Disney Girls Trip: 3 Days of Madness in Dec 2019 TR (Updated 3/2/20)

kittylady1972

Disneyholic
Joined
Oct 20, 2003
So it seemed about time to start a new thread just for this very short 3-day trip coming up in December. You can find many of the details in my last TR here but for now...here is the latest and greatest for what I believe will be the final WDW trip of 2019.

Did I ever mention that 2019 was my NO Disney Parks year?

Did I also mention that so far in 2019 I have done TWO days at Disney Parks (one was only for MNSSHP and one was with a 1-day park hopper)?

And now...with this trip...I'll be up to FIVE days of Disney parks for 2019. I tried though...really...but things happen and so you find that you must do a few trips. None of these were planned very far in advance at all. They were all planned due to circumstances that just came up.

Trip 1: August...this was planned in June or July when I found out the SWA Points I had on my account (and so did my DH and 2 kids) were only good until the end of August. What is one of the cheapest flights you can make from where I live? Florida of course. It was a good opportunity for us to also have a redo of MNSSHP as our previous party was a few years earlier and didn't go well. Mission accomplished here.

Trip 2: In September my DH found out he was selected to attend a conference for work...which was taking place at several WDW Resorts. What was I going to do, let him go alone? My plan was actually to do Universal parks with my annual pass there and some volunteer shifts at GKTW, but we squeeze in ONE Disney park day that worked out well.

Trip 3: A few months ago I learned the daughter of a friend of mine would be going to Disney in December and her HS Chorus was performing in the Candlelight Processional. Now despite having seen the CP in 2017 AND 2018, I couldn't resist going back so that this friend could see her daughter perform since it really is lovely. Plus...good excuse for a girls trip. It started with 2 of us and then increased to 4 ladies. I was content with just maybe doing 1 or 2 park days...but the quick ended up stretching to 3 full days for the most part and park hoppers. There are several goals we have for this trip...more like I have for them to experience...so we'll see what we get done.
 
THE JAM PACKED PLAN

I know I have been overthinking this way too much. It is 3 days...do we need to pack in as much as possible while there?

For me that's a yes...and everybody going along is trusting me to plan everything out. They are (mostly) all pretty agreeable. The simple fact is, there are many factors that are making me rethink every single plan.

The opening of RoTR is making things tough. Part of me says we should try to ride this new ride since it's supposed to be amazing. However that's going to take up a large portion of some time for sure and I'm not sure everybody will be up for that. We may just have to skip it. It's not currently in the plan for sure...but it's one of the options.

The other problem...we are heading down during party days, which means only 1 day has the MK open late...and that's our arrival day. I feel we should maximize that last 2 hours of park time. However it also makes me not want to go to MK during the day when we arrive since I expect crowds will be heavy.

Anyway...for those interested...this is my current rough draft of a plan that is subject to change of course:


Day 1: We have a 7am flight, so the plan is for one friend to stay the night at my house, the other 2 will drive over around 5:30am, and I'll drive us all to the airport. We should land close to 9:30am, I have a rental and we'll head out to WDW. If our rooms are ready, we may just stop there first and check-in but if they aren't ready...then we'll hit a park. Right now I'm thinking we will go to Magic Kingdom but I am also considering EPCOT or AK instead. We would grab lunch and ride whatever we can via standby. Around 3/4pm we would head out to our resort to check into the room and settle in there. We will then grab dinner and plan to be at the MK around 5/6pm where we have FPs for 3 rides there beginning at 5:30pm and hopefully we can hang until close to the midnight closing time.

Day 2: The EMH hours at TWO parks this day are making me lose my mind...but also I was able to snag a Slinky Dog FP for 9am once they moved the opening of HS to 8am. This is the day that RoTR is opening...so I expect it to be CRAZY here. Maybe that means the rest of the park is empty? Maybe we will chance it at least for that one FP and if the rest is chaos we will leave and head to EPCOT. Our plan is to spend at least afternoon/evening at EPCOT as we have a CP Dinner and the 6:45pm show to see. Afterwards I'd like to go to HS and try to catch Sunset Season's Greetings and mabye see if RoTR at the end of the night is possible (10pm park closing).

Day 3: If we didn't do some daylight time at MK on Day 1, then I'd like to spend the morning after we check out at MK on this day. The other option is to try to be at HS close to park opening (9am) and attempt RoTR. Our afternoon will be spent at AK where we have FPs that begin around 3pm. We'll stay here until the end of the night and then depart around 8pm for the airport for our 10:30pm flight back home.

 


The preparations have begun...I've checked into my flight, though despite having a known traveler number I didn't get the TSA Precheck indication on my boarding pass. Ok Spirit, already failing me today. I've emailed customer support to see if they can fix it, but since the other people with me won't have it I can deal with not having it. It just means I need to rearrange my bag so I can access my liquids more easily.

And the bag...wow I was all talk when it came to telling my friends how EASY it would be to pack for JUST TWO NIGHTS in a very small bag. Then I tried it...and I'm notorious for having too much stuff...plus I wanted my light travel blanket as well...and I had to put my "backpack" (really a drawstring bag) inside this bag since I can only have one carry on with me for free. It was a challenge needless to say but I did get it done...finally. Just to be extra safe (since I'm pushing the limits of this cheap and tiny suitcase as it is) I have packed my stuff inside a bag and then in the suitcase...double protection. And man is it packed...which is why I am thinking I need to rearrange in case I have to remove my liquids tomorrow morning.

Over the weekend I also managed to create matching t-shirts for all of us. My photos are NOT the best:

456282
I have black cotton/poly blend v-neck tshirts and this is the front...mouse ears in RED with snowflakes and Tinker Bell - Girls Trip 2019 inside of it.

And the back:
456283


And I have put up a few decorations at home as well, though not many. This was a priority though:
456284

This is displayed inside on the wall of my 2-story foyer...the window blocks the ear a bit...but as you head downstairs every morning (or evening) you can't help but have this staring you in the face. This was taken this morning before I left for work.

Hard to believe by this time tomorrow I'll be on a flight to Florida. Temps are supposed to be 70s and high 60s for the high and high 40s for the low, so I have packed many layers...which is the reason my suitcase didn't want to close. Perhaps @ariane37 will have the chance to run into each other again...we will see!
 
I should probably copy my EPCOT food "wish list" over here from my other thread...but then I just saw this for HS as well:

https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-storie...th-tasty-treats-at-disneys-hollywood-studios/
I need more time to be able to savor all of these delicious treats!

Ok here is my list of things to try at EPCOT:


American Holiday Table

Beverages
Cocoa Candy Cane: American Heritage Milk Chocolate Hot Cocoa with Peppermint Schnapps

Bavaria Holiday Kitchen

Food
Cheese Fondue in a bread bowl with Fresh Steamed Baby Vegetables and Marble Potatoes featuring Melissa’s Produce
Black Forest Roulade with Cherry Whipped Cream

Beverages
Possmann Pure Hard Apple Cider, Frankfurt, Germany
Possmann Pure Hard Black Currant Apple Cider, Frankfurt, Germany
Schöfferhofer Pomegranate Hefeweizen
Cider Flight

Feast of the Three Kings

Food
Queso Fresco-stuffed Arepa topped with Shrimp, Crushed Avocado Aji and Tomato Sauce
Arepas topped with Melted Queso Fresco

Fife & Drum (The American Adventure)

Food
Holiday Apple Pie Sundae with Soft-serve Ice Cream, Caramel Sauce and Crunchy Streusel Topping

Holiday Sweets and Treats

Food Items
Peppermint Sundae: Chocolate Ice Cream, Whipped Cream, and Peppermint Candy – $4.99

Beverages
Hot Cocoa with Assorted Cordials (Baileys Irish Cream, Frangelico Liqueur or Fireball Cinnamon Whisky)
Chocolate Peppermint Shake Featuring Twinings® Peppermint Cheer Tea and Whipped Cream Vodka

Las Posadas Holiday Kitchen

Beverages
Holiday Cider: Hard Apple Cider with Cinnamon-infused Tequila
Mexican Fruit Punch: Mezcal, Red Wine and Blackcurrant Liqueur infused with Star Anise, Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger and Orange Peel (served warm)
Horchata Margarita: Tequila, Horchata Rum, Cinnamon Whisky and Agua de Horchata, served on the rocks

Le Marché de Noël Holiday Kitchen

Food
Bouchée à la Reine Traditionnelle: Turkey and Mushrooms in a Veloute Cream Sauce served in a Light Puff Pastry
Bûche de Noël au Chocolat “Christmas Log”: Chocolate Cake with Dark Chocolate Caramel Ganache

Beverages
Frozen Hot Chocolate Martini: Grey Goose Vanilla Vodka and Chocolate Milk

Refreshment Outpost (Near Africa Outpost)

Food
Warm Caramel Stuffed Salted Pretzel with Soft-serve Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

Sapphire Holiday Kitchen (Morocco) Visit the Morocco Pavilion to enjoy traditional dishes and refreshing beverages.

Food
“Sfenj” – Warm Beignets with Cream, Cinnamon Sugar, Toasted Almonds and Chocolate Sauce

Beverages
The Andalusian “Poinsettia” Cocktail: Sparkling Wine, Orange Liqueur and Cranberry Juice topped with Orange Blossom Water

Shanghai Holiday Kitchen: Enjoy bao buns, egg rolls and more from this holiday kitchen in the China Pavilion.

Beverages
Firework: Jose Cuervo Tequila Gold, Vodka, Mango Syrup, Orange Juice and Soda Water
The Lucky Mo: Peach Schnapps, Peach Syrup, Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice and Coconut Milk

Shi Wasu Holiday KitchenSavor delicious holiday dishes served up in the Japan Pavilion.

Food
Matcha Crème Brûlée: Creamy Green Tea Custard with a Caramelized Sugar Crust topped with Mochi, Red Bean Jam and Strawberry

Beverages
Tsubaki Whiskey Sour: Plum Wine with Whiskey, Cranberry Juice, Sugar and Lemon

Tuscany Holiday Kitchen Embark on a culinary adventure at this holiday kitchen in the Italy Pavilion.

Food
Bianca Neve: Italian Flatbread, Mozzarella and Parmesan
Crespelle di Mele: Cinnamon Apple Fritters and a Vanilla Sauce Drizzled with Chocolate Caramel Sauce
Bacio al Cioccolato: Warm Hazelnut Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Mascarpone Cream

Beverages
Pinot Grigio, Santa Marina
Italian Margarita with Limoncello and Tequila

Yukon Holiday Kitchen Mouthwatering Canadian favorites in the Canada Pavilion.

Food
Seared Salmon with Crown Maple Whisky Glaze, Parsnip Silk, Apple Chutney and Hazelnut Croquant
Canadian Wild Rice and Ham Soup with Almonds served with a Pretzel Roll
Maple Bûche de Noël: Maple Mousse rolled in Gingerbread Chiffon Cake with Cranberry Sauce and Pecan Crumble
Peppermint Pinwheel Cookie

Beverages
Frozen Coffee (non-alcoholic)
Unibroue Éphémère Strawberry and Rhubarb
Inniskillin Riesling Icewine
Inniskillin Pearl Vidal Icewine
Inniskillin Gold Oak Icewine
Ice Wine Flight
Frozen Coffee with Tap 357 Whisky

Joffrey’s Coffee Cart

  • Future World East: Choco-Latte: Latte with Chocolate Sauce and Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur
  • Canada: Ginger Chai Madness: Chai Latte with Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur and Gingerbread Syrup
  • Showcase Plaza: Coconut Snowstorm: Latte with RumChata and Coconut Syrup
  • The American Adventure: Toffee Coffee: Latte with Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur and Sea Salt Caramel Toffee Sauce

More Culinary Delights In addition to the holiday kitchens, select food and beverage locations will feature seasonal treats.

L’Artisan Des Glaces
Glace au Pain d’Epices: Gingerbread Ice Cream with Gingerbread Pieces (Kid-Approved)

Boulangerie Patisserie Les Halles
Bûche de Noël au Chocolate: Chocolate Christmas Log with Chocolate Mint Cream Mousse and Chocolate Crunch Biscuit (Kid-Approved)

UK Beer Cart
Mulled Cider: Strongbow Hard Apple Cider, Twinings Orange and Cinnamon Herbal Tea, Pimms No. 1 and Apple Juice with Star Anise (served warm)

UK Tea Caddy
Twinings Iced Christmas Toddy: Twinings Iced Christmas Tea with Honey (non-alcoholic)
Twinings Iced Christmas Toddy: Twinings Iced Christmas Tea with Honey & Drambuie
 


Sorry for the delay but I'm finally reporting on on my last day at Disney. We have had a great time so far, a bit chilly at times but tolerable. The Candlelight Processional last night was wonderful and we had great seats. I've been adjusting our plans as we go of course so even today is much different than originally planned but I think it will be great.

Today is our warmest weather day to date and we are headed out tonight. I can't wait to share our short little trip stories where we did quite a few firsts for people with us. Spoiler alert is NONE of those firsts are Star Wars Galaxy's edge related. We decided to go nowhere near that madness so no Rise of Resistance report. We didn't even go to that half of the HS park!

May report in from the airport as I have promised the group an early arrival there after already stressing everybody out on the flight here.
 
Wow...still haven't gotten around to this trip report but can't wait to share it. We had a great time! So much fun that I swear I slept most of Saturday after returning home late Friday evening. Flights were great...even though we almost missed the flight out...well not REALLY but maybe it was closer than some would have liked. I was able to try a few of those food items on the list I mentioned...but not very many. The Candlelight Processional was LOVELY and we had great seats for it. The weather was a bit chilly at times but overall tolerable.

458313


Here we are on Main Street on our arrival day. Since I don't have PhotoPass, I had all photographers take photos of us with my cell phone and that worked out great. While I was tempted to upgrade my ticket to an annual pass, in the end I decided to wait on that. I'll have an annual pass again someday I'm sure.

So did I get to everything on my "list" do you think? For refresher, here is what I wanted to accomplish:


-- Visit Grand Floridian Ginger Bread House
-- Visit Boardwalk & Yacht&Beach Club Holiday Decorations
-- Ride Flight of Passage
-- View holiday Sunset Seasons Greetings projections at HS
-- Flight of Passage
-- Dinoland Evening celebration at AK
-- Magic Kingdom Evening Fireworks
-- Ride Slinky Dog Dash & Alien Saucers

Yes I have Flight of Passage twice I see...but we had no FastPass for it so the goal was to ride it at least once. Did we succeed?

Was sad that @ariane37 and I did not get to meet, but it was a short trip that I had packed a lot into so that makes it tough. I wanted my friends to have as many of the above experiences as possible.

So for restaurants....we had meals at Liberty Tree Taven (because though not listed above, Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake was my goal as well), Chef de France, Pinnochio Village Haus, Sunshine Seasons, Via Napoli and some feasting at the Holiday Kitchens. I will say our worse experience was Pinnochio...wow I've had meals there before but this time was just not good. Favorite meal was probably Via Napoli but I've always loved that place.

Hopefully I'll get the next update here soon but at this point I'm still trying to get my house and tree decorated for Christmas:

458316

The lights are on as of Monday, the ribbon went on last night and there are 3 ornaments on the tree so far. Plus some house decorations have also happened. I have time right?
 
DAY 1: What's better than coffee to get you awake before 6am?

So here was my original plan for this first day:

We have a 7am flight, so the plan is for one friend to stay the night at my house, the other 2 will drive over around 5:30am, and I'll drive us all to the airport. We should land close to 9:30am, I have a rental and we'll head out to WDW. If our rooms are ready, we may just stop there first and check-in but if they aren't ready...then we'll hit a park. Right now I'm thinking we will go to Magic Kingdom but I am also considering EPCOT or AK instead. We would grab lunch and ride whatever we can via standby. Around 3/4pm we would head out to our resort to check into the room and settle in there. We will then grab dinner and plan to be at the MK around 5/6pm where we have FPs for 3 rides there beginning at 5:30pm and hopefully we can hang until close to the midnight closing time.

How did I do?

Well my friend did spend the night and we were up way too late the evening before of course. However we were up early enough (I think I woke up around 4am) and I had our other friends meet at my house by 5:15pm. We were out the door very close to 5:30am. I'm about a 15 minute drive to the airport, I park in a lot that's not on the airport property but still very close and the shuttle they have for that parking facility is great. They picked us up at our car, and we waited a bit to fill the shuttle with people...which is a bit unusual, especially since this was so early.

Soon we were on our way and were dropped off at the gate. We found our departure gate and went through security. I have TSA Precheck...my friends do not...and so while I was through in no time at all I probably waited a good 20 minutes or so for them. So yeah it was probably about 6:15am when we finally got through security. We were hungry, so we made a very quick stop at an airport gift shop for drinks and snacks which was on the way to the gate.

As we walked down the terminal, we were probably about 4 or 5 gates away when we heard this: "Attention all passengers on flight blah-blah to Orlando...this is the final boarding call, if you are on the flight you need to be at the gate at this time."

Oh crap.

So we started jogging a bit towards our gate, which in the end wasn't probably necessary...but let me tell you it woke us all up. We got there and there was still a line to board and as we made our way into the line, the WONDERFUL (ha) person at the Spirit gate called us over...to tell us we had to pay for our bags.

Excuse me?

See the reason our flight cost us $66 round trip was we selected the free personal item and no seats. I purchased a small rolling bag that everybody online mentioned was within the "free" limits for Spirit. My friends had the exact same bag...in a different color. One of my friends had her own bag which she has used before, a bit different. She was allowed to board, while the other 3 of us had to spend time trying to cram that bag into the "free personal item" bin for the gate agent. ALL OF US had to do that. Our bags were stuffed full but they all fit and we were eventually released to board the plane. There were others still boarding by the way and even after we were seated a family of 3 boarded about 20 minutes after that...so probably no need for that run, but I wasn't off to a great start as a tour guide!

Of course as I got to my seat there was somebody in it...so she checked her boarding pass which said she was supposed to be in the middle seat of the same row (she was in my window seat) and then the person in THAT middle seat was supposed to be in the middle seat on the other side. What the heck people? Do people not question when their seat is occupied and this flight was also pretty full. I waited as the musical flight seats took place and eventually had my seat. Flight from there was pretty uneventful...which is always good.

We landed a bit early actually...but had to wait on the tarmac at MCO for several departing flights to go out, so while about 10-15 minutes early we probably were at our gate about 10 minutes late or so. Soon we were off to find our rental car...easy enough as I've done that many times...and this time with my Manager's Special rate I got an upgrade to a larger car...sweet!

We situated ourselves in the garage and then made a plan to head directly to the Magic Kingdom since our rooms weren't ready. We were off!

We arrived at MK easily and headed into the VERY CROWDED park, taking the ferry over from the TTC because my friends had never done that before. Wow. We had lunch planned at Liberty Tree Tavern around 11:30am and it was probably around 10:45am when we hit the parking lot so we didn't have a ton of time. We decided we wanted a pre-lunch snack so we headed to Tomorrowland and grabbed some soft pretzels to share and some drinks. That was all we really had time for with the lines being what they were, even the Teacups had a line around the ride so we decided to head directly to LTT and have lunch.

Lunch was delicious, and while I only had a bowl of clam chowder I was still full from the share pretzle but I made room for the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake which everyone tried and enjoyed. Our server was fabulous as well...we were off to a good start. When we came out of the restaurant, we were looking at rides when I learned that one of my friends (who has been to Disney and MK a few times before) had NEVER been on the Haunted Mansion becuase she didn't like scary rides. WHAT? So of course we waited in line for that, probably about 30-40 minutes standby.

She did end up enjoying it and aftwards we just realized the lines were all pretty crazy, we had FPs for later, and it was probably close to 2:30pm and our rooms were ready. We decided to head out of the park at that time...but would we go right to our rooms?



 
DAY 1: This late thing is becoming a habit already

So we last left off leaving Magic Kingdom, but we decided we would make a short stop before heading back to our room...at the Grand Floridian. So we hopped on the Resort Monorail and headed there. Our goal was to see the Gingerbread House so of course that's what we did.

458324

So we spent some time taking photos, wandering down and up close to the Gingerbread House. I have never noticed some of these details:

458327

458328

Still overall everybody enjoyed seeing this for the first time.
458332

We took some photos and then decided to grab some quick drinks at the small quick service they have at the GF, and we also made a walk out to the DVC building specifically so my penguin-loving friend could see this:

458334

We checked out the decorations in the lobby here, then headed back to the main building, caught the monorail back to the TTC and headed to checkin at All Star Music!

Since we all had done the online check-in, we headed right to our room in the Rock section. Let me say that I had, on my own, faxed a request for a room in the Rock Inn section, on a high floor, and near transportation and near each other. I got every one of those requests which was great. Our rooms were right next to each other, but while our Magic Bands opened the room for my friend and I, the other two had the room next to us and the light turned green...but door didn't open. So the plan was just to run to our rooms, freshen up a bit, then head back to Magic Kingdom as we had Fastpasses for 5:30pm for BTMRR and it was probably around 5pm already. So my friend called the front desk from our room, first they tried to tell her she was trying to get into the wrong room, but eventually verified she was in the right place and sent a CM over to investigate. The CM arrived quickly but basically couldn't help...told them they would need to go to the front desk to have their bands reset. So we made a plan to just all head there, they would get the room fixed for them (and their suitcases would just stay in our room for now) and then we'd hop a bus over to MK from there.

458335

There was a slight wait at the lobby...this was taken at 6pm...we now have 30 minutes to make our first FP...how will that work out for us?

Bus wait took a bit long as well...but it did eventually arrive and we were on our way! Once inside the park...well we made a beeline for BTMRR to see just how late they would take us with our FP time expired. We were all prepared with our sob story about the room mixup (oh but for our trouble we were gifted ANYTIME and ANY RIDE FPs to be used at MK that night) but when we got to BTMRR we came across a MASSIVE touring group...line for FP was well backed up...we heard 40+ people at least in the group...and thankfully they didn't give us a hard time at all about arriving well past our time.

Once off BTMRR, our next FP was for Peter Pan at 6:55pm, so we headed directly there and rode that. It ended up stopping on us...so I had time to take some photos:
458337

Once off that, we were a bit hungry so we grabbed some food at Pinnochio Village Haus. Now I've had the flatbread pizza there before and it was decent...but we split one between two of us and it was cold and hard and just not good at all. Sad. I should have sent it back. Once done there, we decided to go ahead and use our anytime FP for 7DMT...so we got in line for that next. Once off that, we had our last FP at Space Mountain at 7:55pm so we headed there next. Once the last FP was complete, we decided to go ahead and knock out som more rides, especially since it was after 10pm so EMH had begun. We rode teacups
458338

and then I think we rode Pooh, then headed into New Fantasyland where we rode Dumbo followed by another FIRST ride for several people...the Barnstormer!
458339


We then took a quick ride on the Little Mermaid ride, and then headed to Pirates of the Caribbean which would be our last ride for the night. We felt pretty accomplished (and I wanted to do Jingle Cruise but it was closed) so we then took some quick photos on Main Street before heading out of the park.

458340



I felt like we got quite a bit done at MK, and some first rides for a few people, so hopping on a bus (standing room only of course) and heading back to the room was okay with me. We were probably back close to midnight, so we had by that time been awake for 20+ hours, and even then I probably wasn't asleep until after 1am. It was fabulous and before we parted for our rooms we made a plan to meet close to 7:15am the next morning to head to EPCOT...or HS...or someplace? I was still working through the plans for this even the next morning.


 
To-Do List Update:

✅-- Visit Grand Floridian Ginger Bread House
-- Visit Boardwalk & Yacht&Beach Club Holiday Decorations
-- Ride Flight of Passage
-- View holiday Sunset Seasons Greetings projections at HS
-- Flight of Passage -- Dinoland Evening celebration at AK
-- Magic Kingdom Evening Fireworks

-- Ride Slinky Dog Dash & Alien Saucers
 
Holy cow! You all got a lot done!!! You also look like you had a blast!!!

I would say we got quite a bit accomplished as well. I think the only thing I was sad about missing was the Jingle Cruise and maybe the fireworks, but I've seen both before. I also didn't ride TTC which is usually a must as well as COP, but again with our 3 FPs for the big rides, and using the extra "gifted" anytime FP for 7DMT, I was pretty happy getting all of that done.

So how is your daughter liking these Baltimore Ravens this year? Last night's game...always fun to watch them this season!
 
I would say we got quite a bit accomplished as well. I think the only thing I was sad about missing was the Jingle Cruise and maybe the fireworks, but I've seen both before. I also didn't ride TTC which is usually a must as well as COP, but again with our 3 FPs for the big rides, and using the extra "gifted" anytime FP for 7DMT, I was pretty happy getting all of that done.

So how is your daughter liking these Baltimore Ravens this year? Last night's game...always fun to watch them this season!
She is so excited!!!! She’s getting a new Raven’s sweatshirt for Christmas 🎄
 
Wow you guys really did get lots done! I feel like we accomplished a lot on our not quite 3 day trip too but MVMCP definitely helped with that. We did get to ride Jingle Cruise which I ADORE (not so much JUNGLE Cruise) and our skipper was fantastic!!!

I wish we had been able to say hello again too, we tried to meet up with another DIS'er too but the days were so packed nothing worked out :( Now we must look towards a 2020 meet lol!
 
Somehow I missed the start of this TR . Caught up now and looking forward to reading more
 
DAY 2: The ever changing plan

I went back and forth on this day soooo much...and even that morning it was still changing. This was a tentative plan:


If we can leave by 6:30am then head to EP (7am EMH) or HS (8am EMH); FP Slinky (9am-10am), ride other Toy Story rides and RnRC and Tower; head to Boardwalk/Y&BC for decorations; EPCOT for remainder of day; Holiday food booth offerings at World Showcase, any standby rides or get FPs; dinner at 4pm; after dinner hang in general area until 5-5:30pm lineup for CP; 8pm head to HS for evening stuff (10pm closing)

I really considered heading to the opening of Rise of the Resistance that morning at HS, but then I saw social media posts with photos of the parking lot. That was a big fat NOPE! So even though we had a 9am FP for Slinky Dog, I didn't want to park there. I made the decision that we would instead drive to EPCOT with a plan of taking the Skyride over to HS but then I realized it wouldn't be open yet that early. So we got up and made plans to head out around 7:30am I believe. We headed over to EPCOT and parked and I thought...well since we are here and it is still EMH morning hours (I think it was just before 8am) we should go ahead and ride SOARIN since we didn't have a FP for it. So that's what we did, got in line with very little wait and then we stopped and grabbed a quick bite at Sunshine Seasons while my one friend learned her daughter was with her group from school at EPCOT also so we hung around so she could see her.

I think after that we left the park, because we wanted to make sure we made it to ride Slinky Dog with our 9am Fastpass. We ended up hopping a bus from EPCOT to HS and the bus arrived pretty quickly. We walked right over to Slinky Dog to ride, though I debated a quick ride on Tower or RnRC first. I was overuled...SDD was the goal.

462194



Once off Slinky, we did make our way over but the line for Tower was already pretty long I believe. We decided instead to check out RnRC and ended up doing Single Rider line there. I think we still waited a good 40+ minutes for that, but we really wanted to ride it.

After that we realized how crowded it was at HS so we figured we'd head back to EPCOT. We hopped aboard the Skyliner there and had a great ride over to EPCOT. There was a bit of a line to get into EPCOT...time for a selfie...love the guy behind us who got himself in all of our photos here.

462196

We had a reservation for Via Napoli around 11:30am, maybe earlier...and this was taken at 11:45am as we were waiting to enter the park.

At the International Gateway entrance they had Mickey, Minnie and I think Goofy doing photos and greetings. My friend REALLY wanted to stop...but we had to tell her NO we had no time even though the lines were very short. We made our way to Italy and arrived and thankfully they didn't even blink an eye when we checked in a good 45+ minutes past our reservation. We were seated pretty quickly...and decided to order some drinks:

462198

I don't know what my drink was, something with Proseco maybe but of course the other one is a mule of some kind. Both were good. We had a 4:10pm reservation for the CPP dinner at Chef de France so we knew this should be a small lunch. Unfortunately my one friend wanted the bread (mmmm...bread) so even though I shared a salad with my other friend, the other two also shared a salad, and we SPLIT a small cheese pizza...it was still too much as we would later realize.

462199


It was all good though, and then for extra fun I had the wait staff sing Happy Birthday to my one friend who was having a birthday just 3 days later.

Lunch completed we did a quick photo stop:

462200

Then we walked around the world Showcase for a bit, stopping here and there and watching entertainment or shopping. I know we stopped at to get some caramels in Germany of course, not that we could eat them but it was cool enough that I could carry them with me. At some point we ended up in Mexico where I insisted we ride the boat ride there (I believe one friend said she had never done it...mabye more than one of them...WHAT?) 462203

Then we stopped in and my friend and I got a Margarita and had them split it for us:

462204

It was delicious. I think we walked back towards the front of the park where I insisted we stop in and watch that very cool EPCOT future presentation inside the pavillion there. I can't wait to see the park when all that's done!

Just before 4pm we had this photo taken:

462205

With all our matching shirt glory...we made our way to France for our 4:10pm dinner reservation, still not really hungry.

I must say that was a pretty painful meal experience because we had already paid for the meal, we HAD to order food and yet none of us was really all that hungry. We did have our meals, not eating much of them of course, and then we asked for our desserts to go and we had to choose something that would travel...so no ice cream. :(

Right after that we pretty much got into the line for the 6:45pm Candlelight Processional. This worked out very well...and I snapped some nice sunset photos as we waited:

462206
 
DAY 2: The ever changing plan (cont)

So we probably waited in line for about an hour or so before we started filling in the theater. We really lucked out as we ended up with GREAT seats in the front of the second section and we probably spent the next 30 minutes or saw watching various people get kicked out the handicapped seats that were in front of us, or the back of the front section.


Love love love this show:

462237

462238

And Neil Patrick Harris was great:
462239

It took us some time to find my friend's daughter, which we did with the help of my camera with the zoom lense as I video recorded the whole show. Some of her group was on one side and some on the other. She is in this group:

462241462242

So once the show was over, we took some time to wait for the theater to empty and my friend to see her daughter. She had already spotted us after the show as we waved at her.

Now we had one other thing to do, and that was to head BACK to Hollywood Studios. I wanted to get in a few more rides there that we had skipped earlier. So we arrived and headed towards Tower of Terror, stopping to check out a few of the holiday projections on the Tower. We didn't wait long at all for ToT, so then we headed to Toy Story Land once again. This time the goal was the Alien Saucers and Toy Story Mania. We managed to do both, getting in line for TSM close to the 10pm park closing.
462243TOWER LOBBY

462246

We exited the park just after 10pm and realized it was about time for us to check into our 10:25pm flight the next day. So we got into the car in the parking lot and sat there long enough to checkin and get our seat assignments.

We returned back to the room at a decent enough hour, and this was my attempt at hanging some Christmas lights...using only some bandaids to stick them to the window:
462247

It was a great ONLY full day at Disney for all of us. Our plan the next day was to rope drop (or close to it) Animal Kingdom and get a ride on Flight of Passage!
 
To-Do List Update:

✅-- Visit Grand Floridian Ginger Bread House
-- Visit Boardwalk & Yacht&Beach Club Holiday Decorations
-- Ride Flight of Passage
✅ -- View holiday Sunset Seasons Greetings projections at HS
-- Dinoland Evening celebration at AK
-- Magic Kingdom Evening Fireworks
✅-- Ride Slinky Dog Dash & Alien Saucers
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

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.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top