A Year of Disney (and Universal) Trips- Universal Christmas Photos- updated 12/23

[Jennifer48]

Thanks for the review! Can't wait to read about more geeky adventures!

 

[saintstickets]

Great recap! Look forward to reading more.

 

[meeko_33785]

Thanks for the review! Can't wait to read about more geeky adventures!

Glad you enjoyed it. I suppose the adventures will still continue to be geeky, but more "Disney" geeky.

Great recap! Look forward to reading more.

Thanks so much.

 

[Lady Lallie]

I really loved your report about Universal. It makes me want to give it another chance. Besides, I absolutely must try Butterbeer. I've been reading about in Harry Potter for over 10 years now, it's got to be good!

 

[meeko_33785]

I really loved your report about Universal. It makes me want to give it another chance. Besides, I absolutely must try Butterbeer. I've been reading about in Harry Potter for over 10 years now, it's got to be good!

Butterbeer is delicious as long as you like things sweet. If you do, definitely give it a try should you go to the Wizarding World.

 

[jenseib]

Now why wouldn't you and Buzz get the Thing 1 and 2 shirts?

Are you identical? I guess it would be more fun if you were.

Thanks for the reviews! You once again make me want to go to Universal.

 

[dawnbu40]

Thank you for sharing your IOA day! I enjoyed all the pictures and seeing all the different characters

Looking forward to hearing about more of your Disney adventures

 

[meeko_33785]

Now why wouldn't you and Buzz get the Thing 1 and 2 shirts?

Are you identical? I guess it would be more fun if you were.

Thanks for the reviews! You once again make me want to go to Universal.

Buzz and I haven't done the matching shirts since we were about 5 years old. I just can't see us getting into that now.

Thank you for sharing your IOA day! I enjoyed all the pictures and seeing all the different characters

Looking forward to hearing about more of your Disney adventures

Glad you enjoyed the report. Seeing all the different characters was one of my favorite parts of Universal. As much as I love Disney, it's great to "meet" some other characters too.

I'm still hoping to get my next Disney report started on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to writing about Disney again.

 

[jenseib]

Buzz and I haven't done the matching shirts since we were about 5 years old. I just can't see us getting into that now.

 

[reelmom]

Great report! We are going to Universal next year and your pictures are making me even more excited to go.

 

[meeko_33785]

Great report! We are going to Universal next year and your pictures are making me even more excited to go.

Thanks. After the Magic Kingdom report, I'll have another Universal Studios report to post, so I hope that you stick around for that.

 

[meeko_33785]

“Best Day (Trip) Ever”-May 2011 Day Trip

Admittedly, beginning a Disney trip report with a day at Islands of Adventure wasn’t ideal, but from Universal in February, we’re moving on to May and a day at my and Buzz’s favorite Disney park, the Magic Kingdom. After a busy spring, we decided to spend some time at the park before the summer crowds descended upon it. As you might have surmised, the title for this portion of the report was inspired Rapunzel’s exclamation after first leaving her tower. I thought this would be a fitting title not only because, as you’ll see, my day started by meeting the aforementioned princess and her companion Flynn Rider but also because it very well may be my ones of my favorite day trips that we’ve taken so far. I hope that you enjoy the report. ​

Buzz and I arrived at the Ticket and Transportation Center about an hour before park opening. Since we were so early, we were parked in the very front row so we wouldn’t have to ride the tram. I was actually looking forward to riding the tram since we haven’t ridden a Disney tram in about 4 years, but I quickly got over it since it was a lot more convenient to be able to just walk right into the TTC. Once there, we decided to ride the monorail to the park, thinking that it would be quicker than taking the ferry boat.

Our monorail ride was nice and uneventful until we passed the Contemporary. Shortly after that, the monorail stopped and didn’t move again for about 10 minutes. I was starting to worry about missing rope drop because of the breakdown, but thankfully we still managed to make it there with time to spare.

Our view of the Magic Kingdom as we arrived. As you can see, it wasn’t too crowded. Of course, the monorail being broken down for a while might have something to do with that.

After going through bag check and exchanging the vouchers for our tickets (3 Day Play passes so we would be able to have a few more park visits before November) at guests services, we walked through the turnstiles and waited for the Magic Kingdom Welcome show.

“Good morning! Good morning to you!”

The characters arrived by train, although, sadly, no longer from Toontown. I was happy to see Tiana and Naveen along with the others. They’ve quickly become some of my new favorite characters. After some singing, some dancing, a countdown and some fireworks (which I honestly don’t remember from previous visits. Are those new?), the park was open for guests.

To start the day, we walked right down the middle of Main Street USA. If you look closely at the above photo, you might spot Mary Poppins, Aladdin and Jasmine strolling down the street as well.

Since I had heard that the lines at the Tangled Play-and-Greet got incredibly long if you didn’t head straight there after rope drop, I headed on to Fantasyland. Since Buzz was not interested in meeting Rapunzel and Flynn, he headed off to Frontierland to ride Splash and Big Thunder Mountain.

Once I arrived at Fairytale Garden, I was surprised at how long the line was already. Fortunately, I was still early enough to get into the first play-and-greet session, but I was somewhat closer to the cut-off point than I was to the front of the line.

After five or so minutes, we were allowed into the Garden where the kids were invited to come and color at the table while the adults saved their spots in line. The Garden was decorated especially for Rapunzel and Flynn with a number of “floating” lanterns a la “I See the Light” above it.

After a short period of coloring, a few cast members lead the kids in a dance around the table and then lead a conversation on dancing and such until Flynn and Rapunzel arrived. I has heard that there was a little bit of a show with these two before they started greeting, but they pretty much just waved to the crowd and started meet-and-greets which was a little disappointing. After they arrived, it was still about 35 minutes before I made it to the front of the line. In the meantime, a Photopass photographer came around and got photos of all the kids with a giant plush chameleon (sort of a patchwork Pascal, if you will).

Finally, it was my turn to meet Disney’s newest royals. The two signed autographs, posed for photos and made small talk.

Flynn even did one of his signature smolders for the camera. I’m still disappointed that Flynn is no longer a part of the meet-and-greet. Rapunzel was nice but having Flynn there really made the meet-and-greet more fun.

Once the meet-and-greet was over, Rapunzel told me to have the best day ever, hence the report’s title, and I said I promised that I would. All in all, the actual meet-and-greet was fun. The 45 minute wait was not as fun. The mix of the chaos from the play-and-greet (crying children who wanted more time to color, parents attempting to wrangle the kids back in line after the dance, etc.) plus the fact that it was a long wait in an only somewhat-shady area made it feel like the longest wait ever. Truth be told, it could have been worse since I’ve heard lines for this could get to as long as 4 hours before they removed Flynn and some of the Play-and-Greet elements. Still, it was nice to find some new characters, and, again, I’m especially glad I had the chance to meet Flynn before he disappeared from regular appearances.


After leaving Fairytale Garden, I decided to see if I could find any other characters before meeting up with Buzz. I headed to Liberty Square to see if Tiana and Naveen were still out, but unfortunately their line was closed. I was on my way to Adventureland to see if Ariel and Prince Eric were out yet when I spotted some unusual characters roaming around Frontierland.

It turned out to be the Frontierland Hoedown flash mob. I had heard about this but never actually seen it before. There were a bunch of unusual characters (Clarabelle Cow, some Country Bears and Brers) and cast members all dancing around the streets of Frontierland. It was a wonderful surprise.

After a while, I decided to continue on to Adventureland to see how the line was for Ariel and Eric. Once I got to their location, their line looked longer than I was interested in waiting in, so I passed on them too. I called Buzz to see if he was ready to meet up again. It turned out that he was in line for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, but we agreed to meet up in Fantasyland when he was done.

As I was arriving in Fantasyland, I noticed Cinderella’s stepfamily on their way to a meet-and-greet. As those who have read past trip reports may have noticed, the Tremaines are some of my favorite characters in the parks. They’re always perfectly in character and a hoot to watch. Of course, as long as I was waiting for Buzz, I figured that I would go ahead and pay them another visit.

After seeing the Tremaines, I headed farther into Fantasyland to check out some of the construction of the new Beauty and the Beast themed areas.

 

The Beast’s Castle looked wonderful. I can’t wait to see the new Fantasyland expansion completed.


It wasn't long before Buzz showed up in Fantasyland. It turns out that he had a busy morning riding Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, the Mad Tea Party and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. By now, I was anxious to finally get on a ride too. We debated Dumbo and Winnie the Pooh, but the line at Dumbo was a bit longer than we willing to wait, so we decided to go and check out the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and its brand-new themed queue.



Next chapter: Winnie the Pooh and Tomorrowland too 

 

[Lady Lallie]

I really need to watch Tangled...still. I am putting that on my list for this upcoming weekend. I have no excuse, it's even on one of the movie channels we get now. I'm so ashamed of myself!

I love it when you see those uncommon characters out and about. I saw quite a few last January and it's just so nice.

I am beyond excited for the Fantasyland expansion to open. I'm really hoping that we can swing a Jan. 2013 trip so that we can experience all the new things. I think I am most excited for the Beauty & The Beast things and of course The Little Mermaid ride.

 

[reelmom]

I can't believe that people were willing to wait in any line for 4 hours. That's crazy. Glad you got to meet Flynn before he went away.

 

[meeko_33785]

I really need to watch Tangled...still. I am putting that on my list for this upcoming weekend. I have no excuse, it's even on one of the movie channels we get now. I'm so ashamed of myself!

I love it when you see those uncommon characters out and about. I saw quite a few last January and it's just so nice.

I am beyond excited for the Fantasyland expansion to open. I'm really hoping that we can swing a Jan. 2013 trip so that we can experience all the new things. I think I am most excited for the Beauty & The Beast things and of course The Little Mermaid ride.

Definitely see Tangled when you get the chance. I think that you'd enjoy it.

I love seeing the uncommon characters too. It's always such a fun surprise.

I'm hoping that at least the Beauty and the Beast and Mermaid areas will be done by that December. I'm already thinking that a Christmas trip to the Magic Kingdom would just be great for 2012.

I can't believe that people were willing to wait in any line for 4 hours. That's crazy. Glad you got to meet Flynn before he went away.

I can't even imagine waiting that long and wasting so much of the day. I'm so glad that I went at rope drop.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Ha, first thing I thought of when I read your title was Rapunzel saying that. Glad you were able to make it into the first meet and greet. It really is too bad Flynn Rider is gone now.

 

[meeko_33785]

Ha, first thing I thought of when I read your title was Rapunzel saying that. Glad you were able to make it into the first meet and greet. It really is too bad Flynn Rider is gone now.

Glad to hear the Tangled reference in the title is working. I figured it anyone would get it, it would be some of the Disney fans over here.

I really wish Flynn was still out. He was such a cool character that it was a shame to get rid of him.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Definitely see Tangled when you get the chance. I think that you'd enjoy it.

I love seeing the uncommon characters too. It's always such a fun surprise.

I'm hoping that at least the Beauty and the Beast and Mermaid areas will be done by that December. I'm already thinking that a Christmas trip to the Magic Kingdom would just be great for 2012.

I have heard that it is opening October 2012. I'm not sure how accurate that is.

 

[meeko_33785]

I have heard that it is opening October 2012. I'm not sure how accurate that is.

That sounds good to me. Of course, I wish it was much sooner, but that date would certainly be fine with me. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if that's when it actually opens.

 

[SharonK0527]

Great update! Wow, 4 hours in line to meet a character?? There's no way I would waste that much of my day for that. Glad you got to see them with a relatively quick wait. Can't wait to hear about the rest of your day