A Quick Christmastime (and Character-filled) Trip Report- with Photos!

[meeko_33785]

Another photo trip report! I had been putting this off for a while, but I’ve put it off so long that now I’ve already been to Disney and back again before even posting one for this trip. I really want to begin to get that one posted ASAP since it’s all about the Pirate and Princess Party, so I figured I’d keep this one kind of brief and post it all at once (it’s a short trip, so it’s ok). Before I begin, here are the four “must do’s” for the trip:

1) The new shows at MK for Year of a Million Dreams: These are brand-new since my last trip and I defiantly want to see them, especially Dream Along with Mickey, Let’s Have A Ball, and Captain Jack’s Pirate Tutorial.

2) The Seas with Nemo and Friends: The entire pavilion was closed on my last trip, and the ride has just opened and sounds like fun. If time permits, I’ll try to see Turtle Talk, but I’ve heard the lines are pretty long so I may skip it.

3) Pirates of the Caribbean: I’ve got to see all the new animatronics and effects/

4) Characters: There seems to be a number of new or rarely-seen characters that started appearing in the months before my trip (Clarabelle and Horace, The Three Caballeros, Scrooge McDuck, Brer Fox), so I defiantly want to find them. Also, I’m on the look-out for Timon since he has eluded be on my past few trips.

On with the trip!

Good morning Beach Club! It’s a little after 8:30am, and I arrive for my first stay at the resort. Morning at WDW seems the same as usual. The first buses of the morning are running, and fortunately the weather is gorgeous even after predictions of fog and showers today. I’d never seen the front of the resort (I’d been inside of it a couple of times to eat at Cape May or see the Christmas decorations, but always came from Boardwalk and through the back way), so I check out what I’ve been missing. No time to stop and gawk though; the parks are opening soon! The room’s not ready yet, so the stuff gets left in the car, I grab some maps and head for the bus stop, but not before checking out the Christmas decorations in the lobby.

The carousel is always neat. This year, Tinker Bell was perched on top complete with glowing fiber-optic wings. There were lots of Hidden Mickeys throughout the display. It’s nearly 9am by now, and there’s a bus heading towards Magic Kingdom pulling in just as I’m getting to the stop. At the park as I’m in line for security checks, I spot Clarabelle Cow doing meet-and-greets near the Mickey Floral. I’d never seen Clarabelle in the parks before, so I was hoping that I would be able to get her photo and autograph. By the time I got to the turnstiles, Clarabelle was gone, but Horace Horsecollar was out, so I went to see him.

The line wasn’t too long for Horace. The three or so families in front of me all asked the Cast Members who he was. The only response the CM could give was that he was a cartoon character from the 30s (which seemed to impress them). After getting his photo and autograph I head through the tunnel and head towards Adventureland. Based on the entertainment schedule, Captain Jack’s Pirate Tutorial was going to start in about 20 minutes, so it’s off to Pirates of the Caribbean to see if I could get a ride in before the show. The wait was a little too long, so I decided to head off and see what other characters I could find first. First, I headed off to Frontierland to see if Brer Fox was out. No luck. Next off, I headed back to Adventureland where I had heard that Timon and Rafiki had been appearing. I had never met Timon before, so I gave him a visit to get his autograph and photo and to ask how Pumbaa was doing. He either mimed “hungry” or “gassy”, I’m not sure which. I went with hungry and played along.

There was still time before the show so I headed back to Frontierland to see if I could find Brer Fox, this time with success. My third new character of the trip, and I haven’t even been in the park for an hour yet! This is defiantly a record for me. After this, I headed back to Adventureland with time to spare before the Pirate Tutorial started.

Of all the new shows for “Year of A Million Dreams” that I saw, I think this one was my favorite. Captain Jack was great and his friend Mack was just as just as hilarious. Defiantly a cool addition and it seemed to give more life to the area. By the time the show ended, Dream Along With Mickey was about to start at the Castle, so that was the next stop.

The show was nice, if not remarkable. Not my favorite of the Castle shows from the past years (I think I’m one of the few that prefer Cinderellabration to this one). All in all, it was a good show, and it’s nice to see Mickey and friends back at the Castle Stage. Next up, Let’s Have A Ball was about to start, so I headed back to Fantasyland.

From what I’d heard, the show was geared towards the preschool set, but I still wanted to see it since Aurora and Prince Phillip did a meet-and-greet after the show. The show itself was fast-paced and cute for kids, although the references to Playhouse Disney characters like Bear and the Wiggles seemed out of place in Fantasyland to me.

After the show, I paid a visit to Aurora and Phillip and got their photo. It’s nice to see one of the Princes out more regularly since they hardly ever are. After three shows and some character experiences, it was about time for some rides! Next stop- Tomorrowland to see how the wait was for Buzz Lightyear. It was a little on the long side, so I got a Fastpass and went to the Carousel of Progress. I’d only done it once before, so I figured it would be cool to try it again. Not a huge crowd; I don’t seem to remember the theater being half-full. Next was the TTA for a ride around the land.

There was still a little time before the FastPass window opened, so I opted to watch some of the High School Musical Pep Rally. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that even though I'm not in the movie's teen or tween target audience, I actually liked the movie and music, so it was nice to see High School Musical to have some presence in the park. It was a bit out of place in Tommorowland though; I'm sure it's better at Disney-MGM Studios. I stayed to see the first song and dance routine and then headed off to Buzz Lightyear. The ride was fun as always, although can’t seem I just to get enough points to get past “Space Scout”.

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Toontown was next. I checked to see if any characters were hanging out near the Teardrop, but didn’t see any. Since I was already in Toontown, I did the Barnstormer and checked out Mickey and Minnie’s Houses before heading out towards lunch at Pinocchio’s.

On my way, I spotted Scrooge McDuck at Donald’s Christmas Tree Lot near the Pooh Playground. I had heard that Scrooge had been out recently and was hoping that I would see him. After getting his photo and autograph, I continued to lunch.

Before getting to the restaurant, I spotted Mary Poppins heading towards the Carousel. It turns out she was heading over there for a ride. I head over there to get a photo. Mary Poppins riding the Carousel! How cool is that? Finally, I get to Pinocchio’s and order some pizza and Figaro Fries. I wasn’t was really as impressed with the fries as I thought I’d be after all the fuss about them on the boards, but the pizza was great. The crowds were horrible though and I didn’t think I was going to find a table at one point. Everything worked out though. While I was there, a few CMs from the restaurant came in and made a big announcement about the Year of A Million Dreams and invited all the kids to write in the Blue Fairy’s Wish Book in the restaurant and did a little ceremony. It was pretty much the only thing for Year of A Million Dreams I saw all day.

After lunch, it was back to Adventureland to ride Pirates of the Caribbean for the first time with the new additions. This was shockingly the longest wait of the day! A few years ago it seemed like this was always a walk-on. Just goes to show you how popular the films are. Still, the line moved fast and it turned out to be just 20 or 30 minutes. The new additions seemed to fit in well with the ride and it really did look nice after its refurbishment. It’s probably going to take some time to get use to hearing Johnny Depp’s voice on the ride, but I did like the changes. By this time, it was about 2:30pm, and I wanted to be heading out to get over to EPCOT. Before leaving, I checked the Expo Hall to see if any characters were there. It turned out to be empty, and even the movie wasn’t playing. It use to be a great spot to find some characters and see some classic cartoons, but lately it just seems to be empty most of the time.

As I’m leaving the park, Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar are doing meet-and-greets together where I had met Horace earlier all by themselves. I got Clarabelle’s autograph and a quick picture before hopping on the monorail to EPCOT.

 

[meeko_33785]

It’s not long before the monorail arrives at EPCOT. After a brief stop to get some photos of the Christmas decorations in the front of the park, it’s straight to The Seas.

The new ride with Nemo and Friends was pretty fun. There were a couple of really impressive effects (especially the anglerfish, EAC, and the finale), and the music was great. It was defiantly a huge improvement over the original pre-show and ride back when it was the Living Seas. As much as I liked the ride, I thought Turtle Talk was even better. Lines weren’t too bad either. Crush was great in interacting with everyone. A big thumbs up for this one.

After the Seas, t was time for more characters. I headed over to the Character Connection to get pictures of everyone in their Year of A Million Dreams outfits. Mickey, Pluto, Goofy, Minnie, Chip and Dale were all there, and I literally had only one family in line ahead of me. It was great! I’m still shocked that most people still don’t know this is here. It has to be the best meet-and-greet around for finding Mickey and friends. Their new outfits looked nice too. Don't Chip and Dale look sharp? After getting everyone’s photo, World Showcase was next.

The entertainment schedule I had said that the Caballeros were about to begin doing meet-and-greets in Mexico by this time, and lo and behold, there they were- all together! It really felt like Disney was putting out a lot more of the classic characters out this year which is awesome. After meeting the Caballeros, I headed over to Norway for a quick peak at the shop (lots more Princess stuff than last time I was there!) and to see the Holiday Storytellers. This one was probably my favorite of all the ones I saw that night. The storytellers here really did an outstanding job at being able to tell about the Christmas traditions of the country and keep the audience involved and amused. China was next to check out the new exhibit that was there. Mulan and Mushu were nearby, so I managed to get a photo of them as well.

Following the promenade to Germany and Italy, I stuck around to relax and the Storytellers in the countries beginning with Italy. Afterwards, I spent some time looking around at the different shops, the railway garden in Germany and the gondolas by the water in Italy. The timing was just right so that the fireworks from Magic Kingdom were going off and were viewable from the bridge in Italy. It was great.

The storyteller in Germany was next and there was a special treat at the end. After the storyteller finished her spiel, a Nutcracker character decorated with images of snowflakes and Christmas trees on him came out for photos. I didn’t notice it until later when I was looking at my photos, but the snowflakes were actually Hidden Mickeys! Can you see it?

Continuing around World Showcase, it’s off to American Adventure to see the tree (and also a brief look at the pin cart) before heading to the united Kingdom.

Alice was inside the toy shop with no crowd, so I decided to meet her and get one last character photo for the trip. The Holiday Storyteller was about to start his spiel, so I stuck around to watch. Last stop for the evening in EPCOT is my favorite pavilion- France- for dinner from the Boulangerie and chocolate crepes from the street stand. By this time, I’m exhausted and walk back to the Beach Club, find my room and pretty much collapse.

 

[meeko_33785]

By the next morning the trip was almost over, but there was still some time to get some breakfast and look around the resort. This is my first time staying there, so I wanted to get a little exploring in.

After grabbing a quick breakfast at the quick service place in the gift shop, I check out some more of the Beach Club.

Last stop was walking back to the International Gateway to get some photos of France in the daylight since it was dark by the time I got there yesterday. Isn’t staying at the Beach Club great? It’s so awesome to be able to just walk to the gate at EPCOT and be able to take pictures of World Showcase before it’s even open.

The trip was fun, but unfortunately it now comes to an end. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it, and I’ll start on the Pirate and Princess Party report as soon as I can.

 

[csuzannet]

Thanks so much for sharing those fantastic pictures with us.

You're right. It's great to see a variety of characters! I can't wait to look for them when I'm at WDW in December.

 

[meeko_33785]

Thanks so much for sharing those fantastic pictures with us.

You're right. It's great to see a variety of characters! I can't wait to look for them when I'm at WDW in December.

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed them. Hope you have a great time looking for characters. December seems to be a great time for it too since it seems like there's usually a bunch of great characters out when I go around Christmastime.