The Tale of the Grow Walk ….Hunh? DCL Magic and WDW Review

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Soon we were in our clam-mobile and I took a few pictures on the ride, but since I had just rode the Disneyland version about a month ago and they are pretty much the same ride, I didn’t take a ton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ok…maybe I took more than I thought I did. LOL.

 

 

 

 

 

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And a few more Little Mermaid shots.

 

 

 

Claire was a happy camper…she just loves Ariel and loves this new ride.

We headed out and I once again made her get her picture taken.

 

 

And then went on to take several more pictures of Eric’s castle.

 

 

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I was now needing a little snack…after all at Disney World it is important to try and snack as much as possible and keep your energy flow up, so we headed towards Gaston’s.

 

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For some reason I can never pick the right line in here. Last time we came, which was the preview time during the Halloween party we came in for a quick bite to eat and I picked the longest line ever with a CM that didn’t know what she was doing. I picked the same type of line today and it took forever to get up to order. Claire wasn’t too hungry and said she didn’t need anything. I decided to order the hummus and chips.

 

 

 

 

We also got something to drink, probably diet coke, and we found a table to sit at.

 

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Claire ate a few of the pretzels but she is not a fan of hummus. Actually she would’ve eaten ALL the pretzels if I had let her, but I reminded her she wasn’t hungry (once again she was a little liar) and that I needed the chips for the hummus as I wasn’t about to eat it by the spoonful.

 

It was good, but a little pricey for what you got. I could have used about double the amount of pretzel chips. It didn’t fill us up, but it was enough to keep me from turning into a crazy monster…and that is always a good thing.

 

We headed back out then.

 

 

I think we may have checked out the shop right there since we had not seen it when we did the preview in 2012.

 

And off we went again.

 

 

 

 

I know some of you are smokers, though these days you don’t want to admit it for fear of attack…LOL….but yes there are a lot of smokers that go to Disney World and the smoking area used to be to the left of the castle, but guess what? It’s gone due to construction. Of course they moved it, but where? And I was really shocked when I saw where it ended up at.

 

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We kept walking and went down the right side of the castle on that little path and then I found it…and was shocked. The smoking section has been moved to the two little sitting areas along this narrow path. Now I don’t mind this at all, but I know many people have allergies and irritations with smoke and this is a very busy path, especially with all the construction going on and now all these people have to walk right through the cloud of smoke.

 

Oh and the view from the smoking section….

 

 

A drained moat. Really weird to see that.

 

 

 

We then realized the time and decided we should go find a spot for the brand new Festival of Fantasy Parade. This had just debuted about 2 weeks before we had arrived and I was super excited to see it.

We went to our favorite parade viewing area in Liberty Square and it was already pretty packed. Luckily we found enough space for our 2 rears to sit down along the rope. I think it was the last 2 spots in the whole area. The reason it was open????

Bird poop was right on the ground there. Yep, I didn’t care either. I got out a tissue and covered the bird poop and we sat right down. Bird poop washes off anyways, right?

 

We still had quite a wait till the parade actually started, so we sat and talked and I played on my phone a bit and Claire played on my phone a bit.

 

Finally a little bit of action.

 

 

 

Well that was nice, but now more waiting.

 

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Let’s take a selfie….

 

 

This looks promising!

 

 

 

 

Ok, that was nice too…..but more waiting.

 

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I was also texting back and forth with my friend Janet, who I think was almost as excited as I was about the new parade. She told me to be sure to try and get a picture of the dragon breathing fire….OMG!!! I had totally forgotten that it did this. I will definitely try!

 

 

And now for the Grand Marshall!!! We are getting closer!

 

 

 

 

 

We were now getting excited….the Music had started!!!!

 

Our first glimpse of the parade…we were so excited!!!

 

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I noticed the lady next to me was taping the parade and her battery light was flashing, so I let her know. She was very upset as she didn’t have a spare battery…..note…Always bring at LEAST one spare battery for you camera each day….so she had to switch to taking pictures on her phone.

 

 

 

 

Being that this was brand new….I took a zillion pictures.

 

 

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Of course a highlight for us and many around us was a chance to see Anna and Elsa. At this point in time they were meeting in Epcot and the waits were averaging 6 hours each day, so there was no chance in heck we would be ever meeting them this trip.

 

 

This float has turning platforms so I had to act fast to get as many photos as I could of them before they were out of site to the other side.

 

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Tiana and Naveen were on the other side of the turning platform….oh and also on this float was Cinderella and her Prince and I totally bypassed taking pictures of them to get Anna and Elsa.

 

 

 

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The costumes are just FABULOUS!!!!

 

 

 

 

Rapunzel’s float is great!

 

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She had great expressions!

 

 

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Her braid wraps all around the float.

 

 

Cone on Flynn!!! Look at me!

 

 

 

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Now we venture to the sea!

 

 

 

 

I just think these costumes are so amazing.

 

 

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Here comes Ariel!

 

 

 

 

Again, the characters had fabulous expressions in this parade too.

 

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And the Lost Boys!

 

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I was a little obsessed with Hook as you can tell.

 

 

 

 

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Tinker Bell brought up the rear of the float.

 

 

 

 

She was fabulous!

 

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Tick Tock!

 

 

Merida’s clan was next to arrive.

 

 

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She was a ton of fun!

 

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I see a dragon!!!!!