight. I then watched some TV comedy like My Family, Big Bang Theory, Miranda and The Simpsons while we had an ice cream followed by egg and cress or chicken stuffing sandwiches and cookies. The flight seemed to go quicker than I expected and we enjoyed watching the flight tracking on the screen in between films/programmes.

Before I knew it, we were nearly there! We did some puzzles in my puzzle book, but we started getting a bit fidgety. My flight socks felt uncomfortable and my lips were getting sore from the air coniditioning and the stupid cold I was getting (left my lip balm in the suitcase!). The flight was a bit bumpy in places, the seat belt light came on for a bit while we circled for some time, but then it was time to land!

I was very excited, but I was not looking forward to immigration. It took ages for us to get off the plane as we were at the back and there was a massive queue at immigration. We finally got to a window -The guy looked quite scary and had a very quiet voice so it was quite hard to understand some of his questions which was a bit nerve-racking. He then let us go through and it started to get very hot (probably as I was stressed about immigration and the fingerprint thing!) - it took us over an hour and half since we landed to get off and get through immigration so I was very happy to be getting out of the airport for some fresh air!

Chelly and Si finished their immigration quicker than us so they got the cases for us no problem. We made our way to the exit via the monorail and then looked for the VH desk which was a bit of a mission. I was feeling particularly hot and rubbish with a runny nose and sore throat by that point so was very glad when we made it onto a nice air-conditioned coach ready to go! It was about half past 5 Florida time (after landing about half 3) by this point so I text my mum to say we had got there ok.

We were on the transfer shuttle to our hotel which happened to be a Disney Cruise bus so we got to watch the cruise video and some disney quizzes. The bus driver was very nice and happy but we were a bit concerned that we had made a reservation at 9 for T Rex at Downtown Disney and that we were all very tired and could have done with just collapsing in our hotel when we got there (I thought the excitement would kick in as we tried to cram in as much as we could on our week trip but I would definitely not make a reservation after we land when we go again).

The bus made loads of drop offs, but we finally made it to All Star Music (we were literally the last people on the bus) and we got to check in about quarter to 7. We checked in no problem, the guy gave us 'happily ever after' badges and our room could not have been further from reception!

The view from our room...

Our towel creation when we got there...

We were in the Country section (not my theming of choice) on floor 3 in room 6658. We were all very relieved and happy to be there (about quarter past 7). We quickly changed into clean clothes (I put my shorts on!) and then headed back to the bus stops to get a bus to Downtown Disney. There were some nice ladies at the bus stop who spoke to us and even though I was so very tired, it felt good to be going to Downtown Disney! It was pitch black when we got there (about 8pm). We had a look in a few shops but it was so busy (another mistake it being saturday night!!!) and even though I love shopping, I was just too tired (I must have been extremely tired to turn down disney shopping!!)

We found the T-Rex restaurant but it was so busy and seemed very unorganised (not a great first impression of dining at Disney). We told the guy we had a reservation so he told us to 'check in'. They took our name and told us to wait until we were called - it was quite a while after our ADR and we were beginning to give up hope a bit, but then we were called. We went inside and I loved all the theming. It was all blue lit up with a giant moving octopus above us. We were near a large cylinder fishtank which I loved and I could see the dinosaurs and woolly mammoth.

We looked at the menu - Chelly had some blue shark water, I had a sprite, Andrew had a cherry lime soda and Si had a coke. We ordered our food and enjoyed the scenery. I had the Bronto Burger, Andrew had the Gigantosaurus Burger, Chelly had Mega Mess-o-Bones and Si had the Boneyard Buffet...

This is my Bronto Burger...

The food came very quickly and it was all very fresh and yummy. We felt much better having eaten and relaxed a bit, but we were all still very tired so we decided to call it a night. We got back on the bus heading for our first night sleep and to wake up on Florida time!

 

[Sarah28]

Sunday 23rd October 2011 - Hollywood Studios

I woke up pretty early as I was very tired the night before but I think it was time for the excitement to take over finally! We showered and got ready, and then headed down to the Intermission Food Court for breakfast.

We got our refillable mugs for the week, and I had my first taste of French Toast and Sausage as did Chelly, and the boys both had pancakes with bacon. I had never eaten anything like this before, so it did seem a little bit strange, but it did fill me up for the rest of the day.

We then headed for a bus going to Hollywood Studios and it felt really good to be at the start of our holiday! We took some piccys next to the floral Lightning McQueen and Mater, and then queued for a bit to get into HS.

Our first stop was Fastpass for Toy Story Mania as we all had never been on it before and it was on my list of things that we must do (we had been practicing on the Wii before we came!) Our return time was much later on in the day, so we had a good look round the Pixar Place. We tried on some very fetching hats and I spotted another Rex toy that I knew I would have to come back for! (I had my Rex t shirt on that day too, haha)

We then decided to go on the Backlot Tour which was as good as I remembered. There was a lot of props from Pirates of the Caribbean so Si was very pleased about that as they're his fav films.

We especially enjoyed the Villains bit at the end - I had my picture taken with the costume of the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland so I loved that!

We had pre-ordered the photopass before we went on holiday so we decided it would be a good time to have our first taken with Mike and Sulley. It was a very strange experience but they were great characters! Andrew gave them a big hug and I gave them some high-fives!

We also then had our piccys taken with Lightning McQueen and Mater...

We had a wander around the Streets of America and we could see they were beginning to put up all of the Christmas lights...

Muppets 3D was up next which is an all time classic - Andrew is a big muppets fan so this all made us have a good laugh. Next up was Star Tours which is an all time fav of mine even though I'm not a big fan of the films, I always go on it when we go to DLRP and went on it many times with my mum when we came here when I was younger. I was a bit apprehensive that after the changes that I wouldn't enjoy it as much, but I must say I thought it was just as good, if not better than the original. I've heard there was many different versions, but we got the snowy version, (and it was good to hear the commentary in English after going on it many times in Paris!)

We then wandered down Sunset Boulevard to get a fast pass for Rock n Roller Coaster and get a few piccys...

 

[Sarah28]

We decided to catch the Beauty and the Beast show which was amazing. We had seen the theatrical version in the UK the previous year so we enjoyed this very much...

By that time, we were getting a bit peckish so we stopped for some pizza and salad at Catalina Eddies which was very yummy while we decided what was up next. The Great Movie Ride was next on the plan (we got the cowboy version) which was nice, cool and relaxing as it was beginning to get very warm in the afternoon sun.

The Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun parade was up next - we managed to stand up on a wall (can't remember where exactly) so we got a good view and I managed to get some good piccys...

We were really starting to get very hot at that point so we stopped for a frozen lemonade which was very refreshing. While we were drinking these, we wandered over to Voyage of the Little Mermaid which had a show starting soon, so we drank up quick and managed to catch the show. I really loved it and thought the bubbles and projections were very clever.

By that time, our fastpasses for Toy Story Mania and Rock n Roller Coaster were up to be used, so we headed for Toy Story first as we all couldn't wait to go on it! The queueing system is very well done like Andy's bedroom with all the toys.

We still had to wait a bit even though we had fastpasses. A little boy was starring at my Rex t shirt as his mum said 'I think he likes your T shirt' so that made me smile The CMs were a lot of fun in the queue too, they tried to start a mexican wave in the queue which made the waiting a bit more fun. Then we were finally getting on! Chelly and I went on together as the boys get a bit too competitive for us (like they do on Buzz) and we just like to have a good time! The gun on the car had a great little trigger which was like a ball on a string that you pulled back but it really made your arm hurt! It was such a good laugh, especially the rockets that flew past your face and blasted you with air, we were in such giggles! It was quite a long ride too which we loved - we thought it was great and Andrew absolutely loved it!

We then headed round to Rock n Roller Coaster, but it wasn't working, so we killed off some time and headed back a bit after and it was. The theming was much different to the one in Paris which we are used to, and the cars were different too but we enjoyed it just as much. The countdown before we set off took forever so the nerves were building up (even though we had been on it before I was still a little bit scared!) It seemed faster than the Paris one, but we loved them just as much as eachother.

It wasn't long before we could start queueing up for Fantasmic for the 7:30pm show, so we had a look round the shops, grabbed some popcorn and got in the queue. It was very busy and I was a bit concerned how long it would take us to get out after as we had an ADR at 50s Prime Time at 8:45pm but this was loads of time. It was slow getting out but we did get out with plenty of time. Chelly had told me the show was amazing and she wasn't wrong - I absolutely loved it, proper disney magic at it's best - I was blown away. If we didn't have an ADR I would have happily stayed and watched the second showing at 9pm.

We were actually a bit early getting to 50s Prime Time (only about 10 mins or so) so they told us to come back nearer the time. We walked around for a bit to kill some time and went back at our ADR time, but they then said they were running late so we would have to wait some more. By this point we were getting very tired having been out on our feet all day so we just sat outside and waited. It was gone 9:30 when we were finally 'called in for dinner' which made us all laugh and we were seated by our 'Uncle.' We had the 'no elbows on the table' a few times which was funny, and I was 'mum' who had to set the tables with knives and forks which the others all found amusing! The meals were very plenty - We all had the Fried Chicken apart Chelly had Sampling of Mom's Favourites as she had always wanted to try Meatloaf. I think we all had Cherry Sodas. The unlimited refills were great as Andrew can drink us all under the table, and even before his glass was empty, another one appeared on the table so can't fault the service at all. Very good meal apart from a bit of waiting at the beginning. We had no room for pudding so we made our way out and I stopped off at the gift shop to get me another Rex toy to add to my collection before making our way back to the bus stop to go back to the hotel after a very enjoyable but exhausting first day.

 

[mcarthur205]

Sounds like you packed a lot into your first day at the Studios! We never book an ADR for arrival day as we're usually too tired for a sit down meal. The last couple of trips we stayed at SSR so we just walked over to DTD and ate at Earl of Sandwich. It feels like the holiday has begun then lol.

Looking forward to reading more about your trip.

 

[Sarah28]

Monday 24th October 2011 - Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and one very big question!

Today's day was going to be split into 2 parks as we were only there for a week, using Extra Magic Hours and splitting our time between parks was the way to get the most out of our trips. First up was breakfast in the food court again, and today I had chocolate chip pancakes which were very yummy but I couldn't finish them off so I think Si helped me out!

We waited for a bus to Animal Kingdom which was the shortest bus trip of all as All Star Music is in the Animal Kingdom area. It was already starting to get very hot that morning so we decided that the plan would be to do the Kilamanjaro Safari first before all the animals got too hot and went into hiding.

We stopped for a few photopass piccys outside the park - my hair was not coping with the humidity very well and started getting very frizzy already!!

We then had some more photopass piccys in front of the Tree of Life...

..and then we made our way to the Safari. We were very lucky with the animals we saw. There was hippos, pelicans, alligators, and some very beautiful moments with some giraffes who were near the truck and running up the hill alongside us as we passed...

Next up were some gorgeous elephants, and there was a lovely little baby one which was sweet...

Around the corner was a small herd of Rhino - one got extremely close to the truck as we had to wait for them to move out of the way so we could pass. I managed to get some very close piccys of him and he was very well behaved...

Next up was a fastpass for Expedition Everest - this was one of the things that was on my must do list as it wasn't here when I had my first visit to WDW in 1999 and I remember watching a programme on TV about how they made the ride so it made me want to go on it even more! The time on our fastpass wasn't much of a wait but it was quicker than queueing for it.

While we waited for our fastpass, we went on Kali River Rapids. The people coming on were looking pretty soggy, and it was a hot day so we were really bothered if we got too wet. We were on a raft with another young family and couple - I put my hood up as I didn't really want my hair getting even more frizzy that it was, and Andrew and I got pretty wet and Chelly and Si got off lightly! The dad of the young family got very wet and we all had a good chuckle together, it was a great ride

The time had come that I had been waiting for - it was time to ride Everest! I was sooo excited to be finally going on it. I kinda knew what to expect after watching the TV programme about it and it definitely lived up to it's expectation! The only downside was I didn't see the Yeti - wasn't sure if it was working that day but otherwise, I loved it very much.

Up next was one of my all time favs as I am such a dinosaur geek, and after Chelly and Si had come for their honeymoon 2 years previously had managed to miss it out completely so I was very excited to take them on it for their first time - DINOSAUR! I love all the video at the beginning explaining the mission as I was just so excited! It was even better than I remembered! I got the giggles the whole way through as we had such a good laugh on it - everyone enjoyed it so much and Chelly and Si were so glad they had now gone on it and couldn't believe they had missed it before. I think we may have gone on it a second time as we loved it so much.

We were all getting bit hungry at that point, so while we were in Dinoland, we decided to grab something in Restaurantosaurus - I had some actually very nice and crispy tasty chicken nuggets while the others had some kinda burgers so we all felt better after that.

We walked past Finding Nemo the musical and saw there was a show coming up so we decided to make this show - another thing on my list of must dos. I loved every single minute - I must say it again is disney magic at it's best and felt a little overwhelmed inside that we were finally there doing things that we had planned for over a year. The puppets and actors were incredible even if the songs were a little cheesy, we enjoyed it immensely.

We had kinda done everything we had wanted to on our first taste of Animal Kingdom so we thought it would be a great time to head over to Magic Kingdom for our afternoon there (not knowing the afternoon Andrew had planned for me!)

 

[Sarah28]

We got a bus to the Magic Kingdom transportation centre to wait for a boat over the lake. We didn't have to wait long until a boat arrived. We all got on and headed straight for the front to take in the views...

The music on the boat started playing 'This is Halloween' from Nightmare Before Christmas (huuuge NBC fan!) so it was just the perfect way to make our way over there for an afternoon I'll never forget...

There was a photopass guy there when we got off the boat before we went into MK so we had some piccys taken with the appropriate backdrop of Main Street Station with 'Let the Memories Begin' behind us...

We then went into MK and it was like being at home I was taking in all the great Halloween decorations on Main Street. It was much busier than the other parks had been but I guess that's understandable.

We found another photopass point in front of the giant pumpkins with the castle in the background so had some more piccys taken there...

We began walking up Main Street and taking some more piccys as we were walking up...

First up was Pirates of the Caribbean as Si is such a huge fan. It was great seeing Jack Sparrow part of the ride - his animatronics were incredible, and the projections onto the water were really great.

Next up was my all time favourite ride...The Haunted Mansion! I couldn't wait to go on this so took a few piccys in the queue while we were waiting to go in. We chose the quicker queue as I was 'dying' to go on it! It was great to hear it all in English (love the Phantom Manor anyway!) The Stretching Room was great to see all the other portraits again.

I got in the Doom Buggy with Andrew and we set off. I was in my own little world of excitement taking it all in when he started talking to me (and as awful as this seems, I can't actually remember all of his words exactly) but telling me how we were having such a great holiday and how much he loved me when he pulled something out of his pocket. It was dark and I couldn't really see what was going on and then he asked me to marry him! I was a bit emotional, and he tried to put the ring on in the dark (unfortunately we found out it was a bit small so this was even more of a struggle to do in the dark!). I think I actually forgot to say yes as I was so overwhelmed, (and that's when all the questions started coming into my head as my practical side kicked in with 'you've been carrying that around in your pocket when we've been on rides?! haha) and how he actually went about choosing a ring etc.

When we got off the ride, I ran over to tell Chelly and Si - they had known Andrew was going to do it but not actually sure when. He told me he had rung up my dad the day before we left to ask permission which I thought was lovely. It was a very personal moment between the 2 of us and Andrew knows I am not a person who likes to be made a fuss of so I am glad he didn't do it in a public place, but in a place where we were alone and that was personal to us - it might not be everyone's ideal place to get engaged, but The Haunted Mansion has always been special to me, but is now extra special to us where we will spend many more a ride in the years to come (there's definitely going to be a Disneymoon!) When we got off the ride, I had a look at the ring for the first time and it was perfect, was just a shame I couldn't wear it

Off topic - I have now had the ring re-sized to fit (I don't usually wear rings so Andrew didn't have anything to go by!) and it's the most beautiful and the most sparkly thing I have ever seen! I keep staring at it as I still can't believe it! I've always dreamt of having a Tiffany&Co ring and my dreams have come true in the most magical place on earth! It's the most stunning 0.27 carat princess cut internally flawless diamond set in platinum...

So with all that having happened and me being all giddy (but slightly sad about that it didn't actually fit so I couldn't show it off) we then made our way round to Fantasyland so we could go on another beloved ride of ours... the teacups! (imagine if Andrew had wanted to propose in a spinning teacup?! haha) We managed to fit all 4 of us in one teacup (not the smartest move!?)

The boys' job is to spin the teacups while Chelly and I enjoy the ride and take stupid motion shots...

I think up next was Buzz Lightyear - another favourite of the boys' as their competitive streak takes over and Chelly and I enjoy spinning around and having a good time! After that I think we went on Stitch's Great Escape as Chelly is a huge Stitch fan and I hadn't been on this yet - it was really good!

It was time for our ADR at Tony's Town Square - this is a ADR that Chelly had wanted to make as she likes Italian food a lot, and although I had heard mixed things about it, I decided the only way we would find out would be to try it.

We had a wait a little while in the foyer and were soon seated and greeted by a lovely waitress who bought us over some bread to get us started and took our drink orders. Myself and Chelly had the Chicken Parmigiana which was plentiful and very yummy while the boys had Spaghetti and Meatballs which they said was very nice too. Then for afters, I had Tiramisu, Chelly and Andrew had the special cheesecake which was toffee apple, and I think Si had the Ice Cream Bombe. I particularly enjoyed the decoration on the puddings (sorry it's a bit blurred...)

Overall, the meal was great as was the service - it was simple dining but very plentiful and tasty so big thumbs up from us

We overan our meal so unfortunately we missed the Electrical Parade but we decided to stay on and wait for Wishes like we had planned. We killed some time by going on the Speedway (Andrew let me drive!) and we had such a giggle, can't actually remembered when I laughed so hard trying to catch up with Chelly and Si (Chelly was driving!) - we had such a blast.

Next up was Space Mountain - I remember from my previous trip that this was completely different from the one at Paris, but remembering it being very good none the less. It was better than I remembered - lots of giggles again and we enjoyed it very much!

I think we went on the People Mover next, and then we made our way down to near Adventureland to wait for Wishes. The fireworks were amazing - I did try to take some piccys (my camera isn't great at fireworks shots...)

After Wishes, we decided to carry on a tradition of ours which is riding Big Thunder Mountain in the dark - we always find that it's much more fun in the dark! I can't remember if it was a fastpass or if we queued but I don't think it took us very long.

I think after we may have had another go on POTC for Si Even though the EMH were until 12 midnight, I don't think we lasted much longer, and headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep (and my engagement ring spending the next few days in the safe in the room!)

 

[Sarah28]

Tuesday 25th October 2011 - EPCOT

Today was our full day at EPCOT and my main objective of the day was to get onto Soarin' as I had been so looking forward to it. We hadn't managed to get up for early EMH as we were still a little tired from the previous day, so we took it slowly and had some breakfast in the foodcourt again.

We stopped off at the hotel gift shop as I had spotted this really cute Rex christmas tree decoration with Mickey Ears and a Mickey Shape Ice Cream that I wanted to get, and I guessed if I only had to take it back up to the hotel room instead of getting it at one of the parks, it would be less likely to get broken (even though it would still have to survive the plane ride home)...

Being happy with my new purchase, we went back to the room, put on our sun screen, picked up our things and made our way to the bus stop.

We had some photopass piccys taken in front of the globe (again my hair had properly gone back to frizzy after styling it that morning!) and I took some of my own photos...

As Soarin' was high on everyone's agendas, we headed over to The Land to see if there were any fastpasses left. There was but it was much later in the day, but we were very happy about that, seeing as we hadn't made EMH that morning so we were very lucky

While we were there, we thought we would do Living with the Land. I remember going on this on my first trip, but it seemed more interesting this time round (probably as I wasn't a 12 year old kid thinking it was boring) so we enjoyed that. Chelly and I took some piccys of the pumpkins outside the ride to get our Halloween fix that day...

Next up was another thing I had been looking forward to - The Seas with Nemo and Friends!

I enjoyed the little ride round in our clamobile and it was lovely and cool in there as it was starting to get very warm already. We then looked round the aquariums at the end, and I found the shark area (Bruce is another fav of mine!) I had to have a go at the Shark quiz - pleased to say I am a 'true shark expert!' and I had some piccys taken with Chum and Anchor...

Next up was something that none of us had done and thought it was part of the Disney Institution - Journey into the Imagination with Figment. We had heard so much about Figment but didn't really understand the whole story behind him so we thought it would be good to go on this, We thought it was quite dated but it was good to have done it, and was quite amusing in places.

After, we decided to do another Disney classic that we hadn't done - Captain EO. Chelly and I remembering seeing the trailer on our old Little Mermaid videos when Disneyland Paris opened with a clip of Captain EO so we decided we would see what it was all about. Well none of us being big MJ fans, it wasn't that great, but it's good to say we've done it, and it provided a good laugh for us for a while.

It began clouding over but was still quite warm, so we grabbed a quick ice cream and drink to cool down, and then worked our way over to Test Track to get Fastpasses. This is something else I hadn't done before on my previous trip so was really pleased to be going on it finally.

 

[Sarah28]

As it was still a while for both our Fastpasses for Soarin' and Test Track, we decided to take a walk around the world after some photopass piccys...

We started the Mexico side and enjoyed cooling off in the Gran Fiesta Tour (something I didn't know was actually there!) We had a look in the crystal shop there and Chelly saw some ornaments she might like to get later on in the trip.

Next up was Norway and on to Maelstrom. We got an older family in front of us that were convinced there was a drop coming up (just before you turn backwards) so felt a bit sorry for them as they seemed genuinely concerned! We also got to hold the tag that tells how long the line was so hadn't done that before

We carried on round the lake to China, but the Reflections of China didn't really take our fancy so we missed that one out but got some photos...

Next up was Germany and we very much enjoyed the shops there looking at the christmas decs and the chocolates! The building are very pretty round there too...

Italy was quite busy as there was some kind of show going on outside so we caught the end of that and made our way round to Japan where watched some of the Japanese Drum demonstration.

We carried on round through Morocco, France and onto United Kingdom which I was very interested to see what they had! I was quite taken aback at the price of the cadburys chocolate in the gift shop! I loved the alice in wonderland teasets but knew it wouldn't make it back home in one piece, but enjoyed looking at them none the less. We had a quick look in the Canadian gift shops for Si as he is a big ice hockey fan so that was fun.

By the time we had walked round the world, it was time for our fastpasses for Soarin' and Test Track in quick succession.

First up was Soarin' and even though we had a fastpass, we still had to wait quite a while. We enjoyed all the theming as we hadn't been on it before, and we got seated on the row closest to the floor. I didn't really know what to expect - all I had seen was on the planning DVD and it could not have been better - it blew me away! the smell of the orange groves, and actually lifting my legs to avoid 'hitting them on the trees' as it felt that real - actually amazing

Test Track was up next, another one I had been looking forward to as we didn't manage it on our first trip - here's a pic of us waiting to go - I loved the fast bit the best, feeling the wind in your hair...

It wasn't long before our ADR was coming up at Coral Reef so we had a look in a few shops and then walked around the aquariums again as they were nearby to the restaurant. We checked in at reservations and we only had to wait a short amount of time until we were seated. We were seated nearer to the back but still had great views of the tanks...

It might have been strange, but all of us apart from Chelly are not really seafood eaters but we loved the look of the restaurant so much that we wanted to try it (they did have other things on the menu apart from seafood which sounded good so thought we'd give it a go).

Our waiter came over and was the nicest, most helpful and polite guy ever (think his name was Michael). We ordered some drinks to start - Chelly and I had Magical Star Cocktail complete with glowing cube which was delicious and not very alcoholic tasting (could have had a few more of those!)...

and then to eat, I had the Seared Chicken Breast...

Andrew had the Vegetable Potato Strudel, Si had the Pork Shank and Chelly had the Grilled Mahi Mahi, all of which were absolutely delicious

Next up were puddings and we all opted for the recommended Chocolate Wave, which was like a molten chocolate pudding with raspberry gelato...

It was outstanding. the best meal of our trip! The food was amazing and the service was brilliant - could not have asked for better

There was IllumiNations that night, but it was a while off and we were all quite full up and sleepy so decided to give this a miss and have an earlier night after a few photopass piccys...

We were halfway through our trip, but we had felt we had done so much already after initially worrying that we wouldn't have time to do all we wanted to. We got on the bus, and headed back to the hotel to watch some halloween movies that were on the TV and have a relaxing evening, ready for tomorrow!

 

[Tinkerbell1989]

What a brilliant start to your trip! Congratulations on getting engaged too! Cant wait to read more!

Steffi xx

 

[darthtatty]

fab report, sounds like you had a wonderful time.

congratulations on your engagement.xxx

 

[stephensmum]

Wow you're fitting a lot into your week, bet you needed to rest when you got back. Enjoying reading all about it. Congratulations on your engagement.

 

[Sarah28]

Sounds like you packed a lot into your first day at the Studios! We never book an ADR for arrival day as we're usually too tired for a sit down meal. The last couple of trips we stayed at SSR so we just walked over to DTD and ate at Earl of Sandwich. It feels like the holiday has begun then lol.

Looking forward to reading more about your trip.

Thanks for reading, we sure did pack a lot in Yes in future, I really wouldn't make one again (especially as it was a saturday it was crazily busy!) We never got to try EOS, it was always rammed when we went and I really wanted to Maybe next time!

What a brilliant start to your trip! Congratulations on getting engaged too! Cant wait to read more!

Steffi xx

Thanks Steffi, glad you're enjoying it

fab report, sounds like you had a wonderful time.

congratulations on your engagement.xxx

Thanks Nicky, we really did have a great time!

Wow you're fitting a lot into your week, bet you needed to rest when you got back. Enjoying reading all about it. Congratulations on your engagement.

Thanks Sharon, we could have done with another week's holiday to relax afterwards! but we're so glad we did everything we wanted - very happy to have only gone for a week than not at all

Will try and post the next update later this evening

 

[torsie24]

Loving your report!!!

Congratulations!! What a lovely proposal. Xxxxx

 

[Sarah28]

Loving your report!!!

Congratulations!! What a lovely proposal. Xxxxx

Aww thank you Torsie, glad you're enjoying it!

 

[miss_bell]

Wow you are fitting so much into your one week at the world, I bet you were tired when you got back to the UK!! Congratulations on your engagement, i bet your excited to be able to plan a Disneymoon.

 

[Sarah28]

Wednesday 26th October 2011 - Animal Kingdom

Today was our full day in Animal Kingdom - we had done quite a bit of what we had wanted to do on our first half day on the Monday, so today was the time to take it a bit easier and see a lot more of the animals (and maybe get another couple of go's on Dinosaur!) It turns out we didn't spend the whole day here but in both our days here, we pretty much did all we wanted to

We did start off in Dinoland again and rode Dinosaur twice more! In fact, the CM at the beginning of the ride recognised us on our second go and made a comment about us going on again! I'm glad everyone enjoyed it as much as me

We then decided to go on Primeval whirl - the queue said only about 20 mins so we thought it would be ok to queue - I had never been on this before but it looked quite fun so we gave it a go. The queue was much longer than 20 mins but it was quite shaded. The ride was ok, don't think I would have queued much longer for it but nice to say we have done it.

Next up was It's Tough to be a Bug. I'm not a big fan of the 3D things but remembered it from my previous trip that it was quite light hearted and enjoyable which it was - the only bit I didn't really like was the wasp sting in the back on the benches which really caught my back and was a bit jumpy and uncomfortable!

We had some more photopass piccys in front of Everest...

We decided to do the Maharajah Jungle Trek next - we saw some really cute little fruit bats and got some amazing views of the tigers...

After the trek, we got on the Wildlife Express Train over to Rafiki's Planet Watch. We headed over to the Affection Section and saw a Sheep Shearing demo, and then brushed some of the goats and hung out there for a bit. We walked around the Conservation Station and Habitat Habit before making our way back on the train. I wish we had stayed and looked at the Pangani Exploration Trail to see the Gorillas and Hippos but we thought we should make our way over to Downtown Disney for some serious shopping and then get ready for our ADR at Planet Hollywood that evening.

We got the bus to Downtown Disney and headed straight for the Days of Christmas shop where I got some beautiful Nightmare Before Christmas tree decorations (same decs but different box than the one pictured) and a lovely Lock Shock and Barrel decoration to add to my ever growing NBC themed tree...

Next up was Pin Traders where I got these pins and a folder to put these and all my other ones in at home...

We stopped by the Lego store where Si bought the Pirates of the Caribbean Black Pearl boat! It was quite expensive and pretty huge, but he was chuffed as it wasn't out in the UK yet and was probably going to be cheaper here (luckily he had lots of room in his suitcase for the way home!)

I took some piccys of the Lego masterpieces inside and out of the store...

We wandered around pretty much the whole of DTD - I especially loved going back to World of Disney as I had fond memories of my previous trip when I was a child - the most amazing store ever!!

I also loved Candy Cauldron - they had the most incredible candy apples in the window...

After all our shopping was done, it was getting nearer the time for our ADR at Planet Hollywood. Our reservation wasn't until 7pm, but we managed to get there early and they said we could eat earlier so we went in about half 6.

Chelly and I started with a Hellboy cocktail which includes Southern Comfort, Skyy Vodka, Bacardi Limon, Melon Liqueur, Amaretto, Triple Sec, with sweet and sour and cranberry! We had had one of these before in Paris so knew we liked them!

Then for food, they all had the Beef Fajitas with rice, (and a side portion of fries as they were hungry!)

and I had the BBQ Bacon Cheddar Chicken Sandwich, all of which was very yummy!

The food was amazing, but during the meal, we noticed it was getting incredibly busy (probably why they opted for us to eat early to get us out the way while they weren't as busy) and the queue to get in was getting longer. We noticed the waitress was trying to hurry us along our meal and the people that were clearing the tables tried to take Chelly's plate away from her while she was still eating! We were quite shocked at this which did put a bit of a dampener on our meal

The waitress then tried to encourage us to share a pudding rather than having one each we think as they were trying to hurry us along (but we wanted one each!) I had the Banana Split as did Andrew and I think Chelly and Si had the Fudge Brownie.

Again, the bill was brought over as quickly as our puddings to try and hurry us up. As soon as we had paid up and were getting ready to leave, the table cleaners swooped down to clean the table for the next party, and we felt very rushed and uncomfortable which we hadn't experienced during our other meals. We appreciated that they were very busy but it really did spoil our meal, which is such as shame as the food was very good.

After all of our shopping and huge dinner, we were feeling quite tired - we had a further look round the West Side of DTD and then decided to call it a night and got a bus back to the hotel where we all crashed out after another very enjoyable day!

 

[Sarah28]

Wow you are fitting so much into your one week at the world, I bet you were tired when you got back to the UK!! Congratulations on your engagement, i bet your excited to be able to plan a Disneymoon.

Thanks for coming on board yes we were very tired when we got back but we all know how worth it it is! Yes I am so excited to plan a Disneymoon! I will try and make sure it's for 2 weeks so we can take it a bit easier this time round

 

[Sarah28]

Thursday 27th October - Magic Kingdom and our very first ever Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

We did originally plan to make the early EMH for MK, however we had gotten very lazy and didn't get up til later so we missed these. This didn't bother us as much as we were going to the MNSSHP later on in the day so we thought we would have plenty of time to do everything we wanted to do.

We packed up all the bits for our costumes for the party - Chelly and I were going to be Sally and Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas. Chelly had bought a Sally costume and we had drawn on stitches on some white tights she had bought, and we were going to draw on the stitches on her face in eyeliner when we were getting ready. I had a Jack costume which consisted of the pinstripe blazer and bat bow tie, and I had a white t shirt to wear underneath and some black trousers. (see later post for photos)

The boys had some trouble deciding what their costumes were going to be - I initially thought Si would want to be a pirate as he loves POTC, and there was mentioning of Phineas and Ferb, but these costumes proved too difficult, and it was surprisingly warm weather that time of year so they were concerned that they would be too hot in their costumes.

They finally decided upon a Dr Doofenschmirtz from Phineas and Ferb for both of them as it was a simple costume for them! Chelly had bought them lab coats, and we made some transfers that were ironed onto the coats including a Doofie picture on the front pocket and the L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N. acronym on the back.

However for our t shirts during the day, I had made us all matching t shirts with a Mickey Pumpkin on the front, and all of our names on the back. We got some good comments during the day wearing these!

So our first stop was changing up our ticket confirmation for MNSSHP for actual tickets. Once we had got off the bus, we headed for the ticket office and this was sorted no problem. We all got paper tickets which we then needed to change into wrist bands nearer the time of the party at allocated places. We then rented a locker to put our costumes into for later on in the day.

The next stop after that was to get some breakfast as we were getting pretty hungry at that point! We went into Main Street Bakery where we got some Ham and Cheese Croissants and juice to keep us going

We caught a bit of the early morning parade as we headed over to Splash Mountain as we hadn't done it on this trip...

Chelly missed out on Splash Mountain on her honeymoon as Si isn't a big fan of this one, so we said she could come on it with Andrew and I. Si decided to go on Railroad from the station outside of Splash Mountain and we would wait for each other here when we were all done. Chelly was very excited to be going on it as was I. While we were going round, we just happened to be going past when the boat that was in the drop was on the soaking wet turn and all the water dropped straight onto us and we got very very wet!! We all had a good laugh about it and I think Si was glad he didn't go on it and get as wet as us (no piccys unfortunately as we were soaked!) - my hair went into frizz / curl overload!

Next up was another turn on Haunted Mansion (as I hadn't paid much attention the first time round for good reasons obviously!) It was extra special for us and I enjoyed it just as much, especially the new hitchhiking ghost bit at the end which is very clever! We had our photopass picture taken with the hearse (and matching t shirts!)...

I bought a Haunted Mansion T Shirt as this is something I had wanted to get for a while, but is extra special to me now...

Next we made our way into Fantasyland where we rode the teacups again... We also went on It's a Small World and Mickey's Philharmagic which I hadn't seen before and I absolutely loved it!

I think up next was Buzz Lightyear and Carousel of Progress and afterwards we grabbed a dole whip at Auntie Gravity's (while I tried to hide and watch the crazy remote control bin which amazed and scared me at the same time!)

We then headed over to Adventureland to have another go on Pirates of the Caribbean and The Tiki Room. It was getting close to the time when we could exchange tickets for wristbands for the MNSSHP which happened to be near POTC so we sorted that out and got our little trick or treat bags.

We then went on the Jungle Cruise as this would be shutting for the party so decided to do this before it closed which was very enjoyable as our captain was full of silly jokes (similar to Andrew's sense of humour!) It was getting close to our ADR time of 5:25pm at the Plaza so we headed down there, and lots of people were turning up in their costumes ready for the party. We saw this adorable old couple while we were waiting outside the Plaza who were dressed up as Snow White and Prince Charming which was so wonderful to see that everyone was getting into the spirit!

We were seated very quickly. I'm pretty sure we all had cokes and I had a sprite, and the Angus Chuck Cheeseburger with fries which was plentiful and very tasty. We had no room for puddings so we paid up and then headed back to the lockers to get our costumes...

 

[Chilly]

Loving your TR! Looking forward to seeing your costumes.