I arrived at the Magic Kingdom around noon on Halloween. It just wouldn't be a trip to WDW on Halloween without visiting my favorite happy haunts, would it?
I just LOVE the Halloween decor at Walt Disney World!!
After a quick detour to meet Mary Poppins, I was able to stop over and watch The Muppets: Great Moments in American History. I hoped to watch the show during my last visit to the MK but unfortunately a very heavy rainstorm moved in right as the show was starting. Luckily, I found a spot to sit on a covered porch in a rocking chair right by the Hall of Presidents to wait out the storm. Unluckily, so did a person who proceeded to talk my ear off for the hour we spent waiting out the storm.
My first time meeting Mary Poppins! She was quite excited that I'm planning to see the new movie about her continued adventures.
The Muppets: Great Moments in American History was pretty amusing, especially if you like the Muppets. Make sure you look out for Sam Eagle above the Hall of Presidents!
I'm always glad when the Magic Kingdom adds in a bit of entertainment. I would love to see the Magic Kingdom add a large theater for a show (think like the Beauty and the Beast show at Hollywood Studios) but I doubt that is in any plans for any time soon! This is a cute show, it's not a huge time commitment, and they repeat it pretty frequently so it's easy to catch!
Around this time, I started noticing the park starting to fill up with people in costume who were presumably attending Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party that night. I had other plans but would've loved to have attended a Halloween Party. That said, I will never be as committed as the people who wear full face paint in Orlando humidity.
I wanted to watch the Festival of Fantasy parade but had a bit of time to spare so I went shopping. My birthday gift cards were burning a hole in my pocket!! I visited the emporium and luckily, there was some Halloween Party Merchandise available for purchase. So I snagged a Halloween Party t-shirt and a Halloween Party mug featuring the Sanderson Sisters (it was the 25th anniversary of Hocus Pocus, after all.) The last thing I needed was another t-shirt and mug but I couldn't pass them up (the 20% passholder discount helps). I'll have a photo in a future blog of all my swag from this trip!
My big purchase was the Jim Shore sculpture of the Hitchhiking Ghosts from the Haunted Mansion. I've wanted this for a while but it's way too expensive on the internet. Still pricey at WDW but much cheaper than what people are selling it for on Amazon or Ebay. It was a large box so I was happy to use the resort delivery service.
After making it rain (aka using all my gift cards) I found a good spot to watch the Festival of Fantasy Parade right by Liberty Tree Tavern.
Festival of Fantasy was amazing - the only bummer was that Maleficent wasn't back yet. Not pictured below is Ariel, who from her perch high atop a clamshell, mouthed, "Happy birthday!" to me! (She saw my birthday button.)
Prince Charming
Always on the lookout for Jiminy Cricket!!
I love this picture - looks like he's about to do a heel-click!
Daisy waved at me!!
Pluto was pretty happy!
An 89 year old mouse - looks good for his age, doesn't he?
I relaxed for a while. Disney World has a never-ending supply of good people-watching! I had a fastpass for the Haunted Mansion and had to wait until it was time to ride. Normally I wouldn't get a FP+ for the Haunted Mansion, but it was Halloween and I wasn't going to miss my opportunity to visit Gracey's Mansion.
The photographer didn't tell me to stick my thumb out. I could be the fourth Hitchhiking Ghost, though!
I made my way toward the exit of the Magic Kingdom but stopped on the way to get a couple of cool magic shots!
Who am I cooking up this poisoned apple for.....?
Oh shoot, these balloons are about to lift me off the ground!!!
Happy Halloween Magic Kingdom!!
As I left the Magic Kingdom mid-afternoon on Halloween day, I had no idea that it would be transformed overnight. When I entered the MK the next day, I would find that Christmas came to town!
I hopped back on the monorail to go back to Epcot where I'd parked my car. During that ride, I had a cute/uncomfortable interaction with a little boy. He was about a year and a half old and was waving and smiling at me. Naturally, I waved and smiled back. Then his parents made it weird.
"OH look at him flirting!" the mom said.
(Under his breath) "Make sure she's rich first," the dad said.
Middle-aged woman next to me, "He is just loving flirting."
"I don't mind this kind of flirting, he's a cutie. It's the unwanted, creepy flirting that I mind," I said.
Middle-aged woman pauses and says, "Our son... he's the creepy kind of flirter."
ANYWAY.
I got back to my car and headed over to check into our room at Pop Century. It was my first time staying at Pop and I really enjoyed it. The main building is set up basically exactly like the All-Star Resorts. The rooms are a similar size too. Pop has been renovated in the last year or so and has some really nice features.
Once I freshened up, I drove over to Disney Springs. I wanted to do a tiny bit of shopping, get some pictures taken, and have dinner at the Boathouse. At Disney Springs, where guest services is (right by the Marketplace Co-Op) there is now a photopass studio. It's really kind of cool and a nice feature of having access to all my photopass pictures. I had a little bit of a photoshoot. One backdrop is made to do "greenscreen" type pictures and the other is more of a traditional photo backdrop.
I was supposed to look scared in this picture but I was in the Haunted Mansion so I smiled!
Woo! Fireworks!!!
This was my favorite of the "green screen" pictures!
It's like senior pictures all over! Except this time with a giant birthday button!
Trying to show off my long hair.
After my photoshoot, I headed toward the Boathouse. I've never eaten there before but really wanted to try it out as a "birthday dinner." For months, I'd been trying to get a reservation but it was showing that all reservations were taken. I'd heard from some good sources that there is usually bar seating. And when I arrived, I got a table right away.
Another perk of the annual pass is discounts at some table service restaurants; I almost forgot to tell my server! I ordered three specialty raw oysters and the crab cake dinner. Delicious doesn't come close to describing this experience.
Just bring me all the seafood. One of everything, please.
Neat atmosphere! I didn't take a picture of it but there were people sitting in a car near me eating their dinner.
First time trying raw oysters! I got three different types (these were $3-$4 each). They came with a lemon wedge, relish, and sort of a cocktail sauce. They didn't need any accompaniments as they were perfectly briny and delicious.
This crab cake was amazing. It was around $25 and came with coleslaw. The crab cake was seriously huge (almost took up the whole plate) and had huge chunks of crab in it. I also had bread.
I really enjoyed the Boathouse and would definitely go back. Any seafood lover would enjoy this place.
Relaxing and digesting in front of the Boathouse.
So I had a great experience on Halloween and guess what, it's not even over yet! In the next blog, I'm going to share my experience of going out to Fort Wilderness for the first time to experience the Return to Sleepy Hollow event!!!
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