Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween was a total blast!  We had such a good time.  The actual event ran from 7-midnight, but we could go ahead and enter the park at 4:00.  We arrived early and were among the first in line to enter the event,.  It rained quite a bit on us for the first hour and a half or so, but after that we had good weather for the remainder of the evening.  Because of the limited amount of time, we had to prioritize what we wanted to do.  I will be breaking the post down according to the different types of things we wanted to do.

Party-related happenings:  

Because we were attending a special event, there were some things that happen only at this time.  We wanted to experience all of those.  High on our list was trick-or-treating.  I had purchased monogrammed treat bags for all of the kids, and those bags were full by the end of the evening.  We hit up a bunch of candy stations, and at each one we received handfuls of quality candy (M&Ms, Twix, etc).   

I had read that the Boo-to-you parade is one of the best that Disney does.  I believe it.  My favorite part were the gravediggers who struck the concrete with their shovels and sent sparks flying into the air.

The Hallow-wishes fireworks show was also very good.  At one point we were surrounded on all sides by fireworks.  The kids said that they "thought they would go blind" it was so bright.

 We ended the evening with a midnight performance of the Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular Show featuring the Sanderson sisters.  It was also very good.

The Rides:

We were able to experience a fair amount of  the rides during the party.  We used fastpasses from 4-6, but not during the party because the fastpass system does not operate during special events.  We couldn't do everything, but were able to do Thunder, Spalsh, and Space Mountains.  We also rode the 7 Dwarves Mine Train, Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Carousel, Teacups, and Pooh rides.  Everyone's favorite was Space Mountain because they turned off all of the lights and played a rock-and-roll soundtrack.  I'm usually "meh" about Space Mountain, but it was really fun in total darkness.

 The Characters:

We also spent some of our time meeting our favorite characters.  Because this is a special event, there were some special meet-and-greets that are only available at this time.  Some of these (like Jack Skellington and Sally) had 3+ hour waits, and we weren't doing that.  I think the longest that we waited was about 30 minutes to meet Stitch, but he's Olivia's favorite so we had to do that.  Stitch was decked out in his Elvis Halloween costume.

Owen's must-meet was Winnie-the-Pooh and Mandy's was Eeyore.  It worked out great because all of the Pooh characters were greeting guests together in their Halloween costumes.









The lines to meet the princesses were super short, so we met four of them.  We had never met Elena of Avalor before, so it was cool to see her.  We also met Rapunzel and Tiana, who were the definition of "princess"

We all jumped in for a picture with Cinderella.  I was pleased with the number of characters that we met.  I kind of wish that we'd have visited Mickey, but we just ran out of time.  Still, we got to everyone's "must-meet" character, so it was a success.  Overall, I left with a good impression of the Not so Scary Party.  It kind of makes me want to try the Very Merry Christmas Party at some point in the future.

A Disney Springs Hotel with Character

We stayed at one of the Disney Springs resort area hotels (Wyndham Garden) on this trip.  I was a little concerned to not be in an "official" Disney hotel, but it worked out great.  Not only was our hotel nice, but it was a 10 minute walk away from Disney Springs.  It also had a shuttle, and since it was a "good neighbor" hotel, we still had early access to booking fastpasses.  Another perk of this hotel was that it had an onsite character breakfast which was half the price of those on Disney property.  They had every type of breakfast food that you could think of including made-to-order omelettes.  The two characters that made an appearance were Goofy and Pluto.

Goofy was out and making the rounds when we entered the breakfast area.  The dining hall wasn't crowded, so we got to spend lots of time both of the characters.

Pluto came out while we were eating.  Now this was a big deal.  Pluto is Jaxson's favorite character, and he was so excited to meet him.  When Pluto entered, Jaxson stopped what he was doing and just stared at him until he got to our table.  I cannot tell you how excited this kid was to meet Pluto.  There is nothing like seeing a kid light up at Disney- it made all of us so happy.

We couldn't enter the park until 4 o'clock, so we spent some time at the hotel pool and had lunch at the pool bar.  After lunch, we returned to our hotel rooms to get ready for the evening.

Our "Minnie" Vacation

The kids and I decided to take a quick, 2-night "Minnie" vacation to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party over fall break.   We were joined by Mandy and Jaxson- our friends from church.  (This is what happens when Bible study lets out early and you have to wait on your kids to get out of their lesson- conversations happen and Disney trips get planned)  It was Jaxson's first time at Disney, and I just loved watching his face light up over and over again.  We arrived in the early afternoon on Monday and checked in to our hotel, which was located right across the street from Disney Springs. We freshened up a bit and headed out to do some looking around at the stores.

 I haven't been to Disney Springs since it was called "Downtown Disney".  Some things were the same, but a lot had changed.  One new addition was the amphicar tours.  These cars go both on land and in water and the tour takes you around the lake at Disney Springs.  The kids thought the cars looked cool and there was no line, so we took the tour.  It was nice.

 After our amphicar tour, we walked over to Rainforest Cafe for our dinner reservation.  The kids haven't eaten here since they were small, so it was like new to them.  At the end of our meal we ordered a volcano cake in honor of Olivia's birthday which was the next day.

 After our meal, we did some more shopping.  We all got various souvenirs, Christmas ornaments, and Olivia got a Vera Bradley purse as a birthday gift.

There was a lot of live entertainment all around the Springs.  One particular performer caught our eye.  He was a DJ playing music and hosting games that onlookers could participate in.  The kids wanted to play the games, so we stopped here for about 45 minutes so that they could.  Our Disney Springs visit was a great start to our vacation.

September So Far

 September has been a busy month for us.  A lot of clubs and activities are now in full swing, and we are running here and there after school on most afternoons.  The month started off with Maren's dedication at church on Labor Day weekend.  I can't remember the last time that our whole family attended the same church at the same time, so it was nice to all be together.

While I have been spending most of my weekends at home doing tasks around the house, the kids have been going here and there.  They have attended a couple of  birthday parties and other events.

Both kids are doing robotics again this year.  Following the success of last year's teams, the elementary and middle school programs have grown exponentially.  The elementary coach said she sent out 28 team invitations and every single kid accepted.  Owen is one of the older kids on the elementary team, and he is excited to be on the "A" robot this year.  

Olivia has been working a lot with her team as well.  For the most part, the student teams have complete control of the robot design concept and execution at the middle school level.  This is different from the elementary level where students have more guidance in what type of robot to build.  Her team has come up with an interesting concept.  I am curious to see how successful (or not) her robot is this year.

In other news, Olivia is really liking middle school.  In addition to her regular classes, she has two exploratory classes- which are coding and band.  She has some experience in coding because of robotics, so she is really doing well in there.  She also likes band.  Her instrument is the french horn, and she's getting better at it (although we still have a ways to go).

I have made both of my kids take at least one year of cotillion  Olivia attended last year, and while she liked the balls she ultimately decided not to enroll in the second year of classes.  Owen began the first year classes, and he loves it so far.  He has already stated that he wants to do cotillion for as many years as possible.  I think that it made a difference that Claire and many of Owen's friends from school are in his class whereas last year Olivia only knew one other kid.  

September has certainly been busy, but it was hot and so I'm glad it's nearing the end.  We are looking forward to fall and cooler weather.

Reputation Tour

The kids and I had such a great time last weekend.  I received tickets for Taylor Swift's Reputation tour for Christmas, and the date finally rolled around.  This tour was every bit as good as her 1989 tour which Brian and I saw back in 2015.  Taylor Swift definitely knows how to put on a show.  There were large props, light up wrist bands, great choreography, and a fantastic music set.  The concert took place in the still new Mercedes Benz stadium- this was our first time here.  Wow, what a nice venue.  Taylor opened with "Are You Ready For It", closed with "This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things", and sang many of our favorites in between.  The kids and I were dancing and singing along throughout the entire show.  We are glad that we arrived early enough to catch the opening acts- Charlie XCX and Camilla Cabello- who were also very good.  This, along with the other Taylor Swift concert that I've attended, rank as my top two concert experiences ever.  

Since we were already in Atlanta, we decided to hit up White Water on Sunday morning before we headed home.  White Water is the stand-alone Six Flags water park, and we've never been there. We arrived early and stayed for about two and a half hours.  It wasn't busy when we arrived, so we were able to knock out a lot of the slides in a short amount of time.  This was a nice park.  It was shady and had a good variety of slides.  The kids and I all agree that we rank it the third best water park that we've been to after Schlitterbaun and Aquatica.  We were able to use our Six Flags passes here, so I didn't spend a dime in the park.  This brings our season pass total to:

Number of visits: 4

Number of parks visited: 4

The Big Chicken (KFC) was literally right down the road from White Water.  This is one one of those weird, well-known "only-in-your-state" places that always make the kitschy count-downs.  You can't tell from the picture, but the bird's beak opens and closes and its eyes roll around.  It was regular KFC fare, but they did have a little museum-like info area with history about the restaurant and inside.   After our meal, we began our journey home.  It really was a great weekend.

Live and Counting Crows

 The first full week of school ended on a high note as Brian and I attended a Live and Counting Crows concert at Daily's Place in Jacksonville.  These are two favorite bands from my younger days, and they haven't lost much with time.  Live sounded exactly like they did in the nineties, and the singer for Counting Crows still has a voice as well.  Brian and I had  seats that were front-and-center, and we had a fantastic time.

Movin' on Up to Middle School

Another school year has begun, and the big news here is that we have a middle schooler.  Olivia has had a great start to her year.  A lot of her friends are in her classes, and she likes all of her teachers.  She is really excited to be taking band and will be learning to play the french horn.  She is also on the middle school robotics team and has already attended a few practices.  I hope that the whole year goes as well for her as these first few weeks has.

Owen has also had a great start.  He is in fifth grade, so it is his turn to "rule the school".  He likes his teachers and has done well in his classes so far.