Monday, November 26, 2018 - Part 3: Epcot at Night
We arrived at Coral Reef for our 4:50 ADR and waited 10-15 minutes to be seated. I don't really care for seafood but I wanted to eat here because it seemed like it would be a pretty awesome experience. I hadn't eaten anything since lunch at Via Napoli, but I wasn't really hungry. I just ordered the spinach and ricotta ravioli, which was an appetizer on the menu, and the Reef Amber Ale. Michelle got the chicken breast. It turned out to be two small chicken breasts, which was more than she could eat, so I had one of them. The beer was decent and the food was really good. It was an enjoyable dining experience watching the aquatic life.
When we stepped outside after dinner just after 6:00 it was dark and the ground was very wet. Clearly it had rained at some point. Earlier in the day Michelle had seen a long sleeve Festival of the Holidays shirt that had Chip and Dale on it. She decided she wanted to get it so we proceeded to the spot where she had seen it. On the way over we got our first look at the large Christmas tree all lit up. There were several groups of people getting photos taken in front of it, so I went around to the other side to take a pic of the tree without people in front of it.
While she was buying the shirt I was looking out across the lake and saw lightning in the sky behind the pavilions. I decided to try and take a pic with the lightning in it, so of course there was no more lightning after that.
I had planned for us to watch the 6:15 showing of Impressions de France, but we got out of Coral Reef a little later than expected, so we would have to skip it. We were planning to get in line for the Candlelight Processional 15 minutes before the 8:15 show and hope that we would be able to get a seat. Prior to that we were going to be browsing the Mitsukoshi store in Japan. Michelle always spends close to an hour in that store so I figured we might as well start heading over there since it was nearly 6:30.
On the way we were passing the Yukon Holiday Kitchen stand. There were some things I had wanted to try at a few of the different stands but never got around to it. This stand had two items I wanted to try, the Maple Buche de Noel and the Frozen Coffee with Tap 357 Whisky, so I ordered them, and then we continued walking until I found an area with suitable lighting to take of picture of them.
I really enjoyed both of these. The holiday log was maple mousse rolled in gingerbread chiffon cake with cranberry sauce and pecan crumble. It was delicious. When it comes to alcohol I'm pretty much just a craft beer drinker. I've had a few beers that were aged in whisky barrels, but that's about the extent of my experience with whisky. The frozen coffee seemed to have a pretty generous shot of it, though, and it was tasty.
We continued to make our way toward the store in Japan and I stopped to take a pic of this neat display of a large tea pot and cups.
It was 6:45 and it had started to rain again. I actually don't mind walking in the rain as long as it isn't a heavy rain, but this rain was cold and I was looking forward to reaching the store in Japan. I enjoy browsing the store but I've never actually purchased anything there. Michelle always buys a few things though. When she was finally checking out around 7:30 I was standing near the exit and I could hear it pouring outside. We decided we might as well go get in line for the Processional.
The 6:45 show had just ended and they had roped off the path through the World Showcase near the stage so that the members of the orchestra and choir could exit. Of course the standby line to get into the next showing was on the other side of the area that was roped off, so we would have to wait a bit before we could get in line. At least the rain was letting up. We eventually got in line and were able to get a seat. The downpour had worked to our advantage as the park had cleared out quite a bit because of the rain. I'm not so sure we would have been able to get a seat otherwise. The benches were all wet, but Michelle had a large plastic bag from the shirt she had bought. We tore it in half and laid in on the bench so we could sit on it without getting soaked.
While I didn't really care all that much for Joyful! earlier in the day, the Candlelight Processional was more my cup of tea. Alfonso Ribeiro was the narrator and it was his first of the two days he was scheduled for. I really enjoyed it, and would have liked to have stayed for the entire show, but we were going to have to go all the way back around to the FP viewing area for IllumiNations, so we left about 10 minutes early.
When we arrived in the FP viewing area the entire front was filled so we decided to stand toward the back near the top of the incline. When there was about 3 1/2 minutes left in the show a fireworks shell landed in the FP viewing area near us and was spinning around on the ground. Luckily the area wasn't crowded since the rain had cleared the park out quite a bit, and no one was hit by it.
Getting a FP for IllumiNations was definitely worth it. Not only was it a great location to view it, but it was also a straight shot to the exit after. I took a few pics on the way out and we were in line for the bus back to POFQ just after 10:00.
Just found your trip port! My nephew was performing with his choir during the candlelight Processional, that you were at. Sounds like you were having a wonderful trip, can’t wait to read more.
Just found your trip port! My nephew was performing with his choir during the candlelight Processional, that you were at. Sounds like you were having a wonderful trip, can’t wait to read more.
Tuesday, November 27, 2018 - Part 1: Rope Drop Pandora
We were up at 5:45 to get ready for our Animal Kingdom day. Michelle wasn't too excited about being up that early, but I was pretty excited that we'd be experiencing Pandora for the first time in a few hours. It was a cold and cloudy morning as we got off the bus from POFQ and made our way toward security just after 7:20. Michelle brought her backpack which I decided I'd carry around the park all day, after dropping it off in a locker the previous morning in Epcot had gotten us off to a bad start that day. She took the backpack to bag check and I went on ahead to get in line at a turnstile. I ended up setting of the metal detector because I had some change in my pocket. That was a little embarrassing.
We were the second group at the turnstile we waited at. We had a 12:50 FP for FOP so we'd be rope dropping NRJ. We were there probably 30-45 minutes earlier than we needed to be, and it felt like a long wait just standing there in the cold. They began letting us through the turnstiles around 8:15 and we were in Pandora at 8:18.
It was amazing walking into Pandora for the first time and looking up at the floating mountains. It was also nice not needing to rush to get in line for FOP, and to be able to walk around the area near NRJ to take some pics. I took pics for about 4 minutes and then Michelle pointed out that people were starting to line up for NRJ, so we got in line. After standing in line for 5 minutes I decided to step out and spent another 4 minutes taking pics. A few minutes after I got back in line they began letting us enter the attraction. I had read a lot of comments throughout various websites that the attraction wasn't very good. I liked it, and thought it was better than Frozen Ever After, but I wouldn't wait more than 20 minutes in stand by for it. Michelle liked it more than I did, and we both agreed that the animatronic at the end was amazing.
I had intended for us to head straight to Africa for KS after NRJ, but when we exited the ride the land was still pretty empty since everyone in Pandora was standing in line for FOP, and I decided to walk around and take some more pics. I should have stuck to having us head right for Africa because when we got there around 8:50 there were more people waiting to get into the land than I expected, and Michelle decided to go use the restroom since it hadn't opened yet. They had already begun letting people into Africa by the time she got back, so we didn't board a safari vehicle until almost 9:20. At least we got the driver's side of the vehicle, so we had a pretty good view. There was quite a bit of animal activity, but since I only have my phone for a camera I was only able to get one close up. Our vehicle had to stop to let a bongo walk across the path.
We were off the safari around 9:45, which is about the time I had wanted us to be at Expedition Everest. I wanted to get there before the stand by line got too long, but on the walk over, Michelle needed to stop to use the restroom again. I took a couple of pics of the Tree of Life while I waited.
We ended up arriving at Everest just after 10:00 and the posted wait was 35 minutes, which was going to be too long to ride it then. Michelle really wanted to do the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail and the Maharajah Jungle Trek, and I wanted us to be able to take our time and not have to rush through them. We had to be at Up! A Great Bird Adventure at 12:00 and we also had to get something to eat before that show because we didn't have a meal planned until 3:00. So we headed back toward Africa.
We were both hungry so we decided to grab some food before Gorilla Falls. Michelle went to Kusafiri to get a croissant and I went to Creature Comforts for a cupcake. I looked everywhere in the shop, but I didn't see any cupcakes. I ended up settling for a slice of pumpkin loaf and a Starbucks cold brew, and I headed back toward Kusafiri to meet back up with Michelle. The pumpkin loaf was my least favorite snack that I had the entire week we were there. It was okay, but it was no cupcake.
That's all for now. I'll be back later this weekend to continue with our day at AK.
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! No beer for me today, I'm laying off the carbs until our next Disney World trip so I'll be able to treat myself to all of the goodies they have to offer. I'm drinking some green tea out of my favorite mug and listening to Aggressors BC, a ska/reggae band from Belfast, Northern Ireland.
So I'm ready to knock out the late morning/afternoon portion of our Animal Kingdom day. Here we go!
Tuesday, November 27, 2018 - Part 2: Lions & Tigers no Bears, Oh My!
We had done the Maharajah Jungle Trek on our previous visits to AK (2010 and 2013) but we had never walked the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail. We ended up spending around 20 minutes here. I didn't take many pictures since I couldn't really zoom in on the animals but I did take a quick video of the meerkats with a couple of zebras in the background, and I got a pretty good video of a big mean looking gorilla walking down the incline and sitting in front of us to munch on some plants. After GF we walked back over to Asia to walk the Maharajah Jungle Trek. We spent close to a half hour on this trail. Again, not many pics, but I was taking a video of one of the tiger cubs and the other cub ran over and tackled that one. Unfortunately the one who was tackled wasn't really interested in playing and just lied there after. It would have been fun to watch them play for a bit.
It was nearly 11:40 when we left MJT so we had a good 15 minutes to kill before the 12:00 Up! show. We were passing Kali River Rapids on the way over and I looked up at the posted wait time, which was 5 minutes. Not at all surprising considering how cold it was. I had kind of slowed down as we were walking by and Michelle noticed me looking at the wait time. She said I could go ahead and ride it if I wanted to but there was no way she was going to risk getting soaked. I hadn't been able to fit the ride into the itinerary I had made for the day, so I wasn't expecting to be able to ride it at all. Now an opportunity presented itself and I decided to roll the dice and hope I wouldn't get drenched. I was able to walk right up and was directed onto a tube with a couple of foreign teenage girls. It was a quick and relatively dry (thankfully!) journey down the river, and the skies had cleared up quite a bit since earlier that morning in Pandora.
I love the movie Up, and I like the characters Dug and Russell, but I had heard nothing but negative things about A Great Bird Adventure. I had read that it was pretty bad and was rewritten, but wasn't much better after the rewrite. I originally wanted to take it off the itinerary because I wasn't able to fit Festival of the Lion King in, but Michelle wasn't really interested in seeing Lion King since we had seen it twice before, and wanted to see Up!, so I kept it in. We never saw Flights of Wonder, but the Up! show turned about to be fairly enjoyable. I would probably skip it next time, but if Michelle wanted to see it again I'd be okay with sitting through it once more.
We had a 12:50 FP for FOP so we made our way back to Pandora and tapped into the FP line at 12:45. Sometimes when you hear so many great things about something your expectations for it are so high that, when you finally get the chance to experience it for yourself, you end up feeling slightly letdown by it. This was not one of those times. We were both amazed by the experience. It was so immersive, and while we were walking down the stairs after exiting outside I told Michelle I didn't think I'd ever be able to ride Soarin' again. There was no doubt in my mind we needed to get in the stand by line to ride it again right before the park closed that night.
We had some time to hang around the FOP side of Pandora and take some pics before the 1:50 showing of Finding Nemo - The Musical. We caught the last few minutes of the Pandora Rangers utility suit act which was kind of lame. We spent about 15 minutes in the area before heading to the theater for Nemo. We've been to three of the Disney on Broadway touring shows; Beauty and the Beast in Portland, ME January 2013, Lion King in Boston, MA October 2014, and Aladdin in Boston July 2018. We love these shows, so I'm not sure why we hadn't seen Nemo before. It was really well done and I would definitely watch it again.
The show let out at 2:30 and we had a 3:00 ADR for Yak & Yeti. We decided to go ahead and try to check in around 2:40, and we were seated upstairs about 10 minutes later. We ate here in 2015 and we both ordered the chicken kabobs which we enjoyed. This time Michelle just ordered some plain chicken with rice and vegetables. I ordered an Orlando Brewing I-4 IPA and the Chicken Tikka Masala. The IPA was described as a West Coast-style IPA, but it didn't seem like it to me at all. It wasn't very hoppy and didn't have the piney and dank characteristics generally associated with that style of IPA. But it went well enough with the chicken masala which was great. It was nice and spicy but not crazy spicy. The garlic naan was good to have to dip in the remaining sauce once the chicken and rice was gone. It was probably my favorite dish I had during the entire trip.
After our meal we went to get in line for It's Tough to be a Bug! at 4:00. We hadn't seen this show since 2010, so I didn't remember too much about it, and it was fun to see it again. When I booked our FPs for this day I made one for Kilimanjaro Safaris at 5:00 because I wanted to make sure we could see it at sunset. The sun wasn't going to set for another hour, so I wanted to stop at Isle of Java to get the apple cider donut holes and then walk around Dino Land a bit. I ordered the donut holes and a mocha flavored ice coffee, and as we walked to Dino Land we passed under a tree where an owl was hanging out.
I swear he was looking directly at me at one point and I was worried he was going to swoop down and snag my donut holes!
The iced coffee was okay, but the donut holes were really good.
I was hoping to watch some of the dance party with Chip and Dale in their dino pajamas while enjoying my snack, but sadly the party hadn't started yet. We ended up going in one of the shops and I had to take a picture of Santa Saurus.
Without much to do in Dino Land we just kind of walked around a bit, and I wish now that I had gotten in line for the Donald meet and greet right when we arrived at the land instead of only getting a pic of him in passing.
We stayed in the land until a little after 5:00 and it was time to make our way to Africa for our second safari of the day, but that will have to wait until Part 3 of my AK report.
Your pics are so good. Very clear and the colors are great. I was going to upgrade to XR but your pics have me considering the XS. Flights of Passsge is the most amazing ride I have ever been on. It’s my priority fast pass for my trip in June. I have to book for 10 people but hopefully I get them. We had a party of 12 last year and got them
Your pics are so good. Very clear and the colors are great. I was going to upgrade to XR but your pics have me considering the XS. Flights of Passsge is the most amazing ride I have ever been on. It’s my priority fast pass for my trip in June. I have to book for 10 people but hopefully I get them. We had a party of 12 last year and got them
Thank you. I wasn't planning on upgrading at the time, but then I started reading about the XS, and the telephoto lens swayed me. I ended up using that zoom lens a lot. I always seem to upgrade my phone right before a Disney trip.
I was pretty happy with how the majority of my day pictures turned out, but I need to work on taking pics in low light.
Good luck with your Fastpasses for your June trip!
Tuesday, November 27, 2018 - Part 3: Evening at Animal Kingdom
Our Kilimanjaro Safari ride at sunset ended up being a big disappointment compared to our morning ride. Sunset was at 5:30 that night and I was hoping to board the vehicle at about 5:25. I was already concerned about trying to time it just right, and when we arrived at the FP line it was already pretty long. We ended up getting on the vehicle around 5:35 and we were seated on the right side this time. Seeing the orange sky on the horizon was the only good thing about the ride, but I wasn't really able to take any pictures from that side of the vehicle. We didn't see as many animals as we had in the morning, and it got too dark to even see anything before we got to the lions. I'd be willing to take another shot at it someday, though. I'd just arrive at the FP line sooner and hope for a seat on the left side.
After exiting the safari we had to hurry over to the 6:00 Festival of the Lion King. I love this show, but I originally wasn't able to fit it into our itinerary. Animal Kingdom was the most difficult day for me to plan. It wasn't easy trying to fit all of the shows in around a 3:00 ADR and 3 FPs that were spread out into the evening. I think I did 3 different drafts for our AK day before I finally found a way to fit FTLK in. I'm glad I did because the show was amazing as always.
After FTLK we walked over to Asia for our 3rd and final FP of the day, Expedition Everest. We love this ride, and it was our first time on it in the dark. It definitely seemed more intense at night, and I'm finding that I enjoy all of the outdoor rides even more in the dark. After Everest we had a little over an hour before the 8:00 park close. We took our time making our way to Pandora, and took in the evening sights along the way.
It's astonishing how different Pandora is at night compared to the day. Earlier in the day I found I was constantly looking to the sky and the floating mountains, but at night my eyes were attracted to all of the illuminating flora near the ground. We watched a little bit of the drummers, and just walked around the land for 15-20 minutes before going to get in line for FOP at 7:45. The posted wait time was 105 minutes, but we were mounting our Banshees an hour after we got in line. It was definitely worth the wait to experience the attraction again. It was cool to experience the queue too, but if given the choice of being able to go through the queue with an hour wait, or getting on the attraction with a FP, I'll take the FP option every time.
On the way to the exit I stopped to take a few evening pics of the Tree of Life and the giant Christmas tree before we headed out to the bust stop for POFQ just after 9:00.
All in all it was a great day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. We were able to do everything on the itinerary except for a morning ride on Expedition Everest, and I was able to take an unplanned ride on Kali River rapids due to the cold weather.
Wednesday, November 28, 2018 - Part 1: Magic Kingdom Solo Rope Drop #1
I awoke at 6:30 for what was to be my first of back-to-back rope drop days at MK. For the rest of the week Michelle would be sleeping in and meeting me at the parks later in the morning. I had decided ahead of time that this day was going to be a laid back rope drop. This was going to be my first time seeing MK decorated for the holidays, and I knew I was going to want to walk around a bit once inside the park to take it all in. I arrived at the park by bus from POFQ a little after 7:30, and they began letting guests through the turnstiles at 7:49.
It was nice not feeling the need to rush right down Main Street to wait in another line for an hour. I walked around Town Square for a good 10 minutes, looking at all of the decorated buildings and taking pictures. I just wish I had thought to walk up the train station steps to take some pics from the viewpoint up there. Michelle and I have actually never even been up there despite spending 7 days at MK over the last 9 years. It's definitely something we'll have to do on our next trip even though the trains won't be running.
At 8:00 I began to make my way down Main Street to get a Sugar Rush Jumbo Cupcake, a Mickey Cinnamon Roll, and a Starbucks Cold Brew at Main Street Bakery. This was my first time buying anything for breakfast since arriving at WDW. I had packed some Primal Kitchen Collagen Fuel Bars for the trip, so on the previous days I just ate one of those at the hotel before leaving for a park in the morning.
I love sitting at one these tables, with a nice view of the castle, and enjoying a snack. I was going to eat the cupcake and drink the cold brew there, and then head over to the castle with the cinnamon roll. The cupcake was aptly named since it was topped with a ton of icing, but it was really tasty. I sat there for nearly a half hour, and only one other table was occupied the entire time I was there. It was chilly (40 degrees) and a little windy. Not an ideal morning for a cold brew, but I'm not really into hot coffee. Of course my reason for taking the cinnamon roll to the hub was to take picture of it in front of the castle.
I spent the 15 minutes prior to the start of Let the Magic Begin Welcome Show walking around the hub; eating my cinnamon roll while stopping to take pics of some fountains and the small character statues. This was my first time seeing the welcome show and it was a nice way to kick off what would no doubt be a great day at MK.
Once the show concluded I made my way through Adventure Land on the way to BTMR, stopping only to wash the stickiness of the cinnamon roll off my fingers, and then to take a quick pic of Shaker.
I arrived at BTMR at 9:06 and walked right on. After exiting outside I decided to check my phone. I had made our first FP for BTMR and had told Michelle to make sure she was near the ride between 9:45 and 10:00. When I looked at my phone I saw I had a text from her letting me know she had just arrived at the park. While I waited for her to reach me I decided to look at the wait times. The morning plan was to use our 3 FPs (Big Thunder, Splash, Jungle Cruise) and go on Pirates before our 11:30 ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern. Big Thunder was only up to 10 minutes, and since she had arrived a half hour early I figured we should be able to ride it via standby, head over to ride Pirates via standby, and make it back in time to ride Big Thunder again with our FP. So that's what we did.
We were seated at the front of the train for our FP ride of BTMR and I shot a video of it. The video started at 9:59 and ended 3 minutes and 25 seconds later. The next pic I took was the front of Splash Mountain at 10:28. I have absolutely no idea what we did during that 25 minute gap. Anyway, SM still had only a 5 minute wait posted at 10:28. Nobody wanted to ride it because of the cold, including Michelle. I still wanted to go on it, but obviously I didn't need to use a FP for it, so I changed our 2nd FP from SM to Haunted Mansion at 4:00. That is exactly what I was planning to try to get for our 4th FP, so it was good to be able to book it then and not have to worry about it later.
As you can see, I had the entire log to myself. I've heard people say the front is the worst place to be if you want to avoid getting wet, but I only had a few drops of water hit me at the end of the big drop. I was off the ride at 10:49, and we left the area about 10 minutes later to go use our JC FP. When we arrived there was a long line that was backed up and went up the slight hill. I just assumed it was the standby line but it was actually the FP line. We knew we were going to be there for awhile and Michelle wanted to use the restroom. I told her she might as well because I'd likely still be standing outside by the time she got back. When she rejoined me in line we slowly made our way inside. As the minutes continued to pass I realized we weren't going to make it to Liberty Tree Tavern by 11:30. The only question was how late we would end up being. I was starting to get stressed, worrying that either we would get there and have to wait a long time for a table, or that we would show up so late they would turn us away. I can only imagine the look that must have been on my face when an ECV needed to be loaded on to the boat we'd be boarding. Our ride finally began at 10:24. We hadn't been on it since 2010, so I had pretty much forgotten everything about it besides the elephants in the water. Of course this time it had the Jingle Cruise overlay which was kind of neat, it had a nice charm with the holiday inspired jokes. We were off our boat at 11:35 and began doing the "fast walk" to Liberty Tree.
In Part 2 of this MK day we'll find out whether or not the long wait for Jungle Cruise ruined our Liberty Tree Tavern ADR.
Wednesday, November 28, 2018 - Part 2: Afternoon at Magic Kingdom
Thankfully Liberty Tree Tavern is pretty close to Jungle Cruise, so we were able to make it over there quickly. I checked us in and we took a seat in the waiting area. I was expecting us to have to wait at least 10-15 minutes since we had arrived nearly 10 minutes late, but they called my name only 5 minutes after we had sat down to wait for a table to open up for us. Michelle had them prepare for her some fish with vegetables, and I ordered the Bacon Cheddar Cheeseburger and a Samuel Adams New England IPA. How things have changed since we last ate here in May of 2010. When we had lunch here back then I remember asking our server, a nice older lady, what they had for beer. She kindly replied "Sir, there's no alcohol served in the Magic Kingdom." We both enjoyed our meal, and I would definitely order the burger again. I would never go out of my way to have any Samuel Adams IPA. They make pretty decent lagers, IPAs not so much. Their New England IPA was serviceable though, and went well with my burger.
We were at Liberty Tree for a little over an hour, and the plan was to go to Country Bear Jamboree and the Enchanted Tiki Room before going to find a spot on Main Street for the 2:00 Festival of Fantasy Parade. We walked over to CBJ and we were able to go right in. I don't remember much from my visit to MK as a 4 or 5 year old in the late 70's, but I do remember crying when we passed on going in CBJ because there was a long line waiting to get in, and it was hot outside. Michelle and I saw it for the first time during our 2015 trip. I wasn't expecting much from it, but it turned out to be a fun little show. It was just as fun this time around, and we walked over to the Tiki Room when it was over.
This was our first time in the Tiki room, and I'm glad I had decided to put it on the itinerary. Who could have imagined a 47 year old show featuring animatronic birds talking and singing for 15 minutes would be so entertaining? Not me, but that song sure is catchy. We then headed for Main Street to grab a spot for the parade, but I had to stop when I saw Sunshine Tree Terrace along our path. I had never had a Citrus Swirl, and I had put it on my long list of snacks to get on this trip. Now I shall share with you a tale of how I received a free Citrus Swirl. The couple in front of me in the line ordered a Citrus Swirl Float. When the lady at the register handed it to them they looked at it and told her that what they had received wasn't a Citrus Swirl Float. She assured them that it was, but they weren't convinced. After much discussion they finally realized that it was indeed a Citrus Swirl Float. The lady was nice about it but I imagine she had to have been a little annoyed. So then I step up and order a Citrus Swirl in a cup, and I hand her a gift card to pay for it. Apparently people don't use gift cards to buy their treats there. She looked all over for the scanner that is used to scan gift cards, and she finally found it behind the register in the small space between the register and the wall. So she goes to scan the card, only... no red laser. The scanner wasn't even plugged in. She didn't want to bother with it anymore at that point, so she told me she would get my Citrus Swirl and I wouldn't need to pay for it. I was getting my wallet out when she handed it to me, but she told me there was no need to do so. I thanked her graciously and was on my way to Main Street with a free Citrus Swirl.
When we arrived at Main Street it was 1:43 and we found a spot near Casey's that seemed decent enough. I told Michelle to hold that spot while I went to look around the area in front of the Emporium to see if there was a better spot. I found a spot across the street from Uptown Jewelers and Main Street Cinema that I liked more than the Casey's spot. I took my phone out of my pocket so I could text Michelle, and when I looked up, the Dapper Dans strolled up in front of me. That seemed to me like a sure enough sign that this was the spot we were meant to watch the parade from. I texted Michelle and told her to walk down to the area in front of the barber shop quartet who were dressed in red.
We still had a good half hour before the parade would reach us, so I took several pictures of the decorated buildings across the street from us as we waited. It was during this time I seemed to develop a fascination with taking pictures of lamp posts and clocks, as well as pictures that had balloons in the shot.
Imagine my excitement when I was able to get a close up with both a clock and balloons in it.
While the spot I chose was great for viewing the parade, it turned out not to be quite so great for taking pictures of the parade for two reasons. For one, the holiday decorations hanging off of the buildings and lamp posts obstructed the view of the castle on shots looking down Main Street. Second, the shadows of the buildings behind us were cast right onto Main Street.
I had worn my Captain Hook shirt on this day, a shirt I had ordered from Disney's online store about a month before this trip. Sadly it was so cold out that I was wearing both a thin and a thick zipped up hoodie over it for most of the day. As the float with Hook drew near I remembered I was wearing the shirt and quickly unzipped my hoodies so I could point out my shirt to him. I'm pretty sure he saw it.
The only time we had seen the parade previously was from in front of the castle in 2015. We didn't stake out a spot for it then, we just happened to be in that area as it was making it's way down. Hook's back was to us as it passed by that time, so I was pretty happy he was facing us this time around. Once the the float with Mickey and Minnie had passed us it was 2:40 and we moved up toward the castle to get a spot for the 3:15 showing of Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire. We sat on the Walt side of the fence surrounding the Partners statue and waited for the show to begin. I always enjoy watching any castle stage show in MK and this was our first time seeing this one. It was pretty awesome seeing Louis in it. I really wish they had a Meet and Greet for him somewhere in WDW.
After the stage show ended we had a little more than a half hour to kill before the 4:15 The Muppets Present... Great Moments in American History show in Liberty Square. I decided to use this time to grab another one of the treats I wanted to try, which just so happened to be in Liberty Square at Sleepy Hollow. I've always enjoyed the ice cream cookie sandwiches they make there, so the Vanilla Ice Cream Churro Sandwich was one of the items I was looking forward to most on this trip. It would have made a whole lot of sense to eat it at one of the tables right next to Sleepy Hollow seeing as how we were going to watch Muppets Present, which was also right there, but I had read that the outside area of Pinocchio Village Haus, that you walk up the stairs to get to, was a great place to enjoy a midday snack. I don't think Michelle was too impressed that I wanted us to walk all the way over there just so I could eat my snack up there.
The sandwich was really good, but it was quite messy with ice cream melting all around it. On our way back toward the Hall of Presidents area we stopped at the Tangled restrooms so I could wash my hands. As we were walking around to the front of the Hall of Presidents building the show had just started.
I loved watching The Muppet Show when I was a kid, I watched it every weekend, so I was really looking forward to seeing this show. It was so awesome seeing some of the Muppet characters I loved as a kid performing live right in front of me. This show was easily one of the highlights of our entire trip for me. I had read that there were two slight variations of the show, and that if you watched the last two performances of the day you would usually see them both. I had planned for us to watch the last two shows of this day which is why I had chosen a 4:00 FP for Haunted Mansion.
We arrived at the FP entrance at 4:27 with a 120 minute standby wait posted. While we now get a nice clear view of the mansion since they took the trees down that used to be in front of it, I personally felt like those old trees being there helped to set the mood for it being a creepy old haunted mansion. Maybe it was just me.
When we returned for the 5:15 Muppets Present show we were able to stand closer, right at the front. I didn't notice anything different from the show we had watched an hour earlier, but I enjoyed it just the same.
It was nearing 5:30 and we had one more thing to do before A Frozen Holiday Wish at 6:15. As we made our way to Mickey's PhilharMagic I had to get a quick pic of the lanterns, that were now lit up, by the Tangled restrooms.
Mickey's PhilharMagic was another attraction we hadn't experienced since 2010, and I couldn't remember anything about prior to seeing it again. While it did feel a little dated watching it in 2018 it was still really enjoyable. When we were let out of the show we had to quickly make our way around to the front of the castle and find a spot to watch A Frozen Holiday Wish.
Coming up next: the remainder of our evening at Magic Kingdom.
We are doing 2 days at AK on our next trip and we have ADR for Y&Y on both of them. I'm planning to try something different on one of those days, but I will definitely be getting the Chicken Masala on the other one. Have fun in August!
Wednesday, November 28, 2018 - Part 3: Evening at Magic Kingdom with EMH
We arrived near the front of the castle for A Frozen Holiday Wish a few minutes before the show started. As expected the area was quite crowded. I decided to take a video of the castle lighting and began recording at the point where Elsa begins to use her powers. The whole lead up from that point until the castle lights actually turn on felt a little drawn out, but words cannot describe how amazing it was to see the castle light up in person for the first time. It was truly breathtaking.
With the castle lighting over it was now time to leave the park for an hour or so. We had been to the Contemporary one morning earlier in the week to look at the Christmas decorations, and we wanted to return at night to see the large tree lit up. We weren't going to want to do it at the end of either of our MK days because we were going to be at the park past midnight each night, so I had decided to have us go at this point, and we could grab something to eat for dinner at the Contempo Cafe while we were there.
I ordered the Artisanal Mac & Cheese and a cookies and cream cupcake. Michelle ordered a turkey sandwich. My mac & cheese had cherry tomatoes, bacon, and breadcrumbs. It was really good, though I would personally never choose to put tomatoes in mac & cheese. The cupcake was also really good, but I had wondered what the yellow thing sticking out of the icing was supposed to be. A month or so ago I found out it's supposed to be the front end of a monorail train. Maybe I would have picked up on it if it had been white instead of yellow.
We ended up being at the Contemporary quite a bit longer than I had anticipated. Michelle had to speak with someone to have her sandwich custom made, and I had finished my meal well before her sandwich finally arrived. Nearly 2 hours after we had left MK we were back inside the park. I wanted to check out the Jingle Cruise at night, so I had made an 8:00 FP for it after we had used our HM FP at 4:30. It was neat seeing it at night even if the jokes were mostly the same as what we had heard on our ride that morning. Michelle and I both thought our skipper for the evening ride did a better job of delivering the jokes than the one we had in the morning.
Once the cruise was over we made our way to the hub to find a viewing spot for Happily Ever After, and the place was packed. We were looking around near the grassy area in front of Casey's. They had put tape down in some areas to allow for walkways, and we lucked into a small spot just inside an area that was taped off. For about the next 15 minutes we continually heard a CM telling guests there was plenty of room up at the front of the castle and that that was the best area to watch it from anyway. So the next time you go remember that the area everyone seems to be avoiding is actually the best area to view fireworks.
Once the fireworks were over we moved a little closer to the castle for Once Upon A Time. I love watching the projections on the castle, but having projections during the entire fireworks show and having a projection show after it kind of felt like overkill to me. I guess I'd just prefer to see fireworks on their own.
With both shows over it was 10:00 and time for EMH until midnight. We had never been on Astro Orbiter, and I was thinking it would be really cool to do at night, so we headed for Tomorrowland after spending the entire day on the left side of the park. The line didn't seem too bad when we got there, but it took awhile to board due to the slow loading speed. I enjoyed riding it at night, but if we were to do it again we would go in separate rockets. Michelle sat in front of me, and it was cramped and painful with the sides of my knees pressed right up against the inside of the metal rocket.
We also went on another attraction for the first time, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. I like Toy Story Mania a lot, so I was expecting to enjoy this, but I thought it was pretty lame. Michelle didn't care for it either.
We then stopped to do Under the Sea while on our way over to BTMR. The Ursula animatronic is awesome, but I like the exterior of the attraction more than the actual ride. Especially the lighting on Prince Eric's castle at night.
We first rode BTMR at night with EMH during our 2015 trip. It was our first time on any outdoor ride at night, and we couldn't believe how different it felt from doing it during the daytime. It felt more intense in the dark. We will always be sure to go on this ride anytime we do evening EMH.
After BTMR we walked along the wooden bridge in Frontierland. At this point it was 11:40 and we wanted to go take a quick ride on Prince Charming Regal Carrousel, another of our favorite things to do at nighttime in MK, before ending our day with 7DMT.
We were in line for 7DMT at 11:54 and off the ride at 12:25. This was our first time on this ride at night and it was great. Maybe it's just me but it seems like all of the outdoor rides are even more enjoyable at night.
As we made our way to the front of the park we stopped to take some pictures of the castle, and then the Christmas tree and toy soldiers. It was a little after 12:40 when we got in line for the bus back to POFQ. It was a long but awesome day at MK. 3 of our 5 park days were complete, and so far each one seemed to be even better than the one before it.
Thursday, November 29, 2018 - Part 1: MK RD on a MVMCP day
I was out of bed at 6:45 after not getting to sleep until 2:00 following the previous night's EMH at MK. I'd be rope dropping MK solo again on this day, and Michelle was supposed to meet up with me in the park before our first scheduled FP, which was Space Mountain at 12:45. While my rope drop the day before was pretty laid back, this one was going to be a little more ambitious. I wanted to do 7DMT, PPF, and HM to experience the queues, and I also wanted to do BTMR and Splash so that I would be doing all of the MK mountain rides on this day.
I don't recall what time they allowed guests to enter the park, but I imagine it was around the same time as the previous day, which was 7:50. I was going to begin my day on the same ride I ended the previous one with, 7DMT. We had a FP for the ride scheduled for later in the day, so I didn't really need to RD it, but I wanted to RD it anyway, just to see what it was like. Is that weird? Anyway, I walked up to the rope off to the right of the castle that was blocking the pathway toward MTP. I was the first guest there and a CM greeted me when I arrived. She asked if I'd be going to 7DMT and she told me that's where she'd be heading too. We chatted for about a minute, mostly about how cold it had been the last few days (it was cold again this morning). While it had been colder the previous morning, that start to that morning had been a lot more enjoyable since I wasn't standing in a line. After what felt like an eternity the welcoming show in front of the castle was coming to a close at 8:58. This was my view of it:
I had read that the 7DMT RD can be a pretty miserable experience. Being at the front of the pack I had no issues, but I imagine it could be a little pushy and shovey being in the thick of the crowd, and I did hear some people behind me complaining about other people in the crowd once we had reached the queue.
I was done with 7DMT at 9:15 and walked quickly over to PPF where I would spend a good 25 minutes in line. After PP I was walking the wooden bridges in Frontierland, on the way to BTMR, and Liver Lips was heading toward me from the opposite direction. I took out my phone to take a quick pic of him, and the CM that was with him offered to take a picture of me with him.
I arrived at BTMR at 9:48 with a 20 minute wait posted. While I was waiting in line for BTMR I opened the ME app to check the wait time for HM, and it was 20 minutes. Once I was off BTMR I checked the wait time on HM again and it had dropped to 15. I was planning to ride Splash next, but because it was a cold morning it only had a 5 minute wait posted. I decided it would make more sense do HM first, and then come back to Splash. With Splash being a nearly 20 minute ride I figured HM's wait would like go up to 20-30 minutes by the time I got off Splash, while Splash would most likely still be a walk on by the time I got back to it. It would require some extra walking, but I didn't mind. Walking is good for you.
I was in the HM queue at 10:25, and waited maybe 10 minutes. Another good thing about going there first was that I was right near Sleepy Hollow, and I had wanted to get the Breakfast Egg and Cheese Waffle Sandwich. While I was in line at Sleepy Hollow I checked my phone. I had a text from Michelle letting me know she was waiting for the 10:10 bus to MK, so she was going to show up at the park soon.
With breakfast sandwich in hand I walked back to Splash Mountain and sat down on one of the benches near the entrance to eat it before getting on the ride. When I got on Splash at 10:30 the previous morning I was seated at the front, and I was the only rider on the log. When I got on the ride at 11:00 on this morning the rest of the log was full, and I was a single rider in the back. I actually got a little wetter this time around, but not bad.
I texted Michelle and told her to meet me over near Liberty Square Market. I had read that they had a candy bacon skewer and a sweet and spicy chicken skewer, and I wanted to try both. I didn't see the items on the menu, so I asked, and I was told that they were available at Westward Ho Refreshments. Naturally, since I had just passed it on my way over from Splash. So I headed back in the direction I just came from.
I really liked the chicken skewer, but I didn't care much for the bacon one. It was fatty and chewy, with no crispiness. It didn't really taste like bacon to me either.
I met up with Michelle outside Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe at 11:40 and, we had over an hour to kill before our Space Mountain FP. There was a Muppets Present show coming up at 12:00 and I asked her if she wanted to watch it. I didn't think she would want to since we had just seen it twice the day before, but she did. I wanted to get a Dole Whip to enjoy during the show, so we walked over to Aloha Isle Refreshments.
On the way back to Liberty Square we passed Big Al, who was just kind of hanging out behind a frozen treat stand that was closed.
I have a confession to make. I didn't know the names of any of the Country Bears while I was on this trip. While I was taking this picture of Big Al a man called out to him, but he said his name fast, and it sounded to me like he said "Miguel." So for the rest of the trip, and for weeks following it, I thought this bear's name was Miguel. Thankfully I never called out to him while I was there.
It was a blast watching the Muppets again. I don't know if I could ever tire of watching them.
After the show we decided to go to the Emporium to see if they had any MVMCP merchandise out. While we were in there I thought about getting the $100 gift card that came with a Holiday Goofy pin. Earlier in the week I had bought the GC that had the Donald pin, and Michelle got the Mickey one. Michelle had also bought the GC with the Minnie pin while she was in Ye Old Christmas Shoppe, so if I were to buy Goofy we'd have all four of them. I got in line to buy it, but the line was kind of long. While I was waiting I started wondering if I'd even spend the $100, since we only had one more day left on our trip after this day. I didn't really feel like waiting in the line, and I decided not to get it right then. That decision would come back to bite me a few hours later.
I went outside while Michelle was still looking around in the store and I saw Chip and Dale by the flag pole. I didn't want to get in the line for the meet and greet but I did want to take a picture of them. I was able to get this pic before a CM shooed me away, saying "This is the exit, not the entrance."
When Michelle was done in the store we went to Tomorrowland to use our Space Mountain FP. I like this ride, but the way it was designed it is a little uncomfortable to get in and out of with long legs. After Space Mountain we looked around in Mickey's Star Traders before heading to Be Our Guest for our 1:50 ADR.
I'll be back next time with the remainder of our day leading up to MVMCP.
Thursday, November 29, 2018 - Part 2: Afternoon in MK before MVMCP
We arrived at Be Our Guest for our 1:50 ADR. I ordered the Croque Monsieur and Michelle ordered the Carved Turkey Sandwich, and we took a seat in the Castle Gallery. This was our first time dining in a room other than the Grand Ballroom where we had dinner in May 2013 and lunch in October 2015. My sandwich and frites were pretty good, but not as good as the Braised Pork I got in 2015.
I was on the fence about doing Enchanted tales with Belle since we don't have kids, but I figured we might as well check it out, and I had made it our 2nd FP so that we could go there right after lunch. It's probably one of those things you need to see for yourself to know if you would like it or not. We enjoyed it. I was hoping to be selected to participate in the story, but I was not. The guests who were chosen got to have their picture taken with Belle when it was over, but the CM never offered a photo op for the rest of us, which was a little disappointing.
After Enchanted Tales we went to Town Square Theater to get in line for a long wait to see Sandy Claws and Sally. We were the 3rd group there, with only a lone female and a lone male ahead of us. We waited for nearly and hour and a half, but it turned out to be one of the best meet and greets we had on the trip. They interacted with us for a good minute before we posed for the picture. During that time Sally asked Michelle about the gloves she was wearing, if they had been stitched with spider's legs. I told Jack I liked his hat and he replied "I like your Sandy Claws hat as well." Sadly I forgot to take off my glasses which have a lot of light glaring in them in the picture.
The meet and greet exited through the Curtain Calls Collectibles shop, so we looked at the pins while we were in there. I noticed a Chip and Dale holiday pin I hadn't seen before on the wall behind the register, and asked the CM at the register if I could look at it. She handed me that pin and another Chip and Dale pin that was in a box. It was a jumbo pin that you could turn a wheel to countdown the days until Christmas. I decided I wanted to get both of them, but since it was going to be over $35 I decided I should get the holiday gift card with the Goofy pin that I had almost bought a few hours earlier at Emporium, and use the card to pay for the Chip and Dale pins. So I told the CM I was going to think about it, and we left the shop.
I would have gone to Emporium to buy the gift card right then, but I wasn't going to have time because we had a 3:50-4:50 FP for 7DMT. It was 4:40 and the Move It! Shake It! floats were going around the flag pole area, so we had a bit of a crowd to weave through on our way to the ride. We tapped in to 7DMT at 4:54.
After 7DMT it was back to Main Street to go to Emporium for the gift card. I really liked this view of the castle as we passed by it.
Once I had the gift card we went back to Curtain Call Collectibles so I could get the Chip and Dale pins. I walked up to the register and one of the CM remembered I had been looking at those Chip and Dale pins. He got one of them for me, but the jumbo pin was nowhere in sight. Apparently that was the last one they had, and someone else had bought it. He told me my best bet would be to check Pin Trader at Disney Springs, the AKL gift shop, or Frontier Trading Post. We weren't going to be anywhere near Disney Springs or AKL the rest of our trip, so Frontier Trading Post was going to be my only shot.
After buying the one Chip and Dale pin I decided to go to Main Street Bakery while we were right there since they had a MVMCP treat I wanted, the Chocolate Yule Log. The day before our trip I had read a MVMCP report on Disney Tourist Blog. In the report Tom mentioned he got the log before the party started at 7:00, so I assumed you could start getting the treats once you have your party bracelet. Apparently they only sell them early to famous bloggers, because when I walked up to order one I was told they couldn't sell them until 7:00. This was pretty disappointing. There were 3 different party treats I wanted to get throughout the park, and I was hoping to get them before the party actually started.
We walked to Frontierland and went in the shop I was hoping would have the Chip and Dale jumbo pin. I saw a spinner rack of pins, but knew it wouldn't be on that, so I asked a CM if they had it. She pointed to a wall and told me it would be over there if they had it. I walked over to the wall that had various pins, but I didn't see the jumbo pin. I looked it over again a few times before finally admitting defeat and walking out of the store. The day had been going really well, but suddenly I was having a string of bad luck.
Since we were right near Pecos Bill I decided to go there to see if I could get the Three Caballeros Spiced Chocolate Yule Log. When we walked in there was a CM handing out menus to guests. I asked her if the yule log was available, and she told me it was. I walked up to a register to order, and the CM at the register told me she didn't think they could sell them yet. She said she'd double check and waved another CM over. I was told they couldn't sell them until 6:45.
Frustration was mounting as we walked over to Sleepy Hollow, and my last chance at possibly getting one of the holiday treats out of the way before the party actually started. I wasn't feeling good about my chances at this point as I walked up to the register and asked the woman if the Jack Skellington treat was available yet. She told me that treat had been available at the Halloween party. As I started to explain what I meant, she said "Oh, the Sandy Claws Dessert." I said "yes" and she stood there silent for a few seconds, like she was trying to decide if she should sell it to me even though she knew it was an hour too soon. When she finally spoke, she told me they weren't allowed to sell it before 7:00.
I was in a pretty foul mood as we walked toward the castle to find a viewing spot for A Frozen Holiday Wish. I was kicking myself for missing out on the Chip and Dale jumbo pin, and I wasn't too happy about the thought of having to waste party time in order to get the 3 party treats I wanted to try. But once the castle show started, that Disney magic grabbed a hold of me and my spirits were lifted.
Once the castle lighting was over we had 40 minutes to kill before the party started. I wanted to check out the Reindeer Wranglers at 7:00, and I was told the Pecos Bill yule log would be available at 6:45, so it was back to Frontierland again. But first we were going to stop for a ride on The Magic Carpets of Aladdin in Adventureland. We had never bothered with this ride before, if we wanted to go on a Dumbo-type ride, we'd just go on Dumbo, but we had time to kill, and I thought it might be somewhat fun to ride at night. It was fun enough for what it was.
After Magic Carpets I was going back to Pecos Bill, and Michelle was off to look for a pretzel. We were to meet up outside County Bear Jamboree at 7:00. I walked up to a register at Pecos Bill a few minutes after 6:45 and asked for the yule log. The young man at the register told me he didn't know if they could sell it yet. I told him I was told 6:45, and he said that's what he heard too. He went to check, and when he returned I was finally able to order one. I took it to the outside area of the restaurant and sat down to eat it.
I don't know if the yule log had cayenne pepper or something like that in it, but it was a little spicier than just holiday spices. It had a slight kick to it, and it was really tasty. I finished eating it at 7:00 and MVMCP was underway.
Hello Disboarders! I took a much needed day off from work today, so I decided to take some time to continue with the trip report I feel I should have completed a couple of months ago. I guess it seems appropriate that I'm about to write about our time during MVMCP because it's actually snowing here in the Portland, ME area right now. While I'm not too happy to see snow falling outside my window during the 2nd week of April, I'm pretty sure Steve Winwood would tell me "You've got to roll with it, baby." So that's what I'm going to do. I've fired up my Christmas playlist, which contains some songs that were playing in the parks and on the buses while we were there, and I'm ready to go. But I've rambled on long enough. Now on with the show!
Thursday, November 29, 2018 - Part 3: Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
After leaving Pecos Bill, I arrived just outside of Frontier Trading Post at 7:02, and the Country Bears were just arriving as well. Michelle was supposed to meet me here after going off to look for a pretzel, but she hadn't arrived yet. The Reindeer Wranglers were also nowhere in sight, but that didn't stop the Country Bears from dancing it up. Shaker and Liver Lips were dancing with some guests to the background music that was playing in the park. After watching them for a couple of minutes I decided it would be in my best interest to head over to Sleepy Hollow for the Sandy Claws Dessert since neither Michelle nor the Reindeer Wranglers had shown up yet.
I ordered the Sandy Claws Dessert and sat down at a table with a view of the castle. Not only was this a really cool looking treat, it tasted really good too, with cinnamon spiced cake and candy pearls inside.
After finishing my treat I returned to Frontierland just after 7:20. Michelle was there, and the Reindeer Wranglers were playing their Christmas tunes. I have to say I don't care for country music. Honestly, I can't stand it, but watching the Country Bears sure does bring a smile to my face. But it was nearing 7:30, and I felt that we should head to Main Street to grab a spot for Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade.
We ended up getting a spot right near where we had watched the Festival of Fantasy Parade the day before, in front of Emporium. This time we were slightly closer to the castle and right next to a lamp post. Michelle hadn't been able to get a pretzel when we had split up earlier, and since we had plenty of time before the parade was going to arrive on Main Street, she went off to look for a pretzel while I held our parade spot. I spent the time taking pictures of the various buildings and things as the snow fell on Main Street.
After Michelle had returned I had her hold our spot, and I went to Main Street Bakery around 8:10 to get the last of the 3 party treats I wanted to try, the Chocolate Yule Log. This was another delicious party exclusive treat. I ate about half of it inside the shop, and then I decided I should get back to our viewing spot, and not risk the parade showing up and having me get stuck watching it from just outside the bakery.
I was back at our viewing location at 8:30 and it wouldn't be long before the parade was making it's way down Main Street.
We had a really good spot to watch the parade. Unfortunately the majority of my pictures turned out grainy and/or blurry. These 2 were the best of the few decent ones I was able to get.
Once the parade was over we moved up to the hub to get a spot for Holiday Wishes. The fireworks didn't start until 10:00, so we were able to see the 9:25 showing of Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration while we waited. That show ended at 9:45 and then we moved back a little bit to have a better overall view for the upcoming fireworks, and the spot we got was perfect. The way the crowd was spread out, there was a very large oval shaped area in front of us that was void of people. I didn't get too excited about it though, we still had 14 minutes until the fireworks, and I expected the area to fill up in that time. At 9:55 the fireworks were only 5 minutes from starting, and not a single person had taken residence in that space. I was beginning to think were were actually going to have a completely unobstructed view of the castle during the fireworks show. So what happens? Only a couple of minutes later, a tall man wearing a raccoon hat walks up and stands dead center, all alone, right in the middle of that open space. Are you frickin' kidding me?
Here you can see his hands holding his phone up, and the top of his raccoon hat:
The next pic was taken right after he walked away, once the fireworks had ended, to give you an idea of what my view for the fireworks would have looked like had he not walked up a few minutes before they started:
It was now 10:15 and I really only had one must-do left before the party ended, the meet and greet with Donald and Scrooge. But I kind of wanted to see the dancing polar bears at Cosmic Ray's, so we headed over there. When we arrived there were no polar bears, but instead a couple of reindeer dancing with a couple of elves.
We stayed there for about 10 minutes. Michelle even got in on the dancing action for about a minute, but I don't think she'd be too impressed if I posted any of those pics on the internet. After that we went to Pinocchio Village Haus to get some cookies before heading to Storybook Circus.
We got in line for the Donald and Scrooge meet and greet around 11:00. After the fireworks had ended Michelle wanted to go on the PeopleMover, but I told her I had read stories of people being stuck on it during MNSSHP and MVMCP, and that I wasn't going to risk getting stuck on it during an event I'm paying extra for. While we were waiting in the line for Donald and Scrooge we heard one guest telling another that he had been on the PeopleMover, and it had broken down, and he was not impressed. Michelle and I looked at each other and I gave her an "I told you so" look. We both got a kick out of that for the next few minutes.
We waited just over a half hour before we were able to meet Donald and Scrooge. I was hoping it would be quicker, so that we might be able to catch some of the 2nd Christmas parade, but it was not meant to be.
After the meet and greet we were on our way back to the front of the castle to watch the final showing of Mickey's Most Merriest Celebration at 11:55. I had read that this was the best time to watch it since the park would be mostly cleared out by then. On our way over there we were passing the Mad tea Party and we saw Tweedledee and Tweedledum. We still had more than 5 minutes before the show, and there were only a couple of small groups waiting to get a picture, so we decided to go ahead and get in line for them.
After the meet and greet we made it to the front of the castle with a minute to spare. Even though we had already seen the show earlier in the evening, right before the fireworks, it was great being able to see it much closer to the castle, and with such a small crowd.
After the show ended at 12:15 we spent about 5 minutes around the castle taking pictures before moving on to Main Street. Michelle went to Emporium to purchase the MVMCP mug, and I went to Plaza Ice Cream Parlor to get an ice cream cookie sandwich.
When we went to MNSSHP in 2015 the ice cream shop had a party exclusive ice cream cookie sandwich that was 2 large sugar cookies with tiny ghost, bat, and pumpkin candy pieces, and your choice of ice cream. I figured for MVMCP they would likely have an ice cream cookie sandwich with either sugar cookies and peppermint ice cream, or gingerbread cookies. I was disappointed when I first saw the list of party exclusive treats and saw that Plaza Ice Cream wasn't going to have any holiday themed cookies. They did have peppermint ice cream, but it was only advertised as either an ice cream cone, or a sundae. When I got to the register I asked if I could get an ice cream cookie sandwich with the peppermint ice cream, and I was told I could.
One of my favorite ways to close out an evening at MK, while waiting for the Goodnight Kiss, is sitting at one of the yellow tables outside Plaza Ice Cream Parlor with one of their ice cream cookie sandwiches. I couldn't think of a better way to end MVMCP than to do so with an ice cream cookie sandwich with peppermint ice cream. I would have preferred to have it with sugar cookies instead of chocolate chip, but what can you do?
I finished my snack at 12:30 and slowly made my way to Emporium, taking some final pics of the decorated buildings on Main Street. We stopped to take this selfie at 12:41 before heading to the exit:
We got in line for the bus back to POFQ at 12:45 which, ironically, was the same time we got in line for the bus when we had been at MK the night before. I got to bed around 2:00 and only had a few hours to sleep before I had to be up for the final park day of our trip.
Friday, November 30, 2018 - Part 1: Early Morning Magic at Toy Story Land
When I had originally planned this morning out I was going to rope drop Toy Story Land. We had a FP for SDD in the early afternoon, and Michelle didn't have much interest in Toy Story Mania or Aliens, so she had decided she wouldn't want to RD it following a late MVMCP the previous night. About 3 week before our trip I was looking at the park hours one night, to make sure nothing had changed, and I noticed there was now a "Special Ticketed Event" at Hollywood Studios on this morning. After skimming through a few reviews of EMM at TSL I decided to roll the dice and I purchased a 7:00 ticket for the event.
The alarm on my phone went off at 5:45 after getting to bed less than 4 hours earlier. After turning it off I told myself I was going to just lie there for a bit before I got up. Then I remembered I was paying extra to be at Hollywood Studios early, and I did not want to risk falling back to sleep and arriving late for the event, or not at all. I fumbled around in the dark while getting ready before finally taking a shower and heading out to the bus stop.
I was off the bus at DHS and taking some pics of the Sorcerer Mickey topiary at 6:42.
I wasn't expecting a very large crowd for this event, but there were even fewer guests than I had expected waiting to get in this early. There were easily less than 100 people here when they started letting us into the park at 6:50. As the other guests continued down Hollywood Blvd, on their way to ABC Commissary for breakfast, I took my sweet time, stopping to take some pictures along the way. It was a great opportunity to get some pics. The sun was rising, all of the lights were on in the park, and there was no one around.
I had originally planned to line up for TSL upon entering the park, and get my "free" breakfast after the event, but since the crowd for the event was so light, I decided to go ahead and go to ABC Commissary to eat before the event. This turned out great for me since we had an ADR for Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater at 11:30. I really wanted to try the Drive-in BBQ Burger at Sci-Fi, but if I was going to eat at ABC after EMM, I wasn't going to be up for a full meal only a couple of hours later, and I was planning on probably just getting a milkshake at Sci-Fi. But now I was going to be able to get a breakfast at ABC and still be able to enjoy a full meal at Sci-Fi.
I already knew what I was going to order for my entrée when I walked up to the register at 7:00: the Fried Chicken and Cinnamon-Sugar French Donut Bowl.
This was the only breakfast I got during the trip, other than a coffee and some pastries at Main Street Bakery two days earlier, and I really liked it. There were a bunch of other food items available as part of a buffet, but I didn't even bother to look at them. I sat down and ate about half of my food before I decided to take the rest of my plate outside, so I could walk around and take some pictures around the area before they let us into TSL.
They let us into the land at 7:12, and I just walked around taking pictures, and taking in the theming of the land. I noticed people were riding SDD at 7:20, but I decided to continue just taking pictures as I waited for Woody and Jessie to arrive for their meet and greet at 7:30.
Woody and Jessie had not yet arrived at 7:30, but I saw a mother and daughter line up where the meet and greet was to take place, so I went to get in line too. At 7:31 Woody and Jessie were making their way over to us, and two minutes later I was getting pictures with them.
I was wearing my Vans Donald Duck shirt on this day. When Woody saw it he started making hand motions mimicking a duck's beak quacking, and he got a real kick out of it as you can see here:
With the Woody and Jessie meet and greet out of the way I was ready for some rides, and I went right over to SDD. It had a 5 minute wait posted, and it was pretty much a walk on. When I got up there I only had to wait for one coaster to be filled before i could get on the next one. It turned out to be like that for the entire morning. After my first ride on it I got right back in line and rode it again.
After my 2nd ride on Slinky I went over to give Aliens a try. It was only a short wait for the current riders to finish before I got on.
This one turned out to be pretty disappointing after having back-to-back rides on a rollercoaster, and I decided there was no need for me to go on it again. Instead I went back to Slinky for another two rides.
After my 4th ride on Slinky it was nearing 8:30. I had planned to wrap up EMM either in line for the Buzz Lightyear meet and greet or on Toy Story Mania, so I decided to go see what the line was like for Buzz. As I was walking over to him, there was no one in line, and I saw him just standing there talking to a couple of cast members.
After meeting Buzz I noticed two cast members near the large Woody figure that welcomes you into the land, so I walked over to have my picture taken with it. The cast member I handed my phone to took several pictures for me. Unfortunately I just stood there in this same boring pose for all of them.
I took a few more pictures around that area before I decided to get one more ride in on Slinky before finishing my EMM time on Toy Story Mania.
Toy Story Mania isn't nearly as fun when you're the only one in the ride vehicle, and not competing against someone else. When I completed the ride the CM told me I could stay on if I wanted to ride it again, but I was ready to move on from TSL. After walking the long path from the exit I turned right at the end of it, and walked into a sea of people. The rope drop crowd had been let into the land.
I stayed all the way to the right as I made my way out of the land. Once i got past the crowd I took out my phone to check the wait times. I'm not even sure why I did this, since the park had literally just opened, but I guess I didn't even think of it since I had already been there a couple of hours. RnR had a 5 minute wait while ToT was at 15. This seemed odd to me. I had been following the wait times for every park during the few weeks before our trip, and RnR always seemed to increase before ToT. I didn't think too much about it though as I made my way to RnR.
There were no guests visible in the area around RnR whem I arrived there. When I went to get in the stand by queue a CM stopped me and told be the ride was going to be down for awhile. He was surprised no one had mentioned it when I entered the park, and I told him I had just come from EMM at TSL. With the ride down I moved on to ToT.
With RnR down it was no surprise the posted wait for ToT had climbed to 25 minutes once I got in line for it. I got on the ride right after 9:30, and after exiting I walked over to the nearby Santa meet and greet to get in line. Michelle was supposed to meet me here around 10:00. I texted her, and she let me know she was in the park. It got to the point where I was going to be next to meet him, but Michelle still hadn't made it there. I ended up stepping aside to let a few groups pass me until she got there.
As we waited for the group ahead of us to get their pictures taken, a young female CM dressed as an elf walked over to us. She did a good job of playing the part of one of Santa's helpers, but it caught me off guard, and I felt awkward talking to her at first since she was talking like she was a young child. When it was our turn I handed her my phone and asked her if she would mind taking our picture with Santa.
This was a fun meet and greet. I hadn't had my picture taken with Santa since the early 80's at our local mall. He asked where we were visiting from, and I told him "Maine." He then said something along the lines of "Take me with you." Obviously Santa would prefer the winter weather of Maine compared to the warmer Florida. He then asked Michelle what she wanted for Christmas. She told him "another Disney trip" and he said he gets that a lot. He then asked me, and I told him to surprise me. He looked at Michelle and said "I bet he'd be surprised if he got nothing!" and he let out a big laugh. It was great!
After Santa we went to ToT to use our first FP of the day, and then we headed to the meet and greet with Chip and Dale. Chip and Dale in holiday hats and scarves was a priority meet and greet for me on this trip, and it was pretty convenient for us that they were right near Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater.
This also turned out to be one of the better meet and greets we had on the trip. As I went in for a hug with Dale, the CM pointed out my Donald Duck shirt to him, and I was denied!
He made his best effort to cover up my shirt...
And then Chip joined in as well!
Before finally giving up, and posing for the picture with us.
We were done with the meet and greet at 11:24 and walked over to Sci-Fi Dine-In for our 11:30 ADR.
Friday, November 30, 2018 - Part 2: Afternoon at Hollywood Studios
We arrived at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater a few minutes before 11:30 and we didn't have to wait long to be seated. We enjoyed dining here in during our October 2015 trip, so we made sure to get an ADR for this one. We love the atmosphere, and watching those cheesy 50's sci-fi clips while waiting for our food. Our server was asking the guests she was waiting on if they'd like her to take their picture, which was great.
Michelle and I liked how the moon just happened to be up on the screen in this pic:
Michelle ordered the Oven-roasted Turkey Sandwich and I got a Cigar City Jai Alai IPA to have with the Drive-in BBQ Burger. This was my 2nd favorite meal I had during our trip after the Chicken Tikka Masala at Yak & Yeti. We spent about an hour at Sci-Fi, and when we stepped outside I was surprised how hot it was. It was in the upper 70's, but it felt more like 90's to me after three straight cold days.
We had a little time to kill before our 1:00 SDD FP, so we stopped in Walt Disney Presents to look around for 10 minutes before heading to TSL. Walking through TSL during EMM earlier that morning, I almost felt like I had the land to myself, but now it was completely packed. I was happy to just ride SDD and get the heck out of there.
The last of our initial three FPs was for Star Tours at 2:00, so we decided to head to Launch Bay prior to that for a couple of meet and greets. Chewbacca was the only one over 20 minutes. We had met him during SW Weekends in 2013, so we decided to just do Kylo Ren and BB-8.
After we rode Star Tours we were trying to decide what to do next. Michelle noticed that the Donald Duck meet and greet was going to end in an hour. I was curious to see what he was wearing for a costume, so we walked to the location he was meeting at near the the entrance of the park. I was very happy to see he was wearing his regular sailor outfit. This was the first time in four trips we had seen the regular Donald at any of the parks, so I was glad to finally get a picture with him.
After meeting Donald, Michelle wanted to get an ice cream. She went to Gertie's and I headed over to Dockside Diner to get the hot chocolate flight, taking a few pictures around Echo Lake along the way.
The hot chocolate flight was decent. Each one had a different liquor in it, but I don't recall what they were.
We went to the 3:30 showing of For the First Time In Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration. I went into it with pretty low expectations, but it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I just assumed it would be a few CMs, dressed as characters from the movie, singing songs from the movie, with a giant screen behind with the words to the songs, so that the audience could sing along. I certainly wasn't expecting it to tell a story, and that it would include comedy. The Royal Historians of Arendelle stole the show. The banter between the two was really funny.
We then went to ToT to use our 4th FP of the day, and I stopped at Anaheim Produce to grab a Mickey Gingerbread Pop to eat while we waited to get on the ride.
I'll be back next time to close out the final park day of our trip.
Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.
