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]

Friday, October 24. ​

Okay, here's the actual start to our Day 6, which started with Megan catching a not-so-Magical Express at early-o'clock and leaving us. . The rest of us all had different plans for the start of our day. Val obviously spent her time taking photos of the resort.

But farewell, Megan! I forgot to mention where the title of this trip report even came from so I'll go ahead and attribute it to her (even though she is unlikely to ever read this TR). As one could probably tell, we were referring to Hidden Mickeys-- in particular, these ones in the hallway carpets of Art of Animation. Megan asked what Mickey had to hide from-- "Did he kill someone? Is he running from the law?"

Alright. So, Kelsey and I decided to spend our morning at Animal Kingdom so we could hit some of the rides Kelsey had to skip earlier in the week due to being a vomit-machine. And luckily for us, AK was having extra magic hours. huzzah! So we boarded a bus and got there almost exactly at 8.

There's gonna be a few selfies is this post. sorry.

And we stopped to get some Memory Maker pics before entering.

It was actually pretty chilly this morning and my hair was soaking wet. I think I'm the one who asked the PhotoPass CM to take this one. It warmed up soon enough!

The most important ride to cross off our list was Expedition Everest. I love it so much. We went once and sort of got back in line without even questioning it.

Most attractive action shot ever.

Round 2

As we walked through the gift shop, Kelsey asked if we should ride again. Like you don't know what my answer to that would be. Always more EE. Always.

Round 3: Sent this snap to Val so she could be jealous that I got one of these guys.

Then we went for some time travel on Dinosaur.

 

[FlaggNL]

Still a great report! Love your pics!!

 

[mrdrift]

Great addition to the report. All of the Memory Maker pictures at AK are really cool. AoA is the best with all the different decorations from the different movies, really makes you feel like you are in part of the movie. Following along.

 

[abzoo]

Ahh sorry I keep neglecting this TR. I'll do my best to finish it up soon. Here's a little more of Day 6...

After Kelsey and I rode Dinosaur, we were about to leave AK, but we decided to make one quick stop on the way out. EMH was ending and the Adventurers Outpost was opening. We stopped to meet Safari Minnie and Mickey.

These pictures in the queue are so cute!

Woo. So then we headed out of AK and waited a little while for a bus to take us to Epcot. Cassie had gone straight there from the hotel earlier and Val was arriving about the same time as our bus. Obviously we had to take some PhotoPass shots by SSE, since we don't have enough already.

Then we headed straight to Spaceship Earth and got in the short standby line.

 

[mrdrift]

Great interaction with Minnie and Mickey at Animal Kingdom. Some cool pictures also coming from Epcot. Following along.

 

[Rach&Eric]

Enjoying your TR and loving your pics!!! I don't want it to end...lol

 

[abzoo]

Great interaction with Minnie and Mickey at Animal Kingdom. Some cool pictures also coming from Epcot. Following along.

Thanks for sticking with this TR!!

Enjoying your TR and loving your pics!!! I don't want it to end...lol

Glad you've enjoyed it so far! I don't want it to end either-- it was such an amazing trip... perhaps that's why I'm taking forever to finish this thing!

 

[abzoo]

So we rode Spaceship Earth for the only time that week (It's definitely a bummer that Megan didn't get to ride it before she left). Cassie and I took a super cute photo. Here's our future...

With SSE crossed off the list, it was time to experience some Epcot things I've never done before. First: The Great Piggy Bank Adventure. Since this is closing later this month, I guess my first time playing this game was also my last time. It's a shame though-- we all had fun playing.

Cassie and I named our Piggy Herbert. ha.

Both of our teams succeeded in saving enough money for our goal. Woo.

After that, we left Innoventions and headed over to another Epcot thing I had never done before: Journey into Imagination...

I don't think we really left the ride with any strong feelings besides "W T F was that?" Oh well... we spent a short while afterwards playing.

 

[abzoo]

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Next, we headed over to the World Showcase to hit some of the things we didn't get to the day before.

We stopped at the Hawai'i marketplace and Kelsey grabbed the tuna poke with seaweed salad and lotus root chips.

We explored Canada...

 

[ValVal]

YEAAAA to disco safari roomie pics haha & of course the GREAT piggy bank adventure! (rip-like SOON.) That pesky fox kept stealing our stuff-very swipper no swiping if u ask me haha ALSO i feel like ALL the photos from this day look great cuz the weather was perfect haha excited u FINALLY started posting again hehe

 

[abzoo]

Okay, onwards through the World Showcase. Next, time to take a super attractive photo in the UK...

Creeping on the Alice meet and greet...

Then over to France.

Val got the La Passion Martini Slush... not very strong.

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Then we made a quick stop at the Brazil marketplace. There's actually no food picture on Val's camera. Uh oh. Unacceptable. Kelsey got the Mocequa de Pescado (tilapia with coconut lime sauce and steamed rice).

 

[abzoo]

Up next, exploring Morocco:

Val was on the phone with her dad since it was his birthday.

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We went over to the Fez House to take a bunch of pictures and bask in the relaxation-- since the Fez House is a majestic and relaxing place.

Then Japan...

Then American Adventure. Val got the Florida grass-fed beef slider and we went up to the Chase cardholders lounge to sit down for a few minutes. Woo exclusive!

 

[abzoo]

Cassie and I felt the urge to revisit the Italy marketplace to grab the Limoncello margaritas. Great decision- so delicious!

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And we kept on walking until we stopped for me to grab the roasted pork lettuce wrap with kimchi slaw from South Korea. Delicious. This one was $3.75 and a decent amount of food. Probably the best value out of the Food and Wine fest offerings.

Next kiosk we hit on our way out was Australia. Val got the pavlova (crispy meringue shell with fresh berries and vanilla custard). Also pictured: prosecco from Italy.

So with that, we were done with Epcot and ready for some more park hopping.

 

[ValVal]

awkward photos all around haha idk if MAYBE i wasn't around or i went somewhere else while kelsey got her talapia from brazil- but regardless FOR SHAMMMMMEEEEEE haha also i believe that was the prosecco from italy i managed to make last until Australia cuz we all knowww i'm a slow eater/drinker haha plus the only thing i think i bought at the champagne cart was the chocolate shell truffles...

 

[mrdrift]

You girls are having some cool fun around the World Showcase and we can see it in the pictures. The pictures of the 4 of you will be a keepsake pictures that you can look back in twenty five years and say that was a wonderful time in Disney World.

 

[abzoo]

You girls are having some cool fun around the World Showcase and we can see it in the pictures. The pictures of the 4 of you will be a keepsake pictures that you can look back in twenty five years and say that was a wonderful time in Disney World.

So true! As much as I've loved the WDW trips my family has made, reuniting with my friends in Disney was one of the greatest experiences ever. We made some awesome memories and I'm glad that the hundreds of photos we took are equally as awesome!!

 

[abzoo]

The next thing that happened was @ValVal abandoning the rest of us who decided not to run to catch the monorail as we switched at the TTC. Thaaanks. . There was another one about 2 minutes behind it so we made it to Magic Kingdom shortly after her.

When we finally met up, we decided that since Kelsey had to leave in a few short hours, she should choose whether we should go to the Enchanted Tiki Room or Carousel of Progress. She made the wrong decision, in my opinion. haha.

It's all good though. Plus, I hadn't visited the tiki room since when it was "under new management" and Val wanted to make comparisons to the original in Disneyland.

Then we played some Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. We were getting really close to beating the final villain of my game so we Val decided that she wanted to go ahead and finish the whole thing so we could get extra new cards for the day. The rest of us decided to head over to Tomorrowland.

 

[abzoo]

Oops, I forgot that we came across a Photopass CM near Pirates and got a couple shots. Getting even more use out of our Memory Maker even in unexpected areas of the park is a big plus.

So Cassie, Kelsey, and I headed to Tomorrowland to ride the Peoplemover. We were distracted on our way by the necessity to stop and take yet another we-are-so-freaking-surprised-that-Tinkerbell-has-materialized-in-our-hands photo. Because you can never have enough.

Okay. More distractions on our way to the Peoplemover... we saw that Space Mountain only had a 20 minute wait so we had to ride. There was another wild photopass CM in Tomorrowland so we got another unexpected shot to add to our collection.

Then we got in line. Val texted to say that she had finished up the SotMK game quicker than expected so she was going to go to Country Bears. I told her that she would have to go to that show again with me the next day since it was something on my list to do.

Enjoy our super awkward ride photo for Space. Cassie and Kelsey were both trying to do the same pose as me but the photo came sooner than expected, I guess. haha. We're cute.

We told Val to meet us by the Peoplemover when she got out of County Bears but then she saw that the castle show was starting so she stayed to watch it.

OMG I never noticed this picture any of the times I've gone through @ValVal's photos but look at all that sass Peter is bringing to the show. soooo sassay.

 

[abzoo]

Meanwhile, the rest of us were Peoplemovin' around Tomorrowland. Kelsey's last ride before she had to leave us.

Pensive sad Kelsey:

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We met back up with Val and headed down Main Street, USA. Our last stop in the park was the Firehouse to pick up more SotMK cards. With that, Kelsey had to get going back to Art of Animation so she could catch the Magical Express and fly away from Florida. Val went with her since she planned to shower and get ready for dinner but Cassie and I said our goodbyes to Kelsey in the town square. I'm getting sad just writing this TR 6 months after the fact. I hated that our awesome trip was coming to an end.

Anyway, Cassie and I got to have a little more Magic Kingdom fun until the park closed for that night's MNSSHP. We headed to Fantasyland and rode the teacups-- one of the absolute best rides for taking fun photos.

 

[abzoo]

I'm glad I got to spend one-on-one park time with everyone in our little ace gang family (with the exception of Megan-- boo). Cassie and I had a fun couple of hours. After teacups, we went to do Enchanted Tales again. Cassie wanted to get a picture with Belle. So that's where we headed and we volunteered for roles.

Megan was jealous when she found out that I got to be the doggy footstool. ha.

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Then we decided to go meet another princess and made our way to Ariel's Grotto. On our way, we saw a lonely photographer so we had another photoshoot in a new area. This CM was a little strange though. He was making some comments about the Halloween party and we told him we had attended earlier in the week and had dressed as princesses. He said that Merida was the sexiest princess and was, I guess, referring to one of her face characters in the park. So it was a bizarre interaction but we got some great photos. That's all that matters, right?

I love that last photo a whole lot.