Wow. The days have been flying by with Christmas/New Year's coming up!
So I clearly have a lot of catching up to do with my PTR.
First thing's first. Our Mickey Mail came a couple of days ago! Been so busy with everything, I even forgot to keep an eye out for Mickey Mail, so it was a pleasant surprise. Seeing that our luggage tags are exactly the same from our last trip gave me a moment of clarity - hmmmm, maybe we're going back too soon. Oh, who am I kidding! Not soon enough!
I've been using My Disney Experience app whenever I remember, to look at the wait times and FP return times for the new attractions at New FL and for Test Track. I think I have a pretty good touring plan set now which I'll start posting after Christmas!
My parents have been visiting with us for the past two weeks from overseas and will be with us through Christmas. During that time, we had two theater outings. First, we took DD6 to A Christmas Carol at the Ford's Theatre. DW and I enjoyed it. Got mixed reviews from DD who got a little spooked by the ghost of Marley and had an emotional (crying) response to the scene where Scrooge finds his grave with the help of Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. She wasn't the only one though. Heard a couple of other kids her age in the audience that really got upset by Marley and Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. DD still enjoyed getting dressed up and having an evening outing with her parents. DS in the mean time got to spend some quality time with his grandparents.
It was a festive way to welcome in the Christmas season. After the show, some of the cast members waited by the exit collecting donations for the local shelter in their full costumes. We gave DD some bills to put in one of their hats and she enjoyed that experience and interaction with the cast member quite a bit!
A couple of days ago, DW and I got a rare date night and went to see Les Miserables which is currently touring at the National Theatre. We hadn't planned on seeing it this time around since we saw the same 25th anniversary production last year at the Kennedy Center. But, after treating my parents to a showing last week, I couldn't resist any longer and bought tickets just last week and to my surprise somehow scored first row center seats right behind the conductor! By far, our favorite musical that stands the test of time pretty well. This was the best cast I had seen since Broadway and the best Marius we've ever seen. DW and I loved all of the performances.
The atmosphere was awesome too. Seated to our left, a woman in her mid twenties who was seeing the show for the 43rd time and this was her 7th showing just in the past couple of weeks!! One of the orchestra members looked up from the pit before the show started and recognized her.
Then to my right was a man in his late forties(?) with his wife. Well, he didn't have the typical emotional filters of an average theater goer. Maybe it was the drinks he had sipped but he actually gave a fist pump in the air with a "YES!" at the end of Javert's "Stars"
And at another point in the show, (when Javert finds Val Jean), he said out loud "S***!". Part of me appreciated his honest reactions and the other part of me strained very hard not to laugh out loud.
Finally, during the intermission, I had noticed a couple of the musicians straining to find someone in the audience. I first thought they were looking for one of their friends or something. Didn't think much of it. When the show was over, as we were exiting the theater, we saw a long motorcade parked out front waiting. DW thought there must have been a VIP in the audience or something. The next day, I found out from Les Mis' Facebook page, that the Veep himself, Joe Biden was in the audience! That's how I roll - hobnobbing with DC's power players
Anyway, those are the highlights for the past two weeks! We'll be hosting Christmas for my side of the family and will head up to NYC to my brother's for New Years.
I hope all of my DIS friends have a wonderful Holiday season! Next week, I'll start posting my day to day itinerary and touring plans. The trip is starting to feel very very close now with only 34 days to go!!!
I do something similar... I try to make sure we get ornaments of places we visited... I do intend to hit the Disney Christmas Store when we're there is less than a week...
