Once again, it is so hard to believe that our adventure in WDW is over. I don’t understand how time goes so fast when we are there. Even though this was our longest trip ever, it still flew by. We returned home around midnight on Saturday and I’ve been getting back to reality and catching up on reading other TR’s before beginning my own.
Just in case you may not know us…
Me: Mary/mom
Ross – Dad AKA Grumpy, but was acting more like Sleepy on this trip. (And yes – those Crocs came along with him.)
Julia – DD Sweet 16 this trip
Hope – My 9 year old princess whose diagnoses of Autism usually lends itself to some interesting tidbits for my TR’s.
Trip details:
September 6th – 8th at Art Of Animation (Room only)
September 8th – 22nd Pop Century (MYW Package Free Dining)
Yep- that’s a LONG trip – our longest EVER. Still it managed to fly by in the blink of an eye.
If you’re not familiar with my crazy crew or you need to catch up, feel free to check out my pre trip report here:
I can’t wait to hear about the party - what an amazing surprise. We did the Christmas party once and I was our place holder in the very long line for the 7 Dwarves (while my sister and BIL brought my DD on rides for a bit).
I can’t wait to hear about the party - what an amazing surprise. We did the Christmas party once and I was our place holder in the very long line for the 7 Dwarves (while my sister and BIL brought my DD on rides for a bit).
I got on line and waited. I figured everyone was waiting until 4:00PM when you could enter. While we were waiting, the rain started. Hope, who was cranky because she didn’t want to go to the party, was annoyed. I told Julia to take her and wait under a covered area just a few feet behind us. I had my poncho on so I didn’t care. It started to rain pretty hard! There was a woman behind me who said she was told by “someone” of importance that this party was the second least attended. (I guess she meant in pre-ticket sales.) So she got a ticket at the last minute. She said she was at the first party and had waited in very long lines.
At exactly 4:00PM, they started scanning everyone in. The crowd cheered! I called the girls up to stand with me and sure enough, as soon as we scanned our MBs, got our wristbands on and walked under the train station, the rain stopped and not another drop would fall on us that night!
My first stop was to get Hope her DAS activated and a sticker for her stroller to use as a wheelchair. Then it was off to get the girls Sorcery Cards. Last year it was only Julia who collected them, but now Hope is a HUGE fan. They were thrilled to get a special MNSSHP card! It was the Orange Bird.
Then we walked over to the “special” entrance to start our night!
Hope got a regular trick or treat bag while Julia and I opted for the allergy friendly bag, which would receive tokens to be traded in.
We got our first stash of candy and took a few pictures and then went on our way to some rides. Since we had until 7:00PM I wanted to take advantage of all the rides we could do.
We started with Philharmagic and then Small World.
Then it was time to see how my Hope would do with an Omnimover ride as we got on line to ride PP. I handed her i-Pod to her in a waterproof case so she could wear it around her neck. She put it on and off we flew to Neverland. It worked!!! She loved it!! She was happy that the ride didn't stop, but if it did she kept reminding herself she had her i-Pod.
Then it was time to see how my Hope would do with an Omnimover ride as we got on line to ride PP. I handed her i-Pod to her in a waterproof case so she could wear it around her neck. She put it on and off we flew to Neverland. It worked!!! She loved it!! She was happy that the ride didn't stop, but if it did she kept reminding herself she had her i-Pod.
From there, I had gotten a return time fro 7DMT so we rode that.
Since Monsters would be closed for the party, we went there next followed by Buzz – another omnimover and again – NO PROBLEM!!
Julia wanted to ride Space Mountain, so I got Hope some ice cream while we waited. Hope was excited to see the Tron advertisement.
Since it wasn’t quite 7:00PM yet, Julia said Space Mountain was not in complete darkness and asked if she could ride it again after the party started. I said sure.
We decided to do some trick or treating. We went through the Circus area twice and then saw the dance party so we walked over. Hope danced a little and was so excited to see Vamperina.
We also saw the line for the 7 Dwarfs, but they said it was a 2 hour wait so we said no thanks!
We trick or treated at Ariel’s Grotto and then Julia wanted a snack so went to Storybook Treats and got her a Peter Pan float. I think this became her favorite over the Dole Whip!
We did more trick or treating at Philharmagic & Pinocchio’s and then walked over to HM. Hope was not so thrilled to ride this one, but she did and held her i-pod around her neck the whole time. While we waited on line, we noticed some constucttion. (At least, I think this is where we saw it.)
After HM, Julia and I traded in our tokens for treats. I handed my bag of tokens to the CM and she showed me a list of things to choose from. I just asked for an assortment. She return with my bag filled with candy. I asked for another bag since the girls wanted to trick or treat some more and she gave me an odd look. Then she walked away and returned with another bag filled with candy. I looked and chuckled and told her that I just wanted an “empty” bag! Lol So since Julia hadn’t traded her stuff in yet, she took that bag and gave in her tokens. So obviously, Disney doesn’t care how much candy you ask for!
We decided to ride BTMR but on the way Julia wanted an Oggie Boogie popcorn holder. I had read earlier that people waited a long time to get these things and many locations were sold out so I told her not to be disappointed if we couldn’t get it. But as soon as I walked up to the popcorn cart there it was – the strangest looking creature! In a few minutes, she had it!
We munched on the way to Big Thunder and then rode. We wanted to ride Splash too, but decided not to so we could get a spot for the parade.
I had to decide if we should see the 9:15 parade or the 11:15 parade. I read that the later parade would be less crowded, but I was worried that Hope wouldn’t stay awake that long, so we opted for the 9:15 one. We found a place near Frontierland right outside the bears. My pics are horrible so I will not make anyone suffer, but it was an AMAZING parade. Even Julia, who isn’t a parade person, loved it. The biggest hit was seeing Clarabell and the Headless Horseman.
Oh by the way, by now, my MNSSHP “haters” aka children were LOVING IT!!
As soon as the parade was over, we ducked into the bears to trick or treat. Then we walked back to Splash Mountain. This was another first for Hope. She asked to wear her rain jacket on the ride and since Julia & I were chicken and didn’t want to get wet, we wore our ponchos! We got to sit in the front and I’m happy to report that Hope LOVED it! She said she didn’t get too spalashed!
From there, we walked to the castle to get a spot for Hallow Wishes. Again, my photos are horrible, but it was an amazing show.
After the fireworks, we escaped the crowds a little into Adventureland. By now it was around 10:30 and Julia still wanted to ride Space Mountain. We decided against riding Pirates but I wanted to check out the wait time for Moana. When we got there the CM said the wait was around 20 minutes so I got on line. Julia was worried that it would take longer so I told her to go to Tomorrowland and ride Space Mountain and wait there for me. Hope dozed off while we were waiting, but when it was our turn I gave her a nudge and she was up and ready to meet Moana.
The line did end up taking about 20 minutes. From there I went to trade in the rest of our tokens and then met up with Julia in Tomorrowland. She had rode Space two times and LOVED it in the dark. We stopped so Julia could pick up the MNSSHP pin and Hope got a Halloween Minnie Mouse.
Hope dozed off, so Julia played a little SOTMK – but I wanted to try for one more thing before we left We walked over to where the 7 Dwarfs were meeting. When we asked how long the wait was , the CM said… 10 minutes!!! We hopped on the line and sure enough, 10 minutes later…
By now it was almost midnight. We walked toward the front and noticed the Hocus Pocus show was starting. None of us have seen the movie but all of a sudden Julia asked if that’s where a certain song was from and started to sing it. I had no idea, but sure enough, the sisters starting singing the same song so we laughed and stayed so Julia could watch the show. It turned out to be one of her favorites of the night!
At 12:30 we dragged ourselves out of the MK and to the bus stop.
Have I mentioned that AoA has the farthest stop of all the resorts? Lol We waited on a pretty long line, but the busses were coming fast. We were some of the last to board. It wasn’t an overly packed bus, but there were no seats and I knew Hope would need one so we got off the bus and back in line. Everyone else managed to get on the bus so we were the only ones remaining at the bus stop. The CM in the bus area asked us to get back on the bus but I told him I couldn’t because Hope needed a seat. I showed him my wheelchair sticker. At first, he seemed annoyed and said I should have waited with the wheelchairs and have her stroller locked, but I said, all she needed was a seat – so I wouldn’t think to do that. He hopped on and spoke to the bus driver and then hopped off. He told me the next bus wouldn’t come for 40 minutes! I assured him I didn’t mind waiting; I just needed my daughter to be safe on the bus. He told me in the future to utilize the disability line to get her on and in a seat. (I’ve never felt comfortable doing that.) He walked away for a few minutes and then he returned and said a bus would be here in a few minutes. Sure enough, a bus pulled up in just a few minutes. We boarded the bus with one other family and off we went to AoA.
The night ended as magical as it began! When we reached our room, it was nearly 2:00 in morning! We collapsed into our beds with no alarm! It had been a perfect day and an amazing, pixie dust filled adventure. And yes, my girls began asking the next day if we could go back to the party next year! Lol
Yes - I was soooo happy for her. There were a couple of rides she did not like even with her i-pod - HM was one, but she is entitled to dislike a ride. I'm just happy that she went on them and enjoyed most of them.
Wow!! You really did the party perfectly!!! I love the Halloween parties. We’ve been 4 times but this year was the best! I’m loving your report. Thanks for sharing.
What an amazing surprise! I loved reading every minute of it. You guys accomplished so much without really planning too much! I can't believe 10 min for the seven dwarfs. Now I look back to when we went in August and I feel like we did nothing compared to you guys. That just means we need to go back next year lol.
I’m so glad that Hope did well on the rides! We literally must have just passed each other at the party because we were in Frontierland during the parade as well. We rode Splash during the parade, by the time we got off, the parade has passed by. It was a great night for the party.
