Next on our meet list was Woody and Jessie. They meet in a far corner of Frontierland we had never been to before, and will likely never see again.
I love this picture below anyway, but it's also a great shot of my hat!
We rode the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train again...
And then it was 4:00 and time to go to the Will-Call area at the front of the park to pick up our tickets to that night's Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We decided too late to have tickets mailed to us, and had to pick them up there. We waited in line at the Guest Relations/Will Call area right outside the park, and when a window opened up, we were surprised to see Emily, our tour guide from the Keys to the Kingdom tour the day before! We thanked her again for such a great tour, and she seemed to be taking extra long getting us our Halloween party cards. When she handed them to us, she said "I put two extra fast passes on there for you."
Awww, how sweet! Once again, Disney magic.
So we used the fast passes to ride the flying Dumbos, a classic...
And got a few more pictures on Main Street
And then we used the other fast pass (this one was for any ride of our choice) to ride the Mine Train one more time, and the result was our favorite Mine Train video of the trip. Look for the Tin Man!
We had a little bit more time, so we rode the carousel.
and took a pretty dusk photo of it.
Next we waited in line for the Seven Dwarfs, which was a big reason for adding the second night Halloween party. We wanted to meet both them and Jack and Sally, and get a bunch of different experiences in, and we had heard that it was almost impossible to do all that in one night.
In line for the Dwarfs, I put my ears I'd bought on Tuesday night. I saw someone wearing them, and I admit I was sooo enticed.
Cute, right? But you can't even tell how awesome they are until it's dark. Check it out....
We were one of the first groups to meet the Seven Dwarfs.
We did a little trick or treating, tracked down a Poison Apple mug my friend Jennifer requested we pick up for her
...and then we found a good spot to watch the Hocus Pocus castle show. Neither of us are massive fans of the movie, so we weren't planning to see it, but then we watched the excellent Mousesteps video of the stage show, and it looked amazing. It was even more so in person. The castle projections were gorgeous.
After that, we rode Haunted Mansion a couple more times, and wanted to ride it even more, but the line suddenly exploded from a 15 minute wait to 45, and wouldn't budge. (sad face)
But we did get one more red card on the trip. For the Haunted Mansion. What a way to end a trip we'll remember forever.
So we walked out of Main Street USA and left the Magic Kingdom. Goodbye, Disney World. I really really hope we get to See Ya Real Soon.
Our last day at the Disney World parks dawned, and we had early morning reservations at The Crystal Palace for a character breakfast with Pooh and Friends.
Now, I need to preface this by saying that when Tom and I go to Disney World, we try to save money where we can. We stay at a Value Resort, (which isn't much of a burden, since I honestly think Art of Animation is more fun than the more expensive ritzy resorts) we pack a suitcase with breakfast foods, snacks, and sandwiches for lunches, and only eat one meal out a day. Generally, this works pretty well for us, but by the start of our 7th day of no cereal, mostly granola, apples, and pb&j sandwiches, we were READY oh so READY for an all you can eat breakfast buffet on our final morning.
Our reservations were for 8:05, and we got there just in time. We only waited for a few minutes outside before being called in, but it was long enough to photograph this adorable hidden Mickey in the water on the porch.
And take a picture in front with my Piglet Disneybound outfit on.
"Disneybounding" is when you wear a normal outfit that isn't quite a
costume, but reminds everyone of a character. Some are more overt than
others, and when we decided to do the Pooh and Friends breakfast buffet
so I could meet Piglet, I knew I wanted to try to put together a Piglet
Disneybound ensemble. A thorough search of Ebay produced this knit
bandage dress, and I made the Piglet clip-in ears from felt to finish
off the idea. I knew that in Florida, even in October, I wouldn't be
able to wear a knit dress all day, but I wanted to wear it for as long
as I could.
We sat down at our table, and it was really only a few moments later that my favorite Disney animal character came up to our table!!!
I struggle with anxiety, and Piglet is an inspiration to me. I love how even though he's timid and afraid quite often, his friends always support him and don't mind.
Tom took this below picture, which is a serious contender for my favorite picture of our whole entire trip.
We heaped up our plates with Poohs Puffed French Toast, Breakfast Lasagna, fresh fruit, delicious eggs, and much more. We ate until we were stuffed to the gills, and inbetween plates, we met more characters.
Like Pooh Bear!
And sad Eeyore....
Tigger!
Here we were crouched down like we were trying to jump. We knew better by now than to attempt an actual jumping picture.
We were there long enough that all the characters came around for a second time. I got another hug from Tigger.
And Tom asked him to pose alone for pictures for our friend Dave.
This one made me explode with giggles when Tom showed it to me on his phone.
Pooh Bear also posed alone.
On our way out, I took a picture next to the Piglet topiary at the entrance. What a great morning experience!!!
We waited in line to get Aurora's signature on my hat. She was the last character meeting in the Magic Kingdom who I wasn't sure if I'd get or not (I knew I had a fast pass for later to meet Anna and Elsa)
Right after Aurora I changed out of the knit dress into my Frozen skater dress from Hot Topic instead. I knew we were meeting Anna and Elsa later, so it was appropriate, and it was the most comfortable thing I wore all week. Yay! More skater dresses with leggings at next year's trip, please!
Our first fast pass of the day was to meet Talking Mickey in his regular, non-Halloween outfit. As we were standing in the room waiting for him, the group ahead of us told the attendant that they were from Colombia. He told Mickey, and Mickey said "Oh, Colombia! Gosh, I've been working on my Spanish. Let me give it a try." He then said something (no idea) in Spanish, and they all cheered. Even when they were posing for pictures, he said "Digan Cheese!" instead of "Say Cheese!"
Talking Mickey is amazing.
On our turn, the attendant said "Look Mickey, they're celebrating their anniversary!"
"Gosh, congratulations on your anniversary! What's your secret?"
"We model our love after you and Minnie!"
"Aw, that's great. I'll have to remember that! Let's pose for a picture. You stand here, I'll stand in the middle, but don't let me come between you!"
Next we were in line to meet the Fairy Godmother. Again, she's a character who switches out with other characters at the location, and the Tremaines were meeting there when we arrived. Like with Chip and Dale, we joined the line, and when we got to the front, we just let other people pass ahead of us until we were first in line for the Fairy Godmother. I had her sign the very top of the hat so that she could overlook all the characters.
Next it was time for our second fast pass, meeting Anna and Elsa and giving out my last two necklaces. The sisters got the same matching design. Elsa's side has a snowflake, and Anna's has a sunflower, as we found out she loves sunflowers in their "Frozen Fever" short.
Full credit for the center image goes to Davidkawena of DeviantArt. Most of my necklaces were a combination of reference sources and my own work, but this image of Anna and Elsa is fully his work, just drawn onto the necklaces by me.
From all the videos I'd seen of their set up, I knew they no longer met together, but I always saw Anna on the left and Elsa on the right (first and second). Instead, we met Elsa first, and she was delightful.
Anna was next, and I was surprised to find that even though she's my favorite sister, I liked our meeting with Elsa better. Anna was fine, I just was pleased to note that Elsa was so warm and friendly. Usually on some days, Elsa acts rather queenly and can come off as cold and aloof, but not this day!
I had to ask Anna if we could take a "Fetchingly draped against the wall" shot. (I've seen her do this before and I admittedly love it)
And with that....this final day's final post has to become a two parter as well, because we tried to cram as much as humanly possible (especially while I was battling a cold) on our last day in the Magic Kingdom.
Next, part 2 of our final day, including more Mine Train! Light up ears! Seven Dwarfs Mine Train! Seven Dwarfs! And Hocus Pocus!
