Trip Report Our Fall 2014 Visit to WDW 9/26-10/4

Hello, everyone. I've been a member for a couple of years, but didn't start posting until a few months ago; I was anticipating our trip to WDW, and really enjoyed reading your Trip Reports and viewing all the photos. Thanks! I'll share some of the photos from our recent trip, in the hopes they might help rekindle memories, or build anticipation.

Brief Intro: My DH and I are retired and are DVC members. We live in South Florida, but spend summers in Maine. This trip took place from 9/26 to 10/4, and was our first visit to the Food & Wine Festival. We stayed at Bay Lake Tower for the first two nights, then moved to The Boardwalk Villas for the last five nights. I completed chemo treatments for breast cancer at the end of June, so my stamina was about 70-80% of normal (note- everything is going great, prognosis is good. I only mention it because you might wonder why we seemed to tour at such a relaxed pace).

Arrival Day - we arrived late Friday afternoon at BLT. After getting settled, we explored the resort and visited the Top of the World Lounge. This was a first for us. We enjoyed a glass of wine and a snack - house made chips with gorgonzola.


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Later than planned, I took the monorail to the MK for MNSSHP, and took some photos of the Castle Projection Show and Hallowishes. I had a ticket to the Villain's Soirée, but chose not to go to the dessert party. I was disappointed to miss both Boo to You Parades, but there is always next time. The reserved area for the Parade and Fireworks was more crowded at the 9/26 Party than previous ones because it was sold out. I found a good spot to set up my tripod, and even had a seat on a bench.


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The spot was great for the Projection Show, but really too close for Hallowishes photos. It was very immersive, even if the bursts show behind the castle. I'll continue with fireworks photos in the next post.
 
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SharonD

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hallowishes from the Hub:


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After the fireworks, I walked over to the Haunted Mansion. I wanted to get some photos of it all decked out for Halloween. On my - it was a MAD CRUSH of people, and was impossible to maneuver. I took a few quick snaps before giving up:

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I planned to stay for the second parade, but it started raining lightly, and I wasn't sure what it was going to do. I opted to go back to the hotel, and managed to beat the heavy rain that arrived after the parade. I wasn't upset, since the Headless Horseman didn't ride at either parade, so I will just put the Boo to You Parade on my bucket list to catch in the future. Even though I didn't do much at the Party, I was glad to participate. Next time, I'll go on a Tuesday, early in September :)


Up Next: The Magic Behind Our Steam Trains Tour
 

SharonD

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thank you for the nice comments about the photos. I promise there won't be so many on the same subject in future posts. I just needed something to show for my first MNSSHP.

I forgot to tell / warn you that there will be food photos in this report. We also did a couple of special events - the Steam Train Tour and the Wild Africa Tour.
 

ml123_9

Active Member
Congrats on your positive prognosis! Your pictures are wonderful. I'm looking forward to reading about the Steam Train tour.
 

bmarkelon

Well-Known Member
Oh my goodness! So excited for your report, your pictures are so magical! You especially had me with the Cheshire Cat in the castle projection show, I love that show so much now! And you'll make me miss BLT, our home which we haven't stayed at for our last couple visits! Keep it coming!! :)
 

LisaBelle

Well-Known Member
Your photos are spectacular! They make me feel like I am right there! Happy to hear your prognosis is good. Can't wait to read more!
 

SharonD

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks all, for the nice comments. OK - here comes an update.

The Magic Behind Our Steam Trains - I signed us up for the tour just a few weeks before our trip, and I'm glad I did. This was the last day the trains were scheduled to run for a while, since they are doing some track refurb. My DH (Lou) is a train nut, so I'd always wanted to do this tour with him, and staying at BLT made it easy to get to the park for the early start. We arrived at 7:05am for our 7:15am meet time (he didn't want to be late!):


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There were 12 people on the tour, and everyone showed up on time. We entered the park at 7:30am, and were the first ones there. Michael, our tour guide, gave us plenty of time to take some photos, then we gathered at the train station to get started.

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SharonD

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The Steam Train Tour - continued:

After Michael gave us an introduction to some of the history of the Steam Trains, and Walt Disney's love for trains, we boarded the train at Main Street for a ride to the Maintenance Barn. Here, we could look at several different Steam Engines (there are 4 at the Magic Kingdom), look into the shop, and also get a chance to climb onto the engine and look inside. Also, the monorail maintenance facility sits on top of the train section, and we did see one monorail train coming out of the station.

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Enjoying a close up view of Thunder Mountain from the Train:
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Steam Train Tours are Serious Business!
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Perhaps not too exciting if you aren't crazy about trains, but I found it interesting. After our tour here, we hopped on another train and headed back to Main Street Station. We were provided cold water, and had a 15 minute break. The park had started to get much busier - it was a Saturday morning, after all:

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We reconvened on the balcony at the Train Station, and Michael told us more about the history of the RR in the parks. We moved inside where we finished up the tour with more about Walt Disney and his love of trains. The tour was great - and Michael was an excellent guide. This is also a reasonable deal, at less than $50 per person.

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Up Next: Lunch with The Beast
 

SharonD

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks to folks for following along. We left off at the end of the Steam Train Tour. Before I forget, here is a photo of the special commemorative pin they gave us, as well as the cute name tag Michael made:

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Once we finished the tour, we stepped out to the Main Street Station balcony, and the Trolley Car Dancers were back at it. I admire their stamina and enthusiasm in the heat and humidity.

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We had a FP for Be our Guest at 11:20, so Lou wanted to ride the train around again. It's always fun to see the scenes from the train. Plus, this one young CM, was excited to see we'd been on the Train Tour:

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We got off in Fantasyland (after 1.5 circles on the train), and quickly walked to BoG. I took a few photos on the run, as this is the first visit since the Mine Train is up and running. We had Fast Passes for the 7DMT later in the week.

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We were let into the castle for lunch right on time. Note - I never received the email invite, and just used the website link for the FP. I preordered our food - and it showed correctly when we entered. This saves a few moments. I am hesitant to give a negative dining review, because everyone's tastes are so different. We had previously eaten dinner at BoG and enjoyed it. Our lunch experience was just not good. Our sandwiches were cold, the fries were cold and didn't taste good. We should have spoken with a manager, but decided just to make the best of it. We will still go back for dinner, when the whole experience is much better.

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We'd been at The Magic Kingdom since 7am, so we decided to go back to BLT for a rest after lunch. We meandered down Main Street, did some shopping, and took the boat back to the villa. Boat? We like boat rides, so we took the launch from MK to Wilderness Lodge, where we transferred to the boat going to the Contemporary. We had some rain showers, but it was a nice relaxing ride.


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Up Next: Date Night at Artist Point
 

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