WDW October 2018

Friday, October 12

Our flight was first thing Friday morning, and we had no trouble getting through security (I really do love the pre-check line!) and to our gate with plenty of time to spare. To get to Orlando, we flew on Southwest, and it was not a full flight, so we had an empty seat between us! Obviously this was a sign of good things to come!

Collette & Linguini
from Ratatouille

We landed at about 8:30 am, walked down to the Magical Express area, and had a very short wait before we were on our way. We arrived at All-Star Music around 10:00 am, checked in, and took our bags over to Bell Services since obviously our room wasn't available with it being so early in the day! We were told that Bell Services would be closing at 11:00 pm that night, and we knew we wouldn't be getting back to the resort until well after that, so the cast member assured us that he would see to it that our bags were brought to our room and would be waiting for us when we got there! One less thing to worry about!

We hopped on a bus to get over to Epcot for a couple of hours because we loved some of the items we tried last month at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival and we wanted to have them for lunch!

We took the monorail from Epcot over to TTC and then the ferryboat over to Magic Kingdom, and we had a wonderful afternoon roaming around the park. We were able to get a reservation at The Plaza Restaurant, and even though we were not celebrating a birthday, we decided to try the Birthday Cake Shake and it was so yum…and, as you can see, fun to photograph!

We were pleasantly surprised to find the park not as busy as our last few visits, so we were able to get on some attractions with very reasonable wait times (like only 20 minutes or so for Peter Pan's Flight!). While we were in Tomorrowland, we checked in for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and picked up our wristbands.

For an early dinner, we grabbed the "plant-based slaw dog" I wrote about last month and while I still do not care for the name, I love the mobile ordering that eliminates the need to wait in line! While we were eating, the pianist at Casey's Corner came out to perform, which we thoroughly enjoy any time we are fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time, but then the staff also came out and performed "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" with the pianist and it was super cute!

The park was technically closing at 6:00 pm, with the officially starting time for MNSSHP listed as 7:00 pm. This was a little different than when we've attended the party in the past, and I think it is an improvement, because it seemed that between 6:00 and 7:00, those guests not staying for the party filtered out for the most part. This meant that the park was significantly less crowded by the official start time of the party.

  

As for the party itself? Amazing. One year when we went, it was ridiculously crowded and we were annoyed. Another year when we went, it rained and we were annoyed. This time? Perfect! Very reasonable number of guests and the weather was wonderful! The parade and the fireworks for this event are top notch, even by Disney standards, and the general theming at every turn is impressive. We don't bother with any of the trick-or-treating business – I've written before about what a waste of time I think this is – with the party only being five hours, I have no interest in waiting in lines to get candy and then having to carry that candy around throughout the night! We did not dress up – we aren't big on costumes as a general rule – but we still had a ton of fun and were able to go on rides with almost no wait time!

One thing I was looking for was the Jack and Sally meet-and-greet. While I'm not especially fond of the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, I love, love, love, love, LOVE Zero! And at their meet-and-greet in the past, part of the set was Zero's grave (a little dog house) and I wanted a picture of it. When we went to the location where their meet-and-greet had been in previous years, it was being used for something else, so we asked a cast member what had happened. She informed us that their meet-and-greet was taking place at the Town Square Theater because the lines had become almost unmanageable in years past (we had heard that some people waited 3+ hours to meet them!). That was disappointing for me because I really didn't want to wait three hours just to get a picture of Zero's grave, which the cast member could not even confirm was part of the new location.  What we decided to do was wait until the very end of the night and get in line to meet them in the hopes that we'd be in and out quickly. We got in line at 11:50 pm (the party ended at midnight) and I specifically asked about Zero's grave as soon as we got to the theater and I was told that it was indeed part of the set. Since I really wanted a picture of it, we decided to get in line, and we ended up waiting about 40 minutes to meet Jack and Sally.

Two takeaways from this encounter: 1) Zero's grave was nowhere to be found, which was a bit of a letdown…but 2) Jack and Sally were incredible! Honestly! They were so great with every single person they met, regardless of age, costume, whatever! I truly enjoyed them! I can see now why people are willing to wait very long stretches of time in order to meet them, especially if they're fans of the film! Definitely a fabulous way to end our night at MK!

We did not want to deal with the buses, so we walked over to Contemporary (passing our beloved brick in the process!) and took an Uber back to All-Star Music. When we got to out room, our bags were waiting for us as promised!

Saturday, October 13

We slept in on Saturday because Friday had been a very long day for us. We had a lunch reservation at one of our favorite restaurants, Via Napoli, so we took an Uber over to Boardwalk and walked in the back entrance to Epcot into World Showcase.

I was shocked not only at how incredibly busy and packed the park was, but also at how many drunk people we encountered and it wasn't even 1:00 pm yet. This is definitely something I dislike about the Food and Wine Festival. On a regular day at Epcot, there all already too many noisy, tipsy, out-of-control people for my liking, but a beautiful Saturday during Food and Wine?!? Ridiculous. I was so annoyed with myself for making the lunch reservation because I know better! Thankfully, lunch was delicious as always, and we pretty much made a beeline for the front of the park right after our meal with only a few quick stops. I will be sure not to book another restaurant in Epcot on a weekend during a festival again! I don't like to let other people impact my trip, but it was hard to ignore some of the antics taking place.

We did exactly as we had the day before – monorail to TTC and ferryboat to MK – and spent a few hours there before heading back to the resort. That in and of itself was painful, as the bus took an exceptionally long time to pick us up at MK, and then once on the bus, we were subjected to less-than-ideal travel mates. I have no problem when kids are loud because I get that they are excited and over stimulated and probably full of treats. But adults who are in confined spaces – like a bus – who have loud, obnoxious conversations with no regard to those around them really do make me mad! Have some consideration for others! Inevitably, there are tired parents holding exhausted kids, and they don't need you yelling less than five feet from their ears! It takes every ounce of restraint to not tell people like that to shut up. And don't get me started on adults who play music or videos loudly on their devices while on a bus! I'm an adult and I am sometimes offended…I can't imagine how annoyed some of the parents with little people must feel! And honestly, can you not survive a 10-15 minute bus ride just sitting quietly and showing courtesy toward your fellow passengers?!?

We were able to just hang out at the resort for a little while before our dinner reservation – a new-to-us restaurant called Maria and Enzo's at Disney Springs. We contemplated whether to take a bus or an Uber, and Google Maps was showing some traffic, so we decided to take a bus because they have some dedicated lanes to get to Disney Springs. Big mistake. HUGE. The bus took forever to even get to us, it was being shared with the other two All-Star resorts, and it was already absolutely packed. A few people got off at our stop, so we were able to get on, but others were not, and we were squished in there like you wouldn't believe. Not only was it uncomfortable, but it was downright dangerous, with far too many people on one bus. I just cannot understand how Disney has not figured out a way, with all of its technology and ingenuity and creativity, to improve the efficiency of the buses!

Despite arriving late, we loved the restaurant – the food and the décor were fantastic – and we spent a few hours at Disney Springs after dinner before taking an Uber back to the resort. I'd had quite enough of the buses for one day!

Sunday, October 14

Check-out day is never fun because we think about all of the things we wanted to do but didn't have time for! We dropped our bags off at Bell Services and took an Uber to TTC (again – I'd just had my fill of buses for this trip!) and then the ferryboat to MK. It was another beautiful day, but very hot…the weather app reported that it felt like 96 degrees! We had some lunch and a few snacks, and as is our tradition whenever possible, we rode the PeopleMover as our last attraction and for the first time ever, we saw Space Mountain with the lights on because the ride was temporarily closed! Exciting!

We took the monorail over to Contemporary to catch an Uber back to All-Star Music, where we picked up our bags and then took the Tragical Express to the airport. We flew on Frontier and unfortunately, we had someone sitting in between us. Most of the time, I don't care, because I usually sleep for much of the flight. However, this particular person was talking very loudly on his cell phone during the entire boarding process and continued to do so even after the announcement was made to turn off all devices. C had to tell him not once, but TWICE, to turn off his phone! Obnoxious much? So little regard for his fellow travelers! Why do you need a personal invitation to turn off your phone?!?

The good news is that we made it home safely, despite having a less-than-awesome seatmate and the trip, despite frustrations with buses and rude people, was fabulous!

And when we stepped out of the airport and experienced the 56 degree weather? Amazing!

Happy Tails to you!