Day Trippin'

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Doesn't the whale eat Pinocchio? That's not nice. 

[wendinator 109]

But I still need to know why there's a fat guy with ear muffs driving the dragon. 

 

When I saw this parade in March I seem to have taken the same picture you did. Same guy? (Minus the lunch bag.)

 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Andrew....you are asking too many questions about the parade.  It's not meant to make any sense, like many things from Japan. 

 

Keep in mind, those floats were built by the same people that brought us such products as the Baby Mop.

 

 

That's right....why have your baby just crawling around on the floor uselessly when they could simultaneously be cleaning the house? 

 

And also, the same people came up with a way to eat noodles without you hair falling into the broth. 

 

 

Suffering from a cold?  Never fear....the Japanese have you covered there too. 

 

 

And lest you think that walking around town with a roll of toilet paper strapped to your head will result in you being alone in life....never fear.  Just get yourself a companion pillow so you never spend a night alone. 

 

 

 

Kind of puts those floats in perspective, don't you think? 

 

I had no idea these folks were such geniuses.

 

You are right- it does put things in perspective.

 

They operate on another level.

 

Doesn't the whale eat Pinocchio? That's not nice. 

 

I see.  So, who made the whale into a giant toy?  Who winds it up, and why?  How does it breathe?  Oh, it doesn't have to breath- it got made into a machine.  So, is there a fat guy with ear muffs in the whale then?

 

Never mind, it's all just a dream.

 

That's it.

 

When I saw this parade in March I seem to have taken the same picture you did. Same guy? (Minus the lunch bag.)

 

 

Wow, your photo is way better than mine.

 

Good job.

 

I still don't get it.

 

Isn't there some other kind of ear protection that guy could wear?

 

And is a purple baseball cap the best they could dig up for his headgear?

 

Like I said, he looks like a guy driving a forklift at the Home Depot.

 

Make the dude a Dragon Pilot costume for Pete's sake (pun intended)!

 

TCD

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Skipped the parade update, but looking forward to more.

 

Fort!  Fort!  Fort!  Fort!  Fort!  Fort!

 

Do I make myself clear?

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

 

And is a purple baseball cap the best they could dig up for his headgear?

 

 

But doesn't the hat match his costume?  And it is Fiend purple!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Skipped the parade update, but looking forward to more.

 

Fort!  Fort!  Fort!  Fort!  Fort!  Fort!

 

Do I make myself clear?

 

I am not quite sure what you're trying to say.

 

But if you want to see some Fort photos- they're coming.

 

At the end.

 

I am working on another update for this afternoon.

 

We will still be at the MK.

 

But at the end of that update, we will be making our way out of the park.

 

So, we are getting there.

 

 

But doesn't the hat match his costume?  And it is Fiend purple!

 

Yes, it is nice and purple.

 

But, shouldn't he be a bird man?

 

Or something?

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

 

Yes, it is nice and purple.

 

But, shouldn't he be a bird man?

 

Or something?

 

 

You're right, of course.  I just noticed ... what's up with the shark's teeth or rose thorns on his cage?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

You're right, of course.  I just noticed ... what's up with the shark's teeth or rose thorns on his cage?

 

I think those thorns are consistent with the vines and thorns that Maleficent makes grow around the castle to keep Prince Phillip from getting to Aurora.

 

Disney is big on details, you know.

 

But, then they blow it by sticking this fat guy in ear muffs and his lunch bag in there to drive the dragon.

 

TCD

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

You're right, of course.  I just noticed ... what's up with the shark's teeth or rose thorns on his cage?

 

Maleficent uses thorns to try to keep the Prince away. That's it! He's sleeping Beauty under an evil curse! She was woken up by all the ruckus and needs more beauty sleep. And apparently to eat lunch by the time TCD took his picture.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Maleficent uses thorns to try to keep the Prince away. That's it! He's sleeping Beauty under an evil curse! She was woken up by all the ruckus and needs more beauty sleep. And apparently to eat lunch by the time TCD took his picture.

 

So, is Prince Phillip trying to get up there and kiss this guy to turn him back into Aurora?

 

I'm not sure I want to see that.

 

Again, you really ought to be an Imagineer.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I am going to try to get all my photos from Sunday posted before this weekend hits, as with any luck there will be a new batch to post next week.

 

We're still at the parade.

 

Looking at confusing stuff in the mismatched hodge podge.

 

Here comes the circus girls. These costumes are cool looking but I'll bet they aren't fun to wear in the heat:

 

 

These women performed some gyrations for the audience, and I can confirm that they have frilly undergarments on beneath those skirts.  But, I was just a bit late for the photo.  Sorry:

 

 

Mickey and Minnie bring up the rear for this parade. You can see that their float designer picked up on the theme from the KJT (Krazy Japan Float) and included hippos, bubbles and ostriches on this float:

 

 

Sorry, but these floats are too tall.  I get the idea of making the floats tall so everyone can see, but they took this too far if you ask me:

 

 

We have finally reached the end:

 

 

Here's another look at the mouse float- and the hippos and ostriches:

 

 

I don't think I've shared this photo before.  It's something I found from stalking the Instagram account of a FOF CM.  It's a word cloud that has all the performers' roles from the parade listed:

 

 

I think those are official names on there.  So, that first float must be called the Princess Garden.  And those girls I thought were birds on the swings held up by the elephant are apparently called Pegasus Girls.  Note that the Dragon Tail actually is listed as a role.  Very interesting.  But, I think we've had enough FOF talk for this report.  So, let's move on.

 

For some reason, I was inside the Main Street Starbucks and took this photo showing a rare occasion when there may have actually been more customers than castmembers.  You might think that I was in there getting a nice cold Frapachinno, but then I would be violating the boycott and facing the wrath of Dave and Aaron, so that cannot be what I was doing in there:

 

 

After our stop at Starbucks, which was purely for research reasons I assure you, we headed toward Tomorrowland for our second Space Mountain FP+ ride.

 

I choose to walk via the shortcut through the Noodle House so we could take a look at the mess they've made around the hub.

 

As we headed that way, we passed the Plaza, and something caught my eye:

 

 

We had just discussed this very thing here on FF.net last week.

 

It's the Mickey Pants Sundae!  I mean Mickey Sink Sundae!

 

Only $22.99.

 

For three scoops of ice cream.

 

When we discussed this last week, I couldn't figure out how big those pants were.

 

And you still can't really tell from that photo.

 

But, here they are in my hand:

 

 

Not real big.

 

Not something that I think is worth $23.  Even filled with ice cream.

 

Lucky for me, the CM wasn't looking and I was able to put this one in my backpack.

 

Kidding.

 

Just wanted to see if anyone was actually reading.

 

I wouldn't steal Mickey's pants.

 

As interesting as that was, the real reason I wanted to walk this way was to see what they were doing behind the construction walls:

 

 

Whoa.

 

For this batch of photos, I was standing on the deck where they have the Wishes Dessert Parties.  We are looking down at what used to be a seating area down by the moat across from the Plaza Restaurant:

 

 

The TCD gang used to sit down there and enjoy our ice cream at the end of a busy park day.  Now, the entire seating area is ripped out.  If you look across to the bridge that crosses over the moat, you can see that they have a high construction wall there on the bridge so guests can't see this unsightly mess.  But, if they really want to, all they have to do is come over here where I am:

 

 

As you may have noticed, there is water back in the moat, but then they have these giant inflated things floating across the water:

 

 

I don't know what those things are there for.

 

Across the way, you can see that the nice winding path that was on the other side of the bridge from the Rose Garden is ripped up and being removed:

 

 

You can still see the Sea Serpent topiary there on the right of the fence in this shot, and it seems like that silt fence is open at the end of the big inflated things.  I wonder if workers walk on these things to get over there?:

 

 

As we turned to leave this area, the shirt of a man who was sitting there in the area caught my eye.  The guy was wearing a Fort Fiends shirt!  I took a quick look at the guy, but didn't recognize him.  He looked at me looking at him, and it didn't seem like he recognized me. So, neither one of us said anything, and I moved on.  As mentioned above, it turns out that the guy was SSB/Beckers' dad.  I wish I had at least said hello.

 

But, we had to get to Space Mountain for our second FP+ ride.  Mission accomplished:

 

 

Remember earlier when I told you to note the blue MB?  Now, please note the grey one.

 

That's how it's done.

 

Well, that's one way to do it anyway.

 

Then it was time for the Haunted Mansion.

 

So we headed that way.

 

Across the bridge to the hub.

 

The old Swan Boat dock is gone- you can see the new sod they've recently put down, but the rest of the Rose Garden looks intact for now:

 

 

Here's another look at the mess we saw earlier, but this time from the bridge:

 

 

 

We ran into some new photopass photographers being trained.  They were learning how to do the magic shot with the balloons.  At one point the lady you see on the left was on her knees pretending that she was a kid.  It was fun to watch:

 

 

We crossed the hub and headed into Liberty Square.

 

Now here's something you don't see in the parks every day:

 

 

These ladies have style!:

 

 

Take a closer look:

 

 

Congratulations to them, they have been awarded the TCD Dress to Impress Award for this trip.

 

It was a good thing we had a FP+ for the Haunted Mansion.  The standby line was the way back to the beginning of the covered part of the entrance.   We walked right it and didn't stop until we were near the graveyard:

 

 

We were back behind a small crowd that was enough to fill a stretching room.  So, I wasn't sure if we would make it inside on the next go around.  Luckily, we were the last two admitted to the entry room, and walked in just as the doors to the stretching room slid open.  So we walked right in there before any of the people who got in ahead of us even noticed the door had opened.  And, then we went and stood right under the lady with the umbrella.  After the doors opened, we were I front of the pack that we had just been standing behind at the graveyard.  That is how it's done!

 

We stopped at the pet cemetery on the way out, and saw that Mr. Toad is still MIA:

 

 

Next up was Splash Mountain.

 

But, we had about 20 minutes to wait.

 

And we were both hot and had just about had enough.

 

Twin #1 suggested we go to a resort and enjoy a nice air conditioned lobby.

 

Sounded good to me.

 

So we began to make our way out.

 

There was a construction barrier around this seating area outside of Adventureland.  I hope they're not removing it:

 

 

We cut through Casey's and took the air conditioned shortcut all the way to the front of the park.

 

When we emerged back into the heat, we saw something was about to go down around the flag pole:

 

 

We had to stop and watch.

 

I have some nice flag retreat photos to share in the next update, and then we will move out.

 

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Wow, those Mickey pants are much smaller than I anticipated. 

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

I have never seen the flag retreat in full. I need to remedy that at some point.

I am glad you didn't partake in the evil empire's poison nectar.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I was gone most of the day, so forgive me for mentioning the parade again.  I am assuming that the Dragon and such will make more sense once we have all watched the Maleficient movie.

 

Oh, and the lady in the first picture of a the last update looks like a guy to me.  But then, I think any person with that much make-up looks like a female impersonator.

[michele j 9]

Thank you for the parade photos.  I like I was there too! :)

 

I wonder why snow white and her men don't get a float...doesn't seem very fair. Then again sleeping beauty isn't even in the parade.

 

Looking forward to more of your trip report. 

[Beckers 1,136]

Then again sleeping beauty isn't even in the parade.

Looking forward to more of your trip report.

I have a friend who works in entertainment/parades at the MK. I asked him about Sleeping Beauty and why she wasn't in the parade. His answer was she is sleeping. I don't know the story of SB well enough but was she asleep when prince Phillip fsught the dragon?

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I have a friend who works in entertainment/parades at the MK. I asked him about Sleeping Beauty and why she wasn't in the parade. His answer was she is sleeping. I don't know the story of SB well enough but was she asleep when prince Phillip fsught the dragon?

Yes.  he had to get past the dragon to get to SB to kiss her awake.

[Duane 152]

Let's look at some more parade photos.  I would encourage everyone reading along to add your thoughts about these next two floats- as I am confused about what is supposed to be happening.

 

 

TCD

I am really surprised that this crowd can't see the theme going on here.... It's very plain to see that Disney is going for the Mad Maleficent Beyond Thunderdome with a Fantasia 2000 Twist presented by Pink Floyd sponsored by Starbucks...

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I am really surprised that this crowd can't see the theme going on here.... It's very plain to see that Disney is going for the Mad Maleficent Beyond Thunderdome with a Fantasia 2000 Twist presented by Pink Floyd sponsored by Starbucks...

 

:bellringer:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow, those Mickey pants are much smaller than I anticipated. 

 

That's funny- I thought the same thing about the blonde lady on the left:

 

 

I have never seen the flag retreat in full. I need to remedy that at some point.

I am glad you didn't partake in the evil empire's poison nectar.

 

You do need to see the flag retreat.  They pick a couple of kids out of the crowd to lead the pledge of allegiance.  I think you may know a couple of good candidates for that.

 

Me too.  I am sticking to the boycott!

 

I was gone most of the day, so forgive me for mentioning the parade again.  I am assuming that the Dragon and such will make more sense once we have all watched the Maleficient movie.

 

Oh, and the lady in the first picture of a the last update looks like a guy to me.  But then, I think any person with that much make-up looks like a female impersonator.

 

That's an interesting thought.  You think that fat guy in the earmuffs is going to be driving Angela Jolie's steampunk dragon?

 

I'll believe that when I see it.

 

Actually, someone will need to tell me about it.  I'm not sure I'm going to waste my money on that movie.

 

What's wrong with guys dressing as princesses?   Don't judge.  DIT is reading this report.

 

Thank you for the parade photos.  I like I was there too! :)

 

I wonder why snow white and her men don't get a float...doesn't seem very fair. Then again sleeping beauty isn't even in the parade.

 

Looking forward to more of your trip report. 

 

It is strange that Snow White and her crew didn't get a float.  Ariel, Rapunzel and Merida all got floats.  And Belle, Cinderella, Tiana and the Frozen Girls share one.

 

But Snow White has to hoof it.

 

I guess it's to compensate for that big old ride she gets.

 

But, actually, she doesn't even get any billing at that ride.  It's the Dwarfs' ride.

 

Girl needs a new agent.

 

I have a friend who works in entertainment/parades at the MK. I asked him about Sleeping Beauty and why she wasn't in the parade. His answer was she is sleeping. I don't know the story of SB well enough but was she asleep when prince Phillip fsught the dragon?

 

Interesting explanation.

 

As Devores mentioned, though, Aurora was supposed to be on that first float.  She got booted by the Frozen girls in a last minute deal.

 

She and Snow White must share the same agent?

 

Yes.  he had to get past the dragon to get to SB to kiss her awake.

 

At some point, I need to re-watch that movie.  It's been a really long time.

 

I am really surprised that this crowd can't see the theme going on here.... It's very plain to see that Disney is going for the Mad Maleficent Beyond Thunderdome with a Fantasia 2000 Twist presented by Pink Floyd sponsored by Starbucks...

 

Of course!  How did I miss that connection!

 

:bellringer:

 

Well, let's finish the thought.

 

What do all those things have in common?

 

Drugs.

 

That explains everything.

 

Just like the MSEP.

 

This is what happens when you let a bunch of hippies plan a parade.

 

TCD

[lklasing 16]

That's funny- I thought the same thing about the blonde lady on the left:

 

 

 

Oh my - I think I'm seeing more of the blond lady than I bargained for this early in the morning.  :bugeyes:

[DaveInTN 3,247]

 

Me too.  I am sticking to the boycott!

 

 

Liar!!!

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Man I'm behind but a couple comments.

I don't get the mechanical dragon either it doesn't make any sense.

The big black tubes in the construction area are filled with water and are used as temporary construction dams. If you look at your pic the water is pumped down on one side.

WBI

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Oh my - I think I'm seeing more of the blond lady than I bargained for this early in the morning.  :bugeyes:

 

You should have seen it in person.

 

Liar!!!

 

Busted.

 

I am week.

 

They must have some kind of brainwashing beam that they transmit from that evil satanic mermaid's eyes.

 

Man I'm behind but a couple comments.

I don't get the mechanical dragon either it doesn't make any sense.

The big black tubes in the construction area are filled with water and are used as temporary construction dams. If you look at your pic the water is pumped down on one side.

WBI

 

Glad to know I'm not the only one perplexed by the dragon.

 

Thanks for the input about the giant tubes.  I meant to Google the website that I could read printed on one of them.  This is it, if anyone wants to read more about the Aqua Dam company and its amazing cofferdams: http://www.aquadam.net/

 

TCD

[Duane 152]

This may clear up some to the questions as to the dragon and bird people in the FOF parade....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGUGAwNN4Hs