My Best Trip Ever! A Disney Trip 10 Years in the Making About This Page:

[chezp]

Great photos!

[OhToodles!]

Great pics! We're headed to the zoo this weekend. It's supposed to be warm though so they cats will probably be hiding in the shade.

[honeybee723]

Great photos...and those lions are so close! What a great shot.

[JKnott17]

Great pictures from the zoo! We love the Philly Zoo, can't wait to get back. Although, last time we were there the turtles were getting a little too "friendly" with each other, lots of kids asking their parents what they were doing That was a hard one to explain, lol.

[mommapants]

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

Pretty soon it was time to go to the Halloween party. I have to admit I was feeling a little bit low at this point.

I had really wanted to do the party and was looking forward to us all going as a group and having a really fun time. I had spent a lot of time making the “pumpkin patch” shirts

and making all the arrangements and thought this was going to be one of the highlights of the trip. Now with all the drama and people not speaking to each other, I just felt deflated; on top of all that it was going to rain.

Now mostly when I’ve been to Disney it is the summer and you get the passing thunder storm but usually not a full day of rain. Come to think of it I don’t think I’ve ever been to Disney when it has rained all day. So most of the time when it rains we just change plans around and everything works out. Well we couldn’t really change plans as we had already purchased the tickets for the party. If we tried to change them it would mess up our plans for later in the week. So basically this was the only night we had to do something, and wouldn’t you know it. It was also the only rain we got all week. Murphy’s law right?

So the six of us head out, me, Evan, Mom, Christine and her 2 boys Bryson and Gunner. Jill and her family are also going to the MNSSHP but we are not going together. .

We barely got off the shuttle from Shades of Green when it began to rain. I put on my poncho, put a dollar store one on Evan, gave the other poncho to my mom and Christine ended up buying ones for herself and the boys. Remember the woman who never had time to sit with me and get any advice, and the same women who had no money? Yea, that’s her, now she is shelling out $25.00 for ponchos – but I digress…

I had put the rain cover over the stroller so Evan was really well protected and we headed into the park. I’ve never been to one of these events before but I didn’t think it was crowed at all. I’m not sure if the rain helped or if it was because it was a Tuesday or still the middle of the month – but we ventured in.

First order of business – candy stop, we went to the one at the Tomorrowland Terrace and got a bag of fruit snacks. That was it, one bag . Things were not looking good (strike one). I was really hoping they weren’t going to be stingy with the treats all night.

We spent some time in Tomorrowland and did buzz and Wed Way (oops sorry – old school) and the race cars. All the while it would stop raining, so we took ponchos off, then it would start raining again and back on they went. It was getting pretty comical . We would put our ponchos on then it would stop raining so we would take them off. Then it would start up again. It really seemed to be “mocking” my mom so we told her she wasn’t allowed to take her poncho off the entire night.

After the Grand Prix (oops, old school again) the kids stopped for more trick or treat spots and this time got a small handful and good variety. The lines for the trick or treat stops were nonexistent. Really there were no lines for the attractions either.

As usual it was slow going and not exactly sure what we did next but I knew I wanted to let Evan meet Captain Hook so we planned on watching the Villain’s Dance Mix and Mingle at the castle and then lining up for the meet and greet. We got up to the castle and it had now stopped raining and they were squeejeeing the stage. The time for the show was 7:45pm and it was now 7:40pm and the stage was still really wet. Not looking good! Then the announcement came that the 7:40pm was being cancelled (strike two). But the characters were still coming out for a meet and greet. I had already asked a CM were Hook would be so we were the third party in line. Which was cool as they were only out for about 5 minutes. Evan put on his croc hat to scare Hook and we got a great shot.

I was sad we missed the show but meeting Hook was more important.

We thought we would just go over to watch the parade at 8:15. We found a spot in Liberty Square and it was WAY more crowded than I expected. I already knew with the wet pavement that the Headless Horseman was not going to make an appearance (strike three). No one else in the group even knew about him being in the parade so it was just me that was disappointed.

During the parade Evan was on my shoulders so he could see (because the pavement was wet no one was sitting) and as the “Hook” float went by he saw Evan with his crocodile hat on and made his knees wobble and pointed at Evan and his hid face and made his arms look like a croc biting. It was just so cute that Hook acknowledged Evan. You may recall from the pre trip report that Evan wanted to dress as Tick Tock so he could scare Captain Hook. After the parade I really thought about heading back as I was just getting annoyed that I spent all the extra money for the tickets and wasn’t getting to see the things I wanted. But we pressed on.

Next we made our way toward Fantastyland. We did Small World, candy stop at Pinocchio Village Haus and then Peter Pan. As we were getting off Peter Pan and gathering ourselves together I texted Jill to see where they were?. They were in line for Peter Pan. Evan wanted to go on again so he scooted (OK butted) in line with them. They had 5 people and he made 6 so no extra pirates ships were used ~ I’m just sayin’

As they came off the ride it was a little awkward with all the drama that went down the other day but much to my surprise. Everyone put on their big girl panties and made peace. I saw Chris and Steve shake hands and I heard apologies go around. And in pure Disney Magic, HalloWishes started as we were all standing there.

I had really wanted to see it from Main Street but it just wasn’t happening at that point. After wishes Jill and fam went their way and we went on Snow White. By now Chris and the boys and Mom had had enough and went back to the hotel. I was now on a mission. As long as Evan was not cranky we were staying. I mean I had spent a lot of money on this and I was going to get every minute I could out of the party.

We headed back to Tommorwland were Evan rode the race cars 7 times. Unfortunately we had to get off and get back in line because there were just enough people that you couldn’t just go around again, but other than that – no line. The workers were cracking up every time he came around. It began to rain again so we headed towards...dun dun dun… Peter Pan again.

I had wanted to get some pictures with the characters but there were lines for those and Evan really didn’t seem too interested in Daisy Duck or Snow White. We passed the Dance Party in Frontierland and went it.

The place was really deserted but Evan had so much fun. I think we were in there for a half hour or so. We got to dance privately with Woody, Jesse and Bullseye. Jesse was a really good dancer and the DJ was challenging her by playing different snippets and styles of music and she would dance in that style. Then he played something and Bullseye cleared a path and did his runway stomp across the floor – it was hilarious and the DJ said that was the first walk-off he ever saw.






Video of Evan dancing
WDW Oct 2011 :: 100_0609.mp4 video by hbryfogle - Photobucket

After the dance party we hit another candy location on the Liberty Belle landing, by now it was getting late so we were getting fistfuls of candy. (score!)

We scooted thru the short cut into Adventureland and Timon was out. We got in line and was told Timon was leave but Rakiffi was coming and we would be first in line to meet him. Evan decided he wanted to wait so we did.


After and along the way toward Main Street we saw Terk and Tarzan. Evan met them and Tarzan commented how strong Evan was. I love the way Tarzan’s signs the book – holding the pen in a fist.


It was really late by now about 11:45 and we were tired but again I had the best time just being with Evan (just the 2 of us). As we went through the turnstile there was one last candy spot. Evan went up to get more candy and the CM’s saw his birthday button and 2 adults each gave him 2 giant handfuls of candy (score another one for the birthday pin). His entire bag was FULL!

So we were tired and wet but had a nice time. If I’m ever there again at Halloween I would defiantly do the party again. Hopefully with out rain so I could see more Halloween stuff. But it was still nice to have the park to ourselves. Just like the old E-ticket nights which were so much better than EMH as the attendance was limited.

We were the last ones back to the hotel and Evan was quickly asleep. I laid out the rain cover as best I could so it would dry and unloaded anything that was wet and was sawing wood soon enough.

I think the party is what you make of it. If I had left after the parade I would have missed so much time with Evan and who knows if the apology would have happened at all.

Coming Up Next
“Our down day”

Birthday pin surprise count: 6

[KMB733]

Sorry the Halloween Party started out rough, but sounds like you made the most of it, especially with the rain! Glad you and Evan had a great time, and ended up with a bag full of candy!!

[Colexis Mom]

Sounds like the night ended on a high note after a rough start! Great pictures!

[cubfancolleen]

Glad Evan ended up with a bag full of goodies! Sounds like the two of you made the most of the party!

[rhinohunter]

Sorry for all of the cancelations at MNSSHP. I know you were very disappointed. Evan sure had a good time with the characters and at the dance.

[chezp]

Sounds like you made the most of the party, despite the weather.

[lauriep]

Kudos to you for sticking it out at the party! It really paid off, with the grumpy "adults" making peace and Evan having such a great time. I love his dancing style!

[honeybee723]

I have never, in all the years I've been going to Disney, had my picture taken with Tarzan! So jealous....I mean, look at those muscly arms. Anyway, I'm glad you made the best of the rainy party. It sounds like Evan had a great time, and that's really the most important thing right?

[Cam22]

So sorry about the rain on the party, but it sounds like you two enjoyed MNSSHP in spite of it!

[JKnott17]

Sorry about the rain, but it sounds like you made the most of the party anyway!

[Jessie092408]

It sounds like you had a ton of fun despite the rain. I'm jealous that you got to ride Peter Pan so many times. I really like that ride. I can't believe that we missed it on our first trip.