Everyone Hail To The Pumpkin Song! October '14 TR **Cadaver Dans 11/24

[courtneybelle]

Love that Tangled pic even though the story behind it is a bit frustrating!

I love DD and Tink's conversation!! Tink is a really great meet and greet, she's so bubbly and energetic. Glad to hear DD is getting chattier with the characters as well

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Love that Tangled pic even though the story behind it is a bit frustrating!

I love DD and Tink's conversation!! Tink is a really great meet and greet, she's so bubbly and energetic. Glad to hear DD is getting chattier with the characters as well

We really enjoyed meeting Tink and wished we had tried her meet and greet at an earlier trip!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Another attraction that we never miss at AK is Flights of Wonder. We stumbled upon this show a few years back and it quickly because a must-do. Before we headed towards the show we had made stops at the Forest Trail which was undergoing some refurbishment at the aviary. Things were very confusing at first when the CMs directed all of those entering the Forest Trail towards what we had known all these years as the exit. We were even more perplexed as we walked down the trail that there were an equal number of people coming back out using the same pathway. We soon found out that the trail was closed off for the refurbishment and was not a loop. We then quickly hopped on the Safari using our FP+s. Would it shock you that I took zero pictures during the Safari? Believe it or not, my camera was tucked away for the entire ride while the kids and I had a great time pointing out the various animals and survived the rickety ol bridge. We made a lunch stop at Yak and Yet QS and was quickly reminded why we don’t usually eat here thanks to the seating area that is always crowded and has a very awkward traffic flow.

Anyway, we made our way of to Flights and arrived just in time as they opened up the theater. We found a second row seat on the right side and made ourselves comfy while waiting for the show began. DD and DS spent the time pointing out the various “holes” on the stage where the birds would be making their entrances and exits. They giggled out loud when they found the small hole where the mice make their appearances. DD also decided while waiting that she wanted to try and be the volunteer for the grape toss portion of the show. As a side note, I really began noticing how assertive DD was during this trip. Throughout the trip, she wanted to be picked as volunteers for the various interactive attractions and shows and she was very engaged in the conversations she had with all of the meet and greet characters. DW also had talked about wanting to raise her hand for the dollar bird portion of the show but once we found our seats in the second row we both knew that just wasn’t going to happen since the distance between the stage and our seats was too short for that particular demonstration.

The show started off and our host made his appearance on stage. I recognized him as the same host I had last year in October except he grew a beard.

As the host began to go through his introductory spiel, I began to recognize the upcoming moment when he would be asking for a child volunteer to come up and toss a grape in the air so that the bird could swoop up and catch it with its beak in mid-air. I leaned over to DD and told her to get ready to raise her hand and as soon as the words left his mouth asking for a volunteer I nudged DD and whispered “now!” Her hand shot up and was the first one in the air catching the host’s attention. Yes, DD got picked. She was so excited and bounced up to the host. Tossed the grape in the air and a successful catch was made by the bird.





She literally bounced back to us with the widest smile on her face and I greeted her by sticking out my hand out and giving her a high-five. She leaned over and quietly told me that it wasn’t a whole grape but half a grape that she got to toss.

For the second show in a row we got Guano Jane who is just as good as Joe. Once she came on stage, I knew my favorite part of show wasn’t too far. It’s the moment when favorite bird swoops in to snatch the tour group flag away to Jane’s dismay and then comes right back in to take away the flag stick as well. And yes, that is why this bird is my favorite of the entire show.

I anticipated that the moment was approaching so I focused my camera on the flag as Jane and our host yammered on about birds or whatever it is they talk about. And then, voila!



At some point in the show the dollar bird demonstration happened but I didn’t attempt any photos this time because I was at a very severe angle from where the volunteer was standing and there were just too many heads and hats obstructing my shot.

The owl fly-over part arrived where the hosts asks for two volunteers with cameras or video cameras to come on stage with the idea that the owl would first fly over the heads of the audience from the stage to the back of the theater. Then when the owl makes its return flight back heading straight towards the two people sitting on stage they would get an awesome photo op of the owl. My love for my camera and lens keeps my hands firmly down when the host asks for a volunteer. I have visions of the owl whacking my camera with its talons. Plus now that I think about it I have yet to have seen someone with a big camera be picked for this so I’m guessing there’s some liability issues that Disney is concerned about and my fears may be partly justified. Partly. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

Here’s the moment when the owl flies straight towards the two volunteers and lands behind them on the branch. I’m always curious as to what their photos look like.



I think the owl is camouflaging into the background of the stage.



Next was Baby, the vulture who does a fly by over the audience’s head. How closely does the bird fly over our heads? This photo should give you and idea.



Needless to say, everyone needs to stay in their seats during this portion otherwise one could end up sharing the unfortunate distinction of getting whacked in the head by a flying bird like Elaine (from Seinfeld) or Fabio.



Next up was the Hawk doing its fly over. For the first time I was sitting at a part of the theater where I was able to grab good shots of the birds in midflight.





Including this crane swooped over drawing a circular path over the audience but instead of landing decided it would do four laps in a row off script. It was great.



One very humorous moment I failed that capture on my camera. When the Bald Eagle made its appearance on stage perched on one of the CM’s arms, nature called and it dropped its business right there on stage in heaping amounts. Fortunately, it completely missed the CM’s arm and landed on the stage. A few minutes later when the host walked over to that part of the stage you could hear a very audible murmur and gasp from the audience reminding him not to step in it. He missed it merely by a couple of inches.

Noooo, don’t return the flag!



And that marked the end of the show. Another fun viewing.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Oh man, that old west bubble shot is fantastic Dave. I love the little treasures that Disney has.

Aww what a sweet visit with Tink. I love that shot of Tink staring right at her. So cute. She is a fun character to meet.

Ugh, yes. I like Yak and Yeti, but the seating is horrible.

Aww yay, how sweet that DD got picked to throw the grape. Disney really has a way of bringing people out of their shell amongst all the other great things it offers. This is something overlooked I think.

Hit in the head like Elaine!!! Classic!!!

As always, your photos are remarkable.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Oh man, that old west bubble shot is fantastic Dave. I love the little treasures that Disney has.

Aww what a sweet visit with Tink. I love that shot of Tink staring right at her. So cute. She is a fun character to meet.

Ugh, yes. I like Yak and Yeti, but the seating is horrible.

Aww yay, how sweet that DD got picked to throw the grape. Disney really has a way of bringing people out of their shell amongst all the other great things it offers. This is something overlooked I think.

Hit in the head like Elaine!!! Classic!!!

As always, your photos are remarkable.

Along with Anna and I think Tink's interactions were most faithful to her character and personality from the movie and especially the TV version. We had such a hilariously awesome interaction with Anna which I'll post in an upcoming update but it was so true to her character.

That scene from Seinfeld always gets me laughing out loud no matter how many times I've seen it. The best part is the man sitting on the park bench who witnesses the whole thing and says "He flew right into your head. Like he couldn't avoid it......never seen that before!"

 

[khertz]

I had gotten behind, but now I'm all caught up.

I loved DD's Tink photos on FB. Looks like those two became fast friends! I love that DD was so outgoing this trip, it looks like she is really having a blast. She looks just giddy after getting to throw the grape during Flights. Still have never seen that show!

Loved your FOTLK pics! One of our ABD guides said he used to be a performer in that show. Unfortunately that was long before DH was into photography and able get decent lowlight shots to see if we had ever seen him perform. Great ones of the fire guy! He's so amazing. Bummer about the monkeys not performing, they are my favorite part of the show.

That pic of Rapunzel's tower is FANTASTIC!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I had gotten behind, but now I'm all caught up.

I loved DD's Tink photos on FB. Looks like those two became fast friends! I love that DD was so outgoing this trip, it looks like she is really having a blast. She looks just giddy after getting to throw the grape during Flights. Still have never seen that show!

Loved your FOTLK pics! One of our ABD guides said he used to be a performer in that show. Unfortunately that was long before DH was into photography and able get decent lowlight shots to see if we had ever seen him perform. Great ones of the fire guy! He's so amazing. Bummer about the monkeys not performing, they are my favorite part of the show.

That pic of Rapunzel's tower is FANTASTIC!

Yeah, DD was extremely happy and excited that she got to participate in Flights of Wonder!

That's pretty cool that your ABD guide had a background in FotLK! Did he say which role he played?

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I lost count how many times we went on for a lap around the Tomorrowland Speedway. Despite the fumes, this ride continues to be a big favorite for our kids. I'm pretty sure we've collected a dozen of Mickey Driver Licenses between DD and DS from this single trip. We went on back to back rides during the precious rope drop hour. The kids wanted to drive again later in the day so we've used a 4th FP+ for it. We even went on it a few times during both of our MNSSHPs. DD is almost tall enough to reach the gas pedal on her own. While this ride usually means a lot of side to side whiplashes thanks to the kids driving "techniques", they always end up smiling at the end of the ride and asking to go on it again. I guess it's the allure of driving their own vehicles that brings them back each time.

I took this photo during one of those many times standing in queue waiting for our vehicle to arrive.

 

[khertz]

Yeah, DD was extremely happy and excited that she got to participate in Flights of Wonder!

That's pretty cool that your ABD guide had a background in FotLK! Did he say which role he played?

I believe he said he was a zebra.

 

[MEK]

That's a crazy look on that bird's face! I love that part of the show!

Very fun that your DD got picked to participate!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I believe he said he was a zebra.

Awesome!

That's a crazy look on that bird's face! I love that part of the show!

Very fun that your DD got picked to participate!

Yeah, some of those close up looks of the birds head do look a bit freaky.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Very cool picture of the outside of It's a Small World and the Tangled Tinkle Tower ... and great point about not normally seeing much dimension to the IASW facade

Very sweet story about your DD meet with Tink ... we met her for the first time last trip as well and she is very engaging to the kids I think. It's fun to see the kids grow over the trips though and it makes no two trips to Disney the same even though the place might be the same ... made even more obvious this trip for you when DD volunteered for the grape toss - and so cool that she got picked!

Ah, the Tomorrowland Speedway - definitely a highlight for kids who want to try out driving. Agree about the fumes. I wished they changed it to more modern or future cars - like mag lev or electric cars or something

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Very cool picture of the outside of It's a Small World and the Tangled Tinkle Tower ... and great point about not normally seeing much dimension to the IASW facade

Very sweet story about your DD meet with Tink ... we met her for the first time last trip as well and she is very engaging to the kids I think. It's fun to see the kids grow over the trips though and it makes no two trips to Disney the same even though the place might be the same ... made even more obvious this trip for you when DD volunteered for the grape toss - and so cool that she got picked!

Ah, the Tomorrowland Speedway - definitely a highlight for kids who want to try out driving. Agree about the fumes. I wished they changed it to more modern or future cars - like mag lev or electric cars or something

"Tangled Tinkle Tower" Love it!

Couldn't agree with you more about the kids growing up makes no two trips the same. I was saying the exact same thing to someone at Disney during this trip. How are ride choices keep changing, how are dining choices keep shifting.

Also agree about the cars at Tomorrowland Speedway. Feel like it could use a re-theming and an update.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

We have seen Wishes numerous times. I even got to see Hallowishes during my conference trip. Despite all of those viewings we had never watched it from the center on Main Street. Tomorrowland Bridge, Tomorrowland Terrace, Fantasyland, Pirates and Pals Cruise. But no Main Street. This all boiled down to my crowd phobia. My imagination would run wild when I tried to picture how things would look in the middle of Main Street during the fireworks and when the kids were younger I just didn’t think it was worth the trouble. One potty emergency or a meltdown in the middle of that crowd would be one too many.

For this trip, as I debated where to watch Hallowishes my mind kept wandering back to the idea of watching it from the middle of Main Street. On the hump. For those of you who may not be familiar with what I call the hump, when you’re walking down Main Street from Casey’s/Plaza Ice Cream towards the Hub you’ll notice that about half way that the ground gradually rises, peaks, then descends back down. I’ve always heard fellow photographers talk about it was a great spot to watch and photograph Wishes because when you’re standing on the peak of that hump you’re going to be a head above everyone else looking towards the castle.

After much deliberation I decided that we were going to go for it and watch the fireworks as they were meant to be, crowds be darned! Once I made that decision I had to scheme how I would get to this spot from Frontierland after Boo To You. One option was to cut through Adventureland and get to Main Street before the last float of the parade passed through so that we could secure a spot but that seemed like a whole lot of huffing and puffing. So I decided on the second option of following the last float of the parade all the way down to the hump. The idea was that since the streets were cleared of people for the parade we should be able to arrive at our spot with no one in it. That ended up working like a charm.

In fact, I was really surprised how nobody else was staking out a spot on this elevated portion of Main Street. I guess it’s not as well known as I thought. The crowds seemed to be slowly packing it in up front at the Hub and by the Partners Statue but the crowds were pretty sparse around us. So much so that I felt comfortable enough to set up my tripod with an extremely narrow footprint between me and DS’s stroller. The other thing I did was to position ourselves about 5 feet behind and slightly to the side of the Photopass photog who were taking pics of guests with the castle in the background while we waited for the projection show and fireworks to begin. Why? The last thing I wanted was to go through all of this trouble to find our viewing spot and at the last minute a 6 foot tall person deciding to put one of his kids on his shoulders right in front of our kids. You know that happens all the time. Well, I know that the Photopass photog wouldn’t be raising a kid on her shoulders. Plus, the guests usually steer clear of the 6-10 feet of feet in front of her. So if someone decided to put their kids on their shoulders there would be sufficient space between us and with the help of the hump, there shouldn’t be any concerns of obstructed viewing. Yes, I put a lot of thought into this because Hallowishes is the exclamation point of the whole party and I wanted to make sure my family got a good view of it. As you can see in my photos, sure enough one person raised their toddler on their shoulders to the right but because of our positioning it didn’t bother us.

I entertained DS and DD with their light sticks, telling jokes, and recollecting the scenes we had just seen from the parade. We looked around us to spot some of the more clever costumes. Standing behind us was a couple dressed what appeared to be as your everyday chefs. That was until I took note of the name tags on their chef uniforms. They were Colette and Linguini. As in from Ratatouille. I love Pixar fans. After the fireworks were over I just had to complement them on their costumes.

After only 20 minutes of waiting the Celebrate the Magic show began. The kids ooo’ed and ahh’ed with the rest of the crowd. I really envied those who were watching this for the first time as they marveled out loud how amazing the castle looked. It still looks good to me but I can never go back and feel the awe of watching it for the first time.





I still get goosebumps though when those Tangled lanterns start floating up the castle.



Of course, there was the inevitable Frozen portion of the show and I leaned over to DW as it was just getting started and said “How much you want to bet that everyone around us is going to start singing Let It Go in about 5 seconds?” Sure enough you could hear a chorus from the crowd.

After the projection show ended we just had to wait just 5 minutes before the wolves started howling and the bells started tolling marking the start of the fireworks. DS was still holding on and staying awake. This is such a beautiful spectacle. As I have described before, it may not have the emotional heft and punch of Wishes but it does outdo Wishes when it comes to the fireworks itself and the pure fun factor.











I don’t know how anyone could not help but holler, hoot, and scream with joy when those finale panoramic shots go up and the singer crows “Everybody Scream~~~!”



I also love the various colors that are reflected off the Castle during the show with hues of green, yellow, and orange you normally don’t see during Wishes. Needless to say, it was a big hit with the kids and DW.

 

[MEK]

GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS! That is ALL!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS! That is ALL!

Thanks Mary Ellen

 

[rteetz]

Fantastic pictures! On our last trip we also watched from Main Street which we don't usually do because of crowds but I wanted to this time.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Fantastic pictures! On our last trip we also watched from Main Street which we don't usually do because of crowds but I wanted to this time.

Watching from Main Street was totally worth it, wasn't it? Not sure if we'll attempt it on our next trip in June with the summer crowds but am debating it.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

wonderful shots of Celebrate the Magic! Actually, much clearer than I have ever seen it in real life

I love how spread out the fireworks for Hallowishes is ... we really got a sense of it watching from the Poly Beach - felt like it spread from the Grand Floridian over to the Contemporary

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

You know, so many people think that dead center of the hub near the partners statue is a perfect Wishes (or Hallowishes, or Merry Christwishes) spot. Not so much. I find there to actually be too close and you miss out on much of the bigger fireworks. I like to be back a bit like you did.

Geez Dave, your Celebrate pictures actually look likea painting they're so clear. Beautiful.

Haha, the first time I saw the Frozen segment, nobody knew the words.

And then your Hallowishes photos. Just... WOW.