Imagine, Just One Birthday Every Year ~ October 2018 ~ Day 4 ~ Hollywood Studios and MNSSHP

[DisneyDaffodil]

"Come with us and you will see. This our town of Halloween."- Shadows, Nightmare Before Christmas

Index here

I was awake very early this morning, which wasn't good as I knew we wanted to stay up late this evening as we were going to MNSSHP. As I was awake so early, I decided to message some of the family at home. I was still very tired and sleeping when I heard Mum speaking to herself. I turned over in my bed to see that she was on her phone, calling my brother. I didn't call him, he called me and it would have been rude not to answer, so I thought I'd quietly talk to him while Georgia slept. However, she was not quiet and we were both now awake at 6:20am with a very long day ahead of us. It was nice to talk to my brother though, as he wanted to wish me a late happy birthday and have a long talk. To be honest though, I was so tired that now I have no idea what we talked about After talking to my son, we made a cup of coffee each from the coffee machine in the room and led in bed for a little longer before leisurely getting ready.
We caught the bus to Hollywood Studios and arrived there just before 9:30am. The walk into the park seemed particularly long today as it was already starting to get hot! It's such a long walk from the buses to the park and after so many busy days in the parks, our feet were starting to ache and it really seemed to take a toll on us.
After entering the park, we decided to just sit down and people watch for a while. Our first Fastpass was for Tower of Terror at 10:10am and we didn't want to wander around unnecessarily before our FP. Whilst we sat on Sunset Boulevard, we noticed the Christmas decorations were already up in Hollywood Studios.

After a relaxing sit down and a browse around a few of the shops nearby, it was time for our Tower of Terror FP I didn't really want to admit it but I was terrified for this (and I'm sure it was obvious) Although I'd been on it in our previous trip and enjoyed it, this time I felt nervous about it. Throughout the whole queue I was more and more scared and even considered not going on the ride but I didn't want to be a coward. I also knew Mum really likes this ride and I didn't want to stop her riding it just because I was scared. As Georgia has said, I really love this ride as I love the atmosphere and build up. But at this point, the atmosphere was not making me feel any more confident about riding it. Even though we had FPs for this, the queue seemed to take quite a while, which again, made Georgia feel even worse. Eventually, we were on the ride and ready to drop. I remember leaning over and whispering to Mum "Can I hold your hand if I'm scared?" And I was definitely scared! Georgia screamed louder on this ride than I have ever heard anyone scream. Throughout the whole ride, which we seemed to have a particularly long sequence filled with sharp drops, she screamed at the top of her lungs. By the end of the ride, my ears were painfully ringing from the fact that she had been screaming while sitting right next to me. At the end of the ride, most of the people in our 'elevator' were laughing and one of the men in the row in front turned around to look at me while laughing, as everyone had figured out that I was the one screaming very, very loudly. I felt so sorry for everyone else on the ride, especially the little boy who had been sat next to me very bravely throughout. I'm surprised no one else had been deafened like Mum I'm usually okay with 'drop' rides but ToT just seemed to be too much for me. I don't feel secure during the ride, due to the small lap, seat belt. Most rides like this have over head bars which stop you moving around too much but I'm completely lifted out of my seat on ToT! In Georgia's defence (even though I didn't feel like defending her when I came off the ride with my ear still ringing) we did have a particularly intense drop sequence this time, which I did find a little scary too. Here's the photo of us on the ride. I am holding my ear due to her screams

After ToT, we started to walk towards our early lunch ADR at 50's Prime Time Cafe. On the way, we stopped to watch the March of the First Order and took many pictures to send to Rob.

We slowly made our way over after watching the Stormtroopers, taking a selfie at Echo Lake

And I pin traded for a Tramp bone pin and this gold castle ear pin, which I think is from Shanghai Disneyland (it’s one of my favourite pins that I traded for all holiday as it's so unique).

Our ADR was for 11:15am as we wanted to have an early lunch and leave the park in plenty of time to get ready for MNSSHP that evening. I think Georgia chose this meal more than me and we were both a little bit nervous about it, as it is so interaction based and we weren't sure how we'd react to it. We liked the idea but its very different watching someone else there and being involved yourself. We wanted to give it a try though as it was so different to the other meals we'd booked on the trip.

Our server, Frank, was excellent. He seemed to gauge exactly how much interaction each family wanted and made it really fun without being 'too much' as we had been worried about. We ordered our drinks from our 'cousin' Frank. I had the Magic Star cocktail which included a glow cube which I was very excited about. My drink had a fruity taste and I really enjoyed it, as it went well with the meal I had chose. Before the trip, I had decided not to get the peanut butter and jelly milkshake as I thought it would be too sickly with the meal and dessert. So, I ordered the peanut butter and jelly milkshake as I have no restraint when it comes to peanut butter. It was a good decision though, as although it was thick, it wasn't too sickly and tasted delicious.

For my main meal, I ordered Cousin Megan's Traditional Meatloaf. I like meatloaf although we never have it in the UK and I tried it for the first time on our first trip to Florida. This meatloaf had a strong tomato flavour which I thought was tasty. And it had excellent mashed potato with it! I didn't want to leave the vegetables on the plate, as I was worried about being told off, so ate them even though I didn't enjoy them that much I had Dad's Stuffed Pork Chops and they were so good. The pork had such a good flavour and the cheesy stuffing was out of this world. This was definitely the largest meal I had in Disney but I ate almost all of it because it was the best pork chops I have ever eaten. I even ate my carrots, which although I enjoy at home, I usually leave at restaurants. Like Mum, I was worried about being told off

I finished my meal first and when 'cousin' Frank noticed he praised me for winning the race and gave me a clean plate sticker. I got a sticker after I finished, even though I'd left a tiny bit of food on my plate. I did hide one carrot under my knife as I didn't want to be told off for not eating my vegetables but just couldn't eat that one carrot. Thankfully, Frank didn't notice and I got away with it
We ordered dessert but luckily, Frank took a little while before he brought our desserts. This gave us time for our food to go down slightly and we could take in the atmosphere.

Then our desserts arrived. 'Cousin' Frank came out with our cakes and a cupcake with a candle in it for my birthday. After presenting it in front of me, he got everyone around us to join in and sing Happy Birthday. It was so fun and just made the meal really special. Frank then took my camera off of me and took some really nice photos of me and Mum at the table.

For dessert, I had the apple crisp a la mode which tasted really unusual as the apple part was very warm but the ice cream was freezing. It was a good unusual though and was very filling, especially after the large meal. I had the Dad's Favourite Chocolate-Peanut Butter Layered Cake À la Mode. I told you I couldn't resist anything peanut butter flavoured I also had the cupcake that they'd brought out for my birthday. Georgia's slice of cake was huge!

After how big my main meal had been, I could barely manage a few mouthfuls of my cake. Thankfully, 'cousin' Frank was very helpful and offered to bring over a box for my cakes and a cup to take the remainder of my drink in (which I had already drank most of but as it was a massive metal cup that was filled to the brim, I still hadn't finished it)
We were thrilled that we had decided to go to 50's Prime Time, as it was much better than either of us had expected it to be. Frank was an excellent server and the food all had huge portions and tasted excellent. It was a really filling meal and was great as we didn't have any plans of what to eat that evening at MNSSHP. We paid Frank the 20% tip, as he had given us such perfect service throughout the meal. The meal would have come to $90 excluding tip if we hadn't been on the dining plan and it's one that we'd love to visit again.
It was time for our Star Tours FP when we came out of the meal so we hurried over.

As usual we loved Star Tours and it was a different sequence from the first time we went on this ride this trip. We were also sat in the middle of the row this time, which definitely made the 3D aspects of the ride better, as they'd been slightly disappointing on our last ride.
We had some time before our final FP, so we decided to go somewhere new to us, the Star Wars Launch Bay. Neither of us really understand Star Wars, so this wasn't very impressive to us but I'm sure it would mean more to someone who enjoys the Star Wars films. Before we went in, Mum went to the toilet and left me outside alone with the Stormtroopers. I was nervous that they would interact with me when I was alone but thankfully they left me alone

With nothing else planned to do, we decided to head up to Toy Story Land to wait for our final FP for Alien Swirling Saucers at 1:40pm. It was clouding over at this point and just as we found a seat in Toy Story Land (which isn't easy), it started to rain. I went to get us both a drink, which I came back soaking wet from, and we sat down to wait. I was a little worried at this point as the thing I wanted to do most at MNSSHP was to watch the fireworks and the parade and I knew if this rain continued then they might have been cancelled. Thankfully before our FP time, the rain stopped.

We also looked at the construction of Galaxy's Edge from Toy Story Land, which looked very impressive.

It was almost time for our FP, so we wandered over to the FP line, taking photos by Buzz Lightyear while we waited for the clock to change to the right time for our FP.

Alien Swirling Saucers was so fun! I had expected it to be tamer than it was and liked how unpredictable the movements of the saucers were. It's much better than any of the other 'teacup' type rides in Disney. I loved how bright and colourful the theming of this ride was, although I thought it could have been a little longer.

After this ride, we made our way out of Hollywood Studios, having one final Photopass photo taken on the way out.

We filled our resort mugs from the food court and spent the next hour getting into our costumes for the evening. I had decided what to wear almost as soon as we got the tickets and bought a Queen of Hearts costume but Georgia had taken months to plan hers. Eventually, she decided to go as the Mad Hatter so that we would be in matching themed costumes. I had looked at so many different outfits that I wanted but they were either way too expensive, the sizing was weird or they didn't sell them in the UK. It was very difficult to find a costume that I liked but I was really happy with the 'Miss Hatter' costume.

As we headed to the park, we drew quite a lot of attention in the resort and on the bus. It was funny to see some of the children staring at our costumes. However, it was a little worrying on the bus as we were the only people wearing full costumes but as soon as we reached the park, there were hundreds of other people who had dressed up as much as us. we arrived at Magic Kingdom at 4:30pm and were given our MNSSHP bands as we entered the park. Firstly, we collected our trick or treat bags and took photos at the entrance.

As we made our way around to the castle, the Friendship Faire was being performed. We paused for a few minutes to watch it and also to take in a few of the outfits of other people attending the party. This was one of the things we enjoyed most about the evening, as it was great to see how creative some people were with their outfits, especially the large family groups who had all themed their outfits.

While we had been back at our room, we had booked a late FP for Voyage of the Little Mermaid, so we headed there first. I love this ride and enjoy singing along to all the songs, loudly
We'd never been on Dumbo the Flying Elephant before and we saw that it only had a 5 minute wait, so we headed over here. Even though this is a ride designed for children, we enjoyed it. I think this ride is really pretty. I love the colours of the queue area and the ride itself.
After we came off this ride, the father with his child behind us pointed out our costumes to his child and then asked us if we were hot in them. As I was sweating, I told him that 'Yes, it was quite hot.' I was pleased when the sun went down this evening, as it cooled down enough for these costumes to be comfortable. I don't know how some people wore the costumes that they did, as it was so hot.

We decided to eat now, before the party actually started as we had eaten quite early today. We decided to go to Gaston's Tavern to try the sandwiches here. We took some photos on the walk over and around the tavern. The family eating closest to Gaston's chair in the tavern gave me some strange looks when I was posing in Gaston's chair. I guess they weren't expecting to see the Mad Hatter pretending to pose like Gaston that day

We used two quick service credits. I had the Smoked Turkey, Swiss and Cranberry Aïoli Sandwich and I had the Ham, Brie and Grain Mustard Sandwich. Mine was okay, however there was too much mustard in it and I had to try and take some out as it was overpowering. Both were served with a bag of crisps. I really enjoyed the turkey but wasn't keen on the bread, although it was a good meal to fill us for the rest of the evening.

After food, we continued to walk in a circle around the park. On reflection, this probably wasn't a good idea, as the party still hadn't started yet and we had already walked halfway around the park with no real purpose. However, we saw that the line to meet Tiana and Rapunzel was only at 10 minutes, so after deliberating for a few minutes we decided to join the queue. This took around 20 minutes really but it was nice to meet the Princesses as this isn't something we do on a usual park day, partly because we feel like we're a little too old and find interacting with them a little awkward and partly because the queues are usually so long. I really loved meeting Tiana, as I love the Princess and the Frog. However, I panicked when she asked who made our costumes and had no idea what to answer

This is when disaster struck. A slight exaggeration, but it was pretty bad. Our Minnie Mouse backpack from Primark decided that now was the perfect time to break, even though we had only bought it just before the holiday and hadn't used it before the trip. The zip had broke and we couldn't close the bag, so we had to carry around the bag wide open. We decided to hope for the best and carry it around for now. We went on It's a Small World as it only had a five minute queue. However, while queuing, a family behind us called out to tell us that our bag was unzipped. We politely told them that we knew, that it was broken but thanked them for telling us. I expected this to happen for the rest of the evening, which would be a bit awkward and monotonous after a while. On It's a Small World, we were very excited as we saw Wales for the first time! On our previous trip, we had been confused to see that there was England, Scotland and Ireland but no Wales at the UK part of the ride. This time we saw the Wales characters on the moon above the UK part. I noticed them a little late so didn't manage to get a photo of them.
As we were getting off It's a Small World, another couple who had heard us talking about our broken bag suggested we went to a shop and asked if they had a safety pin. We went to the shop near Haunted Mansion and asked there if they had anything. The Cast Member was really helpful and although she didn't have a safety pin, she was able to give us a Disney carrier bag so we could carry our bag inside it for the evening. It wasn't ideal, as it was more uncomfortable to carry but was better than a broken bag.

With that crisis averted, we decided to ride Big Thunder Mountain. Before the trip, we had planned to ride this as we'd never rode it in the dark before and had heard it was really fun. Neither of us had found Big Thunder Mountain particularly thrilling on our previous trip but in the dark this ride was so fast and the twists and turns were really unexpected. I was really surprised at how different this ride was in the dark and although in the day I thought it was an average ride, at night it became one of my favourite rides in Magic Kingdom.
By now, the party had actually started so we decided to go to our first trick or treat stop as there was one close to Pirates of the Caribbean. As we walked in, disaster two struck. The seam down the side of my dress had split as it was quite a cheap, flimsy material and was slightly tight on me (although it had felt comfortable throughout the rest of the evening). After collecting our sweets, Georgia and I dithered around trying to decide what to do about my dress. In the end, we realised there was nothing we could do to fix it in the park and we didn't want to leave and let it ruin the evening. The split wasn't large enough to notice unless you were looking for it and there was netting underneath anyway, so Mum was decent I must admit, I did feel quite self conscious of it for the rest of the evening but it didn't spoil the evening and luckily didn't split any more.
We spent some time looking around at the park lit up for Halloween. It's such a different feeling to how the park usually is and with the music and lights, it had a party atmosphere. I was also amazed at how quiet it was compared to a usual Magic Kingdom day. I was able to take photos of Main Street without many people on it.

I wanted to go see the Monster's Inc Scream-O-Ween Dance Party, as I love the Monster's Inc characters. Monster's Inc was one of my favourite films when I was little, so we headed to Tomorrowland to see this.

It was now 10 minutes before the 7:40pm Hocus Pocus Villains Spelltacular show. This was when the Halloween Party really started for us.

This show was fabulous. Neither of us knew anything about it before the holiday and we haven't seen the Hocus Pocus film but it didn't matter and we still enjoyed it. It was really funny and entertaining. I love the Disney villains and it was so great to see them all out on the castle. We also had an excellent view, even though we'd only arrived not that long before it started. It was nice to have the small fence in front of us that I could lean against as my legs were starting to ache already. It had been a long day.

After the show we went back towards Pirates of the Caribbean as I really wanted to ride this due to the new interactions that were only there on Halloween party nights. On the way there I took a photo of the Walt and Mickey statue.

It was at this point that I realised how much we'd walked already this evening and my legs were starting to hurt but I carried on regardless, as we were having such a good time. The interaction part of Pirates was really fun. On our way through the queue there was no one in front of us, so the pirate asked us if we had anything to help him stick up the 'Wanted' poster. Mum suddenly went very quiet and didn't answer (I think she was scared ) leaving me to have a conversation about the 'Wanted' pirate: Gunpowder Pete. Although we usually love Pirates of the Caribbean ride, this was even better than usual just because of that small added interaction. There were a few more interactions throughout the queue and the ride (including a pirate in the cellar and Gunpowder Pete himself on a bridge inside the ride) but this one was definitely our favourite. We were sat at the back, not paying attention to the photos being taken as usual on this ride.

After coming off of the ride, we saw that the queue to meet Jafar was very short so decided to join it. However, after we'd stood there for about a minute the CM with Jafar told us that he might have to leave as he had to join the parade in five minutes. Unfortunately for us, he finished meeting just before he reached us in line, which was disappointing.
We wandered around for a while and stopped at a few trick or treat stops before heading to get spaces to watch the Hallowishes fireworks. There was 20 minutes before the fireworks started and we were both starting to get a little hungry so I volunteered to go to Plaza Ice Cream Parlour while Mum kept our spot. She left me to choose what flavours to get her, which was a big responsibility. There was a long queue in the shop and the family in front of me changed their minds three times after they had already ordered, which meant it took me twenty minutes to get our ice creams. I used two snack credits on the two-scooped ice creams, a bowl for Mum and a cone for me (although they gave me a bowl too as the ice cream was so big that it wouldn't stay on the cone). I had butter pecan and cookies and cream and I got strawberry and raspberry sorbet for Mum. This was one of our only trip report fails, as when Georgia came back the fireworks were just about to start so we didn't take any photos of our ice cream although they were huge and delicious.
Hallowishes was amazing. We had both gone into this blind and I didn't know what to expect from them but they were better than anything I had anticipated. We had a brilliant view for this and it wasn't too crowded. Hallowishes was the most outstanding fireworks show I've ever seen. I love how it wasn't confined to one small area of the park and seemed to totally take over the whole sky. It brought a few tears to my eyes weird and it was my favourite part of the night.

We decided to do a few more rides now (mainly as we wanted to sit down on them) so went into Tomorrowland. We firstly went to a trick or treat spot and then went to Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin as it was a walk on. Again, I won. I really didn't care who won at this point, I was just grateful to be able to sit down at last.

Then we went on the wonderful, relaxing, long People Mover. Again, I enjoyed it just because I could sit down for so long. We caught a glance of the Lotso meet and greet on the way around with quite a short queue. When we came off the ride we tried to find him but couldn't seem to find where he was. Besides, it was time for the Boo to You parade so we rushed back over to the castle. Unfortunately, we missed the Headless Horseman as we were there a little late but did manage to find a good place to watch the rest of the parade. The parade was the perfect end to the evening. It was wonderful to see characters that you never see otherwise in Disney (I thought this about the parade and the show. It was great to see villains such as Hades and Dr Facilier) I loved seeing characters such as Wreck it Ralph and Vanellope. I got very excited to see Clarabelle Cow and really enjoyed the music throughout this parade (it was stuck in my head throughout the rest of the trip) I did try and take photos throughout the parade but due to the lighting they're quite disappointing and not very clear.

After Boo to You, we slowly made our way out of the park while stopping to take some photos and have a Photopass photo taken.

We left the park at 12:15. Thankfully the queue for the bus wasn't too long so we got back to our room and got ready for bed, not before taking a photo of our small sweet haul (we hadn't been aiming to get a lot of sweets as that wasn't what we wanted but we were happy with the amount we had got from only around 3 trick or treat stops)

The evening had been well worth the money in our opinion as there was so much to see and do. The atmosphere of the evening was so different from anything else we'd experienced in Disney and it had been so fun. If I ever visited Disney World at this time again, I would definitely go to MNSSHP again, as I really enjoyed the show, fireworks and parade so much and felt there was still
a lot that we could do there on another trip. We also managed to ride a lot of rides this evening as the queues had been so short which was a great bonus for us.

Step count: 23,380

[Inky]

Loved the parade and show and hallowishes but omg so busy, too many people, numbers should be more restricted

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Inky

Loved the parade and show and hallowishes but omg so busy, too many people, numbers should be more restricted

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Were you there the same night as we were, Oct 25th? As we didn’t find it too busy to be honest. We got to the Hocus Pocus show and the parade as they started and had good views, we did find a spot for Hallowishes 20 minutes before and this was busier but nowhere near as busy as HEA a few days later. Plus we didn’t queue for any rides all evening.

I guess some nights are busier than others and we were at MK early on 31st October and it did look as if it was getting very busy that evening as we left the park.

[Palm trees]

Your costumes are great, and you've got some lovely photos of the park in the evening.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Palm trees

Your costumes are great, and you've got some lovely photos of the park in the evening.

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Thank you, we were very pleased with our costumes (until mine split 😀 ) The Park looked beautiful that evening, so many photo opportunities. Georgia took so many that day and evening 😀

[Mazascouser]

Thanks for a great report.glad you both enjoyed yourselves. DD 18 and I went on the 2nd MNSSH in September had a great time, something else knocked off my Disney bucket list.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Mazascouser

Thanks for a great report.glad you both enjoyed yourselves. DD 18 and I went on the 2nd MNSSH in September had a great time, something else knocked off my Disney bucket list.

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We did enjoy it far more than we thought we would to be honest. I had thought it was an extra expense for one evening and only really did it as a special treat for Georgia’s birthday, but I’m very glad we did so now.

[minnie52]

You got so much done today! Alien swirling saucers wasn't how I expected it to be either!

Well done to Georgia for seeing TOT through - I wouldn't even try it - maybe next time

The Halloween party looks like great fun! Definitely something I want to try one day!

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by minnie52

You got so much done today! Alien swirling saucers wasn't how I expected it to be either!

Well done to Georgia for seeing TOT through - I wouldn't even try it - maybe next time

The Halloween party looks like great fun! Definitely something I want to try one day!

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I don’t think Georgia will ride ToT again, it really freaked her out this time 😀 I may have to be brave and ride as a single rider.

I would recommend the Halloween party, it is expensive and may be very tiring with small children but it is great fun.

[Milpston]

Great day. Looks like you really enjoyed the party. Love the costumes but don't recall seeing you as we were there on the same night. Mind you, we would have been tucked up in bed long before you left