“All Aboard the Seven Dwarfs Whine Train!” A May 2015/Mother's Day TR! ***TR COMPLETED 2/8!!!

[princessesandpascal]

After the Speedway, we walked back through Fantasyland because Mom really wanted to ride the carousel. As we walked toward it, I looked over at Princess Fairytale Hall and noticed something.

“Mom, Anna and Elsa have a 10 minute wait.”

Even though we had Fastpasses for the next morning, we both immediately decided to get in line. This ended up being a really good decision because of a Photopass kerfuffle that almost resulted in us not getting our Sunday A&E pictures at all. But that’s a story for Day 8.

It was around 11:45 PM, and we waited just over 15 minutes to meet Anna and Elsa. Incredible timing. And lovely characters.

Elsa is the princess (technically, of course, queen) that I feel I’m the most similar to, so this was a great moment. She complimented the braid I had at the front of my hair and told me all about how she taught Olaf how to braid, but since his hands were sticks he didn’t do a very good job at it. A lot of DISers have said that Elsa had no personality, but I thought she was incredibly sweet and just like she walked out of the movie.

Anna was next, and said liked my shirt because it reminded me of flowers. She said Olaf would like it because it reminded her of summer, and he loves summer. Do they have anything to talk about besides that snowman?!

Anna was also sweet, of course, and was very awkward and fidgety, just like in the movie. These two friends were absolutely spot on with their characters.

Of course, after meeting Anna and Elsa, Mom still wanted her carousel ride, so we walked right on. I picked this one because of the flowers in the mane, like Rapunzel:

And our songs were carousel versions of Gaston and Colours of the Wind.

We then swept back through Tomorrowland and hopped on Buzz for another ride. And then another one!

I believe after this we wandered off toward Liberty Square. We passed through the Hub for some castle pictures first. We weren't concerned with rides, we just loved the atmosphere.

We walked through the Hub into Liberty Square with no people around: it was really incredible.

We were aiming for the Haunted Mansion. As we were walking up to the Mansion, I looked at the ground and noticed little things running around. There were at least twenty that I could see. I don’t know if they were BEETLES, or ROACHES, or DISGUSTING WATER BUGS, but I decided the Haunted Mansion was not important enough to cross their path. I veered hard to the right, but the thing is… Mom didnt’ see them.

Just as she asks me why I veered so hard to the side, one of them lifts off and starts FLYING AT HER HEAD.

She stumbled back a few feet, shrieking, definitely almost falling on her butt on the concrete, and I was standing in the doorway to Fantasyland, shrieking, and there was somehow NOBODY ELSE AROUND except for the CM at the entrance to the Haunted Mansion who did not react AT ALL.

I mean, we laughed about it for a while, but then agreed that WE NEEDED TO GET THE HECK OUTTA THAT PARK. I wish we'd decided to ride, because we likely would've had the stretch room to ourselves. Would've been amazing!

So, at around 1:15 AM we called it a night. Less than an hour away from closing! We would’ve made it if the roaches hadn’t made their appearance.

We walked out through Tangled and out the castle, stopping for more photos.

The exact time we stayed until:

We climbed onto a bus and were back in our room by 2am. Time for a sleep in!

Up Next: Chapter Twenty-One! “The Mother’s Day Extravaganza, Part One!”, or, We Have a Slow Start… but Will We Make It To The Mine Train?​

 

[KathyM2]

Great update!! Gahhhh roaches!!! Ew...and flying ones! Yeah I think I would have wanted to get the heck outta there too!! But other than that...and that other incident...seems like a pretty great day overall!!! Too bad about the pretzel. Though you know I have to say, this was something I had kind of built up in my head to be this AMAZING thing and when I tried it, it wasn't all that. Maybe that is just me though.

 

[bellesBFF]

I real this entire trip report within 2 hours last night! I'm so late but I'm so tagging along to read the rest. I am also from Ontario (way up north - like 8 hours from Toronto...) My mom and I are planning a trip in December 2016 and man oh man I hope we can have half as much fun as you and your mother did! Can't wait to read more.

 

[nilla]

Anna was also sweet, of course, and was very awkward and fidgety, just like in the movie. These two friends were absolutely spot on with their characters.

Um...to me, this comment is like saying, "I met Johnny Depp yesterday, and he was exactly like Johnny Depp!" Your internal suspensionofdisbeliefinator apparently needs adjusting.

As for the angry woman you "assaulted", it blows my mind how some people can get upset over the silliest things. Her life must be pretty darned wonderful if THAT is what sets her off!

That said, what a fun trip! Even with some negatives, it seems the two of you stayed upbeat and had a great time. Love the story about the CM at the Speedway. THAT makes WDW for me. It's night and day from other parks I've been to.

Sad this story is coming to an end, but it's been a blast following along. Thanks for sharing!

 

[princessesandpascal]

Finals are steadily approaching, so I've been working hard at those as well as getting this done! It might stretch out a bit longer but the end is near! Hopefully an update will go up tomorrow!

Great update!! Gahhhh roaches!!! Ew...and flying ones! Yeah I think I would have wanted to get the heck outta there too!! But other than that...and that other incident...seems like a pretty great day overall!!! Too bad about the pretzel. Though you know I have to say, this was something I had kind of built up in my head to be this AMAZING thing and when I tried it, it wasn't all that. Maybe that is just me though.

They were so creepy! It was a really great night. I ended up getting my cream cheese pretzel the next day and it was amazing!! Definitely met my very high expectations!

I real this entire trip report within 2 hours last night! I'm so late but I'm so tagging along to read the rest. I am also from Ontario (way up north - like 8 hours from Toronto...) My mom and I are planning a trip in December 2016 and man oh man I hope we can have half as much fun as you and your mother did! Can't wait to read more.

Thanks for joining in!! Ahh, yes, I've been up that way a couple times and it is quite the trek! So exciting about a December trip: I think we have the most fun when we're not trying to do too much. Definitely lets our memories be more of us just being dorks rather than forcing anything!

Um...to me, this comment is like saying, "I met Johnny Depp yesterday, and he was exactly like Johnny Depp!" Your internal suspensionofdisbeliefinator apparently needs adjusting.

As for the angry woman you "assaulted", it blows my mind how some people can get upset over the silliest things. Her life must be pretty darned wonderful if THAT is what sets her off!

That said, what a fun trip! Even with some negatives, it seems the two of you stayed upbeat and had a great time. Love the story about the CM at the Speedway. THAT makes WDW for me. It's night and day from other parks I've been to.

Sad this story is coming to an end, but it's been a blast following along. Thanks for sharing!

Touche.

Right!? The attitude of the CMs is what brings us back. No idea why people think the magic is gone.

 

[knewton64]

you are giving some fantastic idead for when I head out to see the Mouse in 142 more days......but who is countin??
(Yes, it will be called , "My adventures n Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and other assorted Silliness".........)


Luv yer Trip Report -


T.T.F.N.
&
CHEERS Y'ALL

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Yay I think I'm finally all caught up!

 

[orna14]

YES! My Mom and I are aren't the only ones with the 'no bad dancing' joke! My Dad even made her a shirt with the sign on it. Great TR, can't wait to keep reading!!!

EDIT: Yay, I'm finally caught up!! Definitely following, this is such a cute and detailed trip report. I love all of your outfits, both you and your mom make such an adorable team!! Can't wait to read more.

 

[princessesandpascal]

Chapter Twenty-One: “The Mother’s Day Extravaganza, Part One!”, or, We Have a Slow Start… and Will We Make It To The Mine Train?

We woke up Sunday morning a bit later than usual. We didn’t have any FP reservations till 11am, and decided to have a sleep in day after the crazy night before. Unfortunately, Mom woke up with a migraine headache, something that runs in our family and that we’re both prone to. Her feeling better was the priority: so we drew the blinds, curled back into our beds, and decided to wait out the aura and headache.

Mother’s Day was not going off to a great start.

I got myself ready, so whenever Mom was able, we could go to the park. The whole morning I reminded her that there was no pressure on going out, but I knew she really wanted to. And then, by the grace of Disney magic, at around 11, Mom’s migraine cleared up. She was still a bit sensitive, but was ready to go!

DISNEY MIRACLE.

We grabbed a quick brunch in the food court, and then walked out to the buses. The only problem was, even though Mom felt a lot better, we had a FP+ for the Mine Train that expired at 12:00. Not exactly where you want to go with a migraine.

I was worried about making the FP at all, and more worried about Mom being alright on it. She knows her own body, though, and when we frantically hurried up to the lineup, she reassured me her migraine was definitely gone and she was up for some mine train goodness.

And… we made it!

As soon as we finished on the Train, we immediately could go to Fairytale Hall for our FP to once again meet the sisters of Arendelle.

This time, we met Anna first.

She loved my bow (it was an Elsa bow from Hot Topic) and asked if it gave me ice powers. I think I said I wasn’t sure, because it was a bit too hot to test out any cold-weather powers that day.

She wished me luck with my powers as I said goodbye.

Elsa was next, and the photographer immediately stood on her cape. There was almost a high-level disaster in the Hall that day.

She decided to inform me that Olaf couldn’t be there that day, and I suppressed the urge to tell her I didn’t really care about Olaf. I just wanted Sven. (And, of course, as we left, I realized I should’ve pulled out my Sven and Kristoff case for Anna! Oh, well. There’s always next time.)

We waited in the shade outside the Hall while we decided what to do next. We had originally made a FP+ for Buzz that morning, but since we skipped it because of Mom’s migraine, and we’d missed Haunted Mansion the night before, so we changed the old Buzz FP on the app to a HM Fastpass for ten minutes from then and were on our way!

We stopped for a washroom break, and to find some of the Pascals. We found five of them: not sure how many there are in total.

And then… the Mansion!

It was brilliant as usual. Except for the part where we were stuck in the ballroom scene for so long that the teenage boys a few doombuggies down pulled out their phones and held them up, revealing how they create the ghosts’ illusions down below. I’ve never had more of an urge to climb out of my doombuggy and kick some butt. I kind of wished a real happy haunt would have spooked them...

We were a bit hungry, so we decided to grab a snack before going back to the resort, since it was hot as anything out there. We decided to go for the pretzels again… but would we have luck?

YES!

We grabbed pretzels (plain for Mom, cream cheese for me) and frozen cokes and found a seat on one of those overcrowded benches where children and various small animals came dangerously close to our personal space. Who needs personal space, right? It’s Disney!

The pretzels were a hit. I was so happy to finally have my cream cheese one.

After that, we decided to scoot out of the park. We cut through the Terrace and walked through the Emporium and such to leave the park. While in the gift shop, I picked up a pair of the classic Minnie sequin ears for my best friend, and Mom picked up a mister fan for us. WE FELL VICTIM TO THE NEED FOR A MISTER FAN AGAIN. IT WAS JUST SO HOT. The last time we got one was in 2006, and we brought it with us every year until July 2012, when it was held together with duct tape and if I remember correctly, we just left it behind in the room because it was so busted by the trip’s end.

Sven came home with us on our last park day. It had to be done.

Before leaving for break, we decided to pick up some Starbucks. Cinnamon dolce frapp for Mom, S’mores frapp for me. And a sugar cookie. Which was good, but not good enough to justify breaking my regular it’s-hot-as-the-center-of-the-earth Starbucks order, which is an iced chai. With light ice, otherwise it’s just a cup of ice with a tiny bit of chai.


Then we got a Photopass done. Featuring our Starbucks! In Mom’s case, it was featuring Starbucks and ONLY Starbucks.

We left the park after that, hopped right on a bus, and were on our way back to the resort. We found these waiting for us (hey, so I DO have a photo of the dinosaur I purchased back on day three! And they said I don't take souvenir photos...)

Up Next: Chapter 22! "Mom Wants a Quickie With Mickey!" (The One You've All Been Waiting For...), or, Mother's Day Dinner at the Garden Grill!​

 

[nilla]

We stopped for a washroom break, and to find some of the Pascals. We found five of them: not sure how many there are in total.

Me, neither. But that's because I didn't realize there were any Pascals prior to reading this Trip Report update. I'll have to look for this next time. Thanks!

Except for the part where we were stuck in the ballroom scene for so long that the teenage boys a few doombuggies down pulled out their phones and held them up, revealing how they create the ghosts’ illusions down below. I’ve never had more of an urge to climb out of my doombuggy and kick some butt.

"...revealing how the actual ghosts in the Haunted Mansion trick the foolish mortals into believing they create the ghosts’ illusions, which are really just a very clever diversion from the real ghosts, down below."

Fixed it for ya.

 

[princessesandpascal]

First of all, I want to just say that I'm so sorry that I haven't given this attention in almost three weeks! I was working hard to write nine essays in the first half of December so I haven't really had time to get into that Disney mood. However, I am home for Christmas and ready to put up the last couple days of the trip to finally put this to bed!

you are giving some fantastic idead for when I head out to see the Mouse in 142 more days......but who is countin??
(Yes, it will be called , "My adventures n Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and other assorted Silliness".........)


Luv yer Trip Report -


T.T.F.N.
&
CHEERS Y'ALL

Thank you! 142 seems like a long time, but it'll be here before you know it.

Yay I think I'm finally all caught up!

I need to read yours! I'm so behind!

YES! My Mom and I are aren't the only ones with the 'no bad dancing' joke! My Dad even made her a shirt with the sign on it. Great TR, can't wait to keep reading!!!

EDIT: Yay, I'm finally caught up!! Definitely following, this is such a cute and detailed trip report. I love all of your outfits, both you and your mom make such an adorable team!! Can't wait to read more.

OMG, the shirt with no bad dancing is adorable! The pin I got is seriously one of my favourites. Thanks for reading along!

Me, neither. But that's because I didn't realize there were any Pascals prior to reading this Trip Report update. I'll have to look for this next time. Thanks!

I have no idea how many there are supposed to be: my gut says anywhere from 10-14. They are really well concealed and some of them are only visible from one or two angles!

 

[nilla]

Please finish this Trip Report!

 

[sdomino11]

Great TR! We were there same time as you last year. And we're going that time time this year, too. I'm wondering if you and your friend were able to schedule a trip for this Summer?

 

[princessesandpascal]

I'M SORRY. LET'S DO THIS. I'll spare you the extended apologies, or the 'where have I been for the last two months' spiel, or whining about my terrible case of senioritis (when you've reached your final semester of university and suddenly Netflix becomes far more interesting, than, you know, FINISHING YOUR DEGREE), and we're gonna get this sucker done! (You're about to get hit with about five updates all in a row. Enjoy!)

(And, @sdomino11: yes, we did schedule a trip for the summer! Spoiler alert. More details in the epilogue. )

Chapter Twenty-Two: “Can I Get a Quickie with Mickey?”, or, Dinner at the Garden Grill and A Trip Around the World!

Our evening at Epcot started with us missing the bus.

Actually, it wasn’t really the start. We took a quick rest with the TV on, changed clothes, I ate my sugar cookie because the S’mores frappuccino was apparently not enough sugar for that day, and then we missed the bus. Of course, in the only good stroke of bus-related luck we had, the next bus to come around the corner was not a Magic Kingdom one to fetch the massive line that snaked out of the chained-up queue and down the bus area, but another Epcot one. That we were the only people on.

Oh, I felt the evil glares real strong that day.

A private bus means bus selfies, of course.

And... mugshots. (If you thought the puns had left with me on a two-month vacation never to return, YOU WERE WRONG.)

We arrived at Epcot with still quite a bit of time before our reservation, so we stopped at a FP kiosk to make a fourth FP+. My notes say we picked Nemo, which screams to me that it was a busy day. I feel like given the choice we would’ve picked SE, which definitely had a long line because if it hadn’t, we would’ve stopped to ride. So SE wasn’t an option. Nemo FP made, on to dinner and the actual meal review!

We got to Garden Grill and checked in, and of course had to look at their cool trays-turned-pin-boards. Which, of course, we have no photos of. I traded for one of the Disney princess high heel pins that was made to look like Rapunzel’s dress/hair, which is one of my favourite Disney pins. (The pic is to come at the end of the report with all my other new pins. As you all know by this point, almost a year later, Shannon and "souvenir photos" never mix.)

When we were checking in, Mom asked if it might be possible to have be a booth available below rather than the upstairs tables. The CM grinned brightly and responded, “Anything’s possible at Walt Disney World!”

(That was almost this chapter’s title, but then Mom said the quickie thing.)

We went to the washroom to freshen up before dinner, and of course our pager started going nuts as we were washing our hands. We were seated almost immediately, in a booth that bordered onto another so we were essentially tacked on to the end of another family with about a foot of space in between. We didn’t mind, we’d had a seat like that many times before and luckily our seat-mates were very nice AND respected our personal space.

We ordered drinks, the chef popped by and confirmed he would make the salad without cucumber in it for me, and soon enough, we had bread and (cucumber-free) salad. The one place where my allergy was actually relevant!!!!!!! (I always thought Disney had way more melon than they actually do. Noted for the future.)

And soon after the bread and salad, we had ALL OF THE THINGS.

I didn’t know that adult tables got the “kids food”: or maybe they just made an exception for us. We got the goldfish mac and cheese, the sweet potato fries and the broccoli as well as the normal plate of turkey and catfish and potatoes and beef and all the incredibly delicious things. The food was the best of our entire trip.

(Mom's phone case was right at home here.)

And of course, there were characters. At one point in the meal, Mickey started using the force on Chip (or Dale, I really don't remember which), which was absolutely fantastic.

Of course, Mom asked if she could get a quickie with Mickey. She meant a quick photo. Not... not the other thing. Mickey and I looked at each other in absolute horror/amusement. I took time after the meal to inform Mom what exactly a quickie entailed. (I bet Mickey's friend had a pretty great story to tell after Mickey filled them in on his eventful evening.)

And after characters… dessert.

We also got these stickers, just because.

Garden Grill:

Food: 10/10! Hot, fresh, delicious. We loved every bite and even asked for recipes!

Service: 10/10! Our server was incredibly nice, even the CMs at the podium were enthusiastic and kind! Best service of the trip!

Atmosphere: 10/10! Garden Grill always has the best character interaction and we love the restaurant.

Overall: 10/10!!

Will we be back?: Of course! This is Mom’s favourite and after this experience, it’s the first one we plan on booking.
We adore this place and it made for a perfect Mother's Day dinner.

After we left the Garden Grill, there was a Nemo FP burning a hole on our magicbands, so we went over that way after saying goodbye to the Land.

I like the Nemo FP because you get to bypass the winding empty queue nonsense and just walk right on in. I love the atmosphere of the queue but sometimes it feels like it goes on forever. And there’s never enough people to actually fill it.

For the first time, we went to see the aquariums after the ride rather than going to Turtle Talk, which is always good for a laugh at some innocent-four-year-old-who-doesn’t-know-what-a-bra-is’s expense. I once saw someone on the DISboards describe the Nemo aquariums as looking “like a dystopian movie”, but I really liked them. Watching sea creatures is incredibly relaxing.

After we had our fill of fish-watching, we decided to head into the World Showcase!


We walked in via Canada and started the loop around. In the American pavilion, I spotted a pin with Pluto and Chip and Dale on it and picked it up for Mom for a Mother’s Day/Thank You For The Amazing Trip gift.

In China, we picked up some strawberry Oolong tea slushies, and I learned how to say thank you in (I think) Mandarin, and promptly probably butchered it.

A woman came hurrying up to us after we got our slushies, and frantically asked us if they were daquiris. Something’s telling me her family was a bit much to handle that night.

In China, I also played with this cat puppet for a long time.

I wanted to buy it, and then remembered that I am a sensible adult. So instead I bought a massive plush of Sven the next day.

In Germany, we went to Karamell Kuchen to get some caramel corn. And to see some dwarfs.

In Norway, we picked up some School Bread for later that night. And hung out with this guy.


And in Mexico, we bought Dad the shirt from way back in like, chapter four. Continuity!

After that, we were exhausted, so we made our way out of the park. On our way, we stopped to trade pins with Jaclyn, the CM at the DVC kiosk. She had two “mystery pins” (AKA the ones flipped around backwards), and was encouraging me to try one. I always do, so when she told me one of them was funny, I went for it.

And it was the NO BAD DANCING pin! The one that looks like the ride sign!! I was so excited!! We talked to her about the DCP and about our trip so far. She was so nice, and it was a great way to finish off the night! It’ll be on my lanyard photo at the end of the trip.

With heavy but happy hearts, we headed to bed, knowing that even though we had the most amazing Mother’s Day ever, the next day was our last day in the parks.

Up Next: Chapter 23: “PRINCE ERIC’S A JERK!”, or, Our Last Morning at Magic Kingdom Becomes a Character Hunt!
​

 

[princessesandpascal]

Chapter 23! “PRINCE ERIC’S A JERK!”, or, Our Last Morning at Magic Kingdom Becomes a Character Hunt with Brunch at Kona!
We woke up early the last park day of our Disney vacation with one mission: MAGIC KINGDOM ROPE DROP. Not like the EMH day where we showed up halfway through the welcome show. No, we wanted to be in the crowd. We prepared by eating frozen school bread from the night before. Our fridge liked to freeze everything. It was so fun.

We had two main plans for that morning. Meet Merida. Meet Gaston. Two character greets that we’d put off because they’re outside, in the blazing heat. We were going to go from Merida’s first set, do a ride or so, then straight to Gaston’s first set. Our plan was to go straight to Merida’s meeting to be first in line so we could make sure we had tons of time to do stuff before Gaston’s.
We grabbed pastries from Everything Pop for breakfast, filled our mugs, and headed out to the bus stop! And by grabbed breakfast to go, we made it to Rope Drop! And then proceeded to stand in the MK gates eating turnovers. Living the glam life.

The Welcome show started right on schedule, and soon enough, we were seeing them:

And then them!!

At the end, as we all started to walk in, letting the Frozen people get in front of us so we weren’t caught up in it all, Stitch saw my backpack and started miming that he was wearing one and posing and generally being a ham. It was adorable.

We took a leisurely walk up Main Street and got to Merida with no one in line!

We were joined ten or so minutes later by a few families, and at 9:15, right on schedule, the gates dramatically swung open and Merida was waiting at the top of the ramp! She was very excited about my crown. Apparently it was two years ago to the day of her Coronation ceremony. And upon googling it, it was! Two years ago to the day (May 11, 2013) that the MK had the Coronation ceremony for Merida and she officially became a Princess. It was so cute that she mentioned that, and I was so happy we left our Merida meet and greet to that day.

She asked if Rapunzel had painted my toes, and then explained that Rapunzel had painted bears on her toes, but they scared her Mom, and since it was Mother’s Day the day before, she took them off. Considerate.

Merida always gets so excited over Mom’s curly hair, which was incredibly sweet. Mom always says after we see Merida that she wishes Merida had been a princess when she was a little girl, because maybe people wouldn’t have made fun of her hair as much. Brave is one of our favourite movies to watch together, and Merida and Elinor is our #1 choice for costumes if we ever get to MNSSHP. That or me being a feminine Flynn Rider and Mom wearing a Maximus shirt. We’ve given this far too much thought.

After saying goodbye to Merida, we decided to take a spin on the teacups!

Which was wonderful, as always.
We then went to Ariel’s Grotto, (not her ghetto, as I once called it as a child) because I had my new Ariel shirt on. That I forgot to mention that I bought. I’m pretty sure I picked it up the day we were there for EMH, before meeting Anna and Elsa, but it’s not in my notes anywhere.

So I quickly ditched the Merida crown that was incredibly heavy, and kept just the Ariel bow on. (The exact outfit that I am planning to wear to our Disney Night of dance this week. Perfect timing of finishing this, self!)
This Ariel had way more of a personality than her friend earlier in the week. She declared that she should get a shirt with my picture on it, since her picture was on mine. Very cute idea.


At that point, we decided to get in line for Gaston.

We were behind a very nice family with a little four year-old girl who immediately took a liking to me because of our matching pink Magic Bands. She was incredibly articulate and we had a lovely discussion about dinosaurs, which turned into her asking me a ton of questions about the Carnotaurus. As you do. Her mom was curious to see how she might handle Dinosaur, since she knew they were robot Dinosaurs after a meal at T-Rex. (Mom said she reminded me a lot of me when I was her age).
Near the end of our talk, she lightly tapped my arm and said, “Excuse me, I don’t think I’d like to go see the Carnotaurus.”

And then, my heart exploded, and I instantly wanted children. (Something that changed about 20 minutes later after encountering a handful of tantrums.)

Gaston came outside around that time, and was absolutely spot on. The little girl was a bit nervous around him, and he didn’t break character at all despite it. He called her “Tiny”, which was adorable.
When I got there, he immediately started insulting Ariel and Prince Eric, saying that because Eric married a fish, Belle thought it was okay to marry a dog. Then he shouted at the top of his lungs, “PRINCE ERIC’S A JERK.” And I was shaking my head and laughing, and he goes “It’s okay that you don’t get it. It’s because you’re a woman!”
And then instead of a normal photo, he was like “Hey, look at me!” and we looked sassily into each other’s eyes.

He was absolutely on point. So funny and just like the movie. But I think I’ll stick with Flynn Rider.


We had a FP+ for Buzz, so we strolled over to Tomorrowland and went for a ride. But we didn't stay for long: it was time to hop over to the Poly for brunch at Kona!

​

I decided to combine Kona’s brunch with this part of our MK adventures because a) nothing of note really happened at Kona, b) this is dragging on forever, b.5) I want to finish the Report before I'm thirty c) I felt like it, and d) Kona had no memorable title quotes.

We arrived at Kona a bit early, and were seated pretty quickly. The chef took about twenty-five years to come to our table, despite the restaurant being completely empty (I realized later that they were starting lunch service, kind of, but no one was even seated for lunch at that point.)

We got our menus, and picked out what we were going to get. It was a pretty easy choice:

​

I got the Tonga Toast with a side of sausage.

Mom got the pineapple-macadamia pancakes with a side of sausage.

The Tonga Toast was AMAZING. I absolutely loved it. Mom also loved her pancakes. The food was great, the service wasn’t too good, but only because we rarely saw our waitress for the entire meal and had to flag her down to get the bill.

Kona:

Food: 10/10. The Tonga toast was one of my favourite meals of the entire trip.

Service: 5/10. I’m still wondering where our waitress wandered off to for most of our meal.

Atmosphere: 7/10. Standard place, we loved our seat this time around and enjoyed a near-empty restaurant.

Overall: 8/10

Will we be back?: Depends on how many restaurants we want to go to on our next trip and if we can slot Kona in anywhere. We love the food but the service is never the best.

After Brunch, we hopped back on the monorail to get back to the MK: We had some memories to keep making!

Up Next: Chapter 24! “What’s In That Barrel?” “Guns.”, or, We Have A Run-In with The Majesty Makers, and We Learn Splash Mountain’s Biggest Secrets…

​

 

[princessesandpascal]

Chapter 24! “What’s In That Barrel?” “Guns.”, or, Brunch at Kona, A Run-In with Majesty Makers, and We Learn Splash Mountain’s Biggest Secrets…

Our destination when we arrived in the Magic Kingdom: Philharmagic! We walked by the Move It Shake It Party on our way.

We love seeing this one on our first day and on our last day to bookend the trip. It was magical and wonderful as always, and I can’t wait to go see it again next time. As we stepped out of Philharmagic, Mom put her umbrella up to create some shade because it was, once again, as hot as the core of the earth that day. We were waiting for our next FP+ to open, when I saw the Majesty Makers nearby. They looked at Mom’s umbrella, then immediately beelined for us and soon enough, we were wrapped up in conversation.

I was lucky enough to know what was going on, so I pulled out the camera and started filming.

Mom had no idea who they were, but loved the magical moment it gave us. I always feel kind of bad, because on past trips it’s always been me who’s gotten the special moments with characters and because of my buttons and stuff like that. Between her still wearing her Mother’s Day button from Garden Grill the day before and the couple of magical moments she got on our last day (the Majesty Makers and one more to come later on), I was excited to see Mom getting some personal Disney magic.

(My magical moment for the day involved me getting made fun of, but that’s a story for next chapter.)

Our FP+ was now, after the visit from the Majesty Makers, active! It was for….. guess who. Cindy and Rapunzel. It was our last day, and I had finally remembered to bring Pascal to the parks so he, my ears, and Rapunzel could appear in the same picture. Also, we love doing our favourite things on our last day as a tradition. So naturally I had to meet my favourite princess one more time.

The photos with Pascal turned out so cute.

Cinderella was also just as lovely as she was at the beginning of our trip.

After the princesses, we walked over to Splash since we had a FP+ coming up after the princess one expired. On the way we ran into a roaming Photopass photographer who had a mini photoshoot with us in the middle of Liberty Square. He was definitely on his way to the Tangled photo spot, but took some time to joke around with us and take a couple candids where we’re laughing at his hilarious dramatic movements.

We got to Splash, and while waiting to get our bands scanned, saw a little girl trying to get the CM’s attention. He finally noticed, and she asked, “Excuse me, what is in that barrel?” The CM stood there, rather uncomfortably, for a few moments before answering. “Uh…. Guns.”

Mom and I looked at each other and had to actually hold back our laughter. The poor kid looked so stunned.

So that’s the secret, folks.

Guns.

We continued into the line, and had a great ride.

After Splash, we decided to secure a spot for Festival of Fantasy. We’d already seen it earlier in the week, but I really wanted to see it just one more time. We ended up next to a pair of cast member girls, who, other than doing the exact dance along with the performers with the kind of polished movements that made me realize they likely were often in the parade, were pretty fun to stand next to.

Anyways, the parade ended up being amazing.

Prince Charming seemed to like my Tangled ears.

Unfortunately, because of the spray bottle getting on the lens, some of our photos have water marks. Luckily, it was small enough that you can still see Merida’s reaction to Mom’s hair! Merida touched her own curls and pointed at her and was so excited!

After the parade, we decided to swoop into the Diamond Horseshoe for a drink. I grabbed us a frozen root beer and a strawberry lemonade.

We headed to the FP+ kiosks next, and ended up making a FP for the Jungle Cruise, which had just re-opened a couple days prior! We stuck around the area since the FP+ was coming soon and ended up in Adventureland, watching some of Jack’s Pirate Tutorial…

And finishing up our Sorcerer’s mission from a couple days ago.

Finally, it was Jungle Cruise time!​

 

[princessesandpascal]

Chapter 25! “It’s Okay Folks, You Can Laugh… She Did”, or, Jungle Cruising, A Pirates Near-Miss, and the last moments of our last night!

When I last left off, we were about to ride the World Famous Jungle Cruise! We loaded onto a boat with a young female skipper and were off on our adventure. The boat didn’t really get into it, of course.

Here she is, making a joke at my expense. It was hysterical.
We rounded the corner to the “pygmy party” and the skipper said, “They’re not here. Just like my prom date junior year!” Of course, I was the only one in the entire boat who laughed out loud at that, because I am a terrible person and a sucker for a good self-deprecating joke. The skipper looked directly at us and then said “It’s alright folks, you can laugh. She did.” Which just caused Mom and I to laugh even harder.
She really kept the morale up despite the boat not being at all into the spiel, so the ride ended up being absolutely hilarious!

After the Jungle Cruise, we stopped to grab FP+ #5 for Big Thunder. We also noticed Pirates had a nonexistent line, so we walked right in.

We got stopped for about 10-ish minutes right where the guy’s leg is swinging, and despite worries of being soaked from the new boats, didn’t get wet at all. The new boats are great!

After Pirates, it was time for our BTMRR FP, so we headed on over for the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness!

We got off of BTMRR and decided to go for dinner at Peco’s Bill, for more pulled pork sandwiches of course!

It was nice to just sit and chill for a bit while we figured out the end of our night. We realized that we wanted to get a Photopass issue dealt with (the one where our A&E pictures were not on our account over 24 hours after we got the photos taken) and I wanted to mail a postcard with the Main Street stamp to my best friend, so we headed for Main Street after eating.

We mailed the postcard at the Newsstand, and then headed in to Town Hall. I decided to handle this, because I know more about how PP works and what we were missing and what we needed. What we needed were the Frozen photos on our account. When we got there, the man was incredibly condescending: again, not going to give his name out, but he was awful. He told us he was going to go through every single photo (we had 500) on our account, and as each one entered the screen, I could tell him what was missing. Which a) is stupid, and b) doesn't make any sense.

So I did what any responsible adult would do, I looked at my mother, said “I don’t like the way he’s speaking to me,” and let her step in. Of course, with a real adult at the helm, he fixed it immediately. So look aloud for my lifestyle book, “Why Do Old Men Hate Twenty-Something-Girls” coming soon to a shelf near you.

Problem solved and photos returned (guess what? They weren’t actually. We had to call the Photopass people after getting back home and they put them in.), we headed back up Main Street. And I stopped part of the way down to buy a huge stuffed Sven, because I am a Real Adult. Then, we headed to Adventureland to wrap up the last Pirate Adventure.
These were super cute, and we’re glad we finished them up. We stopped by a kiosk to make a Buzz FP+ for later, and then decided to get on the Carpets since they had hardly any wait.

Since the night was drawing to a close (We wanted out before MSEP), we decided to head back to New Fantasyland for one more LeFou’s Brew at Gaston’s Tavern. We ended up closing out the trip with the same ride we started with, and with a drink at the same place from day one. We talked about the day, I made some TR notes, and just enjoyed the atmosphere on our last night. On our way, we passed through the Tangled restrooms one more time!

The perfect ending to a perfect week.
We were ready for our last walk down Main Street, but the CMs had opened the back exit, so we ended up taking that to circumvent the crowds that were gathered for MSEP. It made leaving a lot less depressing. We made one final stop in the confectionery for some jelly beans.

A couple last pictures of the Castle, and our 2015 park time was wrapped.

We returned to the resort and packed for a little while before falling into bed, satisfied with the memories we’d made that week, but still not ready to leave it all behind.​

 

[princessesandpascal]

Chapter 26. “You Can’t Come Back If You Don’t Leave!”, or, Our Last Pop Morning and Returning Home.

My first note from the last day of my TR journal says, “There is literally nothing sadder than emptying a hotel room.” This is a good summary of the morning.

My second note is a transcribed one that I’d taken from my phone. That says “Mom is trying to pack the suitcases. She keeps swearing at them because they keep falling over. She also keeps putting stuff in my suitcase when I did a pretty (Donald Ducking) good job of packing it yself. Someone brought four makeup bags, so it’s no wonder she can’t fit any of her (STUFF) inside.” Another good summary of the morning.

We were incredibly overpacked.

Although, packing up a Disney room is kind of fun. We found all our maps and Times Guides from the week, checked out our pins one last time before they were packed up (and as promised, here’s my lanyard from the end of the trip!)

From top to bottom:

Left Side: Hitchhiking ghost, Pinnocchio, Mad Hatter’s hat, Flynn Wanted Poster, Hitchhiking ghost, Beaker, “No Bad Dancing”

Right: Rapunzel shoe, Alice Mouse Ears, Flynn Tangled pin from 2011, Camilla the Chicken from the Muppets, Owl, Splash Mountain, Baby Hercules, and the last Hitchhiking Ghost!

We headed down then for breakfast, leaving our packed suitcases waiting for us to fetch after we’d eaten. That preferred room was worth every penny, and we also booked a preferred room for my best friend and I’s trip in the spring. That’s the kind of luxury that’s worth it to us.

We had pancakes, relaxed near the TV since our usual section was full, and just enjoyed the atmosphere of Pop on our last day. After we ate, we headed back to the room and packed the last couple things into our carry-ons, and then headed to check out and take one final trip to the gift shop. We stopped at Everything Pop and bought some cookies to take on the plane, as well as a little set of pens for a souvenir to share. We didn’t have anything with the year on it, so we decided on those.

Then, the dreaded part. Checking out. Mom headed over to the desk while I took some photos of the lobby.

When Mom came back and we were about to head outside, we passed a CM who wished us a safe trip home. We said we were sad to leave, and she said to us that “Well, you can’t experience coming back if you don’t leave first!”, which became our mantra for the day. Surprisingly, this was the least sad I ever felt leaving Disney. We had a wonderful time, and knowing how wonderful the feeling of coming back was made leaving feel that much less upsetting.

We took a few pictures and goofed around at the bus stop.

Of course, this had to come and we soaked up every last second of being on Disney property.

We boarded the bus and at least they were playing one of my favourite Disney cartoons, with Mickey, Pluto, and the seal.

Never gonna be as funny as The Band Concert, but I can deal.

The bus finished loading, and then whisked us away from the magic. Always the worst part.

Goodbye, Pop Century.

We arrived at Orlando pretty smoothly, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw this. We would see them real soon: at some point toward the end of the trip Mom confirmed that at least I would definitely be back sometime in 2016.

The culture shock of the Orlando airport was pretty brutal, as it always is. We went through security, and surprisingly my bag was severely under the maximum limit! Meaning I couldn’ve bought more. Darn.

We had lots of time, so we went to the Universal gift shop. This is on my bucket list: we were going to do Wizarding World with my best friend on our possible trip but the cost for one day, both parks on the ticket, transportation, probably wanting Universal Express… it was ultimately too high to make much sense for us in addition to Disney’s cost. Someday, though!

We ended up heading to the gate pretty soon. We had lunch at some point, I think, but I don’t know where. Clearly that wasn’t important to me since it wasn’t Everything Pop or Peco’s Bills. When it was time to board the plane, I was just ready to be home. Not being in Disney was sad, but if I wasn’t there I just wanted to be back home to look at all the photos and video we took.

Also, for some reason, we found it incredibly funny when they were introducing the flight crew and said “In the middle of the airplane, you will find Candy,” which prompted Mom to whisper “Wow! There’s candy on the plane? What kind?” Which made both of us start quietly laughing.

I don’t remember anything from the flight, because I slept through almost the entire thing.

I woke up toward the end, helped Mom with the customs card, ate some caramel corn from Germany and some cookies, and then we were pretty much landing.

We grabbed our bags, and headed out to the car to meet Dad. The Disney trip we’d been dreaming about was officially over: but the Memories would last forever.

Up Next: The Epilogue. ​

 

[princessesandpascal]

The Epilogue. Final Thoughts, Overall Disney Magic, and What’s Next?

It’s now been about nine months since our return from The Most Magical Place on Earth. Life went back to normal pretty quickly after our return. I've finished editing our home videos, and now with the Trip Report ending, our last loose ends are finally tied up. Writing this TR has kept the magic alive for so long: but all good things have come to an end sometime! Just a few things to wrap up the trip:

First of all, no, I don’t have any of our photos of drawings from Animation Academy. I honestly can’t find them. They’re somewhere in the depths of our craft room. Same goes for souvenir photos. That’ll be something that I need to do next time each night we get back.

Second of all, we DID get our Frozen photos back. We called Photopass the day we got home and got it taken care of.

Let’s do this the old fashioned way:

The Good:​

• Fastpass Plus. We are on the loving it train. We had more FP+s in a day than we would with traditional because we hated criss-crossing the park. Picking up a Big Thunder FP in Tomorrowland was incredibly helpful. The only issue is with tiering, as it prevented us from more rides on Soarin’ than we got. I already can’t wait for next time to use them even more effectively. On our last night, we had, I think, seven FP+. ​
• The Magic. Some people around the DIS say the magic is gone from Disney. I don’t believe that at all. From Merida pointing at Mom’s hair on the parade float, to free pretzels in Storybook Circus, to “princess” being written on my Starbucks cup, to the Majesty Makers greeting us as the queen and her lady in waiting, to all the little moments with Cast Members talking about pins, to “Everything’s possible in Walt Disney World!”, we had so much magic on this trip. Magic, I believe, in a Disney sense, is in the eye of the beholder. If you think of all the little things from a trip, I firmly believe that everyone can find a little bit of magic. These things just don’t happen in the real world. That’s what magic is to me. ​
• The Weather. Despite being Hot Hot Hot, May was a great time of year to go. We’re both incredibly happy with when we chose to take our vacation, and will be looking at early to mid May whenever we can. ​
• The Garden Grill. Our best meal of the trip and the home of so many magical moments. We love it and will always come back as long as it’s still there!​
• The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train. Stunning visuals, super cute ride, incredibly fun.​
• Pop Century: once again, Pop proves to be our home. We love it there and it’s our home base for sure! Our room location (second floor, 60s building, facing the 70s) was perfect! Preferred is so worth the little bit extra.​

The Bad:​

• Crowds. Not necessarily the line lengths, just the amount of people blocking walkways. Getting anywhere was like playing Frogger. ​
• College Program CMs. I hate saying this as a college-aged person myself. But every time someone didn’t seem like they cared, we spotted a college listed on their name tag instead of a hometown. My roommate from my first year of university is a 3-time DCP CM, and I know the passion that so many of these people have for Disney and the company is huge and beautiful. But that didn’t shine through from a lot of the young Cast Members.​

The Ugly:​

• Memory Maker. Mom asked at every single photo location to please take lots of photos because we had purchased Memory Maker. Only a couple took more than three or four photos. Our best photos from the trip were Magic Shots, and often getting them was like pulling teeth. Our ride photos weren’t even worth it, as Buzz was down most of the time, and Splash was down for a ride or two. Overall I didn’t feel that it was worth it in any way. We could ask them to take a photo with our camera, and then disregard the professional ones. In addition, the two worst CMs we had on the trip were both related to Photopass. We’re at the point where I won’t pay for it. Mom wants me and my best friend to have it for our trip, but I think it’s a waste of money. We’ll see how that goes. ​

Overall, this was one of the best trips we’ve ever taken. Our number one trip is still April 2011 at POFQ due to nonexistent crowds making the trip a breeze, but this one came very close! The beginning of the week was rough since I felt as though it’d be our last Disney vacation, which is what I had been told. By the end of the week, Mom and I knew we’d have to come back soon, which allowed both of us to relax and stop trying to get every single thing done. We got to do so many things that were new to us: meeting Gaston, Ariel's Grotto, Dinosaur, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Festival of the Lion King, Via Napoli, Enchanted Tales with Belle, all of New Fantasyland, The Tomorrowland Speedway, and probably even more that I can't remember.

So, you might be wondering, what’s next for the princessesandpascal crew?

For me, it’s finishing school and working on writing some more. Since the trip, I have turned 22, written my third first-draft novel, applied to graduate, and made plans to move back home to live with my parents (ahh, the joys of student loans. Luckily, I have parents willing to take me back in so I can get on my feet financially.). My children's novel is almost ready to start sending off to literary agents, and even though I'm not sure what my next step is career-wise, having Disney to look forward to is really helping get me through.

As I’ve mentioned a few times, my best friend and I are planning a WDW trip for Spring 2016, between us finishing exams and our formal graduation ceremonies. We HAVE booked our vacation: it was official as of December 27, 2015. So we are officially going! When we booked it, we held hands and squealed, because we are adults. However, because we are travelling alone, I am not revealing any of our travel details (dates, hotel, plans) on the DISBoards for our personal safety and security. I suck at PTRs anyways, so that’s no loss, really. You'll just have to stay tuned in a few months to see where we went and what adventures we embarked on.

What I can tell you is that we will be trying our hand at a mostly vlogging-based trip report rather than a fully written one, which should make an appearance on this forum before… July, probably. I can also tell you that for the first time, we are eating at Beaches and Cream (as well as returning to Cinderella’s Royal Table and The Crystal Palace) among other places, that I chose a yellow MagicBand, that our MDE profile characters are Anna and Elsa, and that we have yet to book our Fastpasses.

But this TR isn’t the last you’ll see of me and Mom in Disney. While we’re gone on our vacation, she’s taking a trip with her sisters on a cruise, and we have plans to return to Walt Disney World, possibly for the holidays, sometime in the next few years.

So, with our future plans laid out, I guess that wraps up this trip report! Thank you to everyone who read and commented on the report: even to those who lurked or popped in and out. This is my first time finishing a trip report, and it feels great to have this document of memories from such an amazing week. Thank you for dealing with a student who is the world's worst procrastinator, especially to nilla who bumped this thing back up in the first place. I guess there’s nothing left to say, so let’s officially wrap this up.

Now it’s time to say goodbye to all our company,

M-I-C (See ya real soon!)

K-E-Y (Why? Because we like you!)

M-O-U-S-E!


~*~ The End ~*~​

 

[allybabba98]

I am so happy you came back to finish! Have a wonderful time with your friend and I wish you well with the rest of your studies.