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...

 

[mrdrift]

What a wonderful day at Magic Kingdom. All of the pictures are really cute. I would agree that the last pictures show the tight bond you two have. Following along.

 

[abzoo]

I can't choose my favorites out of this bunch of photos with Ariel so I'm just going to include a bunch. The posted wait time for Ariel's Grotto was either 5 or 10 minutes, which seemed very strange to me since MNSSHP was starting soon. We couldn't argue with that so we went right in and met our favorite mermaid in no time.

Ariel was yet another redheaded princess who was amazed by the sheer volume of Cassie's hair. She asked how many dinglehoppers it took to brush it out and if she ever loses anything in there. It's funny how offended both Cassie and Ariel look in these photos.

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Cassie wanted to see Philharmagic again so that was the last thing we did in Magic Kingdom. We started making our way out of the park as the Halloween party began. We heard the announcement of the Ghost Host and the beginning of the Halloween music taking over the normal MK soundtracks.

awesome costumes:

I love seeing Main Street lit up like this.

So we had a bit of time to kill before dinner so Cassie and I got on the monorail and made a quick stop to admire the Grand Floridian. The band was playing. We felt fancy.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Just caught up on your trip report. I also have a close group of 5 friends from college, so I'm relating to this report big time! I just messaged them and begged them to all come to Disney with me one day. Alas, 3 of us are married, and 2 have a baby now...so I doubt it'll happen. I mean they could bring the kids, but it wouldn't be the same as a girls trip Doesn't hurt to dream though!

Can't wait to see the rest of your report

 

[abzoo]

Just caught up on your trip report. I also have a close group of 5 friends from college, so I'm relating to this report big time! I just messaged them and begged them to all come to Disney with me one day. Alas, 3 of us are married, and 2 have a baby now...so I doubt it'll happen. I mean they could bring the kids, but it wouldn't be the same as a girls trip Doesn't hurt to dream though!

Can't wait to see the rest of your report

No, it doesn't hurt to dream!! It was SO amazing to do a girls trip in Disney and to just be reunited in general. I know that we're lucky to have been able to do so!

Thanks for following along-- I'll be finishing it up soon (seeing as it's been exactly 6 months since the end of the trip. Oops)!!

 

[abzoo]

So where was our dinner? The ever-amazing Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue, of course. I thought it was so great when I went in May so figured it would be a great choice on a night when we were kicked out of MK early. Cassie and I took the monorail back to Magic Kingdom and met Val by the boat to Fort Wilderness.

It was actually a little creepy to ride this boat out on the dark Seven Seas Lagoon. There aren't too many lights out on the water as you get closer to Ft. Wilderness. Plus Val hates the boats and ferries since we've seen spider webs and spiders on them a few too many times. Anyway, we got off the boat and headed toward Pioneer Hall to check in for our reservation (I also had to go to a separate window to get money discounted back to me for having Tables in Wonderland). We took a photo before we got in line.

Then we waited. The show time was 8:30 but it was a little after that before they started letting people in. We were seated on the balcony, stage right. And here comes the food (and sangría)...

YUM. MOOORE CHICKEN.​

 

[mrdrift]

Keep the Hoop Dee Doo pictures coming, it's one of my family's favorite places to visit when at Disney World. The two of you looked like you were having a great time with Ariel, it's always fun to have some good interaction with the different characters. Following along.

 

[splashingatkali]

Great Report ! Really enjoyed all your pictures. Great bond between friends.

 

[abzoo]

More Hoop Dee Doo!

Half of the cast was the same as when my sister and I went to Hoop Dee Doo for the first time last May so that was pretty cool. The Pioneer Hall Players are awesome. We laughed a lot and stuffed our faces with fried chicken.

Then it was time for the STRAW-BERRY-SHORT-CAKE. yum.

and we of course played the washboard like pros.

And then the show was over and we had to head back home. I was so glad that Disney provided buses back to the resort instead of having to get back to Magic Kingdom and then wait for another bus to transfer to AoA. This option was even much easier than the last time I went and drove my car. I passed out on the bus ride. Soo sleepy.

When we got back to the room, Cassie had to finish packing for an early plane ride. I think Val and I must have watched TV or did something on the computer because I know that she and I didn't do as much packing as we should have. (We had to leave our suite the next day as well even though the two of us had 2 more park days still planned).

Since there were only 3 of us, we each had our own bed for the night: Cassie on the pull-out couch, Val in our bedroom, and me on the murphy bed...

 

[abzoo]

Saturday, October 25.
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Yet another member of the Ace Gang leaves us. Cassie woke me up to say goodbye before she left to catch her Magical Express at an unreasonable hour (Thank God we didn't decide to move offsite the day before and thus lose DME privilege).

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Val and I didn't sleep in as much as we could have but got going and had to pack all the things. I seriously brought too much stuff-- it was a mess. Just before we had to check out, I was making multiple trips to the car so I wouldn't have to carry as much. But finally we had all of our things together. Here's one last video of our lovely, magical, perfect room:

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Uggh. no fun.

Okay, so now that it was just the two of us, we could hit some of the things the group missed during the week. For instance, Finding Nemo the Musical. We decided to hit up Animal Kingdom first with that being our only real goal for the park so we drove on over.

Growl faces are definitely a theme for this day. Another theme of the day (more like theme of the week) was being asked multiple times if we were cast members or DCP alumnae. Apparently this was a reunion weekend for the former college program alumni. Alas, no. We're just passholder tourists.

Even more Memory Maker shots, since this was to be our last time in Animal Kingdom. I'm excited to see the new animal carvings and a better view of the Tree of Life not blocked by construction walls when I'm down there soon.

more growl faces... and more Stitch.

 

[abzoo]

We had good timing to see the next showing of the musical. Got the catchy songs stuck in our heads...

Our next stop after Nemo was another ride we had yet to cross off our list: Primeval Whirl. Off to Dinoland!

Such whiplash!

 

[sheriffwoody]

LOVE the Nemo show! Probably my favorite of all the shows in the parks. Looks like another fun day

 

[mrdrift]

Sorry to hear the gang is down to two, but the fun continues on. Following along.

 

[abzoo]

Great Report ! Really enjoyed all your pictures. Great bond between friends.

Thanks for following!!

LOVE the Nemo show! Probably my favorite of all the shows in the parks. Looks like another fun day

I know! It's so great. Since I posted this, the songs have gotten stuck in my head.

Sorry to hear the gang is down to two, but the fun continues on. Following along.

Easing off the WDW vacation by having Val with me did help a little bit. At least I didn't have all my friends leave at once. We still had lots of fun!

 

[abzoo]

We then passed Expedition Everest but the wait was a little too long for us since we had other plans for the day... it's always a sad day when you have to leave Animal Kingdom without riding EE.

Then we were a little hungry so we went to the Yak n Yeti quick service to grab some fried rice to eat as we walked out of AK. As we were leaving, I spotted a photopass CM who looked a little lonely and told Val we should take a couple last pictures in the park... but we didn't want to set down our food. The photographer thought we were super strange for getting pictures with our food in them but we were amused-- gotta do something to make the Memory Maker photos stand out of the 800 other ones we took.

goofy border courtesy of @ValVal ...

And that was a wrap on Animal Kingdom for Ace Gang WDW trip... and the last time I've been there since October despite the couple of other trips I've made down there in the past 6 months.

Next, we headed back to the car and over to our next destination: Magic Kingdom (via TTC-- I think we had to take a ferry since the monorails were down?) Our main goal for the rest of the day was to see Festival of Fantasy and cross a few other things off our list.

When we entered the park, we still had a short while to go before 3 but we found some great spots in the shade (It was getting pretty hot that day) on Main Street USA so we took advantage of that since we didn't necessarily have time to get anything done before the parade. We took that opportunity to do something that was a first for us: eating Mickey's premium bars. Val went to go grab them while I saved our spots.

It's Val's Ice Cream Parade!

It was surprising that neither of us had ever gotten one before considering how often we go to our respective Disney parks. 'Twas yummy.

The Dapper Dans came by:

Then it was parade time!

 

[abzoo]

No trip report is complete without Festival of Fantasy pictures and between my camera and a couple I have from @ValVal, there's a lot. Enjoy the photo dump:

 

[abzoo]

and more...

 

[abzoo]

After the parade, it was time for some fun in Frontierland. Val got to see Country Bear Jamboree for a second time because I needed to experience it for the first time (I asked my parents if we had ever done this when I was younger and they think not). But Val and I both think it's hilarious and it will be a must-do on future trips. The audience was really into it.

Big Al!

Then after CBJ, it was time for something else I've never done before: Tom Sawyer Island. Val and I explored pretty much everything on the entire island.

 

[abzoo]

The barrel bridge is fun!

After we took the boat back from the island, we made our way to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, since we had FP+ for that. On the way, we stopped by the Tangled area and searched for some of the hiding Pascals.

 

[ValVal]

CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ! CBJ!
LOVEEEEE ITTTTTT hahaha!!

 

[ValVal]

ALSO i <3 my pascal friends hehe