The Museum of Pin-tiquities Trip Report

I'm all packed, dressed, and credit-card-filled to the gills. We are bringing two large suitcases, one small rolling suitcase, and a folded duffel bag in one of the large suitcases (we LOVE Southwest!). That's the largest amount of crap... er ... stuff that we have ever brought GOING to WDW!

The next transmission will be from the Most Magical Place on Earth!

Zz.

The ZapperZ made it to the Most Magical Place on Earth. And what's better, our room at our "home" was ready. We are staying at the Carousel at SSR, although we much prefer Congress Park. Still, it's a quiet area that isn't facing a busy street.

We are busily unpacking and freshening up. We plan to go to the Studios after we grab a bite to eat at Downtown Disney (don't want to eat at the Studios since counter service food there SUCKS!).

Will report more later...

Zz.

Thank you. We haven't decided yet. If it rains too hard, we might just stay at SSR and have dinner there.

Anyway, we are back just in time before the severe thunderstorm rolled into the Orlando area. So far, lots of lightning and thunder.

We spent the afternoon at DHS.

Didn't get to do much since all the lines were rather long. We did go into the Animation Academy and we got to draw a character that we've never drawn before - DOPEY!

I was very excited and actually paid very close attention to it. Here's what I ended up with.

He wasn't as difficult as Eeyore or Tigger, but he has a lot of small, intricate details. Again, if you have never done the Animation Academy, I highly recommend it.

We then caught a little bit of the "parade", or the "party bash".

We then decided that we WILL go through the stand-by line at ToT even though it was reading 40 minutes. They had all the mister going at full blast, which helped a little bit on a hot day like today.

Unfortunately, right as we entered the lobby, the ride broke down! They didn't know how long it will be down. So we left.

We got out of DHS, and went to a Winn-Dixie on 535 where we normally go to, and got the supplies we need. So we're all set for the week!

We'll spend the rest of the day just relaxing and turning in early. We plan on doing the early Extra Magic Hour at DAK tomorrow.

Zz.

Nope. You don't have to sign up. Just show up early enough to be in the group, and you're in. If you don't get in, there's another one right after that.

The weather today should be better. There's only a very small chance of rain. It also is hot, but not unbearable, low 90's.

We just got back from DAK. It was busy, but not horrible. We wanted to do EE twice, but only managed to do once. Even the fastpass line was sticking out of the normal entrance area. The stand-by line was insanely long.

We are resting at SSR till the mid afternoon. We are planning on attending the DVC member mixer at the Atlantic Dance Hall. After that, we're meeting up with a couple more people who would had just flown in from Chicago this afternoon, and will plan on dinner then.

We like this relaxed pace whenever we visit WDW.

Zz.

Here are some pictures from this morning.

We started at DAK with EE.

I got another shot of the Yeti!

Then we saw Flik at It's Tough To Be A Bug. This is a snap shot after we exited the theater.

Went to Dinoland and wanted to do Primeval Whirl, but the line was jus too long.

We then spent a few minutes watching the Village Beatniks performed while we waited for Flame Tree BBQ to open.

We had lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. Yummy! I love their smoked chicken!

We wanted to do EE again using our Fast Pass, but the Fast Past line was already sneaking out of the main entrance. The Stand-by line was even worse. It extended all the way beyond the Fast Pass booth area.

We abandoned our plan to do EE. We then left DAK to rest up for the evening.

Zz.

We started the afternoon by attending the DVC Members Merry Mixers at the Atlantic Dance Hall at the Boardwalk. But on the way to there, as we were talking down the Boardwalk, we were "distracted" by the Boardwalk Bakery and just had to go in. Yes, we got some brownies and a piece of the chocolate moose cake. Hey, we're on vacation - these food carries no calories!

A view of part of the Boardwalk

.. and the Atlantic Dance Hall where we had our mixers.

We were welcomed to the mixer by a very friendly cast member, and also some refreshments, which is always very nice.

We left with parting gifts, another very nice thing at one of these mixers. We then headed to Epcot, my most favortie WDW theme park!

We did Spaceship Earth, and did some shopping at Mouse Gears. Then we headed to Morocco to have dinner at Marrekesh.

Yum! The food was delicious, except for my dish, which was the lamb shank meshoui. The shank was wonderful, but there was something off with the couscous, as if it was a bit "stale". I've eaten Moroccan food many times, I've eaten at Marekesh many times, and I've had this dish before, so I kinda know what I should get. The couscous was certainly not right.

The lamb shank meshoui with the off-tasting couscous.

Someone was being quite creative with the hummus garnishing.

After dinner, we went shopping at the Japan pavilion. I took a picture of this window display.

We then found a place to view Illuminations, not at my regular, most favorite place, but at the Italy pavilion. This was fine because none of us brought any tripods, and we were not going to be taking any pictures. So a different viewing area wasn't a big deal.

Illuminations stated, but there was a slight problem with our area - the sound level was rather low! So the music was not coming through that clearly, which is disappointing to me because the music is a BIG part of the show.

It started to rain slightly towards the end, but it was only a light drizzle. We then made out way back to the Boardwalk to get our car and headed "home".

Today will be the first day of the pin event - well, not really the official first day, but the early registration and merchandise pick-up. There will also be a pin trading afternoon for all the registered attendees, and then an open pin trading night for all guests this evening. We plan on staying at least till the beginning of pin trading night, because supposedly, there's a limited edition pin being released during the pin trading night. Not knowing what it is yet, we of course have to stay and try to get one.

It will be a long day.....

Zz.

We got reusable DVC bags, which you can't get or buy anywhere. So hooray!

Here is my report from what we did yesterday. I'm still a bit tired, and I have to replenish my pin trading book, so this will be a short one.

We started the day by shopping (what else) at World of Disney. I like how they decorated the center part of the store with all the balloons. While it ties in with their "Celebrate" theme, it also ties in with "Up"!

We had a quick lunch at Earl of Sandwich, and then headed on over to the Beach/Yacht Club Convention Center for the pin event early registration. We promptly got into this long line to register and for merchandise pick-up. Still, strangely enough, the line didn't feel THAT long, not when you keep bumping into people you know, people were comparing pins, and people just having a joyful time. It is usually like that at one of these events.

There were already table set up for pin trading, and they were almost full by then. We didn't feel like staying and doing pin trading, so we headed on over to Epcot.

First thing we saw was that the Fountain of Nations was dry! (Did someone drove his chevy to it?) It was running yesterday.

We had dinner at the Japan Pavilion, Tokyo dining. What we didn't know before was that periodically, they had a demonstration on how to make a sushi roll, in this case, the California maki.

What was done was also projected onto a large screen.

More pictures around the Japan Pavilion after dinner.

We then walked back towards the convention center to see if they might release a pin for the Pin Trading night, which was opened to the all guests. On the way back, I took this picture of the sun rays coming through the clouds. Not sure if it shows well in the picture.

Pin trading area was packed, and we ran into more of our friends. So while we did a few pin trading, we spent more time just yapping away and catching up with people we haven't seen in a while. It was a very good time. But by 7:00 pm, we decided to ditch the pin trading night and head back to Epcot to do the EMH. It turned out that it was a wise decision to do pin trading because it rained while we were in the convention center. It was still drizzling as we were walking to Epcot, but rain is a non-issue whenever we're there. I'd rather be wet and soaked at WDW than being dry anywhere else.

We headed to Soarin', which had a 40 minute wait. It wasn't that bad.

And then we did Figment.

Went to the Mexico pavilion to ride the "Donald ride". By the time we got out, it was close to 11:00 pm. So we headed "home".

It was a very long day, and today promises to be another one. This is the first official day of the pin event, and the event moves to the World Showcase at Epcot, where all the serious pin trading, and pin trading games, will commence, along with other special events and games. I can wait to see how they decorate the place. And tonight, we have our Wishes Fireworks dessert at MK.

Zz.

We are back at our resort to rest (and shower) before we head out to MK for the Wishes dessert.

After a slow start in the morning, I was up at full speed with my pin trading. I did A LOT of pin trading and got a lot of very good pins. So it was a highly productive afternoon.

Will report more and upload the pictures after we get back later.

Zz.

Thanks! We're off to MK!

Zz.