They say Christmas at the Magic Kingdom is Crazy Well, call me Crazy!!
I have never been away from my parents on Christmas in my entire life. When we made the decision to go on this trip there was a lot of talk about the rest of the family joining in as well, but a few days before we booked after Christmas 2012 my sister shared some amazing news. She was having another baby!! That meant they would not be traveling with the little one and my parents would want to be at babys first Christmas. I was a little bummed BUT .
I WAS SPENDING CHRISTMAS DAY AT THE MAGIC KINGDOM!
I am guessing because Christmas is Christmas no matter where we are - we are all up early on Christmas morning. Santa had been in our room and left some fun little stocking stuffers for Sophie (Yes I brought our stockings from home and hung them on the coat hanger in our room).
She wanted some holiday cuddles and then since we were up we got dressed and ready to head to Magic Kingdom.
It was a little chilly out so early in the morning, but we were prepared. You see we have a tradition in our house. My sister started this when my daughter was born Lets all get matching pajamas, she said. Most of us moaned about it, but 8 years later WE are still doing it. My sister has dropped out, as have my parents, but we love it and it was a must do for our day at the MK We bought matching pants and my Mom used an extra pair to create our matching shirts!! With our fun light up Mickeys and these wonderful hats my co-worker made my daughter and I we were all ready for the holiday Magic!!
We had heard all the talk about it being super crowded on Christmas Day and be ready to walk side by side touching shoulders but when we booked this trip we all agreed we would spend Christmas in the Magic Kingdom no matter how crowded. We just wanted to say we were there for Christmas. When we got to the boat dock there was only 2 other small groups waiting to head over so we got there for rope drop once again!!! It was not really crowded at all. Rope drop was a fun experience the first day, but on Christmas?? Even more magical!
We had an ADR at Crystal Palace for breakfast at 8:45 2 hours away so what to do first? We headed to Tomorrowland. We had planned a Fastpass for the Speedway, but changed it when we found out about the Jungle Cruises switch to a Jingle Cruise. The lines had been running pretty long for the ride due to the switch so we decided we would head to the Speedway first thing in the AM and switch the FP+. This was my daughters favorite ride in the past so she really wanted to drive. I opted out and sent them on their way. With no line it was quick and we did not have to wait in the exhausted filled lines!!
As soon as they got off, she had her eyes locked on one ride Space Mountain! Her new favorite called to us and this time We all got to go- one fully recovered patient ready! I was feeling great. No line first thing in the morning for Space Mountain on Christmas?? Yes please! Check out our fun photo with the matching PJs!! The CM getting the photos attached to our PhotoPass+ loved our Pjs which was actually a common thing we heard all day long!!
What to do next? We decided to ride the Astro Orbitor talk about a view. This is when our day got sprinkled with more Pixie Dust than I could have ever dreamed up. We got in the line and were waiting to go up in the elevator with another family. My husband looked at the CMs name tag closely and asked her, Where did you go to college? Sure enough he had gone to school with her and they had run in a pretty similar circle of people. When we came down from riding the ride we asked for her signature in our book. We were headed toward the Stich Meet & Greet that was going on the CM told us to come see her when we were done for the signature.
We had a silly visit with Stitch how could it not be right? He is one of our favorites. My husband and daughter both love using his voice. (The girls behind us wanted a photo with Stitch and his CM handler!! He was pretty cute!)
We went back by the Orbitor for the signature and the CM asked if we needed any FastPasses. We told her we had our 3 all scheduled and she said, But it is Christmas, lets get you some more. She proceeded to write what we refer to as Golden Tickets - 3 additional passes that would act just like a FP for the day. Only you do not have to worry about time windows, you just go to the FP line and show them the pass. Can you say Pixie Dust? Merry Christmas to us!! Our plans for the day changed in an instant.
We headed towards breakfast with very large smiles on our faces and an extra pep in our step. The park was filling up and everyone was smiling. During our castle shots, one cast member said, I wish I was in my PJs right now I thanked him for working so we could have such a special day and that started me off on a trend for the rest of the day. No matter where we went lines, servers, drivers I thanked everyone for working on Christmas and making our day so special. Many people thanked me for acknowledging that, a few said they would not want to be anywhere else! In fact in the whole day I only encountered one grumpy gus and it was totally intentional and a part of their character (Haunted Mansion!)
We got all checked in at a very busy Crystal Palace and while we waited for our table got some awesome magic shots (FYI if a PhotoPass/MemoryMaker cameraman is in an area and not on a tripod, just holding their camera, ask if they take Magic Shots and you will most likely have someone/thing extra in your photos with you.)
We grabbed some hot cocoa while waiting and soon it was time to have breakfast with Winnie-the Pooh and friends!!
The buffet had a lot of wonderful choices on it. Our server recommended the Puffed French Toast yum and I enjoyed the breakfast lasagna! We stuffed ourselves and enjoyed the view as well (we sat right by a window showing the Castle).
We all enjoyed the character visits I for one found Piglet to be simply adorable and Tigger a blast!! Plus who doesnt love Eeoyore??
As we finished eating and waited for the characters we talked about what we wanted to use out Golden Tickets for .What a day it was going to be.
I have never been away from my parents on Christmas in my entire life. When we made the decision to go on this trip there was a lot of talk about the rest of the family joining in as well, but a few days before we booked after Christmas 2012 my sister shared some amazing news. She was having another baby!! That meant they would not be traveling with the little one and my parents would want to be at babys first Christmas. I was a little bummed BUT .
I WAS SPENDING CHRISTMAS DAY AT THE MAGIC KINGDOM!
I am guessing because Christmas is Christmas no matter where we are - we are all up early on Christmas morning. Santa had been in our room and left some fun little stocking stuffers for Sophie (Yes I brought our stockings from home and hung them on the coat hanger in our room).
She wanted some holiday cuddles and then since we were up we got dressed and ready to head to Magic Kingdom.
It was a little chilly out so early in the morning, but we were prepared. You see we have a tradition in our house. My sister started this when my daughter was born Lets all get matching pajamas, she said. Most of us moaned about it, but 8 years later WE are still doing it. My sister has dropped out, as have my parents, but we love it and it was a must do for our day at the MK We bought matching pants and my Mom used an extra pair to create our matching shirts!! With our fun light up Mickeys and these wonderful hats my co-worker made my daughter and I we were all ready for the holiday Magic!!
We had heard all the talk about it being super crowded on Christmas Day and be ready to walk side by side touching shoulders but when we booked this trip we all agreed we would spend Christmas in the Magic Kingdom no matter how crowded. We just wanted to say we were there for Christmas. When we got to the boat dock there was only 2 other small groups waiting to head over so we got there for rope drop once again!!! It was not really crowded at all. Rope drop was a fun experience the first day, but on Christmas?? Even more magical!
We had an ADR at Crystal Palace for breakfast at 8:45 2 hours away so what to do first? We headed to Tomorrowland. We had planned a Fastpass for the Speedway, but changed it when we found out about the Jungle Cruises switch to a Jingle Cruise. The lines had been running pretty long for the ride due to the switch so we decided we would head to the Speedway first thing in the AM and switch the FP+. This was my daughters favorite ride in the past so she really wanted to drive. I opted out and sent them on their way. With no line it was quick and we did not have to wait in the exhausted filled lines!!
As soon as they got off, she had her eyes locked on one ride Space Mountain! Her new favorite called to us and this time We all got to go- one fully recovered patient ready! I was feeling great. No line first thing in the morning for Space Mountain on Christmas?? Yes please! Check out our fun photo with the matching PJs!! The CM getting the photos attached to our PhotoPass+ loved our Pjs which was actually a common thing we heard all day long!!
What to do next? We decided to ride the Astro Orbitor talk about a view. This is when our day got sprinkled with more Pixie Dust than I could have ever dreamed up. We got in the line and were waiting to go up in the elevator with another family. My husband looked at the CMs name tag closely and asked her, Where did you go to college? Sure enough he had gone to school with her and they had run in a pretty similar circle of people. When we came down from riding the ride we asked for her signature in our book. We were headed toward the Stich Meet & Greet that was going on the CM told us to come see her when we were done for the signature.
We had a silly visit with Stitch how could it not be right? He is one of our favorites. My husband and daughter both love using his voice. (The girls behind us wanted a photo with Stitch and his CM handler!! He was pretty cute!)
We went back by the Orbitor for the signature and the CM asked if we needed any FastPasses. We told her we had our 3 all scheduled and she said, But it is Christmas, lets get you some more. She proceeded to write what we refer to as Golden Tickets - 3 additional passes that would act just like a FP for the day. Only you do not have to worry about time windows, you just go to the FP line and show them the pass. Can you say Pixie Dust? Merry Christmas to us!! Our plans for the day changed in an instant.
We headed towards breakfast with very large smiles on our faces and an extra pep in our step. The park was filling up and everyone was smiling. During our castle shots, one cast member said, I wish I was in my PJs right now I thanked him for working so we could have such a special day and that started me off on a trend for the rest of the day. No matter where we went lines, servers, drivers I thanked everyone for working on Christmas and making our day so special. Many people thanked me for acknowledging that, a few said they would not want to be anywhere else! In fact in the whole day I only encountered one grumpy gus and it was totally intentional and a part of their character (Haunted Mansion!)
We got all checked in at a very busy Crystal Palace and while we waited for our table got some awesome magic shots (FYI if a PhotoPass/MemoryMaker cameraman is in an area and not on a tripod, just holding their camera, ask if they take Magic Shots and you will most likely have someone/thing extra in your photos with you.)
We grabbed some hot cocoa while waiting and soon it was time to have breakfast with Winnie-the Pooh and friends!!
The buffet had a lot of wonderful choices on it. Our server recommended the Puffed French Toast yum and I enjoyed the breakfast lasagna! We stuffed ourselves and enjoyed the view as well (we sat right by a window showing the Castle).
We all enjoyed the character visits I for one found Piglet to be simply adorable and Tigger a blast!! Plus who doesnt love Eeoyore??
As we finished eating and waited for the characters we talked about what we wanted to use out Golden Tickets for .What a day it was going to be.
It had really started to grow as the day went on. We knew we wanted to make our way to the front of the park and head back to Wilderness Lodge for the afternoon and evening.
