Don't Blink, You Might Miss It! Our Super Quick MNSSHP 2012 Trip - Page 2 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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We have a Sweet Tomatoes about 30 min from us, it is actually about halfway between me and my sister so we meet there for lunch occasionally.
Oh that french toast looks so good! I have not dined at WCC, I think breakfast there is going on my "to try" list.
Can't wait to see how your hair turns out. The only time my hair has ever held a curl was for my wedding, I was determined to wear it down and curly. I have no idea how she did it, but my stylist worked some magic that day.
Breakfast looks so yummy! Can't wait to see what everyone's costume will be and how your hair comes out. I have the opposite problem-- nothing but curl, which turns to frizz in the Florida humidity.
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Great Start, Ashli!!! I love the pictures from AoA. The Little Mermaid room is AWESOME!!! Glad you had a great time at breakfast, it looked like a lot of fun and yummy too
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Glad you decided to write a TR! The Little Mermaid room is gorgeous. Can't wait to see your costume. I have that same Mickey/Minnie Trick or Treat shirt. Every time I see breakfast pictures from WCC, I remind myself that we need to do this next time we stay at VWL.
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Funny about your hair. I have the same problem, although mine is very limp and fine. Nothing stays in my hair and just like yours, it laughs at curlers or the curling iron.
The resort shots are great! And that breakfast looks very yummy.
Don't you see all those girls with their beautiful big curls and want to smack them?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lexiemom
We have a Sweet Tomatoes about 30 min from us, it is actually about halfway between me and my sister so we meet there for lunch occasionally.
Oh that french toast looks so good! I have not dined at WCC, I think breakfast there is going on my "to try" list.
Can't wait to see how your hair turns out. The only time my hair has ever held a curl was for my wedding, I was determined to wear it down and curly. I have no idea how she did it, but my stylist worked some magic that day.
Oh I am so jealous that you have a ST only 30 min away! Our closest one is in Jacksonville....2 hrs away. Definitely give WCC bfast a try - we've never been disappointed there! I'm glad your wedding hair turned out so well. I wanted the same thing for mine - down and curly. It held up really well while I did pictures before the wedding....inside. But once I went outside for the ceremony (we were in St Pete, FL of course..humidity, humidity, humidity) it started falling immediately. Fortunately it had been so tightly curled though that it didn't go completely straight.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
Breakfast looks so yummy! Can't wait to see what everyone's costume will be and how your hair comes out. I have the opposite problem-- nothing but curl, which turns to frizz in the Florida humidity.
LOL, the grass is always greener on the other person's head, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
Great Start, Ashli!!! I love the pictures from AoA. The Little Mermaid room is AWESOME!!! Glad you had a great time at breakfast, it looked like a lot of fun and yummy too
Thanks, Kathy! Banana bread French toast is soooooo good!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Glad you decided to write a TR! The Little Mermaid room is gorgeous. Can't wait to see your costume. I have that same Mickey/Minnie Trick or Treat shirt. Every time I see breakfast pictures from WCC, I remind myself that we need to do this next time we stay at VWL.
Definitely give WCC a try if you get the chance! It's our favorite bfast place on property. I love that you have the trick or treat shirt too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneymom57
A perfect start to the day! Will be adding WCC to next year's list for breakfast.
You won't be disappointed!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a great start to your super quick trip!
Thanks, Cheryl!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
Great start! Love the room! Looks like you're having a great time so far!
Thanks!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by num1DVCfan
I love the resort pics, especially the plant detail they put in with the sections. Disney has thought of everything!
They really have! I know by now I should almost expect it, but I am still so amazed at what they think of.
Next installment coming up shortly! Thanks for following along!
__________________
MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
After we got back from our fun WCC breakfast, it was just after noon. We decided to head to the pool for a little relaxing before it was time to get ready for MNSSHP. There is a very nice pool in the Little Mermaid section of AoA, but we headed over to the Big Blue Pool in the Finding Nemo section. That’s where all of the pool games and activities take place, and we wanted to participate in some of those. My DSis and I are a little (ok a lot) obsessed with the Disney trivia games they do at the pool (be it music, quotes, whatever). We call our team the Madame Mims every time, and whichever of the kids that are with us are interested are welcome to join us. Sadly, there weren’t any trivia games on the agenda for this day until after we’d be leaving to get ready for MNSSHP. Bummer, but hey, we were going to MNSSHP! Shortly after getting to the pool, the game host started up some Bingo. We all got cards and played along. DNiece, Elaina, won the third round, and got some sort of inflatable hammer with a zebra head. After the Bingo, they started up some games in the pool. It was nice that the Big Blue Pool is so large. They could do games in one section but others could still swim and relax without getting in the way. The kids played some of the games and we all had fun. At about 3:00 we headed back to our rooms to have a snack and start getting ready for MNSSHP. (Sorry there are no pics for this section, but even if someone was evil enough to take pictures of me in a bathing suit, I certainly wouldn’t be posting them online! )
Our plan was to head to the bus for MK at about 5:00. I know we can get in as early as 4:00, but we love the spooky feeling of the park after dark so we don’t mind going a bit later when it is closer to dark. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes after we came back from the pool, Elaina yelled from her room for us to look out the window. It. Was. POURING. Ugh. Now, we all had lived in FL so we are more than familiar with the afternoon thunderstorms and know that they generally don’t last too long. However, you just never know in the fall…they can be a little longer than normal. We’ve had immensely good luck to only have rain on one of our MNSSHP nights ever. We were really hoping to keep that streak alive. It was still raining hard at 4:00, but we decided to start putting on our costumes and hoping it would let up by the time we wanted to leave. I did my costume, make up, helped DS and DH with their costumes, before I took my hair out. I wanted that to be the last thing I did before we left because I wasn’t holding my breath for it to last long. At about 5 min to 5:00, it was still raining, but it had lessened considerably and the sky was getting brighter by the minute. Good sign! We had checked the weather forecast on DH’s blackberry during the storm, and of course all had to roll our eyes that it told us we were enjoying mostly sunny conditions. Really? I finally took my hair out and went to work with the hair spray. Now, when you see the pictures you might think I was disappointed with the lack of “crazy hair” that I was going for. However, for me, that is as crazy as it’s ever been or going to get. So I was completely pleased! I used so much hairspray that I was already counting the minutes till I could wash it out, but at least it was trying to cooperate. By 5:15, it had stopped raining completely and the sun was out! We headed outside to take some pictures and then trekked off to the MK bus stop for MNSSHP!
Harry Potter is ready!
Hermione, Harry, and Ron
Snape and Bellatrix don't smile.
Moaning Myrtle and Bellatrix
Snape jinxing Sirius!
Family pic where we are actually smiling!
I will fully admit that I love the attention we get from our group costumes, and we sure did get attention as we walked through AoA to the bus. We also saw some other great costumes – there was a group of Avengers and a group of insects (bee, lady bug, etc.). We got to the bus stop and only had to wait a couple minutes before our bus arrived. We were whisked away to the MK and our favorite night! It was just past 6:00 by the time we got in the turnstiles and received our wristbands. I was so pleased to see how many people had dressed up. Last year it seemed like the amount of costumed people (adults AND kids) had declined a bit, but it was great to see more people out in costumes this year. As we had driven through the MK gate on the bus, we had all seen the sign that said this night’s MNSSHP was “Sold Out.” We’d never been to a sold out party (that we knew of) so we were a little apprehensive to how the crowds would be, but we weren’t going to let it ruin our fun.
Now, we take a little different approach to MNSSHP than a lot of people. We don’t really worry about character meet and greets. I fully admit that I love to meet characters, but the kids (maybe it’s the age they are now?) are WAY more interested in rides. So our priorities at the party are like this: 1. Wear awesome costumes, 2. See the parade, 3. Trick or Treat stations, 4. Rides, rides, rides! We usually start in Tomorrowland and work our way around the lands in order while doing all the treat stops and whichever rides we want. Now, this night may have been sold out, but the ride wait times were the best we’ve ever seen. The longest wait we had all night was It’s A Small World (oddly enough) and it was only about 10 minutes. Everything else was 5 minutes or less, regardless of what the posted time was.
Stopped for a quick group shot in front of the castle
We began with Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. I was really excited to get the best score I’ve ever gotten! I am usually terrible at that game because I can never seen which laser point is mine and usually think I am shooting a target when it’s really someone else.
This is a great score for me!
After Buzz, everyone wanted to check the wait time for SpaceMt. It said 20 minutes, which didn’t sound bad at all. I do not care for Space Mt anymore since they did the renovation a couple years back. It is so dark that even sitting in the front I can’t see the track at all, and it’s just plain uncomfortable jerking me around when I can’t brace for which direction we are going at least a split second before we turn. I decided that I was going to sit this one out, and DNephew wanted to join me. We decided to go ride the Peoplemover (I love love LOVE the Peoplemover) while everyone else did SM.
Caleb and me on the peoplemover
I figured we could probably even ride it a couple times since it had no line and SM said 20 minutes. DH was going to give me a call when they got off SM so we could meet them. Well, the wait time for SM was nowhere near 20 minutes, and DH was calling me right as we were getting off the Peoplemover after our first ride! Nice! Caleb and I joined the rest of the group. It had turned to 7:00 by now, so the candy stops had opened. We hit the ones in Tomorrowland and headed to the Indy Raceway (why can I never remember the proper name of that?) at the kids’ request. Again, a super fast line and we were in our cars in less than 5 minutes. Each adult rode with a kid so we could press the gas pedal for them (that thing sure is tough, isn’t it?). Steve decided to sit this one out. He has some leg problems (you may have noticed the cane in the pictures) and didn’t figure it would be the best ride for him. After the speedway, we hit the candy stop that was right there and then headed back towards the new Circus area in Fantasyland. It is absolutely adorable! I didn’t get any pics because it was so dark and I didn’t think they’d come out well, but I can’t wait to get back during the day sometime and really be able to see it properly. We went on the Barnstormer (again, walk on), and headed around the Alice in Wonderland treat trail that went behind the raceway and back to Tomorrowland. There were four or five treat stops on the trail and we were really starting to load up on some candy by this point. Since we were back in Tomorrowland, we decided to do the Peoplemover so everyone would have a chance to ride it. I was all for riding it again! We then stopped at the snack stand right underneath it and got some drinks and a couple Mickey pretzels to share. I figured the kids would be starving by this point, but I think they were so excited about the party that food was less than important to them. Ha! Time was flying by, and we realized that the first parade was already in the Main Street area! Guess we’d be watching the second parade. We headed back towards Fantasyland for more rides and treats. There was almost no line for Pooh’s ride (when does that ever happen???) so we hopped on.
In line for Pooh
The little girl in the front of Kyle and my honey pot screamed bloody murder through the whole ride while her poor dad tried to take her hands off her eyes and said “But look, there’s Pooh! There’s Tigger!” She was not having any of it. It was still a fun ride anyway…I love the part after the rain where it feels like you area floating along. Next we hit It’s a Small World. The fireworks were just starting as we got out of IaSW, so we watched them in Fantasyland. I know the “ideal” spot is in front of the castle, but it’s actually really cool to watch them in FL. At the end they get set off all the way around FL at the same time and it lights up the entire area like it’s mid-day. It’s really neat.
After that we hit the candy stops in FL, and then got to my favorite – Haunted Mansion. However, the time was still flying and we realized it was only about 30 minutes to the second parade. We wanted to make sure we got a front row seat, so we decided to put a hold on HauntedMansion and come back to it after the parade. We got to our favorite parade watching spot – across from the Diamond Horseshoe – right as they were putting up the ropes and got right up against them. A really funny CM (who we found out later also works at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter) came over to admire our costumes. He kept us totally entertained until the Headless Horseman came running down the street. The parade was fantastic as always! It is absolutely my favorite one in all of WDW. My favorite part is the bloodhound with the HauntedMansion section. It was a little bittersweet this year since my bloodhound went to heaven this past spring, but that part of the parade will always make me think of her and smile.
My favorite
This picture cracked me up. Love Frollo boogie-ing down!
After the parade we headed back to HauntedMansion. I was afraid it might be quite a wait since the parade had just passed and there seemed to be a million people in the area, but we were inside in less than 10 minutes. Not, however, before I spotted the best costumes I’d seen all night! Unfortunately they were way ahead of us in line and I thought they might think I was a lunatic screaming at them asking for a picture. After a spooky fun ride on HM, we came out and started walking towards the candy trail at SplashMt. It was getting really late and we knew our time was almost up. As we walked, I spotted my favorite costume couple way ahead of us and pointed them out to my sister. She thought the costumes were great as well, and said “Do you want me to run them down and stop them so we can ask for a picture?” Um….YES! So she did, and they graciously obliged. Well, by now you are surely asking, “What were their costumes already?!?!?!” Take a look…..
Does it get anymore awesomely Disney Halloween than that? I’m not even going to explain because I know all of us Disney-philes here will recognize them and they are just too perfect for words. I wish, wish, wish, I could sew and create costumes like these people! Best costumes I’ve seen in my years of MNSSHP.
The clock was ticking, ticking, ticking, and as we were going through the Splash treat trail, I knew we’d only have time for one more attraction. The problem is, what would it be? Big Thunder is a favorite, but so is Pirates. Then it hit me. Holy cow, I had not gotten my Dole whip yet!!! How could I forget such a thing? We flew through the rest of that treat trail, and stopped to the side after we got out to have a small meeting of who was going to do what. I declared that Dole whip was my #1 priority and that was where I was going. My DSis wanted a ride on PotC, and the kids did also. We decided to split up and then meet at Aloha Isle (since it would be on their way out anyway). Kyle and I went for Dole Whips, the rest for the ride. We ran through the last few candy stops in Adventureland, and made it to Aloha Isle with literally only minutes to spare, but I got my Dole whip! Best thing ever.
Do you see the time stamp at the bottom of this receipt?? I wasn't kidding when I said we were cutting it close!
Kyle and I were just finishing up as the rest of the crew made their way over from PotC. It was after midnight now, and everything was closing down except the Main St shops. I wanted to get a party exclusive shirt, so we popped in the Emporium for a minute. Fortunately, check out lines weren’t bad, so about five minutes later Aleksander and I had new MNSSHP shirts.
My shirt
Aleksander's shirt
By this point, we were all totally exhausted and dragged ourselves out to the AoA bus stop. We totally lucked out and a bus pulled up right as we got in line. We had to stand, but that wasn’t a big deal. We had the best bus driver ever. His name was Greg and he was hilarious! He told us jokes and WDW trivia the whole way back and had the whole bus in stitches. (And I must say, it’s pretty impressive that he was able to keep a bunch of exhausted people laughing that long!) We thanked Greg for the ride when we got back to AoA, and headed back to our rooms. I absolutely had to take a shower to get all of the junk out of my hair. It was 2:00am by the time I got in bed and I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever fallen asleep faster! What a great night! I didn’t even have time to consider that we might be homeless the next night….
__________________
MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
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What an AWESOME night at the party!!! You guys didn't waste one minute of the party. The costumes were fabulous and I agree that that couple had the best costumes! Such a fun night!!
Fantastic costumes! And I would say the braids worked! What a fun party night, way to take advantage of the short wait times. The costumes of the couple you saw at Haunted Mansion are the most creative Disney costumes I have seen! I was scrolling down while looking at the picture and at first didn't get it, but then I reached the underpants and knew exactly who they were.
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The Little Mermaid room is gorgeous. Can't wait to see your costume. I have that same Mickey/Minnie Trick or Treat shirt. Every time I see breakfast pictures from WCC, I remind myself that we need to do this next time we stay at VWL.
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Love the room! 
Looks like you're having a great time so far! 
Definitely give WCC bfast a try - we've never been disappointed there! I'm glad your wedding hair turned out so well. I wanted the same thing for mine - down and curly. It held up really well while I did pictures before the wedding....inside. But once I went outside for the ceremony (we were in St Pete, FL of course..humidity, humidity, humidity) it started falling immediately. Fortunately it had been so tightly curled though that it didn't go completely straight.
!
My DSis and I are a little (ok a lot) obsessed with the Disney trivia games they do at the pool (be it music, quotes, whatever). We call our team the Madame Mims every time, and whichever of the kids that are with us are interested are welcome to join us. Sadly, there weren’t any trivia games on the agenda for this day until after we’d be leaving to get ready for MNSSHP. 
)
Ugh. Now, we all had lived in FL so we are more than familiar with the afternoon thunderstorms and know that they generally don’t last too long. However, you just never know in the fall…they can be a little longer than normal. We’ve had immensely good luck to only have rain on one of our MNSSHP nights ever. We were really hoping to keep that streak alive. 
It was still raining hard at 4:00, but we decided to start putting on our costumes and hoping it would let up by the time we wanted to leave. I did my costume, make up, helped DS and DH with their costumes, before I took my hair out. I wanted that to be the last thing I did before we left because I wasn’t holding my breath for it to last long. 
At about 5 min to 5:00, it was still raining, but it had lessened considerably and the sky was getting brighter by the minute. Good sign! 
We had checked the weather forecast on DH’s blackberry during the storm, and of course all had to roll our eyes that it told us we were enjoying mostly sunny conditions. 
Really? I finally took my hair out and went to work with the hair spray. Now, when you see the pictures you might think I was disappointed with the lack of “crazy hair” that I was going for. However, for me, that is as crazy as it’s ever been or going to get. So I was completely pleased! 
We also saw some other great costumes – there was a group of Avengers and a group of insects (bee, lady bug, etc.). We got to the bus stop and only had to wait a couple minutes before our bus arrived. We were whisked away to the MK and our favorite night! It was just past 6:00 by the time we got in the turnstiles and received our wristbands. I was so pleased to see how many people had dressed up. 
We’d never been to a sold out party (that we knew of) so we were a little apprehensive to how the crowds would be, but we weren’t going to let it ruin our fun. 
I fully admit that I love to meet characters, but the kids (maybe it’s the age they are now?) are WAY more interested in rides. So our priorities at the party are like this: 1. Wear awesome costumes, 2. See the parade, 3. Trick or Treat stations, 4. Rides, rides, rides! We usually start in Tomorrowland and work our way around the lands in order while doing all the treat stops and whichever rides we want. Now, this night may have been sold out, but the ride wait times were the best we’ve ever seen. The longest wait we had all night was It’s A Small World (oddly enough) and it was only about 10 minutes. Everything else was 5 minutes or less, regardless of what the posted time was. 
I decided that I was going to sit this one out, and DNephew wanted to join me. We decided to go ride the Peoplemover (I love love LOVE the Peoplemover) while everyone else did SM. 
Nice! Caleb and I joined the rest of the group. It had turned to 7:00 by now, so the candy stops had opened. 
but I can’t wait to get back during the day sometime and really be able to see it properly. We went on the Barnstormer (again, walk on), and headed around the Alice in Wonderland treat trail that went behind the raceway and back to Tomorrowland. There were four or five treat stops on the trail and we were really starting to load up on some candy by this point. Since we were back in Tomorrowland, we decided to do the Peoplemover so everyone would have a chance to ride it. I was all for riding it again! We then stopped at the snack stand right underneath it and got some drinks and a couple Mickey pretzels to share. 
while her poor dad tried to take her hands off her eyes and said “But look, there’s Pooh! There’s Tigger!” She was not having any of it. It was still a fun ride anyway…I love the part after the rain where it feels like you area floating along. Next we hit It’s a Small World. The fireworks were just starting as we got out of IaSW, so we watched them in Fantasyland. I know the “ideal” spot is in front of the castle, but it’s actually really cool to watch them in FL. At the end they get set off all the way around FL at the same time and it lights up the entire area like it’s mid-day. It’s really neat. 
We wanted to make sure we got a front row seat, so we decided to put a hold on HauntedMansion and come back to it after the parade. We got to our favorite parade watching spot – across from the Diamond Horseshoe – right as they were putting up the ropes and got right up against them. A really funny CM (who we found out later also works at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter) came over to admire our costumes. He kept us totally entertained until the Headless Horseman came running down the street. The parade was fantastic as always! It is absolutely my favorite one in all of WDW. My favorite part is the bloodhound with the HauntedMansion section. It was a little bittersweet this year since my bloodhound went to heaven this past spring, 
but that part of the parade will always make me think of her and smile. 
He told us jokes and WDW trivia the whole way back and had the whole bus in stitches. (And I must say, it’s pretty impressive that he was able to keep a bunch of exhausted people laughing that long!) We thanked Greg for the ride when we got back to AoA, and headed back to our rooms. I absolutely had to take a shower to get all of the junk out of my hair. 
It was 2:00am by the time I got in bed and I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever fallen asleep faster! 
What a great night! I didn’t even have time to consider that we might be homeless the next night…. 
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