Globetrotting: to Disneyland Paris and back with TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Update time.

 

We left off on June 21, and we were watching the end of the Frozen parade.

 

Right after the parade finished, and before we even had a chance to get up and get moving, we heard some crowd noise suggesting that something else was making its way up the street.

 

And then we saw this:

 

 

 

 

That's a lot of ducks.

 

And there they go:

 

 

That was weird.

 

What were all those ducks doing?

 

I imagine they must live around there somewhere.

 

And Disney apparently is OK with that.

 

Very odd if you ask me.

 

After the parade, we had to head back to the hotel, as we had not yet checked out.

 

It was 10:45 when we left.  How many people leave a park that early?  We did.  And it was a beautiful day (but very, very hot) :

 

 

I have always liked the really tall palm trees they have at the entrance to DHS:

 

 

Hey, they have a fish feeder over there just like the one in the Fishin' Hole at the Fort:

 

 

I've never paid much attention to it, but there's a walkway that travels along the waterway here and across this bridge, and continues on to the Swan and Dolphin.  I've never walked it.  I have walked the one on the other side, which goes to the Boardwalk Resort:

 

 

Now we're on the other side of the bridge, and you can see the walkway heading down that hill:

 

 

The boat driver felt it necessary to quiz us about trivia fact on the way back to the hotel.  He asked us a question about how tall the swans are on top of the Swan hotel, but I don't remember the answer.  I do remember that they were much bigger than I realized:

 

 

There's another transportation boat, and the Swan hotel behind it.  Do you see that dark square in the middle of the building?  There's an old rumor about that square:

 

 

There's some guests out fishing on this really hot day.  I wonder if they're having fun?:

 

 

Look at this, there's a dark square in the middle of the Dolphin hotel too:

 

 

That dark square lines up with the dark squares on either side of the Swan building:

 

 

The old rumor is that these squares represent where holes would one day be knocked into the buildings so a monorail connecting DHS and Epcot could travel through the buildings like it does at the Contemporary Resort.  It kind of looks like those dark squares would work for that purpose, but I've heard that the rumor is false.

 

There weren't many passengers traveling by boat this time of day, so we weren't at the Swan and Dolphin long before we headed on to the Yacht and Beach Club:

 

 

Our balcony is just about in the dead center of this photo:

 

 

There's the big slide for the pool:

 

 

This is the last view from our room as we waited for the bellman:

 

 

After we stashed our luggage in the cars, the plan was to hit the pool one last time, and have lunch at the quick serve next to the pool before heading home.

 

That plan failed when we got to the pool, and found it absolutely packed.  The line for the quick serve was really long.  I was surprised by this.  It was a Sunday, and even though the pool is awesome, I figured that most guests would still be at the parks before coming back to hit the pool.  But that was not the case- there was not one open chair anywhere around the pool, and you would need a shoehorn to get in parts of it.  I know they check MagicBands before letting guests in, and ours were checked, but I think people must be finding a way to beat they system.  I can't believe that all of the people in the pool were actually hotel guests, there were just too many of them.

 

Well, the pool idea was a bust.

 

So, we came up with a plan B.  It wasn't a good plan.  Because we went to Animal Kingdom on a HOT June afternoon.

 

We got a good look at one of the new Avatarland buildings as we entered via bus:

 

 

As I understand it, there are going to be two major rides in this land. One is going to be along the lines of Soarin' only you'll be riding on the back of a dragon, and the second will be a boat ride.  I am thinking this big building is the one for the flying ride.  At some point, they'll enclose it in something to make it look like some feature on the planet of blue giants.

 

We headed on in.  I was sweating pretty bad by the time we made it all the way through the Oasis area and were heading toward the Tree of Life viewing area.  There was some kind of commotion going on there, and we could see that it was that flying bird show- there are macaws there on the perches:

 

 

I could see that the birds were flying in straight from someplace behind us, and turned to look and saw a CM up on a lift behind the gift shop:

 

 

Take a closer look:

 

 

That CM up there has a radio, and I think she was releasing the birds as she was told to.

 

The birds would then fly the short distance over the gift shop roof and land on the perches over in front of us:

 

 

How is this a big deal or impressive?

 

Big whoop.  Some parrot flies over a roof.

 

Unless I'm mistaken, they marketed this show as having birds fly all around the park in formations and then land in another area of the park.  Now, it's just some birds flying about 100-200 feet in a straight line.  Yawn.

 

By the time we got to the brand new AK Starbucks, we were all in favor of a Frappuccino:

 

 

 

The problem was that everyone was in the mood for a Frappuccino:

 

 

Forget that.

 

So, we headed on across the bridge to Harambe Village.  The new FOTLK theater is out of the shot and on the left in this photo:

 

 

We were looking for the new food booths that they had just opened somewhere back here, but we weren't sure exactly where they were.

 

They didn't seem to be anywhere around the theater, so we walked toward the entrance to the safari ride, and past the restrooms and gift shop on the right.  After we passed the gift shop, we took a right, and then we saw that an entire area behind the gift shop was now opened up, with new buildings constructed in that space- the path to Rafiki's Planet Watch and the Safari entrance area are to the left and outside of the area shown in this photo:

 

 

Here's Zuri's Sweets, which caused a little controversy when it first opened last month by selling candy shaped like animal droppings:

 

 

This whole pathway is a new guest area.  The buildings you see ahead are all new and are part of the new food service area:

 

 

We will stop this update here, and pick up the next one with a closer look at the new food service area.

 

TCD

[keith_h 420]

 

And then we saw this:

 

 

 

 

That's a lot of ducks.

 

And there they go:

 

 

That was weird.

 

What were all those ducks doing?

 

I imagine they must live around there somewhere.

 

And Disney apparently is OK with that.

 

 

Makes me think of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis.

[caveat lector 181]

Same here Keith. My boss would actually stop meetings, so we could go out and watch the duck parade to the lobby

[caveat lector 181]

I had never heard the rumor about the black windows. Very creative sir

[Beckers 1,136]

There is an Instagram account someone runs about ducks of Disney world and land.

You should send the pics to the DW one!

http://instagram.com/ducksofwaltdisneyworld

And

http://instagram.com/ducksofdisneyland

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

What a beautiful boat ride. I have never gone that direction before and think that would be a nice way to get to the Boardwalk.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Duck parade!

 

AK in the afternoon? I swear it's the hottest park in the World. We did the same thing last trip after lunch at Sanaa. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Makes me think of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis.

 

It made me think of it too, and I've never even been there.

 

Same here Keith. My boss would actually stop meetings, so we could go out and watch the duck parade to the lobby

 

I have a sister who lives in Memphis, and I've been meaning to go and visit there.  When I do, I'm going to see those ducks. 

 

I was going to mention that there is a Peabody Hotel in Orlando, but when I went to look for a link, I found out that it closed in 2013, and the ducks they used to have there are gone: http://www.insidethemagic.net/2013/10/ducks-make-final-march-ending-longstanding-daily-tradition-as-peabody-orlando-becomes-new-hyatt-hotel/

 

I had never heard the rumor about the black windows. Very creative sir

 

Oh, that's a really old rumor, and one that I thought seemed pretty credible.  Otherwise, what's the point of those squares being incorporated into both of the buildings like that?  However, everything I've read about it says there was never any truth to the rumor.

 

There is an Instagram account someone runs about ducks of Disney world and land.

You should send the pics to the DW one!

http://instagram.com/ducksofwaltdisneyworld

And

http://instagram.com/ducksofdisneyland

 

Well, that pretty much proves that there's a social media account for everything.

 

My daughters and their friends sometimes entertain themselves by finding odd ones, and sometimes trolling the members of those groups. 

 

What a beautiful boat ride. I have never gone that direction before and think that would be a nice way to get to the Boardwalk.

 

That boat ride is beautiful, and is a great (but not fast) way to get from Epcot to DHS and back.

 

Duck parade!

 

AK in the afternoon? I swear it's the hottest park in the World. We did the same thing last trip after lunch at Sanaa. 

 

Yes, that was a duck parade.

 

And, the more I think about it, it's pretty strange.

 

That was a lot of ducks that suddenly showed up and walked down the street.  Where did they come from, and where were they going?  That big a crowd of ducks certainly would have caught the attention of the DHS Castmembers.  I wonder if they were there and parading down the street as a part of training them for some purpose?

 

I have some more AK photos coming up from that afternoon.  It was really, really hot there.  So much, that I have no plans on going back to AK in the afternoon until summer is way over.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

And the bonus content continues . . .

 

It is going to end soon, so enjoy it while it lasts.

 

We are eventually going to catch up to the TCD 4th of July trip to the Fort, and that deserves its own Trip Report.

 

So, if you like TCD TR's, you won't have to be sad when this one ends, as it means a new one will begin.

 

For now, though, it's June 21, and we are at Animal Kingdom in search for some lunch.

 

All of the stuff you see here is brand new- that water tower, that big wall with the arches- all of it.  Note there is some type of image of Mickey Mouse there on the left part of that new wall:

 

 

Let's take a closer look at that artwork:

 

 

What the heck does Fichwa Fellow mean?

 

I did a little Googling, and saw some references suggesting that it means Hidden Mickey in Swahili.  I thought that was a joke, but then I found another explanation which pointed out that there are signs posted around the area that both Swahili and English are spoken in the Harambe Marketplace.  And, apparently, the word fichwa does mean hidden in Swahili: https://en.glosbe.com/swh/en/-fichwa

 

So, maybe it's not a joke- that's a Hidden Mickey.

 

Here we are further in to the Harambe Marketplace area- the buildings you see on the right are actually the themed backsides of the restrooms and gift shops that face the main Harambe Village entry area.  The new marketplace area is on the left- you can see that there is a sign advertising ribs, curry style sausages, grilled foods and refreshments.  If you were to keep walking straight ahead on the wide path you see in this photo, you would connect with the big path that connects the Asia and Africa areas of Animal Kingdom:

 

 

Now we are turned and looking in to the new marketplace area- the food and drink windows are on the left, and there is seating on the right, but not nearly enough.  And what is seriously lacking here is shade:

 

 

It was 2:23 pm on a Sunday when I took this photo, and there is not one open table in the covered seating area- I don't blame guests for camping out here, as there aren't many covered places to do that in this area of Animal Kingdom:

 

 

I really don't like the concept of this area- there are individual windows that serve very limited items and drinks.  So, if you're there with a family, and one person wants ribs, but another wants an African corndog or whatever, you will have to stand in different lines to order those items.  On the other hand, I guess if you are a solo traveler, and just want to grab a quick bite and drink, you don't have to wait in one long line while families are ordering big meals:

 

 

Speaking of African corn dogs, here's what one of those looks like:

 

 

That green stuff next to the corn dog is broccoli.  I was as shocked to see that as you might be right now looking at that photo.  Who ever heard of serving broccoli with a corn dog?  Had I known there was a side item, I would have tried the TCD chip trick.  I have that on my to do list to check on a future visit.

 

As things stand now, that corn dog will set you back almost $10.  Which is a lot of money for a corn dog.  Even if it's African:

 

 

I will say this- African corn dogs are tasty.  There is no hot dog in there.  It's some kind of sausage.  And it's different in a good way.

 

But not worth $10.

 

Maybe if you get $2 for foregoing the broccoli, it would be worth it.

 

By the way, the broccoli is actually some kind of broccoli salad with a vinaigrette dressing. It's not bad either, but it has no business being anywhere near any kind of corndog, regardless of its nation of origin.

 

We had to eat our food at a table located off to the side of the covered seating area.  A nearby tree provided some filtered shade, and for that we were thankful.  But, they really should have provided some more covered seating in this area.

 

This is the other side of the Harambe Marketplace area- where the new wide path we've been looking at intersects with the preexisting path which connects the Asia and Africa areas of the park:

 

 

This shows the new area from a vantage point further back, in the preexisting Asia/Africa path:

 

 

Now we are walking back in to the area:

 

 

Here's another look at the covered seating area- you can see the little hut that serves the ribs back there on the right. All the theming you see in this photo- the telephone poles, lights, walls, etc., is all new.  Over there on the left, you can see the sign advertising the food items available in the marketplace. And, past that, in the background of the photo, you can see a sign advertising Train Service.  That sign points the way to the entrance for the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch:

 

 

Here's another look at the wall and arches which serves as the entrance to the new Harambe Marketplace area.  I don't know what the significance of 1980 is:

 

 

The entry area is kind of narrow, and would be really congested on a busy day, or closer to an actual meal time:

 

 

 

As we have already seen, the covered seating area is too small:

 

 

This themed areas is the backside of the big gift shop which faces the Harambe Village area, across from the safari entrance:

 

 

This is the path that leads to the entrance for the Rafiki's Planet Watch train.  That umbrella you see is the actual entrance.  This new path through the Marketplace area is a great shortcut if you're heading to Rafiki's Planet Watch or even to the safari, as it allows you to bypass that very congested area outside of Tusker House:

 

 

Here's Zuri's Sweets Shop again:

 

 

This is the inside of Zuri's- it is really small, and really not that big of a deal. The animal poop candy, which they have already stopped serving, was located in those glass cases.  Everything else in here is stuff you can find all around WDW:

 

 

Now, we are heading out- this is a look back toward the area where the new Harambe Marketplace is located.  It's behind Tamu Tamu refreshments as you stand in the area before walking toward the entrance to Tusker House:

 

 

 

From here, we got the heck out of Dodge, caught the bus back to the hotel, and split.

 

And that's the end of the bonus content from that quick weekend trip.

 

There was one more day trip after this before our 4th of July trip.  You'll see some photos from that in the next update.  The next post will include some updated information on the cheese sauce situation at Casey's Corner as well as an update on a FP+ hack that still works.

 

TCD

[shoreline99 137]

Interesting synopsis of the resort architecture: http://www.archdaily.com/64270/ad-classics-walt-disney-world-swan-and-dolphin-resort-michael-graves

 

More info: http://www.yesterland.com/swandolphin.html

[shoreline99 137]

And, to debunk the 'black box' monorail legend: http://www.yesterland.com/monoraillegends.html

 

and http://www.mouseplanet.com/8152/Understanding_the_Swan_and_Dolphin

[The Troll 67]

 

You know, how is this a theme park? Seriously -- let's recreate the rundown, economically depressed, blighted areas of Africa and model a theme park after them. Complete with ratty clothes hanging from a clothesline, rundown buildings, and poorly wired power lines.

And this is especially beautiful:

 

This is the kind of real world depressed crap I try to escape when I go to Disney parks.

[keith_h 420]

And, to debunk the 'black box' monorail legend: http://www.yesterland.com/monoraillegends.html

 

and http://www.mouseplanet.com/8152/Understanding_the_Swan_and_Dolphin

 

Coincidentally a link on the yesterland page takes us to this:

 

http://www.yesterland.com/peabodyducks.html

[bhall 115]

 

You know, how is this a theme park? Seriously -- let's recreate the rundown, economically depressed, blighted areas of Africa and model a theme park after them. Complete with ratty clothes hanging from a clothesline, rundown buildings, and poorly wired power lines.

And this is especially beautiful:

 

This is the kind of real world depressed crap I try to escape when I go to Disney parks.

When you're right.......you're right..

[LONE-STAR 370]

 

You know, how is this a theme park? Seriously -- let's recreate the rundown, economically depressed, blighted areas of Africa and model a theme park after them. Complete with ratty clothes hanging from a clothesline, rundown buildings, and poorly wired power lines.

And this is especially beautiful:

 

This is the kind of real world depressed crap I try to escape when I go to Disney parks.

True but Disney now caters to the rich so this lets them escape there wealth and feel like there one with the poor.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Interesting synopsis of the resort architecture: http://www.archdaily.com/64270/ad-classics-walt-disney-world-swan-and-dolphin-resort-michael-graves

 

More info: http://www.yesterland.com/swandolphin.html

 

Thanks for those links.  Very interesting stuff.  I had never heard the bit about the backstory for the Swan and Dolphin.

 

Nor did I know that the windows above the black boxes on the Dolphin were for fake rooms.

 

And, to debunk the 'black box' monorail legend: http://www.yesterland.com/monoraillegends.html

 

and http://www.mouseplanet.com/8152/Understanding_the_Swan_and_Dolphin

 

Thanks for those links too.  I still think it's a good rumor, and it would be nice if there were a monorail extension to DHS. Sadly, I am convinced that will never happen.

 

 

You know, how is this a theme park? Seriously -- let's recreate the rundown, economically depressed, blighted areas of Africa and model a theme park after them. Complete with ratty clothes hanging from a clothesline, rundown buildings, and poorly wired power lines.

And this is especially beautiful:

 

This is the kind of real world depressed crap I try to escape when I go to Disney parks.

 

As always, you make a good point.

 

But, I kind of like it.

 

Everything doesn't have to be castles and fairy tale stuff, and I think they did a good job of creating an atmosphere that makes you feel like you are someplace else.

 

Coincidentally a link on the yesterland page takes us to this:

 

http://www.yesterland.com/peabodyducks.html

 

Thanks for that link.  Mrs. TCD's sister and her husband used to love to stay at the Peabody in Orlando.  We always said one day we would check it out, but we never did.

 

And, now it's too late.

 

Oh well, at least the one in Memphis still has ducks.

 

When you're right.......you're right..

 

The Troll is always right.  I may not like what he has to say, but I can't deny that he's right.

 

True but Disney now caters to the rich so this lets them escape there wealth and feel like there one with the poor.

 

LOL.

 

That reminded me of those rich A-holes who drove around in the custom bus and took over the pavilion and beach at the Fort for their private Luke Bryan concert and fireworks last year.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well, it looks like I have enough bonus content for another update or two, and then this TR will finally be done.

 

We are now moving ahead another week to Saturday June 27.

 

Yes, we were just at WDW the weekend before.

 

But something came up, and the twins needed to go again.  Since they were going, DD1 and I decided to tag along.

 

We are consciously making an effort to go as often as we can this summer, as this is the first summer in 4 years that DD1 has had any significant time off and been back at home.  She will be starting her new full time job on August 3, and then the party will be over.  And the twins are about to head to California for 5 months, and will not be visiting WDW at all during that time.

 

What brought the twins south this weekend was an offer that they needed to cash in on sometime before heading west.

 

They have a friend whose dad works for Universal, and he has repeatedly offered to take them to Universal Studios for free.  Saturday, June 27 was the day they took him up on that offer.

 

We all drove over together, and we dropped the twins off at their friends' house near WDW.  Then DD1 and I headed to the MK.

 

We weren't in any particular rush, as we had FP+'s booked for the MK for that evening, when the twins would be back.  We hadn't really even planned to be at the MK that morning and afternoon, but it was another scorcher, and we figured there was a lot we could do in air conditioning at the MK.

 

Since our FP+'s were already committed for the evening hours, I decided to check on one of my favorite FP+ hacks.  If you are still reading, you get the benefit of learning that this hack still works.  When we arrived at the MK, I headed to the two kiosks inside city hall.  Those are not advertised as a FP+ kiosk location, and there is seldom a line there.  Today, there wasn't a line, but both of the machines were temporarily commandeered by large and loud families.  I had to wait while they took a very long time taking care of their business:

 

 

 

My wait seemed longer than it was, and then it was my turn.

 

I used two of the MB's I acquired during previous resort stays.  These are in the names of people who don't exist.  You can see that these bands are for Gruff and Hunter.  The Gruff band is from our stay the previous weekend, where we had Gruff and Bing Bong staying in our room with us.  Those names raised a few eyebrows from the CM's scanning MB's at the Yacht Club pool.  But I digress.  It was 10:58 am when I secured these FP+'s:

 

 

There were many other choices available, but I picked the attractions that had the best AC.

 

We now had three attractions we could ride in succession with no lines- Ariel at 11:15, Haunted Mansion at 12:15, then Pooh at 1:15.  Between, we would hit up some other air conditioned attractions, and we would beat the heat.

 

We would head to Ariel first.  Then maybe visit the always cool (temperature-wise) Hall of Presidents before heading to Haunted Mansion.

 

On the way to Ariel, I noticed that they have a new mug for sale at Sleepy Hollow:

 

 

If you are perceptive, you may notice that mug is the same as the mug they've been selling at Gaston's Tavern for the past couple of years, but with a Headless Horseman sticker slapped on it.   The math isn't hard to do- they want you to pay $6 for that cheap plastic stein.  Good luck with that.

 

We did Ariel.  The FP+ wasn't really necessary there, but it saved us a long walk through the stand-by queue, about half of which isn't air conditioned, so it wasn't a total waste.

 

Then we did Hall of Presidents.  It had been a while.  You want to know something?  That show is pretty good.  The old robots aren't that impressive, but the part narrated by Morgan Freeman is great.  And the air conditioning was a blessing on this hot day.

 

After HOP, we took a break and drank the cold water bottles I had brought in before they got too warm.  We sat in the new area they created in an old gift shop.  People don't know this is here, and it was really nice to sit in the AC and drink our somewhat cold water:

 

 

Then it was time for the Haunted Mansion.  Here, the FP+s' saved us from a long standby line, which you can see here on the left:

 

 

After HM, we had some time before our Pooh FP+'s would be good.  We needed to find another air conditioned thing to do.

 

The Country Bears sounded good.

 

So we went.

 

We had to wait a bit for the next show.  But, the waiting area is air conditioned.  So that was fine. 

 

We were standing next to this object in the waiting area, and at first I didn't realize what it was:

 

 

Then I read that label.  This was one of those pressed penny machines, and it apparently was out of order, so someone had turned it around so its back was facing out.

 

I was curious, so I took a look at the website listed there on the label.  You should too:  http://www.ctmgroupinc.com/

 

I learned that ctm stands for Create the Memories, and this company apparently manufactures and installs all kinds of amusement and souvenir machines all around the world.  From what I gleaned from the website, they do that at no cost to the places where the machines are installed.  It is a revenue sharing deal.  The company is privately owned and based in New Hampshire. 

 

The website also provides a guide to all of the pressed penny machines located in WDW:  http://www.ctmgroupinc.com/disney/

 

Even the Fort is listed:

 

 

As far as I can tell, that Musket Mickey pressed penny is the only official Disney item that you can buy anywhere on Disney property where Mickey still has his gun.

 

I also couldn't find anything on the CTM site that mentioned Disneyland.  If they have pressed pennies out there, it must be some other company that provides the machines for them.

 

There were more guests in the Country Bears show than I've seen in a long time.  They were probably like us- here for the AC and not the show. 

 

Big Al was good as always:

 

 

I hate to admit it, but the Country Bears show is very dated.  Still, I hope that they don't ever remove it.  It is still pretty spectacular:

 

 

After the Country Bears, it was close to our time for Pooh, so we headed that way.

 

On the way there, I dug out two more MB's and stopped at the kiosks by Philharmagic to see what I could get with them.

 

It was 1:03 now, and the selections were more limited, but there were still several things to chose from.  This is what I got:

 

 

Look at that- at 1:03 pm, I was given two FP+s for It's a Small World good at 1:05.  Normally, I would never use a FP+ for that, but this kind of explains why the stand-by line takes longer now.  Also note that I was even able to get FP+'s for a mountain.  By using this second set of MB's, we have now secured an extra six FP+'s each, and have nine total to use today.

 

Here would be a good time for me to address the issue of whether or not this FP+ hack is an ethical thing to do.  My take on this is simple- if Disney allows it, then I'm doing nothing wrong by taking advantage of it.  Do you remember that paper FP I posted a photo of a while back in this TR?  The one that was good for any attraction and for 5 guests?   There are guests in the park that received those from Disney.  And then there are the Rider Switch passes that they hand out that are good at any time for three guests.  Concierge CM's at the resort pass out extra FP+'s like candy.  I am competing against all of those guests.  If Disney is going the sprinkle pixie dust on all of those guests, then I'll be darned if I am going to wait in a standby line when I have the opportunity to avoid it.  So, I will.  If you chose not to, that's your choice.

 

We hadn't planned on riding Small World, but now we had an instant FP+ to do so, so we did.  The standby line was 15 minutes, and we got to walk by all of those poor folks who don't know how to hack the system.

 

Our boat ride was interesting. There was a mom and a boy about 4 years old in the row in front of us.  The mom started trouble by scooping up some water from the side of the boat and splashing it on the boy.  The boy then did the same to his mom.  During the ride, he stood up several times so he could lean over to reach the water.  And the mom was taking flash photos.  Which is bad enough.  But, when she missed something interesting , she would turn around and take a flash photo, and the flash would go off right in our eyes.  In another row, there was an older boy who spent the ride reaching out and trying to touch things that we passed.  His mom was in the row with him too.  I don't understand some parents.  It wouldn't take much for a kid's hand to be smashed between the boat and the side of the ride channel in some places.  And what about all of those announcements telling us to keep our hands and feet inside the ride vehicle.  Here's the kid in front of us standing, and the kid in front of him reaching.  What are the odds of having two idiot moms in one boat?:

 

 

After this, we rode Pooh.  The standby wait here was 30 minutes.  That was the third FP+ we used on that first set of MB's, so I stopped at the Buzz kiosk and got us another FP to use after lunch.  Then we headed to lunch.

 

Lunch today, as it has been on several of our past trips, was corn dog nuggets and fries from Casey's.

 

This was right after the melted cheese had been removed.  I didn't really care about that, but I asked for a side of cheese to see what would happen.  The large paper cup you see in this photo is the free cup of cheese I got with this order:

 

 

I have since heard that they have already cut this out.  If you want melted cheese now, you have to specify where you want it, and they put it on your order in the back.  I haven't verified that, but that's what the twins heard from a friend of theirs.

 

We ate our Casey's at our top secret parade location on the shady side of Main Street.  This spot gets the earliest and longest shade in summer, and is in front of a door where you can feel blasts of AC.  It's probably the most pleasant place to sit on Main Street.  It was right around 2 when we claimed our spot for the 3 o'clock parade.  The parade had been cancelled when we were here in this same spot the week before, and clouds were definitely forming today, but it looked like we would be OK.

 

As always, we enjoyed the people watching.

 

The opposite side of Main Street always fills a lot slower than the side we were on, as it's in the direct sunlight.  By 3:00, though, even that side was filled up.

 

There was something interesting going on right across from us.  We watched a kid and his mom set up an elaborate display of Disney figurines on the sidewalk:

 

 

Take a close look at what's going on there:

 

 

I have never seen such a thing.

 

It's also fun to watch guests pose for photopass photos.  This girl had just posed for one, when DD1 pointed out her hand-painted shoes:

 

 

Let's take a closer look at those:

 

 

Do you see how she has the castle painted on the toes?  And the Emporium logo on the side?  DD1 says that there are people on Etsy who paint and sell those.

 

Pretty cool.

 

Our people watching fun was interrupted by the parade:

 

 

I'll just post a few photos.  The spinning part of the princess float has been working regularly lately,  Which is good for those who came to see the Frozen sisters:

 

 

I've mentioned before how the dancers accompanying the Tangled float have changed their original routine and now spend their time spinning and showing the crowd their underpants.  I'm not complaining, but I am not sure who thought this was a good idea:

 

 

 

As the parade traveled down Main Street, we noticed that the kid with all the figurines would hold up one or more of his figurines as the parade passed.  We finally figured out that he was selecting and holding up the figurines that matched the float coming down the street:

 

 

He must have had a Mr. Smee figurine, because Mr. Smee headed over there for a closer look, and made a big demonstrative reaction:

 

 

 

Here the kid is holding up a Merida figurine as the Brave float approaches:

 

 

We once again got no fire from the dragon.  Whenever it's windy, the dragon holds back the fire on Main Street.  I guess it would be bad if any of the buildings were to catch fire:

 

 

As the parade wound up, the kid with the figurines dug out a chipmunk one and lured Dale over there:

 

 

And, that's all I have for the parade.  As soon as it was over, that kid packed up his stuff and was gone.

 

I'll let you know if I ever see this kind of thing again.

 

From here, we will be using those other FP+'s we got, and the twins will be joining us.

 

TCD

[Seals 111]

I hate to be obtuse about how that FP+ hack works, but...   So you make a room reservation with the names of actual people who are staying in the room and then you add additional fake people with their fake names and they send you MBs for them?  But you would need to have rooms with occupancy for more people than you have. Not a problem with Fort campsite reservations but it would be if one were staying at another resort (we have 5 actual people). And then you add these fake people to your account for making FP+ reservations?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I hate to be obtuse about how that FP+ hack works, but...   So you make a room reservation with the names of actual people who are staying in the room and then you add additional fake people with their fake names and they send you MBs for them?  But you would need to have rooms with occupancy for more people than you have. Not a problem with Fort campsite reservations but it would be if one were staying at another resort (we have 5 actual people). And then you add these fake people to your account for making FP+ reservations?

 

Most of my extra MB's are from Fort stays.  You can have up to 10 guests at a site, so I have added extra guests, and they issue MB's in the names of those guests.  At a regular resort, it's trickier because of the limited capacity in each room, but since we have Annual Pass MB's, I will sometimes list fake guests instead of the real guests, and get extra MB's that way too.  The problem with that is the real guests will need to use the fake guest's MB's to open the room and returning guest gates, but that isn't too much of an inconvenience.

 

Those extra MB's are no good to use online to make FP+ reservations- they don't have tickets associated with them.  But they do work at the park kiosks once you're in the park.  At Epcot and DHS those are of marginal value, as most of the good FP+'s are long gone before those parks open.  But, at the MK, they work great, as shown in my last update.  You aren't going to get a Mine Train FP+ with this method, but you can skip a lot of 30+ minute standby lines on some of the lesser attractions.

 

TCD

[The Troll 67]

 

As always, you make a good point.

 

But, I kind of like it.

 

Everything doesn't have to be castles and fairy tale stuff, and I think they did a good job of creating an atmosphere that makes you feel like you are someplace else.

 

It's funny how that works psychologically...or at least according to my psychology. I agree that everything doesn't have to be be castles and fairy tales. In fact, the attractions I like most are the ones that aren't castles and fairy tales. When an attraction is made rustic, rundown, and "gritty" it's OK for something from a different time period. Like BTMRR. I love how everything is rusty, faded, and sort of broken down. But build an attraction based on something contemporary and make it gritty and broken down and it's just an eyesore, to me.

[Beckers 1,136]

http://instagram.com/theenchantedbrush

She does amazing paint jobs on shoes. No idea what they must cost, I think I heard her shoes are over $200.

Speaking of idiot parents. I took the kids out for pizza yesterday and there was a dad and his 2 kids. The girl was about 8 and was doing KARTWHEELS inside the pizza place. It wasn't crowded so she had plenty of room and the dad said nothing. She must have done them for 5 mins and only stopped because their order was ready. It was ridiculous.

[red...Susan 37]

In tokyo disneyland the people set up little plastic mats along the parade route with their many Disney objects in front of them. I saw a person with at least 50 badges(keychain stuffed toys). Duffy and shellie mae are very common.

[jmaul 65]

Finally caught up.  

 

Too much content to comment.

 

Carry on....

[The Troll 67]

 

As always, you make a good point.

 

But, I kind of like it.

 

Everything doesn't have to be castles and fairy tale stuff, and I think they did a good job of creating an atmosphere that makes you feel like you are someplace else.

 

It's funny how that works psychologically...or at least according to my psychology. I agree that everything doesn't have to be be castles and fairy tales. In fact, the attractions I like most are the ones that aren't castles and fairy tales. When an attraction is made rustic, rundown, and "gritty" it's OK for something from a different time period. Like BTMRR. I love how everything is rusty, faded, and sort of broken down. But build an attraction based on something contemporary and make it gritty and broken down and it's just an eyesore, to me.

[Beckers 1,136]

Finally caught up.

Too much content to comment.

Carry on....

If you weren't being a slacker and lounging on the beach Sunday, you wouldn't be so far behind....