12 Days of Disney: Our Very Merry Vow Renewal, Christmas, Alligators and more!

[missjackiemcg]

Friday, December 30th: Fantasy in the Sky

In 2007, we spent New Year’s Eve at Magic Kingdom but having been in the parks for the business of Christmas Day thought we knew well enough how crowded Main Street U.S.A. would be for the evening parade and fireworks…We. Were. Wrong. I ended up standing INSIDE someone’s stroller in the stroller parking area outside of Casey’s near First Aid. Behind trees and all. This was NOT the magical moment I had envisioned, obviously.

That being said, THIS TIME we were going to be MUCH smarter and MUCH more prepared for experiencing the amazing fireworks that are Fantasy in the Sky! Disney does a sort of New Year’s Eve rehearsal of the fireworks on the night before NYE, so that was the only thing we had planned for tonight. The park was also open til 3 a.m., so our original intent was to stay until then (spoiler alert: we aren’t gonna make it!!)

We walked in and slowly made our way down Main Street, stopping in to pick up the Cinderella’s Coach Pandora charm I had had my eye on.

DSC06618 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

When we came out, there was a PP photographer taking magic shots with mistletoe! Of course, I had to have this!

wdw2016366636936889_396236676589 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

wdw2016366636927430_7909343712 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

wdw2016366636936887_7909358243 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

With some time to kill before I felt we needed to stake out a spot for the fireworks, we crossed the bridge and walked over to Tomorrowland. What’s a trip to MK without a ride on the People Mover!? There was a DJ over on the Tomorrowland stage playing the Cha-Cha Slide, so while I took the obligatory foot rest picture—I also videotaped our feet “slide to the left, slide to the right, one hop…” It was such a simple little thing, but just made me smile and feel so thankful to have this time just the two of us!

DSC06620 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

After our ride, we crossed the bridge back toward the castle and saw how the hub area was already filling up and the crowds were forming everywhere. There were already CMs lining the middle of the bridge to keep everyone walking to their right and there was a DJ dance party happening in front of the castle. There was a taped off area on the castle side of the bridge, and we asked a CM which side was OK to stand on. We picked the corner and figured this would be good because no one could stand on the other side of us. Before long people started parking strollers beside us and “reserving” their spot while they went off to get food, etc. At about 11:45 the CMs came and removed the tape from the area we had been so careful to stay in…grr.

DSC06621 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06622 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

With 10 minutes until midnight, music started to play through the park speakers and we heard, “Second start to the right and straight on til morning…..” All of a sudden, down came Tinkerbell right over our heads!!

The fireworks were beautiful and of course I was crying because when you witness Disney fireworks, it’s just what you do.

DSC06625 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

With about a minute til midnight this woman and her brood of children run by and stop right in the middle of the bridge. CM says, “Ma’am you can’t stand here.” She shuffles her whole troop of unruly children of all ages over to the side DIRECTLY in front of Rob and I. I almost lost my mind as I said pretty rudely, “WELL, YOU CAN’T STAND IN FRONT OF US!” I was so annoyed, but it only lasted a moment as they quickly relocated further back along the bridge and Mickey, Minnie and Goofy could be heard counting down…10, 9, 8…

DSC06626 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

I have never seen fireworks like Disney’s anywhere, but the NYE ones are even more spectacular! As the countdown goes on, number-shaped fireworks go off in the sky from left to right all the way around where you are standing looking at the castle! And when they get down to 3, 2, 1….HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! More fireworks than you’ve ever seen go off in every direction all around us while Disney character voices can be heard singing Auld Lang Sign and at the end, Mickey’s voice, “Oh, boy, that was some show!”

Even though the park was open til 3 a.m. we had already planned to spend the entire next day on New Year’s Eve at Magic Kingdom (a lofty goal, to be sure!), so we figured we should head back to the hotel. But SOMEDAY I WILL stay at the park until 3 a.m. …..y’know, when I know I can sleep in the next morning

Up next: New Year’s Eve a.k.a. 13 hours in the Magic Kingdom

 

[Pluto0809]

we were headed to MK for rope drop.

Not sure if this is my favorite or late night Magic Hours. Both are so much fun!

We let Jimmy decide where to start, so we ended up in Tomorrowland riding Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin again

Kid after my own heart! I could ride that one over and over and have done so when there isn't a line.

we were surprised to see at the end that the digital boards were removed and replaced with wooden signs in the exit area!

That is so weird especially since they were back in March.

the doggy gate and discolored wall, as well as the ring!

I've seen the ring but not the other two. I need to look next time!

I may or may not have elbowed a couple other Moms out of my way to get where we were headed and I got Jimmy right up on Cinderella’s horse!!! It felt like such a victory…LOL

You go girl! I got the giggles picturing this.

Chip and Dale were a riot

They usually are!

The Fairy Godmother was the most wonderful!!

I have yet to meet her. I'm hoping to catch her in January if she's still meeting.

Anastasia and Drizella had caused Jimmy a lot of stress.

I kind of agree with Jimmy here, they scare me a little too and I haven't met them yet. Another one on the list for January when I have my much more outgoing husband with me.

So, we strolled over with our trays and had a little hub grass picnic with the castle in the background.

I was going to suggest the Tomorrowland Terrace for seating but this sounds so much more fun!

Following that we headed over for our dinner reservation at Minnie’s Holiday Dine.

Yum! I loved this meal. I would have scheduled it again for January but Jim wants to do his favorite, 50s Primetime.

I thought it was kind of hilarious that they considered this cold enough to require these measures!

Speak for yourself girl, I would have been freezing! I may be from the North originally but my blood is southern now.

I think the machines are new here though—I don’t remember it ever “snowing” at DHS before.

I think they probably moved them from the Osborne Lights cause it used to snow in that area.

stopping in to pick up the Cinderella’s Coach Pandora charm I had had my eye on.

I haven't gotten that one but I did just order and receive the new Dumbo one.

When we came out, there was a PP photographer taking magic shots with mistletoe!

Awwww, so cute!

The fireworks were beautiful and of course I was crying because when you witness Disney fireworks, it’s just what you do.

Absolutely!

But SOMEDAY I WILL stay at the park until 3 a.m. …..y’know, when I know I can sleep in the next morning

I did it once and it was an absolute blast! I was headed home the next day and only got a few hours of sleep but I didn't care cause I slept on the plane.

 

[missjackiemcg]

December 31st: New Year’s Eve a.k.a 13 hours in the Magic Kingdom!

Having previously experienced MK on NYE without being prepared, this was the day of our vacation I put the most thought and careful planning into. I knew we wanted to be at the parks earlier in the day to avoid phase closures, which might not allow us entry, so we were heading out for a bus around 9:30 a.m.

DSC06633 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

At Pop Century, there was a big poster in the lobby where you could write down your own resolutions or wishes for 2017.

DSC06632 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

The traffic on this morning was noticeably heavier than any other day of our trip. We got stuck in gridlock traffic approaching the TTC. In fact, I timed this ride at 47 minutes. Jimmy was looking pretty green and we were digging through our stuff looking for a bag for him to get sick in just in case. I actually sat down on the bus floor with him for the last 20 minutes of the ride. But thankfully we arrived before he ended up getting bus-sick.

We decided to take a lap on the Walt Disney World railroad rather than fight the crowds down Main Street. We planned to ride once around and decide what we wanted to head to first. Jimmy was feeling better but now very cranky (he gets like this when he’s hungry…lucky us!), so we decided it was in everyone’s best interest to feed the little beast before waiting in any lines!!

DSC06634 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

We got off at the Frontierland Station heading toward Pecos Bill’s, but the walkway was blocked with a marching band coming through. We were standing right at the ropes, so Jimmy perked up a bit as he LOVES instruments and was very excited to have an up-close view!

DSC06635 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06638 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

As soon as the rope dropped for us to cross the path, my Mom spotted an outdoor table, but it was right in the sun. I had her stay there while I quickly popped inside and there was a lovely table for 6 right next to the window where we could be cool inside and still watch the parade go by during lunch.

Dad and Rob really enjoyed the toppings bar here! I had the fajita plate, which was super tasty and I really enjoyed my mini-churros with chocolate dipping sauce for dessert. I can’t wait to eat here again on my next trip!

The park was really filling up by this point. In fact, in my notes I wrote that the park was at a Phase B closure from 11:45 this morning until 9 p.m.

When planning for our day, I tried to spread out our FPs to allow for less waiting in line at least part of the day. I also planned for this to be a chance for Jimmy to play Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom since I knew wait times would be astronomical and by now we’d really ridden most of our favorites at least once.

Jimmy’s quest after lunch led us to Adventureland where we had to make another stop at Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room—another of Jimmy’s new favorites!

DSC06640 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Our first FP time was approaching, so we needed to head toward New Fantasyland. We took Rob and my Dad for their first visit to Gaston’s Tavern.

DSC06644 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06647 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr
DSC06649 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Then, we headed over to the FP line for Enchanted Tales with Belle. Jimmy was granted a red card—and felt VERY special as you can see!!

DSC06650 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Jimmy is a big fan of ETwB. He decided long ago that he and I are Chip and Mrs. Potts. Last time we were here, he had a little pout when they assigned him Maurice, and they let him be Chip after all. He was less than pleased with the little girl who was cast as “me” so he volunteered me at the end when they ask “Does everyone have a part who wants one?!” Lucky me…with all the children. I was cast as the ottoman. THIS time I was prepared and told him I wanted to take lots of pictures of him, so he didn’t volunteer me for anything. We tried to get Grandpa to be one of the knights in shining armor…he didn’t go for it!!

DSC06654 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Here’s my little Phillipe in action!

DSC06656 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

The next thing I had squeezed into the schedule was a haircut for Jimmy at the Harmony Barber Shop. It took him forever to grow hair in the first place, so he had his First Haircut on his second birthday in 2011 at the Harmony Barber Shop. Since that day, he has never had a decent haircut anywhere else!! He simply does not cooperate as easily with any other salon, barber, etc. Another reason to go back as often as possible!! I let him get super curly and shaggy in between haircuts, and it had been awhile so he was definitely ready for this one!

DSC06666 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

We checked in but they were running behind, so we had to wait for a bit. The only good thing about that is there was another Once Upon a Christmastime parade due to make it’s way by soon! Jimmy befriended some little girls while he was waiting. Their Mom was not very friendly—thinking we were just trying to plop him in “their” space for the parade. Even after I told him we were just waiting outside the barbershop, she was very rude to him.

DSC06671 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Before too long they had called Jimmy in and Shanna had him looking all spiffed up in no time!! He was very excited to be pixie dusted and sent on his way back outside. After I paid, Shanna offered to pixie dust me, too, and you know I said YES!!!

DSC06673 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06677 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr


When we walked out the door the parade was starting to round the bend by the train station, making its way toward us. Jimmy was back by his little friends and their Mom told him he couldn’t stand there. (There was literally no one in the space beside their family, so there wasn’t any reason he couldn’t stand near the kids. I just called him over to stand by me, but there was a CM standing near the gate who had seen the whole thing and saw the sad look on Jimmy’s face. She called him over to her and let him stand under the rope with her.) This was probably the most magical bit of pixie dust we’ve ever received. She called out to every character as their float was coming past and gestured at Jimmy so they would throw some extra love his way.

DSC06683 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Vanellope blew him kisses. Goofy held up his ears that matched Jimmy’s hat and wiggled them at him. The Fairy Godmother made a heart with her hands to him and blew kisses. Sarge and the toy soldiers saluted him. The CM whispered to me, “His name is Jimmy, right?” then walkie talkied, “Santa, Jimmy, Jimmy.” It didn’t make sense to me until Santa up on his sleigh came around the bend and I knew he was going to say Jimmy’s name. As the sleigh went by and he waved down and their eyes connected, it was purely a magical moment. I didn’t even pay attention to that rotten mother next to us who had made my boy feel sad—all I could do was thank that CM over and over and over again for making a parade we had already seen seem so special and brand new and like it was only for my son!

Flying high after the amazing parade experience, we let Jimmy decide where to head next, so we were back on the train!

DSC06688 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

We noticed the lack of people coming into the park (because of the closure!!) and the humongous line of people in the queue for Splash Mountain.

DSC06691 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06690 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

We rode all the way around once and then got off in Frontierland on the second time around. This was a perfect spot because as we exited we heard the celebratory sounds of NYE party horns!! We followed the sound around the corner and found CMs with giant carts full of party hats and horns.

DSC06696 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06699 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Newly outfitted, we headed for our next FP at Pirates of the Caribbean. We did another Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom quest, which killed some time before our next FP—Jimmy’s first rollercoaster ride on the 7 dwarfs mine train. I’ll let you decide how he liked it…

wdw2017001637590216_396237388839 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

wdw2017001637590393_7910221584 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

 

[missjackiemcg]

Our big dinner plan for New Year’s Even had been dinner at Be Our Guest. It was the very first reservation I made on our 180 day mark and the earliest time I could get was 9:30 p.m. I knew this was way too late for dinner, but I didn’t want to lose my reservation, so I checked every single day for any other dinner time and just never had any luck. After our ride on 7DMT, Jimmy was pretty toast and we still had over an hour and a half before we could even check in for dinner.

We sat down to rest our feet and mellow Jimmy out...

DSC06701 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06702 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06704 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr
Grandpa's horn didn't make it through 7DMT!

While we were taking our break, I got a great idea where we could not only eat up some of our wait time, but also check out a classic before it was … rehabbed? Ruined? Uh, not to get political, but before it was updated, we headed to the Hall of Presidents.

Jimmy was IN LOVE with this attraction! He was asking all kinds of things about the presidents and has continued this since we’ve been home. He picked out a president poster for his room and is always giving me facts and throwing out dates about them. While my family was enjoying, I was back in My Disney Experience app looking for a 4th FP. I didn’t figure I’d find any, but why not, right? Turns out I was able to pick up an Under the Sea with the Little Mermaid FP that we could use right after the show.

DSC06710 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06712 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

After our spin in a clam shell, we made our way over to Be Our Guest. It was only about 8:30 p.m. but I figured it couldn’t hurt to just check in or find a place to wait over there. There was a CM outside of the little booth holding an iPad. I explained to her that I knew we were too early, but we had been in the park for almost 12 hours and were ready to just hang out, if there was any chance we could get in early, we’d be right over there.

She was very friendly and we chatted as she looked up our reservation. I described for her the last time Mom and I had eaten here during MVMCP when they made us stand there waiting almost an hour, service was so incredibly slow that we didn’t even have time to actually eat a whole meal, and we wasted almost 2 hours of our party time. She told me she would add a birthday celebration for Jimmy to our reservation tonight because a little celebrating always makes things better. I thought, well, I guess she’s right. She said she couldn’t seat us any earlier, but she would mark us as checked in and gave me a buzzer.

I headed back over to my family fading fast by the wall next to the check in booth. I had barely sat down beside Jimmy when the buzzer went off and my friendly CM friend gave me a wave and sent us down the bridge toward the castle.

DSC06717 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

The boys wore their Christmas ties (chosen by Jimmy!) for our “fancy” dinner and we were seated at a beautiful table right inside the ballroom. I was thrilled to be able to eat in there finally on my third visit!! Our waitress couldn’t have been sweeter. She made a big deal about our “birthday” celebration and even brought out a birthday card signed by Belle and the Beast and a special plate of grey stuff with a birthday candle for Jimmy.

DSC06713 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06719 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06716 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06718 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

We finished up around 10:00 and had already decided that we were ready to head back to Pop after dinner. We knew we’d have one more morning at MK tomorrow, and Rob and I had already seen the NYE fireworks, so we slowly made our way across the park to head for the buses. We had already known there were “back roads” out of the park today to help keep people out of the crowds forming on Main Street, so we headed for the Carousel of Progress to make our exit.

Imagine our surprise when there was actually ample “fireworks” seating in a special area backstage. There were also floats from Move it, Shake it that were parked with special New Year signs on them!

DSC06727 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06723 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

We came out from backstage, walked under the train station and headed out to be the only people at the Pop Century bus line. A huge articulated bus arrived and with only the 5 of us waiting, we had our own private stretch bus ride back to Pop. Jimmy fell asleep on me like he hasn’t since he was a baby!

DSC06730 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06733 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr


Knowing we were leaving tomorrow, we spent the rest of our New Year’s Eve organizing and packing everything from our fairytale whirlwind vow renewal, Christmas, Happy New Year trip! I couldn’t believe it was over. I snapped more pictures of my bouquet that I had to leave behind and our spa basket that I had to disassemble before I could pack.

DSC06755 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06754 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06734 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Then, I heard fireworks and looked out the window to realize we could see fireworks from our balcony in several parts of the sky!! Mom, Dad, Jimmy, Rob and I were all on the balcony together. It was like there was no one else on the property—just us. Mom had brought Jimmy pop-its that snap on the ground. We let him pop them on the balcony (and cleaned them up after, of course!) and celebrated with a drink and kisses all around—Happy 2017!!!!

DSC06735 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06738 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Around 1 a.m. we had almost finished squeezing all of our belongings back into all of our baggage. We took the rest of our cans of Miller Lite out of both our refrigerator and my parents. We had our own little balcony NYE party because as Rob said, “We’re not leaving any of this behind!” LOL.

Up next: One more morning of Magic!

 

[missjackiemcg]

Sunday, January 1st:

Well, it’s the part of the trip everyone hates the most…the last morning. We woke up and gathered all of our things to head down to airport check-in. We had brought a lot of things down with us including a miniature Christmas tree, presents for Jimmy, everything we needed for the vow renewal and 12 days in the most magical place on earth!! I had somehow made the weight requirements without paying extra coming down to WDW, but I didn’t think there was any chance of getting through under 50 lbs on the way back home. I held my breath when I put our bags on the scale, and somehow scraped by at 49 lbs. for each bag!!

My Mom and Dad somehow weren’t so lucky. Mom had somehow packed things in a different order and ended up 5 lbs. overweight. The fee was astronomical—something like $100 I believe, which she wouldn’t pay! She made my Dad open the suitcases of dirty laundry and all right there at the counter (no one else was waiting, thankfully!) while she sorted things out and shifted things between their two suitcases. Once we finally got that straightened out, we put our carry-ons at Bell Services and headed to MK for our last bit of fun before we had to go home.

After the 7DMT fiasco the night before, I had wisely changed out our FP selections for this morning from Goofy’s Barnstormer and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to another ride on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin and Haunted Mansion. We also had one for Peter Pan.

We went to Buzz first and wandered through most of the queue before we stopped and there was zero movement for almost 10 minutes. Then we started walking again but could see that the ride wasn’t moving at all. It turns out that the ride had gone down and we wouldn’t be getting one last ride through the galaxy like we’d thought. As we exited, we were each given an anytime FP for any ride except 7DMT. We walked all the way out and realized they had expired the night before. I started walking back to let the CM know and find out what to do, but they were already radioing to let all CMs know to accept these FPs.

Knowing we’d be leaving after our few FPs for the morning, we figured we wouldn’t have a chance to use these passes, but Dad and I quickly changed our minds! We decided to take a quick ride through Space!!

wdw2017001637809935_7910519049 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

We tried to savor every last minute we had in our favorite place. We rode through the Haunted Mansion with 999 of our favorite happy haunts and took some of the worst PP pics of the trip! I was hoping there was maybe some magic shot as we were given zero direction by our photographer. She was pretty lifeless, and here’s what you get!

wdw2017001637868127_7910593772 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

wdw2017001637868285_396239483584 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Jimmy got excited as we passed through Fantasyland to ride Cinderella’s horse one last time. He insisted we all ride together because “the men weren’t with us last time!!” This time he got the right horse on the first try and we didn’t have to wait for a second ride.

DSC06756 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06757 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

With time for just one more thing, I remembered we still hadn’t taken the time to check out the Country Bear Jamboree, and I couldn’t let another trip go by without making it happen!! (Plus, I had promised Arianna!!) We settled into the theater and just as the show began it hit me—when I had lost my phone on Rock’n Rollercoaster, I had lost all of the pictures of Jimmy meeting the bears! He had chased every last one of them down at MVMCP and the only pictures I had taken were on my phone. I bawled like a baby through the entire show…because my pictures were gone, because we were going home without my phone, because I had to go home at all. I was just so sad. (Good thing a week after we got home the helpful man at Verizon claims told me to check if I had a google account...when I logged in and saw my pictures from MVMCP were still in my account after all, there were lots more tears!! This time happy ones!)

DSC06758 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

And just like that, it was over. Time to make the slow somber walk down Main Street, U.S.A. back to Pop Century and out to the Magical Express stop.

DSC06760 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Before long we were back at the airport all checked in and finding out our flight was delayed one hour…then two hours….then three hours. We wandered and shopped and snacked until eventually our plane made it in and we boarded and flew back to Chicago.

DSC06761 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

The only bright side to a long boring evening of waiting and traveling back home was the fact that SANTA CAME!!! While we were Christmasing in Orlando, he didn’t forget to visit us at home. Jimmy was so excited to see that Santa had eaten most of the cookies he had left out and had left him all the presents he’d promised in his letter left at Pop Century on Christmas Eve.

DSC06762 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06766 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06767 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06764 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Up next: Favorite Pictures and When’s the next trip!?

 

[cstorm65]

I really enjoyed reading about you all's trip! So glad you all had a great time!

 

[missjackiemcg]

I really enjoyed reading about you all's trip! So glad you all had a great time!

Thanks!! This was my first TR and I really loved reliving my trip by sharing it here I'm glad you enjoyed reading along!

 

[Pluto0809]

Wow, can't believe you finished the whole thing! I snuck in the middle of the updates with some comments above so here's the rest.

Jimmy was feeling better but now very cranky (he gets like this when he’s hungry…lucky us!)

Sounds like my big Jim.

immy perked up a bit as he LOVES instruments and was very excited to have an up-close view!

Looks like you have a band geek in the making! I highly approve since I was one for many years.

Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room—another of Jimmy’s new favorites!

Training him well I see.

She called him over to her and let him stand under the rope with her.) This was probably the most magical bit of pixie dust we’ve ever received. She called out to every character as their float was coming past and gestured at Jimmy so they would throw some extra love his way.

So awesome! Take that rude Mom.

As the sleigh went by and he waved down and their eyes connected, it was purely a magical moment.

You're not supposed to make me cry at work! Happy tears at least.

Jimmy’s first rollercoaster ride on the 7 dwarfs mine train. I’ll let you decide how he liked it…

OMG his face!! I'm guessing there won't be a second rid for a while?

Hall of Presidents.

Jimmy was IN LOVE with this attraction!

I swear he channels my big Jim! Jim is super anxious right now because I told him the reopening has been delayed. He is so worried that it might be closed next January.

Well, it’s the part of the trip everyone hates the most…the last morning.

I held my breath when I put our bags on the scale, and somehow scraped by at 49 lbs. for each bag!!

This is one reason I really love Southwest! I just take two smaller suitcases instead of one big one and I don't have to worry about weight.

some of the worst PP pics of the trip!

Those are pretty darn bad!

With time for just one more thing, I remembered we still hadn’t taken the time to check out the Country Bear Jamboree, and I couldn’t let another trip go by without making it happen!! (Plus, I had promised Arianna!!)

Yay!

I bawled like a baby through the entire show…because my pictures were gone, because we were going home without my phone, because I had to go home at all. I was just so sad.

Awww, sorry my bears upset you. I'm so glad you were able to find the pictures in the end. So besides that, did you guys enjoy the show?

 

[MeghanEmily]

Mom, Jimmy and I were up, too, but we were headed to MK for rope drop. It was in the 40’s this morning, the coldest weather we’d had on this trip!

Wow! So chilly! I remembering being there with my mom one December a few years ago, and waiting for the parade one night it actually dropped below 32 degrees. It ended up being colder in Orlando that night than it was at home in Canada. NOT what we'd signed up for!

We even saw Alice out in her cold-weather cape. She was getting so chilly that the PP Photographer actually moved her closer to the building nearby to cut down on the wind.

Poor Alice! But her photo with Jimmy is sweet anyway.

And when in Fantasyland, where does one ALWAYS end up!? IASW was up next, and we were surprised to see at the end that the digital boards were removed and replaced with wooden signs in the exit area!

This disappointed me when they changed them.

When the gates opened the next time, I was ready. I may or may not have elbowed a couple other Moms out of my way to get where we were headed and I got Jimmy right up on Cinderella’s horse!!! It felt like such a victory…LOL

You go, Mama! Look his Jimmy's victory face! Perfection!

Jimmy told Gaston, “I can do 100 push ups!” to which he replied, “Yeah. Ok.”

Oh my gosh. Hilarious.

I was really excited to see that Cinderella’s Coach was parked out by the New Fantasyland walls ready for the celebration of the new year, so we made sure to get some pictures while there was no crowd and no wait!

So cool! What a neat photo to have!

He sang him the song, “Quack, Quack, Quack, Donald Duck,” which he learned from one of our old Disney sing along song dvds. Donald was SO happy and kept hugging Jimmy.

This is so sweet! And I love that Donald was so receptive and really appreciated the love Jimmy threw his way

The park was also open til 3 a.m., so our original intent was to stay until then (spoiler alert: we aren’t gonna make it!!)

I'd NEVER make it! Maybe someday when I can sleep in both before and after, I'll give it a try. But toward the beginning of our trips, 3am would also feel like 4am. Gah...

With 10 minutes until midnight, music started to play through the park speakers and we heard, “Second start to the right and straight on til morning…..” All of a sudden, down came Tinkerbell right over our heads!!

Amazing! I can almost picture it.

I have never seen fireworks like Disney’s anywhere, but the NYE ones are even more spectacular! As the countdown goes on, number-shaped fireworks go off in the sky from left to right all the way around where you are standing looking at the castle! And when they get down to 3, 2, 1….HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! More fireworks than you’ve ever seen go off in every direction all around us while Disney character voices can be heard singing Auld Lang Sign and at the end, Mickey’s voice, “Oh, boy, that was some show!”

How incredible is this! I've never seen the NYE fireworks, but now you make me want to try!

We got stuck in gridlock traffic approaching the TTC. In fact, I timed this ride at 47 minutes. Jimmy was looking pretty green and we were digging through our stuff looking for a bag for him to get sick in just in case. I actually sat down on the bus floor with him for the last 20 minutes of the ride. But thankfully we arrived before he ended up getting bus-sick.

Poor Jimmy I'm glad he kept it together. As a kid who typically got very motion sick, I feel for him.

Jimmy was feeling better but now very cranky (he gets like this when he’s hungry…lucky us!), so we decided it was in everyone’s best interest to feed the little beast before waiting in any lines!!

This is also exactly like me. I was like this as a kid (still am, really!) and my mom always knew if I was cranky or if I was feeling "sick," all she needed to do was feed me and put up with me until I got a few bites down and returned to my normal self.

Jimmy was granted a red card—and felt VERY special as you can see!!

DSC06650

He is so hilarious! Having a red card is a big responsibility!

He was very excited to be pixie dusted and sent on his way back outside. After I paid, Shanna offered to pixie dust me, too, and you know I said YES!!!

Of course!

Jimmy was back by his little friends and their Mom told him he couldn’t stand there. (There was literally no one in the space beside their family, so there wasn’t any reason he couldn’t stand near the kids. I just called him over to stand by me, but there was a CM standing near the gate who had seen the whole thing and saw the sad look on Jimmy’s face. She called him over to her and let him stand under the rope with her.) This was probably the most magical bit of pixie dust we’ve ever received. She called out to every character as their float was coming past and gestured at Jimmy so they would throw some extra love his way.

Vanellope blew him kisses. Goofy held up his ears that matched Jimmy’s hat and wiggled them at him. The Fairy Godmother made a heart with her hands to him and blew kisses. Sarge and the toy soldiers saluted him. The CM whispered to me, “His name is Jimmy, right?” then walkie talkied, “Santa, Jimmy, Jimmy.” It didn’t make sense to me until Santa up on his sleigh came around the bend and I knew he was going to say Jimmy’s name. As the sleigh went by and he waved down and their eyes connected, it was purely a magical moment. I didn’t even pay attention to that rotten mother next to us who had made my boy feel sad—all I could do was thank that CM over and over and over again for making a parade we had already seen seem so special and brand new and like it was only for my son!

Oh my goodness. I may have teared up a little reading this. What a magical experience to wash away any negativity from that miserable mother. This is so special.

Oh no!! I have a similar picture of myself and my mother on Everest...but I was about 19...no shame.

While we were taking our break, I got a great idea where we could not only eat up some of our wait time, but also check out a classic before it was … rehabbed? Ruined? Uh, not to get political, but before it was updated, we headed to the Hall of Presidents.

I had somehow made the weight requirements without paying extra coming down to WDW, but I didn’t think there was any chance of getting through under 50 lbs on the way back home. I held my breath when I put our bags on the scale, and somehow scraped by at 49 lbs. for each bag!!

Woohoo!

We settled into the theater and just as the show began it hit me—when I had lost my phone on Rock’n Rollercoaster, I had lost all of the pictures of Jimmy meeting the bears! He had chased every last one of them down at MVMCP and the only pictures I had taken were on my phone. I bawled like a baby through the entire show…because my pictures were gone, because we were going home without my phone, because I had to go home at all. I was just so sad. (Good thing a week after we got home the helpful man at Verizon claims told me to check if I had a google account...when I logged in and saw my pictures from MVMCP were still in my account after all, there were lots more tears!! This time happy ones!)

Oh this is so sad. Thank goodness your pictures were saved!

I didn't think anything could make Jimmy more precious, but a wearable shark did the trick!

Thanks so much for sharing your trip and your beautiful vow renewal with us! I've really enjoyed reading about your adventures.

 

[missjackiemcg]

Wow, can't believe you finished the whole thing!

Me neither!!! I felt like it was taking me FOREVER in between updates, so while I had the whole day off (and to myself!!) I thought I'd better get it punched out. I will hopefully have lots of good luck Monday morning with my ADR day, which will promptly get my started on my next PTR

Sounds like my big Jim.

Seriously, he is such a little beast, but get some food in him and he calms right down!!

You're not supposed to make me cry at work! Happy tears at least.

It was AMAZING!!!! I wish I had bothered to remember the girl's name because she couldn't have been more incredible!!

OMG his face!!

Apparently he hasn't developed the love of rollercoasters his mother has!!! YET!

This is one reason I really love Southwest!

I am SO excited about flying Southwest this time around!! We may have just converted to a new airline after this!

Awww, sorry my bears upset you. I'm so glad you were able to find the pictures in the end. So besides that, did you guys enjoy the show?

It was really funny!!! Jimmy LOVED it, and actually yelled for your favorite guy when he came onstage, "MOMMY!!! It's Big Al!!!!!!"

You go, Mama! Look his Jimmy's victory face! Perfection!

He made me feel like Wonder Woman, honestly!!! He kept hugging me and thanking me after his ride Mommy, for the win!

Amazing! I can almost picture it.

How incredible is this! I've never seen the NYE fireworks, but now you make me want to try!

It's such a crowded time of year to visit, but you know what you're doing, so I'm sure you'd be fine. They really are incredible!! When we went in 2007, I loved it, but said once in my lifetime was probably enough. Obviously, it wasn't

I didn't think anything could make Jimmy more precious, but a wearable shark did the trick!

Thanks so much for sharing your trip and your beautiful vow renewal with us! I've really enjoyed reading about your adventures.

I'm pretty partial to Jimmy, my one and only! I'm glad you enjoyed his quirky little faces and all of our adventures on this trip!! Thanks for reading along, Meghan!

 

[thumper*]

I love this pic of Jimmy




Too cute


Is that bow on your mom glowing? I need one of these if so.

Also the pic of you, your mom and Jimmy with Chip and Dale is great. (some how I deleted it out of my quotes)

So glad that your pics from your phone were on your Google account.

 

[Pluto0809]

It was really funny!!! Jimmy LOVED it, and actually yelled for your favorite guy when he came onstage, "MOMMY!!! It's Big Al!!!!!!"

Yay! So glad you liked it! Big Al is just the best.

I will hopefully have lots of good luck Monday morning with my ADR day, which will promptly get my started on my next PTR

Good luck! My ADR day is Thursday next week. I think I've got everything figured out at least for the moment. I don't think I will do a full PTR but I'll probably throw some posts on my current TR about the new trip. As a matter of fact I might do a quick summary today or tomorrow so I can get some feedback from those that have done a RunDisney event before.

 

[kclark9830]

Wednesday, December 21st was our last day of school before Christmas Break would finally begin!!! I didn't expect to still be in school on the 21st when we booked this trip (500 days out!!!!!) SO, Rob, Jimmy and I got up at 5:30 a.m. like we do every day, got ready and headed off to school. We are lucky to be able to carpool to school together lots of days because we teach at schools about a mile apart and Jimmy goes to school where I teach. So, we dropped Rob off at school, headed to our own school and counted the minutes until we could get the heck out!!!!

Screenshot_20161221-103558 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

About 11:00 a.m. Jimmy came down to my classroom and it was time to hit the road!!! BUT not before opening one special present from my room Mom who insisted I had to open it before leaving.

20161221_090322 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

I cried (of course!) because it was so beautiful but also so incredibly generous--this is a LENOX statue, and I know they don't come cheap. I was just overwhelmed at the sweet gift and SO EXCITED I would be going to sleep in Orlando. I said my thank yous and hugged my teacher aides who thankfully were OK with being left to handle my class of 35 for the rest of the day and OFF. WE. WENT!!!!

We picked up Rob, stopped home to load up the car and headed to my parents' house to wait for our ride!!!

The SUV arrived about 20 minutes early (woohoo!!) and we started to load up in a flurry of arms and suitcases. We were all grabbing carry ons and suitcases and backpacks and running them out to the car as my aunt arrived to stay with my parents' dog. It was a wild few minutes but all of a sudden it looked like we were packed and ready to go. My parents only live about 15 minutes from O'Hare airport, and with the driver arriving early, we were well ahead of schedule.

20161221_145138 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Right after we took this picture, I went to put the camera back in my bag and realized <INSERT HUGE GASP HERE> I FORGOT JIMMY'S BACKPACK AT THE HOUSE!!!!! Normally this would be no big deal BUT his backpack had all of his "guys" (the stuffed animals he sleeps with every night) and his blanket in it. But even worse, the autograph books I made for him (yes, you read that right--not a type-o. BOOKS. plural. More on that later.) There was no question about it, we had to go back.

So, driver, let's make a u-turn! We headed back home, Dad ran in and grabbed the backpack, back on the road all in about 10 minutes. Good news is, since we were early, we were now on time even with our little trip back and forth. Bad news is, those jerks charged us for making "an extra stop" even though we traveled less than 2 miles total and were still on time. GRR.

We checked in and had no issues, other than the fact that I accidentally hit 3 when I picked how many bags I wanted to check and there was no option to go back, so I had to pay The girl at the kiosk told me I could go on American Airlines.com after my trip and request a refund. Yea, I don't have time for that. So, we ended up checking Jimmy's suitcase o' toys even though we had planned on carrying it on with us.

We got comfy at our gate since we had almost 2 hours left until we could finally board our plane. Mom and I both heard our phones go off at the same time and checked--we both had the same text from Disney's Pop Century. "Your room is.....NOT....ready." Um, ok. Thanks for letting me know??? We have never done online check-in before but were nervous about being sure we had connecting rooms on this trip. Since we were trying to get connecting rooms, we did online check in and put that in as our request for both rooms. We already paid extra for a preferred room, so weren't worried about which building, etc. we would be in. We had a few evenings planned where Jimmy would be at the hotel with my parents at bedtime while we were out. With connecting rooms, he would be able to be tucked into his own bed and they could go to sleep in theirs regardless what time we got home at. Our fingers were still crossed.

FB_IMG_1482412060645 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

We did finally get another text right before boarding the plane that our rooms were ready and LUCKY US they were consecutive numbers so we KNEW we had connecting rooms. YAY

I promise more pictures are coming!!

One second for a little backstory--I booked our flights for this trip back in February 2016 and some point in the time between actually going on the trip they changed the type of airplane and our seats could no longer be in the same row apparently. The thing that really sucks about this is they never let us know about it, so I found out when I went online to do our check in :-/ We were now seated 10 rows behind my parents and across from them was now a bathroom.

20161221_185410 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr
That's the back of their heads up there

20161221_185330 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr
Here's Jimmy and Buddy, ready to fly!

The only positive to this switcheroo they pulled was we got to fly on a brand new beautiful Air Bus. We all had tablet screens in the seat in front of us, free wifi and tons of movies, shows and games.

We had a smooth, easy flight (thank goodness because I am NOT a good flyer....I hate doing it and it's even harder when my Jimmy is with me because that just makes me extra nervous.) Before long, we could see the beautiful nighttime lights of Orlando below us!!!!
20161221_192734 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

20161221_200359 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

After a very quick and easy landing, the pilot announced we were HOME!!! Well, home for the next 12 days Let the magic begin!!!
20161221_223605 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Our first "ride" of the trip along the Fake-o-Rail, which was having a refurb on one track while we were there.

DSC06043 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06042 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

DSC06044 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

We had to pick up our luggage because our flight came in too close to the deadline of 10:30 p.m. so we waited for a bit and our luggage was among the first off the carousel. My family followed me...because let's be honest I was sprinting to the Magical Express desk at this point...there was no one there. I should've taken a picture because there were seriously zero people there besides the three CMs with their Mickey gloves waving us over. Magicbands scanned immediately and green Mickeys meant we were all set to board our bus. We walked right on and were the last people to get on the bus for a quick, quiet ride to Pop Century!!

DSC06046 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

FB_IMG_1482412074122 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

It was almost midnight by the time we were walking into the lobby.

DSC06047 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr
I was SO excited to see they had added retro video games to the Kid's room in the lobby!! I knew we'd have to be back to spend some time here on our trip. My Dad's favorite game forever has been Atari Space Invaders.

Even though we did online check in and had our room numbers already, we had shipped a box of Christmas decorations and bagels so we had to stop at the desk to pick those up. (For those who are interested, they did end up charging us $5 which is apparently a new charge if you have parcels shipped to the resort. I wasn't charged for the delivery of my Garden Grocer order though...hmmm)

20161222_001552 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

Mom and I sent the cranky boys (all 3 of them!!) up to the rooms (We were in the 50's on the 3rd floor, a nice quiet walkway from Classic Hall, right outside the 50's pool but very quiet) and went to the desk to pick up our package. The night desk man was not very magical! But he got our package efficiently enough and gave me 2 Happily Ever After buttons when I asked for them. Then, Mom and I skipped (as well as 2 tired women can skip with their luggage and a big box) and danced our way down the walkway to our rooms!

20161222_001858 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

So, there you have it! Day 1 in the books! We got to our room, started unpacking our box and decorating the room for Christmas! By the time we finally went to bed it was well after 1 in the morning and we had to be up and ready to go in the a.m. We had fastpasses and breakfast at Animal Kingdom to be ready for!!

I hope you'll stick around and let me know you're here reading along!! Love & Smooches, Jackie

I am way late to the party...but I remember your ptr, and can't wait to read more!

 

[krrrristen]

What a great ending to the trip... well, before your flight was delayed I loved reading along! It made me wish I had the no blackout dates pass so we could be in the parks on Christmas and NYE! Looks like you guys had tons of fun

 

[kclark9830]

Finished reading! What a great trip! It sounds like you guys had a fantastic time. ♡♡♡

 

[missjackiemcg]

Is that bow on your mom glowing? I need one of these if so.

YES!! I have a pink one. We bought them for $5 at my school block party last summer and saved them for this trip. They were meant for kids so a little tight, but TOO CUTE!!

As a matter of fact I might do a quick summary today or tomorrow so I can get some feedback from those that have done a RunDisney event before.

Just read it!! That was a great idea. We'll hopefully get some good tips!!

I am way late to the party...but I remember your ptr, and can't wait to read more!

What a great ending to the trip... well, before your flight was delayed I loved reading along! It made me wish I had the no blackout dates pass so we could be in the parks on Christmas and NYE! Looks like you guys had tons of fun

Finished reading! What a great trip! It sounds like you guys had a fantastic time. ♡♡♡

Thanks for reading along!!!! It was so much fun to relive my trip and share it here--I'm glad people had fun reading about our adventure

 

[MrsPMcD]

I've loved your trip report! Thank you for sharing. I'm happy how many magical moments you had! Have to say I teared up when Santa knew Jimmy's name - proper pixie dust!!

 

[Bethislucy]

Just read through your whole report looks like it was a great and fun trip. We've been thinking about making a trip down for NYE and your report helped me think it is doable.

 

[Whit64130]

Didn't mean to get so far behind on your TR but I am all caught up now!

We had some awesome character fun during our morning at MK, too! Chip and Dale were a riot as Dale pretended to wipe his nose on the photographer and my Mom. Chip pretended to lick Jimmy’s marker before he handed it back to him. Just general silliness!

wdw2016365636343744_396236096271 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

They are always so much fun!!

The Fairy Godmother was the most wonderful!! She talked with Jimmy about Buddy and made his day by writing his name, too, when she signed his autograph book.

wdw2016365636429108_396236313784 by Jackie Lagoni, on Flickr

She is the best!!!!

Our last plan for MK today was lunch at Casey’s. When we got there we were shocked! I had never seen it so crowded in my life!! There was a rope queue out the door and to the right of the entrance that looped back and forth. There was a CM at the front letting people in a few at a time. We hopped in line and eventually made it to the front to order and receive our food. When we came out there were people eating on the ground and at all the tables—it was SO crowded! I thought I’d take a look over near the hub grass and there was LOTS of available space there surprisingly. So, we strolled over with our trays and had a little hub grass picnic with the castle in the background. I actually preferred it to sitting at the little umbrella tables where we would have normally eaten.

Geeze! I've never seen Casey's crowded like that! I love eating on the hub grass if its not to hot!

She came to us and was passing out Hot Hands and apologizing for the cold. Rob walked up in shorts and a tshirt and we just kind of giggled. I thought it was kind of hilarious that they considered this cold enough to require these measures! (I did; however, take them and bring them home to use when I ran the Polar Dash 5K in Chicago on January 9th when it was a windchill of -20!!)

LOL being from the south I totally would have got one and used it. When we were there in November temps were in the high 50's and I was freezing!!! Literally sweatpants, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, and I would've had on mittens if I owould have packed any!

After the show, Mom, Dad and Jimmy headed back to Pop Century for bedtime, while Rob and I headed over to MK, which was open til 3 a.m.!!

Whoaaa 3am??? I would love to stay out that late!

Dad and Rob really enjoyed the toppings bar here! I had the fajita plate, which was super tasty and I really enjoyed my mini-churros with chocolate dipping sauce for dessert. I can’t wait to eat here again on my next trip!

LOVE Peco's Bills!

When we walked out the door the parade was starting to round the bend by the train station, making its way toward us. Jimmy was back by his little friends and their Mom told him he couldn’t stand there. (There was literally no one in the space beside their family, so there wasn’t any reason he couldn’t stand near the kids. I just called him over to stand by me, but there was a CM standing near the gate who had seen the whole thing and saw the sad look on Jimmy’s face. She called him over to her and let him stand under the rope with her.) This was probably the most magical bit of pixie dust we’ve ever received. She called out to every character as their float was coming past and gestured at Jimmy so they would throw some extra love his way.

Ugh that was so rude but glad a CM caught it and was able to make it extra special for Jimmy!

Vanellope blew him kisses. Goofy held up his ears that matched Jimmy’s hat and wiggled them at him. The Fairy Godmother made a heart with her hands to him and blew kisses. Sarge and the toy soldiers saluted him. The CM whispered to me, “His name is Jimmy, right?” then walkie talkied, “Santa, Jimmy, Jimmy.” It didn’t make sense to me until Santa up on his sleigh came around the bend and I knew he was going to say Jimmy’s name. As the sleigh went by and he waved down and their eyes connected, it was purely a magical moment. I didn’t even pay attention to that rotten mother next to us who had made my boy feel sad—all I could do was thank that CM over and over and over again for making a parade we had already seen seem so special and brand new and like it was only for my son!

She was very friendly and we chatted as she looked up our reservation. I described for her the last time Mom and I had eaten here during MVMCP when they made us stand there waiting almost an hour, service was so incredibly slow that we didn’t even have time to actually eat a whole meal, and we wasted almost 2 hours of our party time. She told me she would add a birthday celebration for Jimmy to our reservation tonight because a little celebrating always makes things better. I thought, well, I guess she’s right. She said she couldn’t seat us any earlier, but she would mark us as checked in and gave me a buzzer.

I headed back over to my family fading fast by the wall next to the check in booth. I had barely sat down beside Jimmy when the buzzer went off and my friendly CM friend gave me a wave and sent us down the bridge toward the castle.

Talk about Pixie Dust on this day!
Glad you got your pictures back through google! I know that must've been a relief!
I really enjoyed reading your TR hope you will do another for your runDisney!

 

[cinderaimee]

I just finished reading the end of your report and I'm so sad that it ended! What a wonderful vacation for your whole family! I love the CM that made the parade so special for Jimmy - what a magical moment!