A Hop, NO Skip and Many Mishaps to a Disney Dream

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We had a good time and Claire’s eyes were wide open the whole ride. We actually LOVE this song, but I got in trouble when I tried to sing. I am not a good singer…and Claire reminds me of it all the time.

It’s been a few months now, and my notes aren’t clear, but I think we rode this twice in a row just because we could!

We left Small World.

And hiked across the way to Peter Pan. Next to no wait here.

I tried taking pictures on the ride, but they are all really bad. It’s just too dark and you move too fast to focus on anything if you do get a sliver of light.

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We then worked our way over to Dumbo. Of course I took a few shots along the way.

We had a short line to wait in and I shot a few pictures again.

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While in line the CM told us to come back at 2:45ish to ride. The characters ride Dumbo at night before the park closes. It sounded like an awesome plan….but we were already starting to get tired and it was only 1:40. I wasn’t sure if we could last that much longer.

Before we knew it, it was time to pick our elephant….of course Claire picked PINK!

It was too dark to take pictures of the construction

And then I had Claire get a picture on the Dumbo outside of the ride.

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We saw Goofy by the carrousel and got in line.

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I wanted to do Haunted Mansion. Claire was unsure. I told her it was all pretend and just think about that while we rode.

We headed that way!

As we got there, we noticed a large group (well large for that time of night) walking up as well. We ended up right in front of them. They seemed like a fun group, but they kept saying how spooky this was going to be. Of course they were joking, and I made sure Claire knew that so she wouldn’t back out on me.

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We were led into the stretching room and Claire’s eyes were wide open. I think it’s been at least 3 years since she’s been on here, so I don’t think she remembered anything from any previous rides.

I held Claire close to me and kept reassuring her it was all pretend. She seemed to be OK though.

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The part where you get a ghost hitchhiker was different. I guess they have done something different, but I don’t know what (or if it’s done yet). But we enjoyed it still, though I can’t remember exactly what they did different there this time around. (My memory is fading after a few months time) I do know it looked like construction there and had a big screen over the area. I think the hitchhikers were just standing there waving their thumbs or something. Maybe someone else can help jog my memory.

The good news is that Claire did fine!

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I asked Claire of she wanted to leave now and she said no way. She still needed to ride the Carrousel. Ok then! So we headed back that way. The whole time she talked about how brave she had been on Haunted Mansion and how she just kept telling her mind that it was all pretend and it wasn’t scary then. She liked it. BUT, I’m not sure she would run back to go on it again anytime soon! LOL!

We got to the Carrousel and we had just a small wait. Basically waiting it for it to stop to unload the guests on and then it was our turn. I asked the CM for the Cinderella Horse. I was told it’s no longer there. It was taken away for refurbishment. She suggested another “special” horse. We looked for it and couldn’t find it at all. It was not where she said it was. So she restated again where it was, and we looked. Nope, nothing special at all! The horse was about the ugliest one on the thing! So we asked again, in the meantime a very pretty horse had been taken. I am wondering if that was the one she meant, though it wasn’t in the area she had said. This time she walked us to the horse, the same horse we had looked at. Claire got on it, but there was NOTHING special looking about this horse at all.

While we went around, I took a few more shots.

After the wonderful spin on the Carrousel we saw Donald was out by Mickey’s Philharmagic, so we went over to see him.

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We strolled over to the sword in the stone and Claire decided to take a try at it. Now I was 99% sure it wouldn’t come out at such a late hour, but I guess you never know. Claire was determined to get it out. She even asked if I would help her try after it wouldn’t release.

You can almost read her thoughts!

“lets give this a try”

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“I wonder if anyone else around here knows how to do it?”

“Ok, I need to put my whole body into it”

“Come ON! Pull out!”

“Must….Come…Out!”

By this time she had asked me to come help her, but I told her I wasn’t any stronger and it wasn’t meant to come out for us.

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At this point we debated on staying. It was now 2:30. We would have to wait at least 15 more minutes for the characters to come over to Dumbo. Honestly we were sooooo tired and sore. I had been up for a good 20 hours now and Claire wasn’t too far off on that number either. Every muscle ached. I could feel every step I took and all the stair climbing I had done on the cruise was catching up to me. We made the decision to leave. I hated to do it, but I just couldn’t go any longer. And of course we still had to walk all the way up front AND out to the bus stop yet.

So off we went. And yes, I still took a few pictures along the way.

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And we stopped for a few photopass as well.

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You can see by the time on the clock that we were about to turn into Pumpkins! It took us close to 15 minutes to walk up towards the front. We were exhausted, but we still stopped for more pictures.

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The camera got packed away then. As we walked out of the park, everyone would say “Good Bye Princess” to Claire She was riding in her royal carriage, just like a Princess should, but she didn’t reply to anyone. I would say think, and sorry, she’s very tired, and they would say back “I can see that”. Well after about the 3rd “good bye Princess” I looked over at her to tell her to say thank you. I now knew why there were no replies. She was out COLD! He head was flopped onto her chest and she was just zonked out totally. It had happened in about 2 minutes time. I guess the day had caught up with her.

We headed out to the bus stop and a bus was loading right then. I got her up and told her she had to walk onto the bus and she did while I carried the stroller on. She sat down and went right back out. And her head did the bob the whole way back. I tried to hold it in place the best I could so she wouldn’t get whiplash. Some people were laughing at her because she looked so funny.

We soon arrived back at Pop and I got her up again and she made it off the bus and sat immediately in her stroller. She mentioned she was very thirsty, and I told her I would get her something after we got back to the room.

She slept for the long hike to our room. I know if I EVER get this location again, I WILL ask to be moved. It was so far out. For one night it was OK for us, but we like to be much closer to the action.

We got back to the room and Dad was having a fit that we were out so late. He was sure something happened to us. Mom had told him we were fine and knew what we were doing.

I got Claire undressed and ready for bed. She started crying. It was late and she was tired. She said she knew she was beautiful, but needed to have her hair taken out because it was too tight on her head. I was shocked. Last trip she wore the hairstyle for a WEEK. I actually took it out one day and washed her hair and put it back in.

I was a bit sad to take it out, but it made her happy to have feeling on her head again. LOL! I told her it was OK, she was still beautiful without it.

She told my Dad all about her encounter with Chip and Dale before she went to bed then. She was so excited about it.

I grabbed our mugs and ran up to the food court with out thinking. Yes it was locked up tight. DANG IT! So I hike all the way back to the room again, not such a happy camper at the moment. Grabbed some money and got a couple of drinks out of the vending machine. Claire was sound asleep by then, but I knew it would be good to have something there for her in case she woke up dying of thirst.

I soon was off to dreamland myself.

It was a wonderful day. We had a few mishaps, but nothing major. We woke up on the Dream and went to sleep in Disney World. Who could ask for more!

And that concludes day 5! We still have 2 more fun filled days of vacation!

[Host Mick]

 

 

 

 

The part where you get a ghost hitchhiker was different. I guess they have done something different, but I don’t know what (or if it’s done yet). But we enjoyed it still, though I can’t remember exactly what they did different there this time around. (My memory is fading after a few months time) I do know it looked like construction there and had a big screen over the area. I think the hitchhikers were just standing there waving their thumbs or something. Maybe someone else can help jog my memory.

 

The good news is that Claire did fine!

 

 

It used to be that the hitchhiking ghosts would ride between you in the doom buggy using a pepper's ghost effect. They modified it so that the attraction takes a photo of your face and overlays it over your face. The ghosts can then do a variety of things with it such as swapping heads between the riders or swapping heads with the ghost or making your head disappear. There's a lot of things that they do.

[Host Mick]

We got to the Carrousel and we had just a small wait. Basically waiting it for it to stop to unload the guests on and then it was our turn. I asked the CM for the Cinderella Horse. I was told it’s no longer there. It was taken away for refurbishment. She suggested another “special” horse. We looked for it and couldn’t find it at all. It was not where she said it was. So she restated again where it was, and we looked. Nope, nothing special at all! The horse was about the ugliest one on the thing! So we asked again, in the meantime a very pretty horse had been taken. I am wondering if that was the one she meant, though it wasn’t in the area she had said. This time she walked us to the horse, the same horse we had looked at. Claire got on it, but there was NOTHING special looking about this horse at all.

 

 

The Cinderella horse is a Disney urban legend. There is none according to Isle Voght. Ms. Voght was the sole supervisor of the Carrousel until about ten years ago. The CMs will tell you that it's out for refurb so that they don't have to argue with the guests that insist that they heard on the Internet ... Arguing with guests is bad show.

Imagine if there was a single Cinderella horse among the 76 horses. There would be people running for it, parents fighting over it, and a lot of sad kids that couldn't ride it. Bad show for 75 kids.

There is a fairly elaborate horse with a huge 23K gold bow that is sometimes thought to be the Cinderella horse but it's on the B ring. The B ring is no place for a princess.

[jenseib]

It used to be that the hitchhiking ghosts would ride between you in the doom buggy using a pepper's ghost effect. They modified it so that the attraction takes a photo of your face and overlays it over your face. The ghosts can then do a variety of things with it such as swapping heads between the riders or swapping heads with the ghost or making your head disappear. There's a lot of things that they do.

 

Awesome. So is that up and running now. I might have to try and check it out this upcoming trip...which is in 12 days!! :D

 

The Cinderella horse is a Disney urban legend. There is none according to Isle Voght. Ms. Voght was the sole supervisor of the Carrousel until about ten years ago. The CMs will tell you that it's out for refurb so that they don't have to argue with the guests that insist that they heard on the Internet ... Arguing with guests is bad show.

Imagine if there was a single Cinderella horse among the 76 horses. There would be people running for it, parents fighting over it, and a lot of sad kids that couldn't ride it. Bad show for 75 kids.

There is a fairly elaborate horse with a huge 23K gold bow that is sometimes thought to be the Cinderella horse but it's on the B ring. The B ring is no place for a princess.

 

Yep, the gold bow one was the one I was talking about. It didn't really matter to Claire, I guess. LOL! She wanted one that had pink on it, but the 1 and only other family behind us grabbed that one right away. So she just took any old horse. I guess we could've rode it again and she could've gotten it that 2nd time, but we were to the point of dilerium. :)

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Day 6 ~ April 4th, 2011, Monday

Another early day for me. I don’t know why I can’t sleep, but why try and fight it. I believe I didn’t actually lie down till 4 AM the night before.

I didn’t write down what time I got up, but I know my first picture was taken by 8:30. I am pretty sure when I got up I showered before going out, so I would say I had to be up no later than 8. Yeah, that would equal about 4 hours of sleep.

I grabbed my mug and went up to get a refill. I took pictures along the way, and also called Skip to see how things were going at home.

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And a look across the lake at Art of Animation.