Mimi & Bill's Trip Report - or - We can't wait to go back! Part 1 and Part 2 & *Part 3 added*

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Mimi & Bill's Trip Report - or - We can't wait to go back! Part 1 and Part 2 & *Part 3 added*

Good morning everyone -
Here's my second attempt at writing a trip report. I just wrote out a very long post, and ended up losing it all! gaah So here I go again -

Before leaving, I "kidnapped" a small ceramic bird from my manager's desk - leaving a note that he was going on vacation! We started out taking a few pictures of the bird, but then it became a really fun and silly thing to do all vacation. Some of the cast members really got into it, some just looked at us like we were crazy. Towards the end, even one of the photopass photographers asked, "Where's the bird?"

Day one - On the road - Jeepers! What a drive!

We left the snow behind! yay

First stop was in southern Illinois to drop our furry son, Buddy, off at his Aunt's (Buddy is the yorkie)

I was really feeling guilty about leaving Buddy, but came to find out he was the perfect doggie guest - Rotten dog didn't even miss us! silly

Drive, Drive, Drive - stopped overnight in Tifton GA - since we were only staying for about 5 hours - decided to go cheap -
yikes! Even the bird was trying to write a note to help him get out of there!

Positives: The desk clerk was very nice, gave us a discount for only being there 5 hours (sounds kinda seedy, sorry) Negatives: The room was icky! Really icky!

Day two - We're in Florida!
We took a break at the Florida visitors center. We picked up a Florida road map - which I recommend to pass some of the time - it gives you a better visual of how far you've travelled and how far to go.
Sunshine state? hummm.... silly

Finally arrive at Port Orleans Riverside!!! In typical Disney fashion, the reception staff was very friendly and helpful. Off to our room. The parking lot is kinda far from the garden view rooms, thank goodness for a ground floor room! Upon walking into our Royal Guest room - all you could hear from us was, "Wow!" "Look at this" "Wow!" over and over!
It was true Disney magic! The picture doesn't do it justice at all!

Even a few hidden (and not so hidden) Mickeys

We had our carriage ride the first evening

Positives: We got to see a lot of the resort. Beautiful night.
Negatives: The path taken is the same that all the guests are walking on - the driver almost ran over a small child! - when you pass the guests, they all look into the carriage like you were an exhibit at the zoo. We had to hear the driver's life story (and it wasn't that entertaining).
Overall: Don't regret it - just wouldn't do it again. Wasn't the romantic experience I was hoping for - could be my fault - I might have expected too much.

Some pictures of the courtyard outside our room and the pool. (I took these pictures around 4:30am!)


Day three: The real fun begins!

Started off the day with breakfast at the Kona cafe. We walked around the Polynesian before going to the Kona Cafe, it really is beautiful. Here's Bill trying to look casual

Once again, we had true Disney service from our server. Bill had the steak and eggs, I had the Tonga toast. Sorry to say, I didn't care for it. Too much sugar and cinnamon and didn't care for the bananas - should have known, I usually don't care for cooked fruit. I think Bill liked his choice

On our way out, even the bird made a love connection

Off to Epcot!


Here's my attempt at being artistic

First stop was for a fast pass for Test Track, then off to Mission Space. Very, very cool ride. Lots of fun! I was afraid of getting sick, so we opted for the green mission

While waiting for our fast pass time, we rode The Seas with Nemo and took in some of the sights. We also began our character "stalking" mission. (taking pictures with as many characters as we could)


The butterfly garden

Characters!

Time for Test Track!

Negatives: I felt the beginning part of the Test Track was a waste of time
Postives: The actual ride, was really fun!

Time for a break! Back to the pool for a bit

This seems like a good time to give you all a break too. Still to come: Our favorite restaurant of the whole trip, Magic Kingdom, Fantasyland, and lots of princesses!

Thanks for reading! Hope you tune in for Part 2

mimi's picture
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Ok guys - need your help - when I previewed this, all the pictures were viewable, what happened? sorry about the ginormous pictures. sad

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The pictures look ok to me.

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great start on the trip report. looking forward to reading more

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Mimi great report, I am looking forward to part 2. The bird was a great thing to do and small enough not to get in the way. Interesting to hear your thought about the Tonga toast as I am not sure about cooked bananas either but want to try it as its a classic but there are so many other great things on the menu.

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Mimi great Trip Report. I have never tried Tonga toast but I think I am in your corner. I can't do alot of sweet things and that would definitely put into sugar overload. I am more an eggs and bacon girl.

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Great so far. awesome Some of the pictures are ginormous, and some are just fine. I'm clueless about this stuff, so I can't tell you why.

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Nice report. Are the pictures all from the same camera?

Yeah, the seedy motels, pass on them, stay at Hampton Inns, you get a much better nights sleep. Both comfort, security & quality!

We have this little guy that comes with us on trips. He is a Hampton Inn Rubber Ducky. They leave them in every room and they want you to send them picture of him all over the world.

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mimi's picture
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Ha! I love the ducky! We considered Hampton Inn - shoulda coulda - next time for sure.... We're considering the first week of December and taking a little more time to get down there.

Yes, all the pictures are from the same camera. It's a Sony Cyber-shot, it's a tiny little thing. I didn't use a flash, probably when I should have. I didn't like the look of the flash pictures, but now that I see them, I guess I should have. More lessons learned for the next trip silly

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Sounds like a great start to your trip! I look forward to hearing more mickey

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Awesome! Love the bird! Great report so far--makes me really excited to arrive at POR myself in a week! yay

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Fall 2015: Master's Degree Graduation Trip, Details TBD! Can't wait to be back in the World!
Nov. 2014: Baby's First 1/2 Day at the Magic Kingdom; our date day at Hollywood studios
Jan. 2014: Our princess was born!
May 2013: Our POR & DCL honeymoon (& my husband's first Disney trip of hopefully many!)
May 2013: Our Disney-themed wedding

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Great TR so far!!

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That little bird is cracking me up! laugh Love the pool scene!

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Thanks for reading, everyone - onto Part 2

I forgot a couple pictures from our walkabout Epcot:

Okay, after our quick swim it was back to Epcot for dinner. Thanks to Disney Food Blog, we decided to check out Via Napoli. It turns out it was our absolute favorite of the entire trip! We walked up on a line with ~30 minute wait, but because we were only a party of two, it wasn't a long wait at all - may-be 10 minutes. We were seated at a window seat looking out into the Italy area. It was perfect! The wait staff was incredibly nice - had all the answers to our questions - and even made time to chat (even though the restaurant was hopping!)

Our waitress, Sara, was in training - she did a fabulous job!

Lorenzo was her trainer, he was very outgoing and friendly (loved, loved, loved his Italian accent)

We had a very tasty Italian beer with our margarita pizza. The bird seemed to enjoy himself a bit too much! Smile

The Italy section/pavillion is my absolute favorite! It was the MOST romantic area. I could have stayed there all night!

Illuminations was getting ready to start and we wanted to grab some pastries from the France pavillion for the next morning. We dashed (which wasn't easy since I'm not a "dasher" and my feet were killing me already) over to the France pavillion just before Les Halles was about to close.

Just enough time to grab our pastries (which were amazing) and snap a picture of the girls waiting on us with, you guessed it, the bird. (The dark haired girl was completely baffled by the whole thing, but played along anyways)

We were able to squeeze in to a spot and watched Illuminations. Aaaahhh. I love fireworks. We throughly enjoyed it.
Now, newbies that we were, we headed back in the direction of Italy to get out of the park - very silly. On the way out we were stopped by a "bridge" opening to get the Illuminations equipment put away. This guy was the "gatekeeper" for lack of a better term. I think he got into the bird thing just a litte too much silly

After walking, walking, and then more walking - we made it out of the park and back to the POR. Had a cup of coffee (we drank A LOT of coffee) and hit the hay! Next morning rope drop at the Magic Kingdom!

Bill could not understand why we had to be at the park so early and what we were waiting for at the rope drop, I tried to explain, but he still couldn't comprehend the whole thing - until he actual saw it! Since our main mission on this trip was to get pictures with as many characters as possible, first stop was to see the princesses and Mickey. - Bill literally fell in love with the princesses (not like a little girl would, but a little too much for my liking silly )

First up Rapunzel - she was spot on! Voice, actions, everything - she did an awesome job!

Next Aurora - she was kinda prissy - but Bill loved her too -

Bill went gaga for Cinderella - ok, she is Cinderella afterall -

On to Mickey (I'll share the Epcot Mickey photos since they roped me into the MK Mickey picture mad )

We went over to Space Mountain for a fast pass only to find there wasn't a very long wait time. Bill went on, I sat out for this one! After Space Mountain we found this guy:

We did the Buzz Lightyear thing - meh - could take it or leave it. Bill liked it (of course since he scored WAY higher than me)

Castle shots (thanks Kristen for the tips!)

On our way to Fantasyland, we just had to visit Merida - it was the longest, hottest line. We were in the sun most of the time. However, according to Bill it was worth it - he just went bananas over her Scottish accent. (Since the line was long, we didn't mess with the bird, plus I think Bill was too enamored with her! - I think I could hear him saying, What bird?)

After prying him away from Merida, I had him touch the slipper. Like I said in the other thread - he couldn't understand this whole thing - Rats, come to think of it, we should've had the BIRD touch the slipper, but there were oodles of people walking through - it was tough getting a picture without anyone in it. Rushed in, rushed out.

We ran into Gaston first in Fantasyland - another awesome character - he nailed Gaston! He was hilarious, so full of himself and had the toothy smile down!

Bill, of course, shook his hand with some umpf so Gaston asked if he arm wrestled, Bill replied he was the champ - so Gaston promptly challenged him - "ordering" me to follow them -

Gaston was a very fun character experience! Off to Under the Sea - I loved it! Bill even enjoyed it (since I had been forcing him to watch the movie over and over before we went biggrin )

There's the bird

Here's a view of the Beast's castle from the Under the Sea ride:

One more princess for the day, Ariel, I tease Bill that he looks like a little boy in the pictures with Ariel. No bird this time, wouldn't find a bird underwater biggrin - plus intense line, Ariel was a bit rushed.

Once again, he was in "love" - Little did I know that his "true" love was still to come! biggrin

We went back to the POR to get ready for dinner at the Prime Time Cafe

What a let down. The food was pretty ordinary - and the service was the pits! Okay, I get it, they can't have much fun with a party of two adults - and there is no guarantee they'll be in character, but there were families in our section and the waitress did NOTHING. The one thing she did was literally SCREAM at a small child and frightened him. The waiter in the next section was having a ball with the whole Uncle thing. The only time the waitress actually spoke to us besides taking our order, was near the end (tip time, I guess) Oh well, live and learn.

Fantasmic was full up, so we decided to beat the crowds and head back to the POR.

Next day, Mmmm... still has this left over from Les Halles - very nutritious, huh?

We had changed our plans a bit for today and started out with a quick restock at WalMart (now there's excitement sarcastic ) We had to stock up on bottled water - like I said earlier, we drank A LOT of coffee..

Next it was Race Day for Bill at the Richard Petty Driving experience. He LOVED it!

Waiting his turn:

Just as he got out after his turn

The bird got to go too - that's the lump on his chest

The whole crew there, was just awesome. Answered all questions very enthusiastically, even though I'm sure they're asked the same questions over and over each day! (PS: this is one of my favorite bird pictures)

After the Petty experience, we make an impromptu trip to Downtown Disney and had lunch at Earl of Sandwich - yum yum yum!

Upon our return to our room we had these guys waiting for us:

Time to take another break.

Thank you again for reading - Coming up in Part 3, Be Our Guest, Magic Kingdom (again) and Hollywood Studios!

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That's so disappointing about 50's Prime Time. The server does make a difference. We had a great waiter (or cousin) last year. My friends and I were seated around the same time as the group next to us. Our waiter didn't miss a beat while waiting on both tables. We played off of each other.

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I love the bird. I'll have to think of something to bring with me in November.

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How fun! I'm loving your report so far...that bird is awesome!

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Mimi great report. I love the bird! You know you needed to find the princes so you could have made googly eyes like Bill did with all the ladies! laugh

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JoAnn C wrote:
I love the bird. I'll have to think of something to bring with me in November.

In the future, I'd love to do a meet up and pass along something that could be passed along over and over and travel endlessly through Disney!

PirateGirl wrote:
Mimi great report. I love the bird! You know you needed to find the princes so you could have made googly eyes like Bill did with all the ladies! laugh

You know, we didn't see one prince! I did eyeball the Italian guys at the Italy pavillion though.... silly

I'm glad you're all enjoying the bird - it's actually did add a great silly element to our trip. Leaving the room each time we'd go through the "checklist" Key to the world cards, sunglasses, walet, car keys, bird !

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I love the pictures of Bill with all the princesses! I have no doubt that Ethan will be equally googly eyed--he's already made me promise to get pictures with all of them.

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Fall 2015: Master's Degree Graduation Trip, Details TBD! Can't wait to be back in the World!
Nov. 2014: Baby's First 1/2 Day at the Magic Kingdom; our date day at Hollywood studios
Jan. 2014: Our princess was born!
May 2013: Our POR & DCL honeymoon (& my husband's first Disney trip of hopefully many!)
May 2013: Our Disney-themed wedding

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Haha that's too funny about Bill with the princesses! My DH acted like it was a chore to get a picture with all the princesses, but I'm sure he loved it too! I'm super jealous you got to meet Gaston...he's one of my favorite Disney characters!

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Bill with the Princesses is fantastic! How fun! He looks like he had a fantastic time, even if he didn't get some of the concepts. I can't wait to hear more!

Beautiful castle shots! Oh my gosh, I'm so excited that you used my tips, thank you for telling me that you made my day. mickey

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Thank you for your kind comments everyone! Let's see if we can wrap this up.....

That evening was our ADR for Be Our Guest! I was sooo looking forward to it! Our experience started with a wait on the bridge for our table. Here's a couple shots from the bridge

Belle's Cottage

The Bird

After a lengthy wait, we were called. Eeeeeeee!!! We were going inside the castle!!! It was everything you've read or heard about. It's like you stepped right into the movie. We had requested the West Wing where it was dark and spooky.
It was really dark (the entire restaurant is really loud). Here's a couple of pictures from the West Wing

Here's the place setting (bird not included)

Dinner was okay. I had the steak and Bill had the shrimp and scallops. I did have a yummy french beer.

The bird was becoming quite the lush, here he is with the wine list!

But the best was yet to come! The Beast was there! I said I was gonna hug him and I did! He even gave me a kiss (oooo I'm blushing!)

The Beast is the one in the middle (not sure who that beast is on the left wink )

This was really beautiful in person

The suits of armor were a stitch! We were in the hall alone with them, when they started trading wisecracks between each other! The bird insisted on taking a picture with one.

This guy was a good sport!

Positives: Wonderful atmosphere! Extreme attention to details! The Beast!
Negatives: The entire staff. Perhaps they're overworked. It's really dark and noisy. Too noisy to have a decent conversation and too dark to read the menus. All the same, I loved it!

We found a spot for Wishes, which we really enjoyed.

Here's a shot of the castle while waiting for the show

The next morning was our ADR at Whispering Canyon, but MK was having EMH at 8am. Fearing a repeat of Prime Time Cafe, we blew off Whispering Canyon and headed over to MK! First up Peter Pan, I know it's overrated, but I love it!
(I apologize for the next few pictures, taken in a hurry and probably should have used a flash for some)

Next up, the obiligatory It's a Small World (I don't remember this being so long)

On our way to Pirates of the Caribbean, we stopped at the Rapunzel area. It is awesome. Hard to believe it's all for restrooms.

Over to Pirates of the Caribbean

Rats! It was temporarily closed - so we wandered aimlessly and ended up on the Jungle Cruise. Very silly and corny, just like Bill! wink

The bird enjoyed it too!

More wandering and back to Pirates - it was open - we walked right on (only be told to get out of the boat, more problems, more waiting waiting )

Bird waiting

Finally got on the ride and love, love, loved it! One of our favorites! After some pirate shopping, we went over to Sleepy Hollow to eat. We ended up splitting the sandwiches in two so we could each have both.

Yummy strawberries!

Yummy sandwich!

We were a bit exhausted from playing stroller dodge 'em, so back to the resort for a short break - on the way out we ran into the Mayor! He was in a hurry, but Bill posed with the Fire Chief, he was very entertaining. Unfortunately, somehow I lost the picture - very disappointing. sad

Epcot that evening - we tried for a Soaring fast pass, but no luck. Next trip. Off to the Character Spot. Here's one of my favorite pictures:

Bill with Mickey

Bill with Pluto - he miffed the handler by calling Pluto- Goofy. (Jeepers!)

Bill hamming it up with Minnie

Afterwards, over to the World Showcase. I think that's my favorite and we only made through half the countries!

First up, Gran Fiesta

Then Maelstrom (thanks again Kristen for your report, never would have known about this otherwise!)

The bird hamming it up with the Norway girls

Next over to Germany where we came across Bill's "true love".... Snow White! I think he was actually dumbfounded!
(This picture is a bit blurry, Bill has ordered an 8x10 from the photopass pictures -it came out much better!)
She was very charming. It was adorable how she was with all the children big and small wink !

Afterwards, we grabbed a BBQ pulled pork sandwich from one of the kiosks

What did I tell you about that bird -

Illuminations was starting and all the shops were closing, so we headed out taking peeks at Illimunations as we were leaving.

Another attempt at being artistic

Back at the room, the bird enjoyed some Italian chocolates

Next day Hollywood Studios!

I really enjoyed Sunset Boulevard -

First stop, Tower of Terror - low wait time, so Bill went right in line (no way I was going on! cluck cluck) He loved it!

Next up a fast pass for Rock n Rollercoaster.

While waiting for our fast pass time, Bill met up with these two (Vanillope (sp?) is holding the bird)

Time for Rock n Rollercoaster! Now, as I've clucked before -I am pretty chicken about coasters and such, but I thought I'd give it a try. While waiting, I heard the announcement about going upside down - yikes! (hmmm, think I would have gotten a clue by this:)

As it turned out, I survived and I thought it was really fun. Would I do it again....well, may-be. biggrin

Next up we were tricked by these nice people: (not directly, I'm just teasing)

The Great Movie Ride is very deceiving. It looked like there wasn't a line, but after winding through we ended up in a very long line watching bits of old movies (which were enjoyable the first few times) - sad to say, we ended up walking out.

Bill was starving, so we had lunch at the first place we came upon. The ABC commissary - again we split the sandwiches so we could taste each one.

The bird really likes his condiments

The next show for Lights, Motors, Actions was too late (we still needed to go to DTD in the evening) so off to more long character lines.

Woody, Buzz, and Bill

Mike, Sully, and Bill - these guys were fun - we were the last one in line before their break, so they stayed a little extra with us. (This is also one of my favorite bird pictures)

Last character shot - Lighting McQueen, Mater, and Bill (Total Characters: 20! and still so many more to see)

Quick break on our way out -
I'm getting concerned about the bird's drinking silly

Very near the exit we ran into these ladies - they were GREAT! What fun!

Back to the resort and off to DTD. We wanted to try the boat offered by the resort (more waiting in line!) Wish we would have drove ourselves - we could have had more time at the shops!

The bird waiting

However, if we would have driven we wouldn't have seen this beautiful view

The bird with the capt.

First stop was to drop off Bill at Ridemakerz to finally make his RC. It's located inside Team Mickey

Since it would take him over an hour - I went off shopping alone! Yippee! I told him to call me when he was at the building stage, but I guess he was too excited and didn't remember! Silly goose! It really did turn out pretty cool.
I recommend it for any big boy looking for a fun toy! After a trip inside World of Disney it was time to catch the boat back. More waiting gaah Not that I mind waiting, but the standing still was KILLING my feet. Next morning it was time to go home.... sad

There was still so much we wanted to do and see. Wished we had more time to enjoy the POR - but now we have a reason to go back. We've been discussing it and thought about the first week of December, then September... but reality has set in and we'll have to shoot for 2014.

I can't THANK YOU ALL enough for all your brilliant tips and suggestions. Our trip wouldn't have been as wonderful as it was without them! Thank you for reading our report and for all your kind words - I love reading your comments, keep 'em coming!

Love and best wishes to you all! muchlove I look forward to reading all of YOUR upcoming reports! mickey

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What an AWESOME report Mimi! That bird rocks, and your character pics were so cute. I just want to know when YOU get your pic made with them all - maybe next time Bill does the camera? Your bird obviously had a blast. mickey

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Your report continues to be awesome (though I think that woman next to the beast is more of a beauty than another beast wink ). Where did you find Ralph and Vanelope from Wreck It Ralph? Wreck it Ralph is my fiance's favorite!!

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Fall 2015: Master's Degree Graduation Trip, Details TBD! Can't wait to be back in the World!
Nov. 2014: Baby's First 1/2 Day at the Magic Kingdom; our date day at Hollywood studios
Jan. 2014: Our princess was born!
May 2013: Our POR & DCL honeymoon (& my husband's first Disney trip of hopefully many!)
May 2013: Our Disney-themed wedding

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Mimi,

I adore that artsy picture of the palm tree and Spaceship Earth, it's fantastic! It's one of those pics that you could easily put on your wall as modern art and no one would really know that it's Disney unless they really know Disney. Love it!

What a fantastic trip you had, I don't blame you one bit for wanting to head back ASAP! Thank you so much for sharing it all with us. Folks like you help make this forum so much fun.

Now... you'd better get that bird to an AA meeting. wink

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Great trip report. Glad you had a great time. I loved all the character pictures. I agree with Kat!

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Mimi I am so glad to see that you got the best picture of them all.......Your Beauty to the Beast. I have enjoyed reading your TR and well what can you say about the bird, the lush! laugh

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Mimi, I loved this trip report. I am so excited that you got to meet Vanellope as she is one of my favourites! Will need to try and track her down when we are there in September! x

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Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us! Loved reading it and great pictures!

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Kat wrote:
Your report continues to be awesome (though I think that woman next to the beast is more of a beauty than another beast wink ). Where did you find Ralph and Vanelope from Wreck It Ralph? Wreck it Ralph is my fiance's favorite!!

Awwww shucks! You are just too sweet! Ralph and Vanelope were in the Art of Animation pavillion at Hollywood Studios. It was a really long line ~90 mins. It was one of the those lines that once you were in it, you weren't going to get out! Smile

Words of warning - the character lines take up A LOT of time. Only a couple times did we luck out and manage to be third or fourth in line. Most of the lines were ~45 minutes or plus. We did end up in a couple lines that the characters ended up leaving for a break when we were in the middle of the line. But it was our "mission" so we had to stick with it wink

Thank you to everyone for their extremely sweet and generous comments.... I'm blushing! You guys are the best! muchlove