Tuesday, September 18

After our night in to do laundry and relax, we were up pretty early this morning. On the docket was rope drop at the Magic Kingdom. Unlike most of the eager souls lined up at the turnstiles, our first stop wasn’t Dumbo, or Space Mountain, or even Peter Pan – it was the Emporium. Yes, friends, we have become ridiculously devoted pin traders, and in our opinion there is no greater place to pin trade than the Emporium first thing in the morning. Cast Members are out in force – both in the store and along the sidewalks of Main Street –  and so you can walk from person to person, trading away and usually for some (pretty) good pins.

So, we pin traded up Main Street and took a leisurely walk through Fantasyland to see the progress. At CP’s request, we doubled back to Frontierland for a ride on Big Thunder, her perennial favorite. Not in any hurry to do anything in particular, we took some pictures and then queued up for the train, where we ended up some of the only people to board – it made for a very leisurely trip back to Main Street.

Once again, we made the Emporium-Main Street shops pin trading loop, and then started the walk/monorail ride/tram ride back to the car. Our next destination was Downtown Disney, where we were indulged our hankering for sandwiches at – where else? – the Earl of Sandwich. We browsed the shops, and were lucky enough to catch the massive pin board at the pin store open for trading. In reality, the pin board wasn’t that exciting (an experience confirmed for me on my quick WDW jaunt earlier this month); while it had a lot of pins to offer, most of them were ones we already had, or ones that are so common and popular that we wouldn’t want to collect them, anyway.

I think it’s fair to say that this was about the point in our trip where our energies starting flagging. I’ve alluded to this previously (and somewhat cryptically in the title of this post), but it’s worth saying again – the humidity this trip was KILLER. Killer as in “I’ve worked in Disney World in the summer, visited in August during a heat wave, and those two things combined weren’t this bad, save me HELP.”  I seriously wondered several times on this trip why I bothered taking showers, since I’d leave our hotel room and instantly start sweating from head to toe. (Sexy!)

So. All this is to say, we weren’t killing ourselves on this Tuesday, especially because we had Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party to attend that night.  We finished our DTD browsing, and headed back to the BoardWalk for a restorative nap. Of course, we first had to walk the twelve (humid!) miles back to our room – really, we have five more days of this?!  In any case, after our naps I must have subconsciously decided that some drama was necessary, as I had a minor meltdown about the costume I had chosen to wear for the party.

Here’s the thing…I love Stitch. So, before our trip I scoured the Interwebz to find CP a set of Stitch hands and a Stitch head hat, and I decided to be atypically creative and make myself a Lilo costume. The problem was, the red dress I purchased for my costume apparently shrunk when I washed it, and so what should have been a Lilo muumuu was much more of a miniskirt. I flailed about a bit hysterically, worried that I would be flashing innocent children, bringing shame to myself and my beloved space alien.  Inexplicably, I decided the solution to my problem was to find some other alternative at the Polynesian, so we grabbed a quick bite to eat in the lounge, and walked another 12 miles back to our rental car for the drive to the Poly.

As much as I (truly!) love the gift shops at the Polynesian, they were really no help in fixing my short skirt problem. I finally calmed down and just reconciled myself to staying vigilant about my skirt length, and we grabbed me a lei as we walked out the door. After a quick drive to the MK parking lot, we walked to the TTC, where transportation Cast Members immediately noticed – and loved! – our costumes. I started to feel a bit better, and less like an inadvertent deviant.

We arrive at the Magic Kingdom to some mild chaos, and hop in line to pick up our party tickets at Will-Call. As I wait for the tickets, I hear some commotion and realize that children are gleefully pointing at CP’s costume. For someone who isn’t wild about kids, she’s certainly a hit with them!  As we’ve arrived before the official party kickoff, we kill time by pin trading on Main Street, and chatting with the many CMs who inevitably stop to ask us about our costumes. We take some Photopass pictures in front of the castle:

and then at just about 7pm, we head to the Haunted Mansion:

We exit and make our first trick-or-treat stop near the ferryboat, where we’re also hoping to see Duffy in his ridiculous pumpkin costume. Sadly he’s not out yet, so we double back to the Crystal Palace to try and catch Lotso for a photo.

Our interaction is brief, and I was grumpy after being line-cut by a group of giddy adult ladies, but it’s hard to be in a bad mood when everything in the Magic Kingdom just feels so festive – from the music to the lighting to the happier-than-usual Cast Members, it’s a fun place to be.

Determined to stalk Duffy, we head back to the ferry boat and queue up in line.  Duffy is awesome, and his character attendant is great, too. Duffy mimes that he’s hungry, and so I give him a package of Skittles, which his attendant promises he’ll munch on when he has a break.

Next, based on feedback I had read online about how best to minimize wait times to meet the 7 Dwarves, we head to Frontierland a little before 8pm to get in line. The theory is that most people will be lined up to watch the first parade, but we find that is absolutely not the case – the line is mobbed. We wait for maybe fifteen minutes, but the line doesn’t budge. We give up.  Instead, we hit the trick-or-treat trail near Splash Mountain (good candy, by the way), do some pin trading in the Briar Patch store with a bunch of bored Cast Members, and then buy some drinks to quench our thirst. Although it’s dark out, it’s still hot, and the humidity is only getting worse.

Thirst relieved, we ride Big Thunder twice in a row with no wait, the last time sitting in front of a manager who cryptically intones that he is riding “for show quality.” With the parade now over, we exit Big Thunder and walk through the crowds toward Fantasyland, where – and I don’t know why, we weren’t drunk – we impulsively decided to ride it’s a small world.  I have to admit, it’s looking good these days, and it was a pleasant few minutes out of the humidity.  From there, we hit up the Alice in Wonderland trick-or-treat trail near the Speedway, and emerged in Tomorrowland. We killed a little time browsing the stores, and then walked to the Hub to catch Hallowishes, which might be a better fireworks show than holiday Wishes in December. Next we head back to Tomorrowland to ride the Peoplemover, from which we spotted Stitch busting a move at the Tomorrowland dance party.

We hesitate for a moment, but ultimately decide to go find him to see if he likes our costumes. His attendant sees us coming and grabs Stitch by the elbow; he turns, runs up to us, and gives us an absolute bear hug.

Happy, we indulge CP in another ride favorite and hop on the teacups before heading back to Main Street to find a spot for the 10:30 parade. (Reading this, you can really tell there is no rhyme or reason to our park navigation. Don’t tell TouringPlans!)

The parade is pretty great, in my opinion even better than the Christmas parade, which in itself is pretty stellar. A few highlights:

 

 

 

 

When it concludes, we let some crowds dissipate before moving upstream toward Frontierland, where we make one last stop at the Splash Mountain trick-or-treat trail. Embarrassingly, they remember us from our first visit (must be the costumes), so we scurry through the line with some feelings of Disney Shame.  After one more ride on Big Thunder, we head toward the exit, exhausted.

In all, I’d say we really enjoyed this party.  CP asserts that you can’t really compare the Halloween party to the Christmas party, and I think she’s right. Both are great in their own way, but I will say that from my perspective, the ability to dress up and trick-or-treat like a kid is a real highlight.  Plus, others guests in costume are sure to entertain, and the atmosphere is really festive.  I’m not sure we’d do this party every year, but I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

Oh, and if you’re still wondering – it was A Very Hot And Humid Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. I’m going to suggest Disney implement this more descriptive title!

Up next: we discover something as rare as a unicorn!