It Was a Grand Fantasyland Opening Indeed!

What – The Fantasyland Grand Opening!

When – December 5-7, 2012

Who – Jenell - @GrumpysWife - and Myself!

Why – Well because we could of course! And also, the agency got an invite to the grand opening festivities and awesome owner Pam sent Jenell and I as representatives. The catch was that only one of us could get in to the official festivities, but hey – I had a newly purchased Annual Pass from my November trip, my camera, and a free room at Beach Club with Jenell. I wasn’t complaining! Here we are:

Wednesday, December 5th –

We were only going for two nights, so we had to make the best of it! We left crazy early on the first day and came back late on the third day! I was meeting Jenell at the Baltimore airport. I usually fly out of Dulles, which is much closer, but this was good for Jenell and we got an awesome rate on Southwest.

My dear hubby drove me all the way out there before going to work that morning. We left the house at 4 am! Yikes! Jenell arrived a few minutes after me and we had an uneventful flight down. We even landed about 40 minutes early! Yay! We were actually on Magical Express at the time we were scheduled to land, which I think was 8:45 if I remember correctly.

We both caught up on some work on the way to the Beach Club.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

*grumble grumble* dragon *grumble* stupid TDO *grumble* *grumble*

Ok now that I got that out of my system...

LOVE the shots of the windmill at the pool. Some of my favorite night shots are when a shutter is left open because it captures things you'd never see otherwise. Beautiful!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

*grumble grumble* dragon *grumble* stupid TDO *grumble* *grumble*

Ok now that I got that out of my system...

LOVE the shots of the windmill at the pool. Some of my favorite night shots are when a shutter is left open because it captures things you'd never see otherwise. Beautiful!

I know!!! Isn't that crazy?

Thank you, I love those long shutter speeds too.

 

[tiaragirl]

I want all those media event snacks... now..

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I want all those media event snacks... now..

You and me both, chicka!

 

[GatorAsh]

Great snaps!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Great snaps!

Thanks, GatorAsh! I'll put up some more tomorrow!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Thursday – December 4th

Jenell and I were both up pretty early this morning, mostly due to Disney releasing part of the aforementioned 2014 cruise itineraries that morning. We were on the phone and on hold all morning!

Jenell left for her transfers and I got off a lot later then I would have liked. I would have liked to be among the first people there since I didn’t have a reserved seat, but that wasn’t in the cards today!

A guy sat next to me on the bus and chatted me up. His wife and child were right in front of us. They had no idea the opening was today until I told them that’s where I was heading. They were hoping it wouldn’t be too crazy.

You could see the screen at the end of Main Street. The bleachers for media were right in front of the screen. It was pretty crowded and I almost stopped at the screen because I knew I would have been able to see better, but I wanted to see for real even if I couldn’t see much. I could see a video back at home.

So I joined the crowds and this was my view. It wasn’t too bad until everyone started lifting their cameras in the air, lol. I instagrammed this:

Here was Jenell’s view of the ceremony:

Little better.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Waiting…

While we waited for the ceremony to start I looked at the merchandise offerings on a flyer they handed us. Girl next to me had a great print she had already bought. She said the iphone 4 cases were already gone. Jenell and I both had new iPhone 5’s so I texted her and asked if she wanted me to buy her a case since she probably wouldn’t have time between events. She did, so that was my goal before I left MK later.

Ooh, activity!

My pictures were very hit and miss. If everyone had stood normally, I could have got some good ones! But everyone wanted pictures, so everyone’s camera was in the air, and well, I’m short. So I just occasionally held my camera in the air and snapped.

This is what 50% of my pictures look like.

Lol! I'm not good at holding my camera in the air and snapping.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

When the ceremony started Ginnifer Goodwin came out and the crowd went wild. I kind of had a feeling she might be here because of the Once Upon a Time tie in. Love her!!

Jordin Sparks sang and was awesome. Here we have Ginnifer Goodwin leaving and Jordin Sparks coming out:

Jenell’s view:

Dwarves!

Jordin Sparks singing with the characters:

I cut off everybody in this picture, lol:

Ginnifer Goodwin is back out:

Gennifer Goodwin, Tom Staggs, and Jordin Sparks!

From Jenell!

Mine cropped:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Confetti explosion from Jenell!

My view:

Super cool confetti:

I made my way up to the stage afterwards. There were a few celebrities and bigwigs hanging around for pictures. I think I know who some of them are, but I’d love some help here. Here’s Tom Staggs talking to?

Tom!!!

Lots of people were taking pictures of these lovely ladies. The voices of some characters?

They were feverishly cleaning up the stage:

I recognized Chelsie Hightower from So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with the Stars!

She was taking pictures with everyone, so I thought, why not? Instagram!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

About that time, they announced that the first castle show would not be taking place that day. Lots of disappointed groans, but it made sense. I happened to still be there scanning through my pictures about 5 minutes later when the show started! I guess no one told the characters!

There was no one there at that point, so I had a front row seat! Well I did until some kids edged their way in front of me which I didn’t mind.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

 

[Disneyfalcon]

What a fun surprise that was!

 

[erstwo]

I am loving this! 17 more days! I really can't wait to see Fantasyland since we missed out on seeing a preview late last November.

Love that confetti - who says Disney doesn't pay attention to the details anymore?

I have to say - a 50mm lens really doesn't do you much good in low light unless you take the time to learn how to use it. Trust me, I speak from experience.

I hope I get to read the rest! I am starting more TR than I am finishing these days! Ha!

I must say, New Fantasyland must be giving Disney a good push - have you seen an increase in reservations at Kingdom Konsultants? I know I have sent 7 people to KK just this week - including 3 cruisers! And I just got off the phone with a friend from here in town who was on the last hour of her drive home from WDW. We met months ago to talk about her first Disney trip with her husband's whole family and I told her to contact Kingdom Konsultants - she did (I think she worked with Stacy? Maybe? Is there a Stacy?) and she told me the whole experience was amazing!!! She said the tips and reservations, etc. that you sent them a few weeks before their trip were invaluable and they would have been lost without them. Way to go KK! She said the whole trip was a total blast, which is saying something for someone going with 3 small kids!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I am loving this! 17 more days! I really can't wait to see Fantasyland since we missed out on seeing a preview late last November.

Love that confetti - who says Disney doesn't pay attention to the details anymore?

I have to say - a 50mm lens really doesn't do you much good in low light unless you take the time to learn how to use it. Trust me, I speak from experience.

I hope I get to read the rest! I am starting more TR than I am finishing these days! Ha!

I must say, New Fantasyland must be giving Disney a good push - have you seen an increase in reservations at Kingdom Konsultants? I know I have sent 7 people to KK just this week - including 3 cruisers! And I just got off the phone with a friend from here in town who was on the last hour of her drive home from WDW. We met months ago to talk about her first Disney trip with her husband's whole family and I told her to contact Kingdom Konsultants - she did (I think she worked with Stacy? Maybe? Is there a Stacy?) and she told me the whole experience was amazing!!! She said the tips and reservations, etc. that you sent them a few weeks before their trip were invaluable and they would have been lost without them. Way to go KK! She said the whole trip was a total blast, which is saying something for someone going with 3 small kids!

17 days!! Awesome!

Absolutely they pay attention to details.

And truer words have not been spoken about the 50mm or any other SLR and lens.

Thank you for all the referrals! We have had a big spike in business! Everybody wants to go these days! Between Fantasyland and Kids Sail Free for the cruise line, it's great! I'm so glad we are doing our job. That's what we are supposed to do! Make it easy for you!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Holy trip report delay, Batman! Real life got a little crazy here the last couple of weeks. Okay, way crazy. But I’m back!

At that point I still hadn’t had breakfast. Wait! I lied. I had an Oreo Bon Bon in our room.
But I was hungry, so I continued my good eating choices and went to get – a Dole Whip!

Meme:

I walked up the path behind the castle.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

When I passed Sleepy Hollow, I remembered the chicken waffle sandwiches! Then I scolded myself for not remembering them on our family trip a couple of weeks before. My husband has been wanting to try chicken waffle sandwiches for years! Ever since we saw them on Man vs. Food. So I made up my mind to go get one for lunch.

When I reached the castle, I found a relatively short line for the wicked stepsisters!! I couldn’t turn that down.

These ladies are awesome. Hilarious. They definitely lived up to the hype.

I tried my evil face. I was obviously not very good at it.

So I smiled!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I headed into Fantasyland next.

Gaston!

I’ve ridden Little Mermaid many times at Disneyland and here once, so I just took pictures:

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Dumbo!

Dumbo Meme!

 

[Disneyfalcon]

I decided to walk back through Fantasyland one more time. Look at Goofy!

I know that duck!