Ghosts, Goblins, and Trick or Treat

me getting a surprise hug from Pooh

Tuesday began with my very favorite breakfast - 1900 Park Fare.  This character breakfast takes place in the Grand Floridian, one of Disney's most elite resorts.  Breakfast guests are greeted at their tables by Alice, The Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins, Tigger, Piglet and the Pooh bear.  The Mad Hatter was one of my favorite characters from Alice in Wonderland, but meeting him in person was an experience of a lifetime.  He goes around the restaurant greeting the eaters, all the while shouting at Mary Poppins.  Usually the characters concentrate on the kids, but when Pooh saw our anniversary buttons, he surprised me with a hug.

Marys and Mad Hatters

SIL Jimmy has the most amazing relatives.  For our Disney trip last year, his Aunt Karen made Krissy this Mary Poppins dress.  And this year, with only a few days notice, she and some of Jimmy's cousins put together this incredible Mad Hatter costume for Bubby.  The Mad Hatter was so impressed, and kept shouting to Alice that "no one wanted to dress up like you, that just shows they like me better".  So here's our Marys and Mad Hatters.  Aren't they a hoot?

After breakfast we took the Monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Here, I managed to get Pinocchio's autograph.  The heat was really taking it's toll on us two old grandparents, so we decided to go back to the hotel for some cooling off and a nap.  We had tickets for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party that night, and knew it would be a late one.  The nap did us both good, and after a "lunch" of French Quarter's well-known beignets, we took the bus back to the Magic Kingdom.  From there we took the Monorail to the Polynesian, where we would have dinner at Kona.  Kona has to be one of all of our favorite places for dinner.  Their steaks are the best, and I love the duck pot stickers as an appetizer.  For dessert I had their chocolate-banana creme brulee.  Mmmm, doesn't just the sound of it make your mouth water???

The Castle at dusk

After dinner we were off to the Halloween Party.  As we started down Main Street, this was our view of the Castle at dusk. The Halloween Party is the one time that adults are permitted to enter the park in costume.  And to say this is a family environment, we certainly saw a lot of "hookers".  One family we saw was all dressed in costumes from Peter Pan; another was in costumes from Pirates of the Caribbean.  We proceeded through the park to Liberty Square, where we had found front row seating for the Halloween Parade.

Wow, how can I describe this parade and do it justice??

 The parade begins with the headless horseman riding the parade route.  There are beautifully lit floats featuring both heroes and villians.  

One of the most impressive entries in the parade, were the grave diggers.  They perform precision moves with their shovels, and when they scrape them on the pavement, sparks fly.

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The specters from the Haunted Mansion made an appearance, looking surprisingly scary in their finest garb.

And of course, there was my beloved Captain Jack Sparrow.

The Party was great fun, the parade was just amazing, and the trick-or-treating to collect sweets from Goofy's Candy Company made me feel almost young again.  But eventually, it was time to say good night to the Magic Kingdom and it's Castle.


Good Bye to the Magic Kingdom for this visit.  But rest assured, we'll be back!

Magic in Magic Kingdom

Monday was a really fun day.  The kids had an early morning breakfast at Chef Mickey's, but Rod and I decided to play sleepy-heads and didn't do the breakfast.  The kids were planning a day of water play at Blizzard Beach (one of Disney's water parks) and they had a great day for it since the temperature hit 92.  Rod and I had a relaxing morning, and arrived at the Magic Kingdom at about 9:30.  I was a little concerned that it wouldn't be as much fun if we were by ourselves, but it didn't work out that way.  It was an absolutely great day, and luck was certainly with us as we didn't have to wait long for anything we decided to do. The fall decorations were just beautiful, and we enjoyed seeing all that we could see.

Upon entering the park, we headed down Mainstreet U.S.A., to the Mainstreet Bakery.  Here we got a ham, egg, and cheese croissant sandwich for breakfast, along with coffee for Rod and milk for me.  While we were eating, a group of performers following the horse-drawn carriage stopped near us to perform.  After enjoying their performance, we headed toward the Castle.  As luck would have it we arrived just as the Dream-Along with Mickey stage show was beginning.  It was a cute little show in which Maleficent tries to turn Mickey's dreams into nightmares, but as usual, good triumphs over evil.

After seeing this show that we knew nothing about prior to going to the Magic Kingdom, we decided to head toward Toontown.  Here I was able to see Alice again, and lucky enough to get the White Rabbit's autograph.  While in Toontown, we decided to ride the Walt Disney Railroad.  Here I had to transfer from my ECV to a wheelchair.  Since the ECV had to stay in Toontown, we rode the whole circle on the railroad.  It was a very enjoyable ride, and gave us a chance to get a "bird's-eye" view of the Magic Kingdom.

Upon leaving the train, we just started walking and found ourselves in front of Mickey's PhilharMagic.  I love this show, and was so glad to see that we could walk right in -- no waiting line.  PhilharMagic is a 3D movie that takes you through some of Disney's movies as Donald Duck chases the Mickey's Sorcerer's hat.  When we left this attraction, the wait had grown to 50 minutes.   As each attraction and ride exits you into a gift shop, we did a little shopping.

As we walked on, we discovered we were near Columbia Harbour House.  We had planned to eat lunch here, and so we went in.  This meal was a pleasant surprise.  It was considered a counter service meal on the Disney Dining Plan.  Rod and I both decided to get the shrimp meal, and boy what a meal it was!!  Each of us got 10 nice sized shrimp, french fries, coleslaw, a dessert, and a drink.  I wasn't able to eat all that we were given, so I left behind the fries and the dessert.  This will certainly be on our list of places to eat for the next time.

We walked on to Liberty Square so that we could ride the paddlewheel steamship.  I grew up along the Ohio River, and often saw the Delta Queen passing by.  I had always dreamed of cruising on the Queen, but since it was out of our price range, the Liberty Belle was a suitable substitute.  The 17 minute tour is narrated by "Mark Twain" and at times the captain requests a depth measurement.  It was a cool ride on a hot day, but on the bottom deck there weren't many places to sit.  Along the river, were Indian villages, hints of river pirates, and woodland animals.  While we were in Liberty Square, we decided to visit the Hall of Presidents.  The attraction begins with a film that highlights our country's origins and struggles.  Lincoln recites the Gettysburg Address.  Then the curtain rises on the Presidents, all 43 of them.  They are audio-animatronic figures that are very realistic.  George Washington and President Obama deliver speeches.

As we were exiting the Hall of Presidents, Cast Members were roping off the area for a parade.  This parade was honoring the volunteers who had  participated in the Give a Day, Get a Disney Day promotion.  I wasn't invited to join the parade, but I did participate in this promotion by making two quilts for Project Linus.  I was able to turn my certificate in for a special ear hat complete with trading pins.  Since I am a pin collector, I was pleased to add this special reward to my collection.

By the time the parade was over, we were baking and decided to do the Country Bear Jamboree.  It's not one of my favorite attractions, but there was no wait and it was air conditioned.  Rod and I had dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern, and to be honest, we enjoyed our lunch there last year much more than this year's dinner.

We met up with the kids and all of us did the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor.  It's a funny show, with jokes by some of the monsters from the movie.  After the show, some of the group did Space Mountain, and then we proceeded to the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station.  We had purchased tickets for the Wishes Dessert Party, which gave us preferred viewing for the Wishes fireworks show.  I had heard such good things about this dessert buffet, but I can't recommend it at all.  For some reason, our party of 8 was seated at the same size table as the party of 4 seated next to us.  Talk about feeling like a sardine!!  The desserts left a little to be desired.  We paid $27.00 per person for this, and don't feel we got our money's worth.  Mary and Pam complained to a Cast Member, who went and got the manager.  Pam even requested her money back because she told the manager that she felt she hadn't gotten what she paid for.  The manager attempted to make things better by bringing a smaller table to place next to our table.  It wasn't much of an effort, but at last he tried.  And quite honestly, the preferred viewing wasn't any better than the area where we watched the fireworks from last year.  So, it was a disappointing end to a magical day.

Animal Kingdom

One of the greatest things about visiting Disney as a family is that we all have our own interests, and there's something for everyone.  Mary and her family are mostly about the rides -- they love the coasters.  Pam and Pat and I love the animals, and Rod likes to do both.  Because of all the animal adventures, I love Animal Kingdom.  Although Animal Kingdom is divided into seven sections, my two favorites are Africa and Asia.  Since the kids were staying at a different resort from Rod and I, we met here outside the entrance to Animal Kingdom on Sunday morning.  We arrived before the park opened, since we had an 8:10 breakfast reservation for Donald's Safari Breakfast at the Tusker House restaurant.  Tusker House has an incredible breakfast buffet - all the normal American foods like eggs, bacon and sausage, but also some unique African items such as spicy corned beef hash, porridge, and beef bobtie quiche.  The juice they serve here is called Jamba Juice, and is a blend of orange, mango and passion fruit juice.  It's really good, but too much sugar for me. I prefer to have my tomato juice every morning.  Our waiter, Rudi, told me that they only served V-8, which I just can't tolerate (something from my childhood).  But, again the magic of Disney came to light, when Rudi managed to snag me a large glass of tomato juice from the bar area.  He was a great waiter and made me feel very special when he returned with my juice. While we ate, we were visited at our table by Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Daisy all dressed in their safari clothes.  After breakfast, we were off to begin our exploration.  

We saw the Festival of the Lion King Show.  It's a great show with music, dancing and acrobats.  And, the audience participates by making animal noises.  We always enjoy this performance.

Then we were off to the Kilimanjaro Safari.  Here again, I was able to  transfer from the scooter directly to the seat in the truck.  If you don't like being bumped, jostled, jiggled and tossed, this is not the ride for you.  The "jungle paths" are very rough, and you travel through waters and over rickety bridges as you proceed on the safari.  We had a great driver, who was really skilled at pointing out and identifying the various animals.  We were very lucky on this safari, and saw giraffes, elephants, rhinos, zebras and lots of antelope, deer, and birds.  

While in Africa, we did the Pagani Forest Trail, a walking trail where you are able to see gorillas, hippos, okapi, meerkats and many species of birds.  Call  us a little weird, but we just had to take a picture of the gorilla picking it's toe jams -- Izzy picks her toe jams on occasion.  However, unlike the gorilla, she doesn't eat them.  

Rod, the twins and I had wanted to to the Flights of Wonder show.  Mary, Jimmy and Krissy wanted to do Expedition Everest, the roller coaster in Asia.  Bubby isn't quite big enough for Everest yet, so he tagged along with the rest of us to the bird show. The cast member who seated us fell in love with Bubby and gave him a small finger puppet. It was quite an impressive show lasting 25 minutes and featuring some 20 birds.  Disney always manages to throw in a little humor, we enjoyed the show as well as seeing the birds.  While in Asia, we did the Maharajah Jungle Trek, where the path leads you along the viewing areas for the Komodo dragon, the gorgeous Asian tigers, a Malayan tapir, and various bats and birds.  I truly believe that the Komodo dragon is avoiding me -- the last trip he wouldn't venture out because it was too cold, and this trip he was hiding in the shade of a rather large bush.  Everyone did their own thing for lunch since we had a special dinner planned. 

While Mary's family did the It's Tough to be a Bug show, Rod and the twins and I explored the Tree of Life.  Each of Disney's theme parks has it's own icon, and the Tree of Life is the centerpiece of Animal Kingdom.  The tree of life is a massive, sculpted tree that stands 145 feet tall and is 50 feet wide.  Looking at the tree is quite an amazing experience as you can see the various animals carved into the tree.  The Discovery Island trails weave around and through this tree, and Galapagos tortoises and lemurs can be seen along this trail.


But all too soon, it was time to leave Animal Kingdom and make our way to Fort Wilderness for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review.  The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Review is an old fashioned dinner show featuring hand-clapping music and comedy.  I wasn't sure about doing this show, but it was a lot of fun.  The fried chicken was really good, but the ribs were dry.  And all the food is served in metal buckets.  The audience is drawn into this show in many different ways, and I think we all enjoyed ourselves.

Back to Disney

Friday was our first EPCOT day.  The kids had an 8:00 a.m. breakfast with the princesses at Akershus, but Rod and I elected to pass on this one and get a later start.  I was really excited about this day since I think Epcot is my favorite park.

Rod and I arrived at the park a little after 9 and decided to do a counter service breakfast at the Sunshine Seasons inside the Land Building.  We had never eaten there, but have always loved the balloons which hang from the ceiling, and represent the four seasons.  Breakfast was a really pleasant surprise.  We elected to get the breakfast platter, and couldn't believe how much food we got.  There was scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, home fried potatoes, a biscuit and french toast with syrup. And you had your choice of two beverages.  After seeing the amount of food, we realized we should have gotten one platter and shared it.  We will certainly keep that in mind for the next time.

After breakfast, we met up with the kids and did the Living With the Land ride.  This is a photo of the boats that you ride in.  It was no problem for me to transfer from my ECV into this boat.  The first part of the 13 minute ride is a journey through past struggles of the land and the future of farming.  It ends with a ride through the Disney greenhouse where you can see how they grow foods using modern methods, including fish farming and hydroponics.  Disney uses some great methods while growing veggies that could make their way into your salad at the Garden Grill restaurant.

Have you ever seen a Mickey head shaped pumpkin?  Well, they grow them here.

We then went to The Seas building where we did the Turtle Talk with Crush show.  It's really cute, and I never tire of seeing it.  The kids did the Nemo and Friends ride, but I was left out as the nasty and rude Cast Member told me that I was not able to transfer to a wheel chair because they "don't have them THAT big".  After a brief cry, I decided that she wasn't going to ruin my day. Rod and I had lunch at the Coral Reef restaurant in The Seas building.  I had so looked forward to it, but it was kind of a disappointment.  My lobster raviolis were OK, but there was a birthday party going on, and every time the large sea turtle, the shark, or the ray came near the table of kids, they screamed.  Quite frankly, I think I've had better seafood at Red Lobster, and we definitely won't be eating there again.  While Rod and I headed to lunch, the kids did the Soarin' ride followed by lunch at Via Napoli, a new pizza restaurant.  Their food was really good, but lunch took 2-1/2 hours due to the poor service.  Since they weren't finished as quickly as we were, Rod and I headed to World Showcase to explore some of the "countries" we hadn't visited before.  At the World Traveler store, I bought a new hat, and some Disney bus replicas for Rod's train layout.

How do you like my new sexy hat?  I'm here on my scooter in front of the Nemo display near The Seas building.








We also did the Journey into Imagination ride with Figment and Dr. Nigel Channing (played by Eric Idle of Monty Python fame).  I wasn't too thrilled about this ride, but I am so glad we did it.  It was interesting, funny and the cars were the neatest I'd ever seen.

They loaded me and the ECV onto the back car using a ramp.  Turns out that I was sitting on a large turntable, and the cast member needed only to turn that table and I was facing the right direction.  No backing up, banging the sides and becoming totally frustrated here -- it was just simple and perfect. When the ride ended, it only took one more turn of the table, and I was ready to drive straight off that car.  It was pretty amazing, and made me very happy.

Rod and the kids also did Test Track, and some did Mission Space.  We walked around, got some autographs, and ended up back at the Land Building for dinner with Chip n Dale, Mickey, Goofy and Pluto at the Garden Grill.  We loved the food when we ate here last year, but this year it wasn't quite as good.  Not quite sure why, but it just didn't have the same flavor.
We did some more exploring, some more shopping, and Mary pulled some magic out of her hat to get us preferred viewing for the Illuminations show that evening.  It's a beautiful show, but everyone hustles to leave the park when it's over, and the bus stops are crazy afterward.  It was a long and  hot, and truly wonderful day, but I was glad to be back at the room for a good night's sleep.  Tomorrow -- Animal Kingdom.

We Interrupt These Disney Blogs. . . .

To bring you something else.  It's been quite a while since I participated in a swap.  I found that in many instances some of the other swappers didn't put much effort into the swap, and many times, didn't even follow the swap guidelines.  But, recently I came upon a swap that really intrigued me.  It's a Brown Bag Swap.  You swap 2 yards of fabric with someone, and by using 90% of those fabrics, combined with your stash and one new fabric, you make a quilt (size is your choice) to keep.  You must post a photo by March 1.  It sounded like a lot of fun, so I joined.

I got my fabrics in the mail while I was on vacation, along with a note from my swap-mate.  They are from a collection by Connecting Threads, and surprisingly enough, I had some of these fabrics in my stash. These are the fabrics I received.   I looked them over, and was having a hard time deciding what to do.  So, I went over to Connecting Threads and there I found a book of Rose of Sharon blocks.  I wanted to do something I could hand sew (since I'm tired of the grandmother's garden blocks) and decided to order the book and do a Rose of Sharon quilt.  I think these fabrics will make beautiful Rose of Sharon blocks.  You know I'll share as I get these finished.

Disney's Hollywood Studios

Our first day and a half were spent at Hollywood Studios.  Our first night at Disney, we had dinner at Hollywood and Vine, a great buffet restaurant.  We had booked a Fantasmic! Dinner Package there, which gave us preferred seating for Fantasmic! (us and about 3,000 other people). What is Fantasmic!, you may ask.  It is a 25 minute show that combines fireworks, dancing waters, and laser lights in a story involving both heroes and villians of Disney classics.  And the name couldn't suit it better!  The music combined with the special effects and the story made for a wonderful fantasy experience.  The evil queen gathers together the various villians from Disney movies and attempts to turn Mickey's dreams into nightmares.  But, Mickey, combined with the power of imagination save the day.  I think of all the shows we saw, Fantasmic! was my favorite.

We also did the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.  I love Indiana Jones, and have all five of the Indiana Jones movies.  This show was so much fun.  Before the show, they pull some audience members out, and use them as extras in the show.  One of the stunts they explain is the rolling boulder.

Another of the stunts they explained was the stunt with the airplane.  They showed how the stunt man escapes, and how the gasoline is used both safely and effectively.

We elected to do The Great Movie Ride.  Rod, the twins and I hadn't done it before, and we really enjoyed it.  This ride uses audio-animatronics, film clips, and special effects to showcase some of the great moments in movie history.  Some of the films highlighted are Casablanca, Tarzan, Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, and Fantasia.  You enter this ride through a replica of Graumann's Chinese Theater.  It was an enjoyable ride, and the fact that it was air-conditioned made it even better.

We also did Muppets 3-D Vision, and took the animation class at the Animation Building where we learned to draw the alien from Toy Story.  Rod and the rest did Rock-n-Roller Coaster with Aerosmith, and the Toy Story Mania ride.

For dinner on Friday night, we did the Clambake at Cape May.  I'm sure the food would have been really good, but I had the misfortune of getting cold crab legs each time.  The fish bites were really great, and so were the salads.  After dinner, we took a bus to Downtown Disney, and did a little shopping.  Rod and I took a boat from Downtown Disney back to our resort.  It was cooler and quite romantic.
 

Port Orleans -- French Quarter

Front of the main building at FQ

Since Pat from DE is curious about the French Quarter resort at Walt Disney World, I'll start there today.  We just spent 6 days at French Quarter (FQ), and I loved it.  Our travel agent recommended it since it's one of the smallest resorts at WDW,  it's quiet, and very romantic.

If you are staying at a WDW resort, you are eligible to use Disney's Magic Express.  This is a bus service which Disney provides free of charge to transport their guests to and from the airport.  They provided a bus with a lift for my cart since I'm not able to do stairs.  Here is where the bus dropped us off on that first afternoon.  From here you proceed to registration inside this building.  The concierge service, Jackson Square gift shop and store, and the Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory which is a food court is also located in this building.

We had requested a ground floor room, and our request was granted in building 7.  At first it seemed that building 7 was quite a distance from the main building, but we had wanted a quiet spot and we certainly got it.  The landscaping here at FQ is just beautiful, well maintained, and the whole area just smells so good.  There is boxwood (which I love), pine trees and other flowers and, when all those scents mingled, it was just wonderful.  We were on the back side of the building, and heard no noise, not even from the buses.

The best way to show you what the building and our  room  was like is by linking to this video.  The room in the video is exactly like our room.  At Disney, the housekeeping service is called Mousekeeping.  Our Mousekeeper was really good.  I showed you a photo of the towel bird we received one morning.  Another morning, we were surprised with a Mickey bow, which she made using the bathmat and a washcloth.  And, still another morning, our soaps were arranged into a "Mickey Head".  The room was always well cleaned.

Normal routine is to tip the Mousekeeper $1/person in the room per day.  When the service is good, Rod and I just leave a $5 bill and use special envelopes, which we leave on the pillow.  Last year, we used envelope designs available online by other Disney guests, but this year I designed our envelopes.  Here are some examples of the six different envelopes I designed.  Mary Poppins is always one of my favorite movies.

Although as a kid, I was terrified by Fantasia; I now appreciate it and used it for an envelope design.

This is the envelope we left on the final day.

Looking toward the buildings of French Quarter.

This is the area where you wait for the Magic Express to pick you up for returning to the airport at the end of your stay.