Disney, Again

So we finally got to go on our rescheduled October Disney trip!

Thursday we left directly after work, drove to Atlanta to spend the night. Our usual overnight hotel in Columbus was booked solid, so we had them move us to one in Atlanta… and it was not great. (When I said “Oh then just move us to one in Atlanta,” I expected the one in downtown near the Dcon hotels… this was not it) The area was super shady and I felt like our car was going to be gone in the morning… the AC sounded like a freight train and we had a hard time sleeping. Won’t be staying there again! We got up at 6 to roll on out and the security guard in the lobby told Kevin he was the Illuminati (because of the tri-force symbol on his Zelda shirt LOL)

We found a giant cow:

I drew a bit in the car on the way down… I’d hoped to do more on the way back but slept mostly.

OMG DISNEY!

We got in around 1 Friday afternoon, and headed straight to Epcot – we parked, went in, got Kevin set up at guest services, and left to go back to the hotel since our room was ready.

Kevin found a delorean in the parking lot.

Our room ended up being right down from where we stayed in September – same building, same floor, same easy parking lot and right near the lobby. AND.. we actually got my room request of a corner room!

YAS!

We headed over to eat lunch which was yummy.

Then back to the room to get into costume for the party.

I wore Tightrope Walker with the updated wig and new parasol. I also took the hoops out of the hoopskirt so it would be easier to get around.

Kevin wore Link and very quickly started overheating. We really didn’t think that one through – should have used his old cotton tunic version instead of this thicker faux suede that doesn’t breath.

We got to Magic Kingdom (took the bus, wow!), got our wristbands, got our trick or treat bags and headed over to Haunted Mansion to quickly get some photos of me before the sun went down. Then we hopped in line for Jack and Sally which was the longest wait we had all night but it was worth it! I’ll have to get Kevin to remind me what they asked him about smashing pots. They also asked if he worked for Sandy Claws, and Jack told me he’d see me at the Haunted Mansion later that night.

Chase’s costume was the guy from the Maelstrom mural. We were surprised how many people got what he was dressed as, it was really funny.

We headed over to find a spot to watch the Hocus Pocus show — we had a decent spot until the show started….

… and then immediately 6 kids got put on their dads’ shoulders and I couldn’t see a thing. We moved further back but people kept moving, getting in front of us, more kids going up on shoulders… I only got to see about 15% of the show. It was really disappointing.

Then we headed to eat dinner and along the way saw Jane, Tarzan and Terk so we stopped to get photos with them. Terk took a break right before our turn but we went ahead since I mostly just wanted to meet Jane (SHE WAS PERFECT)

They asked where Kevin was from, he said Hyrule, he’d gotten there while riding a horse and Tarzan asked if he’d been playing an ocarina the whole time.

More of Chase’s costume

Kevin made a friend

We had dinner at Peco’s Bill and as soon as we were done Kevin and I hopped back down to get in line for Jack Sparrow. We were about 10 groups away from meeting him when they announced he was going to be taking a 15 minute break in a few minutes… and since I really wanted to ride Haunted Mansion once in my costume before the fireworks, we left the line and went to do that.

By the time we got out, the fireworks were just starting and we really didn’t get a good spot for them at all, but we did at least did see them, even if we didn’t have a good vantage point.

After that I was like, ok, I hardly got to see the show and the fireworks, we are getting a good spot for the parade, so we went and staked out a spot right then and there and waited for about 40 minutes but we did have a great spot and FINALLY getting to see that parade in person (I’ve watched it on youtube I don’t know how many times) was SO AWESOME

And where we were sitting we got a LOT of interaction from the characters! It was so much fun!

After that we headed up to the Emporium to buy a few things, then stopped and got our photo in front of the castle before we left — we made it til midnight!! (I’m amazed)

Oh and by that time Kevin had lost a good chunk of his costume… he’d taken the hat, ears, gloves and lower belt off and put them in his backpack and was sweating like a beast still LOL

When he got undressed in the room, his white collar got flipped up and he looked like a nun or something.

We only hit like 3 or 4 of the trick or treat stations but still got a ton of candy.

So the halloween party was really a mix of good and bad. I really felt like I’d walked in unprepared, even though I’ve read all about it and felt like I knew what to hit and when to optimize our time. It really didn’t work like that and it was SUPER CROWDED making it hard to do much of anything. I feel like if we’d been able to keep our original party tickets (the ones that would have been in the middle of the hurricane earlier in the month LOL), the crowds would not have been near as bad as we’d have been able to do more. I’d like to go again if we could, but I don’t know when that would be.

ANYWAY

Saturday morning we didn’t set an alarm, just woke up whenever, got dressed and headed to DHS for the morning.

Breakfast at Starring Rolls

We rode Star Tours and KEVIN WAS FINALLY THE REBEL SPY!!!!

We were all super excited. We were going to get him the shirt that says “I am the Rebel Spy” but they didn’t have an adult ones. So we just did a pic with a kids one. He also picked out a new Star Wars magic band.

Then we had a quick ride on Tower of Terror before heading out.

We headed over to Disney Springs for lunch – Kevin and I had poutine. He got the Italian and I got the Latin. Both really good.
Oh… ! I forgot. Friday night at the party, I went to eat a gummy lightsaver out of our candy horde, and when I bit down on it I had stabbing pains on the right side of my mouth. I’ve needed a crown looked at on that side, so that’s all I could figure it was. Thankfully it didn’t hurt if I wasn’t eating… so I switched to eating on the right side of my mouth when THAT SIDE STARTED HURTING TOO! It was different, “tender/sore” sort of pain but still really hurt to try to eat on. So for the entire rest of the weekend I was barely nibbling on stuff and it was REALLY INCONVENIENT. I THINK the right side may just be sinus related, because when I get sinus infections the only symptom I have is tooth pain… but it usually doesn’t effect my ability to eat. I dunno.

Like seriously 75% of the reason we go to Disney is to eat everything possible and not being able to eat normally was so freaking frustrating.

Anyway, we went to Uniqlo and Kevin got this awesome shirt

Then back to the hotel to change and have a quick nap, and to swim! I really wanted Kevin to get to swim in the Port Orleans French Quarter pool. It seemed like it was hot enough out to be fine, but the wind blowing made it a little too chilly so we only lasted about 15-20 minutes in the pool. Kevin did enjoy it though, he went down the slide several times and enjoyed just doing his little crawl/swim around it and through the water sprayers.

Then we ran over to Epcot to LITERALLY just walk into the park and leave again. Then off to Magic Kingdom where we rode Pirates and walked through the treehouse before heading out to catch the boat to Ft Wilderness.

TRIP NO. 5

We got checked in for dinner!

OMG we lined up to get in and we had the most ANNOYING people behind us, it was a group of adults who were apparently pissed off over their table number, that they had to wait in line for the doors to open, and that anyone dare be in front of them. They kept crowded into us right in front of them, and then when the doors opened and we all started to file in, one of the guys starts yelling up to another person they knew up ahead of us in line, tried to scoot up in line to her, but she went in without him, and then he acted all put out and like he was doing us a big favor by letting us go in ahead of him. Dude we were here before you, calm your butt down, it’s not like we’re going to take your table!

Anyway Hoop de Doo was fun.

I just wish I could’ve eaten more, stupid teeth!! If we can get my parents back down there I want to take them to see it.

We got back on the boat, headed back to MK and then back to TTC and finally crawled back into the hotel around midnight.

SUNDAY..

I looked over at Kevin to wake him up to discover he’d never even got under the covers or anything… he was so tired he’d just collapsed into the bed after getting into his PJs and it looked like no one had even slept there LOL

Sunday was Epcot ALL DAY FOOD AND WINE!!

FIRST… Saturday we decided we’d pay the $35 for preferred parking on Sunday (despite the fact we get free parking otherwise) just so our car would be close to the front of Epcot and we could walk out there to drop stuff off/grab extra shoes/jackets, etc, and if we left we’d be able to still have decent parking when we came back). When we pulled up to pay it we discovered APs get a HUGE discount on preferred parking!! WHAT!! Game changer for November. Wish we’d known that earlier in the year!

We had a couple of early morning FPs, Spaceship Earth and Test Track, so we hit those up before we started on World Showcase. We also went and picked up our AP tumblers… That’s why we went to Epcot for basically no reason both Friday and Saturday, because you had to go 3 times to get the cup, LOL. Chase dropped them off in the car and then we started around World Showcase.

The first thing we ate was a Grilled Beef Skewer at the Chew Collective, and I didn’t think to take photos of it.

Next up was the Kahlua Pork Slider at Hawaii:

Then we got to Canada and we shared two bowls of the cheese soup and one little filet. There was absolutely NOWHERE to eat around Canada, we ended up wedged behind a planter by the railing overlooking the lagoon. Kevin was sitting on the ground holding my hat to keep it from blowing away, I was kneeling beside him and Chase was standing in front of us. We had those white birds stalking around us trying to steal our food, and then Kevin spilled what was left of the mushrooms from the filet on my hat. We quickly threw them off, but there was mushroom stains all over my hat, so Chase grabbed and took it to rinse it off in a water fountain. He’d sat down the other soup/bread and those crazy birds starting trying to go for it!! I had to throw my empty plate down and lunge at them to get them to go away. The whole time Kevin is apologizing about getting the mushrooms on my hat.
Obviously no photos were taken during this disaster.

With my hat cleaned up (no lasting damage), Kevin cooled down and the soup gone, we headed over to Scotland where we got the Potato and Salmon Pancake and the Tipsy Laird. Both were good.

Then to Ireland for the cheese sampler YUM!!

In France we stopped and got the Gruyere and Cognac onion soup…

And Kevin met Princess Aurora

We did Pick-a-Pearl in Japan of course, this time I got 2 — one of them was huge!

We discovered HANSON was playing that night but didn’t make it back around for it.

Then we ran into Ashley B and her friends outside of Italy!! I knew she’d be there that day so we were on the lookout for her. Her friends’ scooter had died but thankfully they found a shady spot and were awaiting a replacement. I’ll have to steal the selfie she took of us and post it in my next round of photos!

Chase got something at the South Korea booth but I don’t remember what… then in China Kevin and I went to meet Mulan while Chase filmed the acrobats. After Mulan, we checked out the Shanghai Disney exhibit:

We spent a lot of time in Norway — I got a troll horn, we did the Aquavit shot (Kevin winced), and Chase got his beard approved by the Vikings.

Kevin met Anna and Elsa:

I told him to pose and this is what he did, Elsa asked if he had ice powers too, he said yes he did. We were all surprised.

We had a bit to go before our return time for the Frozen ride, so we headed to Mexico, met Donald, rode El Rio del Tiempo (I can’t remember the current name ok)

In New Zealand we tried to Lamb Meatball and the Venison Loin.

Then we double backed to Norway for the Frozen ride. Kevin really liked it but I honestly don’t know I’ll ever ride it again, it is just too rough and bumpy and I always come off of it feeling like it kick-started a migraine (which it did back in September — it didn’t this time but it felt like it might!)

We abandoned Kevin on the streets of Mexico.

We walked through the craft beer building and then over to the festival building just to check it out. Then we headed back over to The Chocolate Studio for the Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond truffle. It was REALLY good. That was very pleasant, the sun had gone down, the weather was perfect, we were sitting on the fake grass eating this chocolate dessert and it was a nice ending to the night… but then I decided I wanted the Canada cheese soup again so we all went over and each got another bowl before heading out LOL

We were in bed by 9! Wow.

Yesterday our alarms got us up at 5:30, we loaded up the car and headed over to the lobby to check out, and also so I could take pics of the decorated pumpkins in the lobby: