Deja Vu All Over Again About This Page:

[PrincessSharon]

Déjà Vu All Over Again
October 5 – 9, 2012
Boardwalk Villas

Here we are again. Another fall, another P-Sha Trip Report. And it’s a lot like my other fall TRs. A visit to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. A stay at an Epcot area resort. Oh, and lots of visits to the Food & Wine Festival booths. Déjà vu all over again.

The thing that sometimes changes is my traveling companion. This year, it’ll be my DM, Mable. She’s a regular, though she didn’t come with me last year. I booked a room at the Boardwalk Villas, and I learned a valuable lesson, but more on that in just a bit.

Our flight was early afternoon, so DM and I went for mani-pedis before heading to the airport. We grabbed lunch there – pizza, which is from a good place – I’d venture to say it’s the best airport pizza in the country!

I bought a drink for the plane (I seem to get thirsty before beverage service begins) and then it was almost time for boarding. I’d done EBCI, so I boarded before DM. I was able to score the exit row with 2 seats, so neither of us (i.e. DM) had to take the middle seat.

Our flight was fine, if a little bumpy. We landed a full 20 minutes early, which is always a good thing. However, that was the last time we’d do anything early that day – the clock was working against us for sure and the rest of the day, it took a long time for us to do everything! It was raining at the time, which worried me because we were going to MNSSHP, but it stopped shortly after we got off the plane.

So we landed 20 minutes early, but we wasted all those minutes because our gate wasn’t ready. Then we walked over to get our DME to the Boardwalk. We’d just missed one! We had to wait for another bus to arrive, and then for it to fill up. Ordinarily, it only takes me about an hour from the time I land until I’m checking in at the resort, but this day – not so much! And we were heading right to MNSSHP, so I was hoping to be able to spend a little time in our room getting settled and relaxing a bit before we left.

The bus finally got moving and we were the second stop, so that wasn’t too bad. I’d done online check in, so it didn’t take very long to check us in. I’d booked a pool view room, but only because standard view rooms weren’t available. Well, that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The pool view rooms are very close to the lobby – remember last year? My room next to the Tower of Terror? This was so much more convenient! I’ll be booking the pool/garden view from now on.

The room was on the same floor as the lobby, just a few doors down from the elevators.



I was happy to note that they had the new RFID entry, so once I put my KTTW card in its little holder, it didn’t have to come out again.

We had an interesting balcony – our room had the little round window, so it seemed like a porthole! This actually was great, because we could sit out there in our pajamas and nobody at the pool could see us!



After putting our stuff down and grabbing what we’d need for the party, we had to head to the park. Again, time wasn’t on our side as we had to wait at least 20 minutes for a bus. Karen texted me to find out what we were up to and I had to admit that we weren’t even in the park. Jill and her family were attending the party that night too, and they weren’t even ready, so I felt better about our slight tardiness.

The bus was packed, but we managed to both get seats. I spent the ride chatting with the woman next to me. She found out I was a regular visitor and then pumped me with questions. She wanted dinner suggestions because the only place they knew to eat was the pizza window! I helped her out.

After making stops at the Swan and Dolphin, we finally arrived at the Magic Kingdom at just about 8:00.



That’s 3 full hours after we’d landed! Anyway, we were there and we hadn’t really missed anything. We were both hungry, so our first stop was Cosmic Rays. I got chicken nuggets and DM had the angus cheeseburger.



We enjoyed our dinner while watching Cosmic Ray. DM informed me that she was so stuffed from eating her giant cheeseburger that she wouldn’t eat anything else all night. I know my DM, and I figured there’s no way she’d be able to resist holding candy in her hand and not eating it, and I told her so. She insisted that she wouldn’t eat a single piece of candy. We’ll see who was right. Any bets?

When we were finished with dinner, I asked DM what she wanted to do. She wanted to start trick-or-treating. Surprised? Well, you haven’t been paying attention to my other trip reports, then! We went through the first treat trail in Tomorrowland, right outside of Cosmic Ray’s. Before we got 4 steps away, DM was digging through the bag and had picked out something to eat! I reminded her about how stuffed she was, but she said the walk from Cosmic Ray’s (all 25 steps) had helped her digest her food and now she had room for candy. So anyone want to bet how much candy she eats before the end of the night?

It was time to find a spot for Wishes, so we walked to the hub. I was worried about crowds because Jill told me the party would be crowded because of the rain the night before. However, it was one of the least crowded parties I’ve been to in a very long time. Maybe the weather kept people away – it seemed like it might rain, but it never actually did. I felt about 3 or 4 drops as we waited for the fireworks, but it never did more than that.




These were taken about 10 minutes before the start of Hallowishes – not crowded!

We enjoyed the fireworks – I think Hallowishes is the best non-regular-Wishes Wishes. Or whatever. I took a few pictures, but mostly just enjoyed the show.









Then I asked DM what she wanted to do. Silly question! Trick-or-treating, of course. I have to say that as much as I tease my DM, it thrills me to bits to be able to watch her become a kid again.

We headed over to Adventureland to get on lines there. After we went through the line in front of POTC (by the way, the lines were pretty short because of the low crowds), DM wanted to go through the same line again. There were two stations at the front, so I agreed and we went to the other side this time. DM wanted to go through the same one again! I felt bad and waited at the entrance while DM went through one more time.

After hitting all the spots in Adventureland, we moved on to Frontierland. We sometimes went through a trail twice, but never three times again. And DM’s favorite was the one by Splash Mountain because there were plenty of stations (and generous CMs!).

I noticed some really cool MNSSHP lighting on Big Thunder Mountain.



After we finished all the trails in Frontierland, it was time to find a spot for the second parade. Perfect planning on my part. Because it wasn’t a crowded night, it wasn’t a problem. DM was even able to snag a bench while I sat right at the rope, hoping to get some good photos.

I got a mediocre one of the Headless Horseman. My problem is I’m always enjoying watching and then have to scramble for the photo!



Continued…