Trip Report 2012- Day #9 part 2 - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

It was Thursday night October 4, 2012 and we had tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP).  If you know anything about weather and when we travel, it usually means it is going to rain.  The Halloween Party is a "Hard Ticket" event at Disney world so once you buy it there is no option to exchange or return it for your money back.  If the forecast is for a hurricane, then suit up and deal with it.  

It was half way fun to see the castle with such a ominous backdrop to see the mood for the party.  It started to rain just seconds after we took this picture.   We then made a mad dash to the front of the park to wait for the Princesses.  They meet with their princes and the parties are the only time you meet them together. 

When we arrived at Town square we got in the "not a line" and waited our turn (Disney doesn't let you stand in line until a certain time, so a "not a line" forms).  One great thing about this "not a line" is that it is full of other Disney nerds like us.  To the average Disney guest it does not make much sense to get into a line at 6pm for a party that doesn't even start until 7pm.  (Most don't even know that your party ticket gets you in the gates at 4pm.  Welcome to the select group of Disney people that now know it does.)  The reason we would wait an hour to meet them is because by 7pm the wait will be over an hour.  I would rather spend our non party time in line.

The kids also made friends with the kids near by.  They found kids that could carry a Disney conversation with them in this line.  We got lots of good comments about our costume this year.  We went with a Phineas and Ferb theme.  Alden was Phineas, Samantha was Isabella, Clair as Perry, Doug as Dr. Doofenshmirtz, and I was Candice.  

Sometimes my kids pose good and other times they don't...

Meeting "Face" characters is a little weird in your costumes because Rapunzel and Flynn will stay in their character so they will not know who Phineas and Ferb are.  Every now and then one will break character and say something like "that is the cutest Perry I have ever seen" as you approach.  The kids had fun educating the Princesses and Princes about Phineas and Ferb, eventhough you could tell some of them were big fans of the show.  Clair got constant comments from Cast members about how cute she was.  

A big hug for Snow from Perry.

The princes are special to meet, but it also makes it take twice as long because there is twice the conversation going on.  That is another reason to get in this line before the party starts if you want to meet them.

We all had to pose with Cinderella & Prince Charming.

The whole crew with Mickey and Minnie in their costumes.  We jumped in their line when we were done with the royalty in hopes it would stop raining when we were done.  We had hoped wrong.  Doug then went and got the Halloween Party edition of the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom card.  They do a special card for the Halloween & Christmas Parties!

The rain was still coming down hard, so we went to the dance party at the Diamond Horseshoe Jamboree building.  The dance parties are one of the highlights for younger kids.  

Isabella, Perry, and Jessie busting a move.

The kids love dancing with different characters.  Here they are all doing a line dance with Bullseye right behind them.  This is the only way to meet Bullseye. Just remember at dance parties, they don't pose for pictures or sign autographs, they just dance!

The rain was letting up some so we got some trick-or-treating in and some rides.  There are basically no lines during the party as everyone is focused on the special events.  We did manage to see the fireworks and the parade (delayed due to rain), and we ate lots of candy waiting for them to start. The candy is name brand candy, and you get lots of it!   After the parade, we went on a few rides and got a little more candy.

We finally made it to meet the people we came as.  I walked up and told Phineas & Ferb they were "BUSTED"  and that made Phineas scared of me.  

They acted like they didn't know where perry was until Alden finally spoke up and said "where's Perry?"

It is really fun to interact with the people you are dressed as.  Clair enjoyed the continued compliments from the cast members, almost all the character handlers said it was the best they had seen.  We must thank Doug's mom Sandy for the great work on the costume.   She made the tail and Feet for Perry, and  put it all together!  THANKS!

The party ended at Midnight but we got a PhotoPass picture a little after midnight.  The kids love the party.  I would definitly say it is a lot more fun to dress up as a family.  If you are an adult not dressed up you kinda feel out of place.  Just remember to be a Disney character for the party and feel free to think outside the box.  We did not see another whole family of Phineas and Ferb that night but I'm sure there were many over the course of two months of parties.  

Trip Report 2012 Day #9 part one - 'Ohana Breakfast, Blizzard Beach

We have had 8 days of rope drops so far this trip, so we are now on our version of an "off day."

We started our morning with a breakfast at 'OHana at Disney's Polynesian resort.

This is how we take it slow, get up early and have a breakfast with Mickey, Stitch, Pluto, and Lilo.

Downstairs the kids think they are pretending to surf.  

They snap a picture before you are seated.  

Once seated we were served some juice and food.  It is a family style meal, and it was nice to just sit and be waited on, rather then worry about missing a character when at the buffet.  Pluto was first to greet us on this morning.

Then Stitch came by.  This was one of the best character meals because there was a PhotoPass person with Stitch and Mickey.  

And Lilo.

And finally our pal Mickey Mouse!

Now that our tummies were full, we headed over to Blizzard Beach.  We had the water parks add on to our base ticket so we were excited to take advantage of it.  The kids were ready to go and hoping not to "melt."

The view of the summit from the "lost children" area.   We pointed this out to the kids that they better not get lost or they will be forced to hula hoop.  Only joking of course… :)

Our little vacation planners!   They thought they were making our rope drop plan but we already had a plan.   We started by Doug heading up to go down Summit Plummet  then we would all go up and do the family tube ride.  After that we would be focusing on the little kid's area.

The kids and I watched Doug from here after we had claimed a beach chair in the little kids area and put stuff in our locker.  Doug was the second person to go down for the day.  The only person before hime was the person they picked to "open" the park.

You can almost see the flash that is Doug go by in this picture.  He liked it for some reason! It is unlike anything else you can go on and the best wedgie of your life. :)

Once he rejoined us at the bottom, we all rode to the top.  Doug walked the first time up because it is faster to walk.  We knew the line for the chair lift would just keep growing as the morning went on so we wanted to ride it now to avoid the line later.

Clair pointing out some thing important.  

The big kids and I at the summit.  Be warned their are still some steps to go up to get to the top.  Now that we got to the top, we were ready for Teamboat Springs (worlds longest family raft ride) but it was not open yet due to technical difficulties.  So we had to walk down the steps to the bottom.  Not exactly the way for the family to start the day.  

We hung out in the Tike's Peak area and the kids splashed around for a few minutes. Next, we hiked back up the steps for another try at Teamboat Springs.

Thank goodness it was open! I'm not sure we could have walked back down again! The kids are not tall enough for any of the other slides up there.  It has a great view from the top!  You can see just about every Park and Hotel from up there.  

The raft ride is lots of fun and long.  Clair would argue that it is no fun and too long. (This Disney trip was full of fearful things for her and she survived!) 

We had room for more in our raft.  I is hard to Imagine 5 adults in it but I believe it would work.

You can see the steepness in this pic.  

At the bottom where you get out of the raft they have a hidden mickey made out of the raft and some tubes.

Lots of tubes waiting for lazy people in the Lazy River.

We walked over to the wave pool.

This wave pool has the short choppy type waves and Alden and Samantha didn't know what to make of them.  Clair basically said NO, so we hung out in the back.

Back over to Tike's Peak for some sliding.

Sam always end a slide with a look of terror on her face.  

We finally pushed Clair Down one! 

Sam, Alden, and Doug went over to the Ski Patrol Training Camp.  This is the pre-teen area.  There are some other activities and slides over there.  Alden and Sam did one of them a few times.  Then they headed over to the Toboggan Racers.  They had lots of fun once they got brave enough to do some of the bigger slides.

Random view up the Mountain from the Ski Patrol area.

It was just about noon so it was time to head to lunch and rest up for a big night at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!!  The water park opened at 10.  So, in two hours we were able to accomplish everything we really wanted to with very little waits.  The people were really starting to file in as we were leaving.  And just like in the theme parks we watched people enter and then look at a map and decide to eat first.  By 2 o'clock the lines will be long and hot, so we were glad to get out of there before it got too crazy.  

We took these picture while Doug was getting all our stuff out of the locker.  It was our first time to a Disney Water Park with the kids and we had fun.  Can't wait till they are a little braver and little taller.  We picked Blizzard beach over Typhoon Lagoon because Tike's Peak is a lot bigger than the little kids area at Typhoon Lagoon and because we did not want to mess with the sand that Typhoon Lagoon has.  

Map of Blizzard Beach

Meal Time Monday - Le Cellier

Today we are going to take a short trip north of the boarder to enjoy one of the finest steaks on Disney Property at Le Cellier Steakhouse.

Located in the Canada Pavilion in Epcot.  This restaurant is a great place to get away from the hectic theme park just outside.  This is also a place where I would recommend utilizing the nearby kids club at the Beach Club resort just outside of the International Gateway.  

The entrance to Le Cellier is tucked back into the lower level of the Canadian pavilion.  It is molded after a wine cellar.  

Menu for Le Cellier  click to enlarge!

There really is no wrong choice on the menu.

Doug had the "le Cellier" Mushroom Fillet Mignon and enjoyed every bite.

I had the Angus New Your Strip and it was great!  The Steak was done perfectly and very flavorful.

This is a very small and dark dining room.  This fact makes it even more of a getaway in the middle of Disney World.  It was a nice Date Night for Doug and I after our Princess Half Marathon.  Could you take your kids here?  Yes, you can but they will probably have a better time somewhere else.  My opinion: save this for a time you can go to dinner on your own and let the kids have some fun on their own. 

This meal is 2 Cedits on the Disney Dining Plan.  

To get to Le Cellier just head to Epcot and back to Canada!