Winter Coats and Knit Hats at Disney? Is This the Twilight Zone? A Jan 18 TR Updated 9/11 & 9/13!

OMG they're so cuttteeee! I wanted so badly to see them when we were there that same week, but our DAK day was the Weds the 3rd when it was pouring down rain the first part of the day, the M Trek was closed. Which, of course, b/c kitties don't like to get wet, but I was so sad to miss them. Ah well! Great pics. :)
 
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Hooray for devil horns :)

This is the same friend of Pocahontas I was reprimanded not to touch while I was wearing my wet poncho LOL

Oh, cuties!!!!!! :)
 


Nice safari pics!

Yay the baby tigers! You got some great pics of them! :lovestruc

Thanks! I was so excited to catch a glimpse of the baby tigers.

Your animal pictures are awesome! Love the baby tigers. :love:

Thanks! Those babies were so cute!

OMG they're so cuttteeee! I wanted so badly to see them when we were there that same week, but our DAK day was the Weds the 3rd when it was pouring down rain the first part of the day, the M Trek was closed. Which, of course, b/c kitties don't like to get wet, but I was so sad to miss them. Ah well! Great pics. :)

They definitely were cuties! Bummer that you missed them on your trip.

Hooray for devil horns :)
This is the same friend of Pocahontas I was reprimanded not to touch while I was wearing my wet poncho LOL
Oh, cuties!!!!!! :)

One of the few times they came out this trip for some reason. Guess it was just too cold for devil horns.

You rebel, getting yelled at by a CM. :rotfl2:


Yep, those babies sure were cute.
 
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Pin Hunting and Rivers of Light

We still had quite a bit of time before we had to head to our seats for Rivers of Light. We decided to go on a pin hunting quest because every ice cream cart in AK had a pin board. We ended up making a complete circle of the park and stopped at every ice cream cart we came across. Unfortunately I learned on my August trip that they no longer have the pin boards at the ice cream trucks. Apparently, people were stealing them without trading. :sad2:

We also stopped in the stores around Discovery Island. We had stopped there sometime earlier in the day and I had spotted an elephant figurine I was thinking about getting. I decided I did want it so went back to the store so I could purchase him. My sorority mascot is an elephant so I have a soft spot for them. I have him sitting on a shelf at work along with two other elephants. One I purchased at Venice Beach when we were out at Disneyland and the second came from the China pavilion in Epcot. I bought that one on my February trip.






While we were there we picked up some new collars for our dogs.



And I also found a Pluto emoji pillow that I hadn’t seen in any of the other parks. Of course if it’s Pluto, it comes home with me.





When we got back around near Asia, we saw Baloo out greeting so we got in line. The tree looked beautiful in the setting sun so I took a picture while we waited.



Looking down the waterway, we could see one of the ROL floats.



The line was fairly short so it wasn’t very long till we were meeting Baloo. Not sure why King Louis wasn’t with him on this day.





After that, we made our way over to the Nemo theater because the ROL entrance for dining packages was right in front of it. We got pretty good seats, here’s our view.





I will say I was very grateful to have my heavy coat that night because it was cold!

There were performers that came around through the audience before the show started. This was the best picture I was able to get.



And then it was time for the show.



I really loved the animal floats and was a bit disappointed that they had such a small role in the show.





















We both enjoyed the show that night but I will say that when I saw it again in February, I was kind of bored with it. I think the novelty of something new made it more enjoyable the first time but it’s not really something I will need to see again.

The park was open for a bit after ROL and my original plan was to head back into Pandora to see it at night. But Jim was done with AK at that point so we decided to head out instead.

When we got back to the room, Jim decided he was hungry so we headed over to the food court to get some food to bring back to the room. Jim ended up getting a roast beef sandwich with coleslaw.




I wasn’t as hungry as he was so I opted for another kid’s burger like I got the night before the race. I got in line and waited, and waited and waited. There were only a few people ahead of me to order but it took forever and then once I did order, it took another lifetime to get the food. There were a lot of people waiting on orders but for some reason, only one CM was getting plates ready and the others were standing around watching him. And the one that was putting everything together was moving at a snail’s pace. Oh and just before my order was finally done, they ran out of French fries so I opted to get apples and grapes instead of waiting longer while they made more.

I felt bad for Jim because he got his food quickly so it was cold by the time I got mine. We made it back to the room and I will say this burger was very subpar compared to the one I got a few days earlier. It was stone cold and had obviously been cooked hours before. It wasn’t even worthy of a picture. At least Jim enjoyed his sandwich.

After eating, we watched TV for a bit and then headed to bed.

Despite our trek around AK to look at all the pin boards, I only traded for 5. I know Jim got a lot but I didn’t take pictures of his.




And here’s my Fitbit stats for the day.



Up Next: Wait, What? No Good Morning, Good Morning?
 
I love the music and taking photos of RoL. I completely agree that I am disappointed that the animal floats play such a little role in the show.
 


Really enjoy your pics of ROL. It will be our first time seeing it in Oct. I've heard others also say its a one and done.
That's too bad. These kinds of shows have such a lot of potential.
(Can't wait to hear about your birthday trip!)
 
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Unfortunately I learned on my August trip that they no longer have the pin boards at the ice cream trucks. Apparently, people were stealing them without trading. :sad2:
That just stinks. People keep ruining the best little touches of magic!!




He's adorable!!! Hard to tell--is he glass or wood?


I really loved the animal floats and was a bit disappointed that they had such a small role in the show.
I totally agree!!! I wasn't totally WOWed by ROL anyway, but those floats were cool!
 
I love the music and taking photos of RoL. I completely agree that I am disappointed that the animal floats play such a little role in the show.

I think they could have done a lot more with ROL. While it's a pretty show, I just didn't find anything memorable about it.

Really enjoy your pics of ROL. It will be our first time seeing it in Oct. I've heard others also say its a one and done.
That's too bad. These kinds of shows have such a lot of potential.
(Can't wait to hear about your birthday trip!)

I'm not quite sure why ROL didn't resonate with me. It's a very beautiful show but honestly not very memorable. I just don't feel the urge to run back and watch it again. I think you did find my birthday trip but if not, the link is in my signature.

That just stinks. People keep ruining the best little touches of magic!!
He's adorable!!! Hard to tell--is he glass or wood?
I totally agree!!! I wasn't totally WOWed by ROL anyway, but those floats were cool!

I know, I was so disappointed that the pin boards were gone this August. AK was insanely crowded that day (lots of reasons for this that I'll talk about in my other TR) and I wanted to use pin hunting as a time filler.

The elephant is actual ceramic I think.

The animal floats are the best part and they barely do anything!
 
Wait, What? No Good Morning, Good Morning?

If you missed it, I did start my August TR. The link is in my signature. Now on with the show....

On Sunday, January 7th, we were up and out the door by 7:30 am. First though I took a picture of the hidden Mickey on the wardrobe. I had been looking for Hidden Mickeys in our room all week and somehow missed this fairly obvious one that right was in front of my face each day.




I also kept looking at these three green stones that were on the floor right in front of the toilet. So what do you think? Hidden Mickey or just weirdly spaced stones?



We were headed to MK and I had forgotten during the planning process that the marathon was going on this day. As a result, our bus dropped us at the TTC instead of the MK bus stops and we ended up going through security there and boarding the Monorail.

It ended up delaying us a bit but we walked into MK at 8:30 am so still before rope drop.








Jim was super confused and thought we were late and missed the welcome show. I hadn’t mentioned to him that the show was different and now on the castle stage. He was so disappointed when I told him because he loves the “Good Morning” song that was part of the old show. He really only knows the line “Good Morning, Good Morning to you” and has a habit of going around the house singing that at the top of his lungs (and very badly may I add although I can’t criticize too much. Neither of us can carry a tune to save our lives).

We continued up towards the castle and stopped for a Photo pass.






It was super windy and cold that morning but luckily it was supposed to warm up quickly.

We found a place towards the left of the castle near the entrance to Adventureland and settled in to wait for the new show.




I was able to zoom in and take some pictures of the new show.















So what did I think of the new show? At the time it was cute but in all honesty I have to say it was unmemorable. I had to go back and watch it on You Tube while I was writing this so I could remember what it was all about.

We headed towards Adventureland as soon as the show was over and got in line for the Jungle Cruise. I was hoping to finish up the left side of the park as quickly as possible since we were supposed to do that on our first MK day. This morning was supposed to be a little more relaxed but I had to rearrange or schedule a bit since we got virtually nothing done during our first MK day.

Any ways, Jungle Cruise was a walk on.
















We moved from Adventureland on over to Fronterland to ride BTMR. I got a little distracted by the empty park and had to snap a few pictures.





Splash Mountain was closed while we were there, not that we would have ridden it with the cold!



BTMR was also a walk on.





My first planned event for the day was at 10 am and it was only 9:20 am when we finished up with BTMR. We headed towards Fantasyland and even though we rode Haunted Mansion the earlier that week, it was hard to pass up a 13 minute wait time.







I tried to take pictures again but only one sort of came out. I’ll never learn that HM is not the best for photos, I just keep trying over and over.



After HM, we continued up the hill and headed towards New Fantasyland. There was a very important meet and greet we needed to get to. Once again I used the “get in line a few minutes before the character comes out” strategy and it worked well. I think we were third or fourth in line.



Yep, no trip is complete for Jim without a visit to his hero! Unfortunately Gaston was a bit off of his game on this day and was pretty boring. I honestly can’t remember what we even talked about. Probably the worse Gaston interaction we have had to date. At least Jim got a signature for his book.





After the meet, Jim wanted his picture with the Gaston statue. As you can see, the park was still very empty.



Up Next: The Most Terrifying Ride of Them All
 
Definitely placed together on purpose! Good catch :)

Unfortunately Gaston was a bit off of his game on this day and was pretty boring. I honestly can’t remember what we even talked about. Probably the worse Gaston interaction we have had to date. At least Jim got a signature for his book.
We met that particular friend of Gaston's with Jimmy...it was a pretty blah interaction that time, too!
 
Wow, the park looks so nice and quiet that morning! For our January trip, I am planning a MK day for marathon day and I was really worried about it being super crowded, but the morning looks really great!

I'm honestly kind of annoyed the Christmas decorations were still up because I don't want another Christmas Disney trip lol, the marathon is on the 13th next year, maybe they'll be down by then? fingers crossed!
 
Love the elephant figurine, so pretty!

Nice pics of RoL!

That stinks that service was so slow at the food court, and that the burger didn't even end up being that good!

Aww I miss the good morning song too!! The new show definitely isn't as memorable.

Sounds like a great morning of walk on rides!

Sorry the interaction with Gaston wasn't great :(
 
Definitely placed together on purpose! Good catch :)


We met that particular friend of Gaston's with Jimmy...it was a pretty blah interaction that time, too!

Those green stones were hard to miss because they were right in front of the toilet. Every time I sat down to take a pee they were staring me in the face.

Yeah, that Gaston was just not very interesting.


Wow, the park looks so nice and quiet that morning! For our January trip, I am planning a MK day for marathon day and I was really worried about it being super crowded, but the morning looks really great!

I'm honestly kind of annoyed the Christmas decorations were still up because I don't want another Christmas Disney trip lol, the marathon is on the 13th next year, maybe they'll be down by then? fingers crossed!

It definitely was empty although I'm not sure how much it was due to the marathon or if it was more the bone chilling cold that morning. I would for sure factor in extra travel time that morning because they close some roads and as I mentioned, we were dropped off at the TTC which added time.

I'm not sure when they take the decorations down but I would think that they would mostly be gone by the 13th.


Love the elephant figurine, so pretty!

Nice pics of RoL!

That stinks that service was so slow at the food court, and that the burger didn't even end up being that good!

Aww I miss the good morning song too!! The new show definitely isn't as memorable.

Sounds like a great morning of walk on rides!

Sorry the interaction with Gaston wasn't great :(

Thanks, I think that is my favorite elephant so far. I added yet another one to the collection when I went in August!

I have no need to catch that new morning show and the old one was a must do for me. There was something so magical about the train coming around the corner.

We did have a nice crowd free morning because I think the cold was keeping people away.


Great morning in MK! love how so few people. Not something you see very often anymore.

Nope, it's rarely that empty anymore. I really believe it was a combination of the marathon that morning and the extreme cold that kept it uncrowded for so long.
 
The Most Terrifying Ride of Them All

Next we tried to meet Jim’s favorite princess, Ariel. The sign said 5 minutes but when we walked into the Grotto I could tell it would be closer to a half hour. We didn’t really have that amount of time before our first FP expired so we left the line and instead walked on to the ride that Jim is most terrified of in all of WDW (except maybe RnRC).






I have no idea why Dumbo scares him so much but I find it pretty funny. I told him he could sit out this one be he decided to ride any ways. I made sure to bounce the Dumbo up and down a lot just for his pleasure.

It was time for our first FP so we took the back path from Fantasyland and got in the FP line for Space Mountain. I have no idea what Jim is doing in the ride photo. He always looks scared half to death in all ride photos. I’m thinking he’d even look that way if Small World had a ride photo. Of course for some people that might be a normal look on IASW.




We actually finished up SM with time to spare before our Buzz FP. I was getting a bit hungry and it was finally warm enough for Mickey ice cream! I think it actually reached 60 degrees that day.



The Peoplemover was next on our agenda.









When we finished with the Peoplemover, it was time for our Buzz Lightyear FP. I finally managed to get a good picture of Buzz. I think he is mocking Jim’s terrified ride photo face.



I always beat Jim on this one because I’m mean and won’t share my secrets. But he always taunts me when he wins on TSM so fair is fair. Jim’s score:



My score:



I can’t seem to find the ride photo for this one. The Buzz ones are never interesting though since we are both concentrating so hard on beating each other.

We made one more stop before heading to our lunch ADR. Stitch was meeting inside the lobby of his old ride and there was zero line to meet him. Jim was happy to get another autograph.




For some odd reason the PP photographer decided to take a super close up of my face. Once again I’m glad I can laugh at myself and share these with you.



Jim was really lacking with his devil horns this trip but he decided to trot them out with Stitch.



We moved on to Fantasyland and for some reason ended up in the dump shop for the Princess meet and greets. We must have had a few minutes to kill and that store was nearby. Jim actually bought something in that shop! His sister loves Alice in Wonderland and crazy socks so these were perfect for her.



It was time for our BOG ADR so we headed that way and checked in. We pre-ordered which didn’t save quite as much time this trip. There wasn’t much of a line to order on this day but I have seen times where the line is stretched the full length of the bridge.

We found a seat right next to the Christmas tree and waited for our food.






Jim was fooling around with my camera and took a selfie of himself. This takes some skill or maybe just luck since he was using the regular camera and not a phone.



Our food came and this will be déjà vu to my August TR if you are reading that one also. I just posted about my BOG lunch from that trip and I always order the same turkey sandwich and chocolate cupcake.





And Jim always orders the roast beef sandwich with green beans.



And you will be seeing those once more in October because we are doing BOG lunch yet again. It will be my third lunch there this year!

After lunch Jim still wanted to meet Ariel so we headed that direction. The wait time said 25 minutes but we had time before our next FP so we got in line. Jim was very excited to get one of these.




I turned out that there was no line at all. I barely had time to take this picture before we were being led in to the meet and greet area.



Ariel was obviously very chatty but who the heck knows what we talked about considering this was 9 months ago.





Like all the other Princess photos, Jim kicked me out so he could get a solo one.



We still had plenty of time before our next FP so we went around the corner and got in line for Donald and Goofy.









Then we circled back around and got in line for Daisy and Minnie.









Up Next: Great Moments in History
 
I LOVE Jim's hoodie! I am from the metro Detroit area and my family are die hard Red Wings fans! Do you know where he got it? Loving this report and also your solo one!
 

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