Oh there you are Perry: A Sept/Oct 2011 TR

It is so hard to believe that this time a week ago I was still running around Main Street USA but alas, it is back to reality, for the next 407 days :fork:

I'll stop my pity party and get right down to reliving the magic!

The Who:

:wave: Here we are! Our cast is made of of myself, Nicole(27) and the Disney loving boyfriend of almost 3 years, Ryan (22). This was our 4th time in the world together since our 1 year anniversary trip in February 2010!

The When
September 28, 2011 - October 3, 2011

The Where
Disney's All Star Sports Resort

Now that we have all the basics out of the way..let's get moving!

September 28 2011

Ryan had class all afternoon and I had work until 2:45 so unfortunately it was a light flight out for us . I would have loved to call out that day but I was already taking one day for the trip so I couldn't (School was closed 2 days for the Jewish holiday and your not "suppose" to call out before or after a long weekend...oh well!)

I had ants in my pants all day long. Partially because I am a terrible flyer and partially because I just wanted to be there already! I found myself checking the flight status over and over again. Low and behold, around noon it happened; flight status: DELAYED! For the time being it was only delayed for about 45 minutes so we stuck with the plan and headed to the airport around 4. I had done the on-line check in with Jet Blue and we had checked our bags and were through security in ab out 20 minutes, now all we had to do was wait.

We decided to grab something to eat at none other than..

THE EARL! Yes, we are lucky enough to have one in Newark Airport! I was really looking forward to a BLT but alas it wasn't even on the menu! I had the original with Cheddar not Swiss which was pretty good. Ryan devoured the BBQ chicken sandwich and than the rest of mine.

By the time we boarded it was about 7:40, I knew this was NOT good news. The flight was quick, 2 hours and 2 minutes...if only it had left on time! Happy to see this as I made my way through the terminal!

Bad new was by the time we landed it was after 10pm and we had to go get our own luggage before we made our way over to...

The other stinker about arriving late was that we were missing EMH's at Epcot..boo!

We hoped the bus and we were on our way! Before we knew it we were arriving at All Star Sports

I had also used online check in but because it was almost midnight there was only 1 person behind the desk and the family in front of us was having some trouble. We got a room in the Home Run Hotel section, we requested a king bed, but didn't get one and by this time all I wanted to do was sleep!! But who can sleep when there are so many things to take pictures of!

(Just a side note..I did take 525pictures on this trip)

 

[WDW_Princess24]

October 1 2011 cont..

Because the park was so crowded we decided to just stroll and take some pictures before our lunch ADR at Crystal Palace

I thought it was adorable how they put out these status during Halloween

Halloween is my favorite time of year and we walked up and down Main Street just snapping away

 

[WDW_Princess24]

We noticed a photopass guy taking pictures at the entrance to Main St in that little hub so we hoped on the line to get our picture taken. A really nice woman asked us to take a picture of her family with their camera when it was there turn and she offered to return the favor. I just love how people are so friendly and so nice, it's a welcome change from NJ

We arrived at the Crystal Palace and checked in for our ADR. It was crowded as always and we did have to wait about 25 minutes past our reservation time to be seated. Our server wasn't the nicest or the friendliest but I wasn't there for her so I really didn't mind. First we met our pal Piglet

Than made our way to fill our plates and our bellies. CP is one of my favorite buffets on property, they have awesome rice with cinnamon and the pasta salads..yummy!! Next up was everyones favorite flirt...

Tigger gave me big hugs and lots of kisses but I was only concerned about Eeyore. Of coarse when he was about to get to us they started the parade so my excitement was temporarily put on hold, he came to see my soon enough

We waited and waited and waited and Pooh never came to visit. After over an hour we gave up and decided to just head out.

Earlier in the day we had grabbed fast passes for Space Mountain and it was time to use them so off we went to the stars!

Around 4 we decided to go back to the hotel, it was getting kind of nippy and we realized once the sun went down, we (well me really) would be freezing. We had a dinner ADR at Tony's later that night so we headed back to get some rest before our long night back at MK!

 

[WDW_Princess24]

p.s. those pics from CP are the WORST and most unflattering pictures EVER. Big ups to the CM for that lol

 

[fractal]

I'm loving the MK Halloween decor pics! Nice job. The Space Mountain picture is also well done. - Mine came out blurry which made my face look 2X bigger.

Looking forward to more.

 

[Kristia]

Hi fellow Jerseyian! :wave: Great report! I agree with you....love the Halloween at MK. I am looking forward to seeing all the Christmas decorations this year but I think I will still like Halloween best!

 

[heartodisney]

Is Ryan wearing a "first time at Disney Button"? That is a must for my daughter and mom-in-law!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I love your dress. Definitely something I would wear!!

And like fractal said, your Space pic came out really good! I've never attempted that one... maybe I'll give it a try in 2 weeks when I'm there!!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Love the Space Mountain picture! I have yet to attempt it, maybe next time!

And it's so funny how we probably missed each other, you guys had an ADR at Tony's for dinner, and we ate there for lunch. Crazy!

 

[ArtieJim]

I just love how people are so friendly and so nice, it's a welcome change from NJ

Not everyone in NJ is mean! Although, I do understand where you're coming from with that statement.

 

[WDW_Princess24]

Is Ryan wearing a "first time at Disney Button"? That is a must for my daughter and mom-in-law!

Nope, actually those are the 40th anniversary buttons they gave to everyone who was there on October 1st

I love your dress. Definitely something I would wear!!

And like fractal said, your Space pic came out really good! I've never attempted that one... maybe I'll give it a try in 2 weeks when I'm there!!

Thank you, thank you! I tried to take that pic every time we went on and after 50 attempts I finally got it right!

Love the Space Mountain picture! I have yet to attempt it, maybe next time!

And it's so funny how we probably missed each other, you guys had an ADR at Tony's for dinner, and we ate there for lunch. Crazy!

Thanks! I tried so many times and it took a while to finally get one that looked that good. It's crazy how we just missed each other 100 times during the trip


I must apologize for the delay in posting, not sure if anyone is still on board. My family has been here from Ireland for the past 10 days and than over the weekend the northeast got blasted with snow that kind of took us all of guard. I've been out of work for two days because the schools in my district are without power! Never the less, let's get back on track!

 

[WDW_Princess24]

October 1, 2011 cont

I had been worried all day long that if we left MK we might not be able to get back in because of the crowds on the 40th but we had no problems. Our first stop was to see the mouse himself. Upon changing my wardrobe I felt it was time to put the tiara back on and Mickey appreciated it. As soon as he seen me he did his best "your majesty" bow, of course, I ate this up!

We decided to check in at Tony's early. The only ADR I could get was for 7:55pm and I was hoping to be on the outside patio so we could catch the parade. We checked in around 7:30 and it was well after 8pm before we got seated. The parade seemed to be a little delayed for whatever reason but we were seated inside anyway.

For appetizer we had our usual flavors of Italy, which was good, although I felt like something was missing from our last trip, I think it was the roasted garlic but I can't be too sure

For dinner I had my usual, shrimp scampi which was soo yummy! I picked out all the asparagus but the best thing about this is the dish is filled with big fresh shrimp! You definitely get your moneys worth!

Ryan had the sausage, which had a little kick to it but was good as well

For dessert we split our usual ice cream bomb!

I'm pretty sure we finished dinner with minutes to spare before Wishes and we bolted out and as far as we could get up Main Street before they started.

 

[WDW_Princess24]

Wishes that night was amazing with all the surrounding fireworks going off for the 40th. Of coarse I couldn't control the tears the entire time. As soon as the lights came on and older woman in front of us turned around and looked at me, she was crying too, and she jokingly said to me "I'm glad I'm not the only one" we both than turned to the right and the woman next to us was crying too "I can't help it, every single time this happens" and we all started to laugh. It always nice to share in those moments, even with total strangers, we have all been connected by one man!

Trying to get ANYWHERE after Wishes was pure insanity. Now, Ryan and I have been in our fair share of mosh pits over the years and thankfully that came in handy. Squeezing through people and turning myself in all different directions through a crowd has become a specialty. People were not moving at all! With so many strollers and jazzies and whatever else blocking pathways in every direction was awful! CM's were desperate for people to go in one specific direction but the park was still open for another 3 hours and it just wasn't possible. I think it took about 45 minutes to walk from Main Street to the entrance of Adventureland..gasp!

We hit up pirates and I found another fun bathroom!

We hit up Splash and Big Thunder with no waits

I did notice much of what others have been saying about Splash Mountain. A lot of things seemed to be down, especially in the Laughing Place. If you are a first time rider though, I doubt one would notice.

The mob on Main Street really cut into our time at the park but we knew we would have until midnight the following night as well. We browsed some of the shops looking for 40th merch and took our time heading out and back to the resort

Coming up: MNSSHP!!!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I would have been right there with ya with tears streaming down my face during Wishes! as well. Get's me EVERY time!! lol

I have heard how much of a madhouse getting around after Wishes was. Craziness. I'd have gotten sooo frustrated.

Tony's looks really yummy and, in fact, we just booked it for dinner for our spring trip. I'm a huge italian food fan but I think we booked it because the ice cream bomb looks so delicious. Maybe well skip the dinner and head straight for the dessert!!

 

[WDW_Princess24]

October 2, 2011

We had a late breakfast reservation at Kona this morning but we wanted to get to HS super early to ride Toy Story so we decided to cancel them. Ryan however would not give up on the Tonga Toast so we decided to go to Captain Cooks instead.

We absolutely fell in love with the poly on this trip!

Tonga Toast!!

I had a breakfast platter which was gi-normous and Ryan ate most of it!

We filled our bellies and waited outside the Poly with about 20 other people for the bus to HS, we arrived right after opening and of coarse by the time we made it to the fast pass machine the return time was already 12:30...sigh! So we grabbed our passes and headed for the Muppets!

The park was packed and the lines were outrageous! We ended up having to get passes for ToT and RnR as well.

While waiting to use our passes for ToT I took a ton of pictures around the hotel!

 

[WDW_Princess24]

It was finally our time to ride! As we boarded there was some type of fill crew, I don't know what for, no one seemed to be wearing any form of identification but one of the women was on the elevator with us

We quickly went back to use our TSMM passes where I whooped Ryan's but, I was too busy celebrating to take a picture of the score, but it wasn't just luck, I had him by a lot! I celebrating my way to the exit and said our good byes to HS for this trip!

We were headed to Epcot for lunch at Tokyo Dining and decided to take the boats to Epcot. This is something we have never done before and it was just beautiful! I had never been near the Swan and Dolphin or the Boardwalk before, boy was I missing out on things!

We arrived at the international gateway and made our way to Japan for our ADR

I had my usual teriyaki chicken which was amazing!

Ryan had the swordfish which he said was delicious

For dessert...ginger cake of coarse!

We really didn't have time to venture around afterwards because we needed to go get ready for MNSSHP. I was bummed that we didn't get to spend much time in Epcot this trip, especially with the food and wine festival going on, but this trip seemed to be all about MK, and I was fine with that!

So long Epcot! Until next time!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I love MK so I def don't mind spending lots of time there. It seems like this trip will be mostly Epcot. I feel like each trip we spend the most time in a different park than the trip before. And thats ok by me!!

Kepp the posts coming! I wont be able to read much til next week as we leave for the world tonight, but it'll give me some reading material when I come home!!

 

[WDW_Princess24]

I love me some MK as well! I felt like our last trip was mostly Epcot. I see that happening too where each trip you really find yourself spending more time in one park than all the others.

I should have this done before the end of the week since my work is closed today and tomorrow but if you don't get to it, it will be waiting for you once you return and you can read all about MNSSHP!

I'm so jealous, have a safe trip and lots of fun for me!! I can't wait to read all about it when you get back! :sohappy:

 

[HollyBelle]

Hooray for Tokyo Dining! I love that place. We've always gotten some version of the tempura, but your plates have me thinking we should try one of the entrees next time.

Mmm... ginger cake! :slurp:

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Seriously, you were at EPCOT too on that Sunday. We definitely had to walk past each other at some point and didn't notice!!!

 

[sam_disney]

WOW, loving this trip report!!!