imported_PolyGirl40
10-31-2004, 10:50 PM
Our Disney Halloween Hoopla! – Day Six – Friday, October 15, 2004
Cast of Characters:
Me: Carol -- (Still Older than Dirt)
Son: Shayne -- (Still 10)
Dates: October 10 - 16, 2004
I was up and atem’ early. To say I was anxious was an understatement. One thing loomed though. The weather. There was a cold front moving into the area. Rain was on the horizon. In fact - sever thunder storms in some regions. Ugh!
I got Shayne up by 7:30. I told him his surprise. We are going to take the Family Magic Tour!! He was thrilled. (He was a bit long-faced in December when he could not take the Keys to the Kingdom with Jeremy and me.) We packed our rain gear and headed off to the Magic Kingdom by 9-ish. Upon entering the park we encountered a large array of characters from Robin Hood. This was a great way to wait for our tour time to kick in.
I was told to check-in for the tour 30 minutes early. When we met up with our group we received a bottle of water and a sticker to wear. (Everyone had a different symbol drawn on their Peter Pan stickers with their names. We were the “tick-tocks”. There were a total of 16 of us in attendance.)
If you do not want to be spoiled with the details of the tour - this would be a good time to stop reading. (Scroll down to the asterisks to find a save spot to begin reading again.)
Let me preface this by saying experiences for this tour will vary greatly. A lot rides on your guide and group. We so happened to have an excellent guide, Cory (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711373JGfvcE) , and a fantastic group of children and adults eager to participate.
We gathered around Cory to find out what our mission was. He was quite sad actually. He had just found out from Mickey Mouse that Captain Hook’s favorite hook was stolen. If he did not have it back by noon he was going to turn the Magic Kingdom over to the pirates. Arg! (Now this was very comical since Shayne was sporting 2 Stitch tattoos. Cory was not sure Shayne could be trusted – since pirates have tattoos. ;) )
Nevertheless, we were allowed to stay despite the tattoos. We introduced ourselves and had to tell everyone who our favorite Disney character was. (More on that later.) We were given Mickey dust to toss up into the air for good luck. At this time Cory presented the scroll (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711646imLZBF) of clues. There were 9 in total. We’d have to solve each of the clues to receive the next – with the end result the hook.
I don’t want to give away the clues (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711493iUQTkj) . However, I will tell you we ended up pretty much in all of the lands. At one point we had to cross the bridge to Tomorrowland acting like “our favorite characters”. This was SO funny. I imagine if there are party-poopers it would definitely deflate the fun. Not our group. We acted out great!
We also had to sneak through Cosmic Ray’s crawling on our hand and knees. LOL! You should have seen the patrons looking at us. When we arrived at the exit Cory felt no one noticed us. graemlins/rotfl.gif Also at the exit the flood gates opened. It was POURING! Cory dismissed us for our break. We all grabbed drinks and hoped the rain would stop before our 15 minutes were up. It did lighten to a drizzle. Thankfully.
Our next journey involved making wishes (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711533PptqYq) with pennies in the fountain, walking backwards, doing pirouettes, hopping, skipping, jumping, taking giant steps … etc. graemlins/laughing.gif It was so much fun!
Those last 15 giant steps took us to Liberty Square. We were searching for Tink’s “prison”. Once found - the last clue took us to a glade. Upon approaching - out jumps Peter Pan and Wendy (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711715HtZNeU) . ( I have to tell you – they were unbelievable. So much so I wrote Disney a letter. Both were so into character!) At this point Peter fesses up to stealing the hook. He ducked behind some trees and brought it out (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711770LhmIOS) . Lots of cheers erupted. We had saved the Magic Kingdom from the pirates! Arg!
At this time we took family photos, received autographed declarations and were invited to go see Mickey’s PhilharMagic with Peter and Wendy. Shayne was asked to hold onto the hook (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711882jDZEeP) for safe keeping. Cory would make sure it got back to the Captain. Peter was very naughty along the way. He jumped in puddles and rang the Liberty bell – to name a few. When we arrived at the attraction we were escorted into a private waiting area. The children played duck-duck-goose (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201712060SrxHit) with Peter and Wendy. They played for about 15 minutes. We were taken into the theater. Peter was not thrilled about having to go all the way down to the end of an aisle. He pouted. graemlins/doubleeek.gif (They let us bend the rules and had a special spot just for the tour folk.)
Peter sat next to Shayne (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201712204LtdSQB) and had us laughing through the entire viewing. He stood up and yelled when his segment of the show came on screen. He even asked Shayne if he thought Ariel was a true redhead. graemlins/silly.gif
After the show Peter and Wendy shook our hands and thanked us. I cannot tell you how much fun we had. Shayne is still talking about it. Peter Pan jumped right to the top of his “favorites”. The tour was only $25 each. We got a discount for being Vacation Club members and paid $20. It was worth that and a whole lot more. Shayne was the perfect age. He was young enough to not worry about being silly – and old enough to know where the clues lead.
Great – great fun!!!
************************************************** *******
We ran very long on time. It was now after 12:30. We had a noon PS at Cinderella’s Royal table for lunch. Oops. I hope we can still get a table. Not a problem. We were seated immediately.
We’ve never had anything but breakfast in the castle. I was excited about eating here for lunch. Again – it did not disappoint. Our table was right next to the window – overlooking the carousel. Our server was wonderful – friendly and courteous. The atmosphere here is remarkable. For an appetizer Shayne and I shared an order of fries.
Shayne didn’t see anything on the menu that he wanted. He asked if he could get a peanut butter sandwich. Our waitress told us they did not have peanut butter – to which Shayne said he’d take a grilled cheese sandwich instead.
I ordered the Focaccia Sandwich. It’s a smoked turkey sandwich with ham and Muenster cheese. It’s on fresh whole grain bread and basically has a field green salad within it. It was that thick! Guess what!? They sent someone over to the Crystal Palace to get peanut butter so Shayne could have his first choice. How cool is that? Four thumbs up to our server! Our meal was delicious. What a fantastic day! Could it get any better?
We even saved room for dessert. Yes – it could get better! We had the most scrumptious chocolate cake. (We shared.) Oh goodness. Talk about a party for the taste buds! My mouth is watering just typing this! One more thing. While dining on his cake Shayne lost a tooth! Right there in Cinderella’s castle. He handed it to me and wondered if perhaps Tink handles fairy duties in Walt Disney World. Hmmmm. I wonder?
After lunch we headed for some attractions. We did Peter Pan, Snow White and headed for the Haunted Mansion. Whoa! It had a 30 minute wait. We decided to wait. We didn’t want to go home without visiting those 999 haunts!
After a spin in a doom buggy we headed over to get Fast Passes for Big Thunder. Shayne had seen some Stitch merchandise earlier in the week and wanted to head to Tomorrowland next. With that mission accomplished we crossed back over to find the Country Bears and some other characters. Shayne was thrilled. (He collected over 75+ autographs on this trip!) My stupid camera batteries went dead when he got Wendell’s autograph – so the photo did not come out. Oh well. There is always May with Dad!
We popped over to visit the pirates – finding Pocahontas, Meeko, Genie and Jafar along the way. Next thing we knew it was time for our Fast passes. We took a wild ride through the west! (Gotta love that railroad.) We spent the rest of the day moseying through shops and having a good ol’ time.
Before we knew it – it was after 6PM. Oops. Another missed PS. We have plans at Downtown Disney and Portobello’s. We had pretty much finished the Magic Kingdom any ways. Plus it was getting very crowded. Lots of people must have been "hopping" over to see Spectro and Wishes. It worked out to be a good time to leave.
We zoomed back to the resort and walked to Marketplace. By now it is well after 7PM. I figured I’d take a chance and see if we could still be seated at Portobello’s. If nothing else I’d apologize for being late and missing my time. The lady at the podium told me we could be accommodated. How great!
This was my favorite place in December. It remains up there after this trip too.
We were seated outside overlooking the water and Saratoga Springs. What a splendid view. I know it seems like we just ate – but seven hours have passed. tongue.gif We didn’t have appetizers - since we remembered their savory pretzel bread from last year. Yum! It was as heavenly as we remembered.
For an entrée Shayne had a hot dog. I ordered the same dish I had last year. Their specialty - Spaghettini alla Portobello. The spaghetti is served with scallops, shrimp, clams, crab and marinara sauce! It was just as yummy this year. We will be back!
After full tummies we hit Marketplace and did some shopping. With tired feet we returned to the resort by 10. Shayne took his usual Jacuzzi while I organized our stuff and to get ready for our return home tomorrow night. Our trip was coming to an end. Lights out, tooth under pillow and sleeping by 11-ish. graemlins/sleepin.gif
Favorites Today: Me = Family Magic Tour
Shayne = Family Magic Tour & viewing Mickey’s Philharmagic with Peter & Wendy.
Weather: Morning down pours - intermittent drizzle off and on.
Low 80’s.
Crowds: Manageable in the morning. Very heavy late afternoon/evening.
Up Next: The Incredibles, Another Perfect Lunch & Home.
More Family Magic Tour & Magic Kingdom Photos (http://community.webshots.com/album/201706812hbVGDa/3)
[ November 01, 2004, 11:11 AM: Message edited by: PolyGirl40 ]
Cast of Characters:
Me: Carol -- (Still Older than Dirt)
Son: Shayne -- (Still 10)
Dates: October 10 - 16, 2004
I was up and atem’ early. To say I was anxious was an understatement. One thing loomed though. The weather. There was a cold front moving into the area. Rain was on the horizon. In fact - sever thunder storms in some regions. Ugh!
I got Shayne up by 7:30. I told him his surprise. We are going to take the Family Magic Tour!! He was thrilled. (He was a bit long-faced in December when he could not take the Keys to the Kingdom with Jeremy and me.) We packed our rain gear and headed off to the Magic Kingdom by 9-ish. Upon entering the park we encountered a large array of characters from Robin Hood. This was a great way to wait for our tour time to kick in.
I was told to check-in for the tour 30 minutes early. When we met up with our group we received a bottle of water and a sticker to wear. (Everyone had a different symbol drawn on their Peter Pan stickers with their names. We were the “tick-tocks”. There were a total of 16 of us in attendance.)
If you do not want to be spoiled with the details of the tour - this would be a good time to stop reading. (Scroll down to the asterisks to find a save spot to begin reading again.)
Let me preface this by saying experiences for this tour will vary greatly. A lot rides on your guide and group. We so happened to have an excellent guide, Cory (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711373JGfvcE) , and a fantastic group of children and adults eager to participate.
We gathered around Cory to find out what our mission was. He was quite sad actually. He had just found out from Mickey Mouse that Captain Hook’s favorite hook was stolen. If he did not have it back by noon he was going to turn the Magic Kingdom over to the pirates. Arg! (Now this was very comical since Shayne was sporting 2 Stitch tattoos. Cory was not sure Shayne could be trusted – since pirates have tattoos. ;) )
Nevertheless, we were allowed to stay despite the tattoos. We introduced ourselves and had to tell everyone who our favorite Disney character was. (More on that later.) We were given Mickey dust to toss up into the air for good luck. At this time Cory presented the scroll (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711646imLZBF) of clues. There were 9 in total. We’d have to solve each of the clues to receive the next – with the end result the hook.
I don’t want to give away the clues (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711493iUQTkj) . However, I will tell you we ended up pretty much in all of the lands. At one point we had to cross the bridge to Tomorrowland acting like “our favorite characters”. This was SO funny. I imagine if there are party-poopers it would definitely deflate the fun. Not our group. We acted out great!
We also had to sneak through Cosmic Ray’s crawling on our hand and knees. LOL! You should have seen the patrons looking at us. When we arrived at the exit Cory felt no one noticed us. graemlins/rotfl.gif Also at the exit the flood gates opened. It was POURING! Cory dismissed us for our break. We all grabbed drinks and hoped the rain would stop before our 15 minutes were up. It did lighten to a drizzle. Thankfully.
Our next journey involved making wishes (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711533PptqYq) with pennies in the fountain, walking backwards, doing pirouettes, hopping, skipping, jumping, taking giant steps … etc. graemlins/laughing.gif It was so much fun!
Those last 15 giant steps took us to Liberty Square. We were searching for Tink’s “prison”. Once found - the last clue took us to a glade. Upon approaching - out jumps Peter Pan and Wendy (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711715HtZNeU) . ( I have to tell you – they were unbelievable. So much so I wrote Disney a letter. Both were so into character!) At this point Peter fesses up to stealing the hook. He ducked behind some trees and brought it out (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711770LhmIOS) . Lots of cheers erupted. We had saved the Magic Kingdom from the pirates! Arg!
At this time we took family photos, received autographed declarations and were invited to go see Mickey’s PhilharMagic with Peter and Wendy. Shayne was asked to hold onto the hook (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201711882jDZEeP) for safe keeping. Cory would make sure it got back to the Captain. Peter was very naughty along the way. He jumped in puddles and rang the Liberty bell – to name a few. When we arrived at the attraction we were escorted into a private waiting area. The children played duck-duck-goose (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201712060SrxHit) with Peter and Wendy. They played for about 15 minutes. We were taken into the theater. Peter was not thrilled about having to go all the way down to the end of an aisle. He pouted. graemlins/doubleeek.gif (They let us bend the rules and had a special spot just for the tour folk.)
Peter sat next to Shayne (http://community.webshots.com/photo/201706812/201712204LtdSQB) and had us laughing through the entire viewing. He stood up and yelled when his segment of the show came on screen. He even asked Shayne if he thought Ariel was a true redhead. graemlins/silly.gif
After the show Peter and Wendy shook our hands and thanked us. I cannot tell you how much fun we had. Shayne is still talking about it. Peter Pan jumped right to the top of his “favorites”. The tour was only $25 each. We got a discount for being Vacation Club members and paid $20. It was worth that and a whole lot more. Shayne was the perfect age. He was young enough to not worry about being silly – and old enough to know where the clues lead.
Great – great fun!!!
************************************************** *******
We ran very long on time. It was now after 12:30. We had a noon PS at Cinderella’s Royal table for lunch. Oops. I hope we can still get a table. Not a problem. We were seated immediately.
We’ve never had anything but breakfast in the castle. I was excited about eating here for lunch. Again – it did not disappoint. Our table was right next to the window – overlooking the carousel. Our server was wonderful – friendly and courteous. The atmosphere here is remarkable. For an appetizer Shayne and I shared an order of fries.
Shayne didn’t see anything on the menu that he wanted. He asked if he could get a peanut butter sandwich. Our waitress told us they did not have peanut butter – to which Shayne said he’d take a grilled cheese sandwich instead.
I ordered the Focaccia Sandwich. It’s a smoked turkey sandwich with ham and Muenster cheese. It’s on fresh whole grain bread and basically has a field green salad within it. It was that thick! Guess what!? They sent someone over to the Crystal Palace to get peanut butter so Shayne could have his first choice. How cool is that? Four thumbs up to our server! Our meal was delicious. What a fantastic day! Could it get any better?
We even saved room for dessert. Yes – it could get better! We had the most scrumptious chocolate cake. (We shared.) Oh goodness. Talk about a party for the taste buds! My mouth is watering just typing this! One more thing. While dining on his cake Shayne lost a tooth! Right there in Cinderella’s castle. He handed it to me and wondered if perhaps Tink handles fairy duties in Walt Disney World. Hmmmm. I wonder?
After lunch we headed for some attractions. We did Peter Pan, Snow White and headed for the Haunted Mansion. Whoa! It had a 30 minute wait. We decided to wait. We didn’t want to go home without visiting those 999 haunts!
After a spin in a doom buggy we headed over to get Fast Passes for Big Thunder. Shayne had seen some Stitch merchandise earlier in the week and wanted to head to Tomorrowland next. With that mission accomplished we crossed back over to find the Country Bears and some other characters. Shayne was thrilled. (He collected over 75+ autographs on this trip!) My stupid camera batteries went dead when he got Wendell’s autograph – so the photo did not come out. Oh well. There is always May with Dad!
We popped over to visit the pirates – finding Pocahontas, Meeko, Genie and Jafar along the way. Next thing we knew it was time for our Fast passes. We took a wild ride through the west! (Gotta love that railroad.) We spent the rest of the day moseying through shops and having a good ol’ time.
Before we knew it – it was after 6PM. Oops. Another missed PS. We have plans at Downtown Disney and Portobello’s. We had pretty much finished the Magic Kingdom any ways. Plus it was getting very crowded. Lots of people must have been "hopping" over to see Spectro and Wishes. It worked out to be a good time to leave.
We zoomed back to the resort and walked to Marketplace. By now it is well after 7PM. I figured I’d take a chance and see if we could still be seated at Portobello’s. If nothing else I’d apologize for being late and missing my time. The lady at the podium told me we could be accommodated. How great!
This was my favorite place in December. It remains up there after this trip too.
We were seated outside overlooking the water and Saratoga Springs. What a splendid view. I know it seems like we just ate – but seven hours have passed. tongue.gif We didn’t have appetizers - since we remembered their savory pretzel bread from last year. Yum! It was as heavenly as we remembered.
For an entrée Shayne had a hot dog. I ordered the same dish I had last year. Their specialty - Spaghettini alla Portobello. The spaghetti is served with scallops, shrimp, clams, crab and marinara sauce! It was just as yummy this year. We will be back!
After full tummies we hit Marketplace and did some shopping. With tired feet we returned to the resort by 10. Shayne took his usual Jacuzzi while I organized our stuff and to get ready for our return home tomorrow night. Our trip was coming to an end. Lights out, tooth under pillow and sleeping by 11-ish. graemlins/sleepin.gif
Favorites Today: Me = Family Magic Tour
Shayne = Family Magic Tour & viewing Mickey’s Philharmagic with Peter & Wendy.
Weather: Morning down pours - intermittent drizzle off and on.
Low 80’s.
Crowds: Manageable in the morning. Very heavy late afternoon/evening.
Up Next: The Incredibles, Another Perfect Lunch & Home.
More Family Magic Tour & Magic Kingdom Photos (http://community.webshots.com/album/201706812hbVGDa/3)
[ November 01, 2004, 11:11 AM: Message edited by: PolyGirl40 ]