Disney World & Re: Magic Kingdom Hearts
So last month I ran away to Disney World for a Kingdom Hearts cosplay meetup and took Sam and Star with me.
Shenanigans ensued. (This is ridiculously pic-heavy. You have been warned. Hover over pics for additional commentary.)
Things got started with a fucking huge-ass thunderstorm on the drive down, and would continue much the same for the rest of the week. But post-deluge Sam and I found each other and then wandered out to Downtown Disney, where we window-shopped and went on a pseudo-hot air balloon ride just in time to see fireworks over the Magic Kingdom. It was very nice, but when we were window-shopping, we also looked up to see the following:
It was somewhat unsettling.
The next morning, Sam and I headed over to Hollywood Studios. Star, alas, couldn't make it until later that night, so she missed out on first-day shenanigans.
Sam started the day by stalking a duck:
We started wandering, pausing to participate in a cheesy PotC thing, which was actually kind of hilarious. Captain Jack Sparrow was somewhat nonplussed by the narrator, "Floaty skull... thing..." Then we headed to our first destination: ice skating! Because that is a thing you could do when it was 90 degrees in Florida. Thank you for spitting in the face of God for your special Frozen thing, Disney.
We were extremely proud of ourselves for not falling down even though it had been forever since we'd been ice skating! Victory selfies ensued.
Also, I eventually got comfortable enough to build up the speed to lap Sam! I was pleased with this victory.
Later, she stole my burger.
She claims that these two events are not related. I remain dubious.
Flush with success (literally, we were all gross and sweaty, ice skating is hard work if you haven't done it in 10+ years) we headed off to meet Ralph and Vanellope!
The line is really neat, so there are a million pics of it:
Finally, we made it to the main event! And were complimented on our fantastic video game gear by the managing cast member:
Hugged and giggly, we tromped away for more silliness:
We took in the stunt car show, then raced back across the park to make it to Indiana Jones. We had to zip by a bunch of characters that we wanted to meet (they had a Goof Troop era Max out! And Mulan! And Stitch!) who weren't there when we went back looking for them again.
But there were more ducks:
And then, Star Tours. We got a Darth Vader one! <3
Also, any trip to Disney necessitates putting on silly hats. So we did:
Then it was time to head over to one of my true loves:
Sam was perhaps a smidge less enthused about the ride than I was:
We later went for burgers (and thieving ensued), the Rock n' Roller Coaster, and Fantasmic. Also we went to Muppet-Vision 3*D at some point in time, but I legit do not remember when.
Then we went off to the airport to fetch Star! I got to drive around in circles whilst Sam and Star tried to find each other. Eventually, it worked, and the next day, we trundled over to Universal to see what we could see! (It was superheroes and Harry Potter. We're sort of predictable that way.)
I dragged them on the Hulk coaster, then we hit the superhero section, where much silliness ensued.
Star found a Steve!
Unfortunately for Steve, so did I:
Meanwhile, Sam picked a fight with Doctor Doom:
And I continued my valiant quest to relieve Steve of his burden:
Also, we tried out our three-person selfie-ing skills:
Unfortunately we are not very good at it:
Also, we found a Thor!
After faffing about and staring at comic books, we wandered outside with very good timing!
Then we let out a collective fangirl squeal and ran across the street.
Then Star and I spotted Mags, and there was much rejoicing!
After some snacking, it was time to head over to Hogwarts:
We rode Dueling Dragons, then puttered around a bit and tried to take a good butterbeer selfie:
Note to fellow vegans: Butterbeer is NOT vegan. It made me kind of queasy and Sam had to finish mine, and then we went on the Hogwarts ride and the combination of the two knocked me the fuck down for a while.
Hogsmeade!
Then it was time to head over to Diagon Alley via the train!
We got there late, so the Gringotts ride wasn't running, but it still looked cool from the outside and the dragon occasionally belched fire, which caused Sam to do an adorable squeal-jump-and-clap combination.
Then we stopped for a snack at the Leaky Cauldron!
Then it was off to Platform 9 3/4 to take the train back. They had things rigged up so you could see people vanish into the wall in front of you, which was pretty cool.
Finally it was time to head back, but not before we saw a fantastic photo opportunity, starting with Star as a picture of grace and beauty:
And Sam as a Kotetsu Kaburagi:
And then there's me:
...I would like to clarify to everyone that I am a Ravenclaw, not a Slytherin, despite what Star and Sam and the other people we shared a train carriage with may believe.
Honest.
Friday was the day of the cosplay meetup, so we spent the morning lounging around. It was raining on and off all day, so I reluctantly left my keyblade behind, which turned out to be a good thing, considering how many folks wound up totally soaked that night.
Star went as a very adorable Mr. H from The World Ends With You, while I, as per usual, was Riku. A lot of cast members and random guests recognized me, way more than last year. I got a high-five from the guy doing the announcements at Big Thunder Mountain, a hug from a really excited other guest at the Haunted Mansion, a cheery acknowledgement from the guy at Stitch's Great Escape, and was randomly cheered on by a cast member when we were navigating for a space to see the parade: "Lead them out of the darkness, Riku! You can do it, I believe in you!"
We didn't hang out with anybody from the meetup, and didn't get a picture of the cute Shiki, but Star got a couple of pics of some cute cosplayers:
I, of course, was the cutest. Or at least the most IC for this pic.
This Destiny Trio was also very cute. I want a Kairi and Sora of my own. Or a Namine. I need people to take cute shippy pics with, dammit.
And these two had awesome handmade shirts:
And of course the park itself was dressed up:
As were the guests:
We were hungry, so we headed over to Gaston's Tavern for some manly refreshments:
And then, of course, there was The Chair, which we used to perfect our Slouch of Villainy:
Mr. H's is more of a Lounge of Villainy, really:
...and then there's Riku.
As previously mentioned, we hit up the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, and Stitch's Great Escape, but we also visited Space Mountain:
And took a castle selfie:
And Sam may have gotten slightly incarcerated. Probably because she's a burger thief.
We waited three different times for the Villains Mix and Mingle, and it was cancelled each time due to rain:
So we decided to go check out some other villains and their dancing in the Diamond Horseshoe, which had been Shibuya-ed up for the occasion. Thank you, Mr. H!
And again in Dream Drop Distance vision!
And of course, the good doctor was there:
Mr. H needed a photo with him on the basis of sheer shared stylistic interest:
Then we waited for the Villains Mix and Mingle again. Alas, rain.
We swung back by Gaston's Tavern to meet the man himself!
The mutual antipathy was perhaps not helped when Gaston decided to avail himself of the mirrored surface of Mr. H's sunglasses:
I am like 99% certain the Gaston recognized me, based on some of his parting comments, but since our characters have never met in canon, we just side-eyed each other suspiciously. Also, he gave us candy. (There is free candy throughout the park during the Halloween party.)
Also, we paused for an important CAT-related photo:
Then we ran across the park, dodging the parade, to make it to Jack and Sally! There were lots of people with awesome costumes along the way there/in line, including a fantastic Beetlejuice and Lydia, and an adorable Roger and Jessica Rabbit. While we were waiting, the parade caught up to us, so we got to see it twice, with a much better view this time around. It was really, really, really well done, even though they couldn't have the Headless Horseman lead it because of the rain. The Haunted Mansion section, in particular, was fantastic.
The best part was that Jack recognized me! 8D We chatted for a bit, and it was great. :3
Also, we got their autographs:
Then Star and I got in line to meet Mickey, and Sam went Starbucks-hunting, just in time to miss a sudden deluge. It was raining ridiculously hard. The line for Mickey wound up not moving at all, though, so Star and I wandered back out for Starbucks and vegan ice cream, respectively.
At some point, there was the castle show and amazing fireworks, but I legit don't remember when that happened. One of the times we were sitting in front of the castle, anyway, but as previously mentioned, there were three of those, so.
On the bus back to the hotel, we chatted with a cute Kida and Milo, which made the otherwise-stifling ride somewhat bearable.
Saturday was Epcot, but we started the day by heading over to Downtown Disney in search of a particular couple of candy apples which could not be purchased anywhere else:
And of course, CAT required his own apple:
Then it was off to Epcot for a day of stuffing our faces, since the International Food and Wine Festival was going on at the time. Spoiler alert: IT WAS DELICIOUS.
Also, Sam took more pictures of cute animals:
After initial chowing down (I had a vegan crab cake and cupcake and I don't remember what Star and Sam had) we headed towards Weeaboo Land, pausing for a detour into Mexico so I could drag Star and Sam onto this:
I have a lot of feels about Donald's relationship with José and Panchito (yes, it's been mentioned in my KH fic) thanks to Don Rosa. See The Three Caballeros Ride Again and I can't find a link for The Magnificent Seven (Minus Four) Caballeros.
Sadly, I missed getting a picture with Donald because we were hurrying along to someplace else, and we forgot to come back for it.
Also it was hella crowded b/c food festival, so.
Then, there was Weeaboo Land! I bought four things of daifuku. I do not have a mochi problem. Shut up.
Also, we went on Test Track with some drunk people:
We designed our car to be super-duper efficient, and it was:
And we did Mission Space and Spaceship Earth and Maelstrom, which is getting closed down and turned into a Frozen-themed ride instead. I got fastpasses for that b/c otherwise the wait would've been 65+ minutes. And we oogled the fishies at the aquarium. Manatees and bitty baby cuttlefish, oh my!
Also we ate a lot of food. There was vegetarian haggis and vegan chicken gumbo and I had something that was called a frozen s'more and was delicious.
Also, fireworks!
Full of delicious food and drink, we stumbled back to the hotel, wherein a very important cosplay photoshoot took place based on the fact that I had bought some Slytherin boxers at Universal and we decided that pajama Riku needed to be a thing.
And that is the story of Pajama Riku and the Unfortunate Cameraperson.
Sunday was packing, watching anime, and then driving Star and Sam to the airport. Tragic parting! Much woe!
We are totes doing this again next year.
Holy shit that took forever to put together.
Shenanigans ensued. (This is ridiculously pic-heavy. You have been warned. Hover over pics for additional commentary.)
Things got started with a fucking huge-ass thunderstorm on the drive down, and would continue much the same for the rest of the week. But post-deluge Sam and I found each other and then wandered out to Downtown Disney, where we window-shopped and went on a pseudo-hot air balloon ride just in time to see fireworks over the Magic Kingdom. It was very nice, but when we were window-shopping, we also looked up to see the following:
It was somewhat unsettling.
The next morning, Sam and I headed over to Hollywood Studios. Star, alas, couldn't make it until later that night, so she missed out on first-day shenanigans.
Sam started the day by stalking a duck:
We started wandering, pausing to participate in a cheesy PotC thing, which was actually kind of hilarious. Captain Jack Sparrow was somewhat nonplussed by the narrator, "Floaty skull... thing..." Then we headed to our first destination: ice skating! Because that is a thing you could do when it was 90 degrees in Florida. Thank you for spitting in the face of God for your special Frozen thing, Disney.
We were extremely proud of ourselves for not falling down even though it had been forever since we'd been ice skating! Victory selfies ensued.
Also, I eventually got comfortable enough to build up the speed to lap Sam! I was pleased with this victory.
Later, she stole my burger.
She claims that these two events are not related. I remain dubious.
Flush with success (literally, we were all gross and sweaty, ice skating is hard work if you haven't done it in 10+ years) we headed off to meet Ralph and Vanellope!
The line is really neat, so there are a million pics of it:
Finally, we made it to the main event! And were complimented on our fantastic video game gear by the managing cast member:
Hugged and giggly, we tromped away for more silliness:
We took in the stunt car show, then raced back across the park to make it to Indiana Jones. We had to zip by a bunch of characters that we wanted to meet (they had a Goof Troop era Max out! And Mulan! And Stitch!) who weren't there when we went back looking for them again.
But there were more ducks:
And then, Star Tours. We got a Darth Vader one! <3
Also, any trip to Disney necessitates putting on silly hats. So we did:
Then it was time to head over to one of my true loves:
Sam was perhaps a smidge less enthused about the ride than I was:
We later went for burgers (and thieving ensued), the Rock n' Roller Coaster, and Fantasmic. Also we went to Muppet-Vision 3*D at some point in time, but I legit do not remember when.
Then we went off to the airport to fetch Star! I got to drive around in circles whilst Sam and Star tried to find each other. Eventually, it worked, and the next day, we trundled over to Universal to see what we could see! (It was superheroes and Harry Potter. We're sort of predictable that way.)
I dragged them on the Hulk coaster, then we hit the superhero section, where much silliness ensued.
Star found a Steve!
Unfortunately for Steve, so did I:
Meanwhile, Sam picked a fight with Doctor Doom:
And I continued my valiant quest to relieve Steve of his burden:
Also, we tried out our three-person selfie-ing skills:
Unfortunately we are not very good at it:
Also, we found a Thor!
After faffing about and staring at comic books, we wandered outside with very good timing!
Then we let out a collective fangirl squeal and ran across the street.
Then Star and I spotted Mags, and there was much rejoicing!
After some snacking, it was time to head over to Hogwarts:
We rode Dueling Dragons, then puttered around a bit and tried to take a good butterbeer selfie:
Note to fellow vegans: Butterbeer is NOT vegan. It made me kind of queasy and Sam had to finish mine, and then we went on the Hogwarts ride and the combination of the two knocked me the fuck down for a while.
Hogsmeade!
Then it was time to head over to Diagon Alley via the train!
We got there late, so the Gringotts ride wasn't running, but it still looked cool from the outside and the dragon occasionally belched fire, which caused Sam to do an adorable squeal-jump-and-clap combination.
Then we stopped for a snack at the Leaky Cauldron!
Then it was off to Platform 9 3/4 to take the train back. They had things rigged up so you could see people vanish into the wall in front of you, which was pretty cool.
Finally it was time to head back, but not before we saw a fantastic photo opportunity, starting with Star as a picture of grace and beauty:
And Sam as a Kotetsu Kaburagi:
And then there's me:
...I would like to clarify to everyone that I am a Ravenclaw, not a Slytherin, despite what Star and Sam and the other people we shared a train carriage with may believe.
Honest.
Friday was the day of the cosplay meetup, so we spent the morning lounging around. It was raining on and off all day, so I reluctantly left my keyblade behind, which turned out to be a good thing, considering how many folks wound up totally soaked that night.
Star went as a very adorable Mr. H from The World Ends With You, while I, as per usual, was Riku. A lot of cast members and random guests recognized me, way more than last year. I got a high-five from the guy doing the announcements at Big Thunder Mountain, a hug from a really excited other guest at the Haunted Mansion, a cheery acknowledgement from the guy at Stitch's Great Escape, and was randomly cheered on by a cast member when we were navigating for a space to see the parade: "Lead them out of the darkness, Riku! You can do it, I believe in you!"
We didn't hang out with anybody from the meetup, and didn't get a picture of the cute Shiki, but Star got a couple of pics of some cute cosplayers:
I, of course, was the cutest. Or at least the most IC for this pic.
This Destiny Trio was also very cute. I want a Kairi and Sora of my own. Or a Namine. I need people to take cute shippy pics with, dammit.
And these two had awesome handmade shirts:
And of course the park itself was dressed up:
As were the guests:
We were hungry, so we headed over to Gaston's Tavern for some manly refreshments:
And then, of course, there was The Chair, which we used to perfect our Slouch of Villainy:
Mr. H's is more of a Lounge of Villainy, really:
...and then there's Riku.
As previously mentioned, we hit up the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, and Stitch's Great Escape, but we also visited Space Mountain:
And took a castle selfie:
And Sam may have gotten slightly incarcerated. Probably because she's a burger thief.
We waited three different times for the Villains Mix and Mingle, and it was cancelled each time due to rain:
So we decided to go check out some other villains and their dancing in the Diamond Horseshoe, which had been Shibuya-ed up for the occasion. Thank you, Mr. H!
And again in Dream Drop Distance vision!
And of course, the good doctor was there:
Mr. H needed a photo with him on the basis of sheer shared stylistic interest:
Then we waited for the Villains Mix and Mingle again. Alas, rain.
We swung back by Gaston's Tavern to meet the man himself!
The mutual antipathy was perhaps not helped when Gaston decided to avail himself of the mirrored surface of Mr. H's sunglasses:
I am like 99% certain the Gaston recognized me, based on some of his parting comments, but since our characters have never met in canon, we just side-eyed each other suspiciously. Also, he gave us candy. (There is free candy throughout the park during the Halloween party.)
Also, we paused for an important CAT-related photo:
Then we ran across the park, dodging the parade, to make it to Jack and Sally! There were lots of people with awesome costumes along the way there/in line, including a fantastic Beetlejuice and Lydia, and an adorable Roger and Jessica Rabbit. While we were waiting, the parade caught up to us, so we got to see it twice, with a much better view this time around. It was really, really, really well done, even though they couldn't have the Headless Horseman lead it because of the rain. The Haunted Mansion section, in particular, was fantastic.
The best part was that Jack recognized me! 8D We chatted for a bit, and it was great. :3
Also, we got their autographs:
Then Star and I got in line to meet Mickey, and Sam went Starbucks-hunting, just in time to miss a sudden deluge. It was raining ridiculously hard. The line for Mickey wound up not moving at all, though, so Star and I wandered back out for Starbucks and vegan ice cream, respectively.
At some point, there was the castle show and amazing fireworks, but I legit don't remember when that happened. One of the times we were sitting in front of the castle, anyway, but as previously mentioned, there were three of those, so.
On the bus back to the hotel, we chatted with a cute Kida and Milo, which made the otherwise-stifling ride somewhat bearable.
Saturday was Epcot, but we started the day by heading over to Downtown Disney in search of a particular couple of candy apples which could not be purchased anywhere else:
And of course, CAT required his own apple:
Then it was off to Epcot for a day of stuffing our faces, since the International Food and Wine Festival was going on at the time. Spoiler alert: IT WAS DELICIOUS.
Also, Sam took more pictures of cute animals:
After initial chowing down (I had a vegan crab cake and cupcake and I don't remember what Star and Sam had) we headed towards Weeaboo Land, pausing for a detour into Mexico so I could drag Star and Sam onto this:
I have a lot of feels about Donald's relationship with José and Panchito (yes, it's been mentioned in my KH fic) thanks to Don Rosa. See The Three Caballeros Ride Again and I can't find a link for The Magnificent Seven (Minus Four) Caballeros.
Sadly, I missed getting a picture with Donald because we were hurrying along to someplace else, and we forgot to come back for it.
Also it was hella crowded b/c food festival, so.
Then, there was Weeaboo Land! I bought four things of daifuku. I do not have a mochi problem. Shut up.
Also, we went on Test Track with some drunk people:
We designed our car to be super-duper efficient, and it was:
And we did Mission Space and Spaceship Earth and Maelstrom, which is getting closed down and turned into a Frozen-themed ride instead. I got fastpasses for that b/c otherwise the wait would've been 65+ minutes. And we oogled the fishies at the aquarium. Manatees and bitty baby cuttlefish, oh my!
Also we ate a lot of food. There was vegetarian haggis and vegan chicken gumbo and I had something that was called a frozen s'more and was delicious.
Also, fireworks!
Full of delicious food and drink, we stumbled back to the hotel, wherein a very important cosplay photoshoot took place based on the fact that I had bought some Slytherin boxers at Universal and we decided that pajama Riku needed to be a thing.
And that is the story of Pajama Riku and the Unfortunate Cameraperson.
Sunday was packing, watching anime, and then driving Star and Sam to the airport. Tragic parting! Much woe!
We are totes doing this again next year.
Holy shit that took forever to put together.