Disney Vacation: Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

On our third full day at Disney, we had tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, which took place from 7:00 pm until midnight. They kicked all of the normal park goers out at 7:00 and only those with tickets to the party could attend. Since it was an additional park admission, we decided not to spend money going to a park that day and just hung around the resort until it was time to go to the party. They actually let you in with a party ticket at 4:00.

We spent the morning down at the pool at out hotel. I don't have any pictures to post on here because I took them all with the waterproof camera and haven't gotten around to dropping it off to be developed. How digital cameras have spoiled us. LOL! The pool area was ok. There was a really nice play/splash area that Zoey loved playing in. The pool itself has a water slide going into it, but Zoey was too small to ride it by herself and they wouldn't let a parent ride with her. They did have a little tiny slide that she had some fun on. There was also a slide down to the splash area; however, there was a black snake hanging out at the tip of it, so it didn't get used by us that day.

After pool time, Zoey went down for a nap and my sister and I headed to Downtown Disney. She wanted to take her picture next to a blow up Mickey pumpkin they had there and I wanted to get Zoey some ears. I ended up getting her the ones in the pic below. Tiffany also got her some pirate ones that she wore to the Halloween party. We pretty much just went into a couple of stores and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the party.

Once we got back to the hotel the transformation into pirates took place ... well at least for Zoey, Tiffany and I. My original plan had been for Zoey to dress as Boo from Monsters Inc; however, the costume I planned on making was kind of bulky so I didn't think it was a good idea for the party. So we went with pirate instead, and Zoey makes a super cute pirate if I do say so myself.

We had some slight issues with a couple of our special event tickets, but nothing too bad, so we made it through the gate pretty quick. The Fall/Halloween decorations were up the entire time we were at Disney, but something about them was extra special being there for the Halloween party.

We once again headed straight to Liberty Square and took Zoey on the Magic Carpet Ride. She really loved this ride, so we let her ride it multiple times. Tiff and I got put in the stocks while we were there. LOL!

Here is us on the ride

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Leland, Bev, and Tiff while we are on the ride. LOL!

After that, we headed over to the far end of Fantasy Land to where Dumbo and the Barn Stormer are. I took Zoey on Dumbo and while she liked it, she didn't laugh nearly as much as she did on the other rides. Then Scott took her on Barn Stormer. I guess she laughed like crazy. It must have been pretty awesome, because as they got off, Scott took Zoey to stand in line for Goofy without me even asking him to. We all ended up taking a turn with Zoey on Barn Stormer because she loved it so much.

Once we had tired of Barn Stormer, we found the line for the Trick or Treat Trail and got some candy. The Trick or Treat Trails were set up really pretty nice. There were two different types of trails. First there were large Mickey pumpkin things that marked individual treat stations through out the park. You could go to any of these and would just hop in the line, go through, and then walk (without a line) until you came to another one you wanted to hit up. The second way they did it were actual trails to follow that had several different treat stations along the way. We did both. They gave out pretty decent types of candy and they weren't stingy with it. Zoey seemed to enjoy herself but still didn't quite get the concept.

Our Trick or Treat adventure lead us back to Liberty Square, so we took a seat there to watch the fireworks. They were set to a soundtrack of Disney villains. Zoey wasn't as into them that night. I think she was just super tired.

Once the fireworks were done, we went back to where we had watched the parade the night before and waited for the special Halloween parade. This parade starts with the Headless Horseman riding the parade route. From what I read online, the rider is not able to see and the horse runs the route from memory. It was pretty cool. This parade was not as good as the light parade, but it was nice to see some of the villains that you normally don't see at Disney. Most of my pictures didn't turn out, but here are some I took from Bev.

The parade had started at the end of the park we were at, so we were hoping that if we left right as it ended we would be able to beat the crowds to the bus stop. Unfortunately, we didn't take into consideration that we were walking in the direction that the parade was going, so once we got to the entrance to the park, the parade was going by there, so we had to stop and let it go by. Oh well. it was a good thought. Either way, we made it to the buses and back to the hotel for the night.

Disney Vacation: Magic Kingdom Day 1

After the multiple breakdowns on Day 1 of the vacation, I vowed that I had gotten them out of my system and we would be tear free (at least Mommy tears) for the rest of the trip. Well, that lasted until we got to the bus stop that morning. We had reservations for breakfast at Cinderella's castle at 8:40. We got down to the bus stop at 7:30 ... and waited ... and waited ... and waited. After waiting for 20 minutes (and seeing the bus ETA move back and back and back) I started to stress out. So I did what I think any sane person would do, called the Disney reservations number to see what I should do. That was a mistake. The lady I talked to was not at all helpful and instead stressed me out more. She told me that we had a 10 minute window after our reservation time and that if we weren't there by then the reservation would be canceled. She was unable to tell me if I would get my money back. She also added the helpful information that since it was now almost time for the park to open that there would be a lot of people waiting to get through security that would make it hard for us to get through. Well, that's when the tears started. Now those tears probably could have been avoided if she had told me what would actually happen when we got there. They have people with signs directing those guests with reservations and we bypassed all of the people waiting in line. We made it to the castle exactly at our reservation time.

 Zoey didn't really notice the stress and was just having fun

Once we got to the castle, we had out picture taken with Cinderella in the entry hallway and then made our way up the winding staircase to the dinning area. We were seated and immediately had a nice plate of pastries in front of us. Zoey was a big fan! Everyone really liked their breakfast, except for me. I didn't dislike my stuffed French toast, but it wasn't as good as I thought it would be. It was kind of difficult to eat while the princesses kept coming around because we kept having to get out of the booth whenever one came up to the table and the tables were very close together. Zoey was also not a fan of being pulled away from her food to take pictures. She really didn't like any of the princesses and actually pulled one of the princess' hair (I think it was Ariel), which resulted in a lecture from that princess about acting like a lady. LOL!

We got an unobstructed view of the castle

Not at all interested in Jasmine

Suspicious of Snow White

Thinking of pulling her hair again

Really not a fan of Aurora

After we got done with out breakfast we set out to explore the Magic Kingdom and more specifically to our FastPass for Haunted Mansion. We came across the town from the movie Tangled and since that is one of Zoey's favorite movies (and she was dressed like Rapunzel), we stopped to take some pictures.

Zoey was kind of afraid of Haunted Mansion, at least the entry way part of the ride. Once we actually got on the ride she was fine. While at Haunted Mansion, we found out that Leland's Magic Band was even more screwed up then we thought. They weren't letting him in the park even when he tried to use the entry card (like he had the day before). So he ended up having to go back to the hotel to try and get that sorted out. It was such a mess!!! At one point no ones Magic Bands were working and they were showing someone using our band at the other Animal Kingdom hotel when we were all sitting in our room. We got some free FastPasses out of it, but we really didn't need them. The lines were never really that long.

Unused FastPasses (Pic kept turning when I uploaded it)

 We then headed over to use our FastPass to Rapunzel and Snow White. One of the major differences between Disney World and Disneyland (at least when I went) was that at Disney World almost all of the character meet and greats where held in special buildings for them with their own queue line. There were a few random ones on the street, but not nearly like there were when we went to Disneyland.

Pictures of the princesses that were in the queue area

When we got done meeting the princesses, we saw that the evil stepmother and stepsisters from Cinderella were in the square doing a meet and greet, so much to Scott's displeasure (he hated doing the picture thing), my sister and I jumped in line. It was a bit of an inside joke, which Scott actually thought up, and we couldn't pass on the opportunity. Really we were only looking to get a picture with the red headed sister, but we got one with the whole crew as well.

Once we were done with our photo op we headed over to the Tea Cups, which Zoey absolutely loved. I tried to keep my eyes open to see how see was doing, but I get sick on spinning things and Scott was making our tea cup spin like crazy.

Waiting in line

Such a precious face

After some tea cup fun, we headed over to Be Our Guest, which is a newer restaurant that is themed to be the Beast's castle from Beauty and the Beast. My sister really wanted to eat there in hopes of seeing the Beast; however, he was no where to be seen. We had to stand in line for awhile to get in, but it wasn't too bad. Once inside you order using your magic band and then they bring the food to your table. The food itself wasn't that great, but it wasn't horrible either. The three different dining rooms were nicely themed.

With our bellies full, we hopped on the bus back to the resort so Zoey could nap and we could enjoy some relaxation.

Once we were all rested up, we headed back to the park for a fun filled evening. The first stop was Splash Mountain. Scott was going to try and take Zoey on it, but she wouldn't cooperate with being measured to make sure she was tall enough, so he brought her back over to where I was waiting on a bridge to try and get a picture of everyone as they came down. I had no intentions of riding Splash Mountain. Bev, Leland, and Tiffany seemed to enjoy themselves, and Bev got soaked, which was pretty much the theme of our vacation. If there was water, Bev would get hit with it. LOL!

Leland is in the front and Bev and Tiff are in the next row

We spent most of the evening riding various rides in Frontier Land. Zoey just loved all the rides. I think her favorite of the ones we did that day was Aladdin's Magic Carpet. She just laughed and laughed and laughed. We also rode Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise several times. The fireworks started while I was in the Pirates area getting Zoey a souvenir penny (I tried to get her a penny to chronicle all of our favorite things at Disney).

All the pennies we collected

The cute book Bev got Zoey for her pennies

So when I came out of the pirate area, I found the cutest thing ever ... Zoey up on her daddy's shoulder clapping and cheering for the fireworks. She LOVED them!!!!

Once the fireworks were over, we staked out a place in Liberty Square to watch the light parade. We had a pretty good spot and some nice people moved over so Scott and I could sit on the curb with Zoey. She again loved this part of Disney. She would clap and dance as the different floats and characters went by.

By the time the parade ended and we made it out of the park, we were all pretty tired. Zoey crashed immediately and the rest of us were quick to follow. What started out as a very stressful day, turned out to be a fantastic, fun filled one. I love how it turned around!!!