Before we left Tomorrowland, I wanted to see if we could find Pirate Mickey. He wears a really cool costume for the P & P Party, which we'd seen last year in the parade, and I thought it would be great to get our pictures taken with him. Well, apparently, everyone else had the same idea. I overheard a CM say that the wait to see him was almost 2 hours!
Love ya, Mickey, but not enough to spend 1/3 of the party waiting to see you...I thought we might make it back this way, but we never did, so Pirate Mickey will have to wait for another year.
As we walked over the Tomorrowland Bridge to cross the hub, there was a throne set up where you could get your picture taken. We waited a few moments, but got these lovely shots.
We saw a CM a little ways down, toward the pavilion in the rose garden, so we started walking that way, thinking it was a treat stop. When we got there, the CM asked Grace for her ticket. Well, we all thought this was strange, and when we asked her "why?" we got the same response as we did at the Studios: "because I said so!"
OK, come on, now! Where is the explanation? We seriously did not know why she needed our tickets! Turns out it was a wristband distribution spot, not a treat spot! Once she saw that we already had our wristbands, she sent us on our way!
There were already a lot of people around the hub, and I thought it was awfully early for them to be lining up for the parade. As we crossed through the hub, we stopped for some more Photopass pictures.
We had a few things on our list tonight that we absolutely had to do. One was to track down Pocahontas. She and Snow White were the two princesses we had not seen last year, even though I had asked at the P & P Party where I might find her but no one knew. My friend, Stacy, had seen Pocahontas and John Smith at the P & P Party when they went in February, and since I had seen Stacy's photos, I knew what the backdrop for Pocahontas looked like. I had been so excited to discover it the other night when we were walking through Liberty Square - it's right across from Sleepy Hollow as you cross the Liberty Square bridge. So after our photos with Mickey and Walt, it was off to Liberty Square!
We were very excited to see Meeko as we approached, since we figured Pocahontas would be following closely behind! The CMs said she would be out about 8:00, so we didn't have long to wait. We had fun with Meeko while we waited for Pocahontas.
The Dream Along with Mickey show started while we were waiting; that was what the crowds had been waiting for. We could hear it from Liberty Square, so the girls and I started singing along. This amused the off-duty cast members who were there waiting for Pocahontas, too. They couldn't believe we knew all the words! (I love that MK Events CD!) Kate calls it the "gonna have a party" song.
Singing and dancing along with Mickey really helped the time go by quickly, and soon it was finally time to meet Pocahontas! Both she and John Smith were happy to sign all four of the kids' books, as well as pose for photos, including one of just the two of them with Rick and me! Christian was just as happy meeting Pocahontas as he had been when he met Jasmine!
Since we were already in Liberty Square, we headed off to find the handicapped-accessible seating area along the parade route. I don't remember who took this photo; a CM, I think.
This is the only photo I have of our parade time; I took video this year since I had taken photos last year! No "Enchanted Adventures parade" page in this year's scrapbook! I went and grabbed us some popcorn and water to enjoy while we waited.
We love this parade, and of course, we sang along since this music is on our MK Events CD, as well. Ariel waved at Rose, recognizing that she was dressed as Ariel.
Rose got a big kick out of that! One of Cinderella's stepsisters came over and gave Grace a nasty look, not realizing that she was dressed as Giselle, not Cinderella!
When the parade was over, we hurried over to the Tomorrowland bridge to get a good spot for the fireworks. I had watched them from the rose garden pavilion last year, and didn't really enjoy that location. Plus, I wanted the kids to see Tinkerbell! We got a great spot, and I ran off to take the girls to the restroom beforehand because I was NOT going to take them during the show! If you haven't been to the P & P Party, the fireworks alone are worth the price of admission. Wow, are they amazing! Sorry no pictures; video again! We got to see Tink fly right above us, although I was expecting her to go TO the castle, when actually she starts at the castle and flies away from it. It was definitely worth getting a great spot early; I was not going to make the same mistake as the other night, and it worked out great. There are even some benches over there where Grace got to sit down; she was really getting tired, but we had lots more party to go, so as Stitch would say, "No sleeping!"
Up next: Fantasyland and more princesses!