Photo Album: Surprise Selfies

A report from Teenage Son Agent P on his selfie collection:

with Vanellope & Wreck It Ralph! at EPCOT

During our trip to WDW for my brothers birthday I saw the line for Lotso from Toy Story 3 and an idea came to mind. What if I jumped in front of some characters and took a selfie?. I first started doing this at the Halloween party so I have a few unique characters.

Lotso Hugging Bear from Toy Story 3 at Magic Kingdom

My Family and I had just gotten candy from in front of the Carousel of Progress. We saw a big line right next to Buzz Lightyears Astro Blasters for Lotso. Right as we were about to leave I saw Losto come out from back stage and my Mom said to take a selfie with him. I was happy I got a photo with him and did not have to wait in the enormous line! 

Jack Skellington, The Pumpkin King from The nightmare before Christmas at Magic Kingdom

As we were walking thru Liberty Square The Pumpkin King himself and Sally were walking right by me so I quickly got my phone out and took a selfie! He was my favorite by far. Their reactions were just so great. I was wearing my Figment hat as part of my costume for the Halloween Party. Sally noticed me and said "Look at that monster on his head." and Jack responded with "Oh yes that monster seems to be eating his head!"

These were just a few examples of fun photos without the wait! I have so many more too so take a look at some of my Surprise Selfies!

with Russel & Dug from Up! at Animal Kingdom

with Sully from Monsters, Inc. at Magic Kingdom

with Launchpad McQuack from DuckTales at Animal Kingdom

with Dug from Up! at Animal Kingdom

with Burt from Mary Poppins and the Matterhorn from Disneyland

with King Louie and Baloo from The Jungle Book at EPCOT

with Chip at EPCOT

with Mike from Monsters, Inc. at Magic Kingdom

with Uncle Scrooge McDuck from DuckTales at Animal Kingdom

with Charlie Brown from Carowinds (ok a Cedarfair park and not Disney...but still a great Selfie)

and with The Big Cheese himself, Mickey Mouse! at EPCOT

Disney Springs Christmas Tree Trail at Walt Disney World

The Disney Springs shopping district at Walt Disney World has a Christmas Tree Trail setup and it is a beautiful holiday display! There is no admission charge for Disney Springs or the Christmas Tree Display and parking at Disney Springs is complimentary.  This year the highlight was the Haunted Mansion themed tree complete with “ghost bride”, it was very striking!

We also particularly enjoyed the Cinderella, Mickey/Minnie, and Mary Poppins trees.

The kite at the center of the Mary Poppins tree is a very nice touch. There were Muppets, Jungle Book & Star Wars trees that caught our eyes.

Sam The Eagle is always watching out for America!

The Monorail Tree was Toddler Sons favorite (as you can see in the first picture of this post), it had wonderful references to the four parks of Walt Disney World.  Several Monorail Toys were encircling the trees to the delight of the boys. We have two sets at home...a Walt Disney World version & a Disneyland version.

"Please stand clear of the doors...por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas"

Teenage Son is always the biggest EPCOT fan in the family. There were many other themes as well, but these were our personal favorites. This was the first year we managed to see the tree display. It is located in the old bus terminal area of the Marketplace section of Disney Springs. There is also a Santa Claus meet and greet but when we were there it was a 2 hour wait so we did not visit with Ol' Saint Nick. They will give you a return time if you desire so that you do not have to stand in line the whole time. This was really one of those neat things to do at Walt Disney World that doesn't require you to enter the theme parks, in fact we find there are many things to see and do without setting foot into one of the theme parks. 

Meeting Mickey down an alley at EPCOT Center

On our last trip to EPCOT Center we saw a small group of people quite a ways down an alley between  the American Pavilion and the Italian Pavilion. To our surprise the big cheese dressed smartly in his classic tuxedo was holding court with anyone who cared to meet him! We joined a brief line and had a charming visit with Mickey Mouse himself! There was no fanfare or signage...just 2 cast member handlers (no photopass photographer). We love meet & greets and recall fondly the less structured versions you typically find at Disneyland in California. But we have gotten used to the longer lines and more formal backgrounds you find at Walt Disney World. So we were really surprised to find the legendary mouse halfway down an empty alley(albeit a lavishly landscaped and clean alley) and with essentially no wait! It was the sort of impromptu visit we remembered from Disneyland. Mickey was of course a gracious gentleman and we were thrilled to meet him.

UPDATE: after receiving social media feedback we have been informed that we stumbled on to a character training session! There are several Out of the way locations where this happens, but this was a first for us! We will keep our eyes posted for these in the future!

Review: Safari Donald Duck and friends at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom's Tusker House Restaurant

Tusker House Restaurant at Disney's Animal Kingdom is the location of a fantastic character meal. The food is a plentiful all you care to eat buffet of exotic (especially for a theme park) African & middle eastern dishes. And you have the opportunity to be visited by Safari Donald Duck and friends. On our visit we saw Donald & Daisy Duck, Mickey Mouse, & Goofy.

We had an advance dining reservation and there was a bit of a wait for this one, but we were still seated in a relatively timely manner. The detail at Disney's Animal Kingdom is pretty remarkable and the Tusker House is no exception. We were seated in a dining room that was adjacent to a large atrium where the food was. The decor was as if we were staying in a hotel in an African village.

Our server was super friendly and the character visits were very efficient.  Each character had a nice little moment with us, they took pictures and signed our autograph book.

The food was excellent, a real standout among all of the menus we have sampled at Disney Character Meals. Typically the food at the character meals is pretty straight forward and not always memorable. But Tusker House had a lot of different dishes that were very flavorful. We were there for lunch and enjoyed dishes like basmati rice, tabouli & hummus, and curry chicken. It was the Thanksgiving holiday so the menu also included Turkey. All in all we really appreciated the variety at this buffet and had a great time, we would do this one again for sure.

Review: Chip 'n' Dale's Harvest Feast at Walt Disney World's EPCOT Garden Grill

We have had wonderful times at the "Chip 'n' Dale's Harvest Feast", a character meal at Walt Disney World's EPCOT Garden Grill in the Land Pavilion. 

Chip enjoying a "Harvest Feast" at our table at Walt Disney World's EPCOT Garden Grill

Our two visits were about 6 months apart.  We had advance dining reservations both times we ate here and on our first visit they even seated us early.

Dale pets our little chipmunk....he was watching a slideshow on the phone, but still wanted to lean in on Dale for a hug

Chip tries on Teenage Son's Figment hat

It is an all you care to eat meal served family style in a revolving restaurant overlooking the Living with The Land boat ride.  After a salad course you are brought a large platter with Turkey, Pot Roast, Pork Tenderloin and assorted sides. Your meal is finished off with a desert too.

The character mix is great...your hosts are Chip & Dale, and they are joined by Farmer Mickey and Pluto. It takes about an hour to make a full turn and we found that was plenty of time to both enjoy your meal and meet the characters. The chipmunks are mischievous and lots of fun. Once they sat down to "eat" and another time they borrowed a hat.

View from the Garden Grill into the Living with The Land boat ride

The backgrounds are pretty fantastic, from the scenic ecosystems of the Living with The Land boat ride to a groovy jungle mural.

Groovy jungle mural with Pluto, and a Pluto Christmas popcorn bucket

Groovy jungle ecosystem from the Living with The Land boat ride with Pluto

Overall we really loved the food here, although we were disappointed that the salad went from having a bacon ranch dressing to a vinaigrette between our two visits. 

Make sure to eat all of your...dessert

Review: Best Friends Breakfast featuring Lilo & Stitch at Walt Disney World's Polynesian Village Resort's 'Ohana

The Best Friends Breakfast featuring Lilo & Stitch is a character breakfast at the 'Ohana restaurant located in Walt Disney World's Polynesian Village Resort. We were visited by Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, & Stitch, while enjoying a "family style" all you care to eat breakfast. The restaurant itself has a breathtaking view across a "volcano"(the pool area) and the Seven Seas Lagoon to Cinderella Castle in the distance. The menu was pretty typical: eggs, potatoes, breakfast meats, Mickey waffles, etc. Standouts were the Passion fruit/Orange/Pineapple/Guava juice and the breakfast meats. Periodically the children are lead on a parade around the venue by the characters. 

There was a long wait for this one, even with an advance dining reservation. But they did ultimately seat us, did not rush us, brought us all the food we wanted and made sure we met all the characters. We did this meal while we were at Walt Disney World for toddler son's (he was infant son at the time) first haircut back in June of 2016, which we wrote about earlier this year.  The long wait to be seated has kept us from doing this one again, but we did enjoy it. 

The Polynesian Village Resort has wonderful Tiki/Mid-Century Polynesia themed architecture. It has a Tiki Room meets the Brady Bunch House thing going on...both of which are right up our alley. We love to stop at the Poly, do some shopping and take the Monorail for a ride.