Meet me at the Snuggly Duckling! A June 2018 TR. UPDATED 3/8

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

June 13 - EPCOT

Our walk around World Showcase continued. We skipped over Morocco this evening as we didn't have much time before our 8pm event and I wanted to check out Mitsukoshi in Japan. I was on the lookout for fun gift ideas for my brothers and I also wanted to see if they still carried the same dinner plates I had purchased on my last trip as I was looking to get more as I had previously only purchased two.

I love the Japan pavilion and visiting it made me so excited for my trip next year!











It is so beautiful there!

When I entered Mitsukoshi I was shocked! They had redesigned the store and it was much more open than in the past and not nearly as chaotic. I liked that they moved the Pick A Pearl off to a corner so it didn't cause such a traffic jam in the middle of the store.

Looking around for stuff for my brothers I saw a cool One Piece shirt but it was a size small and it was the only one they had in stock. I even asked a cast member and she said that was the last one. Darn!

I browsed through the Ghibli merchandise but ultimately decided to not buy anything as I am sure I will find much cooler stuff when I go to Japan.

I made my way to the back of the store where they have the kitchenware and I was happy to see they still had the same plate design as I had previously purchased. For some reason I decided not to purchase the additional plates this night and planned for a return trip. It would have made much more sense for me to buy them this night as it would minimize my trekking them around the park on our next EPCOT day but logic was not my friend that night.

Having confirmed the items I wanted were still stocked I went back outside to find mom and we grabbed some photopass photos. I have never seen a photopass photographer in Japan before so we had to grab some. I am honestly surprised that Disney does not regularly schedule photographers in each of the pavilions. I always love it when I see them in the countries and I am sure they would be very popular.







I am not a huge fan of this set of photopass photos. Posing with the thumbs up seemed weird and not sure why a Figment magic shot is in Japan?? Disappointing as I was super excited about the photographer actually being in Japan.

We skipped over America for the moment and went over to Italy. I was still in search of some form of dinner option and thought maybe the Via Napoli pizza window might be open but alas it looked like it was under refurb. Oh well, it was still nice to wander Italy. For those who don't know I love Italy, the country and the pavilion. It is one of my favourite places. I first went in high school and most recently with my dad and stepmother in 2015. That was a great trip. I got to see some lesser known non-touristy areas of the country as we spent time visiting my stepmother's family (she is from Italy). It was neat to see how the locals live. I am sure I will visit many more times in my lifetime and I hope to take mom someday as she has never been. Maybe I will take her in 2020?








It was time to head back to the American pavilion as it was getting close to 8pm and I wanted to see Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Live! The show was still new at this point and I believe it had started the day before or maybe even that day?

Mom had no idea who/what Guardians of the Galaxy is but I was dragging her to the show anyways. I figured she could enjoy the show even if she didn't know the movies.

We found seats in the theatre and then I went to grab a refreshing American Dream.





The basic premise of the show is that a music group from Xandar has come to share their music with earth. Starlord and Gamora show up and Starlord intervenes and teaches this alien music group what kind of music earthlings enjoy. They then proceed to play a few of the hit songs from the movies. It was an entertaining show and the music was good. Even mom who doesn't know Guardians enjoyed the music. The actor portraying Starlord was very good I thought and had the mannerisms of Chris Pratt/Starlord down and he looked similar enough for it to not be jarring.






I love Groot, so cute!





Here is a small clip I took during the show.

I enjoyed the show and it was something fun and new to do in the park.

After the show ended we decided to start making our way out of the park. The original plan for the night had been dinner at Spice Road to view Illuminations but we had axed that plan the night before in favour of a slightly earlier night.

We had a beautiful sunset as we were making our way out of the park.



I love World Showcase in the evening and at night. It is so pretty all illuminated.










I decided to stop in Karamell-Kuche for some treats to take back to the room.




I got one of those brownies, a milk chocolate caramel with sea salt and a bag of caramel popcorn. Yes, I am a pig although it did take me the rest of the trip to eat it all. The brownie was only so-so, it was kinda dry. The popcorn and the chocolate were delicious though!













It was odd leaving the parks before Illuminations started as I am usually a fireworks/night show kind of girl but it was nice to miss the park closing crowds following Illuminations.

We were lucky and a bus was waiting for us when we exited the park and we saw some of the show as we were driving away in our uncrowded and comfortably air conditioned bus (unlike the horror of the night before). Mom informed my brothers that I had chosen to skip the fireworks and Alek messaged me and said he was ashamed of me and that I better get myself back into park commando rope drop to fireworks mode for our trip in 2021.

We had an early start and a long day ahead of us the next day so we fell asleep soon after getting back to the room. One thing I can say about this trip is I slept very well! I'm not usually a great sleeper when away from home but I slept like a log on this trip. Mom said I would fall asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Coming Up: Our fantastic day in the Magic Kingdom!

 

[amazingact21]

It's hard to leave the parks when a nighttime show is about to start but sometimes it's better to get that extra rest!

Bummer that the Via Napoli pizza window was closed, that would've been a great item to grab and eat before the show.

 

[OhMari]

Wow, I had no idea the changed the show in The American Pavilion. You were so close to Illuminations starting, but I get it. There are rumblings that Illuminations is going to be replaced with something else. I am betting it will do with the 50th anniversary.

Did you do any kind of trip report when you went to Italy? Link? You take awesome and very well planned out trips.

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a great end to your Epcot day! Love the photos in Japan and at sunset!

 

[kclark9830]

I'm enjoying your TR! All of your photos are lovely .

 

[disneyAndi14]

I love this shirt, such an awesome saying!

We are going to try and see the Guardians show!

I like your pictures in Japan, we never see photographers in the countries.

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Wow, I had no idea the changed the show in The American Pavilion.

I think the shows here are always seasonal, my understanding is that Guardians of the Galaxy was just for the summer.

There are rumblings that Illuminations is going to be replaced with something else. I am betting it will do with the 50th anniversary.

I'll be excited to see a new show. Illuminations is okay but I don't shed tears if I miss it.

Did you do any kind of trip report when you went to Italy? Link? You take awesome and very well planned out trips.

I posted about it on my blog which I update in spurts. Your post actually spurred me to finish posting about Italy even though it is three years later. I had it all typed up a long time ago but then sort of forgot about posting to the blog. It is all up there now though! I should transfer my Turkey trip there as well.

https://cdnwanderlust.blogspot.com

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Sounds like a great end to your Epcot day! Love the photos in Japan and at sunset!

It was a good end to the day although different than how I usually end my day at Epcot.

I'm enjoying your TR! All of your photos are lovely .

Thank You! Glad you are enjoying it!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I love this shirt, such an awesome saying!

Winnie the Pooh can teach us all some important life lessons!

We are going to try and see the Guardians show!

I hope you enjoy it!

I like your pictures in Japan, we never see photographers in the countries.

Yeah, i don't understand why they don't have photopass in the countries on a consistent basis?

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

June 14 - Magic Kingdom

We woke up nice and early this morning, probably around 6:00. It was still dark outside and so no animals that we could see at least. We were able to see some right before we left our room at 0730.



We were headed to Magic Kingdom this day! Spoiler alert, this was one of my favourite days of the trip!

According to my camera we arrived just before 0800 as we have a picture at the train station at 0803.



Would I "Unlock the Magic" with Happily Ever After this evening or stay faithful to my beloved Wishes?



Some may think we are crazy to be there so early but I wanted to beat the rope drop crowds! This early arrival also allowed us to enjoy our stroll down Main Street.







We stopped at Starbucks/Main St Bakery so that I could get a drink. I decided on a caramel frap.







After getting the above photos we made our way over to the Liberty Square Bridge as I figured this was the best spot to be for the Fantasyland rope drop dash.

Smile Mom! You are at the Magic Kingdom!



Maybe she is not smiling because she saw the crowd forming behind us!





And that is why you get to the park early for rope drop folks! Don't want to be in the middle or back of that crowd!

Due to our position towards the front of the crowd on Liberty Square Bridge we couldn't really see the new park opening show at the castle. Mom and I got into a bit of a tiff as she felt I was treating her as though she was stupid because she did not know that the rope drop had been moved to the castle from the train station. I just assumed she knew as this was not a new change and she watches tons of Disney vlogs. We got over our squabble though and it did not impact our day.




Show over, rope dropped, off we go!



We had fastpasses for Seven Dwarves so we were making Peter Pan's Flight our rope drop priority.

Most people were walking quickly like us but there were a few that tried to sprint before getting called out by cast members.





We got to Peter Pan's Flight at 0901



Since we were at the front of the crowd we did not get to enjoy the new standby queue as we were moving through the line too quickly.



Loaded onto our flying ship at 0906!





We enjoyed our flight but I still do not understand why people will wait in horrendously long lines for this??

I grabbed a quick photo of the Tangled bathrooms before we moved on.



I decided I wanted to meet Rapunzel before our first fastpass of the day opened up so we made our way to Princess Fairytale Hall.

My priority was the Rapunzel/Tiana meet so I went to head to the left queue as that is the queue that was posted. The cast member at the entrance stopped me though and said that Rapunzel was actually meeting in the queue on the right. I was confused though as Cinderella and Elena were posted as being on that side but I trusted the cast member so went to the right instead. Once we were in the line inside I had a feeling that the cast member had led me astray as there were plenty of people in the left queue although I thought maybe that was the fastpass queue? Mom told me should get out of line and ask but I decided to wait it out. It is not as though it would be a hardship meeting Cinderella and Elena and I would have probably wanted to see them as well after Rapunzel and Tiana anyways since I wouldn't be seeing Cindy anywhere else on the trip.

Well, sure enough, the cast member had led me astray and we were indeed in the Cinderella/Elena line and not the Rapunzel/Tiana line. It was mildly annoying because what if I had only had time for one side of Fairytale Hall and he had given me wrong information??? It wasn't even sought after information, he had stopped me and told me to go the other way! What if we had a child in our group that was dead set on seeing Rapunzel or Tiana and then had a meltdown when presented with the completely wrong princesses?

Anyways, despite the misdirection I had a wonderful time meeting Elena. She was engaging even though I don't really know much about her. I caught a bit of her movie on the Disney Channel last spring when visiting my grandparents when there was nothing else on tv so that was the extent of my knowledge.






The meet with Cinderella was pretty quick which was disappointing as that is a princess I actually know something about unlike Elena!





It was only 9:30 when we finished with Elena and Cinderella so I had plenty of time to get into the CORRECT line for Rapunzel and Tiana.




The interaction with Rapunzel was great! We talked about adventures so I told her about my adventure trying to visit her kingdom and how I had been led astray by an evil troll and ended up in Cinderella's kingdom instead.





Tiana was also wonderful and we talked about restaurants and she invited me to her's to try out some gumbo.

Unfortunately the photopass photos were terrible!!



I wonder how many other families got photos like that before the photographer realized his camera settings were all wrong?

Here is my attempt to somewhat fix it.



Mom had offered to take photos with my phone for these meets but I told her not to bother as there was photopass and I find sometimes when family and photopass take photos we all end up looking in the wrong direction. Turns out I should have taken her up on that offer!

My photo of Tiana, just love her dress!



It was 9:46 so time to go use our fastpass at Winnie the Pooh!







Mom and I went to see Christopher Robin on the weekend and it was great! I recommend it for any Winnie the Pooh fans!

So it was not even 1000 yet and we had already gone on Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh and gone through both of the princess meets at Princess Fairytale Hall. We were feeling pretty accomplished and hoped that the rest of the day would go as smoothly!

 

[missangelalexis]

Such nice PP pics before the park opened!

Wow you got a lot done in that first hour! I'm sorry the CM led you the wrong way, but glad it didn't ruin your plans or anything!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Such nice PP pics before the park opened!

It is a great opportunity to get pictures without hundreds of people surrounding you are walking through the frame.

Wow you got a lot done in that first hour!

I was pretty happy with how things were going. Our Magic Kingdom days were definitely our most productive days in that respect.

 

[chunkymonkey]

I am not a huge fan of this set of photopass photos. Posing with the thumbs up seemed weird and not sure why a Figment magic shot is in Japan?? Disappointing as I was super excited about the photographer actually being in Japan.

Figment would just tell you to "Use your Imagination!"
But yeah it's an odd place for Figment!

It was time to head back to the American pavilion as it was getting close to 8pm and I wanted to see Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix Live! The show was still new at this point and I believe it had started the day before or maybe even that day?

It started on June 9th I believe because I was there on the first day! I agree it was very enjoyable and the characters were great!

We were lucky and a bus was waiting for us when we exited the park and we saw some of the show as we were driving away in our uncrowded and comfortably air conditioned bus (unlike the horror of the night before). Mom informed my brothers that I had chosen to skip the fireworks and Alek messaged me and said he was ashamed of me and that I better get myself back into park commando rope drop to fireworks mode for our trip in 2021.

Sometimes I feel guilty if I don't go park commando mode on a trip. It's not like I haven't watched Illuminations a gazillion times, sometimes I make my tired self watch them. I treat each trip like it's the first and my last trip, LOL.
But on my solo trip, I was very lax which was a nice change of pace for me.

Love your dress!

We enjoyed our flight but I still do not understand why people will wait in horrendously long lines for this??

Agreed but it's most likely those with kids who MUST ride it right then! My niece Eva loved the ride but we only got to ride it once! Line was way too long any other time!

The meet with Cinderella was pretty quick which was disappointing as that is a princess I actually know something about unlike Elena!

She's always in a rush, that one...

I wonder how many other families got photos like that before the photographer realized his camera settings were all wrong?

I hate that! It's the photographers job to make sure the settings are right before they start taking pictures! I've had my fair share of bad PP pics too.

My photo of Tiana, just love her dress!

She has the best dress!!

Mom and I went to see Christopher Robin on the weekend and it was great! I recommend it for any Winnie the Pooh fans!

I really enjoyed it too! It's so cute!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Figment would just tell you to "Use your Imagination!"

It started on June 9th I believe because I was there on the first day! I agree it was very enjoyable and the characters were great!

Oh okay, I knew it had started shortly before we saw it.

Sometimes I feel guilty if I don't go park commando mode on a trip. It's not like I haven't watched Illuminations a gazillion times, sometimes I make my tired self watch them. I treat each trip like it's the first and my last trip, LOL.
But on my solo trip, I was very lax which was a nice change of pace for me.

As much as my brother was teasing me about not going park commando sometimes it is nice to just slow down. Early mornings and late nights every day is exhausting. While I don't think I will ever be very good at having a 100% relaxing vacation I am going to try harder to build in more late mornings or early nights, pool breaks, days off etc.

Love your dress!

Thanks! It was the perfect dress for this Magic Kingdom day. It was a linen blend so fairly cool and the length was great when it came to sitting down on the ground for parades/fireworks as it prevented my bare skin from coming into contact with the pavement as would have happened with a shorter dress.

I hate that! It's the photographers job to make sure the settings are right before they start taking pictures! I've had my fair share of bad PP pics too.

Exactly! I have been fortunate and this type of terrible photo has only happened once before. Most of the time if the photo is terrible it is my own fault for looking weird.

 

[petals]

I've never seen those bears before. They look cool

The purple flowers kind of look like butterflies on the other flowers. So pretty!

The interaction with Rapunzel was great! We talked about adventures so I told her about my adventure trying to visit her kingdom and how I had been led astray by an evil troll and ended up in Cinderella's kingdom instead.

This made me lol! It's weird that a cast member wouldn't know who is where when they've two halls it seems like a pretty obvious thing that the Cast Members nearby would know

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

This made me lol! It's weird that a cast member wouldn't know who is where when they've two halls it seems like a pretty obvious thing that the Cast Members nearby would know

It is definitely weird and I don't understand why it even happened. Why did he stop me in the first place just to give me incorrect information? I will never know.

 

[suse66]

I pretty much binge read your entire report over the last few days and love it! What a wonderful trip with your Mom.....you are staying at one of my favourite resorts and I have to say I just love your view. So, so pretty! The two of you have accomplished so much on your trip. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I pretty much binge read your entire report over the last few days and love it!

Thank You!

What a wonderful trip with your Mom.....you are staying at one of my favourite resorts and I have to say I just love your view.

We love AKL! Such a wonderful and well-themed resort.

The two of you have accomplished so much on your trip.

We managed to get a lot done but still squeezed in relaxation time and did things at a slower pace than normal most of the time.

 

[amazingact21]

An empty Main St. is so nice, something I always try to catch once a trip.

I can't believe that CM stopped you and gave bad information. That just doesn't make sense! I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around his motivation for doing that. You're absolutely right, if that had happened with my kids, I would have had upset kiddos!
I'm happy to hear, though, that you were still able to meet Rapunzel and Tiana...even if the PP pictures with Tiana were dark.

 

[kimmyg26]

I’m just catching up on your TR. I’m totally enjoying the adventures with your mom.

That AKL bus ride would have killed me. I would have been writing help on the Windows too ugh.