Chapter 162
Heroes, Villains, Princesses, and Goats

As we walked down Main Street and toward the Market House Starbucks, Tracy pointed out her favorite pumpkins to me—which I somehow had never noticed before.

We ordered a Pumpkin Spice Latte and a Pumpkin Scone (we were determined to get our fill of autumn before the winter treats started making their way in).

Having checked the Times Guide before going to get our snacks, we knew that there was going to be a show at the Royal Theatre in about a half-hour. In fact, it was going to be the Tangled show—which we had still never seen. We decided to go stake out spots so that we could see how this one compared to the Beauty and the Beast show, which we had loved.

We were among the first people there, but the theatre started to fill up quickly. Tracy killed time by Instagramming while we waited.

Right on time, the pianist came out to take his spot.

And soon, the curtain rose on our production.

Here come lots of blurry pictures from the show, for which I apologize.

At last, they see the light.

And the curtain falls after “happily ever after.”

We really, really enjoyed this performance. There’s something so quaint and fun about the shows at the Royal Theatre. I think that their down-home feel is perfect for this venue, and the way that the four performers work together to create such a textured story is truly amazing. I’d say that Tangled even slightly topped Beauty and the Beast for us, but both of them are among our favorite live performances in the parks.

A major bonus of watching the Tangled show is that you get the opportunity to meet both Rapunzel and Flynn at the end. I feel like that’s a difficult feat to accomplish elsewhere.

Our next time was for Jungle Cruise, so we started to make our way toward Adventureland. En route, we passed this bird who always seems to be hanging around.

I feel like we somehow always end up riding the Jungle Cruise at night, so I took some pictures today because we were experiencing the ride when it was light out.

I’ll be honest—the only reason why we had chosen to ride the Jungle Cruise this afternoon was because I hoped I would get a rendition of the famous “Birthday Song” (and its truncated second verse). At the end of the journey, our skipper did NOT disappoint, and I was excited to get the honor.

After our cruise, we headed over to Big Thunder Ranch. We were a little surprised to see that they had opened the actual ranch today while keeping the restaurant closed because I feel like they usually go in tandem.

Pocahontas was in the back pen, but the cast member had the gate open, which made it much easier for us to actually meet her.

We went into the goat pen next, which meant plenty of scratches for Jane.

Pongo was being fun today as well, hanging out in his usual spot atop the barrels.

I like this mugshot.

Tracy also braided a bit of his leg hair.

All the goats just looked so festive in their bandanas.

We went back to the Jamboree next to enjoy the Halloween Carnival. Pluto was there and easy to meet!

Skeleton Goofy came out next.

There wasn’t much of a wait for Conjure a Villain, so we decided to try our luck and see who we’d get to meet this time.

The answer was… Jafar!

He’s just so sassy all the time.

Now I may be wrong, but I think this was the first time we’ve ever actually gotten to meet and pose with Jafar after seeing him around many, many times.

As we came out from the tent, Billy Hill and the Hillbillies (aww… RIP!) were doing their show—complete with Halloween parade.

Of course the characters joined in.

After the Hillbillies went back up onto the stage, Mickey and Minnie stayed around, and we were FINALLY able to meet them in their Halloween costumes. We’d cut it pretty darn close, because I think today would have been our last opportunity based on our current plans for when we’d be visiting the parks before Halloween Time was over.