Bah, Humbug! Tales of A Disney Scrooge's Conversion Update 7/21

[Ceryssa]

Oh man, what a missed opportunity by miss Belle. I would have thought for a great reference since Alyssa has that Face Paint. A total mini Beast.



Haha, that place is so big, I'm not surprised. Seeing that whole store is a full day commitment.



I swear for a second I thought, "Wow, they really do have everything in that store. Even babies!"



Wow, that little girl is getting down.


I am glad you stayed for Illuminations. Something tells me you would have regretted missing it. And to be honest, I love the period before the show and just grabbing a spot and chilling. I always find that time so peaceful and beautiful and watching people go by. Wishes will always be my number 1, but Illuminations is special. And you nailed exactly why.

She may have mentioned something about it, honestly--I was distracted taking pictures. I just find Epcot so photogenic!

It really is. And I'm sure we still didn't see everything.

Me too. And even though that was probably our most stressful day there, once we sat down and spent some time hanging out together, it ended up being one of my favorite memories. We weren't rushing around, trying to get somewhere, or stressing about finding a spot, or dealing with crowds...we were just in our own little bubble, together. It was one of those elusive perfect "magical moments" brought on by nothing but time spent together. I keep finding myself trying to work in more opportunities to see it this trip. I just love it.

What in the world is in that soda?



Every time I read about a soda bottle with a marble in it I get the heebie jeebies. What if you swallow it?

Ohmigosh, my boys would have been the same way.



There's so much to plan that it's easy to make some mistakes.



Awesome!



I know how that feels.



That's a great attitude!



It's great that they got into the fun!



Oh, no. I know how you feel.



I'm sure it impacted your enjoyment but it probably wasn't so bad for the families around you.



That's a great way to describe it.

I don't know Colleen, and honestly I'm scared to find out! And yes the marble had me totally paranoid. I'm surprised Aaron wasn't more freaked out about it, he's normally the one worried about stuff like that.

Hopefully we didn't ruin dinner for anyone else. It was pretty bad :/ Illuminations and the few minutes we spent hanging out before it really made up for it and saved the evening, though.

 

[Chicago Mo]

OMG how FUN!!! Just adore your Epcot day! the girls are darling! ohhh what a beautiful baby!!!No wonder why the girls are head over heels over him!!!

THIS... Is a great shot!

 

[ariane37]

I don't say this often out loud since as you said, most people prefer Wishes. But I do actually prefer Illuminations I love Wishes but Illuminations is just more emotional for me, and I always make sure to see it at least twice every trip I don't like to not see Wishes on a trip, but I could handle it if for some reason we completely missed it. Not so with Illuminations!!

So glad your last night in Epcot turned out well.

 

[Sailormoon2]

Just got caught up (again):

Finally it was time for dessert, and the main reason I had picked this place (okay, so I pick restaurants based on what's on the dessert menu--specifically whether bread pudding is offered).

That is truly the only reason to pick a restaurant. LOL! I had RR on our itinerary for the longest time simply to try the bread pudding, but eventually timing (and sanity?) won out over my tastebuds and it had to go ;(

heir face painting turned out really good! Those guys are super talented.

The girls looked amazing. I am even tempted to get my adult-face done this august!

I'm not really a big caramel fan for some reason.

Sacrilege!!!! Caramel is amazing!!!! I can not wait to get to Karamel Kuche..."One of everything, thank you very much."

 

[Ceryssa]

OMG how FUN!!! Just adore your Epcot day! the girls are darling! ohhh what a beautiful baby!!!No wonder why the girls are head over heels over him!!!



THIS... Is a great shot!

This was a great day. I knew I liked Epcot, but food & wine and Illuminations definitely put it over the top. Yes he is stinking cute, I'm so looking forward to seeing him again this year!

I don't say this often out loud since as you said, most people prefer Wishes. But I do actually prefer Illuminations I love Wishes but Illuminations is just more emotional for me, and I always make sure to see it at least twice every trip I don't like to not see Wishes on a trip, but I could handle it if for some reason we completely missed it. Not so with Illuminations!!

So glad your last night in Epcot turned out well.

Exactly, it just totally gets me. It did end up being a good night

Just got caught up (again):

That is truly the only reason to pick a restaurant. LOL! I had RR on our itinerary for the longest time simply to try the bread pudding, but eventually timing (and sanity?) won out over my tastebuds and it had to go ;(


The girls looked amazing. I am even tempted to get my adult-face done this august!


Sacrilege!!!! Caramel is amazing!!!! I can not wait to get to Karamel Kuche..."One of everything, thank you very much."

Ah, a kindred spirit I see! I mean the reason you even have the stuff that comes before dessert is just so you don't look like a glutton, right? I totally get the scheduling thing, I'm desperately trying to prevent overscheduling, particularly in the TS area, but man it's hard! Definitely get to Raglan Road at some point, it's worth the trip!

Me too!! I'm definitely considering it!

I don't know what it is. I mean I like caramel when it's swirled into things. But I'm not crazy about caramel flavoring, or eating it by itself.

 

[Ceryssa]

After our loooooong Epcot day, we slept in the next morning! Man that was nice. I loved each and every one of the parks we'd visited, but it was SO nice to wake up and not have anywhere to be for a while. Eventually hunger won out over laying around though, at least for me and the girls, so we got dressed and headed to Pepper Market. Aaron wasn't quite ready to get up and moving, so we let him snooze a while later. We checked out the different stations of course, but there really wasn't any other option--we all decided on Mickey Waffles. And lots of them, please! Right as we sat down Aaron came through the door. Not being a waffle (or pancake, or pastry-type item) person, he settled on the Signature Scramble (basically Southwest-style eggs with potatoes and bacon). I can't quite warm up to vegetables before noon, but he enjoyed it! After breakfast we went back to the room and got ready to swim! I don't have any pictures from the morning because I spent a significant amount of time running back and forth doing laundry. It felt like I'd packed the entire house, but we'd managed to go through a serious amount of clothes and it was that time again. It took slightly less time for me to find the laundry room this time--I think I shaved off a minute or two each trip. I get lost everywhere. We enjoyed our time at the pool, and managed to make some time for relaxing in the hot tub before it was time to get cleaned up--we had a party to get to!

We were VERY excited about attending Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Originally our dates had been booked over Halloween, but we ended up changing them and although I was disappointed at first to miss the Halloween party, that very quickly translated into excitement when I realized we would be there for the first MVMCP. We're big Christmas people, so this was actually a better option for us. I'm going to have to take Alhanna at some point though, because she hasn't quite forgiven me for getting her all excited about trick-or-treating in the Magic Kingdom and not delivering.

The bus came quickly and before long we were pulling up to MK!

As usual, one of them is more excited than the other. Originally I'd planned on Christmas outfits for them, but with the FP+ situation being what it was, well, you can guess who we were headed to see.

There was a little confusion about where we were supposed to enter, but the CMs were on top of it and repeated several times where people with party tickets were supposed to go. They'd set aside several turnstiles on the right side for party ticket entrances. I had brought our hard tickets because I'd heard about issues with MagicBands and linked tickets the year before, but Alyssa was too fast for me and scanned her band before I could stop her. The CM assured me it would be fine, and it was

Alyssa was not thrilled with all this picture-taking. I don't remember exactly why we didn't stop for a Photopass picture here, because the background is just gorgeous. It probably had something to do with Alyssa's mood and/or a long line--I remember we were going to stop back by later. What do you think the odds are that happened?

Main Street was in the Christmas spirit!

It is just the happiest feeling to walk down Main Street all decked out for Christmas listening to Christmas music. I wish I could do it all the time. We didn't linger too long, though, because we had a Fastpass to get to! We headed into Adventureland and hopped in line for Jungle Cruise (which was now officially Jingle Cruise). We'd skipped this before because I had the FP scheduled, and I was glad we had one because the line was pretty long. It only took us a few minutes before we were on our boat and sailing away from the dock into the wild. Apparently the animals were making an effort to get into the spirit, as well.

Sorry, random dude.

I hope that's for the alligators, or someone's gonna be disappointed Christmas morning. I really enjoyed this ride; I'm not sure what it is about it but it was just so much fun to me. I felt a little bad for our skipper; he was doing his best but I think I was the only one on the boat that liked corny jokes and he just wasn't getting much of a reaction. But I enjoyed it, and as long as I'm happy that's all that matters, right?

We exited the boat and started heading toward Fantasyland, because we had an appointment with royalty and it just wouldn't do to keep them waiting!

 

[Ceryssa]

So, if you have kids--especially girls--and even if you don't you've probably heard of a little movie called Frozen. There's been a bit of a fuss about it. So of course when Anna and Elsa started making appearances at Disney World every kid had to see them--which meant FP+ booking day became the Disney equivalent of Black Friday. It's crazy, y'all. Getting one of these is like finding the Holy Grail. I was able to secure one through the help of someone going around the same time and I was thrilled. Honestly, I wasn't sure whether to book one because my kids run hot and cold on the whole Frozen craze--they like it, but they seem to be the only kids in America that aren't completely obsessed. Sometimes they want to watch it and listen to the soundtrack nonstop, but others they could almost care less. But I booked it anyway, because I knew as soon as I didn't, they'd decide they absolutely MUST meet them. And it turned out they were pretty excited about it.

I love this fountain with Cinderella and her animal friends

These guys were going by as we were stopping for a photo op. Not sure who they are but they were fun to listen to for a minute! After they passed, we entered Fairytale Hall. I'd followed the progress of Fantasyland being built pretty closely during the long, torturous wait for our trip, and I was really excited to see the inside!

Very regal looking.

It was absolutely gorgeous, of course! Everything from the ceilings and light fixtures, to the tapestries and rugs were full of intricate royal details, and absolutely felt like a grand reception room. I was disappointed to hear the sisters had been split up; they played off each other very well from what people had said. But they were still really entertaining. Anna was up first!

The girls of course wanted to know where Olaf was, and she said he liked playing hide-and-seek, so he might be anywhere. She said he had an advantage when they played, because he could separate his body.

She was fascinated with the girls' dresses, and was curious how I'd sewn their portraits onto their dresses! She even called over to Elsa to show her and said "Look, they have our portraits on their dresses!" She was a lot of fun. We said goodbye to Anna after promising to keep an eye out for Olaf, and moved over to meet her sister.

I'd heard Elsa wasn't quite as chatty as Anna, but she was feeling talkative that day!

I filled her in on our conversation with Anna about Olaf, and she laughed and said yes, he was always asking her to make it snow so he could hide!

She said he and Anna prefer the summer though, and asked the girls what they liked better--summer or winter. They said they liked the snow, but it was nice to be able to swim in the summer. She agreed that sounded like fun.

I love the expression on her face here.

Another one of the pictures Disney sneaked in. I just love this one, because it embodies what I loved about the film. The warmth (no pun intended haha) and sweetness of it is just so touching, and why it's one of my favorites.

Since we were right there, we went for another ride on the Carousel. I know, I know. Whatever, she's happy.

 

[jandlinz]

Love the girls' dresses. The face painting at Epcot was very neat. I didn't know you could book FP+ on party nights. How do you do it?
-Lindsey

 

[Cando86]

Those dresses! LOVE them!

What a great interaction with Anna and Elsa! I've heard mixed reviews on Elsa (like you said, not being as talkative) but it sounds like she was this time!

I'm excited to hear about MVMCP! We'll be doing the Halloween party for the first time this October and it's already making me want to do the Christmas party. Can't wait to hear all about it !

 

[ksinniger]

OMG -- we were at the party this night too! Can't wait to see how you did your touring plan!

 

[Ceryssa]

Love the girls' dresses. The face painting at Epcot was very neat. I didn't know you could book FP+ on party nights. How do you do it?
-Lindsey

Thank you! Yes that was a fun thing we kind of stumbled across.

Yes, you sure can book FP+ with your party ticket! Only from 4-7, but since you can get in at 4 and the park is officially open til 7, it's a neat little bonus! When it comes to making your FPs, MDE recognizes party tickets just like a regular one--so if you have 5-day tickets and 1 party ticket, you can book FPs for 6 days. When you go to book your FPs, just make sure you make them from 4-7 on your party day. It will let you book them anytime between park opening and 7 pm, but obviously you don't want to do them earlier than 4, unless you're planning on using a regular ticket that day as well. It does not, however, allow you to book 2 sets if you're park hopping that day, because again, it sees it as a regular ticket even though you can't enter MK til 4.

Those dresses! LOVE them!

What a great interaction with Anna and Elsa! I've heard mixed reviews on Elsa (like you said, not being as talkative) but it sounds like she was this time!

I'm excited to hear about MVMCP! We'll be doing the Halloween party for the first time this October and it's already making me want to do the Christmas party. Can't wait to hear all about it !

Aww thanks! I had so much fun having Disney outfits made for them--they're getting older so I'm running out of time to make them wear matching custom made stuff like that

Yes they were both great; this was just a fantastic meet. Definitely lived up to the hype!

I haven't done MNSSHP yet but I hear such good things, I'm sure you'll have an amazing time!

OMG -- we were at the party this night too! Can't wait to see how you did your touring plan!

That's cool! It was a LOT of fun. I *had* a touring plan...of course things didn't go exactly to plan. But we enjoyed ourselves, so it all worked out!

 

[jandlinz]

Thank you! Yes that was a fun thing we kind of stumbled across.

Yes, you sure can book FP+ with your party ticket! Only from 4-7, but since you can get in at 4 and the park is officially open til 7, it's a neat little bonus! When it comes to making your FPs, MDE recognizes party tickets just like a regular one--so if you have 5-day tickets and 1 party ticket, you can book FPs for 6 days. When you go to book your FPs, just make sure you make them from 4-7 on your party day. It will let you book them anytime between park opening and 7 pm, but obviously you don't want to do them earlier than 4, unless you're planning on using a regular ticket that day as well. It does not, however, allow you to book 2 sets if you're park hopping that day, because again, it sees it as a regular ticket even though you can't enter MK til 4.

Thanks so much for the tip! I had no idea. We haven't done a party since before the new FP system. I will use this strategy when we do the Christmas party in 2016.
-Lindsey

 

[Ceryssa]

I decided now would be a good time to check off another princess meet from the list, so we went looking for Fairytale Garden. We found the end of the rather long line and got in, but after a few minutes of no moving, I started to worry we'd made a mistake. I figured all these people had to be standing here for something, though, so we stayed put. About that time a CM came along and reassured us the line would be moving in a few minutes, and sure enough it did. Turns out they take a bunch of people into the area where Merida meets at one time, and you line up (again) once you're in there. The theming was really cool in there, and we spent a few minutes looking around while we waited.

I notice that all of her suitors are also represented on this tapestry...I wonder if she started a new trend? She DOES seem set on bucking tradition...

Sadly, there wasn't a whole lot to this meet. She said a quick hello and signed their books, took a pic, and that was it. But, after such a fantastic experience with Anna and Elsa earlier, we couldn't really complain

And the girls didn't really seem to mind.

Plus, there was an archery lesson to get to!

The CM helping the kids with the bow and arrow was great, super patient explaining it and let them take their time.

And Disney gave us this cool shot of her with her bow and arrow. I feel compelled to throw these bonus pictures in, just because they're so good.

Next it was time for a ride the girls and I were super excited about!

I love this ride. I'm not entirely sure why, but it's one of those classic rides that just embody Disney World for me. I vaguely remember riding it on my first visit to MK, and I'm sure nostalgia plays some part in it--but more than that, it's one of those rides EVERYone knows. And has an opinion on. Love 'em or hate 'em, everyone knows the teacups at Disney World haha! I was delighted that they were up and running this time, so we got in the very short line and were climbing in our teacups shortly after.

Aaron was less than thrilled to be on what he deemed "The Throw Up Ride", but he was a good sport and gave it a try. The girls loved it and wanted to ride again. Aaron elected to sit this one out, so the three of us rode again. Alyssa asked to ride a third time, but it was after 6 at this point and I wanted to eat before it got too late. Before we did that, though, we stopped by to ride Dumbo again since Alyssa wanted to make sure we did it again.

 

[Ceryssa]

I had decided we should eat at Cosmic Ray's since we hadn't seen any of Tomorrowland yet. None of us were really super hungry yet though, so I checked the wait times on the MDE app (that thing is great!), and saw Monsters, Inc Laugh Floor had a short wait. We walked into the waiting area and unfortunately I didn't get any pictures because I was busy texting Celine, who said the show was lots of fun. The doors opened shortly after, and we went in and sat down to be entertained by our favorite green monster. The girls got called on during the show, which they found great fun. The CM asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up, to which they both responded "veterinarian". This struck both me and Aaron as really funny because while Alyssa liked animals in theory--as long as they're stuffed and don't move, mostly--she pretty much ran the other way anytime one actually approached. She's gotten better about this lately, but at the time she was pretty spooked by most anything that moved. We all really enjoyed the show, and the girls left the theater chattering excitedly about how they were "famous" now. With that, it was time to eat!

I'm not exactly sure why I was so set on Cosmic Ray's for dinner, other than that it was in Tomorrowland. Looking back I probably would have chosen somewhere different. We found the different bays kind of confusing and the ordering process overwhelming. Plus everyone else apparently had the same idea at the same time, so we were trying to figure out how the place worked in a crowd of a thousand of our closest friends. We finally managed to get where we were supposed to go and figured it all out. We all ordered burgers and sat down. About halfway through eating, this guy came onstage.

And I remembered the other reason I thought this might be a good place to eat tonight--there was a dance party starting up! We finished our meals and took the girls down in front of the stage.

Alhanna thought it was great fun. It was too loud for Alyssa though, and we had somewhere we needed to be, so we hustled out of there.

Crossing the bridge from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland, I noticed the castle was all lit up!

This was also an excellent Photopass spot, but since we were in a hurry we passed it up. It wasn't until I saw a friend's pictures from their party that I remembered we never did go back and get a photo in that spot

You may remember Aaron was less than enthusiastic about this whole Disney thing at first. He obviously enjoyed himself more than he expected, but what really perked him up was learning that one of his favorite characters from Duck Tales, his childhood favorite, would be at the party tonight! He was so excited, so meeting Scrooge McDuck was a top priority for the party. We found where Scrooge was meeting and hopped in the line, which had gotten rather long by this point since it was already after 7 o'clock. This was one of my bigger planning fails of the trip--we'd spent too much time eating and running around, and now we were eating into party time waiting in line. But there was nothing to be done about it, so we settled in to wait.

Alyssa entertained herself with my phone while we waited.

We waited about an hour, some of us more patiently than others But eventually we did make it to the front of the line, and I was so glad we'd waited to meet these guys!

Daisy complemented me on my dress, since it was so much like hers. She was quite flattered that I'd decided to dress like her. I told her I'd gotten the memo that all the cool kids were wearing red tonight. Donald was excited to see some of his fans again.

Scrooge was quite happy to give the girls his autograph. Aaron asked him if he still had his swimming pool full of gold coins, and when Scrooge said yes, Aaron asked if he could come swim in it sometime. Scrooge thought that sounded like great fun, and they practiced some of their swimming moves for a few minutes. Donald wanted to swim, too! Finally everyone settled down long enough to take a picture.

Yes Donald, you're still number one.

This was a really great meet. All three characters were really interactive and clearly having fun. If you're ever at MVMCP, they're definitely worth the time to meet. Just maybe get there a little earlier than we did!

We got done around 8, and I realized we'd have just enough time to find somewhere to see the castle lighting! We made it to the bridge just as the show started, and were able to watch (well, mostly hear) Elsa freeze the castle.

The castle is always beautiful, of course, but right at this moment was when I realized that for me, this would be the way I always thought of it. I'm sure we'll go to Disney at many different times of the year, but I'm convinced nothing can possibly top being there during MVMCP season, when the castle turns into this sparkling thing of beauty. We stood there and just soaked in how perfect it was for a few minutes, and all the stress and pressure I'd put on myself about not missing things and making sure we made the most of this party just melted away. I'm sure that I would have enjoyed the rest of the night regardless, but something about this moment just put me in a totally zen place where I wasn't worried about staying on a schedule or fitting everything in. It truly set the tone for a magical night.

 

[Ceryssa]

The girls and I were getting a little chilly at this point, so after we saw the castle lighting we stopped by Pinocchio's Village Haus for some hot cocoa and cookies. I loved the big candy canes they put out to mark the spots where treats are given out.

The line looked long but it moved really quickly. The cookies this evening were snickerdoodles, and none of us really cared for them, so most of them went to waste unfortunately. We strolled through Fantasyland sipping our hot cocoa and just generally absorbing the atmosphere. We hadn't really spent any time in MK after dark other than our mad dash the first day, and I was really enjoying the look of everything all lit up.

We came to Gaston's Tavern and I wanted to go in and see it. The place was pretty empty so the girls naturally had to pose in Gaston's chair. I like to think he wouldn't have objected TOO much.

See? He doesn't look too upset. The place was really cozy and although it gave off more of a "coffee shop" vibe than "tavern", it was fun to look around. I wanted to try the LeFou's Brew, but I was already cold and I figured that wouldn't help so I passed, though reluctantly.

Since we were in the area we decided to ride Under the Sea. Prince Eric's castle was lovely at night, so I took my time going through the queue. Aaron and the girls had to keep stopping for me to catch up and finally Alhanna got exasperated with me and my camera.

There was no line and we walked right on. This was a fun little ride, if (as has been mentioned more than once) reminiscent of the Seas With Nemo. But this one has a singing mermaid, so can you really complain?

I can't wait to ride this one again.

I really wanted to meet Rapunzel and Flynn, but the CM told us the line was about 30 minutes long, and I didn't want to cut it too close to Wishes, since I wanted to find a good spot. So we decided against waiting and headed toward the Hub to see if we could find a spot. By this time the girls were REALLY cold and I wasn't faring much better--sleeveless dresses in November, Orlando or not, without a jacket was not great thinking on my part. We found a spot on the curb in the Hub, and Aaron went off in search of something to warm us up. A few minutes after he left, a CM came by and told those of us on that side of the street that our seating area might be blocked off later, so we all moved over the other side and squeezed in with the folks already there, who were thankfully gracious about it. There was a family next to us with kids a little younger than ours, and the mom graciously offered our girls glow bracelets. We thanked her and the girls excitedly put them on.

The CM in this picture was walking back and forth, I guess doing crowd control. She was so nice and clearly excited and full of Christmas spirit--she just made me smile every time she came by, and she had a smile and a kind word for everyone, and kept assuring us Holiday Wishes wouldn't be long in starting, and that we'd really enjoy it. I wish I'd gotten a better picture of her; she was really sweet and it was so fun to see her so excited.

I loved all the Christmas lights.

Aaron came back shortly with blankets! Luckily for us, a blanket was the special "buy with purchase" item, so he got 2!

Alyssa was nice enough to share her blanket with me It wasn't long before we heard music that meant Celebrate the Magic was starting!!

 

[Ceryssa]

Since I'd unfortunately chosen a spot that didn't have a clear view of the castle, we spent the show standing and holding the kids so they could see, along with everyone around us. So we didn't get any pictures of that part. Aaron LOVED it, he thought all the projections on the castle were so cool. When it was over he turned to me and said "When we come back can we come see this every night we're here?" And although the Disney addict in me wanted to jump up and down and shriek with excitement that he'd said "when" and not "if", I managed to restrain myself to smiling and saying "Of course".

We had the same situation during the fireworks, but fortunately Disney sneaked in a few for us!

They're way better than I could've managed anyway. Plus the wreaths weren't even up yet when we were there (I'm not even sure if they put them up anymore due to Festival of Fantasy's floats being so tall. But it's a good picture regardless).
Holiday Wishes was, of course, amazing. Being the Christmas fanatic I am, I liked it even better than Wishes. But I suppose I should wait until I've actually seen Wishes from inside the park to say that. Either way, it was awesome.

We settled down to wait for the parade, which I thought was at 10:15. It wasn't until 10:30, however, and by the time it made it to us it was closer to 10:45. Once it got to us, though, it was TOTALLY worth the wait. I was too busy being blown away by how amazing it was, so the pictures we have of it are courtesy of Aaron, with a couple of Photopass ones for good measure.

And there's the most cuddly, cutest bear you've ever seen.

Sorry for the blurriness here...we were all pretty excited to see Olaf make an appearance, and there may have been some bouncing involved when this was taken

 

[Ceryssa]

Every so often the toys would go into "toy mode" (I can't remember what the actual expression is), which was really cute.

These guys were awesome. I'm sad we didn't get a shot of the dancing reindeer, because they were great.

Finally the man of the hour came into view, and of course all the kids went nuts.

The girls were thrilled when he looked right at them and said "I heard you've been a good girl this year!" Aaron and I, of course, having had an up-close-and-personal view of Alyssa's behavior the last week, looked at each other and cracked up. But they ate it up, and talked about it well into the Christmas season.

This, of course, was another very well-done parade. What really blew me away was the scents--each float had its own scent! One of those little things Disney does to add dimension to the experience. We absolutely loved the parade.

Some fun Photopass pictures:

He looks like he's having fun.

I had hoped to go back to Fantasyland after the parade and meet Rapunzel and Flynn, but Aaron and Alyssa were exhausted. It had been a pretty long few days, and it was definitely catching up to us. So we called it a night instead, and made our way out of the park with the rest of the masses.

Walking down Main Street in the snow listening to Christmas music and passing all the gorgeous decorations...is there anything better?

Not for this kid, apparently. I can't imagine it tasted very good, but she didn't seem to mind. And with that, it was back to the hotel to get some rest, because the next day we were moving to our next home away from home!

There's a lot of debate as to whether these parties are "worth" the money. I can't say we necessarily maximized the value or "got our money's worth", because we definitely could have fit more in. BUT, for us, it was absolutely worth it, and our favorite event of the trip. The atmosphere, parade and fireworks alone made it worth it for us. If you're ever at WDW during MVMCP season, I highly recommend attending a party. It'll definitely put you in the holiday spirit!

 

[ariane37]

Reading about your MVMCP experience and seeing your pictures brought back great memories of the 2 Xmas parties we've attended I agree that its hard to say whether the parties are "worth it" for everyone, but I think it's something to be tried if you're there when MVMCP or MNSSHP are going on and it's in the budget. Then afterwards, each family can decide if it was worth it for them. Now Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday and I go all out at home, but I have to say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE MNSSHP We've done it 4x and I wish we could do it every year......although taking away the Villains Mix n Mingle is a huge disappointment. Otherwise it's my absolute favorite thing to do in WDW. The "Boo To You" parade is like no other!!! But MVMCP has such a different vibe of course, that it's hard to compare the two. The Xmas parade, as you said, just totally puts you in the holiday mood and gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling. And when you do that party in Nov. (as we did both times) it's a great start to the season, I loved going home and really getting into my shopping, decorating, etc. Lol see what you did? It's 90 degrees here in NY today and I'm going on and on about Christmas!!!

Oh and yes, the lines for the special characters can be timekillers In 6 parties we've never made the dwarves. However last year for MNSSHP DS8 really wanted to meet Jack Skellington. We got on line at 6:10 and were done at 7:30, so only killed 30 minutes of party time. And since we were towards the front, we could see everyone meeting with him and Sally so those last 30 minutes went fast as it was fun watching them interact with other guests - they are a fun meet. I stayed with the boys while DH rode something, then he switched with me etc., and it was the boys' choice to stay in line so they were ok. We were at the 1st party on 9/1 which had really low attendance, so we were able to met Jafar and the Old Hag that night with no waits. I'm jealous of Scrooge McDuck though-that looked like a great meet with him, Donald and Daisy!

 

[Ceryssa]

Reading about your MVMCP experience and seeing your pictures brought back great memories of the 2 Xmas parties we've attended I agree that its hard to say whether the parties are "worth it" for everyone, but I think it's something to be tried if you're there when MVMCP or MNSSHP are going on and it's in the budget. Then afterwards, each family can decide if it was worth it for them. Now Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday and I go all out at home, but I have to say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE MNSSHP We've done it 4x and I wish we could do it every year......although taking away the Villains Mix n Mingle is a huge disappointment. Otherwise it's my absolute favorite thing to do in WDW. The "Boo To You" parade is like no other!!! But MVMCP has such a different vibe of course, that it's hard to compare the two. The Xmas parade, as you said, just totally puts you in the holiday mood and gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling. And when you do that party in Nov. (as we did both times) it's a great start to the season, I loved going home and really getting into my shopping, decorating, etc. Lol see what you did? It's 90 degrees here in NY today and I'm going on and on about Christmas!!!

Oh and yes, the lines for the special characters can be timekillers In 6 parties we've never made the dwarves. However last year for MNSSHP DS8 really wanted to meet Jack Skellington. We got on line at 6:10 and were done at 7:30, so only killed 30 minutes of party time. And since we were towards the front, we could see everyone meeting with him and Sally so those last 30 minutes went fast as it was fun watching them interact with other guests - they are a fun meet. I stayed with the boys while DH rode something, then he switched with me etc., and it was the boys' choice to stay in line so they were ok. We were at the 1st party on 9/1 which had really low attendance, so we were able to met Jafar and the Old Hag that night with no waits. I'm jealous of Scrooge McDuck though-that looked like a great meet with him, Donald and Daisy!

Oh yes. When we decided we were going back this November, it wasn't even a question--we just assumed we would go One day I hope to get to MNSSHP. Not sure yet when that'll be, but I look forward to it at some point!

You know I think that may be what happened to me--I've been in the "Christmas spirit" for a few days now, and I bet it's from writing all this about MVMCP Scrooge was GREAT! I wasn't originally very excited about it but ended up being really glad we did it. Jack Skellington (aka Sandy Claws) is on the list for this year! Maybe one day we'll get to the dwarves lol.

 

[deannaf87]

I've been enjoying reading your trip report this morning. I just had to stop and comment that the Belle that the girls met in Epcot was some serious A+ casting. She looks just like her!