Star Wars Weekends, 24 Hour Party and Shenanigans UPDATE10/16 Star Wars Sci Fi bfast

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Day 1 Universal Part 4

We're almost at Disney!!



We saw the train conductor on the way out so I had to stop for a picture.



He was instructing me on the proper way to get a butterbeer mustache.



I have always liked this statue that marks the end of the Lost Continent area:



Below the statue is this little door that confuses me:



It ends pretty much at the bottom of the picture. Who is that door for? Is it a door for ants? (zoolander quote, kind of).

Then I wanted a picture looking like a snoot in Suess land:



Finally our Universal day had come to an end. We slowly headed out and back to the Royal Pacific.





We got the band back together (ahah, see what I did there?!) and met up with Brian's mom and sister at the car.

It took about half an hour (maybe? I didn't really clock it) to get to Disney!



Finally! What you've all been waiting for!

We were soon checking into All Star Sports and realized we'd been given a premium room in the surf section, and were steps away from the main lobby!! That never happens!! This was such a great location. We were also facing the parking lot so we didn't have to deal with pool noise.





Unfortunately, Brian and my magic bands did not work. So we got to do a grumpy, tired walk to the lobby and wait 15 minutes for them to be fixed.





With our bands finally fixed, we hightailed it back to the room so we could attempt to get some sleep before our wake up for the 24 hour day!!!!

 

[soniam]

We missed Jurassic Park last time. We don't like doing water rides, and the other stuff didn't seem that interesting. However, after looking more into it, it will be a must on the next trip.

Butterbeer. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

How was Santa Fe?

 

[kastoney]

Finally, the end of Universal ; ) Seriously though, thanks for the look inside the "other" park. It looks amazing and I can't wait to visit in a few years once my daughter is a bit older.

But the disney sign is a welcome sight. Bring on 24 hour day!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Yay! You finally made it to Disney! So excited!
The 24 hour day...can't wait to read about that since we were there during the first 12 hours hehe. I remember it being very...hot. So hot...

Nice room and upgrade! I got upgraded to Savannah view at AKL once even though I paid for standard view. It was amazing!

My magic band didn't work on our trip too. It was only my band. Luckily I knew that before I trekked to the room. But I had to wait a long time to get it fixed!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

We missed Jurassic Park last time. We don't like doing water rides, and the other stuff didn't seem that interesting. However, after looking more into it, it will be a must on the next trip.

Butterbeer. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

How was Santa Fe?

I hope they keep the raptor meeting experience for a long time, that looks really neat.

Santa Fe was ok. We discovered the limitations of vacationing with a dog. I really liked the architecture there, loved the adobe houses and buildings. I was taking pictures of Mcdonalds and IHOPs because they were all in the adobe style, hah. I'll send you a PM about the details that will probably bore others

Finally, the end of Universal ; ) Seriously though, thanks for the look inside the "other" park. It looks amazing and I can't wait to visit in a few years once my daughter is a bit older.

But the disney sign is a welcome sight. Bring on 24 hour day!

Oh gosh, there is soooo much 24 hour day. It actually started for us around 3 am. We don't really have any weekend getaways planned or anything else in the next month(we just got back from a long weekend in Santa Fe which is why it took me so long to udpate) and I'm actually really excited to just get through the 24 hour day because I want to talk about Star Wars Weekends soooo much!

 

[Dugette]

Just got caught up on the last couple updates. I've read a few other reports about Universal, but you covered a lot of things I hadn't seen before. Thanks for sharing - looks like fun!

Yay for a room upgrade! Convenience is good, but boo to the Magic Bands not working.

Can't wait to hear about your 24 hour day. We were there for a bit in the afternoon and I came back again very late at night (solo).

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I'm very excited! I just booked our September trip!!

We are headed down on September 9, we'll do:

Wednesday-Friday at AKL (yay, first stay!)
Friday-Monday at Music to save some money
Monday-Wednesday at French Quarter (first stay, last moderate we haven't stayed at)

We will be attending the first MNSSHP dressed as Baloo and Don Karnage from Tale Spin, hahaha.

We also got water park tickets and are going to try to make this a trip full of unusual things or new things.

Some things on the agenda:

spend a whole evening playing the Pirate Adventure missions at MK
water park
evening at the Poly with Ohana and Trader Sam's
more swimming at the resorts

Anyway, time for the next installment of this TR

Yay! You finally made it to Disney! So excited!
The 24 hour day...can't wait to read about that since we were there during the first 12 hours hehe. I remember it being very...hot. So hot...

Nice room and upgrade! I got upgraded to Savannah view at AKL once even though I paid for standard view. It was amazing!

My magic band didn't work on our trip too. It was only my band. Luckily I knew that before I trekked to the room. But I had to wait a long time to get it fixed!

It was hot haha. At least our costumes were pretty lightweight. Ugh, your hotel upgrade was soooo much better than ours. That would be amazing!

Just got caught up on the last couple updates. I've read a few other reports about Universal, but you covered a lot of things I hadn't seen before. Thanks for sharing - looks like fun!

Yay for a room upgrade! Convenience is good, but boo to the Magic Bands not working.

Can't wait to hear about your 24 hour day. We were there for a bit in the afternoon and I came back again very late at night (solo).

Well I'm glad I could show you a different side of Universal!!

You don't have to wait long because I'm about to get started.

 

[bearcat97]

We're going to just miss you! We get in on the 19th. (Not that I know you, but fellow Buckeye, yo!) But look at you already with your costumes decided. The twins have their costumes, but I don't know what I'm doing. The hubs says he's going to be Peter Parker. Not Spider-Man. Peter Parker. Teehee.

 

[soniam]

We also got water park tickets and are going to try to make this a trip full of unusual things or new things.

Some things on the agenda:

spend a whole evening playing the Pirate Adventure missions at MK
evening at the Poly with Ohana and Trader Sam's

I am so jealous that you are going back so soon. What are the Pirate Adventure missions at MK? We plan to do Trader Sam's on our next trip. With the Tiki Room being on of our favorite attractions, Trader Sam's seems like our kind of place. You will have to let us know how it goes.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Day 3 Part 1

In the jungle, the mighty jungle
The lion sleeps tonight


The lion may have slept, but we definitely did not. I think we fell asleep around 11, and then we woke up multiple times because of very loud, rumbling snoring. The alarms then started to go off around 3, because we had to be at the transportation and ticket center by 5 am.

The day that we were leaving, I saw a contest on the Disney Parks blog. The contest was a parks blog meetup that was going to occur on the 24 hour day. The winners would get a special breakfast and a screening of Tomorrowland, which would be coming out on that day.

As our usual luck would have it, neither Brian nor I won but his mom and sister both did. Each winner was allowed to have one guest, so this meant we all got to go. In retrospect, this was kind of a bad thing because we ended up losing about an hour of sleep we desperately needed.

But back to the story...everyone stumbled out of bed and into their costumes for the day. Brian was dressing as a stick in the mud, but the rest of our had our Cinderella themed costumes. Brian's mom was Lady Tremaine, Stephanie was Drizella and I was Anastasia. Costumes on and park bags ready to go, we quickly headed out.



Horrible picture of the MK parking lot, but it shows that we got first row.



Here are all the winners standing around waiting to get on the ferry:



I'm guessing that there were maybe 2-300 winners. The winner themselves had to check in at the ticket booth with their confirmation email and a valid ID. Everyone then received a gift pack which included a Tomorrowland ball cap and a headless Olaf on a stick (I think you were supposed to put your head where Olaf's would go? it was really quite weird and I don't think we ever got the Olafs back out of the bag after looking at them the first time).



Look! The castle!! I think I was the only idiot who stopped and stared at the far off castle.

We were all loaded onto the ferry. We went to the nearly empty upstairs and got some seats on the benches.





We're coming castle!

We were let off the ferry and escorted into a roped off area right in front of the train station. First costume pic!



There was a large stage set up within our roped off area opposite of the train station. There were some bright lights and Minnie and Mickey in their pajamas were on top of the platform posing for pictures. The stage was also flanked by many little media booths where reporters/radio people/bloggers who knows what they were.





The mice eventually came down into the crowd but didn't really do pictures with us. There were also some roaming camera crews who were interviewing some of the contest winners. We didn't get interviewed, maybe we didn't look very excited.



Eventually we all wandered right up to the rail and got a front row spot for the welcome show.



You can see some of the white media tents in this shot.

The area roped off for us was actually really nice, it was very roomy and there wasn't crowding at all.



Pretty soon the welcome show started and the Frozen characters came out to kick off the Frozen themed party. Spoiler alert: this is really the last indication we saw that this was a Frozen themed event. Last year the theme was Heroes and Villains and that theme was apparent throughout the day. We had been hopeful this party might have Kristoff and Olaf available for meets, but nope.







The family of the day was introduced and I was ecstatic to see that it was just a group of friends dressed in a Peter Pan theme.



Don't get me wrong, I have no problems with the family of the day being an actual family with parent(s) and kid(s), but occasionally it's nice to see just a group of friends get the honor.

The welcome show soon concluded and the ropes of our little area were dropped and we were off with everyone else onto Main Street! Our breakfast was being held at Cosmic Ray's so we were slowly headed that way.

We took our first hour selfie (really bad picture but you can see my extreme Anastasia make up pretty well):









Olaf did end up photo bombing out photopass pic:



Character photo bombing seemed to be a big thing with photopass this trip.

My commando, super planner self was screaming inside. We had made rope drop and were doing pictures?!?! But...but...seven dwarves mine train! Anna and Elsa!! Space Mountain!! It was very hard to hold that part of me in check, hahaha. I ignored it and instead we kept heading towards Cosmic Ray's. We had a wrist band to get inside the restaurant, but I'm pretty sure other people got in anyway. Oh well. Once inside we were greeted with our first photo opportunity!



My beloved orange bird!!



They really need an orange bird character meet and greet. Pretty sure everyone loves him.

Then we saw the next rare character opportunity!



We had no idea who this guy was, except that he was in Tomorrowland. Another spoiler alert: he isn't really a character, he is just modeling the suit and rocket pack.



Those were the only photo opportunities. I had been hoping that maybe the characters in their pajamas would show up, but no dice.

Next we got something to eat. Most of the choices involved pastries of some sort.



Not just any pastries though, super special Tomorrowland themed pastries!!! Oooooh! Ahhhhh!

There were also bagels and toast and lots of other carb options. There was a small selection of fruit as well, then coffee and orange juice. We all enjoyed our pastries and then a Disney Parks blog rep talked to all of us and said that after we ate we would head backstage near Splash to board buses to take us to Downtown Disney for our private Tomorrowland viewing.

At this point we made the decision to split up. Stephanie and her mom wanted to see the movie. I didn't think a free movie was worth leaving the MK, especially on the 24 hour day and Brian agreed with me. So we both set off together and left the other 2 behind (also thus ending Stephanie and my selfie every hour tradition, that lasted long this year hahaha).

Brian and I wandered back to the castle and decided to continue our day in Adventureland! Surprisingly enough, our only plans for the day had involved attending the contest gathering, an early lunch at BOG and an 11 pm BOG dinner, FP+ starting around 6 with Mickey, 7DMT and Anna and Elsa. We also had a Wishes FP+. The reason we were able to get 4 is that MDE accidentally canceled a lot of people's Wishes FP+ for that day(everyone is so shocked, I'm sure). We emailed Disney when it happened and they gave us the FP back plus a bonus FP, so it all worked out.

Anyway, Brian and I were perfectly ok with beginning our park day with Tiki Birds!! We knew we had plenty of time to get stuff done.





I like the little bird pre-show here, but ever after having gone to Disneyland I have to admit that theirs is better. It has a whole little area outside the show designed by Rolly Crump that has all these tiki gods and goddesses and they each have a little story and do an effect. It is really very neat.











I love the Tiki Room. As much as I love a fast paced ride like Expedition Everest, and as much as I love technological marvels like Soarin, I have just as much room in my heart for attractions like the Tiki Room. I would love to have an animatronic bird of my own, I am partial to the tucans.

After the trip we all shared our pictures with each other, because of that I can tell that when we were singing like the birdies sing, Stephanie and her mom were in the theater listening to a parks blog person introduce the movie:



I believe I am out of picture space. Next up, we continue our whirlwind tour of Adventureland.

 

[soniam]

@OhioStateBuckeye
The Tomorrowland contest seems just weird. It's a bummer that they don't really try to do cool things with this stuff. Oh well, you will need that free sugar later to survive the 24 But, you got to see Mary and the penguin at the opening show. I love the opening show.

The Tiki Room is our family's favorite attraction. We have been known to do it 3 or 4 times in a day. I like the parrots a lot, but my favorite our the totem poles. DS and I want to learn to play Enchanted Serenade on our ukes. I have to admit that I do like the DLR one better. It's awesome to be able to get a short line for Dole Whip and to be able to eat it while waiting and while watching the show. Also, their water fountain still works But DLR doesn't have the Peoplemover or COP, so there's always a trade off. When we went to DLR in 2013, it was the anniversary of the attraction. They were giving AP holders special commemorative brochures, like the ones given to guests when the attraction originally opened. I so wanted one and even tried to bribe the woman, but she said no go unless I had an AP I really like some of the old attractions that I know Walt Disney had to have loved.

 

[disneymomof1]

Just found your report, loving it so far.
Favorite Park: I love MK and HS is a close second !!
Favorite Characters to Meet: love to come across classic not seen often characters
Favorite Movie: The Little Mermaid
Favorite Nighttime Show: Fantasmic
Favorite Counter Service/Snack: favorite CS--Columbia Harbor House and favorite snack--Carrot Cake Cookie at HS
Favorite Disney transportation: The boats!
Favorite Disney horse: Maximus
Favorite Hotel: of the hotels we have stayed at (mod): POFQ (deluxe): AKL

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That's great you got a nice upgrade to the room ... guess they couldn't upgrade you out of a snoring zone though.

What were the winners based on? Just luck or best costumes or something? That is cool that at least some of you won though and getting a Tomorrowland ballcap is pretty cool, and free breakfast/movie is always good.

Aw, Mickey and Minnie in PJs are super cute. That is nice that it was a group of friends that were dressed up in group costumes that got picked.

Love the giant Orange Bird head picture op. Kinda disappointing breakfast, oh well.

Must be a cool feeling the be at MK and just know you have tons of time to do things and just start off with the Tiki Birds or something

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

@OhioStateBuckeye
The Tomorrowland contest seems just weird. It's a bummer that they don't really try to do cool things with this stuff. Oh well, you will need that free sugar later to survive the 24 But, you got to see Mary and the penguin at the opening show. I love the opening show.

The Tiki Room is our family's favorite attraction. We have been known to do it 3 or 4 times in a day. I like the parrots a lot, but my favorite our the totem poles. DS and I want to learn to play Enchanted Serenade on our ukes. I have to admit that I do like the DLR one better. It's awesome to be able to get a short line for Dole Whip and to be able to eat it while waiting and while watching the show. Also, their water fountain still works But DLR doesn't have the Peoplemover or COP, so there's always a trade off. When we went to DLR in 2013, it was the anniversary of the attraction. They were giving AP holders special commemorative brochures, like the ones given to guests when the attraction originally opened. I so wanted one and even tried to bribe the woman, but she said no go unless I had an AP I really like some of the old attractions that I know Walt Disney had to have loved.

Hey, you had to try!

The parks blog contest was weird, next update I'll post our final thoughts on it.

You guys both play the ukelali?! That is pretty sweet. If you ever learn the song I'd love to hear.

Ooh, many times have I head designed my ultimate Mk park. It's more the size of WDW, but it has dl's iasw space Indy tiki room fantasyland (the whole thing) and main street.

Just found your report, loving it so far.
Favorite Park: I love MK and HS is a close second !!
Favorite Characters to Meet: love to come across classic not seen often characters
Favorite Movie: The Little Mermaid
Favorite Nighttime Show: Fantasmic
Favorite Counter Service/Snack: favorite CS--Columbia Harbor House and favorite snack--Carrot Cake Cookie at HS
Favorite Disney transportation: The boats!
Favorite Disney horse: Maximus
Favorite Hotel: of the hotels we have stayed at (mod): POFQ (deluxe): AKL

We are just about to try both of those hotels in our September trip! You love fantasmic and maximus so obviously you have good taste

I have a special maximus part for my next update!

That's great you got a nice upgrade to the room ... guess they couldn't upgrade you out of a snoring zone though.

What were the winners based on? Just luck or best costumes or something? That is cool that at least some of you won though and getting a Tomorrowland ballcap is pretty cool, and free breakfast/movie is always good.

Aw, Mickey and Minnie in PJs are super cute. That is nice that it was a group of friends that were dressed up in group costumes that got picked.

Love the giant Orange Bird head picture op. Kinda disappointing breakfast, oh well.

Must be a cool feeling the be at MK and just know you have tons of time to do things and just start off with the Tiki Birds or something

The breakfast was a little disappointing, but free

To win the contest, you had to enter which was somewhat difficult as it was only opened for about 3 hours. Then I believe it was just random out of all the entries.

Hahaha nope we definitely didn't get upgraded to a non-snoring room!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

We're going to just miss you! We get in on the 19th. (Not that I know you, but fellow Buckeye, yo!) But look at you already with your costumes decided. The twins have their costumes, but I don't know what I'm doing. The hubs says he's going to be Peter Parker. Not Spider-Man. Peter Parker. Teehee.

You do know me kind of haha . What are your plans other than mnsshp?

Brian wants to know if Peter parker is a legit costume or if it was a 'I'm dressing like a normal person but I'm saying Peter Parker to get you off my back' thing. Wonder why brian would think that... Hahaha can't be from personal experience.

I am so jealous that you are going back so soon. What are the Pirate Adventure missions at MK? We plan to do Trader Sam's on our next trip. With the Tiki Room being on of our favorite attractions, Trader Sam's seems like our kind of place. You will have to let us know how it goes.

The pirate adventure missions are sort of like sorcerers of the Mk. You get a map and have to follow the clues to locations (all in adventure land). Then when you reach the right spot you activate something and some sort of fun thing happens (like a cannon on top of potc firing, skeleton rising from water etc). Brian and I both really like it, but think it's more fun to play at night. Give it a try next trip, bet your son would love it!

We are only doing another trip this soon cause I'm working myself to death with ot. But I'm allowed to do ot hours at home and I'm ok with being a zombie for a month or 2 if I get another trip

 

[bearcat97]

What are your plans other than mnsshp?

It's our first family trip. The twins are 8, so lots of character meets and meals. Oh, and roller coasters. My daughter rode the coaster at Jungle Jack's Landing 6 times in a row over the weekend and her only regret was that she didn't get to ride in the very front car. I had no idea she was such a daredevil given that it took forever to convince her to go down the slide at the park when she was little. It's my son's dream to go in May for Star Wars weekends, but that probably won't happen next year (newish job = less vacation time since my years of service with the state didn't roll over to years of service with the city... sadness).

Brian wants to know if Peter parker is a legit costume or if it was a 'I'm dressing like a normal person but I'm saying Peter Parker to get you off my back' thing.

I'm pretty sure it's the latter. Because that's how Matt rolls.

 

[stacy~**]

Ugh! I don't think my alert thingie is working properly. I had no idea you had updates here (and was starting to wonder about you). Anyways I caught up last night before bed but was too tired to comment, let's see what I remember.

So that fountain at Universal looks JUST like my kind of thing. Harry Potter, SpongeBob....not too impressed....water fountain that talks and randomly sprays its victims....YES! Haha!

You got some very nice pictures of the HP castle (or whatever that is called. ). And I loved your butterbeer count

Very happy you have your September trip in place!! I'm crossing my fingers that those are dates that I might be able to head down. Any fall trip I make will be on pretty short notice and just a few days but anything is possible. I love that you guys are trying out loads of new things. I have quite a few new things planned for us too and it's making me want to burst with excitement.

Yay the 24 hour day! How neat that Stephanie and her mom won that contest although I really agree with you that it wasn't worth giving up time on the 24 hour day over. But free swag and some pastries are never a bad thing!

I loved your costumes (and Brian's! ).

 

[soniam]

@stacy~**
Sometimes the alerts quit working. To fix it, go mark all posts either in this forum or all forums as read. There's a link either at the top, on your profile page, or in the watched threads link at the top. I have had to do this a few times now.

 

[Dugette]

Interesting about the contest - I had no idea. But congratulations on knowing some winners!

I'm enjoying seeing the wee hours of the 24 hour day. We were still on the cruise ship at that time, so I had no idea of what it was like. I love Mickey and Minnie in their pajamas - too cute!

Nice costumes for (most of) your group as well!

 

[Curiouser&curiouser!]

I just found your trip report now and I am enjoying it.

It is killing me that I haven't been to Universal at all since the Harry Potter Lands opened. I just NEED to see all that stuff in person.

I can't wait to hear more about the 24 hour day!

Also looking forward to Star Wars Weekends stuff. We are thinking about planning a trip for it next year for our 6 year old Star Wars obsessed Son!