Two Saturdays in September with TCD

[dvccamper 32]

ghost of KFK gets us all from time to time

I think I'm going to have to be filled in on that one!

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I think I'm going to have to be filled in on that one!

Once upon a time, about a year ago, their was the TR written by KampFireKim.

She was plagued by a "ghost" that made her double post.

Suddenly the Ghost of the Double Post was dubbed the Ghost of KFK

and is now blamed for a host of double posts

[Southern Blessings 4]

How awesome!!! Thanks for sharing the video!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

That is so cool!! Thank you for being prepared for it!! Hands down best update ever!!

Thanks, Cherie. That little gimmick really adds a lot to this minor attraction.

Keep reading to hear about the rest of it.

Wow to the video!

I said wow too. They did a great job with this. I'm sure the next time I won't be as wowed since I will know what to expect.

Good Job TCD

Thanks.

Very cool. I don't know if I will be able to keep this under my hat until our trip in Dec. What a neat thing to see. Can't wait for my daughter and hubby to see it.

Definitely keep the mirror thing under your hat for your daughter.

I have some tips about the next part of the attraction, so be sure to keep reading.

Wow, that was so cool! At first I was a little underwhelmed with the cottage, I was thinking it was similar to the walk through Mickey's house. But wow, that's impressive.

I thought the same thing initially. This is just a meet and greet, so we walk through the house, see the fake furniture, and we meet Belle.

That magic portal thing was unexpected.

How awesome!!! Thanks for sharing the video!

Glad you liked it.

Now, let's get on to the rest of the experience.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

After the mirror changed in to a door, we are invited in to the next room. Since we were the last ones into Maurice's workshop, it was dark when we got in the room, and it stayed pretty dark as we walked out into the next room. There is some cool stuff on the walls here in the workshop, but I didn't have time to take any of it in or get photos. We were asked to not take flash photos for the rest of the experience right before the mirror trick. I snapped this photo of one of the drawings on Maurice's wall:

Photobucket has an enhance feature, so I tried it on that photo and got this:

I guess that is some plan of Maurice's.

He's a little eccentric, you know.

I mentioned that we could hear someone talking in the next room as the portal opened.

It was this thing:

Do you remember Wardrobe from the movie?

That's her.

Joanne Worley provided her voice in the movie.

And this one sounded just like Joanne Worley. I wondered if it was really her voice, so I have since checked up on old Joanne. She is still alive. And 75.

Maybe it's her voice.

Anyway, Wardrobe was talking to us.

I should have recorded this too, but I was distracted.

This Wardrobe is really cool.

The face is animated, and the eyes and mouth move. It also is very well done.

I was trying to take everything in, so I snapped a photo of the light fixtures. I don't know why, but I did:

There was kind of a lot of commotion in this room, as the castmember in there engaged in conversation with the Wardrobe.

I am not sure why, but it was decided between the two of them that we would be going in to meet Belle in the Beast's library and that we were going to help her re-tell her favorite story.

The castmember says they will need some volunteers.

He asks if we will help.

We shout, YEAH!

He said first thing he needs is two guards. He wants to see us all march in place so he can pick two guards. I marched like a member of the Florida A & M band (google it).

But, he picked someone else on the other side of the room first.

But, you know that saying of mine . . .

If at first you don't succeed . . .

So I kept on marching.

A lot of the other people had stopped.

The CM came over and told me I would be the other guard.

Win!

The people who help in the story telling get props.

Here's my guard gear:

The guards are cast first. Then they pass out the other parts:

I can't remember all the parts, but someone gets picked to be Mrs. Potts, and the Footstool, and Chip, and the Beast, etc.

At the end of casting, they even ask if anyone else wants a part.

If you do, you get to be a dish.

After we all have our parts, we got ushered into the library.

The cast got to go in first.

This is a photo of some of the detail over the doorway going in to the library:

We enter a room set up like the Beast's library.

I am stationed next to the fireplace.

A new castmember comes up and tells me I have a line to say.

When Lumiere asks if the guards are ready, we are to shout "Oui!" That means yes in French.

So that's what I do.

I nailed it.

Then I am moved over to the side.

Even though I am told not to move, I snuck this photo:

Belle has entered the room, and we are acting out the story of Beauty and the Beast under the direction of a candlestick.

You can see the other guard across the room in that last photo. He was following his orders to not move. I, on the other hand, kept sneaking photos.

There were a ton of Disney "suits" in each corner of the room watching everything. Here's a group of them now:

And there are the TCD twins watching everything from the back row:

A CM comes up to me and tells me I have another line.

When she gives me the signal, I am to scream "eeeek" like I saw a mouse.

I told her that I would not say "eeeek" if I saw a mouse.

She said do it anyway.

So I did.

When I got the signal, I took in a deep breath and gave them the biggest Eeeek I'll bet they have ever heard.

I didn't really follow the story.

It went pretty quick.

But at the end, each of the actors gets to come up and have a photo taken with Belle.

And she gave us each a small gift as a thank-you.

A photopass photographer was taking photos of all of this.

As i walked out, she handed me a photopass card. The photos from the whole show were on there, not just of me.

Here's a sampling of them.

This is me at my post:

And this is the little girl who played the Beast meeting Belle:

Here are my photos with Belle (the other guard got to be in them too) :

As we were let out of the room, I took this photo of the fireplace and Lumiere:

You want to know what the gift was, right?

It was a bookmark.

A free bookmark.

Yes I said free.

There isn't much you can get for free in Disney.

But, I got this bookmark:

Can you read what it says on there? It says: "You'll always be part of my favorite story." and it's signed, Belle.

How do you like that?

When we exited the library, we came out on the side of the mountain-we came out the door you see back there in this photo. There are two doors there. I think that means that there are two libraries and maybe two Belles:

We are now closer to the bridge to the Be Our Guest restaurant:

You can really get a good look at the gargoyle by the entrance from over here:

They were installing some big gates here on the bridge to the restaurant:

These guys were working on something on one of the pillars that we looked at earlier:

I got a really good photo of the gargoyles on the bridge from here. And also of the Little Mermaid ride buildings in the background:

Sorry, but I couldn't help but snap another couple photos of the Beast's castle:

Here's a side view of the broken arch that we looked at when we first walked in:

They really did a lot of landscaping back here. You can see all kinds of plants here in the area outside the entryway to the Be Our Guest restaurant:

Here's a zoom shot of the sign posted there on the pillar. It shows a coat of arms and says Be Our Guest at the top:

And that concludes our sneak peek at Enhanted Tales with Belle.

All ,in all, that was pretty awesome.

The only bad thing, is that we missed our return time for Dumbo.

We didn't care about that after getting to see what we just saw.

From here, we decided to go get a bite to eat. I was going to try something that has been talked about a lot here on ff.net, but which I had never personally tried.

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Great update!! Glad you got to be a guard but it seems you need to follow orders better! Although if had we would have missed out on some great pictures!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Great update!! Glad you got to be a guard but it seems you need to follow orders better! Although if had we would have missed out on some great pictures!

Yeah, I know. I had a hard time taking direction from a candlestick.

The next time I'm in there, maybe I will ad-lib some. You know, to liven up the show. Maybe dance with Belle or something.

I'll come up with something.

That reminds me-

I wanted to give some tips.

If you want photos with Belle (and a bookmark) be sure to volunteer for a part.

They did invite guests up for a photo after the show, but the people in the show got several photos each with Belle.

Plus a free bookmark.

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Yeah, I know. I had a hard time taking direction from a candlestick.

The next time I'm in there, maybe I will ad-lib some. You know, to liven up the show. Maybe dance with Belle or something.

I'll come up with something.

TCD

:rofl2: I will surely stay tuned for a TR if you do!

[stefa70 205]

Excellent job with the video!!

So while I was slaving over a hot grill, you were canoodling with Belle?

I would say that I'm feeling threatened, but who cares about a silly old bookmark when you have a Gator Gnome!!

That was a great update. It looks like they did a fantastic job in there!

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Awesome preview. I am surprised twin 1 didn't volunteer for something.

[KeepSwimmingDory 2]

Awesome video & update. That was a birthday to remember!

[michele j 9]

Very cool update!

[devores 382]

Ok, I watched that video over a dozen times and think I have figured out how they did that. I wont post my thoughts, and possibly ruin for anyone else (its magic), but I am the type that rides these rides and tries to figure out how they do the things they do. Great foresight to switching to video.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

Ok, I watched that video over a dozen times and think I have figured out how they did that. I wont post my thoughts, and possibly ruin for anyone else (its magic), but I am the type that rides these rides and tries to figure out how they do the things they do. Great foresight to switching to video.

I saw video of this about a month ago and I have been pondering it ever since. I suspect we both have a good idea how it works at this point.

[devores 382]

I saw video of this about a month ago and I have been pondering it ever since. I suspect we both have a good idea how it works at this point.

It would be interesting to see how close our theories are. But Disney would never give up their secrets.....

[Big Kahuna aka John 71]

I believe that the shear awesomeness of being in the presence of TCD and knowing he was going to do a trip report made the wall disinegrate... His magical powers are growing..... Thats what I'm going with.... :laugh:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Excellent job with the video!!

So while I was slaving over a hot grill, you were canoodling with Belle?

I would say that I'm feeling threatened, but who cares about a silly old bookmark when you have a Gator Gnome!!

That was a great update. It looks like they did a fantastic job in there!

Not to worry, you are right- a bookmark is nothing compared to a Gator Gnome.

Plus, that Belle is a little off.

Awesome preview. I am surprised twin 1 didn't volunteer for something.

I'm sure she will next time.

It seemed like the CM's were only picking the little kids for the roles, except they wanted men for the guard positions. So, they held back from volunteering. Then, when they asked if anyone else wanted to join, they decided they would just watch this time.

Awesome video & update. That was a birthday to remember!

Yes, it was a birthday to remember, and I haven't even gotten to the best part yet.

Very cool update!

Thanks. I thought it was cool too.

Ok, I watched that video over a dozen times and think I have figured out how they did that. I wont post my thoughts, and possibly ruin for anyone else (its magic), but I am the type that rides these rides and tries to figure out how they do the things they do. Great foresight to switching to video.

I saw video of this about a month ago and I have been pondering it ever since. I suspect we both have a good idea how it works at this point.

It would be interesting to see how close our theories are. But Disney would never give up their secrets.....

I believe that the shear awesomeness of being in the presence of TCD and knowing he was going to do a trip report made the wall disinegrate... His magical powers are growing..... Thats what I'm going with.... :laugh:

What is this, a MENSA meeting?

You guys are way overthinking this.

You can't figure out how that mirror works?

How do carpets fly?

How does a pumpkin turn into a carriage?

How does a dude in a green dress with 5 o'clock shadow fly out of the castle every night?

Magic!

That's how.

This is a magic mirror.

That's not hard to believe is it?

There have been magic mirrors before.

Maurice is an inventor.

He just figured out how to make a magic mirror.

That's all.

TCD

[Heidi-meetsTCD@TSM 5]

TCD,

Fun update!

That mirror is pretty darn neat. We don't do character meets anymore, but we may have to make an exception!

All the new additions to Fantasyland looked so nice and well done. Thanks for taking all the pictures to share with us!

Heidi

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

You want to know something?

This is turning out to be a pretty long report considering it's just two day trips slapped together.

But, what can I do?

I have more to tell, and a lot more photos, so we shall press on.

After leaving our special preview, the plan was to find a snack and then go use those princess meet and greet Fastpasses.

I knew what I wanted.

This would be the day that I will try one of those Nutella waffles from the Sleepy Hollow quick serve.

I've tried the other waffles, but not the Nutella one.

The TCD twins heart Nutella. And they have eaten the Nutella waffles on MK visits without me. But, it was time for me to try one.

The plan was to not eat too much this afternoon so we would be plenty hungry for the Food and Wine festival.

So, Twin #1 and I agreed to split a Nutella waffle. Twin #2 said she would rather have a Mickey soft pretzel. The only place I know to get those is in Frontierland, so we headed that way. The plan was to get the pretzel and then double back to Sleepy Hollow.

We headed through old Fantasyland. Here we are heading toward the old Skyway entrance:

You can see that there is all kinds of construction still going on back there. So I had to take a look.

This is what I saw:

Those are some fancy bathrooms.

I think it's not going to just be bathrooms.

The TCD twins say it's going to be a Rapunzel meet and greet.

I think they're right.

On our way to get the construction photos, we saw some people wearing Oswald the Rabbit ears. I am not sure where you get these, but they're new:

While I was looking at the construction, I noticed a weathervane that I don't think I've noticed before:

I was going to post this on the Where in the World thread, but I can't remember for sure which building it was on. My recollection is that it was on the Small World building, but looking at the photo, it looks more like the Peter Pan building to me. I will check on this the next time I go, and then post the photo on the Weather Vane thread.

From here, we gathered our snacks and enjoyed them in the little seating area behind Sleepy Hollow. For you Nutella fans:

After our break, it was time to head back down Main Street to the princesses.

We stopped behind the Christmas Shop to pick up our SOTMK cards, and found a long line there too.

Dang.

We decided not to wait, and headed on.

As we headed toward the Emporium, we spotted Peter Pan meeting with guests, and no line.

Sweet.

Peter Pan is creepy. But always fun.

The girls said let's meet him.

I said sure.

But, when we walked up the castmember said the line was closed, as Peter was due on the castle stage for a show.

Oh.

Check out these girls who were meeting Peter:

One has a Peter Pan doll.

And, she also had some kind of Peter Pan bow in her hair, which she made a point of showing to Peter.

You want to know something?

You can see some weird stuff in the parks.

What in the heck was that girl doing walking around with a Peter Pan doll and a Peter Pan bow in her hair.

Isn't that weird?

If I were Peter, I would watch out for that girl.

Something ain't right there.

For the crane fans:

After being denied a meeting with Mr. Pan, we took the airconditioned short cut through the Emporium, and popped out near the beginning of Main Street.

It was just past 2:15 at this point, so the princess Fastpasses were good.

As we headed that way, the girls noted a really nice shady spot on the curb and remarked about how nice it would be to sit there and watch the 3 o'clock parade. It was kind of a hot afternoon, and nobody had staked out parade spots yet. I told the girls that I would take one for the team and sit along the curb and save spots for them for the parade. They loved that idea. So did I. I had already met a princess today, so I was good to go.

So I sat down here:

That's my backpack saving a spot.

My spot was along the curb, right in front of one of the Emporium doors, and I could feel a little blast of AC every now and then, Plus, I was in the shade.

I could get used to this.

Sometimes people stake out spots for the parades an hour ahead of time. Not today. There really wasn't anyone else around. Not on the other side of the street in the sun, that's for sure:

And nobody next to me:

I wasn't worried about being bored. I would be happy to sit for 45 minutes and people watch. Or even dog watch:

It wasn't too long before people did start showing up to claim spots around me. A family with a young boy sat next to me, and a castmember notice the boy had a cub scouts hat on and came up and talked to him. I was sitting right there, so I got to hear the whole conversation. The castmember asked the boy if he was a cub scout. The boy said yes, and then the CM asked if he liked to collect patches. The boy said yes. The next thing you know, the CM breaks out a patch to give the kid. The kid was thrilled. The parents were thrilled. Cool. Here's a couple of photos of that encounter. You might notice the CM had some kind of book in his hand. I think it may have been a pin trading book, but I'm not sure what it was or what he did with it:

After this guy left, a photopass photographer came down the street talking to people. He was a young guy in a wheelchair. He came to a stop in front of me, and struck up a conversation, saying Happy Birthday and asking how my day was going. We chatted a bit. He ended up telling me that his shift was going to end at 3, and he wanted to just sit there in the shade and not work. He asked me to keep talking with him, so he wouldn't get in trouble. I liked that kid. I asked him about as many rumors as I could remember. He didn't really know much. But, he did tell me something that I had never heard. According to him, there are two Disney characters that Photopass photographers are not allowed to photograph. Have you ever heard that? He said it was Terk, the chimp from Tarzan, and Mary Poppins. He said Rose O'Donnell owns the copyright on Terk, and Julie Andrews on Mary Poppins. Anyone ever heard that one? It didn't sound right to me, but I thought I would share it just to see if it was possibly true.

The girls made it back from their meeting with the princesses with about 15 minutes to spare.

I snapped this photo at 2:58, with the parade about to start, and you can see that there was still plenty of open space to sit in the sun on the other side of the street:

I didn't take that photo to show the empty space. I actually was trying to get a photo of that guy in the vest. Remember how I said you can see some crazy stuff in the parks. Well, take a closer look at this guy:

What the heck is going on there?

I don't think I want to know.

As you may know, the parade begins with an old car carrying the Grand Marshall:

I mentioned earlier in this report that we don't normally sit and watch parades. And this is the first time I remember seeing this car in the MK.

Check it out, it has Hidden Mickeys on the tires:

If you can't see the Hidden Mickeys, they are pretty easy to see on the spare tire:

I again enjoyed watching the parade from a spot on the curb.

There were all kinds of characters who walked right in front of us. Like these guys:

And we got great views of the main Mice:

For some reason, the Twins are fascinated by the Abu character. He came right up and gave Twin #1 a high five:

I didn't get what was going on on this float. In addition to Aladdin, they had the mice from the Rescuers movie and baby Dumbo on there. What is up with that?:

I have always found Mr. Smee's feet to be strange, so I got a photo of him:

And, of course, I had to get a photo of my new buddy, Belle, and her friends:

That's all for the parade.

It sure goes fast.

It was now 3:30-ish.

We wanted to head to Epcot around 5-ish.

We had about an hour and a half to kill.

And no Fastpasses.

I said let's get our SOTMK cards.

We did that.

We still had over an hour to kill.

It was hot.

There really wasn't anything that we could thing of to do in the MK that would only take an hour.

So, one of the girls said let's go to a hotel, and get a drink or snack and chill before heading to Epcot.

That sounded like a winner.

And, it gave me a chance to do something I have been meaning to do since our last visit.

We will be headed there next.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

sweet update came in just in time for me to read it before hitching up.

1. i am going to remember that sidewalk in shade in front of the emporium doors (heated in winter too?)

2. No pictures of the girls with the princess? Somebody needs to talk to Twin #1 about her camera duties....

3. I want one of those patches!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

sweet update came in just in time for me to read it before hitching up.

1. i am going to remember that sidewalk in shade in front of the emporium doors (heated in winter too?)

2. No pictures of the girls with the princess? Somebody needs to talk to Twin #1 about her camera duties....

3. I want one of those patches!!

Yes, do remember that sidewalk. In the winter, you might want to be on the other side, though, so you will be in the sun.

I have to check with Twin #1 and steal some of her photos. So far, I've just been using my own. There are probably some princess photos.

If you want one of those patches, bring a cub scout hat and look for that bald CM with the book. That should do the trick.

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

That magic mirror looks very cool. I look forward to seeing that when we go later this year.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

That magic mirror looks very cool. I look forward to seeing that when we go later this year.

I hope that you do get to see it.

And please volunteer to play Mrs. Potts.

Anna could be Chip.

That would be something to see.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

As you all probably know, it is not likely that there will be any updates to this report over the weekend.

I have things to do.

Like football games to watch and stuff.

But, because I'm the Rock Star of trip reports, I am going to squeeze in one more update for your viewing pleasure before the weekend begins.

We have now left the MK.

The plan was to go to a resort and chill for a bit before heading to Epcot.

We decided that we should take the monorail to Epcot.

It's been a while since we have.

It isn't the quickest or most efficient way to get there.

But it's the coolest.

So, the most likely choice for our resort visit was the Contemporary.

So off we went.

Via monorail.

We grabbed some cold drinks and chilled in the Outer Rim lounge chairs.

The Outer Rim doesn't officially open unitl 4:30 in the evenings, so the chairs are fair game to non-drunks before then.

As I sat and enjoyed the cool air and cushy seat, I looked out the window.

I have always loved the view from there.

You can look out over Bay Lake, and see the boats coming and going from the Fort, and, of course, Discovery Island.

But, now I hate the view.

And, the view reminded me of something that I had been meaning to do.

I told the girls I needed to up to the roof for a while.

I invited them to come with me.

But, they chose the air conditioning and cushy chairs.

So, I went solo.

Here we are.

On the roof.

And, this is what bothered me when I looked out the window at the Outer Rim:

It's the darned Four Seasons resort.

Right next to the Fort.

Have another look. There is Discovery Island on the left, and the shoreline to the right is the Fort:

Just look at that ugly thing:

The Wilderness Lodge is much closer and much larger, but it was built to blend in to its surroundings. It doesn't bother me at all:

But that Four Seasons sticks out like a sore thumb.

The view from the Contemporary looking toward the Fort used to be a view of a nice forest. Now, we see this ugly Four Seasons building.

I was just handing out compliments to Disney for all of the planning that went in to the New Fantasyland.

But I have nothing nice to say about this Four Seasons abomination.

Boo! Disney.

You blew it on this!

Big time!

Since I was already up here on the roof, I figured I might as well take in the views I do like.

Like the monorail:

Still cool after all these years. Disney did a good job with that.

And if you look at the horizon in this photo, you can see the Epcot golf ball toward the left, and the Swolphin resort near the center:

The Grand Floridian DVC building fits in fine with the existing Grand Floridian resort layout. You can see it here in this photo, to the left of the existing buildings under the cranes:

I had seen all I wanted to see from the roof, so I headed back down to the lounge.

I snapped a few photos along the way.

Here is Chef Mickey's from on high:

And the Contempo Cafe:

And the big mural:

It has been reported that all of the guest rooms at the Contemporary have been equiped with RFID readers for the door locks. This is what and RFID reader looks like:

Don't you like how they included the Hidden Mickey?

Here we are looking down at the other side of the concourse. The monorail loading platform is there on the left. I like how you can see out of all those windows on the end:

I headed down to meet back up with the girls, and we enjoyed our little break.

Then it was time to continue on our journey.

The Avenger rail came to get us:

This was the first time we have gotten a chance to ride it.

It wasn't anything special.

But it is cool.

At the Transportation and Ticket Center, we had to transfer to the Epcot monorail. I don't ever remember walking under the platform on the Contemporary side of it, but that is how we went today:

We had a brief wait for the Epcot monorail, and then we were off! :

I always pay attention when the Epcot monorail cruises past the old STOLport. You never know what you might see down there.

I thought I saw something back toward the back of the lot as we went by, so I snapped this photo:

You can't really see what I am talking about in that photo, so let's zoom in on it:

It looks like there are two train car looking things back there in the back. Maybe those are on their way to Fantasyland. Or maybe they were pulled from someplace in the MK to be refurbished. I don't know. But it does go to show that you never know what you might see back here.

This trailer complex didn't used to be here:

I heard something a while back to the effect that the construction trailers from the Art of Animation project were going to be moved here. I thinks these are them.

In no time flat we were at Epcot.

You know what's cool?

That circle that you take around Future World before stopping at the Epcot station.

Whoever thought of that was a genius.

Here we go. . .

First the Wonders of Life pavilion. They are using it as the headquarters for the Food and Wine Festival, so the pavilion is open for now. Not the attractions, just the pavilion:

Then we glide past Mission Space:

When this opened, I thought it was great.

Still do.

What a good looking and unique attraction.

Unfortunately, I am in the minority when it comes to feelings about Mission Space. Most people hate it.

Next up Test Track.

It has been closed all summer for a refurbishment.

I thought it might be close to being done by now.

But, it's still torn up:

Now we are passing the Odyssey restaurant. I never remember this being open, but it used to be a quick serve place:

In that last photo, it looks like there may be a bit of a crowd around the Mexico area of the World Showcase. But, over near the main entry, it doesn't look too bad:

Now we are looking down on the main walkway to the World Showcase. Again, not too crowded, that is good for us:

Now we are over the area where the sand sculptures were for the Flower and Garden Festival in the spring, and the Merida play area after that. For the Flower and Garden show, there are big flower displays here. Now it's just plain old grass:

I have always loved the Imagination foutains:

And, the final pavilion we pass is the Living Seas:

Next up, we head on it for our first visit to the 2012 Food and Wine Festival!

TCD

[pixeldust 0]

Love your trip reports. Have had a lot of fun reading so far. Have a great weekend. Look forward to the rest that is yet to come.