My trip report....The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

After some swimming and a quick nap, it was time to get into our costumes for MNSSHP. I was beyond excited to attend MNSSHP, but if you've seen my other post...this ended up being the "ugly" part of "the good, the bad and the ugly", but I'll get to that in a minute. My whole family participated (much to the shagrin of my brother) by dressing as pirates. Not the most original costume choice, but easy to pack. We got on the bus to head to the MK around 6:00. The lines to get in didn't seem that bad, we got our bracelets and our candy bags and made our way on to Main Street. So far so good. Then the ugly started....the place was absolutely mobbed. I have never seen so many people in the MK at one time, and I've been going to WDW for years. The lines for trick or treating were outrageously long, and the lines for the rides were even longer. People were pushing and shoving and it just took away all of the magic for me. We barely rode anything at all. We spent most of our time in lines. It was so frustrating to spend that kind of money only to feel like we barely got to see and do anything at all. The only bright spot was that we got to experience a soft opening of the new fantasy land. We ended up getting to participate in Belle's Enchanted Tales. I won't spill the beans for those of you haven't seen it yet, but what a neat experience. Alaina, Liam and I all got chose to play a part. Very cool! After that, it was time for the fireworks. We were on the back side of the castle when they started. It wasn't necessarily the best view, but we enjoyed them none the less. After that, Liam really wanted to ride Peter Pan again (one of my favorites), but I really wanted to get on the haunted mansion since I hadn't had a chance to ride it yet this trip. The kids DEFINITELY didn't want to ride that one. They were both BIG chickens. So Mom, Dad and I headed to the Haunted Manion while Mike, Michelle and the kids waited in line for Peter Pan again. We met up afterwards for the Boo to You Parade. This was my first time seeing this parade, and it was so cool to see all of the villans! I even got to see the headless horeseman ride through to start the parade. After the parade, we decided we had enough of the crowds and we made our way back to Main Street, when all of a sudden one of my wishes came true....we ran into Captain Hook and got our pictures taken with him in full pirate costumes. By this point, my brother and sister in-law had taken most of their costumes off, so this picture is just me, my folks and the kids (minus Liam's hat, it had started itching earlier, so he took it off).

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Thanks, Allie. Before we left the room on check out day, we left a note in the safe declaring room 3342 "The Room of No Rules" and asking the next family to keep the tradition alive. It was my niece's idea. We figured if we put it in the safe, the next family would certainly find it and that Mousekeeping wouldn't throw it away.

Day 4: EPCOT Day

So needless to say after three days of non-stop running, the kids and their parents were pretty beat. They decided to sleep in on Friday morning, so Mom, Dad and I headed to Epcot without them. We made a bee-line straight for Soarin. The standby line was only 30 minutes so we got in line and were lucky enough to get row 1. The ride was amazing as usual. When we got off, we headed to the Fast Pass machines and grabbed three fast passes for 1:00 so Mike, Michelle and Alaina could ride it when they got to the park. From Soarin we headed to Mission Space where we rode the green side (all Mom could handle). After we got off Mission Space, Mike called and they were at the entrance. We met up with them and headed to the Agent P booth so the kids could do a mission while we crusied the countries. They got their assignment and we headed to the left on our way to England. We stopped at the Hawaii booth for the Kailua Pork Slider, then to Canada for the filet (yum!) and a moosehead. From there we stopped in England to start the mission. I had no idea it was such an endeavor. Holy time consuming! Since the kids were wrapped up in the mission, I convinced Mom & Dad to head across the bridge and hit France for another Grey Goose Slushy (OK...we actually had more than one). From there I stopped at the Belgium booth for the Mussels (another Yum) and Mom grabbed some crepe's from a stand between France & Belgium. Dad was looking for something a little more substantial than the bite size piece you get at each stand, so I took him to Tangerine Cafe (thanks, Bella for introducing me to that place) and he got the lamb wrap (up here in the Northeast we call it a gyro). We grabbed a few more drinks then it was time for Mike, Michelle & Alaina to use their Soarin Fast passes. So we took Liam on the ferry across the lagoon and headed in that direction. When they got off of Soarin we hit the Imagination Pavilion and The Seas with Nemo & Friends. From there we decided we'd do a few more character pictures and head out. We had dinner reservations at 6:30 in DTD and it was already 4:30. I wanted to head back to the hotel to freshen up and take the boat over. They were running dragon boat races at DTD so the boat was only dropping off on the West Side, and of course we need to be on the opposite side, so once the boat docked we practically raced over to Wolfgang Pucks (Mike & Michelle's ADR choice). Now I have been to DTD many times, but never on a Friday night, and let me just say...never again on a Friday night. The place was wall to wall people. We made it to our ADR with 5 minutes to spare. They sat us in an odd room with a whole bunch of other large family parties. That's when I knew we were in trouble. The service was absolutely terrible. The worst service I've ever had at WDW. Of course, Wolfgang Puck's is not a Disney owned restaurant, but I've eaten there before and always enjoyed the experience. Not this time. File this one under the "bad" in "the good, the bad, and the ugly". Anyway, after dinner we attempted to hit the World of Disney, but the crowds were just too much for us and we decided to finsh our shopping back at the Magic Kingdom the next day. Our last day.

Day 5 - Our last day

The last day of a trip to WDW is always a blue day, but in this case, our flight didn't leave until 7:30 PM so we had almost a whole day left to enjoy. We got up, headed down to airline check in and checked our bags. I loved knowing we wouldn't see our bags again until we arrived in Philadelphia. Very cool. After that we headed back to MK. Once inside we headed straight to Sleepy Hallow for the last waffles of our trip and then decided to take Liam back over to Storybook Circus to ride his absolute favorite - Goofy's barnstormer coaster. If you ask him even today what his favorite part of WDW was, he'll say that coaster. Too funny. We did a few of the rides in Storybook Circus and then headed back into Fantasy land for the classics again...Peter Pan, Its a small World, etc.. From there we decided it was a good time to get lunch. I needed my Casey's, so Mom, Dad and I had chili cheese dogs, while Mike, Michelle and the kids went to Cosmic Rays for burgers. We sat at the tables outside of the Plaza and watched the people go by. The weather was absolutely gorgeous...sunny, mid 80's and ZERO humidity. After lunch we decided to finish up our shopping and hit the Emporium on Main St. I bought myself a Dole Whip t-shirt and a new baseball hat. I got my hubby a winter hit (he's a big fan of the wooly hats) and got Willow (my pup) a Cheshire Cat plush toy. We wanted to do Splash Mountain one more time before we left but it was closed down. Splash Mountain seemed to be having a lot of problems the week were there. I'm not sure why, but at least we got to ride it once. That ended up being my niece's favorite ride. Can't blame her. It is a classic! Well it was about 3:00 by now, and the Magical Express was picking us up at POFQ at 4:30, so we hopped the bus and headed back to the resort. We did a little more shopping in the gift shop there and then headed over to the pool bar for a few drinks before heading to the airport. All in all it was a wonderful trip, minus a few bad and ugly points. Still even with those few things that went wrong, I would still rather be in WDW than anywhere else!!!! I only wish I knew when I'd be going again! I'm bored not having another trip to plan!

HOLY COW...I just realized I forgot to mention the last thing I did before leaving the MK on Day 5 - I GOT MY DOLE WHIP FLOAT! How a girl could forget to mention something as important as that is beyond me.

It was SCRUMPTIOUS!!!!!

That is so sweet. Thank you. I try!

Aw thanks!

I would love to be down there at the same time as you and Mase! That would be so much fun!!!! I've actually been considering giving a solo trip a try. My DH doesn't mind WDW but he doesn't feel the need to go more than once every few years. Me on the other hand, I'd like to go every year if possible!

Is your suitcase big enough.

Cool. I've never stayed at AK before!

Yep, Ollie. I've got to give it to the float. I had my first ever Dole Whip during last years trip, but I went whip straight up, no float. Now I'll never go back. Float all the way!!!

Thanks, Dee. Have you done your trip report yet? Did I miss it?

I get it. No trip report. Any favorite memories about the trip to share?

Thanks, Nancy. We had such a good time, and its fun to put it all down in writing and share it with you all!