Halloween in August Trip Report

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

Great TR, I was a little late in arriving but am all caught up now. Score on the solo SDMT, that would be awesome. I still need to go back a see all your food pics. 

[wendinator 109]

Wednesday was a Magic Kingdom day and we were there for rope drop.

This morning's parking reminder.

After we cleared security we had a little debate about ferry vs monorail. The kids wanted to take the monorail (no surprise there!) so that's what we did.

The kids decided that they wanted to do Space Mountain at park opening so we waited by Tomorrowland Terrace. Apparently this isn't a very popular place to wait, but I thought it was great. There was a place to sit, and a bit of air conditioning from the restaurant. I think there might even have been shade. I marked our waiting point with the red circle. The more popular place where everyone else waited I marked with a yellow circle.

When the CMs dropped the rope we headed straight to Space Mountain and I think we weren't any worse off.

We got in line for Space Mountain and then noticed that Stitch had come out. One of my nephews is a big Stitch fan so kid and his Dad went and got some pictures taken with Stitch. Stitch had fun playing with the ears on the kid's Stitch hat. :)

They rejoined us in line and it became obvious that the line wasn't moving and something might be wrong. A CM came out and let the line know that the attraction was down and would maybe be back up in about half an hour. I told the guys to go do the People Mover and I would hold their spot in line. Of course, Murphy's Law being what it is, not long after they got on the People Mover, the Space Mountain line started moving. I got to the front... no boys. So I went to the back of the line... Made it to the front of the line again but still no boys. So I went to the back of the line again. This time they made it! 

I can do Space Mountain once and it's easier if I'm in the very front. Look - I'm already braced and we've barely even started. My BIL is a bit more relaxed...

After Space Mountain the boys did some more pin trading in the gift shop, then we headed over to Buzz. We waited in line much longer than I would have preferred, but we were already kind of committed by the time we figured out that the posted wait time wasn't accurate.

I really suck at getting a high score on this ride. I never know where it's actually aiming and which of those little red dots is mine. Suffice to say the lower score of the two was me, and the other was a nephew.

While we were on Buzz I got an email from Disney letting me know that my 10:15 - 11:15 am FastPass for Peter Pan had been modified because the attraction was down. The boys were pretty happy about this because they weren't really keen on riding Peter Pan anyway, and this gave them an extra FastPass for something else they'd rather ride. Score!

We went to the Lunching Pad and the kids got a cream cheese pretzel to share. We split up after this - BIL and one kid, me and the other kid. The kid I took had a date with the Harmony Barber Shop. We went there by way of a stroll through the Emporium. I'm always on the lookout for light weight, long sleeved, zip up hoodies. I always have one with me when I'm at the  parks - they're just so useful for either staying warm in overzealously air conditioned spaces, or sitting on for padding/heat protection. This one caught my eye.

I would have bought it but... I would have preferred all skulls and no Minnie, it had sparkles (I'm anti-sparkle), and it was $55 which sure seemed like a lot - especially when converted to Canadian.

We had a bit of a wait before it was our turn at the Harmony Barber Shop so we had time to look at the decorations. Anybody know who the guy on the right is? I'll let people answer and I'll post it if nobody gets it.

It was really crowded in that tiny little space and this is part of the reason why...

There was like 7 people waiting and then watching this one little kid get a haircut.

Did you know you can go into the Harmony Barber Shop and get some pixie dust put in your hair and then leave? I saw a few people come in and get some sprinkles put on and then leave - no haircut. It appears to be free. I'm a party pooper and would hate to have sparkles getting all over everywhere. With my luck I'd get them in my eyes. 

After the haircut, the kid and I went to the Jungle Cruise. iPad photographer!

I'd made us an ADR for the Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch so we rejoined my BIL and kid there. You can read about the food we had here.

When at Disney we like to look out for CMs with the same name and get a picture taken. The CM who took us to our table was also a Wendy and she was happy to have a picture taken with me.

After lunch we split up again, same as before. BIL and kid were doing the Pirate's Adventure thing, and I took the haircut kid over to BTMRR - he used the Peter Pan FastPasses (mine and his) to ride BTMRR twice. It's his favorite ride. I waited for him near the exit of the ride and a PhotoPass photographer showed up and was taking pictures of people after the ride. I made sure the kid got his picture taken too.

I forget where the kid and I were going to go after this, but it was just about time for Festival of Fantasy to start up so we knew it was going to be tricky to get around. Fortunately I picked TCD's brain before this trip and knew just what to do. (Thanks TCD!)

This is the FoF parade as seen from the waiting room of the CBJ. It was perfect! Bench to sit on right in front of the window, sweet sweet air conditioning, no crowd, and you can see/hear everything just fine.

Once the parade was over since we were already at CBJ we decided to go in. We got seated and just as the show was about to start, BIL and kid showed up and joined us. The CM working this attraction was on fire and VERY funny. He made lots of great jokes and got the audience really into it. I made note of his name (Ben) so I could swing by City Hall.

We had a Splash Mountain FP so headed there next. We debated about who had to sit on the right hand side since you often get wet at the waterfall towards the end. I said I'd take one for the team and sit there. As it turned out I didn't get wet from that waterfall but I did get wet from some other random jet. It's hard to tell from this picture but the right side of my shirt is just drenched. It took a long time to dry out, even in August.

The PhotoPass pictures of me on this ride are always funny. I'm always screaming my head off. I think the one kid put his hat in front of his face because he was afraid of getting his face wet.

Since the kid had done a bunch of the Pirate's Adventure thing, he'd netted 4 FastPasses for Pirates so we decided to cash them in. This was their first time riding it since the PhotoPass picture was added. I told them in advance where/when it would take the picture. I put on my best cheezy grin.

After Pirates we split up again, only this time we swapped kids. The kid who'd done the Pirate's Adventure thing wanted to complete the rest of the maps, so that's what we did. If you haven't done the Pirate's Adventure before it's pretty neat if you can spare the time. It's a bit like the Agent P adventure at Epcot. They give you a map with a starting point and you zap your MagicBand and things happen, then they tell you to go to the next point and do the same. I did all of them when I was on my solo trip back in January. One of the points that wasn't working in January was working this time around and it surprised the heck out of me! It gave us a good laugh.

After we finished the last Pirate map and got the final set of collector cards and Pirate's FastPasses it started to rain a bit so we sat on a bench near the Tiki Room to plan our next steps and discovered somebody had left their cellphone behind. I picked it up and took it across to the CM who was wrangling strollers near Pirate's and fortunately the owner of the phone was standing right there, having relocated to take shelter from the rain. Talk about instant satisfaction for returning a lost item! I was pretty sure she was telling the truth - there was a Tesco card in the phone's case and they had the British accent to match. :)

Since we were so close to the Tiki Room I convinced the kid to go in with me. By the time we got out the rain sprinkles had passed and we decided we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a Dole Whip. I asked for two vanilla swirl but somehow ended up with just two regular Dole Whip. Oh well - even non-swirl Dole Whip is still Dole Whip!

We'd used up our 3 FPs so I think I made us one same-day FP for MILF. The kid and I started heading towards Tomorrowland with stops along the way for pin trading. We must have stopped inside the Christmas shop because I took this depressing picture.

When we went in to get seated for MILF I tried to get us positioned so that my BIL could be "That Guy". We were so close! The guy to my left got to be That Guy (and he was a good sport about it) but at least my BIL still got picked to be Churros guy.

We were starting to get peckish after this and the kids like the toppings bar at Cosmic Ray's so that's where we went next. I did mobile ordering again.

 

I think I'd managed to make us a Haunted Mansion FP so we went there after Cosmic Ray's. Again we had another fantastic CM. He was very in character and really made it special. In the stretch room he stood in one spot and then as soon as it went pitch black for the thunder/lightning/noose part, he quickly relocated and stood really close right behind someone so when the lights came back on she got quite the scare. It was great fun and she got a good laugh. By the time we were exiting our Doom Buggy he was working the exit so I asked him, "What's your name?" and he pointed at his name tag that said Chris, but he explained "I'm really Callum". I said, "Thanks Chris Callum!"

We'd done enough by this point so started heading for the exit. I stopped at City Hall to thank Ben at CBJ and Chris/Callum at HM. I drove us all back to the time share.

Not as many steps this day as it felt like.

 

My sister had spent the day at the condo while we were gone and my first order of business when I got back was... putting chair socks on the legs of the chairs!

You probably think I'm crazy (and you're not far wrong) but I've stayed at this place several times before and the chairs they have at the kitchen table are very heavy, and they're on a tile floor. So every time you move the chair in/out it makes a lot of noise and makes me crazy. (And I'm sure the people on the floor below aren't too fond of it either.) So I got my Mom to knit enough chair socks for 7 chairs. She likes using up the tail end of yarn to make these, so of course they're a mixture of colors. A single one doesn't take long to make and she can do them while riding in the car or whatever. She's made me some for home too. My Mom is great!

The kids wanted to go swimming but my sister didn't want to go down with them so I said I'd go. While the kids were playing in the pool I was just sitting on a lounge chair playing on my phone... and watching these critters at the nearby garbage can buffet.

There were 3 or 4 of them that kept going into the garbage can to see what they could find. The one in the picture above has one of those plastic trays for fake orange cheese and nacho chips. They weren't shy at all.

On specific instructions from my sister about when to have them back, I rounded up the kids and we went upstairs and called it a night. And that was Wednesday.

[wdwpoohbear...Jennifer 40]

Sounds like you guys had a full day at the Magic Kingdom!  And had a great time too!

I love the chair socks...very original!

On another note, those raccoons would have freaked me out.  I am not sure I would have stuck around at all after seeing them there.

[caveat lector 181]

The guy on the right pic looks like a young teddy Roosevelt.  I'm sure that's not it, because there is probably a story behind it.

[wendinator 109]

7 minutes ago, caveat lector said:

The guy on the right pic looks like a young teddy Roosevelt.  I'm sure that's not it, because there is probably a story behind it.

You're exactly right! When I asked a CM there she said it's because the barber shop is supposed to be turn of the century, when he was president.

[Cortezcapt (Derek) 156]

Chair socks, what a great idea and that you remembered to bring them amazes me. Mostly because I'm one of those people that would have to have them then forget to take them with me.  

 

 

 

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

You referring to the boys as, the kid, has me cracking up. Does the Pirate adventure cost money to do? Great idea with the chair socks, I might have my daughter make our chairs some.

[wendinator 109]

30 minutes ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

You referring to the boys as, the kid, has me cracking up. Does the Pirate adventure cost money to do? Great idea with the chair socks, I might have my daughter make our chairs some.

The Pirate's Adventure doesn't cost money, apart from park admission.

[caveat lector 181]

On 9/25/2017 at 6:37 PM, wendinator said:

You're exactly right! When I asked a CM there she said it's because the barber shop is supposed to be turn of the century, when he was president.

That's it. I'm calling my 8th grade history teacher and asking him time bump up that B+

[bdm 47]

On 9/25/2017 at 3:32 PM, wendinator said:

We had a bit of a wait before it was our turn at the Harmony Barber Shop so we had time to look at the decorations. Anybody know who the guy on the right is? I'll let people answer and I'll post it if nobody gets it.

 

 

George is easy, the one on the right looks like a young Teddy Roosevelt maybe??

 

As for the hair sprinkles, I have 3 nieces  and I've been forced to take them to the bibbity bobbity boo salon to get made up before Royal Table, and was made to go get pixie dust in my hair..  

On a side note, on our trip in October my son and I are getting our hair cut in the barbershop..  I'm just a bit excited. 

[wendinator 109]

Thursday was a bit of a rest day. My sister dropped the menfolk off at Typhoon Lagoon first thing in the morning and then she went to the Disney outlet store on International Drive. She got a good deal on an Avengers Dooney so she was pretty happy about that. We agreed we'd meet up at Disney Springs when she was done.

I checked MDE and managed to score myself a FP for FEA in the afternoon so that gave me a plan of Disney Springs in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon. I also had a 5:45 dinner ADR for Jiko - I would have gone alone but the rest of the crew said they'd join me so I booked it for 5 people.

I always park in Lime. Love the little parking space indicators in the garage to let you know when a space is free/occupied. I wish more places had that but I can see how retrofitting would be expensive and painful.

We browsed some shops. My sister bought some shirts at Uniqlo. I'm always on the lookout for mugs/glasses so I did a quick skim for those at the World of Disney.

A trip to the Coke store was on my list of things to do, so we headed there. I'd heard about their float tray and knew it was something I needed to try. You have to take an elevator to the top floor to get to where they serve these. Note that the space up there isn't air conditioned and the music is pretty loud.

Anyway, here's the guy preparing our float tray.

And a bunch of float tray pictures.

I talked about the float tray here, including pricing.

If you're so inclined you can buy this giant bottle and get it filled with Coke product.

I shudder to think of how much sugar and how many calories that is.

In keeping with the fine tradition of "life is uncertain, eat dessert first" my sister wanted to hit up D-Luxe burger. I went with her just to keep her company. The line wasn't long but it was slow moving. One group ahead of us had a lengthy debate about their MagicBands and PIN. Then the group right before us decided to wait until they got to the register to decide what they wanted  to order, rather than say using the 15 minutes we'd been waiting in line. That drives me crazy! Anyway, sister ordered the kids meal which I think I'd do if I go there again, and about the time her food arrived is when I took my leave to head to Epcot.

I arrived a bit before 1 pm. Parking!

My FastPass for FEA was at 1:20 so that was good timing. I got to the attraction at about 1:15. I sat in the shade on the little curb by the FP tapstiles. And at 1:19... the attraction went down, the door closed, and we were asked to make our way from the entrance. Doh!

There was a PhotoPass photographer so I stopped for a picture. I asked if he had any magic shots but either he didn't understand me or he was new, or maybe there aren't any? Either way, I just got this picture.

After half a float tray clearly the logical thing to eat after that is... school bread. How could I pass it up since I was so close?

I decided I'd go do something I hadn't done in a while - the Reflections of China movie. I didn't take any pictures. I think I saw something recently that said they're looking to update the movie? It's pretty old at this point. Despite having to stand, at least it was air conditioned. I was disappointed to see that the Terracotta Warriors display is gone.

I wandered back to FEA and saw it was back up again so I rode. Somebody in the boat kept using his flash to take endless pictures. I expect they didn't turn out worth beans. Since I knew there was a ride photo, I took the opportunity to give them my best face.

I made myself a SSE FastPass. I never get tired of this so can happily ride it any time opportunity presents. Got stopped a couple of times, but not for too long.

Sadly the put your face on the screen thing wasn't working, so no goofy picture to share there.

I wandered a bit after this and happened to stumble on the Mobile Muppet Lab. I couldn't find any listings for this to see if it comes out on a regular schedule. Does anybody have any other information on it?

I kept looking around to see if could spot whoever was controlling it but apparently I wasn't clever or observant enough. This was way more creative than that silly iCan razor robot in Tomorrowland. Streamers! Bubbles! I thought this was great and would love to stumble on it again.

Next stop was the Fountain View (aka Starbucks) to get one of those orange creamsicle cupcakes. They are pre-boxed in a refrigerated case, so you can just grab and go.

The most interesting thing I learned from this trip to Starbucks is that they have a nice cold water dispenser in the area where you get the cream/sugar for your coffee. No waiting in line to get a free cup of ice water. You can just walk in and help yourself.

This cupcake was for sharing later, so at this point I just headed out of the park and back to the time share.

I went with my sister in her minivan to go pick up the menfolk from Typhoon Lagoon and then we went to Jiko for dinner. You can read about it here.  No excitement after dinner, just back to the time share for some time to relax and digest.

[Robin 48]

We used the free ice water at the Starbucks a lot. It's nice not to not have to wait in line. It seems day time is better to visit Disney Springs. When we where there we where packed in the elevator like sardines at the coke store. And every table was taken and the order line was nuts. We looked around and, got the heck out of there. Your right it was very loud!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

2 hours ago, wendinator said:

In keeping with the fine tradition of "life is uncertain, eat dessert first" my sister wanted to hit up D-Luxe burger. I went with her just to keep her company. The line wasn't long but it was slow moving. One group ahead of us had a lengthy debate about their MagicBands and PIN. Then the group right before us decided to wait until they got to the register to decide what they wanted  to order, rather than say using the 15 minutes we'd been waiting in line. That drives me crazy!

You really ought to give the mobile ordering feature on the My Disney Experience App a try.  They offer it at Deluxe Burger, and at a lot of other quick serve locations.  The beauty of it is that you do not have to stand in line behind guests like those you described.  You place your order an pay on-line, then alert the restaurant when you arrive, and you will get summoned to pick up your order.  It works very well.  So much aggravation saved.

TCD

[wendinator 109]

24 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

You really ought to give the mobile ordering feature on the My Disney Experience App a try.  They offer it at Deluxe Burger, and at a lot of other quick serve locations.  The beauty of it is that you do not have to stand in line behind guests like those you described.  You place your order an pay on-line, then alert the restaurant when you arrive, and you will get summoned to pick up your order.  It works very well.  So much aggravation saved.

I did it at Cosmic Ray's and the Satu'li Canteen and thought it was great! Unfortunately in this case the food was for my sister and she requires a gluten free bun, and you can't mobile order something gluten free.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

8 minutes ago, wendinator said:

I did it at Cosmic Ray's and the Satu'li Canteen and thought it was great! Unfortunately in this case the food was for my sister and she requires a gluten free bun, and you can't mobile order something gluten free.

Oh.  I also know that folks on the Dining Plan can't use it.  The streamlining of it is what makes it work well for now. 

And, regarding the Muppet Mobile Lab, the first I heard of it was about a year ago on this thread:

Coincidentally, I ran into it for the first time yesterday.  It still doesn't show up on any of the official times guides.

TCD

[Travisma 1,317]

57 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Oh.  I also know that folks on the Dining Plan can't use it.  The streamlining of it is what makes it work well for now. 

And, regarding the Muppet Mobile Lab, the first I heard of it was about a year ago on this thread:

Coincidentally, I ran into it for the first time yesterday.  It still doesn't show up on any of the official times guides.

TCD

And that surprises you?   After all it's only the Muppets.  It's not Elsa or Anna or anyone important!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

27 minutes ago, Travisma said:

And that surprises you?   After all it's only the Muppets.  It's not Elsa or Anna or anyone important!

You're right.

They've got a valuable franchise there with the Muppets, but they do very little with it.

The Muppet Mobile Lab is a fun little show.  Too bad nobody can plan to see it.

TCD

[Travisma 1,317]

1 minute ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

You're right.

They've got a valuable franchise there with the Muppets, but they do very little with it.

The Muppet Mobile Lab is a fun little show.  Too bad nobody can plan to see it.

TCD

I wish they would add more/different shows at the MK.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

3 hours ago, Travisma said:

I wish they would add more/different shows at the MK.

Me too!

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Great report!  On the barbershop, our daughter has gotten some pixie confetti, several times.  She loves it ☺. Our little man had his first haircut there (we were there, celebrating his first birthday).  Such a sweet memory!!❤

[Robin 48]

We love doing the pirate map game! When my son was little he loved getting his hair done in the barber shop. They used to make a hidden mickey with colored gel on the back of his head and lots of pixie dust. Sadly I think they stopped doing the colored hair gel now.

[wendinator 109]

Don't you hate it when life gets in the way of a writing trip report? Sorry for the lengthy intermission.

We're now on Friday, August 25.

My sister booked an 'Ohana breakfast for her and the Stitch-loving kid. My BIL and the other kid went to Typhoon Lagoon in their minivan, so I volunteered to take my sister and the kid over to the Poly for their ADR. While they had their breakfast I just wandered around, sat outside, and got myself a little breakfast at Capt Cook's. Breakfast burrito review was posted here.

After breakfast we went to Target to grab a few things. This was the beginning of pumpkin spice season so I was amused to see pumpkin spice Cheerios, Special K, Frosted Mini Wheats, etc.

This was a bit of a lazy day because we were resting up for MNSSHP. I had a nap... And remember that orange creamsicle cupcake I got earlier? I split that with the kids. It was good!

Around 3:00 we all piled in the minivan and left the time share to head to the TTC. I took the parking spot reminder picture at 3:33.

My sister had friends who were also going to be at MNSSHP this night and I forget exactly why but their off-site stroller got delivered to our time share and we took it with us to the park to give to them. Which gave me another opportunity to ride in a stroller!

We took the ferry over to MK and arrived pretty much right at 4. There was already a decent sized crowd queued up in the party line. We had no trouble getting through the tapstiles and getting our wristbands. Our first task after getting in was to grab a locker to ditch some stuff. It's been a while since I last got a locker and the system was pretty easy.  There's an ATM-like kiosk where you pay and it assigns a locker number.

From there we went to the Fire Hall to get our MNSSHP SOTMK card. My sister kept all of them, which was fine by me since I never play.

The guys wanted to do Space Mountain so we headed to Tomorrowland. My sister and I did the People Mover while the guys did Space Mountain. While waiting for the guys to come back my sister and I shared a frozen Coke from the Lunching Pad. I love those things.

My sister's main priority for the party was to get her picture taken with the 7 Dwarfs, so when the guys were ready we headed over to new Fantastyland. There was already a pretty big line before 6:00.

The weather wasn't great. It rained off and on.

The kids were peckish so I took them over to Big Top Souvenirs for a sugar infusion.

After about 90 minutes it was our turn to  meet the Dwarfs. My sister was happy.

We went to Cosmic Ray's and had some food, then started tracking down the special party treats. Unfortunately we were only able to get 2 out of the 4. By the time we got to the last two places they were already sold out.

 

Both of the ones we had were good so I'm a little bummed we didn't get to try the other 2. My sister also got the candy corn ice cream - I think I had one small bite.

We did some trick or treating. Because my sister is gluten-free she was interested in their allergy friendly treats. At the stations they give you one of these tokens and you redeem them later.

By the time she went to City Hall at the end of the night to redeem her tokens there wasn't much to choose from. I thought I had a picture but I can't seem to find it. Anyway, she was disappointed.

We did the first Boo to You parade. This is the best parade!

I don't remember what all we did... I think the guys went off and did more rides. My sister and I tracked down the PhotoPass magic shots.

Looks like I was in Frontierland for the fireworks.

I saw the Cadaver Dans.

Towards the end of the night one of the kids went to a trick or treat station and the CM filled his bag to the brim!

The bag was so heavy the only way to carry it was like a baby, thus the name "candy baby" was born. It was quite a hoot to have that much candy.

The kids bought some pins at the Emporium and then had a little pout because there was a party-only pin available at the Frontier Trading Post that we didn't know about until it was too late. I got a passholder T-shirt.

We called it quits about 12:30.

I loved this CM on the way out.

Here was my Halloween Party step count.

Oh yes, forgot to mention that we were those boring people who don't really do costumes. I wore my MNSSHP shirt from 2014,  my sister wore an Iron Man dress, BIL wore a Disney Halloween shirt,  one kid wore his Stitch stuff, and the other kid Disneybounded as Sorcerer Mickey. It was HOT so comfort was our main priority.

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

Glad to see you back writing more about your trip. I have always wanted to do an after hours party.  Was it worth the extra money?

[wendinator 109]

14 minutes ago, Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie said:

Glad to see you back writing more about your trip. I have always wanted to do an after hours party.  Was it worth the extra money?

I think MNSSHP is worth it for me  - I love the parade and fireworks. Plus Halloween is my favorite. The atmosphere is fantastic.

But if I had to pay for a family of 4 or more I might have a different answer! I've never done the other hard ticket events like MVMCP.

[wendinator 109]

Just realized I left out a key detail that will become relevant later on.

When we were at the Poly for the Ohana breakfast, Stitch kid was looking longingly at the  Poly pool and saw that there was a gate that could only be opened with a Magic Band. He zapped his MB, the light turned red, and the gate wouldn't open. We weren't surprised by this, but you can't knock the kid for trying.