The 3 Mouseketeers Non-Stop WDW Adventure (Aug 2018) Day 8 - MK and H2O Glow Night

[Custancia]

Day 7 (part 2) can be found here.

After our very late night, we decided to have a sleep in this morning. DH and I woke up about 8.30, and eventually I got up and went over to the food court to get some drinks. I also picked up a pack of satsumas (as DH was having a fruit craving) and a pack of nutter butters - both were snack credits. I didn’t take any photos. However, even though they were pretty expensive for 3 satsumas (albeit in clear plastic packaging) they were just satsumas – so you can probably imagine what they looked like!

DH and I hung around quietly in the room, waiting for DD to wake up ; which she finally did at 11.15am. Now this may not seem outrageous for a 14 year old, but I don’t think she’s slept in so late EVER! Clearly, she’d needed the morning off!

We had some of our Amorettes cake for breakfast (we were on holiday after all!) It was very nice, and especially nice knowing we’d decorated it ourselves.

Then we got the bus to Magic Kingdom. I absolutely love the view as you come into Main Street!

Our first ride was Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. This was technically our third fast pass, but our first two had been Space Mountain (10.10am) and Tomorrowland Speedway(11.20am), and we’d completely missed them with the long lie-in. I’d like to be able to say that I’d cancelled them, so someone else could book them, but I completely forgot to do so. Anyway, the sleep had clearly done DD a world of good, as she got her highest score ever at Buzz!

Then it was time for our ADR at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant. We’d never eaten here before but booked because it has a package dinner so that you can get into a reserved area for the Parade. To be honest, I’d never ever noticed it before! I think I’m usually looking towards the castle, or focusing on the exit?!

We waited a little while for our table (partly because DD’s restaurant research had suggested that we ask to sit in the conservatory area). We were surprised to find the waiting area is shared with the entranceway to Tinkerbell and Mickey – so we must have literally walked past it in previous visits.

The main dining room is beautifully decorated

But the conservatory is much brighter and more airy.

The dining package has a 3 course menu. The food was OK, but to be fair, I think Italian is rarely exceptional. However, 3 courses and reserved parade viewing for 1 TS credit, I feel is pretty good value.
We had some oil and bread to start with:

And some drinks:
Cocktail for me, and soft drinks for DH and DD

DH and DD each had calamari for starter (quite large portions) and I had salad

Then our mains, which were beautifully presented (Although I have no recollection of what DH and I chose!)

DD had the Italian Trio as she couldn't decide what to have!

For dessert, DH and I had tiramisu, and DD tried the cannoli

During the meal, we noticed a server originally from Leicester and had a good catch up about the UK. At the end of our meal we were given our tickets for the Festival of Fantasy Parade.

Then a very short walk over to the parade viewing. This is the ‘island’ at the start of Main street where the flag pole is. It was quite hot and there is virtually no shade. If we were doing it again, we would stand somewhere more shady, and then go across at almost the last minute. It was a really good location to see the parade though.

I wonder how people get to be the family of the day?

A few years ago (when DD was 11), we bought her a tiara from Disney. It’s one of the ‘grown up’ quite expensive ones – I must have been in ‘holiday mum’ mode, as I wouldn’t usually do that! You can just see it here, with her Tangled hair accessory.

That tiara has been worth every cent. We noticed that characters will often try to interact with young children, but they tend to hold back with older children/teens. The tiara is a fantastic way of indicating to characters that she would love interaction with them, and she's worn it on the last 2 trips.

I’m always really impressed by how much effort characters, and dancers, put into the parade, and interacting with the audience. Particularly as it’s really hot! Lots of the characters, particularly princesses, on the parade floats pointed out DD’s tiara, smiled and waved. There was also some really lovely interaction between one of the dwarves (Sleepy?) and the children next to us.

I love the costumes in the parade – the performers must be so hot wearing them, and dancing in the August heat, but they all look amazing!

We were a little disappointed though that the fire breathing dragon was still out of action and had been replaced by, as DD termed it, the ‘scary gazebo’. I know it was a quick, and unplanned replacement, but it didn’t have the usual Disney detail!

I'm always a little sad when it's the end of the parade!

Then we headed over to Monsters Inc Laughter Floor. This is such a fun show (and has the added bonus of being an airconditioned sit down!). DH had been ‘that guy’ on a previous trip, and I think was secretly hoping he’d be picked again, but it wasn’t to be. DH loves the Sam’n’Ella section and DD got a fit of the giggles at ‘Why is Cinderella so bad at soccer? Because her coach was a pumpkin and she kept running away from the ball’. (Even the queue for this ride is full of clever details)

We came out into a downpour, so decided to seek shelter at Cosmic Rays. Lots of other people had obviously had the same idea, so we tried the mobile ordering on the app to get some drinks. I think it always seems particularly chaotic at Cosmic Rays because its not obvious that you can buy all the food at each bay.

Maybe it was because it was so busy, or perhaps it was because we were just getting drinks not a meal, but it took forever to get our order. In the end, DH went up to the collection point and asked, and was given our drinks. We tried it again later in our stay – for a full meal order – and it worked really smoothly then. Some time after we'd finished our drinks we got this notification

When it had dried up a bit, we went over to It’s a Small World. A firm family favourite! DH particularly loves the scene with the cactus playing the guitar (but I’ve never yet been able to get a really good photo of it!).

Then, because I’d been following Cast Member Charlotte’s report on the Dibb/Twitter (and I’d had nothing better to do whilst keeping quiet in the room until DD finally woke up this morning), I’d read that Charlotte had picked up an extra shift working over at Momento Mori today. So I suggested to DD and DH that we should call in, and perhaps say Hi to her. I plucked up the courage to introduce ourselves as Dibbers, and we had a long chat with Charlotte who showed us around the shop, introducing us to the various ghosts who lived there.

I’d lost track of the time a little, and realised that it was now 6pm, so we caught the bus back to Riverside – as we had an H2O Glow Night Party ticket for Typhoon Lagoon which started at 7pm! Now, I’d say this as ‘H two O Glow ’ ( like water!) however initially DH had been telling me about the ‘H twenty Glow’ event that he’d read about on various sites (which doesn’t even rhyme! ) This is still a standing joke in our house

DD is a very punctual person and was quite anxious that we were running so late; even though it didn’t really matter what time we arrived (although obviously we wanted to make the most of the event). So, we went to our room, quickly threw our swimsuits and goggles into a bag, and hot-footed it back to the bus stop. To get to Typhoon Lagoon from Riverside we needed to change busses at Disney Springs (I think they have gone back to direct busses now?). As we approached the bus stop, we saw a bus for Disney Springs heading off in the distance. I could sense DD’s stress and anxiety snowballing, so communicated to DH that we would get a taxi instead. It’s really not far, so it cost us $9 plus tip – and got us to Typhoon Lagoon just a couple of minutes after 7pm.

We scanned our magic bands, and were given H20 glow night wrist bands.

We went over to the towel hire, as we knew that you don’t need to pay the hire charge if you are staying onsite. The cast member didn’t check our bands, just asked how many towels we would like.

Then we got changed, and met back by the lockers. It took us a little while to figure out how they worked, but I think we were just feeling a little tired and overwhelmed as it wasn’t actually difficult! Then we played in the waves – the very big waves!

And then lazed around the lazy river. There were some new rings for the H20 party; penguins, ducks etc.

There was a DJ set up on the beach by the main wave pool, which was playing music, and co-ordinating fun party games during the evening. It didn't seem very busy though.

We went on almost all the rides – which were all walk ons, or just a couple of minutes wait. Carrying the floats/rings up the stairs can be quite hard work, and to be honest, I’d not have minded having occasionally to wait and get a chance to catch my breath! We went on Crush and Gusher, Miss Adventure Falls, Keelhaul Falls and (my notes helpfully tell me – ‘two more rides: check map’). These rides were all so much fun.

DH isn’t usually keen on water parks, and since DH and DD burn so easily, we tend to avoid them – but this evening was fantastic fun! And as it was an evening event, no risk of getting sunburnt! But still warm enough to walk around in just our swimsuits. At some point wandering round finding rides, we went past the adults only bar area (which looked almost deserted apart from a guitarist) – so I dispatched DH to buy me a Black Cherry alcoholic drink ($11 plus tip – charged to magic band), whilst DD and I chatted and planned our next rides.

We needed to head back towards the lockers now, so that I could get my camera to take a picture of my drink! (There was more in the cup initially )

We stopped for some ice-creams, 2 premium mickey bars and a mickey ice-cream sandwich. Then back into the lazy river, which was beautifully lit in the dark.

All that lazing had made us hungry again (plus we’d only eaten ice-creams since lunch at Tony’s), so DH and I shared 6 mini doughnuts, which were fabulous, and DD decided to buy a huge doughnut. I think we were too hungry to wait for pictures, but I took some of the evening lighting.

There were character meets – Buzz, with his surfboard, and in a different location, Woody and Jessie. We waited about 10 mins to see Woody and Jessie but that was mainly because, just as we got to the front, they had to go inside to check on Bullseye. I think there was one family in front of us for Buzz. There were photopass photographers with these character meets. However, these photos will never be seeing the light of day - wet hair and swimsuit is definitely not the most flattering look for me!

That party on the beach never really got going, but the music was a nice backdrop.

Overall this was a great evening for us (so much that we’ve booked it again for our next trip)

The evening finished at 11pm, and we got changed out of our swimwear ready to travel home. DD was clearly running on fumes at this point, so we thought we’d get a taxi back to Riverside. There were no taxis waiting, just a steady stream of Ubers and Lyfts collecting people, so DH went back into Typhoon Lagoon and asked if they could order a taxi for us. The Cast Members did originally suggest getting the bus back (via Disney Springs) or using a Minnie Van, but were fine when DH said he’d rather have a taxi. The taxi arrived 15 mins later, and we could see people were still queuing for the Disney Springs bus.

It didn’t take long to get ‘home’ and we took turns to get showered. DD went first and immediately fell asleep afterwards. DH and I were eventually tucked up in bed by 12.30am – making sure to set the alarm as we had an early start the next day.

Day 9 is here

[Goldia]

I'm not surprised you fancied a bit of a lie in today after the late night. MK looked really busy today and it also looks quite hot. The night time after hours event at TL sounds fun and you really seemed to enjoy yourselves there. Another late night though!

[Custancia]

Originally Posted by Goldia

I'm not surprised you fancied a bit of a lie in today after the late night. MK looked really busy today and it also looks quite hot. The night time after hours event at TL sounds fun and you really seemed to enjoy yourselves there. Another late night though!

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The H2O Glow Night event was really good. I hesitated over buying the event ticket, as we already had waterparks on our Disney Tickets - but it was worth it to enjoy the rides with no queues, and have absolutely no worries about DH and DD getting sunburnt (or sunstroke in DH's case). It was a late night though, and also quite physically active, so we were done in by the end of it!

[Ivegottadream]

Thank you for the H2O review, that looks quite good fun.
I'm really enjoying your trip report.

[belle&tink]

Great day! The H2O event looked fab!

One question- If you are an onsite guest can you always hire towels at the water parks for free, or just at the event?

[Custancia]

Originally Posted by Ivegottadream

Thank you for the H2O review, that looks quite good fun.
I'm really enjoying your trip report.

See more...

Thank you! We weren’t too sure what to expect at H2O, but we had a great time.

Originally Posted by belle&tink

Great day! The H2O event looked fab!

One question- If you are an onsite guest can you always hire towels at the water parks for free, or just at the event?

See more...

You can always get towels for free at the Disney water parks if you are an onsite guest.

[belle&tink]

Originally Posted by Custancia

Thank you! We weren’t too sure what to expect at H2O, but we had a great time.



You can always get towels for free at the Disney water parks if you are an onsite guest.

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I did not know this & I’ve been going since 2007! Thank you!

[TartanTink]

Thanks for the review of H2O glow as we have tickets for August my daughter and I are red heads with really pale skin so thought it would make TL more tolerable . Enjoying your report thanks for sharing 😁

[Custancia]

Originally Posted by belle&tink

I did not know this & I’ve been going since 2007! Thank you!

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I think it changed a few/couple of years ago. Definitely free rental now, but I remember taking hotel towels on a previous trip (and seem to recall this being advised on the disney moms panel at the time)

[Custancia]

Originally Posted by TartanTink

Thanks for the review of H2O glow as we have tickets for August my daughter and I are red heads with really pale skin so thought it would make TL more tolerable . Enjoying your report thanks for sharing 😁

See more...

We are back there again in August
It was such a great way to do the water park with no risk of sunburn. Have a great time! And thank you for reading and commenting