IanDLBZF from MCMagic
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2015
The title says it all folks! Me and my friend, Alex, went to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party for the first time on December 16, 2016! We wanted to end our fall semester with a bang, and boy did we do just that! For me, as a Zootopia fan, having learned that (finally) Nick and Judy were meeting guests during the event, I knew I couldn’t resist going! However, with my phobia of doing character meet and greets, I had basically a double edged sword to deal with and I wanted to face that fear once and for all!
We had a Magic Kingdom trip on the Saturday before (December 10), and I hopped over to Epcot and went to dinner at California Grill, and I felt it wouldn’t hurt to go back to Epcot and MK! Mind you I’ve never done MVMCP before, but my grandparents have! Our plan was to leave around 11:15 or so, go to Epcot for the early part of the afternoon til around 3:00 PM or so, then head for MK and go from there.
Let me tell you how it all went....
We got to Epcot around 12:30 ish or so, and we have a FP for Soarin’. We hit that first and decided that because the wait times aren’t too bad now, to cancel our Mission Space and Spaceship Earth FPs and swap them with ones for Space Ranger Spin and POTC. We had no problems doing Test Track (Single Riders Line), Mission Space, or Spaceship Earth in standby at all. In between doing Test Track and Mission Space we grabbed a bag of chips and drinks for “lunch” because we were in a time crunch.
Once we did all those, we headed for the monorail to the TTC. The monorails all ran like clockwork today, no holding for clearance!
Lucky us! My friend had to resolve a discrepancy because a friend of his who planned on going said he couldn’t, luckily the CM at the TTC was soooo polite and helpful enough to resolve it!So we got to MK just as Festival of Fantasy was ending, good timing! We head on over to Buzz Lightyear, and as we do we noticed the wristband station and we get a head start and got our wristbands before we got on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin! We did that, and decided to take on Thunder Mountain, which had a 35 minute wait time when we got there! We also decided to share each other numbers in case “something happens” during the party and we decided that after we did POTC we would split up and reunite for dinner at Village Haus. We did just that.
After doing POTC, I told Alex I would see him at Village Haus. From this point forward I then decided to do what I wanted to do, face my phobia of doing character meet and greets (is this phobia known as masklophobia?) and meet my two new favs, Nick & Judy! Got there around 5:20 ish or so, they do not sign neither here nor, from what I remember seeing, at Disneyland. They did hand out these cool autograph cards, though!
I was pretty much nervous and shaking for about a half hour, so I practiced a few calming techniques (in this instance, taking a few deep breaths (in through nose, hold for 3 seconds, out through mouth) and counting) and that seemed to help a lot! Mind you I’ve had this fear since I was 6 or 7, roughly about 14 years had passed since I had an “accidental run-in” with Captain Hook & Smee on Castaway Cay that triggered this so-called "fear", add on to the fact that I have Autism/Aspergers. By the time I was next up, I felt ready to face these fears. And while I was waiting some guys on the TTA shouted “dab”, and I did just that and their reaction was “F(bleep)k, he dabbed!”
Continuing on, Nick & Judy came out at 6:15 PM (was in the line since around 5:30), got to meet them around 6:22 (roughly waited 6 minutes from the time they came out). And the guy right in front of me (he is on Instagram - @idreamofdisneyworld) bought along his Rodger Rabbit plush and he gave it to Judy and their reaction was priceless! By the time my turn came, I felt ready. My interaction with them was AMAZING! Came up to Nick saying “Hey Nick HOW'S IT GOIN MAN?!” (I remember being excited I actually said that loudly) and he gave me a big hug (mind you Nick is an amazing hugger, believe me!) He rocked me from side to side and rubbed my back! I also remember saying when I hugged him "Oh my god so good to see you!"
Then it came to Judy, and I do have a bit of a crush on her. I said “Judy! How are you?! Oh my god how's my favorite girl?!” (or something like that) She hugged me as well, and not only that, Judy also kissed me on the cheek when I hugged her just as we were about to let go (I heard a kiss sound come from her as well, but I have NEVER heard that sound come from a “fur” character before, in fact I never even knew they could make that sound; it actually sent a tingling sensation through my brain), bit of an “awwww” moment right there!
At this point I became very euphoric and said "Why Judy, thank you very much!" which may have made her "blush." Next thing I say to her is "Oh, and how's Clawhauser doing?!" When I said that, I also heard her gasp in shock! (Never heard that sound either from the characters!) She said (actually mimed) that "Clawhauser's doing great!" I also mentioned that she should bring Clawhauser some donuts one day.
I then decided to take a selfie with them, and just I was trying to get the camera app on my iPhone up, I accidentally unlocked the phone and I said "hang on having a bit of trouble here" and Nick was like "oh brother." (He put one paw to his face and shoke his head)
Selfie with Judy & Nick, you might see Nick in there, and I was little "red" in the face too...
I should’ve shown Nick the case on my phone (which had Finnick on it), but I bet he saw it! Afterwords, I went over to Launching Pad, which was closed at the moment, and I felt victorious and proud and I was like "I did it. I did it! I faced my fears! Woo-hoo!"
This whole meet and greet, especially the kiss from Judy, left me blushing for the rest of the night and pretty much all day the next day! I had finally overcame my phobia and was so proud of myself I was grinning, laughing a bit, and I was humming/singing this tune from SpongeBob SquarePants for some odd reason:
My next move was to take on the 7DMT, which had a 45-60 minute wait, not bad! However, there were these girls who supposedly play for Northport Basketball, who were singing songs from the High School Musical franchise, bit loudly but not as annoying as the South American Tour Groups though, but still...
After doing that I grabbed a snow cone and some cookies at Friar’s Nook, which was close by. Pretty good, not too bad! I was still laughing, probably was so happy at the same time a bit jealous because of the meet and greet.
Then took on Splash Mountain, which was a WALK-ON, perfect timing! I was still laughing and grinning... Also saw the Country Bears, but didn't meet them!
Then made a dash from Splash to the hub to see the Castle Lighting. That show was not the best, but it was ok. There is a version with Olaf, Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff in it, but this version just had Elsa in it. Could’ve been better though. The castle lights looked beautiful!
The hub was a madhouse though, like a MOSH PIT! Went all the way from the hub back to Peter Pan’s Flight via Liberty Square because the shortcut behind the castle was blocked off, grrr!
The wait for Peter Pan’s Flight wasn’t too bad, posted at 30 mins, actually felt like 25 mins! Did that and then went to Village Haus to dinner. My friend said he was running late because he ran into the parade crowds! So we had dinner together and I mentioned to him that I faced my fears. We saw Holiday Wishes from Fantasyland because we had no time to get from Fantasyland to the hub, the view was good though!
My friend said he didn’t know they were offering free cookies, he must’ve been surprised! Did 7DMT a second time, not bad for me because I’m a one and done sorta guy. We decided to see if we could grab any treats, then do Jingle Cruise, see the parade, and then do Space Mountain. We headed straight for Jingle Cruise, 15 minute wait felt like 10. We then called an audible and decided to dash for Main St’s train depot to see the parade! The Once Upon A Christmastime Parade was amazing, though we had to make a mad dash for the Station. Come the end of the parade, we called an audible and decided to not do Space Mountain because of parade crowds. Took the monorail over the Contemporary, grabbed some hot cocoa at Contempo Cafe, and we took Uber back to our apartments in Leesburg, FL and we both went home for Winter Break the next day!
Overall, MVMCP was amazing! My friend was surprised that they had free cookies and hot cocoa during the party, it is worth the money! Nick and Judy are so awesome, I’ve seen them TWICE during Move It Shake It, and now I faced my fears and meet them! When Nick & Judy do start doing regular M&Gs at Epcot, I will go back and meet them again! We took Uber down from Leesburg, FL to Epcot, and from the Contemporary back to our apartments, but if it was just me going I would take Uber to one of the SunRail stations in Seminole County (closest one would be Altamonte Springs) and go from there. Epcot wasn’t too busy, neither was the party with the exception of the moshpit like experience with the castle lighting!
Would I do MVMCP again this year? Yes! Would I be ready in case the date I want to do it gets sold out? Yes! Would I plan to go in November? Maybe. Would I go twice? Maybe.
And now, a full YouTube video encompassing the trip - more like a 2 hour Holiday special! Yes I am a YouTuber as well.
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