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

[thiabelle]

Ummm waiting in the doctor's office and getting weird looks cause I am crying over your Minnie story. Oh well people can think whatever they want! What a wonderful memory to have!!

 

[Duffy Lover]

What a wonderful trip you planned for your graduation! I also was able to take a trip to Disney for my college graduation... Eight years after graduating! (Long Story)....

I am so glad you didn't lose your phone. There are so many good people out there... I lost something very valuable on my recent trip, but luckily it all worked out in the end.

That was so sweet of Minnie. I love it when characters really care. We didn't have great character interactions on our recent trip. It was mostly like your experience with Pooh.

I can't wait to read more!

 

[waltsdream]

Ummm waiting in the doctor's office and getting weird looks cause I am crying over your Minnie story. Oh well people can think whatever they want! What a wonderful memory to have!!

Aww, I'm glad it was able to move you in some way! I am such a sucker for sentimental Disney magic.

What a wonderful trip you planned for your graduation! I also was able to take a trip to Disney for my college graduation... Eight years after graduating! (Long Story)....

I am so glad you didn't lose your phone. There are so many good people out there... I lost something very valuable on my recent trip, but luckily it all worked out in the end.

That was so sweet of Minnie. I love it when characters really care. We didn't have great character interactions on our recent trip. It was mostly like your experience with Pooh.

I can't wait to read more!

Thank you for reading!!!!

I'm sorry that you did not have the best character interactions during your recent trip - it certainly can be disappointing.

Yes, it always astounds me how wonderful other guests can be at Disney. I always love chatting with other guests when we can, like on the buses or monorails or waiting to be seated for an ADR.

 

[waltsdream]

Oh, I almost forgot to write about what else we did that morning at AK, haha!

We also met Pocahontas, and she asked what our plans were for the day. We told her we were headed to Finding Nemo, and she said, “oh good, he’s been lost for quite a while now.” And then she said something about Nemo dancing around or something, which the character attendants with her found quite hysterical. They were still teasing her about how fish don’t dance after we left the meet… She also asked what college we attended and when we told her, she recognized it as being very close to her village!



I love Pocahontas, and I feel like she doesn’t get the credit or attention she deserves in the Disney Princess realm. She’s so strong in her values and sense of self, and so intuitive.

After we met Pocahontas, we went over to see the Finding Nemo show. While we did have to wait a while to go inside, luckily it was in the shade. We all really loved this show and the music. I also loved how interactive it was with the audience – the characters come very close to everyone via a runway. But I think I was just exhausted from having so much fun by this point, and I caught myself almost falling to sleep a few times during the show.

After Finding Nemo, we went to the Dinasaurland area of AK, where Eeyore had a Primeval Whirl FP+ awaiting her:



I was extremely hot on the black pavement, so I went on a mission to find some ice cream at one of the booths in the area…. No such luck, there were none selling ice cream….So Cindy and I just waited with the sun beating down on us on that hot pavement for Eeyore to return. Soon she was out and she loved it – yay!

Soon I was guiding us out of the dino area, all of us feeling very ready for an afternoon break at the resort. Well, I thought I was guiding us out. The exit and entrance to this area is very confusing – it seems like there was just the one exit? So back in and around we went to the exit, stopping for some water. At the water kiosk, we saw Donald and Goofy enter from a backstage area. It was so fun to see them just walking through the park and waving to all the guests. Yeah, just Donald and Goofy walking around… It’s casual, no big deal… Goofy snuck up on some guests in line for ice cream at a cart, and they never even noticed him behind them – so funny!

Soon we were out in the main hub of AK by the Tree of Life. We decided to stop and get some pictures. The PhotoPass Photographer was very kind and congratulated us on graduating:



Soon we were finally on an air conditioned bus on our way to a much desired break. Eeyore and Cindy both fell asleep on the bus, poor things:



Next up, a little graduation pixie dust we made for ourselves!

 

[waltsdream]

Last I left off, we were heading back to BLT from the Animal Kingdom for our afternoon break. The first thing I did was head to the concierge desk in the BLT to ask if they could schedule our fourth FP+ of the day. They very kindly assisted us in getting a Peter Pan's Flight FP for myself and a BTMRR for Eeyore and Cindy. I was hoping to switch these later to Fairytale Hall FP+ if they became available.

I believe this was the day I truly discovered the joy of the little beach behind the BLT pool. I ordered some sangria from the pool bar and enjoyed it while reclining in a pool chair in beautiful calm and quiet. I was the only one on the beach and it felt like my own private little oasis. It was incredibly relaxing and a great way to recharge after a busy morning in the parks!

After I checked out the beachy area, I believe I did most of my souvenir shopping in the Contemporary shops. I picked up some really fun finds, like a Limited Edition SpectroMagic pin of the Chip and Dale float – it has actual pieces of the float in the pin!

Soon Eeyore was up and ready from her nap in the room and we were ready to go. Cindy was still napping at this point and was out like a light. She did wake for a moment as we were getting ready to go and said she needed to sleep longer and would meet back up with us later on. It was a quick trip to the Magic Kingdom and we were excited for some fun!!

The first thing on our agenda was getting some very special pictures in front of the Castle….



I’d been wanting to take these pictures for months and months! We did feel pretty awkward and shy about wearing our graduation caps and gowns on Main Street in front of all those people (and let me tell you, it’s kinda sweaty in those gowns as well!) and we kept giggling because we felt so awkward. But it was a wonderful memory and I actually much prefer these photos to the ones of my actual graduation ceremony!



After removing our grad gowns and stuffing them back in our bags, we made our way to Cosmic Rays for some dinner. While eating we enjoyed people watching, talking about our trip highlights… and then I spilled on my white dress. Oops, not very princess-like. Luckily my type A tendencies cause me to overplan and overpack, and I had a Tide To Go pen in my backpack. My dress was as good as new!

After dinner, while waiting for Cindy to join back up with us, we decided to see the Tiki Room. I hadn't seen this in so many years, and it's really special to me because it was one of my grandma's favorite attractions (besides IASW). Sitting there in those seats made me feel very close to her, like she was there. <3

We also went to the Hall of Presidents:



Now, you should know this is an attraction we were both actually looking forward to. We are both Political Science majors, and I’m also a pretty big American history nerd, so we LOVEDDD this. It made us think of our American Political Theory professor – a class we took together. The older man sitting beside me, however, was not as excited about the show as we were, as he fell asleep almost immediately. No judgment here, I know that AC is refreshing! We enjoyed this show so much, and nerded out about it quite a lot, even discussing its accuracies and which presidents we found most inspiring as we walked to BTMRR for Eeyore’s FP+.

While Eeyore rode BTMRR I texted with Cindy, who’d just woken up, and tried to change our FP+ to Fairytale Hall Cinderella/Rapunzel FP+ on my MDE phone app. Success!! I was able to switch them and I was so excited – we were meeting the princesses!!

I believe we met up with Cindy after Eeyore rode BTMRR and we made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean because the standby was pretty short. They headed straight in line while I sat it out. I know, I know, I’m a huge baby. I actually really like the Pirates ride, but the new addition of the scary tentacle face guy on the waterfall, combined with the little dip that was always there, really freaks me out a lot. I was going to ride it with my friends, but ultimately decided, why cause myself anxiety when this is supposed to be a vacation I enjoy?



So while they were in line I perused the adjacent gift shop and then headed over to Fantasyland to window shop behind the castle. I was on the hunt for Frozen merch, and couldn’t find anything but swarms of children and strollers surrounding me in a very claustrophobic little store. So I just had a seat outside Sir Mickey’s and watched the sun set over the carousel. I have to say, this is one of my most vivid and special memories of the trip. Spending a little quiet time, watching the pink sky over the most special, magical place, and watching all the Fantasyland lights go on was just beautiful.



Soon Eeyore and Cindy arrived – they loved Pirates but said they got SUPER wet?? – and we took some photos behind the Castle as we waited for our Princess Hall FP+ to be eligible. After all, we were just about to meet some beautiful princesses, so why not feel like princesses ourselves and pose in front of the dreamy Castle? : )

 

[waltsdream]

After a little impromptu Castle photo shoot, we headed inside for our Fairytale Hall FP+! I was SO pumped – I absolutely love all things Disney Princess! Fairytale Hall is definitely one of my new favorite places.



As you can see, the line was extremely short – I believe this was around 7 PM or so on a Tuesday evening. We were even whisked right by Cinderella’s glass slipper in the main hall and didn’t really get a chance to look at it (but we’d be back in a couple days).

We met Rapunzel first, and we were all very excited. It was the first time meeting her for all of us. I immediately showed her my newly purchased Pascal plush, and as you can see she was very excited for us:



She said he liked to play hide and seek in the gardens, and asked if we’d like to play a game with her and Pascal. She said that we should all sneak up on him and act really coy so he wouldn’t get suspicious:



Then at the count of three, we all gave him a kiss!



Boy he looked surprised. : )

Rapunzel was a blast and we had so much fun playing this game with her – it felt so special! Tangled is one of my all time favorite movies – what could be better than adorable Pascal, the flying lanterns, and Flynn Rider’s smolder?? I love the music and Rapunzel’s creativity.



We were all still very starstruck from meeting Rapunzel, even Cindy! Cindy is the polar opposite of me – while I LOVE characters and prioritize them over a lot of rides, Cindy thinks character meets are kind of silly and prefers to just enjoy the atmosphere of the parks, eat and shop. To each their own! : )

We almost forgot that we had another superstar princess to meet – Cinderelly herself! We all LOVE Cinderella too, and we were all speechless by how completely beautiful her gown is. She was so sweet and regal as always:



Cindy and I kind of backed off a bit and let Eeyore enjoy this one. Eeyore told Cinderella about how her story is her sister’s favorite, and that Eeyore told Cinderella’s story to her sister all the time when they were young. Cinderella said something very sweet, like “Oh, then you must know that dreams really do come true!”

We are very thankful for the sweet PhotoPass photographer and character attendant, as they both took SOO many pictures on both my camera and their own. They captured so many great moments, and I noticed when we were back at Fairytale Hall a couple days later for Anna and Elsa, the PhotoPass photographer and character attendant also took SOOOO many great photos and were also incredibly sweet. Our entire Fairytale Hall experience was great – we got in very quickly both times, and did not feel rushed at all when meeting with the princesses, unlike the character meals we had during the trip. The princesses spent all spent a lot of time chatting with us – it was not the typical ‘sign the autograph book, smile for a quick picture and they’re on their way.’

Next up, we explore Rapunzel’s kingdom and I make an incredibly stupid mistake…

 

[waltsdream]

After exiting Fairytale Hall, we roamed about aimlessly for a moment, still starstruck and gushing about how amazing the princesses were.

We happened to find ourselves near the Rapunzel rest area, and we all got so excited and made a beeline straight for it.





We loved it!! Oh my gosh, it looks just like Rapunzel’s kingdom, and I love all the little details. We had a lot of fun taking pictures in the area with Pascal:





It worked out perfectly – we hadn’t planned to go there right after meeting Rapunzel, but it was a very happy coincidence.



Soon we made our way back out of the park and hopped on a monorail for the Contemporary. We had a date with our balcony to watch Wishes! First we headed to the convenience-type shop in the Contemporary for some snacks, since we were pretty hungry and hadn’t actually had a legit dinner. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they sell Mickey Ice Cream bars in there!! Also, shoutout to the awesome CM working at the time – unfortunately I don’t remember his name, but he was just the best. He was singing and dancing and just loving life, and liked my ‘pixie dust’ on my Magic Band (pink glitter nail polish).

We fast-walked back to our room in BLT with just ten minutes or so to spare. I called the front desk to ask what channel the Wishes soundtrack played on and we listened to it from our balcony. It’s a longstanding family tradition for me to watch Wishes from our room balcony – when I was little, my parents had it down to a science. We’d watch SpectroMagic right by where it comes out on Main Street, then hop right on the monorail after the parade passed us, I would take a quick bath and be in my PJs ready for Wishes from the balcony!

We loved watching the fireworks from our balcony – it felt like very special pixie dust.

Now, it would have made a lot of sense to just get ready for bed at this point since we were already in our room and we were tired. But no… I still had Disney gift cards burning holes in my wallet and we all wanted to shop on Main Street. I had read that the Main Street shops stay open a while after park closing, so we thought it would be a grand idea to take the monorail back to MK to do some shopping, so we wouldn’t have to waste our park time shopping.

Yeah… as you can tell this was a very stupid idea. Obviously the gates to get into the park close when the park, well, closes….

Chalk it all up to our exhaustion and overstimulation at this point. But at least we got a nice monorail ride out of it.

 

[waltsdream]

The next morning, we were on the monorail by 8:45 or so to head to Epcot! I love the monorail ride into Epcot, especially during the Flower and Garden Festival, because you can see all the gorgeous flowers from a bird’s eye perspective.



Nothing I love more than a morning monorail ride!





Isn’t this cart for the Flower and Garden Festival fun??

Our first stop of the morning was our Soarin’ FP+ at 9:15. This was probably one of our longest FP+ lines, apart from meeting Mickey and Minnie at AK, but it’s understandable because it is such a popular ride. We all loved it – I love all the smells in the ride, the music score, and Tinkerbell!!





We took our time enjoying the Land pavilion and getting some pressed pennies before making our way over to The Living Seas. Eeyore loves Finding Nemo so we had to get a photo with all Nemo’s friends:



You’ll notice Cindy isn’t in this picture because she is very careful about always staying in the shade. She was wandering around admiring the area and I waved and called over at her to ask if she could take the picture. Well… a father touring with his family thought I was beckoning over to him to demand that he take our picture. And he did not seem to speak English. I was so embarrassed and surprised that I just sort of handed over the camera, since I thought that’s what would be easiest at that point, instead of having to try to explain I didn’t mean to have him take our picture. It was pretty awkward and I was embarrassed, especially because I would never wave or call to strangers to ask them to take our picture, I would be much more polite.

We headed in to use our 10:15 Turtle Talk FP+. We all got a smidgen annoyed because the wait to get in was suuuuperrrrr long (they must have just started a show as we got in the waiting area so we had to wait for the show to start and finish) but the show was very funny! We liked how Crush referred to kids’ shirts as their ‘shells’ and their hair as their ‘fuzz.’

After Turtle Talk we explored the pavilion and saw dolphins! We also rode the Seas with Nemo & Friends. It was the first time any of us rode it and it was great!



Soon we made our way to Mission Space (after getting lost) so Cindy and Eeyore could use their FP+ for it. Right outside Mission Space was a pretzel cart and I had my eye on a cinnamon sugar pretzel.

I should explain that the Disney World cinnamon sugar pretzels are akin to the holy grail in my household. They are the perfect snack – filling and sweet! We have all loved them since I was a kid, but they long ago stopped selling them at MK and we couldn’t seem to find them anywhere for a while. On my last trip in 2010 I just happened upon them at a cart near Innovations in Future World, so as soon as we were in the Epcot gates this trip I was on the search for them. My dad and I also happened upon them at a Streets of America cart in HS when we went for one day for the Frozen Summer Fun a couple weeks ago, so it seems like they are becoming more available!



I enjoyed my pretzel in a little stone bench seating area by Mission Space. It was very relaxing and nice to see the monorail whoosh overhead from time to time.

Eeyore and Cindy both enjoyed Mission Space, but thought it was really tame (they did the tamer one, I don’t know the color names). After that we made a quick stop at Starbucks (we loved the pixie dust on the cups):





And made our way to World Showcase! But first, we stopped to smell the roses :

 

[waltsdream]

Around 1 PM, we arrived in France and started trying to find the meet and greet location for Belle. And so began the Princess Greets Around the World. Kenny the Pirate’s character website was an enormous help to us – we are very thankful! The Princess Greets Around the World became a fun sort of game for us, and it was so beautiful to meet them all in such beautiful locations too.

We asked around to the CMs and found the line for Belle’s meet and greet. It was directly in the afternoon sun and It. Was. Hot. But worth it. : ) Cindy peaced out and went to the Japan pavilion, and we didn’t hear from her for like two or three hours… she had fun shopping and lounging. Behind us in line were three DCP CMs and the guy CM was singing all the Beauty and the Beast songs with such enthusiasm and pizazz, I loved it! You go, buddy! It made the wait go by faster.

Soon it was time to meet Belle! She and Snow White are Eeyore’s favorite princesses, and Belle is one of mine as well. As a little girl I was an enormous bookworm, and my Dad and I would sing Belle together while making baguettes in our breadmaker.

Belle noticed our ‘graduating from college!’ pins and said, “Oh, you must really have read a lot of books then.” We laughed and I said, “Belle, you don’t even know:”



She asked what kinds of books we read and what our major was, and then we asked her for book recommendations. She said she was really enjoying Greek mythology at the moment. I LOVEDDD meeting her in her blue village dress! I don’t like the new version of her yellow dress at all.



We had a while before Aurora came back for her next meet in France, so Eeyore and I strolled around France. Eeyore loved the Givenchy store, and I had my eyes on an ice cream drink at the new ice cream shop there. It was so funny because the young woman taking my order was clearly an international DCP CM and so I was asking her about it and how she liked it and she just gave me a look that epitomized Parisian sass, attitude and sophistication – I actually thought it was very cool! I don’t remember what liquor I ordered with my chocolate ice cream but the French girl did NOT approve of my selection, hahaha!

Eeyore bought some sort of cheese bread from the boulangerie patisserie and we grabbed a table outside in the French pavilion. This is one of our favorite memories of the trip – France is both Eeyore’s and my favorite WS pavilion, and it was especially beautiful with all the Beauty and the Beast topiaries.









When we met Aurora we made sure to get in the line ten or so minutes early again and only had a couple families in front of us. Aurora was a riot – she told the little girl in front of us that she takes 20 naps a day. Aurora also noticed our college graduation buttons and asked us what our plans are for the rest of our ‘stories.’ Cindy told her that she plans on being an author one day, which Aurora loved. She said she has lots of storytellers in her kingdom.



After meeting Aurora, we walked over to Morocco to meet Jasmine in Lamps of Wonder. This line was a bit longer but moved very quickly, and the decorations were beautiful! We asked Jasmine about Abu and she was very sweet:



Next up on our marathon Princess Tour Around The World was China for Mulan. At this point, we were both extremely hot and China seemed very, very, very far away in that beating sun. By the time we made it to China, she was not in the meeting place listed online so I asked a CM where we might find her. Unfortunately he pointed us in the wrong direction and by the time we got to her line it had been cut off – we missed meeting her by just one family. I was pretty sad about this because she’s such a rare princess to see and meet, and she’s an awesome, strong independent woman! : D

We leisurely strolled over to Germany and decided to just wait in the line for Snow White by the wishing well until she came out, so as not to miss meeting her because she is Eeyore’s most favorite princess. The family in front of us was adorable – they had a little daughter and son who was probably about 9 years old. His dad kept teasing him – “are you going to hug Snow White? Are you going to ask her to be your girllllfrienddd?” To which the little boy turned several embarrassed shades of red. When it was their turn to meet Snow White, Snow White held the little boy's hand and gave him a big kiss on the cheek - toooooo cute!!!!!!!!! Also, while we were waiting in line, a little duck decided to get in line for Snow White as well, and cut in front of a few familes – tssk tssk, duck!

Snow White was so sweet – she went up to each new family in line and walked them the short way to her well. The character attendant managing the line was also so much fun – he was so kind, asking each party their names and talking to them all by name. It was really, really hot outside but he made each group feel special and upbeat while they were waiting.



Eeyore was very starstruck when she met Snow White, so I told Snow White that Eeyore is a huge Once Upon A Time fan. Snow White asked what that was, and Eeyore peeped: “It’s a show… You’re the star..” I told her the Evil Queen is in it too, to which Snow White said, “She’s not evil, she’s just misunderstood.” Eeyore loved this. Snow White also asked if everyone had a happy ending on the show, even the Queen, to which Eeyore replied: “sort of…” This was a very special meet for Eeyore and I love seeing how happy she is in the photos:



Whew, that was a long update and a hot, whirlwind tour of the World! Up next, more WS adventures!

 

[MagentaMulan]

Hi, I love reading your TR so far! (And following along now). Congratulations on graduating. I'm graduating this fall from college and celebrating at wdw in January! It will be my first time visiting and very much look forward to meeting characters.