"I LIVE Here! I Know What I'm Doing!" A Family Reunion for a Very Disney Christmas (COMPLETE)

[PlutosRHM55]

lYay, sounds like a great time was being had by all! I love the shrimp and fries at CHH, yummy.

It was! Not sure I've had shrimp at CHH... but the fries are wonderful (Disney fries in general are just perfect).

If you love Cindy's Wishing Well, you need to see Snow White Grotto in Disneyland. The statues are so cute (anonymously donated to Walt and Snow was the same size as Dopey and gang so some optical illusion had to be utilized), when you throw a coin into the well Adriana Caselotti sings I'm Wishing. So peaceful there, not a lot of people know about it although I hear Snow does some Meet and Greets there, not when I first visited it in 1961 though.

I've seen pics, it looks lovely. I definitely would make a point to stop there when I finally get over to DLR. I believe Aurora, Rapunzel & Flynn and a few others wander around there. Snow White's usually in Fantasy Faire I think. I didn't know the history of it, that's so cool #disnerdymoment lol But omg I'd so be in heaven for another wishing well area.

Love hearing all of your family adventures with your gorgeous Mom, sisters and you of course!

p.s. Is it just me or does your Mom look totally terrified on Splash?? It's not really too scary, think the one in Disneyland is a bigger drop, but the seating being different may make it seem that way. The best thing that happened on it in MK WDW, for us was coming to the final drop right when they lit the Christmas Lights on the Castle....breathtaking...of course we nearly drowned on the ride. LOL

Haha, I'm glad. And yeah, she does look pretty scared. My mom doesn't do well with drops but she LOVES thrill rides, even at 50+. I believe they are the same or MK's is taller actually, the logs are just what is different (and then some other subtler things). Omg that's AMAZING. It was too cold for me to ride Splash when the Dreamlights went on so I never rode. I have seen Wishes and MSEP from there though, pretty neat.

Gaston looks like a Johnny Cash impersonator in your photos. Are you sure you were at Magic Kingdom and not a regional production of Million Dollar Quartet, little miss sassafrass?

omg I'M DYING at this comment. Too accurate. Believe it or not he acted that way that day too.

You're making me miss Once Upon a Time is Now

"Zip-a-dee-doo-dah! Zip-a-dee-ay! You came to Disney so you could get paid." The best day of all my training. Magical Michael from Instagram was attending Peter that day and he came out with Peter sneaking around behind him. I almost cried.

I am LIT for CHH. I need to try their lobster roll! I think that's going to wind up being my Magic Kingdom dinner this year.

CHH is bae. And their lobster roll is FAB. It will be a 10/10 need to re-recommend dinner going on (just remember it closes earlier than most of the QSs)

Bring on the parade photos!

YAS CAROL CHANNING!!! I WILL GIVE YOU AN AMAZING STORY BEFORE THE PARADE PASSES BY.

You crack me up! Also, that Gaston...

He was not quite himself that day, for sure.

It really is the best place to sit and relax! I always mean to go to CHH, but we seem to always seem to go right after it closes. Maybe next time!

Yeah, it's hard to catch it right at nighttime so I always went for lunch, especially since everywhere else is PACKED and that upstairs at CHH is SOOOO empty and quiet. Highly recommend lunch or an earlier dinner.

Love this parade!

It's one of my faves! Be ready for LOTS of pics!

 

[MeghanEmily]

Your Gaston meet looked like fun, though nothing particularly special. It would be weird for me if Gaston was especially nice. I'm expecting attitude and bravado when I meet Gaston!

At this point, we were pretty ready to go get lunch. We started to head to Columbia Harbour House, my favorite QS.

Love CHH! Definitely a good choice.

One woman in particular and her child were being particularly unaware of personal space, which I'm luckily no stranger to so I was able to ignore it but it was particularly irritating for my non-Disney regular family.

I hate this! I've resigned myself to the fact that that's how it is at Disney, but it still makes me super cranky. I don't blame your family at all.

 

[missangelalexis]

The pics with Gaston came out cute, even if he was being too nice!

Love CHH too!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Loving your report! I read your 2014 one and was super into it, this one is great too!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Your Gaston meet looked like fun, though nothing particularly special. It would be weird for me if Gaston was especially nice. I'm expecting attitude and bravado when I meet Gaston!

Exactly! And usually I'd still get that, but today all the characters weren't feeling too energetic like I'm used to, but it's understandable considering.

Love CHH! Definitely a good choice.

I miss it SOOO MUCH!

I hate this! I've resigned myself to the fact that that's how it is at Disney, but it still makes me super cranky. I don't blame your family at all.

It's the worst. I still hate it, but I can ignore it. My family can too, it was just an unusually crowded day filled with lots of rude people. Christmas... never again.

The pics with Gaston came out cute, even if he was being too nice!

Love CHH too!

Thank you! CHH is the best!

Loving your report! I read your 2014 one and was super into it, this one is great too!

Glad you're enjoying it and decided to come out of lurkdom for this one!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Happy belated Fourth of July everyone!

I hope it was a safe and lovely occasion for all. I spent it, like most years, up at a family friend's lakehouse where I ended up helping to plan someone's Disney trip in December. I call that a successful vacation. I go back to work tomorrow so I thought I'd post one more update before then and IT'S THE PARADE UPDATE!!! Hope you enjoy!

Once Upon A Christmastime At Christmas Featuring The Fam Part I
December 25th, 2016
**Christmas Day**

We could hear and see the parade making its way down the long Frontierland stretch from the Splash Mountain gate. I struggled to snuggle out my DSLR and yes, I did say snuggle because we were literally so packed in at this point and now was the moment, parents were using kids as battering rams to get to the front. Welcome to Christmas Day at the Magic Kingdom, darlings!

But back to the flawlessness that is MOUCP!

Prepare yeselves for an onslaught of digital photography *RuPaul voice* REALNESS.

"At once upon a Chrisssssss-maasssss-tiiiiiiimmmmeee..."



LOOK HOW PERFECT MY BABIES ARE *insert multiple heart eyes emojis*













My bosses get dressed so nicely for the holidays. Also, high key was crying when they started singing "There's No Place Like Home For The Holidays". Luckily not as hard as usual since I had my lovely family by my side like I've had every Christmas.

























At this point in the parade, characters were really starting to notice Alyssa's birthday button and as such were blowing kisses and being super cute with the Fam. Ralph blew her a nice big kiss, monster hand and all.







"SCRUMPPPPPTIOUS! SCRUMPPPPPTIOUS!"

Clara Bell is such a queen.







Princesses dancing with their princes is my weakness. *more heart eyes emojis*







Prince Charming and Cindy blowing more kisses and wishing Alyssa a happy birthday!





Continued Here​

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Once Upon A Christmastime At Christmas Featuring The Fam Part II
December 25th, 2016
**Christmas Day**

I think of this next section as the toned down, not nearly as exciting, version of the ballroom ghosts section of Boo to You. It makes me kinda giggle at the contrast, especially because... well, I'm not one to break character integrity at the moment hehe




"It's the time of the year when the world falls in love!"

Belle's Enchanted Christmas dress reminds me so much of my childhood. I never saw Beauty and the Beast until after I was in the show in eighth grade. Enchanted Christmas I watched religiously during my very very younger years along with a whole host of Disney sequels. The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride will forever be my favorite (mostly because I low key had a crush on Kovu).





ACK, MORE CHILDHOOD FAVES


"I know you I walked with you once upon a dream." *add in all the Dream Along choreo here*

Now, here is when things got fun for me.

As I mentioned before, I visited characters A LOT throughout my program. It was fun and characters would recognize me all the time. Well, of course, I recognized that I had a few mutual friends with characters on this float. Aladdin, in particular, had a friend I knew rather well and mid-choreo, Aladdin noticed me! He literally started jumping up-and-down and mouthed "I REMEMBER YOU!" I kinda blushed because yeah, it's Aladdin, and he's gorgeous and perfect and a street-rat-turned-prince and AAGUGOSUGOAGHAOTUAOUFA Jasmine literally didn't know what to do and I was so SHOOKETH (you'd think at this point in my Disney career I'd be over this) It was a mess and all I did in response was point to my camera lens signaling for them to pose. Oh god, I just will never have a boyfriend. Moving on...


Princes ignoring their princesses to focus on me. Typical.




That smile and those eyebrows. Halp.

Just to prove to you how shooketh I was. My faves Tiana and Naveen were on the back of the float and I didn't even take notice of them until the last second.

This was the best shot I got of them.



Yeah, my apologies babes. I also missed getting a photo of my Queen, the Fairy Godmother. Darn Aladdin!

(FYI, for the record, the other side of the float is where Eric & Ariel and Rapunzel & Flynn are, hence why they are not featured in these photos, just putting that there.)

However, we'd have another wildly comical moment, even more-so than me swooning over Prince Ali. It would involve this elf.



Having seen the parade, I knew they made stops along the route asking random people what they wanted on their Christmas list then asking for an Elfie. Of course, today was Christmas day, Santa had already come so the question had changed to did they get what they wanted on their Christmas list. And guess who got asked?

Nope, not me.

Nope, not Alyssa.

Nope, definitely not Siobhan.

Yes, you guessed it.










It was my mom.

Bless her soul, my mom is the most outgoing person ever. However, she is quite senile and I say that with all the kindness in the world. All was going well in the conversation until she was asked for an Elfie. She thought she couldn't understand and asked what that was. My sisters and I were screaming over the music to her, trying to tell her that it was a SELFIE (but he's an Elf so... Elfie). Eventually, she figured out, pulled out her phone and took the picture.

This was the result:



And here was me documenting the #iconic moment:



Never. Forget.













And here comes the best part of the entire parade...

THE TOY SOLDIERS!

I grew up, probably like many reading this, watching all the Disney Sing-a-long vids and the Toy Soldiers always stuck out. I can't even properly describe what it was like seeing them for the first time back in November at my first MVMCP. It still was a magical experience after many viewings.






This float reminds me of Macy's holiday decorations... it feels so weird and out-of-place in a Disney parade.

Oh, I think someone's flying through one last time!






Left reindeer, is that you?

IT'S SANTA!!!






Never understood why this was put at the end of the parade and not the beginning.

Ugh, this parade has my heart. Although Festival of Fantasy is my favorite through and through, this parade comes at a close second. I have so many magical memories of it, albeit my short time seeing it. I thought the last time I'd seen it was at my last MVMCP, where I had probably one of the greatest parade experiences of my life. I was crying it was so magical and amazing. I even got a hug that almost knocked me over from Pluto. But today was just that magical and my family really enjoyed it. Lucky them for coming at a time when Daily Ops was a thing.

Now, it was back into touring mode. The next FP reservation we had was for much later. What to do? What to do now?

Continued Here​

 

[Newsies]

UUUUUUGHHHHHH. THESE PHOTOS. I. AM. OBSESSED.

I didn't meet characters to the extent you did during our program so nobody ever recognized me, but holy ****. If that had been me Aladdin recognized I would have been SHOOK. ETH. I would've had to have been carried out on a stretcher.

It's okay, I cried literally every night during Holiday Wishes during "I'll be home for Christmas".

Next update now pls

 

[missangelalexis]

You got so many amazing parade pictures! It looks like such a different experience seeing it during the day vs at night during MVMCP. I can't even imagine how awesome it was seeing it on actual Christmas Day!!

Omg love that the elf stopped for your mom

 

[the2ndstar2theright]

Joining in! Your parade pictures are...wow And I'm with you--The Lion King 2 is AH-MAZING! Probably my favorite Disney sequel ever.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

UUUUUUGHHHHHH. THESE PHOTOS. I. AM. OBSESSED.

Follow me on Instagram @amagnoliainmay for more fabulous photos. <3 (hehe)

I didn't meet characters to the extent you did during our program so nobody ever recognized me, but holy ****. If that had been me Aladdin recognized I would have been SHOOK. ETH. I would've had to have been carried out on a stretcher.

#DCPregrets

Me being me aside, I don't know how I held my composure. Probably have personal space or lack thereof to thank.

It's okay, I cried literally every night during Holiday Wishes during "I'll be home for Christmas".

Gurl, same, you don't even know. I'd always hide in my break room during it.

Next update now pls

You got so many amazing parade pictures! It looks like such a different experience seeing it during the day vs at night during MVMCP. I can't even imagine how awesome it was seeing it on actual Christmas Day!!

Thank you! And it IS! I might prefer night a bit more because no lights on the floats during the day, but the photos came out A LOT better and yeah, Christmas Day is surreal at MK.

Omg love that the elf stopped for your mom

I'm still not over it. I tell that story all the time, it was too perfect a moment.

Joining in! Your parade pictures are...wow And I'm with you--The Lion King 2 is AH-MAZING! Probably my favorite Disney sequel ever.

Glad you're here!

Oh thank you and IT IS. One of the best out there, especially since it brought "He Lives In You" into the animated Disney canon.

 

[the2ndstar2theright]

Oh thank you and IT IS. One of the best out there, especially since it brought "He Lives In You" into the animated Disney canon.

Yes!! Not to mention "One of Us" which just hits me right in the feels every time.

 

[MeghanEmily]

Fabulous parade photos! I love this parade, so it was cool to see it through your eyes and get your commentary on it.

So we're just going for a compromise between blue and pink here, is that it?

Hilarious!! Elfies forever.

Bo Peep as a fur character freaks me right out...

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Yes!! Not to mention "One of Us" which just hits me right in the feels every time.

Forever brokenhearted by this Oh Kovu.

Fabulous parade photos! I love this parade, so it was cool to see it through your eyes and get your commentary on it.

Thank you! It's one of my faves too.

So we're just going for a compromise between blue and pink here, is that it?

Across my many convos with Aurora, a purple dress has always been the optimum option.

Hilarious!! Elfies forever.

#Elfie5Ever

Bo Peep as a fur character freaks me right out...

She is a bit unnerving I agree.

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Ugh I love this so much. Disney + Christmas Day = What dreams are made of (hey now, hey nowww) Sorry obscure Lizzie McGuire movie reference.

You seemed to get a lot done this morning! And you got some amaaazing photos, particularly of the parade - looks great! Had you had practice on a DSLR before? Is it easy to pick up?

THE HOLLY JOLLY TROLLEY SHOW WAS HAPPENING.

The Trolley Show is one of my favorite things ever and the Christmas version is hands down the best version so of course, I had to stop and watch.

Errrrrm ok wow. The autumn trolley show is my absolute fave thing ever, I've only seen that one and the summer one. What do they sing in this one?!

(*Stacey voice* WHAM WHAM WHAM)

YES I appreciate this.

Belle's Enchanted Christmas dress reminds me so much of my childhood. I never saw Beauty and the Beast until after I was in the show in eighth grade. Enchanted Christmas I watched religiously during my very very younger years along with a whole host of Disney sequels. The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride will forever be my favorite (mostly because I low key had a crush on Kovu).

OMG blast from the past right there. I loved both of these, particularly Lion King 2.... Best. Soundtrack. Ever. OK now I have to go watch it

 

[MeghanEmily]

Ugh I love this so much. Disney + Christmas Day = What dreams are made of (hey now, hey nowww) Sorry obscure Lizzie McGuire movie reference.

Just nosily jumping in here because this was LIFE.

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Ugh I love this so much. Disney + Christmas Day = What dreams are made of (hey now, hey nowww) Sorry obscure Lizzie McGuire movie reference.

There you are! So glad you're enjoying it so far! I'm a little offended tho you would think a Lizzie McGuire Movie reference would be obscure to me.

#iconic

You seemed to get a lot done this morning! And you got some amaaazing photos, particularly of the parade - looks great! Had you had practice on a DSLR before? Is it easy to pick up?

We did! Thank you. I have had practice on a DSLR. They aren't super difficult, especially since they do have pre-sets (just like a point-and-shoot). I'm out of practice in manual mode, that's where it gets a bit difficult but the photos come out nicer.

Errrrrm ok wow. The autumn trolley show is my absolute fave thing ever, I've only seen that one and the summer one. What do they sing in this one?!

I've seen all of them I believe (I think it was only a snippet of Summer tho) and Holly Jolly is the best. It's all Christmas songs. They open with "Most Wonderful Time of the Year" then they go into either "Jingle Bells" or "It's Going to Look A Lot Like Christmas", they go back-and-forth as they move down the street. It's honestly the best Christmas show (aside from MOUCP) in MK.

YES I appreciate this.

Queen Stacey 5Ever

OMG blast from the past right there. I loved both of these, particularly Lion King 2.... Best. Soundtrack. Ever. OK now I have to go watch it

I'm so retro Disney so prepare for more and yes, DO go watch it! Lion King 2 is nostalgia OVERLOAD.

Just nosily jumping in here because this was LIFE.

Y'all giving ME so much life with this!

 

[PlutosRHM55]

Hi everyone!

So I'm trying to settle into a rhythm here for y'all to know when you can expect updates. I'm trying to do at least one update a week. I know it seems to be the thing to do it more frequently, but I feel it's a bit of a deterrent for a TR to update daily since you can't keep up. Let me know if this weekly thing works for you. Thanks in advanced and enjoy the update!

All We Need Is A Little Bit of Pixie Dust
December 25th, 2016
**Christmas Day**

After the parade, the crowds had visibly thickened in the Magic Kingdom, particularly in the Frontierland area since people were now struggling to get in and out of there post-parade. Immediately, our thought was to go meet Peter Pan, but I knew he wouldn't be out for a little while so we nixed that and instead made a snap decision to go ride the Haunted Mansion. The Haunted Mansion is my FAVORITE ride and it just was a must to drag my family on it with me and we happened to be so close. The line was quickly filling up so we booked it in line to avoid what would most likely be an hour plus wait.

I also brought my family to this ride because it too had also changed since 2010. The new interactive queue area of the attraction was not added until late 2011, after my second trip to the World. It wasn't always operating fully during the time I was down there (it was actually closed for a good portion of the first half of my program, even into MNSSHP). I hoped that today my family would get somewhat of the full experience.

While it wasn't perfect, we definitely had a good time in this queue and with the humidity setting in, it was shockingly an enjoyable experience waiting in line.









The most fun part of the queue I think we agreed was the books. They were making full use of the queue so we kinda weaved around that and everyone in line was playing with the books. It got pretty intense. This one girl and I were going insane over it and the Fam was laughing so hard over how intense I got about it. I was personally really happy to see that the ghost who talked in the book area was working. That thing usually never works even when the water thing is shut off.

It honestly was the most enjoyable queue-ing experience of the day. My family wasn't super duper keen on the ride, but I think they were surprised by how much they enjoyed it, even if they kinda get disappointed with the fact that the Mansion really isn't scary in the slightest. Part of it might've been that I pointed out some neat Disney trivia.

When we got out, we started meandering towards the Neverland map to go get in line to meet PETER . We meandered through Memento Mori's because it was drizzling a little if I recall correctly and just enjoy all the cool magic going on in there. At the Neverland map, a line already started to form so we immediately jumped right in.

Now, I'm sure you're wondering if after the whole split with meeting the other princesses versus riding some rides, why the Fam was so eager to go meet Peter. Well... it's pretty well known that I've gone to meet Peter quite often through my program. I have many a ridiculous as well as cute pictures with him. I even live-streamed part of a meet with him once, which was pretty fun. He's just so much fun and they just had to see it firsthand. As a result of my many meets with Peter, I knew many of his friends so I was hoping one of them would be out with him today.

Unfortunately, by the time, Peter came out, that was not the case, but that was a-ok. Peter is fun no matter what. And from the line, we could tell he was full of energy today. He also was in his winter wear, which was pretty cool (although I'd already met him in his Christmas attire prior). He also was cracking some really corny jokes. One of which made the whole line laugh, but I can't remember what it was. Eventually, it was our turn to meet the Lost Boy.















The Fam really enjoyed interacting with Peter. He was all about their green ears since green is obviously his favorite color. I don't remember much else he talked about, until after the photo when he turned to me and said, "Ok, who's phone case is that?" I said it was mine which prompted him to grill me on why I wasn't on his phone case (I had my Beauty and the Beast one on that day). He said next time I came to visit, I better have him on the phone case (which normally I do (Yes I do have a Peter phone case, custom, cost $40, no joke)). I said I would, but that I still had my "Never Grow Up" bracelet (which I lost in MCO on the day I left Orlando), which I showed to him. After that, we said goodbye. Peter went back to meeting his other lost boys and girls and we... well, we had to figure out something to do.

I apologize for here on out if it gets choppy. I'm kinda blanking here since there are only a few photos left for the rest of the day, or at least a few pertaining to exact locations and events. Like I'm thinking that we might've gone to Adventureland for some weird reason and only went in the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse or the Tiki Room. Of course, that might've been earlier too. I do recall a pretty fun experience in the Tiki Room, which my family did for the first time ever. Pretty sure that was earlier when we went to get Dole Whips. Oh whale, now you know now.

I think we needed a bit more refreshment and I knew just the thing to get. God's nectar. My favorite little drink in the entire kingdom, the entire WORLD to be perfectly honest.

THE LE FOU'S BREW!

Off deeper into Fantasyland we went. This was another new site for my family and it wasn't nearly as packed as I'd expect it to by this time in the day. When we got over there, Siobhan saw Gaston out and wanted to meet him. Alyssa and I already did so we shot that down and told her, it wasn't his day. She wasn't going to get her push-up challenge or anything like that, but we were about to experience the better part of Gaston's Tavern in a moment.

Another one of my roomies works in Magic Kingdom (3 of the 4 of us do) and he works in Stands East, which includes Gaston's Tavern. He always made me the best Brew when I would come in to get one so I hoped he was there. Unfortunately he wasn't, but we still got our Brew. Alyssa held off since she is so picky and just tried a sip from the rest of ours once we got them.

After getting them, we scouted around looking for a seat and lo-and-behold, GASTON'S CHAIR WAS EMPTY! The whole room was full of people but NO ONE in his chair. Basically, everyone in the Kingdom today were blasphemes just because nobody wanted to sit in Gaston's chair (it also is kinda nice to say considering how my shift went). We had it for quite awhile too, enough to get all these pics:


No one has a perfect spot for sassy photoshoots like Gaston.







Fun Fact: I actually played the role of Le Fou for a Cabaret my first semester of college. I sang "Gaston". This Tavern is a place near-and-dear to my heart.

Once we felt pretty content to venture outside of the Tavern. We headed back into Fantasyland. Again, my memory is kinda choppy here. We might've hit up The Little Mermaid ride since my family never got to do that either, Dumbo or the Teacups. My memory is so foggy and there's no picture proof that we did. Pretty positive The Little Mermaid did happen since I do recall us having to wait in the never extended queue. IASW might've happened too, still no picture proof oops But at some point, either before or after those escapades, I brought my family to Castle Couture to get pixie-dusted.

Here is a link to the video I took of the occasion: https://www.instagram.com/p/BOdBeUABrEf/?taken-by=thatdisneykween

I would've gotten dusted too, but unfortunately it isn't Disney look, however my mom and my sisters were all pretty happy with how glittery they looked. From here, we might've hit up PhilharMagic since the wait never gets too too bad with how much they squish into that huge theater. It's something we've done before and it's a nice way to get away from the crowds, granted it is a crowded theater, but it was a solid choice. From there, we decided that we were good with Fantasyland for the day and the crowds were getting a bit crazy so we headed on back towards my home of Tomorrowland to see how the waits were there.​

Continued Here​

 

[missangelalexis]

Sounds like a good afternoon! Love the pics with Peter! That is so awesome that Gaston's chair was empty and you were able to take so many pictures!

 

[SaraSpringsIsHome]

I think we needed a bit more refreshment and I knew just the thing to get. God's nectar. My favorite little drink in the entire kingdom, the entire WORLD to be perfectly honest.

I have never had a Le Fou's Brew... I WILL make it a point to try one this trip!

No one has a perfect spot for sassy photoshoots like Gaston.

​

I just love reading about your family adventures.
What a good son/brother you are!