The Museum of Pin-tiquities Trip Report

NewfieFan · Jun 26, 2009

I'm following along as well... great job!

hrcollectibles · Jun 26, 2009

MKCP 1985 said:
Thank you for sharing your pin trading adventures with us - I appreciate the insight into a whole aspect of the Disney experience that I'd never otherwise know about.

So far, so good . . . but if there isn't an appearance by one of these guys, I'm going to think this year is a let down compared to last.

not to mention one of these . . .

Good luck today - can't wait to see what Disney had in store for you! :wave:

Is it me or does the dancing lady look like Courtney ? Keep us posted.. An dWhat exactly is this pin event and DVC Mixer?

ZapperZ · Jun 27, 2009

This is just a quick report. We just got back from MK, and it is 12:45 am, and I'm dead tired. But still, I want to make this recommendation:

GO DO WISHES FIREWORKS DESSERT!

I highly recommend it. The desserts were an endless supply, and were just scrumptious! Not only do you get to see Wishes from a very good location, but if you go on the evening that also has SpectroMagic, you get to see both from your location while you're enjoying your dessert. So if you have the chance, do the Wishes dessert party. This is something I would definitely do again next time we get to WDW.

Will post more pictures later. I need some sleep right now....

Zz.

WDWFigment · Jun 27, 2009

I would love to see the pictures you got from the Wishes Dessert party location. Awesome report (love the Everest shots).

ZapperZ · Jun 27, 2009

Here are some sights from the pin event.

This is the pin-trading area, where hundreds of pin traders trade their pins. It is scary to see some people walking in with suitcases and suitcases filled with pins.

There are pin trading games to be played, having long lines of course. In this one, you can trade 2 pins with whatever you see on the pin board within 1 minute. The pin board is "refreshed" every hour, it seems. Some of the pins you can find on the boards are the cast lanyard series that are released for the first time at this pin event, and also a few valuable limited edition pins.

I'm getting close to the front of the line in this pin trading game. They happened to refreshed the board when I was about 6 back of the line. I managed to get a couple of good pins in this one.

[cont...]

ZapperZ · Jun 27, 2009

[...cont]

Some of the decor they have around the event. Remember, the theme here is "pin-tiquitties", so it has a lot to do with archeology and history.

I like this one because of Pluto!

Zz.

ZapperZ · Jun 27, 2009

Here are pictures from the Wishes Dessert party from last night. If you think you might go into a sugar shock, look away now!

This is the area where we will have the dessert party.

The view of the castle from where we sat during the party. Great view of the hub!

Alright! Brace yourself. Here comes the delectable desserts!

[cont...]

ZapperZ · Jun 27, 2009

[...cont]

Here's what we took on the first round.

Yes, the continued to replenish the desserts throughout the evening. There were also coffee, tea, juices, ice teas, and water.

We got to enjoy SpectroMagic while having our desserts. It wasn't a bad viewing area.

Here's Wishes from where we stood.

Great views, even if you lose a bit of the symmetry. Hint: the best viewing area is not way out in front, but further back along the railings, close to the service area. From there you don't have the overhanging at all to possibly block your view.

Zz.

disneygirl1 · Jun 27, 2009

Great Report!!! I think my DS would have been in heaven at the Pin event!!! He is old 7, but has been collecting since hes been about 3!!! As for the dessert party, WOW!!! Great location and the assortment of goodies looked amazing!!! Boy would I like to attend that, but can't eat chocolate so, I think I better steer clear to avoid the temptation! :ROFLOL:

nibblesandbits · Jun 27, 2009

I'm actually quite sad they took one of my favorite spots to view Wishes away from me.

But it looks like the dessert party is very nice.

ZapperZ · Jun 28, 2009

Since I couldn't post my report this morning due to the forum being down, here's my report of yesterday's activities.

We started out the morning with going back to the pin event. This time we were early enough this time that the sniffing dog was still there at the World Gateway when we went through the bag check. (They use sniffing dogs on us pin traders so that we won't hold up the bag check line when security has to go through our bags). The funny thing was that the dog looked as if he has had it and rather very disinterested in sniffing our bags!

His handler had to keep telling him to go sniff some more. I think he was ready to get out of there.

Here's the entrance to World Showplace where the pin event took place. I couldn't snap a good picture till now because of the rain and light condition.

We picked up our parting gifts - a couple of boxes of souvenir boxed pin set.

One of the special event that day was a pin session with Scoop Sanderson. He used to do this on Main Street USA a few years ago, but for some reason, they stopped that. So he was certainly welcomed with a huge round of applause at the beginning of this session.

We then ditched the pin event and went shopping at the Premium Outlet mall. They had a Disney outlet store, and a croc outlet store! Crocs, even Disney crocs, were roughly 50% off!

We then headed off to Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our dinner reservation at Sanaa. The lobby of Kidani Village is very nice, but very small when compared with Jumbo House (the original building at AKL). This isn't suprising since DVC resorts usually do not have grand lobby the way Deluxe Resorts do.

{cont...}

ZapperZ · Jun 28, 2009

{...cont}

More look at the lobby area.

We then walked outside in the front of the picture window to the viewing area in the middle of the resort.

{cont...}

ZapperZ · Jun 28, 2009

{...cont}

We then headed to Sanaa for our dinner. The food was excellent, although I would prefer a larger portion when compared to the price. While the service was excellent, they kept forgetting to bring a couple of our appetizers that we ordered. I know it was a large group, but still....

They had groups of cast members going around to tables that had people celebrating their birthdays.

Short ribs with chicken and basmati rice.

Short ribs with shrimp and basmati rice.

Sustainable fish cooked in banana leaf. They "unleaf" the dish for you at the table.

We had an extremely wonderful evening.

Kidani Village would be some place I would like to stay. However, there were a coupld of glaring "problems". First, the parking area is atrocious. After spending so much money on the decor and themeing of the resort, the parking area looks like it could be any generic parking garage. You park under the resort itself, and it looks like a concrete jungle. Zero attempts were made at even disguising the concrete slabs and columns and pipes, etc. Very disappointing.

Secondly, if you are simply visiting and do not know where you are, there are zero directions on where to park and how to get to the lobby. We were lucky that we somehow ended up parking close to the Timon elevator, and then we walked a short distance towards the lobby. If you didn't know any better and parked at, say, the Zazu elevator, you end up walking and walking along the resort corridor to get to the lobby, along the way thinking that you are completely lost.

The viewing area, while it looks rather nice, is also a bit disappointing. You can see the "guard" fence to prevent the animals from getting too close. It used to be that they hide this behind bushes or rocks at Jumbo House. Not here. You also get to see part of the "backstage" area where the animals are kept when they are not out on the safari grounds (check out one of the pictures I posted). I don't know if they plan on growing shrubs or trees to hide all of this, but it ruins the scenary a bit. There are just some small indications here and there that they didn't pay that much attention to detail with Kidani Village.

Zz.

ZapperZ · Jun 28, 2009

We did the Passholder/DVC Member preview of Hall of Presidents today.

I like it, but I wish there were a lot more of the audio-animatronics, and less "movie". The presidents used to "speak" to each other. Now, it's more of a show.

Zz.

George · Jun 28, 2009

Thanks for the trip report. You take great pics. I love the Italy/SSE one in the sunlight.

My family just got into pin trading on our last trip (6/5-6/12).

Good pics of the new resort too. We're DVCers (VWL is our home resort), so we may stay there one day. Interesting about the lobby and directions. Have to keep that in mind if we try eating there.

NewfieFan · Jun 28, 2009

Enjoying the TR... the desserts looked amazing!!!:slurp:

ZapperZ · Jun 29, 2009

Other than doing the preview for the Hall of Presidents, we didn't do much yesterday other than strolling around the Contemporary and MK. So here are a few pictures from the Contemporary and MK.

BLT.

The marina at the Contemporary

A view from an observation deck.

At the Hub at MK.

A must have at MK - Dole Whip pineapple float.

We did Pirates, and then Jungle Cruise. Our Jungle Cruise skipper was a complete riot! She laid on the puns one after the other towards the end while we waited to dock. It was hysterical.

Zz.

ZapperZ · Jun 30, 2009

We had a leisure day yesterday, mainly because we were tired, but also we had more things to do outside of the theme parks.

We first met up with a cast member friend, who took us to Company D and property control. I've always tried to snap as many pictures as I can whenever I'm there, especially on all the displays.

We then had a pleasant lunch at Kona Cafe in the Polynesian. Here are some "sights" from the lobby and entrance to the Polynesian.

We then spent the afternoon at Downtown Disney. I bumped into this vinylmation mickey at the Art of Disney store. Scary!

Today is supposed to be a full day, but with the bad weather rolling in, it might be a wash out. We were scheduled to do parasailing this morning, but now, it doesn't look very promising. We shall see. Otherwise, the rest of the day will be spent at MK. We have a lunch reservation at Crystal Palace, and then a DVC special preview of BLT mid afternoon at the Contemporary. By then, the rain might have taken over.

It will be a wet end to our trip...

Zz.

corey154 · Jun 30, 2009

I'm so sad you guys are leaving tomorrow, I'm having so much fun reading your trip report and following your blogs through my day while i'm working! i wish you were staying longer!!!

ZapperZ · Jul 1, 2009

I just barely made it up on my parasailing excursion yesterday. The bad weather was coming in fast, and I was the last one up before the closed down all water activities on Bay Lake.

So here are a few pictures from that excursion.

The boat crew. Looks like these people really know what they are doing, which is always reassuring for someone like me doing this for the first time.

Leaving the marina at the Contemporary.

I'm up! I'm up! The view was amazing!

Here are my dangling feet a few hundred feet above the water.

We leave for home this afternoon. So this will be my final transmission from here. I'll post more reports after I get back home and recover a bit.

Zz.

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