Halloween fun at HNY - Day 3

[Ms Poppins]

The Cast:

Me - Julie (40)
DH - John (44)
DD - Abbey (18)
DS2 - Lewis (11)

PTR
Day 1
Day 2

Day 3

Tuesday 6 October

Alarm went off at 7.30 and I took a deep breath and opened the curtains.....it was still raining, very heavily. I decided against EMH and didn't wake the others just yet. I love EMH but part of it is to take photos of the park when it's quiet and I didn't think we'd make the best of that today. I got myself ready and realised I'd had a really good sleep, thank goodness. Slowly woke everyone up and we got ready for breakfast.

Socks for today:



View this morning:



As many of you know, the choice of T.V channels is limited and apart from the Disney channel we ended up with 10 things to do at Disney on loop.....anyway, it's been updated and the Jedi Academy is now featured which Lewis had been watching. He still wasn't sure but decided to put on his Jedi t-shirt just in case



Ponchos and brolly in our bag we headed to breakfast, again in the Manhattan for 9am. The pancakes in here are delicious...



Off now into the rain and through the village. By the time we reached the park, the rain had stopped

Town square was busy with lots of people at 9.30 and I took some pictures as this had been our first real look at things:











The sun was coming out too





The band getting ready to start up:





I think this is my first castle photo..



We walked through the castle to see the new version of the bramble - now a dragon. I think I like this better than last year, much more defined. I did see some photos of kids climbing on this a week ago and I'm pleased to say that there were CM's around this every time we passed and if a kid even looked like they were going near it they were asked to stand back





We looked around and as we passed Peter Pan it was showing just 10 minutes so went on. Lewis spotted that Nana was missing from the first scene and that the Jolly Roger was also missing - I wonder why?

Made our way now to Discoveryland so we could try for a spot in the Jedi Academy.





The new decorations on the castle stage are really nice - love all the purple, burgandy colours which are my favourite







It was just before 10am and as we passed the entrance to the hub Abbey smelled popcorn and she and DH went off to get some. Lewis and I headed over to the Jedi Academy and I said to DH 'I'll meet you at the side of Videopolis, beside Star Tours'......

We were 3rd in the queue and picked the 11.45 show, which was the first of the day. Lewis gave his name, age, and agreed he could follow instructions and was then given a card with confirmation of the slot time. We were told to be back at 11:10.



We were in and out in a few minutes. DH and Abbey were no-where to be seen. We stayed a while and then walked back up to the front of Videopolis. My phone wouldn't pick up the signal for some reason so I had no way of contacting them. After about 15 minutes we went right round to the popocorn stand, still not there. Then I twigged and thought they might be INSIDE Videopolis....yes they were

Next up was Autopia which Lewis really likes. It showed a 10 minute wait, but was actually much, much longer. They only had one lane open until we reached the front and thankfully opened the second lane. Lewis and Abbey went together with us in the other lane.





It was now 11am and I was getting a tad nervous about time.....as we drew level with the kids we could see that a car in front had broken down but thankfully it was moved just in time and Lewis and I raced over to the Jedi Academy.



DH and Abbey were going to go in separately but I soon realised that if they were with us then they'd get preferred seating at the front of the stage. They had gone off to do Buzz but were done so quickly that they soon phoned me to see where to go. (DH had given me his phone so we wouldn't get lost again ) They came round to where we were and were waved through to the seating area. I noticed that whilst we were waiting some people came and registered for later shows - not sure if that will happen on busier days but there did seem to be plenty of space today. Lewis and I were shown into what used to be the arcade where the kids were shown the basic moves and given their costumes to put on.

The show was really well done, with all the kids getting chance to be at the front of the stage fighting Darth Vader.





After all his fretting he really enjoyed it and was given a certificate at the end.

 

[Ms Poppins]

After this we all did Buzz which was a walk on.



I wanted to get a look at Frontierland so we headed over there.





I remembered there was a Mickey meet. The queue was short, about 3 people in front of us so Lewis and I queued up to meet him. Love his Halloween costume



Then we had a look at what was the Frozen area. It's all still there but you can't get into the Market Place. I did sneek a look through the side and it does look nice:







I noticed that Merida was at her meeting point too - this wasn't posted on the schedule at all so I don't know what times she's there, but was always there when I looked from BTM each time we went on.

 

[Ms Poppins]

BTM was showing 15 minutes but we got fast passes instead and headed to The Lucky Nugget for some lunch. It turned out to be bit of a waste as none of us were that hungry, but we needed a sit down and I'd really been looking forward to seeing inside here.



DH, Abbey and Lewis all wanted burgers. The kids menu only had an option of a chicken burger, so I ate from the kids menu as I wasn't too hungry and not in the mood for a beef burger. Our order was taken quickly and drinks and food were with us in about 5 minutes. Very good service





Ice cream from the adult menu



And from the kids menu



A few minutes into our meal a pianist started playing some Disney tunes



It was a really nice setting - a shame we didn't make the most of the food though.

There was a small shower and we went in the direction of Pirates.








Another great time had by all on Pirates

By the time we came out the sun was shining again!



It was just before 2pm and time for our fast passes for BTM. It was a complete walk on...even with fast pass I've never been through so quickly before.



Abbey hadn't been feeling well most of the morning and said she felt really tired and wanted to lie down. I suggested us going into DLH for a drink and a rest but she said she'd rather have a nap so she headed back to the hotel, and text us when she got there to say she was ok.

I noticed it was just about time for the Harvest parade so we went to the hub and had a great time dancing along to the music. It's such a colourful parade with really catchy music. This guy is fabulous at whipping up the crowd - same guy from last year, so much fun





















Lewis wanted to do Star Tours next. DH didn't fancy it as it had made him a bit dizzy the day before so I went on with Lewis myself. I said to Lewis that we'd find a bench to park his dad on so he didn't get lost...that's why it's called a park bench



Star Tours was good and we only waited about 10 minutes. We went into the shop afterwards and Lewis got a Jedi Academy pin.

We grabbed more doughnuts, hot chocolate and coke from Cafe Hyperion using our Pause Gourmande vouchers and made it just in time to watch the show 'Its good to be bad' with the villans on the castle stage. It's a lovely wee show and a great opportunity to see the villans, very colourful. It's over very quickly and then the villans go to spots marked on the ground with pumpkins for meets. It is a scrum so if you want to meet a villan you'd need to be very organised and be at a spot early.





We went back into Discoveryland and onto Orbitron with a 5 minute wait.



DH then said he fancied going on Dumbo...so off we went!

On the way we could see that the next performance of the villans was due to start and they were behind the stage. They were all fantastic, still in character and waving to us all. Gaston and the Ugly Sisters in particular were really funny:

 

[Ms Poppins]

It was 4pm now and off we went to Fantasyland where Dumbo had just a 10 min wait - it was more like 5!







I love the tops of the buildings in Fantasyland and I think Dumbo is the best way to see them







Over now to Pirates, 5 min wait time but again was a walk on using the right hand lane.



Lewis wanted to do BTM again so off we went and it was showing 15 minutes. We decided to get FP instead which was for just 30 minutes later. So we popped over to Phantom Manor with some photos on the way













We still had some time before BTM so Lewis had a go on the shooting gallery



Then it was time for BTM, walk on again. Lewis wanted to go on himself this time:







Just as the train came out of the tunnel it started to rain and we got soaked! Another fantastic ride

 

[Ms Poppins]

It was about 5.15 by now and I thought it would be good to watch the parade at 5.30. As we walked towards Main St the rain came thundering down, it was really heavy so we decided to leave the park and head back to the hotel. My feet were soaked, even worse than yesterday so we popped into the shop for some new socks and went up to our room for a rest. Abbey was awake and thankfully feeling better.

Change of socks and I decided to stick with Olaf



We had a nice rest and then headed to Cafe Mickey for our 7.15 reservation. We waited outside for about 10 minutes and were then shown to our table downstairs. Within minutes the characters came to visit us






























It took a while to be served but the waiter was very nice. It was so busy though.

DH and I both had the chicken salad to start, Abbey had a pasta starter and Lewis didn't want a starter. We all had pizza for mains and assorted desserts. I'll put a full review on the restaurant thread.















We were in there for about 2 hours and the characters came back to us a few times. Goofy in particular was fantastic. There were a few birthdays and he danced around stamping his feet to get everyone clapping. It really is a fun atmosphere in Cafe Mickey







After this Abbey went back to the hotel to phone her BF and we wandered the village shops.



We got a nice t-shirt for Mark and then back to the hotel





The rain had stayed off so I hoped it would be nice in the morning. We were going into day 4 and still hadn't done EMH, so Lewis and I agreed we'd be brave and go for it in the morning.

Hot chocolate and doughnuts for supper and lights out around 11pm. Please don't be wet in the morning....

 

[dhidra]

I can't get over how quiet the parks were! You got so much done! And great to get on BTM so many times before it closes for over a year. :-/

 

[Ms Poppins]

I can't get over how quiet the parks were! You got so much done! And great to get on BTM so many times before it closes for over a year. :-/

With such low queue times we found it hard to walk past anything - it really was great getting our fill of BTM

 

[bonhoga]

Superb photos.......love them! Looks like the food in cafe Mickey is an awful lot better than when we tried it several years ago :] Kx

 

[DLPDreams]

Glad Lewis did the Jedi Academy!

I agree that the crowds seemed so low - we never seem to get that but always go in school holidays now as there's no way I can take DD1 out. I can't believe some of the wait times - brilliant for you!

Agree the food looks better in CM - we've kind of taken it off our list but I do think it's a super cheap way of doing a character meal if you are eating out of pocket - or did they change this where you have to have a set meal? I recall something about this. Probably didn't matter to you with being on HB vouchers.

 

[Ms Poppins]

Superb photos.......love them! Looks like the food in cafe Mickey is an awful lot better than when we tried it several years ago :] Kx

Pizza was lovely, as was the ice-cream...mmmmmm

Glad Lewis did the Jedi Academy!

I agree that the crowds seemed so low - we never seem to get that but always go in school holidays now as there's no way I can take DD1 out. I can't believe some of the wait times - brilliant for you!

Agree the food looks better in CM - we've kind of taken it off our list but I do think it's a super cheap way of doing a character meal if you are eating out of pocket - or did they change this where you have to have a set meal? I recall something about this. Probably didn't matter to you with being on HB vouchers.

We hadn't been to CM for years until last October when we just shared pizza. Shortly afterwards they've changed the menu now and it's a set menu. We had the HB vouchers so you're right, it didn't really affect us. Still think you're really only paying to see the characters though.

 

[DLPDreams]

We hadn't been to CM for years until last October when we just shared pizza. Shortly afterwards they've changed the menu now and it's a set menu. We had the HB vouchers so you're right, it didn't really affect us. Still think you're really only paying to see the characters though.

Yes, I thought it was set now. I think if we were paying we probably wouldn't do it for that reason. I know it's much more expensive but I do love Inventions! I think I would use HB vouchers at face value and pay the extra.

Still think the food looks nice though!

 

[cherrymarzipan]

Love the picture of the Villains behind the stage and like you I think the colours on and around the stage were great.

Re. the Jedi Training, did Lewis get to keep his costume? I saw a few children walking around the park wearing them.

 

[Ms Poppins]

Love the picture of the Villains behind the stage and like you I think the colours on and around the stage were great.

Re. the Jedi Training, did Lewis get to keep his costume? I saw a few children walking around the park wearing them.

No he didn't - I did see them for sale in the big shop in the Studios though, but don't think they had any big enough for Lewis

 

[Anemone]

Yay - 2 pairs of Olaf socks in 1 update - you're spoiling me now.

What a great day that was - you did so much.

Great that Lewis did the Jedi Academy and enjoyed it - he would have regretted not doing it.

Dumbo with a 5 minute wait outside of EMH?

Cafe Mickey looked like lots of fun too.

 

[Ms Poppins]

Yay - 2 pairs of Olaf socks in 1 update - you're spoiling me now.

What a great day that was - you did so much.

Great that Lewis did the Jedi Academy and enjoyed it - he would have regretted not doing it.

Dumbo with a 5 minute wait outside of EMH?

Cafe Mickey looked like lots of fun too.

So happy Lewis did the Jedi Academy, he's still bragging about it to his brother

I'd had a wee chuckle to myself when we were heading towards Dumbo as I thought the queues would be silly. I was gobsmacked at the wait times