How Many Times Did I Meet Pluto This Trip? A Dec Solo TR - New TR Link 11/30!

[KatMark]

Great photos of the Osborne Lights, Ariana. I really missed not getting to see them after having gone two years in a row. They are absolutely my favorite thing at Disney at Christmas.

It was so sweet of you to facetime your Mom so she could see them too. I'll have to yell at my son for NOT doing that.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

That's cool that you got a spot to actually watch the lighting. I have been there to see them turned on, but never actually saw the ceremony.

I would never tire of seeing that display and just can't believe they likely won't be there this year. I can't imagine them not doing something though. They just mean so much to so many people.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I just stumbled upon your trip report this morning and I'm all caught up! We also gave Tony's a try on our most recent trip and were equally unimpressed.

 

[Tracy161]

Beautiful pictures of the lights!!! The PP pictures of you are great, too!

 

[MnNsmom]

I headed to Hollywood Studios on Sunday, November 30, 2014. Since I love TSM, I was up early and out the door to the buses by 7:45 am. I caught a bus fairly quickly and it was one of those that had the groups of four seats with two facing backwards. I ended up in one of those sections but was joined by a foreign couple that spoke very little English. Then the seat next to me was filled with a lady from Canada. Her husband stood in the aisle next to her and we struck up a conversation. It was one of those times where you hit it off with someone and become instant “temporary” friends. We talked the whole way to the park and I think it was the first time someone called me a “Georgia Peach”. I got quite the kick out of that.

I parted ways with my new friends once we got off the bus but it was fun talking to them.



It was right around 8:30 when I got in line and the crowds were already thick.





Once again though, I was expecting it since it was still part of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I took some pictures to pass the time.





They let us in right at 9 am and I joined the Toy Story Mania Dash (yes that is a real thing, I didn’t just make it up. I’m pretty sure I saw some people stretching to get ready for it). I made it there fairly quickly and walked through the line till we got to Mr. Potato Head. All together I waited about 10 minutes.









Mr. Potato Head appears to be giving me a very rude gesture in this next photo.



I found a Hidden Mickey.





Once I got to the front where you get your 3D glasses, I was put through the little blue gate and got to skip quickly to the front of the line.

Not my best score but I was out of practice since I hadn’t ridden since May.



The wait time was 60 minutes when I got done so I headed back out towards the hat in search of a certain dog. He wasn’t out just then, the CM told me it would be about 20 minutes so I headed back down to guest relations. I was doing the Frozen Dessert Party that night and needed to pick up my credentials. There was a bit of a line at guest services but a CM came out and asked if anyone was there for the Party. I was the only one so he took me inside to a separate area. He checked me in and I got my badge for the party and also a special ticket for the Frozen Sing-a-Long. I picked the 4:55 pm show since I figured that would put me back near the Osborne Lights at the right time to watch them being lit.

I headed back up to the Hat and Pluto was finally out so I got in line. This was a high priority for me because I wanted to make sure and meet him in all four parks. For anyone keeping count, this would be greet #1 for the trip.

He was very happy to see me and immediately tried to steal my bag.











The PP Photographer even took a close up of Pluto holding my bag.



After that wonderful meet, I stopped for some more photos in front of the Hat.







Then it was time to head down Sunset Boulevard for what was technically my second FP+ of the day. My first one was a throwaway for the Muppets from 9 – 10 am. I had a rough time with the tiers at HS this trip because there was just not much in the 2nd tier that I wanted. Other than TOT and Star Tours, everything is shows which I don’t really feel you need a FP for. Since I can’t ride Star Tours without getting sick, TOT is really the only thing I need one for.

Up Next: Bah La La La La

The TSM dash is crazy. We arrived at a few minutes after 9:00 and practically ran back there...the wait was already 50 minutes!

I love the pics of you and Pluto! I'm also impressed the pp photographer got pictures of your bag.

 

[MnNsmom]

Apparently, I fell pretty far behind, lol. Great pics, though. I had no idea there was a ceremony with Santa Goofy! My boys would flip, but we decided to change our trip to Oct. I think that is also the first pic I've seen of the leg lamp...cool! I also LOVE the 101 Dalmations picture! I know that movie is getting older, but it's seriously underrated, imho.

 

[Chicago Mo]

Great pictures of the lights!!! oh they are such a sight aren't they? No words can express!

You found the Cat! and a great picture of it too!!!

OH MY GOODNESS! the Dessert party looks so beautiful!!!

i love this story..

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love all those lights! Great pictures.

 

[Pluto0809]

So many beautiful pictures of the lights! And sweet of you to face time your mom

Thanks! Well it was really her idea, not mine.

Great photos of the Osborne Lights, Ariana. I really missed not getting to see them after having gone two years in a row. They are absolutely my favorite thing at Disney at Christmas.

I really love them too. So many rumors flying around that they won't be there this year, I hope it's not true.

It was so sweet of you to facetime your Mom so she could see them too. I'll have to yell at my son for NOT doing that.

Don't be too harsh on him. I sent Mom a picture and she ended up calling me! So it was really her idea.

That's cool that you got a spot to actually watch the lighting. I have been there to see them turned on, but never actually saw the ceremony.

Honestly it was luck more than anything. I didn't even realize I was standing near the place where the ceremony happened.

I would never tire of seeing that display and just can't believe they likely won't be there this year. I can't imagine them not doing something though. They just mean so much to so many people.

I've heard the rumors too and hope they are not true.

I just stumbled upon your trip report this morning and I'm all caught up! We also gave Tony's a try on our most recent trip and were equally unimpressed.

Thanks for joining in. Yeah, I was pretty disappointed with Tony's.

Beautiful pictures of the lights!!! The PP pictures of you are great, too!

Thanks! I wish the first PP picture wasn't so dark.

The TSM dash is crazy. We arrived at a few minutes after 9:00 and practically ran back there...the wait was already 50 minutes!

It definitely is. I always try to be there by 8:30 at the latest.

I love the pics of you and Pluto! I'm also impressed the pp photographer got pictures of your bag.

Thanks, I just love Pluto so much I'm like a little girl every time I meet him.

Apparently, I fell pretty far behind, lol. Great pics, though. I had no idea there was a ceremony with Santa Goofy! My boys would flip, but we decided to change our trip to Oct. I think that is also the first pic I've seen of the leg lamp...cool! I also LOVE the 101 Dalmations picture! I know that movie is getting older, but it's seriously underrated, imho.

I really just stumbled into the ceremony this time. I knew there was one but wasn't sure where it was. October is a lot of fun too with the Halloween stuff.

Great pictures of the lights!!! oh they are such a sight aren't they? No words can express!

Nope, definitely no words and even though my pictures turned out pretty good they still pale in comparison to the real thing.

You found the Cat! and a great picture of it too!!!

He was kind of hard to spot because if you were right under him, you couldn't see him. I just happened to be on the other side of the street and glanced over.

OH MY GOODNESS! the Dessert party looks so beautiful!!!

i love this story..

It definitely looked beautiful. But did I enjoy it? Say tuned!

Love all those lights! Great pictures.

Thanks, they are definitely a sight to behold!

 

[Pluto0809]

Frozen Dessert Party

I checked into the Dessert Party right at 7 pm and it looked like they had been letting people in already. A lot of the tables near the front were taken but I still found one with a good view. Before I filled a plate, I was a good Diser and took pictures of all the desserts.











They also had tea and coffee and a bar with a selection of three drinks.



So here’s my plate. I took one of the Anna cupcakes (cupcake quota filled for the day), a rice crispy treat, a s’mores cup, a cream puff and some of the warm chocolate fondue. I passed on the vanilla Elsa cupcakes, the key lime tarts, the Olaf carrot cake pops and the lemon things.



Of the three drink offerings, I chose the Bailey’s hot chocolate.



There were two more drinks, one was spiked apple cider and the other had coconut rum. Apple cider sometimes upsets my stomach and I really dislike coconut rum so I passed those two up.

Here’s the view from my table.









So what was my verdict on the desserts? Meh, they weren’t the best. The cupcake and s’more cup were good and the chocolate fondue was excellent. But the rice crispy was hard as a rock and tasted weird and the crème puff was dry and tasted like cardboard. The hot chocolate wasn’t bad but I think I would have enjoyed it better if it was colder that night. I didn’t end up going back for seconds of anything.

I sat there about 45 minutes eating my desserts and sipping my hot chocolate. It was a great view of the lights and I got to watch them dance multiple times. By this time though, my late night the night before was starting to catch up to me. HS was open late with EMHs but I decided to call it a night instead. I slowly made my way back to the front of the park, taking a few more pictures as I went.

















Oh and I did get some swag from the party. First though, here is my special badge for the dessert party. You’ll notice that the bottom is torn off, that was used to pick up my lithograph and pin I’ll show you next.



And the Lithograph and pin. It was a lot smaller than I expected but that was ok with me because it was easier to transport home.





So would I do the party again? No. It cost $89 and I think that was just too expensive for the subpar desserts and limited selection of drinks that I got. The seating was nice for the Frozen Sing-A-Long but FP+ could have gotten me almost as good of a seat. The view of the Osborne Lights was also nice but I didn’t need to pay to get that view since anyone can walk through the lights. Plus (a little spoiler here) when I compare it to the Dessert Party I did the next night which cost a lot less, it was kind of pathetic. As you saw above, the pin and lithograph where small and nothing special. All in all, a mostly disappointing experience when compared to the cost of the party.

I have nothing in my notes about the bus so it must have been a quick trip back to the resort. Since I was so early, I stopped in the gift shop to look around and also to pick up my package from the day before. If you’ve read my past TRs, you know I don’t come home from Disney without some kind of stuffed animal. It’s usually a Pluto but there haven’t been any new ones lately so this year I added Duffy, Simba and Sven to my collection. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to bring home this time so I looked around a bit. I was thinking about Sully from Monster’s Inc. because we had been watching Monster’s University every time Jim has found it on TV. I didn’t care for the Sully they had because he wasn’t soft. I really wanted to get a soft squishy one this time. I had a similar problem with Bolt, cute but hard as a rock. Then I saw him staring at me from the end of a rack. He called me over and I picked him up. I then had a very spirited internal argument between my inner child (IC) and my responsible adult (RA). Venture with me into the craziness that is my mind……..

IC – He’s so soft and cute and squishy, I want him!
RA – But you don’t even like that character. Put him back.
IC – But I do like him a little bit and look, he’s only $21.95, that’s not bad for Disney!
RA – You don’t like him and you don’t need him, put him back.
IC – No! I want him! Look at how pathetic and cute he is, he wants me to buy him.
RA – Put him back.
IC – OK, fine. (crys a little)

So I put him back and continued to the back of the store to pick up my package. As I turned to leave the store, I saw him again, looking so sad and pathetic, so I marched over, picked him back up and was checked out and out of the store before my responsible adult knew what hit her. So who was the controversial character that I wasn’t sure I even liked?



Yep, it was Stitch. I’ve never been a fan but he had grown on me a little after Mom and I met him at O’Hana in October. And how in the world could I resist that face? A few years ago I hurt my shoulder and started sleeping with a pillow under my arm because that helps to keep my shoulder level which in turn keeps it from hurting. Stitch replaced the pillow that night and ever since, he’s gone to bed with me every night. Funny thing, Jim didn’t even notice he was in bed with us till at least a month after I got back from the trip. By the end of that week at Disney, Stitch became a new favorite of mine.

I was exhausted by the time I got back to my room so I headed straight to bed and turned out the lights about 10 pm. I had morning EMH to get up for the next day.

Only two pin trades on this day. I found a second hitchhiking ghost and Perdita. I was trying to collect all of the dogs in that set.



Up Next: Why Do I Do This to Myself?

 

[missangelalexis]

The Bailey's hot chocolate sounds like something I would like! The desserts look yummy, I'm sorry that not all of them were up to par though. You sure had a nice view of the lights and the lithograph is a really nice souvenir. But I guess I can see how overall it wasn't worth the money. At least you gave it a try!

Aww Stitch is so cute! Trust me, I go through the same adult/child dilemma when it comes to stuffies!

 

[Newsies]

Lovely update!

Sorry to hear that the dessert party wasn't woth the money on a positive note, you took lovely pictures and I can't wait to hear about the party you did the next night!

Stitch is growing on me as well. I was never a diehard Lilo and Stitch fan, but he's still cute and endearingly mischevious.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[alwaysadisneykid]

LOVING the TR! My solo trip is in 11 days, I'm going for two weeks and staying at AS Sports. I have a Stitch too, and went through the exact thing! I had to adopt him and now he's a very important part of my ohana.

 

[Chicago Mo]

YAY! Another person turned to the Stitch side!!! We were not big stitch fans either.. until we met him. Honestly this how most characters become a favorite of ours. Stitch naughty level was high our first visit with my kids and he was a RIOT with the kids. Every since that? Matt's all time favorite character.
Sorry about the Frozen party. have to agree with everything you have said about it too. Glad i read this!!!
I hav eto go and take a picture of Matt's room with all the stitches..

 

[KatMark]

Yep, the Dessert Party seems a waste when you can walk up and down and see the lights...which I would prefe to do anyway. We've not even done the dessert party at MK or Epcot and not sure we will (maybe one day the MK one, but I can now get a FP for special area for the fireworks so probably not). The hot chocolate sounds really good (and boy would it come in handy today).

about Stitch. As you know, far from a favorite of mine although he has grown on me a bit each trip. I can't believe Jim didn't notice him for a month. I love your argument with your inner child.

 

[rteetz]

I was very interested in what you thought of the dessert party. All the previous reviews said pretty much the same thing you did, ok desserts, with ok drinks, and a good viewing spot. That did seem a but costly. The only dessert party I am intrigued to do is the wishes one which I tried to get for my last trip but couldn't. That stitch would be hard to pass up. I am not a huge stitch fan either but I'm positive if my sister saw that she would absolutely want it. I only have two disney plush type things, a lotso pillow pet because it smells like strawberries and a wreck it Ralph. I also like you new pins! I have never been a big pin trader but I'll buy one or two that I like when I see them.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Mmmmm, those desserts do look realy tasty. I don't generally like things to be too fancy, but it looks like a nice selection. Sorry you didn't think they were that good.

Ooh that lithograph looks pretty nice though.

$89 does seem really pricey for this especially considering there are other options for most of the things.

 

[PrincessInOz]

The desserts look tasty from where I'm sitting; but I hate dry cake. Shame it didn't match up to the 'looks', and that you didn't think it was worth the money. Having said that, $89 is really pricey! I had no idea Disney was charging that much.

Nice merch. Love the Stitch. So glad the IC won!!!

 

[Pluto0809]

The Bailey's hot chocolate sounds like something I would like! The desserts look yummy, I'm sorry that not all of them were up to par though. You sure had a nice view of the lights and the lithograph is a really nice souvenir. But I guess I can see how overall it wasn't worth the money. At least you gave it a try!

Aww Stitch is so cute! Trust me, I go through the same adult/child dilemma when it comes to stuffies!

I did like the Bailey's hot chocolate but I just think it was sweet on top of sweet that got me. Yeah, overall it wasn't worth the cost, maybe if it was about half that amount. I keep thinking I'll outgrow my stuffie addiction but at this point I don't see that happening!

Lovely update!

Sorry to hear that the dessert party wasn't woth the money on a positive note, you took lovely pictures and I can't wait to hear about the party you did the next night!

Stitch is growing on me as well. I was never a diehard Lilo and Stitch fan, but he's still cute and endearingly mischevious.

Can't wait to read more!

I kind of had a feeling it wasn't going to be worth the $89. Maybe if I was more of a drinker and had multiple alcoholic drinks? I barely got one down that night. Stitch really did grow on me that trip!

LOVING the TR! My solo trip is in 11 days, I'm going for two weeks and staying at AS Sports. I have a Stitch too, and went through the exact thing! I had to adopt him and now he's a very important part of my ohana.

Thanks! Two weeks, that would be wonderful! This trip was 8 days for me and I thought that would be plenty but of course I could live there and still not get enough. That Stitch is just so cute, I could not resist him.

YAY! Another person turned to the Stitch side!!! We were not big stitch fans either.. until we met him. Honestly this how most characters become a favorite of ours. Stitch naughty level was high our first visit with my kids and he was a RIOT with the kids. Every since that? Matt's all time favorite character.
Sorry about the Frozen party. have to agree with everything you have said about it too. Glad i read this!!!
I hav eto go and take a picture of Matt's room with all the stitches..

He was so much fun during our O'Hana breakfast in October that I couldn't help but like him after that. I loved seeing all of Matt's Stitches on your TR. Oh and by the way, I just ordered a Stitch as Yoda shirt for the day (who knows when but hopefully someday) I make it to Star Wars weekends.

Yep, the Dessert Party seems a waste when you can walk up and down and see the lights...which I would prefe to do anyway. We've not even done the dessert party at MK or Epcot and not sure we will (maybe one day the MK one, but I can now get a FP for special area for the fireworks so probably not). The hot chocolate sounds really good (and boy would it come in handy today).

about Stitch. As you know, far from a favorite of mine although he has grown on me a bit each trip. I can't believe Jim didn't notice him for a month. I love your argument with your inner child.

I will get to talking about the MK one eventually but I definitely recommend that one. It was a wonderful experience. The Hot Chocolate was good but I think it was too sweet on top of the sweets I was already eating. Nope, Jim had no idea I was sleeping with him for almost a month after we came back. The boy is not very observant.

I was very interested in what you thought of the dessert party. All the previous reviews said pretty much the same thing you did, ok desserts, with ok drinks, and a good viewing spot. That did seem a but costly. The only dessert party I am intrigued to do is the wishes one which I tried to get for my last trip but couldn't. That stitch would be hard to pass up. I am not a huge stitch fan either but I'm positive if my sister saw that she would absolutely want it. I only have two disney plush type things, a lotso pillow pet because it smells like strawberries and a wreck it Ralph. I also like you new pins! I have never been a big pin trader but I'll buy one or two that I like when I see them.

The Wishes party is extremely hard to get. I think probably the hardest reservation to score. The reservations weren't released right at 180 days so I ended up literally stalking the Disney web site for days in order to get one. I love the Disney pillow pets but I only have Pluto because the are huge and hard to bring home. I did consider the Sully one this last trip. Pin trading is a lot of fun and also quite addicting. I started with just the Pluto ones but have branched out a lot since then.

Mmmmm, those desserts do look realy tasty. I don't generally like things to be too fancy, but it looks like a nice selection. Sorry you didn't think they were that good.

Ooh that lithograph looks pretty nice though.

$89 does seem really pricey for this especially considering there are other options for most of the things.

They certainly looked tasty and some of them were. Just not worth the huge cost in the end. The lithograph is very pretty but it's not much bigger than a postcard.

The desserts look tasty from where I'm sitting; but I hate dry cake. Shame it didn't match up to the 'looks', and that you didn't think it was worth the money. Having said that, $89 is really pricey! I had no idea Disney was charging that much.

Nice merch. Love the Stitch. So glad the IC won!!!

Yeah, I was excited when I first took the desserts but was disappointed when I finally ate them. My IC wins most times!

 

[Pluto0809]

Why Do I Do This to Myself?

Unfortunately I woke up feeling quite sick on Monday December 1st, 2014. Eating nothing but desserts for dinner the night before had not been the best idea. But I’m used to my stomach issues so it didn’t keep me from moving on! I had morning EMH to get to.

This morning I noticed one thing in my room that was not very clean.





Those were some pretty serious cob webs! But I do wonder if the Mousekeepers are even allowed to touch the sprinkler heads? I couldn’t reach it so I just left them alone. Kind of gave me a Haunted Mansion atmosphere.

I was out the door and to the bus stop a little after 7 am. I think I must have just missed a bus though because I was first in line and waited the full 20 minutes for a bus. There was some interesting scenery to help make the wait go faster.





Even though there was a bit of a wait for the bus, I still made it to AK with plenty of time to spare. I think this tree is probably my favorite of all the Christmas trees.



It wasn’t long at all before I was seeing this beautiful site.



I was headed to Expedition Everest with the hope of riding multiple times since I love that coaster. But of course I did have to stop for a quick PP picture with the tree. You can see that there were still a lot of construction walls.





Continuing on towards EE:





I got side tracked by some monkeys. They were quite active this morning probably because it was a tiny bit chilly.







Back on track again complete with more construction walls.



I finally made it to the ride which was still a walk on, yay EMHs! I still haven’t been brave enough to try and take pictures on the ride. Since I only have a small point and shoot, I don’t have a neck strap and I’m terrified I will drop my camera. Here’s ride photo #1.



I came off the ride feeling quite queasy. What a bummer, I can usually ride this one two or three times before it starts affecting me. But I was determined to ride it a second time so I found a seat and sat for a while till the queasiness went away. This was definitely not the smartest thing I’ve ever done. Half way through the second ride I was done and just wanted off. I’m honestly surprised I’m still smiling (or more likely it’s a grimace) and not an awful shade of green in the ride photo.



After that ride I knew I had to be done with EE for the morning. So sad, I really had wanted to ride at least three times in a row but that was not happening. I decided to slowly make my way towards Dinoland so I could take a spin through the past. I had not gotten a FP for Dinosaur this trip so I wanted to catch it before the line got too long.

When I got to Dinoland, I once again got sidetracked by the animals that are in that area.





Restaurantosaurus was quite empty at this time in the morning.



More animals in Dinoland.





Up Next: Dinosaur and Festival Time!