Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (part 2)

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

There wasn't a lot of time to rest after Grand Marshaling the Festival of Fantasy Parade, but we did manage to rest for a couple of hours before heading back into the park for the Halloween party.  Admittedly, though, we were really tired!

   

We started with a photo op and then headed off for a few rides.

   

By this point, we were running low on energy so we headed off to find a spot to sit and watch the parade.  I wasn't really sad about getting to prioritize the parade a second time during the party.  It's my favorite part!

   

   

   

   

We were so tired after the parade that we could not stay for the fireworks, but luckily we were able to watch them from our room!  We didn't pay for theme park view, but we lucked out and had a pretty good view anyway.  This was one Disney trip that we will NEVER forget!  Amazing!

Festival of Fantasy Grand Marshal Experience

 Tuesday, September 20, 2022

We went to our appointed meeting spot at 2:30 - on the side of Splash Mountain where we know parades usually step off.  There we met Judy, the same woman who approached us in the hub.  She took us "backstage" where we waited for the car we would ride in for the parade.  While waiting we got to see the little marching band warming up and they gave us our very own Grand Marshal ears to wear for the parade!  These are the best ever because they also featured the 50th anniversary colors and logo!  We were so excited!  Also, it turned out that the driver of the car we rode in was also born in Martinsburg, WV just like Daniel!  Talk about a small world (see what I did there...small world...)  :-)

   

   

Then it was time to parade.  We could hear them announcing our names and city/state several times down the route.  Everyone was waving and some folks were even taking videos!  We felt like such super stars!  The Disney Photo Pass photographer even followed along and caught all of our adventure on film!

   

   

At the end of the route, we got a special place to get out and watch the end of the parade and we got some more very special pictures as well including one with a certificate we got for participating and a group pic with Taylor and Judy!

   

   

Then we got to watch the parade and all the cast members from the floats waved to us!  I even got a kiss on the hand from one of the dwarfs!  It was so neat!  And, since Disney does everything right, they took pictures of us watching the parade and got a great shot of Mickey and Minnie in the balloon going right behind us.

   

   

   

   

   

   

Magic Kingdom

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

   

Finally!  Today was our full Magic Kingdom day.  We always do Magic Kingdom on Halloween party days because the crowds are much less due to the park closing at 7 instead of 10 or 11.  We started our morning with a bit of a mistake.  We headed to Frontierland with a thought that we could do Big Thunder and Splash Mountain, but since we were there for early magic hours, that area was still closed and did not open until regular park hours began.  So, we made a quick change in plans and hit Seven Dwarfs Mine Train instead.  The line was a little longer than it would have been had we gone straight there, but oh well.  Then when we finished there we made our way to Gaston's Tavern for one of the giant cinnamon rolls to share.

   

   

   

While in the neighborhood, we also enjoyed Under the Sea with Ariel and her friends.

   

Then we made our way through a whole bunch more rides including Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carribean, Prince Charming's Royal Carousel, Winnie the Pooh, Mickey's Philharmagic and Small World.

   

   

   

   

We also made time for a photo stop near Liberty Tavern in Frontierland.

   

Then things got interesting.  We took a break between rides to play one of the games on the Disney App where you go through the parks to find all the 50th Anniversary statues.  We had collected them in every other park we visited but needed to find quite a few in Magic Kingdom still. 

   

Just after finding Orange Bird, we headed toward the Adventureland entrance where we thought we could find Abu.  While trying to get his little statue to register on our app, we were approached by a cast member.  Since we were struggling a little to get the app to work, we told her that was what we were doing.  We didn't mean it to sound like we were complaining, really, but then she asked us if she could put a little extra magic into our trip.  Feeling badly that we might look like complainers, we said no thank you and walked away.  I was still frustrated that Abu wasn't registering on my app, but we headed to Main Street to find more.  While we were there, Abu finally popped up in my app.  I was so excited, and I looked around to see if by chance the lady we complained to was still there.  She was.  She had kind of followed us into the hub area.  I skipped over real quick and told her the app finally registered Abu.  We all laughed and then she asked us again if she could add some magic to our trip.  Then she invited us to be the Grand Marshals for the 3:00pm Festival of Fantasy Parade!! We were shocked.  Totally ecstatic and totally shocked.  Of course we said yes and that set into motion a series of events that we will NEVER forget...