Trip Report COMPLETED: "What is Mickey hiding from anyway?" ACE GANG REUNION

Hello, all! I'm Abby.

Welcome to what is sure to be a long TR!!

I’ve finally returned to the real world after a fantastic reunion with my very best friends from college. I live in Florida these days and I have a pass but I haven’t done more than 3 consecutive days at Disney since I went with my family in 2008. So, for that reason and for the fact that I would get to spend plenty of time with the best besties ever, I was incredibly excited for this trip.​

Here we are! I'm on the left then there's Kelsey, Cassie, Megan, and Val. We call ourselves the Ace Gang.

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We had all been talking about this trip since we graduated, and the hotel was booked a year out. Val and I did most of the planning. She’s from California and always seems to be at Disneyland. I’ve visited her 3 times there and it was finally time for her to come over to this side of the country. Since we were the planners (and we got the separate bedroom in our Finding Nemo suite), the rest of the girls took to calling us Mom and Dad. I was Dad since I did the driving and paid for a bunch of things so I could use my Tables in Wonderland card and everyone else could just pay me back later. We really cracked ourselves up throughout the trip, getting carried away with our inside joke and constantly trying to decide who was our favorite daughter.

We stayed at Art of Animation for 7 nights. Val and I had some extra time, and we did extra days at Disney and elsewhere in Florida. I didn’t take all too many photos on this trip. So I’ll include a bunch of photos I stole from Val, as it is probably more interesting to see WDW through the eyes of a first-timer anyway. Also, a number of these will be Memory Maker photos (We split the cost of this 5 ways and definitely got our money’s worth).​

Wednesday, October 15.
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I left work about 3pm and drove down to Orlando. Waited in the MCO cell phone lot and then it was time to go grab Val!! We headed immediately to Magic Kingdom upon her arrival by way of TTC and a pretty crowded monorail and soon enough we were entering the park.

Here we gooo!
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Val was worried that her magic band wasn’t going to work but everything went completely smoothly. We were in! We left today and headed into the lands of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy. Tears were shed as Val took it all in.
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Huzzah! More adventures to come...

 

[abzoo]

Our first stop was Tomorrowland. We had a FP+ for Space so that was our first ride.

We grabbed some dinner at Columbia Harbor House. Val got chicken nuggets and I got the chili. When we left, we went to see what the wait was for Haunted Mansion... a little too long but we came back later. It was time for our FP+ at Splash Mountain. Val was worried about riding at night time and getting too wet but I assured her that it isn’t nearly as splashy as the Disneyland version so off we went. The WDW version doesn't allow huge waves of water to come pouring into the sides of the log like in DL. Plus, since you're sitting next to someone instead of in single file, you know there's at least one half of your body that will stay mostly dry. Val liked our version and said she liked that the scenes seem a little more spread out than they do in Disneyland.

Next we rode Haunted Mansion and Val appreciated the extra scenes in WDW. Plus you're seated in the doom buggy for longer on ours instead of the first couple rooms still being part of the loading area in Disneyland. I don't really know any better. The only times I've rode Haunted in DL, it has been during the Nightmare overlay.

We ended up back in Tomorrowland and were on the Peoplemover when Wishes started. Then we went to use our fastpass for 7DMT. The ride was down during our FP+ window so we finally got to use it late. We hoped to catch the end of Wishes while we were riding but there was a hold-up right after we were loaded-- a little girl started freaking out and needed to get off. I think we also rode Journey of the Little Mermaid as we walked around New Fantasyland. The rest of our short evening consisted of some shopping and some Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

Val felt pretty disoriented with the differences between WDW and Disneyland. She said it didn't help that her first time seeing everything was at night. Plus she was exhausted. Time to head out and make the drive back since I was working in the morning ... questionable choice on my part. But Val was craving ice cream so we stopped at the Plaza parlor and grabbed a HUGE cookie ice cream sandwich. We couldn't even finish this between the 2 of us.

We caught the beginning of the 11pm Electrical Parade on our way out. I’m surprised Val lasted so long and didn’t even sleep in the 2 hr car ride. She basically saved all packing until the last minute and didn’t really sleep before leaving LA.

I worked half a day on Thursday and Friday was St. Augustine day. Val finally got to set foot in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. We had some beautiful weather! If you haven’t been to St. Augustine before, I definitely recommend it. There’s a lot of construction now, as the city is preparing for its 450th anniversary next year, but it’s a lovely place.

Next up is the arrival of the rest of the Ace Gang and our first day together at Magic Kingdom!​

 

[TinkerbellKate]

Loving your trip report so far! I actually went to college in St.Augustine so I loved seeing those pics! Look forward to reading more.

 

[abzoo]

Loving your trip report so far! I actually went to college in St.Augustine so I loved seeing those pics! Look forward to reading more.

Ooh, I see that from your avatar! Such a pretty picture. But you're from STL? Me too!

 

[TinkerbellKate]

Yep, I was born and raised in Metro St. Louis but I went to college and worked for a spring training facility in Florida. I actually found the school because we'd drive to Disney every year and we decided to stop in St. Augustine one time.

 

[abzoo]

Saturday, October 18.

Val and I didn’t start our drive to Orlando until later than we had planned. We had thought that we would make it to Art of Animation before the rest of the group but it turned out that we came in right behind their Magical Express bus. Nice timing though!

Reunited at last!

We got in line for check-in and were able to get a room early in the Crush building, 4th floor. We loved our room so much!! We had a lovely view of Pop Century and we were at the end of a hallway so we never heard any noise from any neighbors.

We did some unpacking, showed off our MNSSHP costumes, exchanged some gifts, and finally got ready to get going. Before we headed out to Magic Kingdom, we stopped at Landscape of Flavors for some lunch. Pretty good.

cute picture, I know. hah.​

 

[RMichael21]

Wow, it looks like you had a great time! I'm excited to see the rest of your report!

 

[abzoo]

We got on a bus to MK then everyone scanned their magic bands and off we went! We had a little while before our 1st FP+ so we went over to Tomorrowland to start off with the ever-relaxing Peoplemover.

Then someone made the decision to ride Space standby even though the wait was posted as 40 minutes. It was slightly shorter than that and I love me some Space Mountain. We played the games in the queue as we waited.

We headed back down Main Street because we had a FP+ to meet Mickey in Town Square. Val actually started to cry because meeting a Mickey Mouse who can speak to her is a unique experience that she does not have in Disneyland. Mickey wiped her tears away. It was adorable. The flag retreat was starting when we walked out so we stayed to watch it.

One of our favorite stories of the week: Megan posted a picture of Main Street on Instagram and captioned it Downtown Disney. After much taunting from all of us, she posted again “Apparently not Downtown Disney. What do I know?”

Our next FP+ was for Enchanted Tales with Belle. The fastpasses I set up for that first day were a bit random. Also, it is a bit of a bummer that you don’t get to see the inside of the cottage when you have a fastpass. I started acting like a parent and pushing Megan to be part of the show so she could get a picture with our favorite princess so she, Val, and I were dancing plates! And we got really into it too.

Greatest dancing plates ever!​

 

[abzoo]

After that, we did a little more exploring in New Fantasyland. We then had FP+ for Peter Pan. We rode Haunted Mansion and ate dinner at Columbia Harbor House again. I got the chicken and fish kids meal, which was 1 thing of fish, 2 chicken nuggets, and some fries sloppily thrown on the plate. I asked about swapping a cookie for one of my sides and ended up getting that on top of my grapes and fries without paying extra. Woo.

We went to sign the rest of the group up for Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom in Liberty Square and get new cards. Most of them didn't end up caring as much about it as Val or I did but oh well. We each got our packs and were looking to see which cards everyone else had when Prince Naveen joined our conversation asking if anyone got the Tiana card (but none of us did). He saw my Aladdin card and agreed that he's a cool guy, although when I teased they had similar hair, Naveen was offended: "No way! I take pride in my hair-- this takes work. That guy just rolls out of bed in the morning!" It was a great surprise character interaction!

We headed over to Adventureland next but Pirates was down so we went to Jungle Cruise and had one of the best rides ever!! Our skipper was Kirby and she was excellent!! Super loud and enthusiastic and just plain hilarious. Kirby is awesome!

Kirby!

We ended up back in Fantasyland, admired the Tangled restrooms, and then rode small world. Took this photo… ¿Dónde está Don Quixote? Did he fall off of his horse? That would be in character for him, I suppose. Interesante.

Hopefully he comes back soon to protect small world voyagers from the windmills.

 

[FlaggNL]

Great start of the report! Seems you had a more than great and wonderfull trip! We were there in the same time, and also started my trip report. Who knows there are pics we found ourselves on

 

[abzoo]

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Back in New Fantasyland, we rode Mermaid, which we had made a 4th FP+ for but didn’t really need. We ended up stuck on Little Mermaid in the scene where Ariel sings the same snippet of “Part of Your World” over and over and over. HOW MANY TIMES are you going to ask what the word is for “feet,” Ariel? How many times must you forget? We sang loudly.

woo action shot!!
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We watched Wishes from New Fantasyland, close to Enchanted Tales. I love this location and having fireworks going off on both sides of you but this is the first time that I’ve watched from this spot since 7DMT has been completed. The people on the ride are a little distracting and the music for the show wasn’t as clear as it has been in the past. We didn’t experience any falling firework debris or fire though. It’s nice to be able to sit and not be in the huge crowd in the hub.

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Eventually we made our way back to Frontierland and rode Thunder Mountain. This was the first time I've ever seen the newish interactive queue elements. I only ever ride this first thing in the morning or other times when it’s a walk-on. We had a fun wildest ride in the wilderness!

hahaha intense faces, Megan.
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The last ride we all went on together was Splash Mountain. There were some strange men in the front of the log who were maybe talking to us? We weren’t sure. But one kept turning sort of in my direction asking ¿Ahora, sí? whenever a drop came up. which I assumed was a question about whether we had reached the big drop yet. So kept answering him. He probably wasn’t talking to me though. Oh well. We got a little wetter than Val and I did on Wednesday night but not too bad.

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The girls who had woken up early and traveled for a good part of the day were pooped so we sent them back to the hotel while Val and I stayed a little longer to take advantage of extra magic hours (which lasted until 2am-- we didn’t stay quite so late). We played SotMK for a few portals and rode Pirates, Space, and Buzz Lightyear for the only time all week. The photo wasn’t working on Buzz, which was only a bummer because we had Memory Maker. Usually my photos for this ride are of me making an angry face though, due to the fact that I have yet to master this game and hate the laser guns.

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Took some more photopass shots on the way out of the park. It got foggy apparently. We saw a couple with two kids asleep in strollers leave the strollers off to the side and just get a photo of the two of them. It was funny and definitely something that I would do! I don't think we had to wait too long for a bus back to A of A.
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And that's a wrap for our first official day! Up next: DHS, Le Cellier, and sickness threatens our fun

 

[abzoo]

Sunday, October 19.

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We came up with the goal of leaving the room before 8:30 and that definitely did not happen. It took a while for everyone to get out the door. We were all just being super slow, watching Stacy and eating breakfast in our room, taking forever to get ready. On top of that, I decided to drive this morning instead of taking the bus and I made the mistake of using Google Maps for directions. It’s not a horrible detour, but it does make you leave WDW property and make a U-turn to drive back in through the Studios’ main entrance when I should have just looked for the signs to take me to the side entrance to parking. Whatever. We parked pretty close but got on the tram anyway. Then we made our way to the entrance around 9:45. The park was pretty crowded by then.

more arms in the air. yep.

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After stopping for lots of pics, we rode Tower of Terror standby. The wait was about 30 minutes. We probably shouldn't have gotten in this line since we did have a FP+ for later. Oh well... we didn't really have a good plan of attack for DHS.

Check out that guy in the back of this ride photo. He's awesome!

So scared!
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We stopped into One Man’s Dream but didn’t stay for the movie at the end this time around since we had FP+ to get to.

Val with her quaint yet tiny castle (more like the back of Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle, which was supposed to be the front until Walt changed his mind).

 

[abzoo]

We had FP+ for the Frozen singalong thing and we were almost late getting there for it so our spot wasn’t the best. I reserved a FP+ for this because it was something new to do. Cassie at least liked it a lot and sang her heart out. Other members of our group were less enthused.

it snowed!

Kelsey bought a muffin and afterwards started feeling a little ill. We had a FP+ for ToT so we headed back that way. The second round on Tower really didn’t help Kelsey. She didn’t really share with us exactly how bad she was feeling (or the fact that she ended up throwing up a few times) so it came as a bit of a shock later. Our group was kind of a disaster. Megan was getting over a cold when she arrived in FL but it ended up getting worse on our trip (She kept up with everything very well though).

Our next stop was the Beauty and the Beast show, which we all enjoyed. Woo Blanket of Transformation!

Gotta love Gaston and the Mob Song

Those pink dresses and hairdos are just awful.​

 

[abzoo]

After BatB, we went for another show at Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, which I also haven’t done in a very long time. Figured it was necessary since it probably won’t last much longer. We enjoyed it.
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After Indy, we headed in the direction of Star Tours. Val got a wait time red card and was super excited about it. The shade in the queue was pretty great since it was getting pretty hot.
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Kelsey sat this one out and the rest of us got in the standby line. It is definitely a good choice to skip Star Tours when you’re feeling sick to your stomach since that ride makes me feel queasy on a good day. Val liked the queue but once you get inside, it’s pretty identical to Disneyland. This was actually my very first time riding Star Tours in Hollywood Studios. I’ve done it each of the 3 times I’ve been to Disneyland but never make time for it down here. And I could never get my sister to ride (She’s my usual park companion). As great as they may be, simulated rides just aren’t my thing (*cough* Universal *cough*).

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At this point we split up. Not all of us could get FP+ for TSMM since some of the girls in our group did not get tickets until after the 30day mark so 2 of the FP+ for the same window were for Rock n Roller Coaster. Val let Megan have her TSMM FP since Megan was a little hesitant about the coaster and we figured that we'd all ride as a group later in the week (Spoiler: That didn't end up happening). So Megan, Kelsey, and I headed towards Pixar Place. Kelsey ended up sitting out though. Poor sicky Kelsey. We got in line 5 minutes before our FP time and the wait was longer than it should have been for fastpass. I ended up winning.
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Air guitar skills.

 

[LisaBelle]

What a great reunion! Looks like you had a blast, despite some illness.

 

[abzoo]

What a great reunion! Looks like you had a blast, despite some illness.

Thanks! We had an awesome time!! The illness didn't hold us back for long. Luckily no one else caught it.

 

[abzoo]

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We really were in a hurry to leave but apparently Cassie and Val stopped for a mini photo shoot. But finally we headed out of the park.

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We saw Kelsey off to the bus back to Art of Animation so she could go back to the room and recuperate a bit. The rest of us went to wait for the Epcot bus. This was the first time that Val or Megan had ever been inside of Epcot but of course we had to run past Spaceship Earth and all of Future World until we finally made it to Canada, almost 10 minutes late for our 4:35 reservation. Oops. We had to wait another 15 minutes or so before we were seated.

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We were eating at Le Cellier. A first for all of us. And yum. I'm sad that Kelsey had to miss out on it. We had a relaxing meal. So good! Food pictures coming next!

 

[abzoo]

Le Cellier!

The table next to us had the cool lit-up menus but ours were just normal ones.

Our booth was in the back corner. And it was a great spot. The seats were nice and comfy. We started off with some poutine. This was before we poured the gravy all over it.

Val got some cheddar cheese soup. I also ordered this as my main course. Delicious.

OMG the pretzel bread. Our waitress was very attentive to our bread needs. All the bread was good but after the 2nd basket, we asked for only pretzel bread instead. I was going to save an extra for Kelsey but couldn't keep from eating it myself. Luckily Val had better self restraint so Kelsey was able to get a taste of Le Cellier from her sick bed. Pretzel + cheddar cheese soup, I couldn't ask for more. I made Val take a picture of me and the bread together. ha.

Cassie ordered the Seared Scallop appetizer.

Val got the filet mignon cooked medium well (which is not how any of the rest of us would have gotten it cooked, but we all thought that it was delicious!). She loved it and was so kind to share some bites with us.

And here's her dessert. Maple Crème Brûlée. Delicious like everything else.

We were oh-so-satisfied with our meals. Definitely would return at some point. I used my Tables in Wonderland card to get a discount.

 

[FlaggNL]

Still love the report! Keep on posting

 

[abzoo]

The original plan for the rest of the day was to stay at Epcot for Illuminations. We had to reevaluate. Kelsey had updated us a little bit during dinner about her status: still feeling really crappy. She called to the front desk at A of A and they sent someone up to tend to her. I think she got some Tylenol and crackers. But we needed to go to Walgreens to get her some extra supplies. The car was still parked at DHS so we needed to get back there. We went out the International Gateway and saw that a Friendship boat was just leaving so we walked around the Epcot resorts a little bit before catching a boat the rest of the way from Beach Club.

We finally got back to the car and made our way off property to Walgreens. We stocked up on saltines, ginger ale, pepto bismol, and more goodies. Then we finally made it back to Kelsey. Val and I decided to head back to DHS for the end of their Extra Magic Hours and got there about 9:30. We rode Rock n Roller Coaster first, then Toy Story. Val was definitely impressed with the queue for that one. Much better than the one in DCA. I think the wait time posted for TSMM was 30 minutes but we didn't wait quite so long.

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I got a text from Val's brother that Val had left her phone at Walgreens. Oops. We ended our night and drove back out there to go pick it up. I think everyone was sleeping when we got back to the room... which Val and I should have done. We ended up staying up longer than we should have, messing around with my computer, looking at pictures and watching videos.

And that's it for Day 2.​