Disneymoon, pt. 2

We spent so long planning this trip that it's terribly sad that it's over! I think that's why I'm enjoying putting all the photos together and writing a bit about each day. One of the biggest things we wanted to plan our trip around was Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! We had heard that everyone dresses up for the event, young and old, so we did not hesitate for one second to bring costumes to dress up for the party! Turns out, everyone really does dress up. Including a huge gaggle of old women dressed in full length princess gowns. That really did happen, and I think I'm scarred forever because of it. We dressed as Mary Poppins and Burt, and got a ton of compliments on our "costumes" (which were really just our normal clothes, but whatever works!). We spent our morning at Blizzard Beach (one of the water parks), before going to the party, and the sun just drained our energy! Now we know better for next time; save your energy for the party! We ended up leaving by 10 or 10:30 because we were so tired, and the party didn't even end until after midnight!
And here are photos!

 ^^ Haunted Mansion! This ride was one I was *really* looking forward to!

 ^^ the villains host a huge dance party in front of the castle with scary music and fireworks. It's pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen!

I can't even tell you how amazing the party was. The park closes at 7pm to regular guests, and after that, you have to have the special party wristband to stay in the park - so it clears out pretty well! During the party, there's special dance parties all over the park, trick or treating stations, a Halloween parade where all the characters wear costumes and masks, and special Halloween themed fireworks set to songs sung by the villains. It's the best thing ever!
A new addition to the party this year was the Jack Skellington and Sally (from Nightmare Before Christmas) meet and greet. We immediately got in line for photos, but we heard that it was an hour and half wait from where we were in line, and the parade and fireworks were about to start. So we got out of line - which was sad, because we are HUGE Nightmare Before Christmas fans! Oh well. Next time. ;)

On Friday, we went back to Hollywood Studios. Since we'd been on most of the rides, we took a little more time to shop and just hang out. We had dinner at the Sci Fi Dine In Theater, which was themed as an old drive in and the tables looked like cars! It was SO NEAT. Other than the Castle, this was probably the coolest place we ate at! While you're eating, you're in a dark room (with stars near the ceiling to make it look like nighttime!), and there's a huge screen in the front of the room that plays old black and white sci-fi movie clips. It was really, really cool if you're into that sort of thing.

We also took time to see the "American Idol Experience" which was... interesting. Basically, people audition throughout the day and at each show, two people perform songs for the audience and then the audience picks a winner that will go on to compete at the end of the day at the "finale." Whoever wins the finale, gets a ticket to go to the front of the line at any American Idol audition. It's a pretty cool idea - and if you're a singer, I'm sure it's a fun addition to your vacation!

^ That's the Beast's Castle!! Inside of it is the new restaurant "Be Our Guest," which we didn't end up eating at. The lines for that thing are just nuts! Maybe next time when we don't feel so rushed to do other things instead. Another addition to New Fantasyland was Prince Eric's castle (which looks EXACTLY like it does in The Little Mermaid!!), and it houses the new Little Mermaid ride - which was amaaazing. I'm a big Ariel fan, I'm not sure if you knew that. ;) 

^^ a sweet cast member noticed our "just married" buttons and gave us fast passes to use at any ride at Magic Kingdom. In the end, we didn't even use them since the wait times for all of the rides were short (5-10 minutes!), but we kept them for the scrapbook...that will probably never be made. ;) 

^^ The tower from Tangled! Sigh. Tangled was a movie I was really skeptic of (I hate when they introduce new princesses...), but it quickly became a new favorite. So seeing this tower made my heart skip a beat! You can't go inside; it's just for looks. But it was still amazing! And the bathrooms in the area are full of "Wanted" posters, just like in the movie!

 ^^Disney recently added two Starbucks locations to their parks (one in Magic Kingdom and one in Epcot), so of course we had to try one out! ;) On our last full day, we grabbed a quick breakfast from Starbucks and found a small table to sit at - turns out the view from our table wasn't so bad. :) Plus! Aren't the Disney Starbucks cups the cutest?! I wish all of their cups looked like that!

A few other cool things: Next to the Beast's castle is Gaston's Tavern, which includes a room with the full size portrait of Gaston, and his huge chair! It was just too cool. We had "LaFou's Brew," which is not alcohol, but basically just frozen apple juice that looks like beer. Silly, but fun. 

Before the nightly fireworks, there's a light show that is projected onto the castle. It's a 10 minute show and it features a lot of the Disney movies. My absolute favorite part was the Tangled part, where all the lanterns are floating up the castle. I got goosebumps.. and maybe even a tiny bit teary eyed. I'm a big old sap sometimes.

We had the best time! I'm so grateful for this trip - we couldn't have done it without Blake's parents! (love you guys!)
The whole trip we kept plotting the next vacation, and then the next trip that we'll take when we have kiddos. Blake is hoping we have a girl somewhere in the mix so we can take her to the castle for breakfast. I married a good guy, y'all! <3

Thanks for following along!
I could go on and on about what I've learned from going on the trip. I'm pretty much a Disney expert by now. ;) But thanks for indulging me for this short time... Disney addicts are the best, right?!

xo Haley