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

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

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

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!

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

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 )

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 )

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 )

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 - 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!

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 ) 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!

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!

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

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 !

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 )

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!

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 )

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.

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 !

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.

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

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 Not that I mind waiting, but the standing still was KILLING my feet. Next morning it was time to go home....

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! I look forward to reading all of YOUR upcoming reports!

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!

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

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