October 2012 - Spooky, Wild, Exotic and a lot of food!

[Dream426]

Finally able to comment on everyone's TR's. I have been so behind. Love your pictures!!! I would have loved to collect all that candy. That was a big amount. Looks like you had a great time. I would love to go to Disney to celebrate Halloween.

 

[ronnmel]

Every time I see someone post pictures of MNSSHP it makes me want to go so much! I love all the spooky lighting, decorations, parade, etc.!!!

 

[Aussiesalad]

Aw you make such a great barbie! What a fun costume!

That is so great that they do that for people with allergies or intolerances! I just love how Disney takes care of us people that can't eat all the regular junk.

The parade looks amazing!! I love the colours that they use to light main street. It's all themed so fantastically!! I really need to go one of these years!!!

 

[hobbs6799]

You made a LOVELY Barbie!!!

I am really enjoying your TR as we are also going in October of this year. I am hoping we have the same type of weather and crowds you had.

I am so excited to be going to F&W. I just HAVE to try a dragon berry colada!!

I am also very excited to attend MNSSHP!!!

Love your pictures.

 

[khertz]

Great party pictures, Emma! You really did look just like Barbie. And that is pretty awesome that they gave you some allergy friendly candy and let you keep the rest to give away.

 

[cindianne320]

Loved your full costume!

I think Boo to You was the best parade on Disney property I've ever seen!

 

[disneybarbie]

The lighting around the Haunted Mansion looks fantastic! I can't believe what great seats you got for the parade and fireworks, too!

I didn't know the Mansion would have extra effects for the party, it was even more spooky! I'd read that Frontierland was a better place to watch the parade from, I'm really glad we got to see it from there

Finally able to comment on everyone's TR's. I have been so behind. Love your pictures!!! I would have loved to collect all that candy. That was a big amount. Looks like you had a great time. I would love to go to Disney to celebrate Halloween.

Hi! I still have some of the candy left over.. should probably throw it away now the party was so much fun, it's definitely one of my favourite times to visit WDW.

Every time I see someone post pictures of MNSSHP it makes me want to go so much! I love all the spooky lighting, decorations, parade, etc.!!!

Hi Mel, I hope you get to go to MNSSHP one day, we really enjoyed it - I would definitely go to the party again!

Aw you make such a great barbie! What a fun costume!

That is so great that they do that for people with allergies or just love how Disney takes care of us people that can't eat all the regular junk.

The parade looks amazing!! I love the colours that they use to light main street. It's all themed so fantastically!! I really need to go one of these years!!!

Thank you! I was really pleased how much costume turned out - it was simple (and not too much to pack in the suitcase) but most people seemed to know who I was meant to be
I was so surprised by the special chocolate and gifts.. I thought we'd just get more candy in exchange for the nut chocolates... only Disney would do that for their guests
I hope you get to go to MNSSHP one day, it was so much fun!

You made a LOVELY Barbie!!!

I am really enjoying your TR as we are also going in October of this year. I am hoping we have the same type of weather and crowds you had.

I am so excited to be going to F&W. I just HAVE to try a dragon berry colada!!

I am also very excited to attend MNSSHP!!!

Love your pictures.

Hi! Thanks for your comments and reading along. October is definitely a favourite time of the year to visit WDW for us - the weather was perfect, warm but no humidity (and no rain!). Hope you have a great trip this year

Great party pictures, Emma! You really did look just like Barbie. And that is pretty awesome that they gave you some allergy friendly candy and let you keep the rest to give away.

Thank you it was a little magical moment getting the extra candy & gifts! The allergy-friendly chocolate was pretty tasty too

Loved your full costume!

I think Boo to You was the best parade on Disney property I've ever seen!

Hi! Thank you I thought Boo To You was excellent, such a catchy theme song too - I still find myself humming along to it we didn't get any photos of the grave diggers or cowboys unfortunately - but their routines were amazing!



Emma x

 

[disneybarbie]

Friday 12th October 2012


After a late night at the Magic Kingdom, we had a quiet morning – I didn't wake up until 8am! We got ready and then walked down to the Boardwalk Bakery for some breakfast, we bought bagels, coffees & a fruit cup, then sat outside to eat.

We walked around the lake, and past the Swan & Dolphin where they were setting up for the Food & Wine Classic

And then to Fantasia Gardens... it didn't open until 10am though so we had to wait a few minutes..

No opening ceremony like the parks though

We were the second party to start playing that day! DH wanted to do the fairways course, which is much harder, I didn't mind as I'm pretty bad at all types of golf... this time I lost my ball on the first shot and had to go and ask for another one!

It was a nice way to spend an hour, and DH got the best score of the day! A Cast Member overheard me say his score.. and then wrote his name on the chalk board and presented him with a certificate!

We decided to get an early lunch, and went somewhere that I've wanted to go back to for ages... Beaches & Cream!

We sat up at the counter which meant we got to chat to our server too...

A couple were celebrating their anniversary and ordered the Kitchen Sink – some spinning red lights started flashing and their server announced the arrival of the huge dessert!

DH had the burger and I had a roast vegetable sandwich, both were great.

..............

 

[disneybarbie]

....

We wandered into the Beach Club lobby, and then went to order a cab to our next destination....

The Richard Petty Driving Experience!

I had bought DH an driving experience in an Audi R8 (his favourite car) as a birthday present. I'd booked it back in April and had managed to keep it a secret until the week before we arrived at WDW! He was excited for it but also nervous I think.

This was the card I gave him..

It was fun to visit a new part of Walt Disney World... the race track is located in the Magic Kingdom parking lot.

We were a bit early for the start time, so we had a walk around the viewing areas, the super cars were all lined up ready for the driving experiences!

The Audi R8...

There were also two ferraris, a porsche and a lambhorgini

DH signed in, then we went to the classroom where the other drivers were waiting... I got to sit in on the lesson too! It was about 30 minutes long, the instructor managed to get a good balance of making it entertaining but emphasising that safety was the number one priority! The cars are not dual control, but if the instructor in the car felt unsafe during the drive they were able to turn down the power of the engine.

I spotted my own dream car

Next we all went out to the viewing area, the drivers all met their instructors and were fitted for their saftey helmets (for the Exotic Driving Experience you don't have to wear protective cloting, unlike the Nascar experiences).

They each had photos taken with the cars, and then it was time to drive!

There was a second viewing area that was better for the Exotics course – so the partners of the drivers all walked over there...

They got to do six laps each, it was half of the Nascar track and then a curvier course through the centre.

Video..

Overall, DH loved it! He got the car up to 112mph – after the drive, he was given a sheet of statistics on his drive – and we bought the two photos and the memory stick that contained the videos of him driving.

This experience is pretty pricey (but there are Annual Passholder discounts), but I think worth every penny


......

 

[disneybarbie]

....

We got the free shuttle back to the Ticket & Transportation Center.

Earlier that morning, I'd seen on Twitter that the construction walls had been taken down at the new Fantasyland.. it was the first ever soft opening day! While at the TTC, DH asked if I wanted to go into Magic Kingdom... I was tempted, but we decided to hop on the monorail over to Epcot instead.

As we looped through the park, a family sat in our monorail car said “look – that's Test Track, we have to head there first...” … I don't think they could see the construction wall around it!

We walked through Future World and into World Showcase...

Stopping to look at the cranberry bog again!

DH wanted to get a beer, I think he chose a Purple Haze from New Orleans, the Cast Member that served us noticed I was using the wrist-band gift card, and gave me a free plastic bracelet to attach it to!

Rather than a beer, I decided it was a pink champagne sort of afternoon...

We walked around to the UK pavilion and watched the band play for a while – everyone was singing along to 'When I saw her standing there'

We watched a little bit of the entertainment in France too ….

And Mo'roccin in Morocco!

We walked back to the Boardwalk, and stopped in ESPN for a drink as DH wanted to watch some of the England soccer game that was on.

.....

 

[disneybarbie]

.....

We went back up to our room, I had texted my parents to find out where there room was (they had arrived at WDW that morning) but they hadn't replied. Then I was standing out on the balcony... and my Mum walked out onto the balcony next door!
It was such a coincidence, we hadn't linked our reservations and I have a different surname to them too now!
We had a nice catch up on our week so far, DH spoke to his family on Facetime too to tell them about his R8 driving experience.


After resting up, we got ready and got a taxi over Port Orleans French Quarter.

I had never been to this resort before, it was great to visit a new place – the theming was excellent! I can see why this resort is so popular.

We walked from French Quarter over to Riverside, where we had a dinner reservation a Boatwrights.

I checked in and we only had to wait a few minutes before our table was ready.

As I'd added my birthday as a celebration to our dining reservations, the server gave me a birthday card and mardi gras bead necklaces!

First we were served corn bread and butter, this was so good – it was more like cake than bread – we tried not to eat too much of it to save room for our meals!

To start, DH had the French onion soup and I had gumbo – both were very tasty and generous portions.

.....

 

[disneybarbie]

.....

For main courses, DH had jambalaya and I had crawfish etouffe. I really enjoyed mine, I think I first heard of 'etouffe' in Princess & the Frog, so it was nice to try it! DH liked his, but wasn't as keen on the garlic sausage in it – when we make jambalya at home, we tend to use Spanish chorizo in it instead.

I had really wanted to make it to dessert at this restaurant, the options looked amazing – but we were both absolutely stuffed!

The ambience at Boatwrights was very different to how I imagined – I thought it would be quiet and tucked out the way, however it was much busier and had a nice friendly feel to it. We'd definitely eat there again.

We got a taxi back to the Boardwalk, popped back to our room and then walked down to the board walk to meet my parents, who had been into Epcot for some Food & Wine dishes for their dinner.
The four of us went up to the Belle Vue lounge in the resort for a drink – it's such a nice lounge, plus we got to use our Tables in Wonderland card too!

We headed back to the room about 10pm, DH and I had an early start … we needed to be at Animal Kingdom for 7.45am!

 

[Leshaface]

Fantastic updates!

I loved the way you shot the video of the voice at the Halloween party. You made it look like a ghost was taking it

I would love to go to the party someday! I really loved MVMCP and i've heard the Halloween party is way better so I hope to get to that soon!

Wow! You got such a loot from the party. I've heard in the past that there candy has gotten worse and worse every year, but it looks like there is a lot of chocolate and good brands in there!

I'm so glad that DH enjoyed the Driving Experience! I really want to do that someday. It looks so fun!

 

[Pixie*Pirate]

I'm all caught up on your report! I love love love the Halloween party! We're doing it again this year and I can't wait.
I'm ready to hear more about your trip!

 

[saintstickets]

Nice update. I've been debating on the Richard Petty driving experience and you might have convinced me. DW and I like to go to the other resorts and look around as well. We live about 100 miles from New Orleans and go there frequently. After reading your experience, I guess we'll have to visit POFQ and make a comparison! Great TR!

 

[klacey1]

Wow, the Richard Petty Driving Experience seems really cool! What a great birthday gift!
Aww, that family wanting to ride Test Track reminds me of our trip in 2009. Space Mountain was down for refurb and as we were waiting for the MK to open, this adorable little English boy looked up at his dad and said "Daddy, will you ride Space Mountain with us?" I felt soooo bad!

 

[ronnmel]

I love your morning! While I was there I heard a family on the bus saying there was a 40 minutes wait for the Fantasia mini-golf around 5pm. Going right at opening is a wonderful idea! Pairing that with a breakfast at the bakery and lunch at Beaches & Cream, it's even better!

I'm glad your DH enjoyed his exotic driving experience!

That is such an awesome coincidence that your parents ended up in the room next door!

 

[monica23535]

Great update Emma!


Your MNSSHP photos are fab, we went on 25th October and had a great time too.

That is great that they'll give you alternative candy I never knew that!

I love POFQ too, it's so pretty. We ate at Boatwrights back in 2009 and enjoyed it too. I can still taste that cornbread lol

So glad your DH loved his driving experience, I'll look into doing that for my DH one day, he'll love it!

How neat that your parents were in the room next door?

 

[khertz]

Great updates again! I have a question for you about Beaches & Cream...since you stopped in for an early lunch, did you find it all that crowded? Do you remember about how long you had to wait for a table? I'm hoping to try and eat there once on our trip in October, but I'm a little worried about not being able to make ADR's since we have Paxton with us and he is not very good at the whole "waiting" thing. We usually eat early, so if we can get over there close to opening time and not encounter a long wait, I think that would be best for us!

The driving experience looks awesome. I bet your DH really loved being able to do that! Dustin has done the NASCAR driving experience before, but not at WDW. He really loved being able to do that. I don't think most guys would be upset about being able to drive ANY car 100+ mph though!

I really love the Port Orleans resorts. And I'm glad you had a good meal at Boatwright's! It looks like a great little restaurant.

 

[disneybarbie]

Fantastic updates!

I loved the way you shot the video of the voice at the Halloween party. You made it look like a ghost was taking it

I would love to go to the party someday! I really loved MVMCP and i've heard the Halloween party is way better so I hope to get to that soon!

Wow! You got such a loot from the party. I've heard in the past that there candy has gotten worse and worse every year, but it looks like there is a lot of chocolate and good brands in there!

I'm so glad that DH enjoyed the Driving Experience! I really want to do that someday. It looks so fun!

Hi Lesha!
I'd heard the same about the two parties (that MNSSHP was better).. and as I loved MNSSHP, I couldn't wait to experience the Halloween one! Both were great - I love the theming of both and the extra events that take place.

We were really impressed with all the types of candy available, it was more exciting for us too because many of the brands we don't get at home

I'm all caught up on your report! I love love love the Halloween party! We're doing it again this year and I can't wait.
I'm ready to hear more about your trip!

Thanks for reading along, I am jealous you are going back to MNSSHP this year!

Nice update. I've been debating on the Richard Petty driving experience and you might have convinced me. DW and I like to go to the other resorts and look around as well. We live about 100 miles from New Orleans and go there frequently. After reading your experience, I guess we'll have to visit POFQ and make a comparison! Great TR!

Hi! I hope you do get to do a Richard Petty drive on a future trip , it was such a unique experience - I enjoyed it, and I wasn't even driving one of the cars!
Port Orleans was a beautiful resort, I went to New Orleans in 2004 and could definitely see the design similarities with the real French Quarter

Wow, the Richard Petty Driving Experience seems really cool! What a great birthday gift!
Aww, that family wanting to ride Test Track reminds me of our trip in 2009. Space Mountain was down for refurb and as we were waiting for the MK to open, this adorable little English boy looked up at his dad and said "Daddy, will you ride Space Mountain with us?" I felt soooo bad!

Hi! I think I got DH a pretty good bday present last year , it was so hard to keep it a secret for so long, especially the odd time we'd see an Audi R8 on the roads at home!
It was awkward to hear the family talk about TT when I knew it was closed.. I just wish I hadn't been so shy and said something to them!

I love your morning! While I was there I heard a family on the bus saying there was a 40 minutes wait for the Fantasia mini-golf around 5pm. Going right at opening is a wonderful idea! Pairing that with a breakfast at the bakery and lunch at Beaches & Cream, it's even better!

I'm glad your DH enjoyed his exotic driving experience!

That is such an awesome coincidence that your parents ended up in the room next door!

Hi Mel, it was such a nice morning.. apart from the hour we spent in Epcot that afternoon, we spent the whole day outside of the parks! It was fun to sit on the Boardwalk and people watch, most were on their way to Epcot at that time of day
We tend to play mini golf in the early afternoon, it's quiet then too, but first thing in the morning was fun.. plus you are much more likely to get the best score of the day and receive a certificate hehe

Great update Emma!


Your MNSSHP photos are fab, we went on 25th October and had a great time too.

That is great that they'll give you alternative candy I never knew that!

I love POFQ too, it's so pretty. We ate at Boatwrights back in 2009 and enjoyed it too. I can still taste that cornbread lol

So glad your DH loved his driving experience, I'll look into doing that for my DH one day, he'll love it!

How neat that your parents were in the room next door?

Hi! That cornbread was so good at Boatwrights

Hope you get to book the driving experience for your DH one day, I think it's a nice extra experience to add to a WDW trip

Great updates again! I have a question for you about Beaches & Cream...since you stopped in for an early lunch, did you find it all that crowded? Do you remember about how long you had to wait for a table? I'm hoping to try and eat there once on our trip in October, but I'm a little worried about not being able to make ADR's since we have Paxton with us and he is not very good at the whole "waiting" thing. We usually eat early, so if we can get over there close to opening time and not encounter a long wait, I think that would be best for us!

The driving experience looks awesome. I bet your DH really loved being able to do that! Dustin has done the NASCAR driving experience before, but not at WDW. He really loved being able to do that. I don't think most guys would be upset about being able to drive ANY car 100+ mph though!

I really love the Port Orleans resorts. And I'm glad you had a good meal at Boatwright's! It looks like a great little restaurant.

Hi!
Beaches & Cream was about 60% full, we were the only people sat up at the counter.. it was about 11.30am when we got there - and no wait at all.




Emma x