Trip Report Did someone say adventure? MNSSHP & Free Dining trip report (8/29-9/7)

First of all, I have to say after not being able to go to the parks for almost 5 years, how lucky I feel to be writing this trip report! The fact that we got to celebrate our 22nd anniversary there ( our 15th, 16th, and 17th were all spent there) was amazing. We love free dining and it always starts right around our anniversary too, so that is great. We were able to go to MNSSHP in 2008 but only wore hats. This time when we found out that it was going to happen earlier and we would be able to do it again, we started planning our costumes.

I was terrified, that the kids, being older would maybe not have as much fun with the simple silly things that I have always treasured.. Thankfully it wasn't the case, as you will see.

Anyway, so on to the trip...

the players-

Me- DisneyShe, crazy Disney mom or for MNSSHP, Ellie

DH- B, or aka Carl -

DS

and DD

I will have a ton of photos to post and I will get much more into the Halloween party later but as far as photos go, I had to start with these. We put so much time into our costumes and It was totally amazing and so worth it, If you are going to MNSSHP I stress dressing up, the interaction you will get from guests and cast members and characters is amazing.

Day 1. Long night drive, starting at 10:00 pm on the 28th, our anniversary because DH wanted to have me there by opening show. We arrived right as the sun was rising. I will go back and add a photo from my phone later. We checked in at Coronado Springs where we had booked a standard room and were very surprised to have been bumped to a preferred Cabanas 8B room right across from the quiet pool and laundry facing the lake. YAY!! beautiful view. Pic coming soon, also on my phone.

And we made it to the opening show!!!

I love this show so much and being able to do it as soon as I got there was great! DD & I walking in ready to hit Splash Mountain, of course which is always a first and last for us.

Next up was another must do first day .... lunch at Pecos Bill's. I forgot to take pictures of the food here but DH got the burger and the kids and I all had the pork bbq sandwich and of course, chili cheese fries. Who doesn't love ooey gooey plastic cheese? is it just me or are the pickles there not just amazing? I wish they would add fried pickle side dish made with them.

To be continued tomorrow-

 

[DisneyGigi]

Both kids had a great time with the costumes, as did we but they especially had fun with the little guys that came up to them and thought they were the real Jessie & Jack. Definitely the best time we have ever had at WDW and that is saying a lot because we always have a ton of fun. The park was dead. We had been to the first party on September 5, 2008 and even though ride times were walk-on. Lines for the characters were pretty high. Not so this time. Cap'n Jack arrived right at 7:00, I had always heard he was fashionably late but not at all this time. Line was a breeze any of the times we passed. The longest was the 7 Dwarfs and still maybe 20 minutes. The Hag we waited a grand total of 5 minutes. I expected her to have a long wait. She was very funny, but I think the costume needs a bit of work. Glad to check her off my character list though. The parade was the same way, hardly anyone there really, many empty last minute spots in Frontierland which is where I like to watch the Halloween Parade, it is darker and just better to me. I am sure Main Street was more crowded but it was still way less crowded than the same spot in 2008.
Again To anyone thinking of going to MNSSHP... dress up, it is so much more fun when you do. Few more with characters coming up later then onto the parade pics and such!

 

[DisneyGigi]

I also have to take the time to acknowledge how dedicated DS was to this Cap'n Jack costume. The facial hair was real. He grew it for this reason. He usually sports a short, trimmed goatee but having dressed up as Jack for Disney Day his Senior year, we actually glued the longer pieces to his short goatee. It looked okay, we did it well, but it ripped most of his beard off when we took it out lol. Anyway he trimmed it that night after the party. That is what I call dedicated. He looked amazing I thought, and so did everyone else. We went into this thinking that it was okay to pose for photos alone, if someone asked, but not with them. I always understood and read it to be that way. Long story short, DS felt horrible because he didn't pose with a girl in a photo because he was afraid he would get into trouble. He did it very nicely and told her he would pose for her but that we weren't supposed to with other guests. It totally broke his heart to say no. Not 20 minutes later the same thing happened again and cast member came up and told him it was fine just not to let a line form. He still feels bad about saying no the first time though

Not something you see everyday...

And here is my Jack, he played the role so well, he had a blast with it even walking around with his compass to each ride. Crazy thing.. and you better not have called him Jack, like I just did or he would quickly inform you that is was Captain...Jack Sparrow

And yes, apparently Cap'n Jack is a Broncos fan.

 

[DisneyGigi]

,The Hag...Evil Witch.. Jack looks like he had too much rum in this one... makes me laugh so hard.

And now for my most favorite parade ever... Boo To You! I videoed it and DH took photos. There are more on my phone that I will add later. I have a shot that shows a crazy dead Frontierland before the parade started. I am very glad that they didn't change it much. I missed Pluto being on the truck before Goofy but was glad that Goofy was still on the float I was afraid that he was being kicked off the candy bike for the Wreck it Ralph characters. Thankfully he was not. I thought Vanellope was cute but it seemed weird for her just to be by herself for that long stretch. Missed the Pooh float but was thankful that Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Piglet still had a walking part even if the costumes were gone too. Candy lines were also very short.. I forgot to mention that we went through the ones that we happened by, because candy wasn't on our priority list but we still ended up with quite a bit. Good selection and they were giving out a good bit. As the night went on the handfuls got bigger just like our first party. And a big shout out to everyone that worked Columbia Harbour House that night where we grabbed a quick dinner before the party. They were a great way for us to kick off the night. I have always known that Cast Members make up so much of the magic at Walt Disney World and have always been really grateful for the ones that especially go out of their way to make it Pixie Dusted, wish I would have taken names down to tell Guest Services a special thank you. Everyone at MNSSHP that we interacted with went above and beyond, the entire night, so thank you!!!

 

[DisneyGigi]

More Boo to You!!

Even from these shots, you can see how dead it was for a parade. I will go back and dig up some of our photos from the first party in 2008 to compare, but we loved the crowds then so you can imagine how amazing this party was! Will continue with the parade and more MNSSHP, and this was just day 4 out of 10. Hope ya'll are in for the long haul lol, a lot more to go!

 

[mrdrift]

Loving the pictures from the MNSSHP, they are really awesome. Following along for the long hall as you call it, why not especially when you write such a great report of the family adventures with pictures.

 

[DisneyGigi]

Loving the pictures from the MNSSHP, they are really awesome. Following along for the long hall as you call it, why not especially when you write such a great report of the family adventures with pictures.

Thank you! Will get more up this evening.

 

[DisneyGigi]

More parade.

 

[DisneyGigi]

Not the best pictures but like I said I let DH take the photos and they are unedited... lol just glad we got most of everything. I loved Bowler Hat Guy!! Not sure about Maleficent, if I liked it or not. Few more random decorations next then moving on to an Empty Main Street and Crystal Palace breakfast. (yes, we are that crazy that we didn't get to bed til 2:30 and got up at 6:00 for breakfast. I planned our ADRs before the Halloween Party was officially announced and did not want to give up my early morning Main Street Stroll.

 

[DisneyGigi]

few decorations and such... I LOVE Carlotta!!!!! (sp) She asked DH what was on his head (goggles) and he told her they were to see her better... lol and she quickly told him he hoped he like what he saw.

 

[Mom@disney]

I too have the same concern that my girls won't enjoy Disney when they are older as much as they do now. I just adore your costumes! Your daughter is such a cutie as Jessie...my favourite photo is the one where Buzz is going to kiss your hand and she is looking sideways smiling sGreat photos of your trip! Looking forward to reading the rest.

 

[DisneyGigi]

I too have the same concern that my girls won't enjoy Disney when they are older as much as they do now. I just adore your costumes! Your daughter is such a cutie as Jessie...my favourite photo is the one where Buzz is going to kiss your hand and she is looking sideways smiling sGreat photos of your trip! Looking forward to reading the rest.

Thank you so much and I am here to tell you that it doesn't change. A child brought up a Disney Kid, stays a Disney kid! There were some things that made me cry so hard, but it was a good cry, if that makes sense. This trip was as special to me, if not more, than each of their first trips. That picture is my favorite too. Photopass did such an amazing job of capturing so many moments. We took a lot too but in trying to enjoy it while it was happening, missed a lot of the good shots. I just wish I would have the good sense to video it.

 

[Mom@disney]

I am so relieved to hear that. I always loved everything Disney since I was little, but only had the honour of visiting the World when I was grown up with my 2 daughters and DH. I fell in love instantly the moment I saw that gorgeous castle. My girls are now 11 and 8, and their eyes still light up whenever they talk about Disney...I hope they will always be that way.

Sometimes just savouring the moment without videotaping is much better.

 

[DisneyGigi]

One of my most favorite things is Crystal Palace breakfast. I love the atmosphere with Pooh & Friends and the food, but the bestest (to quote Tigger) thing is going in early to an empty Main Street, U.S.A. I would not miss it on a trip for anything! We were a shot late for this one since I was so tired I completely forgot about the Monorail not running and of course, the ferry was running really slow that morning. (Murphy's Law) I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted because we were 5 minutes late. Check out a crazy dead Tomorrowland. We hit BTMRR and Splash before casually walking around to Space Mountain, so judging by the empty space in the picture you can see this day was the craziest, deadest I have ever seen. Everything was walk on and the park was so empty. Crazy empty. It was great. We hung out here until around 1:00 and then headed to DHS, where it was just as dead.

 

[DisneyGigi]

View attachment 65602 This is what happens when you have a Monorail car to yourself.. and we also had the Library at ToT all to ourselves. I can't keep track of how many times we hit ToT or RnRC but it was a lot. Few random ride pics from Memory Maker, then onto Cape May Café. The crab legs are still there, by the way. P.S our thing is silly ride photos.

 

[DisneyGigi]

Cape May Cafe for dinner.

 

[Mom@disney]

Lol your ride photos are hilarious!

 

[DisneyGigi]

Day 6, September 3 . We went to AK for a bit. Low crowds again with tons of rides on EE and Dinosaur. Saw Finding Nemo the Musical. I love that show, always top notch, then went to Epcot for an early lunch at Coral Reef. We park hopped again for the Festival of Fantasy parade at MK.

Food was great and atmosphere,as always, but service was bad. Almost thirsted to death waiting on refills and it was not crowded at all. The wait for Soarin' on this day blew me away at 10 minutes and it was less than that when we rode it. It was 25-30 on several days but 10 was nuts to me. So nice not to have to stand and wait forever like we always had in the past, even with fastpass.

On to MK for the parade!

It was very easy to get a spot, not crowded feeling at all.

Some sort of commercial they were filming I think anyway I took a pic of it lol It was a family walking up the street and the kids stopped and got a balloon.

 

[draybook]

Great trip report. I have to give a lot of respect to your son for wearing that outfit in this heat. That takes crazy dedication.

 

[DisneyGigi]

All of these shots are off my phone, so not the greatest but what happens when you realize that you left your camera bag in the car.

 

[DisneyGigi]

Great trip report. I have to give a lot of respect to your son for wearing that outfit in this heat. That takes crazy dedication.

Thank you very much. I have started reading your's in between posting mine. Hope you guys are having a great time. It was and I am sure still is so hot down there. How he did it I do not know... I almost died with the just the dang hat on. Felt like a Sauna all night long. Can't wait to check out more of your report, have a blast!