"I Wanna See My Castle!" October 2013 TR *COMPLETE* **NEW TR LINK!!** 7/3

[missangelalexis]

Don't blame you for wanting to wear a poncho!

DH's pictures of Buzz are fantastic!

Drinks definitely taste better with a Mickey straw!

 

[khertz]

Love your walk through Adventureland - love it there so much! I think for me it was New Orleans Square at DL, closely followed by Adventureland, as my favorite theming.

Love a no wait for splash! Smart of you to poncho it up! I'm sad we missed it in June, but just something to look forward to.

As for Characterpalooza, I always plan DHS for morning thru lunch then leave? Same with my August trip - we are planning to head to DTD after lunch. Humph! I'll have to plan it into October though when staying at the Beach Club and we can just walk over specifically for that!

I love the themeing in New Orleans Square too! As much as I love the real thing, it's nice to experience the clean Disney version too.

We found we had to specifically plan to go to DHS just for Characterpalooza too. And once we did it the first time, we knew we wanted to do it again and it wasn't so hard that time to find any afternoon to head there. It's hard to do a full day there because there are so few rides, and the shows are hard to schedule around.

Definitely don't blame you for the poncho on SM. That would have been awful sitting on a plane being soaked. A nice CM at POR gave my nephew ones of the Mickey straws in March. He loved that thing.

And things just don't feel right when they have been soaking wet and dry naturally, at least to me! Plus I didn't want my hair looking a hot mess either.

Apparently a nice CM gave the straw to my DH when he asked about it, which I'm glad DH reminded me of because I didn't remember. DS certainly enjoyed it! Everything is better with Mickey ears.

Don't blame you for wanting to wear a poncho!

DH's pictures of Buzz are fantastic!

Drinks definitely taste better with a Mickey straw!

I'm so glad I did not get too much flack for the poncho wearing!!

Thank you! I don't know that we ever thought of taking pictures in there before, but the colors came out really amazing.

I totally agree with that.

 

[saintstickets]

Between our own trip to WDW and getting caught up at work, I've been away from the DISboards for a while. Just now getting to read your TR and you're almost finished! Love the updates though and I don't blame you for wearing the poncho on Space Mountain. On our trip earlier this month DW and I were in the front and both of us got soaked!! It was if we had been on Kali River Rapids!!

 

[khertz]

Between our own trip to WDW and getting caught up at work, I've been away from the DISboards for a while. Just now getting to read your TR and you're almost finished! Love the updates though and I don't blame you for wearing the poncho on Space Mountain. On our trip earlier this month DW and I were in the front and both of us got soaked!! It was if we had been on Kali River Rapids!!

I know how that is!! Working 5 days a week has been a big change for me, so I have had a harder time keeping up with writing & reading TRs, but I'm hopefully going to get this one finished up tomorrow so that I can start on our May trip!

I have gotten variably wet on Splash, and I certainly didn't want to chance a complete soaking on departure day. I have never been on Kali, but I would imagine with how soaked I got on Splash once that it would be just as bad!

 

[khertz]

Day 9 Continued: Wednesday October 30th

Time to get this TR wrapped up! When I left off, we had just finished up lunch at Columbia Harbour House and we decided to head back and see if Small World was finally open. I forgot to mention earlier because I don't know at what point it happened, but DS was actually in tears when we had gone back to check and they still weren't open! Luckily, by then, it was open, and bonus, DS got to be the wait time checker!

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After we had satisfied DS's Small World obsession, it was time to fill in the last couple of empty spaces in the autograph book. First up was one we had checked for several times, and never found him out meeting. But I had made sure to check Kenny the Pirate's site and check the times first so we wouldn't be disappointed again. Here's a hint...

09-122 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

I was really nervous about meeting Gaston and not having anything to say to him. A few minutes in line watching him interact with other guests dispelled that fear completely. Turns out, with Gaston you don't really have to say much as he does a LOT of the talking! He was playing up his macho persona by telling a couple of early 20-something girls that the only two words he wanted to hear them say was "Dinner's. Ready." And a guy in the crowd made a comment about him doing the smolder, and oh my goodness, did Gaston take offence to that! His reply was, "I taught that guy that move! Whose movie came out first? Exactly!"

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DS ran right up giggling and Gaston immediately started bench pressing him.

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They took a picture together first, but Gaston did notice his photo inside the autograph book that DH was holding open and made a comment about it being a nice looking spot to sign.

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09-131 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Gaston sent DS to get the book and the pen and the funniest conversation ensued.

Gaston: You want me to sign next to that good looking guy? Who is that?
DS: Gaston
Gaston: And who's Gaston?
DS: You!
Gaston: That's right, two for two. You're smart, and you know why. 'Cause you're a MAN!

09-133 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

DS probably had no idea what any of that meant, but he was just hysterical with laughter, mostly because DH and I and everyone around listening were laughing too. He copied DS's movements and asked if he had too much LeFou's Brew. Haha! It was an AMAZING and HILARIOUS meet, and lucky for you, I caught it all on video!!

VIDEO: DS Meets Gaston​

It was honestly one of the most fun meets of the whole trip, right up there with sword fighting Donald at MNSSHP. The only bad thing happened when DH went to get the PhotoPass card back from the photographer and she handed it back saying she didn't take any photos because she thought we were taking them all. What the heck??

So we redeemed it by finding a different PhotoPass photographer in front of Gaston's fountain where we took a couple of photos instead.

PP-131 by disneymom1024, on Flickr


PP-132 by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Showing off our muscles​

DS caught sight of the sword in the stone and wanted to give it one last pull for the trip, but unfortunately, still no success.

09-134 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Day 9 Continued: Wednesday October 30th

After a great meet with Gaston, we decided to head over to the other side of the park to check on the wait at the Jungle Cruise. So soon enough, we were heading under this arch once again.

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Then, all plans came to a grinding halt as we approached Aloha Isle and found NO LINE!! Legitimately, NO line to speak of, less than a handful of people waiting. Honestly, that has NEVER happened before, so the plan to check JC was abandoned so that DH could get us a Dole Whip float! I even took a photo of DH in "line" as proof.

09-136 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

I mean, have you ever seen such a thing in your life? We have never had a Dole Whip in Disney World because the line is always way too long and we have never wanted one that badly! He ended up getting us a swirl float with the pineapple & vanilla soft serve, and it was heavenly!

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09-140 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

After we scarfed down our float, DS decided he didn't want to ride Jungle Cruise, he asked to ride Pirates, so away we went into the Caribbean one more time.

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There was only one character left to complete our book, and that was Tiana! So after Pirates, we headed over to her greeting spot. It was 1:25 and the CM said she'd be out at 1:30. We stood there until 1:35, and the CM said it would only be 5 more minutes. At that point, we decided to abandon the line because we had to leave the park soon and we still wanted time to look through the Emporium because hadn't shopped at all this trip.

I can't tell you how annoyed I was to, once again, have ONE empty spot left in the autograph book. UGH! But we left the line anyway and headed to the Emporium for a quick look around.

09-153 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

We did one of the fastest run-throughs of that store we have ever done, and ended up getting a 2014 parks calendar, a T-shirt for DS, a postcard for his collection, and 2 magnets, a big 3-D Castle one (because of his love of HIS Castle this trip) and one from a series that looked like ride posters for It's A Small World.

Then we really needed to hightail it out of the park to get to the airport. But not before our very last photo!

09-155 by disneymom1024, on Flickr​

And that's where our afternoon went completely to hell! Of course it did, would you expect anything less from our TRs?? We never seem to have a smooth trip home! It all started when we had to get on the resort monorail because the express was down. We ran up the platform to make it to the one waiting, and were so relieved to get right on! But then we sat. And sat. And sat. Twenty minutes went by (in that time, I also saw on Instagram that I had almost literally JUST MISSED seeing Lia as she was arriving for her Halloween/Christmas trip!) before we finally left the station. Oh, but that wasn't all. We stopped and went for another 10 minutes from that point, taking in all, 30 minutes to get from the park to the TTC.

We finally left the parking lot at 2:45, later than we had planned on, but manageable. Or at least it would have been manageable if getting gas didn't turn out to be such a cluster!! We stopped once at an exit, but the closest station was 3 miles away. We said forget that and got back on the interstate. Then when we finally did stop for gas again, we had to take a long detour to get back on the interstate again and caught every light, which had me getting more and more anxious until we finally returned the car and got to the airport. A skycap helped us with our bags, which was wonderful, until we got inside and the line to check in for Southwest was ENORMOUS!! We ended up going outside to the curbside line, which was still big but probably went a little quicker. I was pretty much in tears at that point thinking we would miss our flight. (Seriously, Melissa, I have no idea how you kept it together missing yours. I was a hot mess!)

The security line was huge also, but we made it through pretty much in the nick of time, as they were boarding group A when we made it over to the gate. We got on with family boarding and were on our way home, finally! It had been a long and exhausting trip, so I'm sure that didn't help with the anxiety of possibly missing our flight! Luckily after that, nothing else exciting happened. Our plane landed in New Orleans on time, and we made the two hour drive home and went straight to bed!

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Once again, thanks to every single person who followed along with this TR, especially those who commented along the way to let me know you were enjoying the report and/or the photos. It means so much, both to myself and to DH who worked so hard to both take and edit all of those photos! I ended up using about 1600 photos in this report, which is probably less than half of the number of photos that were actually taken. Now to wrap this thing up with some final thoughts...

1. CROWDS
Once again, I can't complain about the late October crowds. It's just so perfect! It can of course be busy in MK the nights when there are no parties, but that is to be expected. The rest of the time, we encountered low to manageable wait times and had a blast doing all of our favorites several times. It got a little hairy the nights we were either trying to get out of the park during Wishes or trying to head further into the park once Wishes was over, but I can't really complain about that. We put it on ourselves!

2. WEATHER
The weather in October really just can't be beat! Don't get me wrong, it can get hot in the middle of the day. But the lack of humidity really makes a difference and keeps it totally bearable. Plus, it's so nice that the weather is cooler in the morning and the evening when the sun goes down. The other bonus was not a single drop of rain the entire trip! DH and I joked that it was only because we came SO prepared with ponchos and we had bought a stroller cover after the disastrous afternoon the year before when we came out of FotLK to find our stroller soaked from a rainstorm passing through that made it unusable for the rest of the day. This trip, the weather was absolutely perfect!

3. RESORTS
First up, staying at the Royal Pacific again for the first time since our honeymoon was amazing! Seriously, what a beautiful resort. I only wish we could have stayed longer...One night was just not enough! We're already talking about staying 2 nights on our next Disney/Universal trip, especially now that Diagon Alley will be open and we will spend more time at the Universal parks. It was like getting to stay at the Poly without the monorail and the huge price!

Bonnet Creek was again wonderful. The perfect amount of space for us, and we finally got that fireworks view again! It just can't be beat to watch Disney fireworks from your balcony when you're not even staying in a Disney resort. Having the two bedrooms worked fantastically once again, so DS had his own place to go to bed and DH and I could still move around long after his bedtime without worrying about waking him. And we finally got to check out the pool! Even though it was a little cold for swimming, it was nice to say we got to spend some time where when I have been wanting to do that every single trip. We still didn't visit the lazy river, but maybe next time.

4. WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER vs. NEW FANTASYLAND
As excited as I was about both areas of the park being open and brand new to us, I have to give it to WWoHP. I don't know if I was able to accurately put into words just how excited I was to FINALLY step foot into Hogsmeade for the first time and explore everything I could! Seeing a wizard matched with his wand at Ollivander's, eating dinner at Three Broomsticks, flying with Harry on Forbidden Journey, checking out the inventory at Honeyduke's, and tasting Butterbeer...it was even better than I had ever imagined!! I absolutely can't wait to go back and do it all again, and get to take the Hogwart's Express to London and check out Diagon Alley. Besides all of the HP stuff, there was so many other new things that have been added at Universal as well since our last visit there, and all of it made me so happy we had finally made it back there.

New Fantasyland, while totally beautiful and full of detail, didn't excite me as much as I thought it would. Maybe it's because it was only one new ride, which had a better queue by far, but I had already ridden in Disneyland. Enchanted Tales With Belle was better than I had thought it would be, but didn't WOW me the way WWoHP had. I am pretty excited to go back next year though and finally get to ride 7 Dwarfs Mine Train though! I also loved the addition of Princess Fairytale Hall, which was so beautiful and elegant compared to the meeting area at Town Square Theater.

5. MICKEY'S NOT SO SCARY HALLOWEEN PARTY
In case it wasn't obvious from my MNSSHP updates, we had a BLAST at our very first Halloween party!!! I had been worrying endlessly before our trip about our night being disappointing because of either sold out crowds and/or a washout from rain. No need to worry as neither one was an issue at all. I'm sure we could have made the best out of either of those situations, but it was wonderful not to have to. Our costumes were a hit, and the parade and fireworks were just as amazing as the DISboards had promised they would be. The dance parties and trick or treating were just the cherry on top. There were only a couple of things I'd had on my list of things I wanted to do that we didn't get to, and none of them were dealbreakers. We all had an amazing night!

6. DIS MEETS
This was the very first trip with planned DIS meets, and I'm so glad we stepped out of our shells and did that! It was so much fun to meet both Mary Ellen & her husband, and also hanging out a good bit with Dave. They are both wonderful DIS'ers and it was a great addition to our trip! It only could have been better if we had been able to meet up with Missy & Franklin as well.

Well, that's a wrap on this TR! Unfortunately, I don't have enough pictures uploaded from our May trip to start that one just yet, but keep an eye out since I hope to be starting that soon! I will post the link here when it's ready. It was a short trip, but we had such a fun time and I can't wait to share it all with you!

 

[jediprincess23]

I enjoyed your TR so much! Thank you for taking the time to write it! I hope one day I can go to the world in October it seems like the time to go!
Can't wait to read your next one!

 

[courtneybelle]

Oh my gosh. That Gaston meet is PERFECT!! I had to get up and show my mom the pictures and read her the dialogue since I loved it so much! Shaking my head at the Photopass photographer though...really?!?!

I am glad you finally got a Dole Whip! I am not a big pineapple person so I've never had one either but maybe someday...

Thank you so much for writing this wonderful TR! I can't imagine how much work it was to use 1600 photos. I love your family and think your DS is one of the cutest kids ever, so I loved following along!! Can't wait for the May TR!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Ok, that seals it - I'm lining the kids up for Gaston in October. That video is so hilarious. And score on the Dole Whip with no line!!

Great wrap up! Had fun following your TR and reliving some of the scenes from MNSSHP! Looking forward to reading about your May trip!

 

[MEK]

That Gaston video was priceless. Seriously awesome! Paxton is having too much fun and Gaston is playing his part so well. How the heck did he raise his eyebrow like that. Love it! I have never visited with him, but I think from now on its a must!

I am so jealous of those pirate pictures! Amazing.

OMG - We have TOTALLY had the getting gas fiasco. It's awful. One time we were so far away I thought we would never find the airport. I am so glad you were able to get right on your flight with out any problems.

Love your recap. I have to agree with you on the weather. It is just So perfect.

Your HP recap has me wanting to stay in one of their resorts, especially now that I am staying at VWL and the pool will be closed this October.

Loved your TR and can't wait for the next one.

 

[leshunlenese]

Gaston is hilarious! Loved meeting him! That photopass photogopher needs to get with the program. Don't they know we take our own and get those too!

No line for Dole Whips! Yep never happens!

OMG airport fiasco! We almost missed ours one trip. We go through security and we always use AirTran and always go through the same gate but that one time we were off and so we go back on the fake monorail and the security already took forever, I kept beeping and forgot about my celebration button. The guard says we have to go through security again! Luckily we were not the only ones who went the wrong way so he takes us and about 5 other families through security where employees go through. One guy said he lives here and flies out 3 times a month for work and the sighs are confusing. Anyway, as soon as we get of the other fake monorail, our names for last boarding comes on over the intercom and were started running like crazy! We made it just in time! OMG never again! We vowed to never have plans other than breakfast on departure day!

Thanks for sharing with us! I always love your reports!

 

[Dugette]

Whew - I spent my spare moments this weekend reading this TR from start to finish!! Guess I picked the right time, since you just finished up. I've been meaning to get caught up with this forever, but better late than never...I'll be more on top of things for your next one. Anyway, love the report and love how much Paxton enjoys Disney! I just read WAY too much to remember what all I wanted to comment on, but the Gaston update is still fresh on my mind...that's got to be one of the most fun jobs at WDW. Oh, also, love all those pictures your DH got...just beautiful! Looking forward to your May report!

 

[skier_pete]

Nice TR! Love the stuff with Gaston, though I couldn't watch the video. Looking forward to your WL trip report! I'll be checking in for that one to get started.

 

[missangelalexis]

Omg Gaston! So amazing that you got it on video, what a perfect interaction!

But um the photographer didn't take any pictures? That's really really odd

Great family photos in front of his statue though!

I'm so sorry your trip home was so stresssful! I am glad you didn't end up missing your flight.

Thank you for sharing yet another wonderful trip! I can't wait for you to start the May one!

 

[Imagineer5]

Amazing Gaston meet! Love it! ( couldn't see the video but loved the pics!). YES! I had some photopass photographers act like that too, since I was always down taking pics. Not sure what is going on with them, but it's super annoying that they have stopped doing their job?!

Anyway, it was a wonderful last day - no line for dole whips? awesome! Glad that Paxton got to ride IaSW too! Phew! Glad you made your flight though I hate that feeling!

 

[KelleyK75]

I've LOVED reading along with your TR. You guys seem to hit so many rides and character meet and greets, and it's fun to see all of it, especially with Paxton as I know how fun it is with my nephews at Disney! Your Gaston meet was great!! I'm glad Paxton was able to ride Small World again. That stinks you had so much trouble getting to the airport, but I'm glad it all worked out in the end.

Looking forward to your next TR.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Well, I'm glad for your sake at least that Small World was open.

Gaston never fails to disappoint. Easily one of the most entertaining characters to watch. And what a GREAT interaction with Pax. That video is HYSTERICAL!!!

Oh yeah, even if you're not hungry, you simply cannot pass up a line-less Aloha Isle.

Aww bummer you missed seeing Lia by so little.

Oy. I love the Monorail dearly. But often I wish there wasn't that separation of parking lot and park at times like that. I know it sounded good in theory, but it can really cause some serious delays.

Perfect summary and wrap up. It really is hard to compare the 2 new lands, but overall, the clear winner is HP. I am looking forward to finally seeing NFL completely done and without construction walls though.

THANK YOU for sharing your wonderful trip and DH's wonderful photography. Really looking forward to your upcoming TR!!!!

 

[disneybarbie]

That Gaston meet was perfect - what a great character!

Another fantastic TR - thank you for sharing your vacation, looking forward to the next

Emma x

 

[afwdwfan]

Time to get this TR wrapped up! When I left off, we had just finished up lunch at Columbia Harbour House and we decided to head back and see if Small World was finally open. I forgot to mention earlier because I don't know at what point it happened, but DS was actually in tears when we had gone back to check and they still weren't open! Luckily, by then, it was open, and bonus, DS got to be the wait time checker!

Well thank goodness he finally got to ride it!!!! I'm sure mom and dad were just as excited.

Gaston: You want me to sign next to that good looking guy? Who is that?
DS: Gaston
Gaston: And who's Gaston?
DS: You!
Gaston: That's right, two for two. You're smart, and you know why. 'Cause you're a MAN!

I've heard great things about Gaston meets. I'm glad he didn't disappoint for you.

The only bad thing happened when DH went to get the PhotoPass card back from the photographer and she handed it back saying she didn't take any photos because she thought we were taking them all. What the heck??

Here, could you hang onto the Photopass card for us please? But don't worry about taking pictures. We've got that covered. Just hold onto the card.

There was only one character left to complete our book, and that was Tiana! So after Pirates, we headed over to her greeting spot. It was 1:25 and the CM said she'd be out at 1:30. We stood there until 1:35, and the CM said it would only be 5 more minutes. At that point, we decided to abandon the line

Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't tell you how annoyed I was to, once again, have ONE empty spot left in the autograph book. UGH!

One of these days...

Luckily after that, nothing else exciting happened. Our plane landed in New Orleans on time, and we made the two hour drive home and went straight to bed!

Sorry about the stressful end to the trip, but I'm glad you made your flight and got home on time. I think if I were you, I'd have given up after the delay on the monorail and just taken that as a sign that I'm missing the plane... then just get on the ferry at the TTC and go back to MK to get Tiana's autograph.

4. WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER vs. NEW FANTASYLAND
As excited as I was about both areas of the park being open and brand new to us, I have to give it to WWoHP.

I'm not even a Harry Potter fan and I have to agree. The mine train could tilt the scales the other way on this one. Either way, Universal definitely out-Disneyed Disney on the theming.

Well, that's a wrap on this TR! Unfortunately, I don't have enough pictures uploaded from our May trip to start that one just yet, but keep an eye out since I hope to be starting that soon! I will post the link here when it's ready. It was a short trip, but we had such a fun time and I can't wait to share it all with you!

I always enjoy your TR's and your DH's pictures. I look forward to it!