We're Graduating!! Our Pixie Dust-ed May 2014 Trip

[waltsdream]

Hello fellow Disney lovers! I’m waltsdream, and this is my first trip report. My friends and I stayed at BLT from May 4-8 2014, to celebrate our college graduation! Our commencement ceremony was just three days after our return to school, and funnily enough we were all of the opinion that our Disney World trip was a much more fun and magical celebration of our graduation than the commencement events themselves!

A little background in planning our trip: I’ve been hoping and dreaming of this trip since last summer 2013. I wasn’t sure how much convincing my friends would need to spend so much money on a senior/graduation trip, but I was prepared to do anything I needed to convince them! To my extreme surprise, my best friend (who’s also my roommate) agreed almost immediately, and our other good friend didn’t need any convincing either – I was so excited! We decided to take our trip the first week of May, because we would officially be done with finals (and college!) then and had a gap week between the end of finals and commencement weekend events. This worked out really well – crowds at WDW were pretty low, and we were able to enjoy the trip without any impending deadlines over our shoulders.

I am definitely a planner – it actually brings me joy to plan things and arrange schedules, and I’ve also been to WDW several times with family and once with friends, so I took on all the organizing and planning for our trip, which the other two were completely fine with! I actually had a Google Doc spreadsheet with multiple pages for our trip; one page per day of our trip to plan our schedule and FP+s, and then a page with all the phone numbers, confirmation numbers, etc. that we might need. This really came in handy and was easy to access throughout the trip via the Google Doc iPhone app.

Since this would be a first visit to WDW for one of my friends, we planned to go to all four parks and stay onsite. We decided to rent DVC points at BLT, a studio with a lake view. I was initially worried about everything that could go wrong with renting points, but the whole process went extremely smoothly and was very easy. I was so happy that we were staying at BLT, because my family has stayed at CR every time we have ever gone to WDW, for many many years.

A little about everyone going on the trip:



This is me, waltsdream! I have been a Disney lover since I can remember – it really is my happy place. I love the Disney Princesses, and I really believe in the magic that can happen at WDW – there’s so much pixie dust to enjoy if you stop and notice it, and really believe!
Favorite park: The Magic Kingdom
Favorite ride: Peter Pan’s Flight … and the monorail!
Favorite Disney Movies: can I say all of them? Tangled, Frozen, The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Monsters Inc…. and so many more!
Favorite characters: Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Minnie Mouse, Chip and Dale
Favorite princesses: Ariel and Anna all the way!
Favorite night entertainment: My favorite above all will always be SpectroMagic. But even though it’s gone now, I love all the night entertainment at Magic Kingdom, and I love Fantasmic!
Last visit: March 2010 at the Boardwalk! I was lucky enough to celebrate my high school graduation with friends here during our spring break. My last visit with my parents was in 2004.



This is one of my best friends and my college roommate – we’ll call her Eeyore, after one of her favorite characters. We met in a class we had together our freshman year, and became fast friends. One of our favorite things to do together is watch Disney movies, and we always joke that she is so much like Eeyore. I made her watch a looottt of WDW-related Youtube videos in anticipation of this trip.
Favorite park: The Magic Kingdom
Favorite ride: Mickey’s Philharmagic and the Teacups
Favorite Disney Movies: The Lion King and Finding Nemo
Favorite characters: all characters from the Lion King, Buzz and Woody, Captain Hook
Favorite princesses: Belle and Snow White (she’s a Once Upon a Time fan)
Favorite nighttime entertainment: Celebrate the Magic – the light show projected on the Castle. She was obsessed with it and saw it three times during our trip!
Last visit: Never! This was Eeyore’s first ever visit to WDW, and I was so excited to share the magic with her!



This is one of my other best friends in college – we will call her Cinderella after one of her favorite characters – Cindy for short. We met in our orientation group and we were in the same hall during our first year of college, and have been friends ever since!
Favorite park: Epcot – she loved the World Showcase!
Favorite ride: She loved TSM, SM and POTC!
Favorite Disney movie: Cinderella
Favorite character: Peter Pan
Favorite Princess: Cinderella – she loves Prince Charming
Favorite nighttime entertainment: Electric Light Parade
Last visit: Her first visit was a couple years ago during spring break, but this was her first trip staying onsite.

My Dad also joined us, for our first day (for his privacy I’m not going to share a picture, sorry!) He travels a lot for work, and as luck would have it, we found out a couple weeks before our trip that he would be about an hour outside Orlando during our trip. I immediately asked him if he could join us, and he said he could join us for our first day of our trip, as it was a Sunday and he wouldn’t be working then. I was so excited!!! We haven’t been to Disney together since 2004 – ten years ago! I have so many special memories of WDW with my parents. I think my Dad is really who got me into loving all the character interactions so much – he is always so chatty and animated with all the characters, like he’s a kid again!
Favorite park: The Magic Kingdom
Favorite ride: Peter Pan’s Flight, IASW, CoP and the monorail
Favorite Disney movie: The Lion King
Favorite character: Mickey and Minnie, Peter Pan, Tink
Favorite Princess: Belle
Favorite nighttime entertainment: SpectroMagic – we so wish it was still there!
Last visit: August 2004, staying Theme Park View at the Contemporary! We were actually stuck there a few extra days due to a hurricane and I had to miss my first couple days of school – I thought it was super cool to be stuck in the Contemporary during the hurricane – they brought out Minnie and Cinderella’s mice friends to entertain us!

Thanks for joining us – I am so excited to share our magical trip and all the pixie dust we received with you! This is my first trip report so I'm not quite sure I'm following correct procedure, but thanks for sticking with me!

 

[waltsdream]

Introductions

Day One:
Traveling & Checking in to the BLT
MB Problems & Green Mickey Anxiety
Main Street and New Fantasyland
Talking Mickey and Frozen Treats
BLT Pixie Dust!
Wishes! and EMH

Day Two:
Caffeine & Crystal Palace
You've Got a Friend in Me!
Pool Break and a Mad Dash

Day Three:
The Most Relaxing Morning of the Trip!
Characters that Made Our Dreams Come True
We're Graduating?!
A Royal Evening with Princesses

Day Four:
A Futuristic Monorail Morning
It's 5:00 Somewhere & the Princess Tour Around the World
A Royal Trip Around The World
Snacking Around The World
Boardwalk By Midnight

Day Five:
Napkin Dancing at Chef Mickey's!
Last Goodbyes to BLT
Off to Neverland! The MOST MAGICAL Pixie Dust EVER!
Snowflakes and Pixie Dust!
The Deceptive Wait Time
Festival of Fantasy Parade!
Saying Goodbye to the Polynesian
Hastily Enchanted Tales
The Dinner Here Is Never Second Best
Celebrating the Magic
The Magic Ends When The Clock Strikes Twelve
Taxi Troubles

 

[waltsdream]

Our nonstop flight to MCO was early in the morning, just one day after our last final exams. While we all planned to go to bed early to get enough sleep the night before….well, you all know how hard it is to sleep the night before you go to WDW!! Eeyore and I are roommates, and we were both downright giddy (and very giggly) with excitement the whole night before our flight. Luckily we found our sleeplessness hysterical, and ended up listening to a lot of Disney music and talking about what we were most looking forward to instead of sleeping. After eventually getting a bit of sleep, we were finally Disney bound!

I had set my alarm to wake me up at 5:30 AM, to the tune of A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes. Soon I woke up Eeyore too – never, in the two year history of us rooming together, have either of us ever gotten ready as quickly as we did that morning. If only we could have gotten ready so quickly before classes, then maybe I would have been on time to a lot more of them!

This was my first time flying Jetblue, and I loved it! Great service, and I loved the screen on the seat in front of me, because I could watch our flight progress on a map. Very cool!



We were lucky enough to all three be in the same row on the plane. Eeyore and I were seated together and watched the episodes of Full House where they go to WDW on my iPad – we were too excited we could hardly stand it!

Finally, after what felt like forever, we landed. I was so excited to ride our first monorail of the trip – the MCO monorail! You will quickly learn in this TR that I LOVE monorails. They have always been one of my favorite parts of our WDW trips…

We got our checked bags very quickly and met my Dad right outside the door. We had planned on taking a town car or taxi to maximize time, but once we found out that Dad could join us on our first day, he kindly offered to pick us up from the airport so we could all drive together. It was very special to me to drive through those WDW gates again with my Dad I played Disney music the whole way there, and played my favorite game of pointing out all the WDW billboards we drove by on our way.

Soon we were in front of BLT and my old familiar view of CR! I hadn’t seen BLT in person since it was built. I fell in love! This will sound strange, but it is so clean and shiny (I have a thing about cleanliness…). I also loved the design of the lobby. The CM who assisted me with check in was so kind and helpful. She told us our room wasn’t ready yet – which I was expecting, as it was only about 10:00 AM. But she did tell me, with a twinkle and her eye and a little smile, that they were able to accommodate my room request of a high floor. I think this little smile was a hint of the pixie dust we received later…

Eeyore and I changed in the nearby restroom while my dad bought his park ticket for the day and tried to align his FP selections with the ones I had made for the three of us 60 days prior. The man at the concierge desk was extremely helpful and friendly. When I returned from changing into my Ariel disneybound outfit, he complimented me on the outfit and the custom pins I had made for all of us. I had made the three of us pins that had Mickey with a graduation cap on them and said “graduating from college!” I also made my Dad a pin with Mufasa and Simba on it that said “Awesome Dad!” CMs and guests got a kick out of his pin throughout the day! Throughout our trip, a lot of people also commented on our graduating from college pins – a lot of characters noticed them and commented on them, as well as some CMs and some very nice and friendly guests. We actually had a lot of guests come up to us, especially when we were on the buses or monorails, to congratulate us and wish us well in the future. I thought this was so kind, and shows what a special place WDW is!

Anyway, once I knew my dad would be joining us on our first day, I rearranged some of our FP+s for that day to include some of his favorites, since he only had a day with us. ☹ The CM at the Concierge desk was able to align my dad’s FP times for Peter Pan and Mickey Mouse at Town Square with ours, but unfortunately not Ariel’s Grotto. We were both noticeably disappointed by this, since I was disneybounded as Ariel and we both had never seen her new castle and grotto yet. We were very polite though, and of course thanked him for managing to get two FPs to align with ours and asked him if any other FPs might be available, and I could just switch our Ariel’s Grotto FPs to match the new attraction FP my dad received (does that make sense? FP+ planning is confusing…)

The CM said hold on just a second, and I’ll try something else. He called a supervisor at the CR and some sort of pixie dust happened… the CM told us to head over to the Magic Kingdom and start our day, and we could check my Dad’s FP selections at one of the kiosks over there while the CM worked with his supervisor on some sort of override back at the resort. We didn’t even realize at the time, because we were pretty confused by the whole FP process of aligning our FP+ schedules, that the CM gave my dad the Peter Pan and Mickey FP+s, in addition to some general use FPs! It was so kind of him, and we certainly never asked or expected them. We ended up only using one general FP for him to meet Ariel with us, so it helped us stay on track with our plans!

So we’ve checked in, our baggage is stored… time to hop on the beautiful monorail and let the magic begin at the Magic Kingdom! ….or so we thought….

 

[waltsdream]

Last we left off, we were headed to The Magic Kingdom for our first day of magic! We loved exploring BLT on our way to the monorail and there were many “ooohs!” and “ahhhs!” to be heard as we crossed the walkway from BLT to the CR. The walkway has such an amazing view, and I think it is so cool – handy that it’s up and away from the frogs and lizards, and it is covered in case of rain. I was worried I wouldn’t like being away from the hustle and bustle of the main CR building, but I loved BLT’s location! It was so quick and easy to get to the shops and monorail in CR, but it also felt private and muchhhh more quiet at BLT, which I really liked.



My dad and my favorite thing each trip is to board the monorail at the CR. There’s just so much excitement and anticipation about boarding the monorail and hearing the narration (por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas!) We were so happy to take that escalator to the monorail boarding area at CR – for us, that’s one of those ‘this is real, this is actually happening, we’re really in Disney World!’ sort of moments. We were just soaking it all in, happy to be back in our CR home after ten years. We also love to people watch from here and enjoy the festive atmosphere of nearby Chef Mickey’s!



We were on the magical “highway in the sky” and everyone was in a great, excited mood! It’s hard not to be when you’re watching Cinderella’s Castle get closer and closer in the window.

It was finally time! We’re in the Magic Kingdom!

We headed to the park entrance, unsure of how exactly the MagicBand process worked but excited to get our day started. All of us but Eeyore had no trouble getting into the park and getting those green light-up Mickeys, a beautiful sight to behold. But when Eeyore tried to tap her Magicband to the little Mickey, she got blue. The CM asked her to try again as we waited on the other side of the “turnstiles” and she got blue…again. The CM, who looked quite exhausted, snippy, and like she couldn’t care less, told her to go to Guest Services to get the MB fixed (in all fairness, I would also be exhausted by dealing with MB tech glitches all day).

So we went to the shadeless Guest Services line outside the park entrance.. it was a very long line, full of a lot of unhappy people. We began to feel frustrated. We wanted in so the magic could begin! After a couple minutes of waiting, Dad suggested walking back to the CR so they could resolve the issue. I called them quickly from my cell phone to make sure they could address the problem, and then we were back on the monorail and on our way. Great idea dad – no waiting in Guest Services for us! …we thought…

At this point, we were feeling a little frustrated and disheartened. Especially Eeyore – this is how her first ever trip to the most magical place on earth had to begin? I’m sure on that monorail ride back to the resort she was thinking, characteristically of Eeyore, “of course this would happen to me and only me.” That’s the sort of Eeyore thinking she does sometimes.

But then more Pixie Dust came our way… We must have looked sad or frustrated because an older guest in our monorail car began a conversation with us. He handed each of us three girls a monorail transportation card and explained about the transportation cards and some fun facts about the monorail. We talked to him about how much we love the monorail and he gave my Dad a card too! We thanked him many times as we got off at the CR, and we wished each other a great and magical day. This really cheered us up and put things in perspective for us. So we were delayed a bit by technical issues… so what? We’re still at Disney World!



Three CMs at the CR front desk helped us, cheerfully and patiently explaining to us that they had no idea why her MB didn’t work at the park entrance, as it shows the linked ticket, FP+ reservations, etc. on the MB when they scanned it. When we explained the problem to them, they seemed sort of amused about why the park entrance CM sent us to Guest Services. The CR CMs were nice enough to even print out their MB readout that they got from her MB on their computers, and said if we had any more trouble entering the park that we should show the CMs those papers as proof.

So we make the quick walk back to MK and try a different park entrance line this time, feeling very hopeful.

Nope, Eeyore’s MB still doesn’t work. We tried other machines, it wouldn’t work. No green Mickey for her! At this point, we’re feeling pretty distraught and helpless. The CMs said over and over there was nothing they could do to help us, even when we showed them the papers the CR CMs printed for us. We were pointed again to the Guest Services line. I have to say, I feel really bad for those poor Guest Services CMs who have to deal with all these MB issues and more!

By this point, we’re feeling pretty frustrated, and also pretty helpless. We did everything right, and due to a silly tech glitch of some kind we weren’t allowed into the park? By this point we were a little over an hour delayed. While we were waiting in the Guest Services line, poor Eeyore was near tears. I could see she felt responsible for this even though it wasn’t her fault at all. I felt horrible – I had gone on and on to her all year about how magical CMs are, and this was her first experience with them. They made her feel like she had done something wrong or was trying to sneak in.

Well, luckily for us the crabby line attendant CM at the end of the Guest Services line asked my Dad what we were in line for. My dad explained the situation and the CM grunted at Eeyore for her MB. He took it, waved it around or tapped it to his little handheld machine or something, and handed it back to us.

So we tried one more time at a different “turnstile”… all of us were holding our breath that she would finally get that coveted Green Mickey…

And she did! Finally!

Needless to say, we had Green Mickey Anxiety for the entire remainder of our trip. Every time we entered a park or a FP+ entrance, we all held our breath and said a quick Hail Mary – unfortunately I’m not even joking. Every time we all got Green Mickeys we would high five each other. Not exactly the most welcoming or relaxing way to “let the magic begin!”

Luckily we didn’t have any other serious issues with our MBs and getting Green Mickeys – We did later have trouble accessing our room via our MBs, but thankfully, we got all the horrible MB glitches out of the way on our first day.

 

[waltsdream]

Finally, we were on beautiful Main Street! We slowed down a bit to take it all in – I LOVE the music that plays on Main Street, and it’s probably one of my favorite areas of WDW – along with Fantasyland.








We slowly made our way up to the castle – I was so excited for this moment, to see the look on Eeyore’s face since she had never seen the castle before. She was in total awe, and it was so nice to see her really begin to believe in the magic and understand how this place is so special. When we walked through the castle, we all pretty much lost it – we were all speechless. No matter how many times you walk through, it is always so special. Eeyore gave what we labeled her “look of awe and wonderment” several times during our trip, and we began to joke about it. I am so glad she felt this way – it’s so nice that even adults can still have that magical awe that children have when at WDW!

We decided to head over to NF because our FP+ window for Ariel’s Grotto would begin soon. We all shared a snack in Gaston’s Tavern and enjoyed the detailed theming. I made a mental note while there to come back later in the trip for the cinnamon roll, and I completely forgot! I’m pretty bummed because it looks delicious.

We really loved spending time in the new Beauty and the Beast area. The theming of the whole area is excellent and it seems at least a little bit isolated from the rest of the park – it transports you to a whole other world, which allowed us to relax a little bit after the MB issues we had at the park entrance.

Soon it was the moment I had been waiting for – it was time to see Ariel and her new castle!! I had been waiting for this since they first started building it, and I was SOOOOO excited. The Little Mermaid was one of my favorite movies as a kid, and I have always loved and related to Ariel the most of all the princesses. I had ordered some starfish hair pins and an Ariel bow from Etsy prior to the trip for this moment, as well as an Ariel-colored dress from Modcloth. I was disneybounding and ready to meet my spirit mermaid!



But first we took many, many pictures of my dream home. I can’t say enough that the theming of the new Ariel area, for me, is seriously like a childhood dream come true. I was speechless – Prince Eric’s castle was always my favorite, and it’s how I always imagined the castle would be as a kid. This is hands down my new favorite area of WDW!







We were a little nervous about if our MBs would work when we scanned them for our FP+, but we were successful thank goodness! When we headed into Ariel’s Grotto, I was just filled with awe all over again. Guys, I was seriously nerding out about this whole experience. Ariel’s Grotto was always one of my favorite experiences as a kid, and I love the new and improved Grotto – we really felt like we were under the sea.

Ariel was amazing, and the perfect first character experience for our trip (and, for Eeyore, first experience ever!). Being the character enthusiast (and Ariel enthusiast) I am, I bounded straight toward her when it was our turn. I immediately gave her a hug and started gabbing with her about how she’s my favorite, where we were from (I told her that our home wasn’t far from the Atlantic Ocean where Atlantica is ).

It took me a minute to realize… Eeyore and Cindy were still hanging back where the line was, looking confused, hesitant and dazzled. We beckoned them over to sit with us...



and the look on Eeyore’s face was priceless! She just stared at Ariel and her fins, like “Is this for real? Is this actually happening right now?”



Ariel loved our “graduating from college” pins I made for us, and congratulated us on graduating from sea school! She also loved my starfish hair pins. She was super bubbly and friendly and a perfect first character experience – she made us feel like we were all besties (and, come on, I totally am besties with Ariel – at least I’d like to think so )





We were all so starstruck by the experience – there are pictures of us in the exit area just staring at each other with our mouths open, not saying a word.

Next up, our first rides and meeting a very chatty Mickey Mouse!

 

[waltsdream]

After meeting Ariel in her grotto, we headed over to old Fantasyland. We rode IASW first, which Cindy and Eeyore actually loved – I was worried they would be annoyed by it. I know some people are, but I actually enjoy this ride.



We also rode the carousel (mandatory, I think, on every WDW trip!) and saw Philharmagic. My family LOVES Philharmagic, and this became a favorite for both Eeyore and Cindy as well! Eeyore summed up its appeal pretty well – it’s like seeing your favorite childhood movies from the magical perspective of a child again. I love everything about this show, but especially the flight with Peter and Tink, the Be Our Guest scene, and Part Of Your World, of course.



After Philharmagic we rode Peter Pan’s Flight with our FP+. Peter Pan is another of my family’s favorite rides, so of course we had a blast! I also wanted to make sure we got to ride this while my Dad was with us, so I’m glad it worked out and we were all able to have a FP+ for it.



After PPF we headed over to Tomorrowland where my Dad and I got MICKEY BARS! We then headed on Monsters Inc Laugh Floor. No one else in our party had seen it, but we all liked it. They picked on a teenage boy in the audience who was texting on his phone throughout the show. The monsters kept showing him on the screen throughout the show, reprimanding him and saying “hey there, no texting! Stop texting buddy!” They even got his younger brother to chide him. The texting guy didn’t look too happy.

After Monsters Inc, Eeyore and Cindy went to use their Space Mountain FP+, while my Dad and I headed to Town Square in Main Street to meet the (sometimes) talking Mickey Mouse! It was important to me that my Dad and I got to meet Mickey together while he was with us, and it was also very special to have that time alone with my Dad, just walking along Main Street and meeting Mickey.

This was an extraordinary experience for us. The CMs at the door were extremely friendly, congratulating me on graduating, asking where I went to school and majored in, etc., and they also congratulated my Dad on being an “awesome Dad” (what it said on the pin I made him ). They also really loved my Ariel disneybounding outfit – they were just so nice and made us feel so welcome.

My Dad thought the talking Mickey was super cool!! We enjoyed having time to hear him talk to the other guests in front of us in line.



When it was our turn to meet Mickey, he congratulated me on graduating and said he was so proud of me. Okay, so I know I’m an adult now and everything, but this really made me feel all the feels. We told Mickey we had just seen Philharmagic, and we were happy that Donald returned his sorcerer hat. Mickey showed us that it was safe and sound and pointed his hat out in the room. Mickey was great, and even let me take a selfie with him!



This was one of my favorite character meets of the whole trip. It did not feel rushed at all – Mickey really took his time with all the guests. The photographer and the CMs were all so friendly and clearly enjoyed what they do. It was also the perfect way to begin a trip at WDW – being welcomed by the Mouse himself!



After this, we took the train to meet Cindy and Eeyore in Adventureland, as Eeyore wanted to see Jack Sparrow’s show. On the train I told my Dad about these Dole Whips that, surprisingly, after countless trips to WDW, we had never tried or even heard of – how was this?!?!?! My Dad was all over this idea of a Dole Whip, so we made it our mission to find these famous Dole Whips. Waiting in the line was worth the wait – we both got an orange pineapple Dole Whip float, and we LOVED them. We are now official Dole Whip converts.



After the Jack Sparrow show, we all headed back to BLT for a quick break and to see our room!

 

[waltsdream]

After a quick ride on the monorail, we were at the BLT. We got our room number from the front desk and headed upstairs. It turns out that our room was alllll the wayyyyy down a very looooooooong hallway. When we got there, our MBs did not let us in the room. We all tried our MBs to no avail. Frustrated and, at this point, sort of fed up with the MB issues we’d had that day, we headed all the wayyyyy down the looooong hallway again and to the front desk. Luckily they were able to fix it for us very quickly.



We were finally in our lake view studio! It’s always exciting to get the first glimpse of your temporary WDW home. We loved the set up of the BLT studios, and how the little kitchenette is sort of its enclosed space. We also loved the mirror and counter in this area, as it allowed us all to get ready more quickly in the mornings while someone was in the bathroom.

But more importantly – how was our view?

Pretty much the first thing I did when we entered is run to the balcony door. We had been pixie dusted!! We had expected a beautiful lake view, and we certainly got one – but looking to the left, we had a theme park view!!



We were SO EXCITED! My family always stayed theme park view at the CR as a kid, and we loved seeing Wishes right from our balcony. I was so excited we would be able to do this again! We were all so wowed by our view of the castle, and the beautiful lake below. Eeyore and Cindy plopped themselves on the balcony chairs right away and pretty much didn’t move for the next two hours – they were out for the count and fell asleep pretty quickly.







After taking a bunch of pictures and texting them to my mom back home, I fell asleep too. We all woke up around to a truly magical and mesmerizing sight before our eyes:



This amazing sunset right before our balcony. I just had to snap this picture of the sun setting behind Cinderella’s Castle. This was such a magical, “wow, pinch me is this real?” sort of moment for all of us. Were we actually waking up to this beautiful orange sky behind the Castle, that was right before our eyes?

We didn’t want to leave the view, but we wanted to get closer to the action! We headed out to the Magic Kingdom to get a good spot for the MSEP.

 

[waltsdream]

Nighttime is my favorite time in the parks – you’ve got the lights, it’s cooler, and it has the best entertainment!

We quickly found a great spot on the curb in Main Street just in front of the train station and grabbed some popcorn to snack on while waiting for the parade. Spectromagic was one of my favorite things in WDW, so I am sad that it is gone, but we were still all very excited for MSEP!

I apologize, I don’t have too many pictures of the parade or Wishes! I am always snapping away taking pictures of everything, but I decided that during this trip I was going to take less photos and just let myself enjoy the moment and soak it all in more.



I loved the parade floats, I just wish they could use Spectromagic’s score with them. ☺ My favorites were Tinkerbell, Peter Pan’s, Cinderella’s and Prince Charming’s!

After MSEP we mosied a little closer to the castle for Celebrate the Magic and Wishes! This was everyone’s first time seeing Celebrate the Magic, and it was also our first time seeing Wishes right in front of the castle (on past family trips, we always watched the fireworks from our balcony).



I’m going to be overly sentimental for a moment – I admit I got quite teary during Wishes! It was a really beautiful way to reflect on the last four years, and how one of my wishes – graduating college – had come true! I also absolutely love the message of Wishes, and the final version of When You Wish Upon a Star always gets me very teary.

Soon it was time to walk my Dad back to the CR parking lot so he could head back and get some sleep before work the next day. I so didn’t want him to leave, and it was very hard to say goodbye after spending such a special day together in our favorite place, for the first time in ten years.

After my Dad left, we headed back to MK for EMH. Nighttime EMH at MK are my FAVORITE! You can pretty much hop on anything with little to no wait, the lights are beautiful, the sun isn’t beating on you so it’s much more comfortable! I made Eeyore and Cindy book it back to the park via the CR walkway (I made them book it a lot this trip, hee hee!)

Not even halfway through the short little walkway from CR to MK, both of them began complaining of blisters on their feet. I was a little worried this would happen on the trip because I naturally walk rather quickly, while Eeyore and Cindy both walk pretty slowly. I tried to slow my pace as much as I could at WDW, but I’m so impatient and we had a schedule to keep! We took a quick break on the walkway and I whipped out Ziploc of first aid supplies I carried around in my backpack – it had blister balm, antibiotic ointment, band-aids, an Ace bandage etc all ready to go. Soon they were ready to go and I have to say they were such troopers!

We thoroughly enjoyed our EMH time, and I’ll let the pictures below do the talking:





The teacups became Eeyore’s favorite ride after this!!









Soon we were pretty tired and decided to head back to BLT for some much-needed rest – we had a breakfast ADR early the next morning!

 

[thiabelle]

Great TR so far... enjoying and subscribing

 

[waltsdream]

Great TR so far... enjoying and subscribing

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[waltsdream]

We woke up the next day bright and early (early for us anyway) for our 8:30 AM breakfast at Crystal Palace. We were all looking forward to this meal – Cindy had enjoyed lunch here during her other trip, this has been a family staple for me for as long as I can remember, and Eeyore and I LOVE Pooh & Friends!

Well… it took quite some time for us to get moving this morning. Typical college kids, we all were slow getting out of bed. But then I realized what a magical trip was ahead of us, and after letting them sleep in for an extra half hour, I resorted to opening the shades, tapping Cindy and Eeyore, and reminding them repeatedly (in my sweetest voice possible) that we had to get moving and start another magical day!

We were late in leaving BLT for our reservation, and I was a little jumpy about it. I was hoping we would be able to take the monorail to MK, since C & E are both much more leisurely walkers and I didn’t want to make them quicken their pace first thing in the morning, but that plan quickly went out the window as we left BLT far behind schedule. We took the walking path to MK, and I was high speed trucking it with Cindy and Eeyore a good few feet behind me. I kept an eye out for them and made sure they were still with me, and apologized for needing to rush, but I didn’t want to miss our reservation!

Well, I don’t think this made Eeyore particularly happy – I don’t think she said one word until we were checked in and almost at our table at the restaurant. I feel bad about rushing (especially because Eeyore likes to have relaxed, more leisurely mornings typically – yet when I asked her while planning our ADRs she said she wanted to have breakfast reservations), but I also knew how much time I had spent planning this trip, booking our ADRs for the perfect time and place for our itinerary, and how much Eeyore would love this ADR – I definitely wasn’t going to let us miss it!

After we checked in, I think everybody relaxed a little bit and we all enjoyed the view of the castle and the beautiful design of Crystal Palace. In terms of design and décor, this is definitely my favorite restaurant I’ve been to at WDW.



Soon we were seated, and this was our view!! We felt very lucky to have been pixie-dusted a view of the castle!!!



Soon our excellent server took our drink orders – coffee for both me and Eeyore, and tea for Cindy (which was presented in a really cute way, with a little teapot and a great assortment of teas to choose from). Yeah… at this breakfast Eeyore and I both agreed that we’d need to make coffee in the room every morning before we left, to prevent more tension-laden walks to the parks in the morning and to get everyone feeling energized, haha! She very kindly made us coffee in the room every other morning of the trip. : )

The server told us Tigger would be to our table shortly, so we waited for him before getting our food. I got out an orange marker from my marker set for his autograph… Yes, I color coordinated marker colors for autographs to match each respective character, don’t judge haha.



After this, we saw Eeyore (the real one, my friend’s namesake), and Eeyore (my friend) FLIPPED. This was so great to see, and one of the moments on the trip that I’ve most been looking forward to for months. I loved seeing the magic through her eyes, since this was her first time at WDW!



This was her face when she first spotted Real Eeyore.

Eeyore (The Friend One) was too starstruck to talk to Eeyore (The Real One), so I told him that he was her favorite character and she is very much like him sometimes. He quite appreciated this, and was very bashful about it and gave My Friend Eeyore many hugs and kisses. I am SO happy with this interaction – it was one of My Friend Eeyore’s favorite moments of the entire trip. I had been hoping for months that she would be able to have a good interaction with her favorite donkey, and it meant a lot to us that he spent time with her! I always have enjoyed my interactions with Eeyore (The Real One… and The My Friend One too I guess, hee hee!) – he is so soft and always has warm hugs to give!



We went to quickly get food, a little nervous we would miss a character visit (I always am antsy about this at character meals) and I was finally able to enjoy….



Wait for it….

The breakfast of champions. The breakfast to beat all breakfasts –



MICKEY WAFFLES!!!!!!!!!!!

They are probably my favorite Disney food, tied with Mickey ice cream bars!

Soon we were visited by Pooh himself. We were all very excited – who doesn’t want a hug from the sweetest, stuff-and-fluff-iest bear himself?

Pooh was not friendly with us at all. He walked up to our table, we were all saying hello, and he just went right for the opened autograph books, then gestured at the camera and stood there with his arms out for us to join him. After the picture, he just walked away… I had to tap him and say his name to ask for a hug before he went to the next table.



Oh bother, indeed.

I completely understand that Pooh is the main star and is very much in demand at Crystal Palace, and I’m sure the problem was just that he hadn’t had his smackerel of “hunny” yet that morning…. But a tiny bit more personal interaction would have been nice, and, to be honest, was expected since it is his breakfast. We had a more enjoyable and personable interaction with Eeyore – and that’s saying something, given Eeyore’s personality!

Funnily enough, last time I was at Crystal Palace for breakfast, back in March 2010, Pooh had the very same problem. He completely skipped over our table his first round through the restaurant, and when we told a CM as we were leaving he did walk over for a picture and promptly left. I told my mom about this recently, and she recalls a time at Crystal Palace when I was little, and how Pooh must not have had enough honey that day so his blood sugar was low and making him cranky – so much so that she noticed a CM giving Pooh a stern talking to near their entrance to the kitchen or behind the scenes stuff behind the doors.

But, anyway, we did enjoy our interactions with the rest of the friends – unfortunately, we don’t seem to have a picture of our visit with Piglet to share with you all. I have no idea how that happened.

Overall, we had a lot of fun at the breakfast and enjoyed the relaxed start to the day and meeting so many characters first thing in the morning. Our server was really lovely, we all really loved the food (strangely, given all the amazing food available, watermelon and pineapple were the two big hits amongst all three of us!), and we all liked admiring the details and décor of the restaurant.



On our way out of MK, we “stopped to smell the roses,” if you will – we stopped to “awww” over the ducks frolicking near a fountain on Main Street, and to watch a little Main Street show I had actually never seen before – we were all delighted by this cute surprise.





Next stop, Hollywood Studios!

 

[thiabelle]

I love Crystal Palace too! And I totally understand power walking to an ADR even if your crew doesn't understand the why of it all. After all the planning and dreaming I'm not gonna let a pokey party miss out. Not gonna happen!! Looking forward to the next chapter!

 

[waltsdream]

I love Crystal Palace too! And I totally understand power walking to an ADR even if your crew doesn't understand the why of it all. After all the planning and dreaming I'm not gonna let a pokey party miss out. Not gonna happen!! Looking forward to the next chapter!

Thank you so much for reading and commenting as well - it means a lot that someone is out there reading. Especially as a new Dis member, it's really wonderful to get to know other Disney lovers out there like yourself, so thank you!

 

[waltsdream]

Hollywood Studios is tied with Epcot for my second favorite Disney park. It was a very quick bus ride. I was worried about how long the buses might take us this trip, since in the past I have had very poor experience with the buses, but we were pixie dust-ed yet again and hardly ever had to wait for a bus the whole trip – I think the longest we waited was 15 minutes once, but usually we just waited 5 minutes tops.

Anyway, we were all caffeinated and well fed from breakfast at Crystal Palace and ready for a magical day in Hollywood Studios.




I was really happy to see how excited Cindy was – this photo is completely candid. Cindy is not a Disney fanatic like me, and she is also QUITE an introvert (also unlike me, haha!), so it was really hard to gage sometimes during this trip when she was enjoying herself and when she might not be. So I learned quickly to look out for these little smiles of hers to make sure she was having a good time. : )



On the bus, I went over our itinerary for the day with Cindy and Eeyore and asked them their preference for our first hour before our TSMM FP+ - we could either meet Mike and Sully, see Indiana Jones, or meet Woody and Buzz. Cindy had no preference so we let Eeyore decide – she chose meeting Buzz and Woody!

We made our way leisurely to Pixar Place – since I had rushed them to our ADR earlier that morning, I wanted them to be able to relax a little bit now. We stopped to take some pictures in front of the hat, and you can see how excited we were:



Cindy and Eeyore really loved all the décor and design of the park as we walked through – especially all the billboard signs for upcoming movies and TV shows.

We got in line for Buzz and Woody and it was a 60 minute wait. I expected this and was worried about how Cindy would take it since she didn’t really enjoy waiting in lines for very long, but we were all having a blast with all the photo ops in the line and we all agreed that the time in line flew by. Cindy and Eeyore also liked watching the little kids interact with Woody and Buzz through the big window while we were in line outside – all the little ones dressed in Buzz costumes earned a loud round of “awwwwwwww”s from all of us.



It was very soon time for us to meet Woody and Buzz. Fun fact, Woody has always been my favorite of the two, while Eeyore’s favorite is Buzz – we always like the different characters, e.g. my favorite is Anna while Eeyore prefers Elsa.

Entering the meet area for Buzz and Woody, we instantly got even more pixie dust. They spent SO much time with us – and I can’t repeat enough how much those special character interactions meant to us, since we are obviously not the little kids that they usually give attention to. This really made us feel very special and made our trip so magical.



They first greeted all of us with those special Disney hugs that always make my day:



Buzz was just a hoot. He started salsa dancing like he does in Toy Story 3, and I joined him sort of. They were both so animated and playful and took their time.



After Buzz danced, he was very insistent on getting a kiss on his cheek, after which he kissed my cheek. I told him not to tell Jessie.



I went over and asked Woody, since he is my favorite, if there were any snakes in his boots that day. He actually sort of bent over and looked inside his boots, shook his head no, and gave a thumbs up. It was awesome!



They were just so much fun. I definitely recommend this meet to everyone – the wait is WELL worth it, and the time in line really does fly by more quickly than you’d expect. Even Cindy really enjoyed this meet, and she doesn’t even like meeting the characters.

After we told Buzz and Woody to “reach for the sky!”, we headed across the street to our TSMM FP+. This was everyone’s first time on this ride, and it was so much fun!!!! I had thought going in that it was just another Buzz ride, but it is quite different and we all had a blast.





After this, we grabbed a cool drink and a cool shaded bench to snack on some blueberries we had packed with us. Eeyore and Cindy went in to the POTC Jack Sparrow show, and because pirates really aren’t my thing I went into Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream. I was super excited to see this, but knew it would probably bore Eeyore and Cindy so I didn’t plan on going in to the exhibit this trip. I was pleasantly surprised when E & C spontaneously wanted to see the Jack Sparrow show so I could see Walt right next door!



I loved this exhibit. It has so much meaning and it was lovely to see all the memorabilia and some of Walt’s possessions. I particularly loved the old television sets showing Tinkerbell flying by all the MK lands, and the big set up of Walt pointing at his blueprints for WDW. Even though Walt had unfortunately passed well before I was born, my parents showed me video tapes of him talking about Disney World with TInk flying around his office, and he has always had a special place in my heart. To me he really represents the importance of dreams and faith.



Soon we all met up again and used our second FP+ for the Great Movie Ride, which we all enjoyed since we are all big movie fans – we got the gangster scene. Eeyore loved the Indiana Jones scenes, since she is a fan! My favorite scenes were the Mary Poppins scene and the Wizard of Oz scene, and I LOVE the movie clip montage shown at the end.

After the movie ride, we headed back to the buses for an afternoon break at the resort.

 

[waltsdream]

Finally back at BLT, Eeyore and I were eager to check out the pool area, while Cindy had decided she was in great need of a foot massage. She arranged to get one at the spa in the Grand Floridian, conveniently just a few monorail stops away, so she headed over there and arranged to meet back up with us later when she was ready.

Eeyore and I occupied two lounge chairs near the pool that were in the shade. I leaned back and got ready to relax…. Until the lovebugs attacked like two seconds later. They kept landing on me every couple seconds, which was pretty annoying especially since they didn’t bother Eeyore at all. So I moved to the little strip of beach behind the pool… and this became my favorite semi-private spot to nap for the next few days. : )



We planned on leaving the hotel at 4:00 to leave us with plenty of time to see the 5:30 PM Beauty and the Beast show. Unfortunately, Eeyore got caught up in a phone call and we were running quite behind. We rushed to the bus stop and waited our longest wait of the trip for a HS bus. When it finally came, we were so eager so make it there in time for the last Beauty and the Beast show of the day that – gasp – I left my phone on the bus stop bench in my haste.

Time more even more pixie dust… A very good hearted stranger started shouting into the crowd waiting to board the bus that he found a lost phone. I hadn’t even noticed I had left it on the bench – I would have freaked out if I had made it all the way to HS without it. Thank you, thank you, thank you, kind stranger!!

On the bus ride we strategized the quickest route to the Beauty and the Beast theater so we’d be ready to cruise when we got there. We arrived at the HS bus stop at about 5:15 I would say… and we were inside the theater and in our seats five minutes later! We seriously hauled a**. Once we were safely in our seats (admittedly, a little sweaty from the heat and the rush), we both really enjoyed the show – unfortunately my pictures aren’t the best, because I wanted to just enjoy one of my favorite WDW shows. Both Eeyore and I gasped when Belle came out at the end in her beautiful gold dress. No matter how many times I see it, this dress always impresses me – it is so sparkly!!!!





Soon after, we reunited with Cindy near the hat – she had thoroughly enjoyed her foot massage at the spa . We headed over to Streets of America to catch part of the new version of Characterpalooza. We saw Pocahontas, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, Mulan, and Genie there. Unfortunately we did not get to actually meet any of them. I do miss the old version of this meet that was in the Animation area. I don’t like how the new version on SoA doesn’t have actual lines and the characters just wander, and I also think the duration of the meet is very very short.





This picture is sort of a tradition for my family… we have home videos when I was very small of me singing Christmas songs and dancing for these snowmen….




Still, Cindy and Eeyore liked walking through SoA and taking pictures. We decided to stop into Writers Stop, since Eeyore wants to be a professional writer:



Get it… she’s pointing to the sign ‘cause she’s stopped, and she’s a writer…

This is where I found this beautiful treat:



A Mickey macaron!!

I love macarons, but unfortunately this one was not very tasty – it had a very strong, fake lemon-y taste. But I’m still glad I bought it because it was so cute! E & C really liked this shop and perused the books they had for sale – both of them ended up buying books and used resort pick up.

After Writers Stop, we used our MuppetVision FP+ (so ridiculous to have a FP+ I know, but the system just assigned it to us since we needed three) and perused Pizza Planet and saw Lightning McQueen and Mater from afar:



We also had dinner at ABC Commissary. Or rather … E & C did. I am a vegetarian and have other specific allergies and restrictions, so I have never really found anything I could eat at HS other than fruit and other little snack items. But I always am prepared to not eat an actual meal for dinner on HS days, so it was no big deal. I also bought this peanut butter chocolate Star Wars cupcake, because…. It’s a peanut butter chocolate cupcake, no further explanation needed:



That bad boy was huge and dense. Cindy and Eeyore helped me out a little but we still weren’t able to finish it.
I like ABC Commissary because it is air conditioned and they have some cool props from ABC shows, like these outfits Connie Briton wears on the show Nashville (she plays Rayna James):



Up next, Fantasmic!

 

[waltsdream]

We headed out after dinner to the Fantasmic theater for the first showing. I knew based on prior research what time we needed to arrive to the theater and had planned it in our itinerary, but I didn’t want to keep rushing C & E and I knew there was a second showing that night if we missed the first. We did end up getting to the theater too late for the first showing, as it was standing room only then and we wanted to sit. So we just waited for the second showing by browsing all the cool themed stores in HS.

I may have had a little fun with the photo below, giving Eeyore a PowerRanger helmet, haha!






We also saw Voyage of The Little Mermaid, which is one of my favorite WDW shows by far!! I LOVE it, even if it is somewhat outdated now! Its one of the only places to see Eric, and Max is sooo cute!!

Quick question – does anybody else remember Sebastian narrating this show way back when, and Flotsam and Jetsam (the eels) appearing on the left side of the stage? I thought I remembered this from when I was a kid, but neither Sebastian nor the eels appeared during this show. Anyone know if they’ve been removed for good or something?

We also checked out the store attached to VoTLM. This has been one of my favorite WDW stores since I was a kid, because of its awesome selection of princess merch! I bought my beloved Pascal plush here this trip, as well as a long-coveted DINGLEHOPPER of my VERY OWN!!



Yeah – you may have noticed none of us rode ToT or Rockin Roller Coaster. We are not big roller coaster people – while Eeyore did ride a lot of coasters during the trip, she wasn’t interested in either of these because she does not like to be upside down and she doesn’t like falling.

Soon it was time to get back in line for the second Fantasmic show. Cindy got a little impatient as we were waiting with the crowds to get into the theater, and we were all getting tired of standing. But it was worth it because we got great seats just 5 or 6 rows back I believe. We could have been in the first few rows but Cindy reaaalllyyy didn’t want to get wet.

This is one of my favorite night shows at WDW. I love the music and the message of the power and importance of imagination! It was also really nice to enjoy some sangria while watching the show, resting after a long and exciting day in the park. This was my first trip to WDW being 21+, and while I’m not really much of a drinker at all, it was still nice to have the occasional drink at Disney.



I also LOVE Sorcerer Mickey at the end, and Steamboat Willie Mickey! We all really loved this show and were so impressed. I’m sorry, once again I have very few photos of the show because we wanted to just enjoy it in the moment.

Soon we were on our way out of HS, sad to say goodbye to it as we wouldn’t be back on this trip.

We were all exhausted and pretty much fell asleep as soon as we were in bed, ready to have fun in the Animal Kingdom in the morning!

 

[thiabelle]

That macaron should have tasted better given how cute it looked!! Confession time- I've never seen Fantasmic. And so glad you got your phone back. I can't imagine how i would feel if I lost mine on a trip (or anywhere else!!)

 

[waltsdream]

I'm glad too - I ended up using my phone a LOT for the MDE app, changing and checking FP+ times and character locations, etc.

I hope one day you get to see Fantasmic! As a family we always skipped this show because we always thought it might be a little scary, and we have a bias towards MK and its night entertainment. I saw Fantasmic for the first time a few years ago when I went with friends, and I didn't really think it would top Wishes but oh my gosh, it is so good! It's very inspiring and a very entertaining show as well!

Thank you again for reading!

 

[waltsdream]

After receiving a very charming wake up call from Olaf, we all got ready to spend the morning in the Animal Kingdom. Our first stop was our 9 AM FP+ for Kilimanjaro Safari. But first we stopped for a second to watch DiVine!

It turns out the FP+ for the Safari wasn’t really necessary as there was a very short line… but I had heard that mornings can be the best times to see the animals so I didn’t want to risk it!



Our safari was wonderful. It was the first time for Cindy and Eeyore, and my first time on the safari since the park’s opening year when I was much younger. We saw all sorts of animals – rhinos, giraffes, antelopes, crocodiles, lions, a cheetah, a warthog, zebras and elephants! All the animals were out and about and very close to our car. We saw a baby elephant standing beside his mother, which was so sweet.







After the safari, I asked Eeyore if she wanted to meet Rafiki, since we were running ahead of schedule and had time before our next FP+. She very eagerly said YES and so we hopped on the train to Rafiki. I actually really love this train. It’s a quick and peaceful ride through the trees and a very nice way to relax. Throughout our whole trip I had a tendency of making us walk very, very fast because I wanted to make sure everyone got to do what they were most looking forward to. But moments like this, relaxing on the train in the shade, were very calming and peaceful.



Isn’t Eeyore adorable?? She planned her dress and scarf this day to match the animals on safari.

Once there, Cindy really enjoyed learning about a macaw during a demonstration inside, and she loved seeing all the animals. Since we were early to Rafiki’s meet, we walked around and spent time in the exhibits. Eeyore and I were second in line once Rafiki came out. She was so excited and again quite starstruck, so I told Rafiki that Lion King is Eeyore’s favorite movie ever, and he did his baby Simba lift pose! She loved this!! He was very sweet to her and gave her a big hug. She loved how he signed his autograph drawing the stick that he always carries in the movie.



I’m not sure why, but Rafiki has always creeped me out. I think it’s because he has a REALLY big face and when I was little, it felt like that REALLY big face was right in MY face and it freaked me out. But Eeyore loved him. : )

After we met Rafiki, we headed outside to the Chip and Dale meet area, since they are two of my favorite characters to meet in the parks! They had also just come out, so the wait was extremely short – I think we waited two minutes tops. I told them that Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers was my favorite cartoon show when I was a kid (Zipper the fly was sooo adorable, am I right??). They didn’t seem to understand what I was talking about – maybe the stardom has gone to their heads.



Ehhh… this isn’t the best Photopass picture of the trip, I think because of the lighting/sun at that time of day? I got a sort of meh feeling from this interaction. Chip and Dale are usually some of my favorites to meet in the parks because they are so playful and mischievous, but this interaction was very rushed – though we were at the beginning of the line and the line itself was just a few families long. I had gone on and on to Eeyore while we were waiting for them to come out about how playful and sassy they can be and to be prepared. So after we met them (an interaction that lasted all of about thirty seconds) she was like, “Well that was fast. Are you sure those were the right chipmunks??” But it was still wonderful to see my two favorite chipmunks!!

Soon we were on the train and heading back to the main area of AK. Next up, a character meet that I will treasure forever!

 

[waltsdream]

Eeyore and Cindy had a 10-11 AM FP+ for EE, while I had a FP+ to meet Mickey and Minnie since my idea of a fun time is meeting large animated mice instead of a yeti.

I was a little confused about where the M&M meet was, but luckily it was right by the Asia gates so pretty close to EE. I was surprised by how long the FP+ line was to meet Mickey and Minnie – I waited in line for about 35-40 minutes, which I think is the longest I’ve ever waited for FP. However, a couple near the front of the line had apparently just gotten engaged on their trip, and the CM made a big to do about it and it was so sweet!! Congrats to the couple!!

When it was finally time to meet Mickey and Minnie, I think my excitement got the best of me a little bit. I made a beeline straight to Minnie (hands down my FAVORITE character in the parks – I’ve always been a Minnie girl all the way). I told her she was my favorite, that this was the first time I’d seen her in four years, and I was so excited to see her. Haha. She gave me a big hug and kiss and then pointed to my “Graduating from College” pin I was wearing. She clapped and showed Mickey and they were very excited.



This is when I handed off my autograph book to Minnie while I gave Mickey a hug and finally really noticed him… sorry Mickey, I guess my loyalty is with Minnie haha! I asked him about his adventures and he pointed out all the cool stuff on the wall behind them that’s related to their travels.

After Mickey signed my book we got a group photo:



Minnie took my book and marker and made Mickey hold them, and then she shooed him away all the way over to where the photographer was! Then she gave me another big hug and kiss and we got pictures just the two of us, which was so awesome and special to me!!



I thanked them and waved goodbye and was on my way.

I had never done this meet before, and it was really just a time filler at first when I was planning so that I had something to do while the girls were on EE, but I am SO glad I did it. It was well worth the wait to me because you get a lot of time with both Mickey and Minnie, and it’s also really cool to be in a picture with both of them together.

But I didn’t even notice what really made this meet special to me until much later that day, while we were on the bus back to the BLT for our afternoon break…

Bored on the bus, I decided to look through my autograph book at all the cool autographs (I don’t care if it’s silly, I still love admiring all the characters’ autographs). When I happened on the Minnie Mouse autograph, I saw this:



I’m not embarrassed to say that I started crying right then and there on that packed bus.

I texted a picture of it to my parents immediately. It is a small gesture, yes, but I can’t say how much this means to me. I was always a Minnie girl, even as a baby. My go-to costume was always Minnie, I loved to dance with Minnie at Chef Mickey’s and kiss her on her nose, watch her cartoons, etc. I always lit up like a Christmas tree when I saw anything Minnie-related (even her narration outside the Philharmagic theater). Through every stage of my life, as I’ve grown up, I’ve always loved to meet Minnie the most, and the fact that my favorite character in childhood is proud of me and telling me to follow my dreams is just the most special, meaningful thing to me, even if it is silly. It was such a small thing for her to do, but it means the most, and that to me is why Disney is the most magical place in the world.

If there are any CMs out there reading who may be friends of Minnie’s, please extend my gratitude! It really inspires me that there are still such kindhearted people (and mice!) out there who touch people’s hearts!