Halloween at WDW

It's going to be a late dat today.

12:00 pm - arrive at Disney Quest. Laurie likes the interactive stuff like building a roller coaster, jungle cruise and alien encounter. I like the video game. I played a lot of the old stuff, Dragon's Lair, Tron, missle command.

3:00 pm - return to resort to prepare for the Halloween party.

5:00 pm - we leave to the Magic Kingdom and we arrive about 2 hours before the event begin. I'm not feeling well. My nose is running like water. Since we're early we decide to make use of the photo pass they gave us for the event. There's about 5 photographers stationed around the castle for the event. We get our pictures taken at each one.

Laurie is dressed as Cinderella. She's really playing her role. She being nice to children and telling them they look cute in their costumes. She meeting a lot of parent. I'm taking pictures. I'm just not that sociable.

We decide to take afew attractions while we wait and while I feel miserable. We do Philharmagic. What a great 3D movie. I wish this was at Disneyland. It's a way to debute Disney Characters in their computer animated form.

Next it's off to the carousel. I take pictures while Laurie looks cute. I shoot and video.

7:00 pm - an announce is made by a creepy Spirit letting us know the party has begun. Our priorities for this party is to get pictures, get candy, see shows.

As we walk toward the haunted mansion, we spot Cinderella's carriage. Picture moment. These photopass photographers are very good. They know how to pose.

It takes about 15 minutes but we get our picture. We arrive at the Haunted mansion and there's no line. There I also a picture moment at the mansion in front of the hearse. Pretty cool shot.

We get on the ride and now we're about 25 minutes from the parade. We then take our spot in Frontierland. Laurie then goes off to get some candy. Leaving me to wallow in my runny nose.

8:10 pm - the headless horseman gallops down the parade route. Super awesome. The horseman was one our tourguides from our horseback ride.

8:15 pm - the not-so-scary-Halloween parade begins. All of the characters were out and all of the villians. We are very impressed with parades at WDW.

9:15pm - we waiting in front of the castle for the fireworks show. We meet a family with a small girl also dressed as Cinderella. Laurie and the little girl hit it off even though she was shy to start.

Again WDW has a really good fireworks show. We were treated to Hallowishes.

I start to think that this is a school night. Can all of these kids be on vacation?

I also notice that for a sold out event this one is a lot of fun, not too crowded and well organized. I'll leave this blog here and let you see the rest of our fun in the photo gallery. I can't put anything up right now because I have a really bad internet connection at the resort.

1:00 am - I'm sick and tired and I'm getting some sleep.

Magic Kingdom Travel Report 10/27

It's a Friday afternoon and we're heading over the Magic Kingdom.  We've got about 3 hours because the park is closing early for Mickey's Not-So-Scary-Halloween, which we'll be attending on Halloween.

 

We show up and park in the disabled area.  I'm used to this but it is a long walk to get to the Monorail.  We see the ferry pulling in and we decide to take the fairy to the Magic Kingdom.

 

If you're not in a rush, this is a great way to go if you love boats and lakes like we do.  Very relaxing.

 

We enter the gate with our tickets and they have a new biometric system.  You just place one finger on the sensor and you're in.  The park is tricked out in autumn and Halloween overlay.  The tones are orange, red and yellows.

 

We know we're not going to be here long, so we hit some attractions that we normallly wouldn't do.

 

First, Stitch's Great Escape, which took over for Alien Encounter.  Let me say that I was a huge fan of Alien Encounter and was sad to see it go.  Yes, it was not kid friendly, but it was scary.  Stitch's great escape uses many of the same effects and concepts and tries to make it fun and kid friendly.  Quite frankly I was bored.  There were cute moments, but the story dragged on and there was no drama or stakes in the story.  The best part was seeing a lifesize animatronic Stitch.  2 out of 5 stars.

 

Next, we go on the Indy Speedway.  Laurie drove and I video taped.  Definitely not Disneyland's Autopia.  The car was difficult to control.  It would not go straight.  I trust that it was a fluke with our car, but very disappointing.  2 out of 5 stars.

 

Now we go on Peter Pan.  The entry system is better than Disneyland's because they use the conveyor belt system. The basics of the ride are the same as Disneyland, but again Disneyland is better.  There are more minature elements from the story, but when you fly over London and Neverland, your looking at a cartoon representation of these locations.  3 out of 5 stars.

 

It's a Small World. Not as good as Disneyland.  Each continent is a little small, also at Disneyland the path takes a lot of turns.  WDW is very straight. 3 out of 5 stars.

 

Haunted Mansion again not as good as Disneyland. The sound system is so outdated. 3 out of 5 stars.

 

Disneyland is so much better than this place.

 

Alan Ng

 

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