Index

Day 7 - 18.10.16

Our alarm went off at 6:30. We got up and dressed and waited for my hair and make-up lady to arrive from Beaute Specialle.

Alyssa arrived at 7 and we got stuck into hair and make-up while Ross got stuck into the iPad, trying to ignore the girl talk!

Alyssa was really lovely. I showed her photos of what I wanted and she got straight to work, she did a superb job. I actually preferred my hair and make-up on this day to my wedding day. She was all done by 8:30, I tipped her and said goodbye.

Because Ross is a Neanderthal, I had to iron his suit and shirt and help him sort his cufflinks, then it was time for me to get into my dress! Which, by the way I've decided to sell so if anybody wants it, let me know I opted to wear my converse instead of my wedding shoes as I didn’t fancy wandering round the boardwalk and killing my feet for the rest of the holiday!

It was soon time to meet Randy so we headed out of the room and downstairs, everybody we passed said congratulations. I didn’t bother telling anyone we were already married, I was enjoying the attention.
We met Randy in the lobby at 9:30 and he lead us out onto the pier by the lighthouse to start snapping away. We spent two hours wandering around the paths outside the Beach and Yacht Club, the Boardwalk, inside the Boardwalk Inn and finally the inside of the Yacht Club, I was very glad I’d decided to wear my converse and not my wedding shoes! Randy was amazing, he put us at ease and was really chatty. He seemed to know everyone we walked passed, popular guy! He told us a lot of stories and tit bits from his time as a DFTW photographer and beyond. The most memorable one was of a wedding of the daughter of a very rich man from the middle east who booked an entire floor of the Grand Floridian for the guests. Except he didn’t like the decor and paid for new carpets, wallpaper, furniture etc in every room on that floor and Disney agreed, made the changes and changed it back when they left. It was a very expensive and very lavish wedding. Would love to see the pics!

We had lots of well wishes from passing strangers which was lovely. Although we are quite shy people I can’t lie and say I didn’t enjoy the attention, I was loving it! The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the heat! It was crazy under that dress and Ross’ suit. I kept lifting my dress to my calves and fanning it between my legs to cool down, which Ross and Randy found hilarious!

At 11:30 we were all done. I paid Randy the remainder of the money we owed him plus a tip (I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to tip but thought I’d rather pay him more than look rude!
Now for an overload of photos for you. I love them all so really struggle to narrow them down as you can see!





























Back in the room we changed into something more suitable for Florida heat and headed back out to the Boardwalk and into the bakery, my face looking spectacularly overdressed for eating a snack on patio furniture! I got a Minnie Brownie and Ross got a strawberry cupcake, using a snack credit each instead of the $12 it should have cost, and we filled our refillable mugs. We sat outside in the glorious sunshine, stuffed our faces and people watched.

I spotted the photo booth across the way and decided to have a go. I thought we’d get a print out but it was all part of memory maker meaning it would be added to our photopass pics, clever! We did four poses then scanned my magic band. I wasn’t sure if it had worked as there was no confirmation screen or anything and with no Wi-Fi we couldn’t check so we left it and said we’d check later. Spoiler alert, it was there!






Continued...

We had a quick peek in the Screen Door shop, Ross spent a while looking at the baby clothes and taking photos of them... calm down pal! Told him to behave, we’d only been married five minutes and two kids was quite enough! My three month old baby clearly finds this statement hilarious, Daddy always gets his own way!


With no purchases made we refilled our mugs in the bakery and started walking to the end of the Boardwalk and towards Swan and Dolphin to find the Fantasia mini golf.
There was some kind of convention going on, lots of people milling about but we made our way through the masses, round the pool area, out the back and over the road to golf! If there’s a shortcut please let me know!

As we had the full 14 day ticket things, the golf was included so I scanned my band and grabbed our gear.
I loved the course, it was so much fun and Fantasia was one of my childhood faves so it brought back a lot of memories since I haven’t seen it in such a long time. It was soooo hot though! And little in the way of shade! We had to shelter in the cave for a while, I was glad we refilled our mugs, they were very much needed!








Ross somehow cheated his way to victory, that’s the story I’m telling anyway! But it was time to go get ready for MNSSHP so we hot footed it back to the hotel to get changed. I’d cleverly booked the party for today so I could use the same hair and makeup which was a great time saver!

We were all ready by 3:30 so may I present... Mary and Bert!


On our way out the door to the bus stop the lovely CM on the door stopped us for a chat and complimented us on our costumes, he then fumbled in his pocket and brought out a really cute Mary pin which he gifted to me. How sweet! We bumped into this CM quite a few times, he was so lovely and welcoming. I guess that’s why he works the door! I can’t remember his name though, how rude!


Luckily for us an MK bus arrived straight away and shortly after we were in the very busy queue for bag check. There were a lot of other costumes around and I was getting super excited for the evening.
We scanned our bands of the tapstiles and were given wrist bands for the party. I had the paper tickets in my bag but nobody asked to check them so I can only presume the details were on our magic bands and they didn’t just take a guess looking at our costumes!
Entering the park I got my first glimpse of the castle and I was home.


Work’s group chat was active at the time so I sent them a snap of my view just to make them jealous cause I’m such a nice friend.
The main box we wanted to tick tonight was meeting Ross’ hero (and our three month old’s namesake) Jack Skellington and Sally so I asked a CM where they would be meeting and what time etc. He told me it would be next to City Hall at 7pm... spoiler alert, he lied.
Unaware of the tall tale we’d just been told we decided to get a few rides in then head back to start queuing.

First stop was our FP for 7DMT. On the way we spotted ‘jolly holiday’ Mary and Bert, their outfits put ours to shame! They were fairly swamped with admirers but they waved hello. If we’d had time we’d have stopped for photos but our FPs were close to running out so we waved back and carried on. This was our first look at the new Fantasyland area since it opened the day after we went home in 2012, much to my despair! It was a great area, theming was spot on. Disney done good again!

We only waited 5 minutes and we were on board.
We both really enjoyed the ride, it’s really cute and fun! Not exactly white knuckle for us but I can imagine little ones thinking it is. Looking forward to Oliver and Ariana giving it a go in October.




Next up was our 6pm FP for Little Mermaid. However the standby queue was showing a walk on so we just used that instead and said hello to Scuttle along the way. Loved this ride, it’s adorable! The part where you heading into the water is very well come and I’ll freely admit there was a sing a long and some moves coming from our clam in the ‘Under the Sea’ section. If you don’t sing that song in a Jamaican accent you’re doing it wrong!








Wait times were all fairly high so, whilst walking back to City Hall to check on the Jack situation, I checked MDE to see if I could grab a FP for something. This is when we realised that the wi-fi in MK is garbage! It kept cutting out and chucking me out of the app so I’d have to log in again! It would be better if the app remembered your log in details so you didn’t need to enter your password every time. After much frustration, and seeing no sign of Jack and Sally starting any time soon, I managed to grab us FPs for Pirates of the Caribbean starting straight away.
We also got some photos on the way down Main Street.





We joined the very short queue and whilst in it I’d realised that we hadn’t scanned our magic bands after 7DMT to get our ride photos. Since this is what you did with the old photopass plus cards we presumed this was the case with magic bands too but when I checked MDE (only getting chucked off three times) I saw our photos and cool ride video were on there, as was our photobooth pic from earlier in the day. How ridiculously clever that it knows which Mine Train pics were ours and adds them automatically. Bravo Disney.


Once we were done on Pirates we realised we’d had one cake all day so thought we’d better get some food! I started reeling off some options and Ross wanted to check out Casey’s Corner but when we got there and looked at the menu Ross decided he didn’t fancy hot dogs. So I suggested Columbia House Harbour. On the way there we spotted Jack and Sally at Tiana’s meeting spot. The lies! We joined the long queue but after about 20 minutes we really hadn’t moved so I went so ask a CM how long the queue was...two hours! We couldn’t wait that long as we had to check in for the dessert party so we decided to leave the queue and come back later.

So we headed over to the Tomorrowland Terrace, got checked in, got our lanyards and went back in search of food again. Since we were in the vicinity I suggested Cosmic Rays so off we went.

Ross got an Angus bacon cheese burger, fries, chocolate cake and a coke, I got chicken tenders, fries, mac and cheese, smores and a coke. We used two QS credits but it would have cost $55 oop which floors me. The most expensive Burger King in the entire world!
It was ok, not worth $55! But fine for quick fast food. It filled a hole anyways!



Continued...

We spend the next 30 minutes wandering around Tomorrowland, people watching, outfit spotting and we did a trick or treat spot by Carousel of Progress. Buzz Lightyear was a walk on so we hopped on that and I whooped Ross’ butt, nowhere near galactic hero though!









By now it was parade time so we headed up to the top of Main Street. Because we had paid for the dessert party we got VIP viewing of the parade. This VIP area was the circular pavement area that sits between City Hall and the Theatre. We flashed our lanyards and they let us through the rope and gave us a bottle of water each. While waiting for the start of the parade, a lot of people were trying to stand round the edge of the VIP area and had to be shooed away by a CM...tataa muggles!
Soon the headless horseman was trotting by us, he’s so spooky! I can imagine him creeping out some young ones, creeped me out a little! It made me think of Sleepy Hollow which used to terrify me when I was younger.


The cast of Zootopia (tropolis? Why is it different?! Same with the new Pirated of the Caribbean film. I don’t get it!) came around and did a little dance routine with some CMs, one of which was handing out lollypops, he saw my just married badge and said ‘Congratulations! You can have two.’ Thanks dude! After a quick (very cute) costume conga with the kids, and lead by Nick Wilde, the parade started.
It was amazing! I loved it! Hands down the best parade I’ve ever seen at Disney. That song never ever ever leaves you does it? So catchy. I don’t think I could chose a favourite float, maybe Haunted Mansion? Or the Pirates one with Jack Sparrow. I seriously cannot wait to see it again this year, I really hope the kiddos love it just as much!










After the parade had finished we made our way over to Tomorrowland Terrace for the dessert party. Last time we came we did the regular dessert party and all the tables had party names on but this time it was a free for all so we didn’t manage to bag a table at the front unfortunately but never mind!
We filled some plates full of cakey delights, and some cheese by the looks of the photos and sat down to munch through them. We also had a glass of something fizzy, I can’t remember what it was but I know it definitely wasn’t alcoholic!
Whilst we were eating we could see the Hocus Pocus show in the distance. When it finished and a few fireworks went off Ross says ‘Oh is that it? Can we go now?’ LOL Ross, no!





Then Hallowishes started and I’ve got to say I just wasn’t blown away. We couldn’t really see the projections onto the castle as we were so far away and the roof of the terrace blocked the view of some of the fireworks unless you were right at the front. I was disappointed as I so wanted to love it! Our viewing of regular Wishes later in the week will be a different story.


Afterwards we rushed over to the Jack and Sally meet and joined the queue. This time it was just a 40 minute wait. It was during this time Ross decided that if he managed to persuade me to have baby number three and if it was a boy, he would be called Jack. Said baby is currently asleep in my arms! He always gets his way! Apart from discussing babies we spent the queue singing along to the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack which was playing on the speakers. It was soon our turn and Jack greeted me as Scary Poppins! I told him I was practically horrifying in every way.
They congratulated us on the wedding. Jack told us we were simply meant to be and Sally said we were stitched together, creepy and cute all at the same time! What’s This was playing on the speakers and I told them we had that song at the wedding, they were very impressed!
It was a really great meet, they were so funny and cute. Can’t wait to take our Jack when he’s older so he can meet his namesake.




We did some more general wandering. Caught the end of the second parade and spotted Jane and Turk from Tarzan doing a meet in Adventureland but they were finished for the day and weren’t letting anyone else join the queue.


At the time Ariana was obsessed with Tinkerbell so we went to her meet and greet to get a photo to impress Ariana. It was only a 5 minute wait. The family before us was a Mum, Dad and little girl who was dressed as Tink. She wasn’t interested in talking to Tink, she just wanted to climb on all the bits and bobs in the room. Tink just kept chatting away like it wasn’t happening, it was so funny.
When it was our turn, Tink admired my ‘pixie dust’ (my wedding and engagement rings) and told me to keep it well away from Captain Hook. As well as getting pictures I asked if she wouldn’t mind recording a message for Ariana which she was very happy to do. She said ‘Hi there Ariana. I just wanted to say that I’ll be sending you lots of faith, trust and pixie dust’ and she blew her a kiss. It was the cutest thing and Ariana has watched it five million times, she loves it!



When we came out of the theatre we could hear the Hocus Pocus show starting at the castle so wandered down Main Street to watch it, getting some photopass on the way. Now, feel free to shoot me but I’ve never seen Hocus Pocus before but I still really enjoyed the show it was excellent!




Once it was over we slowly wandered back up Main Street and out to the bus stop. We didn’t need to wait long for a bus and we were soon back at the resort and falling into bed at about 1:30am with no morning alarm!



We had an amazing time at the party but I felt like we didn’t have enough time! I wanted to do some more rides and trick or treating. But the main thing was meeting Jack and Sally as it was something Ross really wanted to do and he doesn’t often make requests, just goes along with my plans so I’m pleased we got that done.
We are super excited to do the party again this year with the kids and we’ve just decided on our costumes so watch this space!

We loved mnsshp, your costumes were fab. Looking forward to seeing this year's!

We also had a family shoot with randy (see signature photo &#128514 he was so lovely.

Fab trip report.

Kerry x

Thank you! Can't wait to do it again this year.
We loved Randy, he made it so easy. Love your photo!

Ahhh your photos are amazing! So worth wearing your gorgeous dress in that heat.

Sounds like a fantastic day, love your costumes . Wee Jack is such a cutie! Is he going with you guys in October? xx

What a lovely day. Your Wedding snaps are beautiful. Love your MNSSHP costumes we are going this year and hope to dress up but in what is anybodies guess 😊😊.

Thanks! You’ve probably seen most of them on insta #weddingwednesday 😂 no jacks having a little holiday of his own to his grandparents in Peterborough for a week, I don’t think I’m ready do to Florida with a 7 and 5 year old, definitely not ready to do it with a baby! I’ve started the pre trip report for that one now 😁 xxx

Have you done MNSSHP before? Hope you decide on costumes soon. Weve decided on ours and I’ve started putting together some costumes but some need a bit of DIY so I’ll have to get cracking. Thanks for reading 😆