And all at once, everything was different. Literally. *WDW NYE 2019 TR* Updated 4/11x2*COMPLETE*

[xlsm]

I say this all the time, that I get more worried when they say it will just be a dusting...

Ha. Throw him in...

There is just no way to compete, the lobby is just asking for a giant christmas tree in it. I really really want to stay here next December. But $$$ are already kind of high and I can't book yet, until the school releases the schedule. Blah.


Perfect already!!!


Now his face makes sense!


I am literally eating leftover gnocchi right now. We love it!!!! The girls call it pillow pasta.

This does seem more about the presentation. But I love it!


Ha! Too funny.

I def want to try this now! My girls are not big on the villians but meeting the dwarfs will be fun. Glad it lived up to the hype!

We ended up with zero snow. Not even a flake. Just cold rain A few hours north of us got over a foot of snow.

Oh my gosh, I was ready to toss him overboard. He was being pleasant overall but every time I got a camera on him he'd make a face or turn away...he's never a fan of pictures but usually at least tries to fake it once or twice for me.

I agree, it's the perfect Christmas lobby! I wish they did the daybeds like the other deluxes so we'd still fit in their rooms We could force them to share a bed, but that would make for a pretty miserable week and lots of fighting.

Haha, yes, he was just prepping to meet Grumpy!!

I am weird about gnocchi texture, but the one at Artist Point was perfect. I loved the veal, but the gnocchi was so good, that even fearful of its texture, it's probably what I'd order next time b/c I loved the sauce so much.

It was a really great meal! It was fun for a character experience to feel so special in the more intimate surroundings than the typical character buffet or family style meal like Ohana breakfast. We loved it!

This new character meal sounds awesome! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Wait..1900 Park Fare once had a villain meal?! That's amazing!! I wish they would bring something like that back! (I know they did Club Villain but that disappeared).

I was so happy with it, I don't think it could have gone better honestly. Well, maybe a refill on my tea

Yes! I need to find my old pictures from the villain dinner and share them...I remember I was wearing a tube top from PacSun that I thought was soooo cute, and it looks like I'm not wearing a shirt in the pictures

I love your Snow White Disneybounding! I looked at that same dress for the very same reason!

I was so impressed with this dress, it's so comfy. And then I fell down a rabbit hole of Amazon dresses

I love your Dis bound outfit and Dopey purse!

We are trying this in January and I loved hearing your review, it sounds really good!

I think I will get the veal shank, the reviews are all good so far.

What a fun interaction with the Evil Queen, I wish there was a villain dinner at Disney, I bet that was really fun!

Thank you!! I swore I'd never buy a Danielle Nicole purse b/c they're so small and impractical (it barely fit my phone and sunglasses), but over the summer at our local Barnes and Noble they were 50% off. How do you say no to that?

Oh, yay! I hope you have a good experience too. The veal was SO GOOD. Like, unreasonably good.

I wish they still had the villain dinner too. We had the Queen of Hearts, Prince John, Governor Ratcliffe, and I can't remember who else. I will find my pictures this weekend and share some! OH! Captain Hook! He was there too.

Yikes what an awful travel day but yay you made it

Ugh, it was the worst!!

I hope you had an amazing trip of your own!!

Following! So excited to hear about your VIP tour. The artist point dinner looks lovely. If we go around the holidays again I would love to finally stay at WL and try it.

Yay, welcome back!! The VIP day was something I was incredibly anxious about, but by the end of it I had a new Disney dream job.

The Wilderness Lodge is my favorite resort of all time. I don't know if it's nostalgia b/c it's the first resort I ever stayed in or what, but I LOVE it with my whole heart!!

So glad you enjoyed it! I really need to recreate it at home.

Oh my gosh, I am laughing so hard! My almost 17 year old twin boys do the exact same thing! EVERY. TIME. Teenagers!!

Gorgeous!

That is perfect!

Awesome picture and your outfit is fab!

Everything looks delicious!

I love it!

Best interaction ever! That alone would make dinner worth it for me!

Thank you for such a great review!

It was so good!! It was only rivaled by the salad I had at Mama Melrose the next day of the trip.

Thank goodness it is not just my son!!! He was driving me crazy!

Thank you, we had such a great time at this meal - everything about it was such a perfect way to end our evening after such a crazy race to even get to WDW in the first place

Enjoying your report and loved your Storybook review and pictures. Can't wait to try it in February.

Thank you!! I hope you have an amazing experience there, too. I feel like they'll have all the early kinks worked out by then and the tiny things that bothered us, like our server being so busy with other tables, will be a thing of the past

I guess Snow White was right!




Sounds like a great dinner! And I loved the selfies beforehand - you look super cute in your bound outfit, too!

That's what I said! She wasn't kidding about the gooseberry pie! My grandma made them when I was growing up, and this one tiny cafe in our town had them (ran by a little old lady who came in at like 3am to make pies everyday), but other than that I've never had gooseberry pie anywhere else, and certainly not in the last 20 years at LEAST. It brought back a lot of memories.

I was so proud of that outfit, LOL!! Thank you!

I'm late, but here. I cannot believe all the trouble you had on your table day. If anyone deserved a day of relaxation after all of that it was you.

I cannot get over how good your meal at Artist Point looks (apologies I can never remember what they are calling it now and I always refuse to learn new names). I have to say I'm still disappointed they turned character, but I'm glad to see they have kept the food quality up.

It was like the universe decided everything that could go wrong should go wrong that day.

I still call it Artist Point, too...probably always will. Like The Living Seas at Epcot
The food quality was great - if the characters had been anything other than snow white, I'd have probably not been so forgiving of the change. I was also relieved to see the mushroom bisque still at Territory Lounge.

Ooh, I've been looking forward to your review of the Artist Point meal!! We're hoping to go this summer, and it seemed like it was mostly a fantastic experience for you!



Basically sisters.

It was so good, I hope you guys go this summer!

Right?? Twins

 

[petals]

Ugh, it was the worst!!

I hope you had an amazing trip of your own!!

It was good, there was some bad, but mostly good because of alot determination

I started the trip report but I need to figure out how to link it in the signature again.

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Loving your report.
Felt so bad for your travel day. I’m usually a glass half full person but never on travel day. I never quite believe I’m going to get there until I go under the gate and then I relax.
Poly looks lovely and I love your room.
My DS always does the mardy face in photos. Last trip I bargained for 5 good photos a day and then I leave you alone but if it takes me 1000 snaps to get 5 decent pics then so be it.
Unsurprisingly he agreed to 5 a day playing nicely and then I left him alone
Artist Point looks amazing. Not sure I can justify the cost though.
Looking forward to more.

 

[Tracy161]

My grandma made them when I was growing up, and this one tiny cafe in our town had them (ran by a little old lady who came in at like 3am to make pies everyday), but other than that I've never had gooseberry pie anywhere else, and certainly not in the last 20 years at LEAST. It brought back a lot of memories.

Awww, what a nice touch of nostalgia I've never had gooseberry pie... but I may just have to try some there someday

I was so proud of that outfit, LOL!! Thank you!

You should be! It was perfect!

 

[xlsm]

Hello, hello!!

I hope Monday is being kind to everyone so far. Mine's actually going pretty well, and it makes me feel like I must be forgetting something...how have I managed to be so productive already, and it's before 1:00pm??

The cold that will never end is STILL running in the background, but I've been able to get things finished in spite of it. Finally got all the Christmas down and put away...we had to buy two new rubbermaid bins, but I have no idea why. I didn't buy that much new stuff this year. Maybe I just packed it differently?? At any rate, there's nothing more satisfying than seeing the chaos of everything suddenly contained and all put away in my storage closet. Of course, now my house looks empty and weird, and in need of a deep cleaning!!

Let's see if I can get a start on our New Year's Eve day, how about that???

Chapter Four: New Year's Eve

Yeah, um, no clever chapter title, LOL!! I'm keeping it simple!!

The planning of this day had one main focus - to be totally different from last year!! Last year our NYE experience was fun but chaotic. If you read my report from last year, you'll know we were stuck on a bus from Kidani Village to Epcot for two hours. That's why we stayed at the Polynesian this time. I wanted to stay away from buses later in the day.

We were starting our New Year's Eve at Hollywood Studios.

I LOVE the bus tracking feature on the MDE app, we knew we had just enough time to get from our room to the bus stop, and sure enough, when we got there a bus was pulling up, and soon we were on our way to our first park of the trip. Finally!!

The Polynesian bus stop is really far away at DHS now, which is fine at drop off, but not so much when you leave at the end of the day!! However, you do get to look at the Gondola construction on your way in:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

We got to the park pretty early. They were having Early Morning Magic at 7:00am, and I had it in my spreadsheet of park hours that they were also having Extra Magic Hours. Now, I check like three calendars before I add ANYTHING for certain on the daily time sheets I make, but I guess this EMH was scrapped once they added EMM.

We wanted to be at the head of the pack no matter when we were let in, but I wanted some extra time to upgrade my ticket to an annual pass, too.

In a special moment of "that doesn't happen often", there was only one other family taking pictures in front of Sorcerer Mickey. We offered to take their photo, and they took ours too.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

This photo is when I fully realized that I was the short one in the family now!! And also when I fully realized that I was in Florida, b/c my perfectly straightened and braided hair was already starting to curl and get wacky!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

After our pictures, I went to get my AP, which took forever because I had the slowest CM ever. Then we got in line at the tapstiles, only a few people were ahead of us. Regardless of whether or not there WAS or WASN'T officially extra magic hours, they opened around 8:15 and let us all in the park. They opened Sunset Blvd., but held everyone else and wouldn't let them go on into Toy Story Land or anywhere else. We went right down Sunset - we had some very important screaming to do.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

I was at the mercy of our Alien Swirling Saucers fast pass, so I wasn't super thrilled with the times I had for everything else. Getting to Tower of Terror early would help our day flow a little better.

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We walked on so quickly, there was barely time to stop and take pictures...but I had to get SOMETHING!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

That'll have to do

We rode, and then immediately got back in line to ride again. We had two of the best drop sequences ever, it was so much fun. I thought I pulled out both pictures, but apparently not. The main difference between the two is in the second one we're sitting in the back row, so use your imagination, LOL

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

After we finished our second ride, Xavier realized he didn't have his magic band on anymore. Ugh.

Luckily, shops were starting to open, so I just decided to get him a new one. We took a restroom break, met up in the Planet Hollywood store, then X and I went to find him a band while DH and L went to get us some Starbucks.

While in the Planet Hollywood store we found some fun movie props:

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

X ended up getting one of the new black magic bands, and we found a shady table to sit and drink our Starbucks while we killed time before our RnR fast pass that was opening up at 9:40. It felt kind of weird to just be sitting and not blazing through the park, but we were having a good time just hanging out. DH and L were eating some breakfast, and the weather was so pleasant, it didn't feel like a waste of time.

At about 9:30 we got up and started walking back toward Rockin' Rollercoaster.

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We were so excited to get back on this ride, it had been forever. Literally years!! None of us had been on since 2014 That's what tiers did to us at Hollywood Studios, we always chose Toy Story Mania over RnR.

Our excitement was short lived, because as soon as we got over there the ride went down. Ugh.

We decided to hang onto that fast pass (now an anytime pass) and wait to see if it came back up later in the day.

The fast pass for Alien Swirling Saucers was going to open up in just a little under an hour, so we made a new plan - we'd go check out some Christmas decorations and then head on into Toy Story Land to look around before our ride time.

I cut through the table areas for the quick service restaurants b/c the street and sidewalks were packed with people. Along the way I found this little tree I thought was so adorable.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

I also saw this sign near the DVC kiosk, and it hit me right in the heart:

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We stopped into the next store b/c these ears caught my eye through the door:

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How adorable are these??

We cruised through the store avoiding sidewalk crowds, and popped out by these ladies:

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I LOOOVED the retro kitschy goodness of the DHS decor. My grandma had so much of this stuff, it reminds me of the Christmases from my childhood.

We headed over toward the tree:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

One of my favorite trees ever. You know what they need?? A gigantic silver aluminum tree with the color wheel If anyone could create a huge one, it's Disney.

We stopped for a Photopass photographer who just randomly took pictures, and in exactly ZERO of them are all of us looking at the camera

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

Why he didn't wait for us to be ready, I'll never know.

I love these deer, and was happy to see them again

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And of course Gertie: The queen, the goddess, my inspiration

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

At this point we were all so antsy and ready to see Toy Story Land that we couldn't handle it, and we started heading over to that part of the park.

Not before checking out these sketchy looking babies plotting to kill us with sugar cubes and beat us with spoons:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

(it's not just me, right?? They look a little demonic, don't they??)

That's it for now!! Next update will be our first time in Toy Story Land!!

See you real soon and have a great week!!

 

[missangelalexis]

Haha we put away our Christmas decorations this weekend too and everything seems so bare!

Sounds like a good start to your day! Except for RnR being down, that's not so good!

Love the old school decorations in the park!

 

[Lesley Wake]

One of my favorite trees ever. You know what they need?? A gigantic silver aluminum tree with the color wheel If anyone could create a huge one, it's Disney.

That would be nice! I need to get myself a Disney tree. I'm thinking one of the ones with LED lights that cycles through the different colors!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

We cruised through the store avoiding sidewalk crowds, and popped out by these ladies:



I LOOOVED the retro kitschy goodness of the DHS decor. My grandma had so much of this stuff, it reminds me of the Christmases from my childhood.

these ladies are super cute.


I do love the retro decorations that they are using in HS. Or they should make a giant ceramic christmas tree. That would be cool too.

 

[mamamelody2]

Joining in!

Sorry your travel day sucked sooooo hard!

Sounds like the trip turned out great, though!

 

[Jenny Sanders]

I'm here and really looking forward to reading another one of your TR's!!!

 

[disneyAndi14]

We rode, and then immediately got back in line to ride again. We had two of the best drop sequences ever, it was so much fun

That is so awesome, I love the different drop sequences, makes the ride so fun and scary each time!

After we finished our second ride, Xavier realized he didn't have his magic band on anymore. Ugh.

Oh no, that is a bummer!

X ended up getting one of the new black magic bands, and we found a shady table to sit and drink our Starbucks while we killed time before our RnR fast pass that was opening up at 9:40

Andi has the matte black one, she loves it! It is nice to take in all the activity as you sip on some Starbucks!

Our excitement was short lived, because as soon as we got over there the ride went down. Ugh.

I’m afraid of this ride so I don’t ride, I hope you got on it later.

Not before checking out these sketchy looking babies plotting to kill us with sugar cubes and beat us with spoons:

Funny, I remember my grandparents having these type of ornaments at Christmas, they are a little creepy, but aren’t all old dolls, lol!

 

[petals]

https://flic.kr/p/23rJACr
That's different to when we saw it. When we saw it there was no ribbons and there was purple flowers... and here's me thinking they weren't bothering to take down their Christmas decorations

Not before checking out these sketchy looking babies plotting to kill us with sugar cubes and beat us with spoons:



(it's not just me, right?? They look a little demonic, don't they??)

They are creepy looking

 

[Raeven]

X insisted on making that miserable face in every. single. picture. Even if he was smiling beforehand, as soon as I tried to take a picture he'd frown. I almost threw him into Bay Lake.

My stepbrother tried to do that in all our Christmas Eve photos

I saw a Pua one of those purses the other day and I was very tempted to buy it

DH got the gnocchi, and it was soooooo good!! The texture of gnocchi is not my favorite, but the sauce was so creamy and perfect, that I'd definitely order it in the future.

That looks good!

I agree, Villains events rake in the cash, I have no idea why they won't bring those back. I'd almost make a special trip just for Club Villain if they reintroduced it. It would have been perfect for Hollywood Studios while it was in such a heavy transition period.

Club Villain was probably one of the best things we've ever done at WDW, I wanted to do it a second time but then they got rid of it

I swore I'd never buy a Danielle Nicole purse b/c they're so small and impractical (it barely fit my phone and sunglasses), but over the summer at our local Barnes and Noble they were 50% off. How do you say no to that?

I remember that But if it's half off why not? I keep getting tempted to buy those smaller Loungefly backpacks, but I never wear them

I LOVE the bus tracking feature on the MDE app, we knew we had just enough time to get from our room to the bus stop, and sure enough, when we got there a bus was pulling up, and soon we were on our way to our first park of the trip. Finally!!

We never got to use it the wifi wasn't working so I just gave up.

A gigantic silver aluminum tree with the color wheel If anyone could create a huge one, it's Disney.

Cabana Bay has retro decorations and silver trees! I'm going to post some pictures in my next update from there.

We stopped for a Photopass photographer who just randomly took pictures, and in exactly ZERO of them are all of us looking at the camera

#ThanksPhotopass. Once when taking a magicshot they had us look in the wrong direction...sometimes I don't think they're even paying attention

And of course Gertie: The queen, the goddess, my inspiration

Gertie is the Beyonce of Disney Parks.

Not before checking out these sketchy looking babies plotting to kill us with sugar cubes and beat us with spoons:

What twisted mind created this

 

[xlsm]

It was good, there was some bad, but mostly good because of alot determination

I started the trip report but I need to figure out how to link it in the signature again.

I'm glad you were able to power through the bad parts with determination!! I'm so glad I found your report yesterday so I can follow along. Still can't believe the crazy hotel girl, I'd have been afraid of her trying to start something too, with her already having the black eye.

Loving your report.
Felt so bad for your travel day. I’m usually a glass half full person but never on travel day. I never quite believe I’m going to get there until I go under the gate and then I relax.
Poly looks lovely and I love your room.
My DS always does the mardy face in photos. Last trip I bargained for 5 good photos a day and then I leave you alone but if it takes me 1000 snaps to get 5 decent pics then so be it.
Unsurprisingly he agreed to 5 a day playing nicely and then I left him alone
Artist Point looks amazing. Not sure I can justify the cost though.
Looking forward to more.

thank you!!

I agree with you about travel day, it never feels real to me until we're on the ME bus and going under the sign!!

Ooh, I like the bargain of getting 5 good pictures a day, I might have to try that.

Artist Point was great! I tell my husband not to ever let me look at any meal bills, b/c when I'm not at WDW I am super cheap and I hate spending money. I found it funny that it was flipped when I took my mom in 2017 - I wouldn't let her look at any of the bills, b/c I knew she'd freak out. It's hard to swallow those prices when the kids are with us...they eat more than we do, but it's one thing when the cost is times two, but with all four of us it can be scary

Awww, what a nice touch of nostalgia I've never had gooseberry pie... but I may just have to try some there someday


You should be! It was perfect!

This sounds so dumb, but as a child I didn't realize that gooseberry pie was a thing outside of my small world of the Missouri Ozarks

Thank you!

Haha we put away our Christmas decorations this weekend too and everything seems so bare!

Sounds like a good start to your day! Except for RnR being down, that's not so good!

Love the old school decorations in the park!

Today I have lemony scented wax in my warmers and oil diffusers to try and freshen things up after so much cinnamon...and also to try and make it smell clean to motivate me to ACTUALLY clean Everywhere there used to be Christmas stuff, now it seems like there's just dog hair and emptiness

That would be nice! I need to get myself a Disney tree. I'm thinking one of the ones with LED lights that cycles through the different colors!

We considered some Disney decorations for outside this year. We have a few ornaments on the trees, but that's about it. I did almost buy the Chip and Dale nutcrackers when we were in the Christmas store at DHS, holy cow those are cute!!

these ladies are super cute.


I do love the retro decorations that they are using in HS. Or they should make a giant ceramic christmas tree. That would be cool too.

Oooh yes!!! I love my retro ceramic trees, I have a regular sized one and a mini one that's battery powered. If they could create a giant version I would die!

Joining in!

Sorry your travel day sucked sooooo hard!

Sounds like the trip turned out great, though!

Welcome!!

Ugh, yes, it was like a movie...at the time it felt like a horror movie, and as time goes by I guess it could be like a madcap holiday comedy?? Or maybe I'm trying to soften it in my mind after living it

The rest of the trip was awesome, thankfully!

I'm here and really looking forward to reading another one of your TR's!!!

Yay, Jenny!! Welcome back!!

That is so awesome, I love the different drop sequences, makes the ride so fun and scary each time!

Oh no, that is a bummer!


Andi has the matte black one, she loves it! It is nice to take in all the activity as you sip on some Starbucks!


I’m afraid of this ride so I don’t ride, I hope you got on it later.


Funny, I remember my grandparents having these type of ornaments at Christmas, they are a little creepy, but aren’t all old dolls, lol!

Xavier is not much of a reactor to anything. I mean, he always shows gratitude for gifts and things, but he doesn't express a lot of excitement. Well, that went out the window after ToT. He was so happy and excited, and kept saying how lucky we got with fun rides, and how it's the only ride that makes him feel like it's his first time riding. It was such a small thing, but him going on and on about that was one of the best parts of the trip for me!

He loves his black band! I hope he doesn't lose it so he can use it again, LOL!

It's a fun ride, but I can take it or leave it. I like ToT and Slinky Dog much more!! (spoiler, we do get to go on later!!)

Sometimes when we're in antique stores (b/c it's not a weekend for me unless I visit at least two), and we see dolls I think, why would anyone buy these for a child? Old stuffed animals, too. But, then I think about how when I'd visit my great grandma, she had a bunch of baby dolls that belonged to one of my great aunts, and I'd play with them and never cared. I didn't realize the creep factor until I was older. Ah, the innocence of children

That's different to when we saw it. When we saw it there was no ribbons and there was purple flowers... and here's me thinking they weren't bothering to take down their Christmas decorations



They are creepy looking

I didn't even pay attention on our last night there if it looked any different! I was really ready for Christmas to be over by the time we left the parks and went home...at the Poly they FINALLY stopped playing the loop of like six Polynesian sounding holiday songs a day or two before we left.

My stepbrother tried to do that in all our Christmas Eve photos

I saw a Pua one of those purses the other day and I was very tempted to buy it

That looks good!
Club Villain was probably one of the best things we've ever done at WDW, I wanted to do it a second time but then they got rid of it

I remember that But if it's half off why not? I keep getting tempted to buy those smaller Loungefly backpacks, but I never wear them

We never got to use it the wifi wasn't working so I just gave up.

Cabana Bay has retro decorations and silver trees! I'm going to post some pictures in my next update from there.

#ThanksPhotopass. Once when taking a magicshot they had us look in the wrong direction...sometimes I don't think they're even paying attention

Gertie is the Beyonce of Disney Parks.

What twisted mind created this

Why do boys try to ruin our pictures??

Aw, a Pua one would be so cute! My poor Dopey bag is now destined to finish out his life hanging from a hook in my closet. He has fulfilled his mission of completing my Snow White dinner outfit, and is now retired.

It was so good! It's not often I will trade bites of my beef and potatoes for a veggie gnocchi, but I kept telling Matt he could have more of my food if I could have more of his!!

I'm sad I never got to do Club Villain

that's a pain about the app and the wifi...so, I figured out like four days into our trip that I didn't even have the wifi ON and was using data the whole time. Although, now that we switched to Sprint and got new phones over the weekend, we have unlimited data, so I guess I have that to look forward to on the next trip

The photographer was saying words like he was paying attention, so when I saw the pictures after I was so confused. They're all of us looking in different places, taking stuff out of our pockets, etc

That is the best description of Gertie ever!

 

[xlsm]

We booked a trip for just me and DH last night. I was checking out AP discounts for summer and found a too good to be true rate at Yacht Club. I have a friend who will lose her DVC points if she doesn't use them by August, and she offered to give me a good deal if I found dates I wanted, so I'm going to see if she can do better on price and see what rooms are available...So I'm not sure if our dates and resort are set in stone or not, but we are now planning a June visit!!

Right now we are considering the Rivers of Light Dessert Party (b/c DH has never seen RoL and I hate the regular seating area) and the Highway in the Sky monorail resort progressive dinner thing. I haven't done anything with ADRs, but might check some things out later this afternoon. Gotta get all the trips in I can with this AP!! We are regretting not getting DH one, too, because mine was "free" from using Disney reward points. No hurry on a ticket for him yet, as long as we get one before 60 days out of course!

Chapter Four Part Two: NYE Continued...Toy Story Land!!

When I left off yesterday, I fueled your nightmares with the sugar spoon demon babies, but today we're going to start off with this pretty pink blooming tree that I became obsessed with at Hollywood Studios:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

I couldn't get over how vibrantly pink it looked, b/c at home everything is dead and gross.

As we began walking toward our ultimate goal of Toy Story Land, we saw the time and realized the March of the First Order was getting ready to start. The kids had never seen it, so we rushed across and got a spot on the edge of the sidewalk to watch for a second.

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https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

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It was their first march at 10am, which meant we had 40 minutes before our Aliens fast pass.

We visited One Man's Dream so L could do his traditional Walt Disney pose...although he chose a different photo to mimic this time

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

One of my favorite things are the miniature representations of rides and attractions. When we were in San Francisco over the summer, we visited the Walt Disney Family Museum, and there is an amazing mini-Disneyland, complete with working teacups.

I always enjoy checking out the mini Jungle Cruise on display in One Man's Dream

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

And speaking of things that are mini, how tiny was Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins, oh my gosh!!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

It doesn't look that small in the picture, but in person it is tiny. I used to be small, 118 pounds at 5'8" when the kids were about 1 and 3, but even at that size I don't think I'd have fit into that dress. I'm about 50 pounds heavier now so maybe my leg would fit into it

There was a wait for the movie that was longer than we had patience for, so we left One Man's Dream and finally got to Toy Story Land

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

We were staring directly into the sun, and L's eyes are closed in all the pictures. He adopted this strange eyebrows up, fake no-teeth-showing smile, eyes closed pose in a lot of pics this day And X put his hair up in this godawful ponytail thing that he knows I hate, to keep it out of his eyes.

I love my children.

Remind me of that in case I forget, ok??



https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

I keep seeing threads that are like, "I just didn't like TSL", "TSL is a huge fail for Disney.", "Why didn't they do more with TSL?"

Who are those people?? Toy Story Land is AMAAAAZING!! It's supposed to be designed by Andy with his toys in the backyard, I think it fits that theme perfectly. The details are out. of. this. world. I've also seen complaints that Slinky Dog Dash is open and you can see it from all over. Why is anyone complaining about that? In my opinion, it's part of the charm and excitement of the entire area.

Please, please, please when you visit, do me a favor and just look around. All four of us spent the whole time in that area just randomly shouting out, "Oh look at that, look at that!" as we'd notice new things. Like the giant Andy sized shoe prints on the ground Dead. We loved it!!

When we got into the land, we really did just want to look around for awhile. Wait times were crazy, over two hours for Slinky, and long for Aliens and TSMM, too. It was New Year's Eve after all


https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

But really, I couldn't stop taking pictures of Jessie and Rex

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

I wanted to make sure to capture as many of the holiday touches as I could. Sadly the cranberry popcorn garland over Andy's Lunchbox were victims of a sun glare, but I did get a good one of sugar cookie Ham!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

I guess I didn't photograph it, but there's a green army man holding him up from behind, LOL

As we got toward the back of the land and near the entrance to Alien Swirling Saucers, we heard the REAL green army men coming our way.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

We had a great view of their show...the only person with a better view was Buzz

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

The four of us thought this show was so fun! They get volunteer kids from the crowd to participate in some games of skill like running through hula hoops, tossing a ball into buckets, etc...Even grumpy X was having a great time watching. I suggested going ahead and scanning in for our AS2 Fast Pass before it was finished and he said no!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

When they were almost finished up, I finally dragged him away and we got ready to Swirl!!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

You get a great view of Slinky while you wait!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

We loved Mater's Junkyard Jamboree in California Adventure, so we were also big fans of Alien Swirling Saucers.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/89161658@N04/

There was so much laughing while we were riding, it was a blast.

After we finished our Swirl, we left Toy Story Land behind...we knew we'd be back the next day with our VIP guide, and again on our last park night several days later.

We were getting hungry and it was almost lunchtime!!

That's a wrap on today's update!! Next time will be our lunch at Mama Melrose and finishing up the DHS portion of our New Year's Eve.

Have the best Tuesday ever!!

 

[PolyRob]

We booked a trip for just me and DH last night. I was checking out AP discounts for summer and found a too good to be true rate at Yacht Club. I have a friend who will lose her DVC points if she doesn't use them by August, and she offered to give me a good deal if I found dates I wanted, so I'm going to see if she can do better on price and see what rooms are available...So I'm not sure if our dates and resort are set in stone or not, but we are now planning a June visit!!

Right now we are considering the Rivers of Light Dessert Party (b/c DH has never seen RoL and I hate the regular seating area) and the Highway in the Sky monorail resort progressive dinner thing. I haven't done anything with ADRs, but might check some things out later this afternoon. Gotta get all the trips in I can with this AP!! We are regretting not getting DH one, too, because mine was "free" from using Disney reward points. No hurry on a ticket for him yet, as long as we get one before 60 days out of course!

Chapter Four Part Two: NYE Continued...Toy Story Land!!

When I left off yesterday, I fueled your nightmares with the sugar spoon demon babies, but today we're going to start off with this pretty pink blooming tree that I became obsessed with at Hollywood Studios:



I couldn't get over how vibrantly pink it looked, b/c at home everything is dead and gross.

As we began walking toward our ultimate goal of Toy Story Land, we saw the time and realized the March of the First Order was getting ready to start. The kids had never seen it, so we rushed across and got a spot on the edge of the sidewalk to watch for a second.







It was their first march at 10am, which meant we had 40 minutes before our Aliens fast pass.

We visited One Man's Dream so L could do his traditional Walt Disney pose...although he chose a different photo to mimic this time



One of my favorite things are the miniature representations of rides and attractions. When we were in San Francisco over the summer, we visited the Walt Disney Family Museum, and there is an amazing mini-Disneyland, complete with working teacups.

I always enjoy checking out the mini Jungle Cruise on display in One Man's Dream



And speaking of things that are mini, how tiny was Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins, oh my gosh!!



It doesn't look that small in the picture, but in person it is tiny. I used to be small, 118 pounds at 5'8" when the kids were about 1 and 3, but even at that size I don't think I'd have fit into that dress. I'm about 50 pounds heavier now so maybe my leg would fit into it

There was a wait for the movie that was longer than we had patience for, so we left One Man's Dream and finally got to Toy Story Land





We were staring directly into the sun, and L's eyes are closed in all the pictures. He adopted this strange eyebrows up, fake no-teeth-showing smile, eyes closed pose in a lot of pics this day And X put his hair up in this godawful ponytail thing that he knows I hate, to keep it out of his eyes.

I love my children.

Remind me of that in case I forget, ok??





I keep seeing threads that are like, "I just didn't like TSL", "TSL is a huge fail for Disney.", "Why didn't they do more with TSL?"

Who are those people?? Toy Story Land is AMAAAAZING!! It's supposed to be designed by Andy with his toys in the backyard, I think it fits that theme perfectly. The details are out. of. this. world. I've also seen complaints that Slinky Dog Dash is open and you can see it from all over. Why is anyone complaining about that? In my opinion, it's part of the charm and excitement of the entire area.

Please, please, please when you visit, do me a favor and just look around. All four of us spent the whole time in that area just randomly shouting out, "Oh look at that, look at that!" as we'd notice new things. Like the giant Andy sized shoe prints on the ground Dead. We loved it!!

When we got into the land, we really did just want to look around for awhile. Wait times were crazy, over two hours for Slinky, and long for Aliens and TSMM, too. It was New Year's Eve after all




But really, I couldn't stop taking pictures of Jessie and Rex



I wanted to make sure to capture as many of the holiday touches as I could. Sadly the cranberry popcorn garland over Andy's Lunchbox were victims of a sun glare, but I did get a good one of sugar cookie Ham!



I guess I didn't photograph it, but there's a green army man holding him up from behind, LOL

As we got toward the back of the land and near the entrance to Alien Swirling Saucers, we heard the REAL green army men coming our way.



We had a great view of their show...the only person with a better view was Buzz



The four of us thought this show was so fun! They get volunteer kids from the crowd to participate in some games of skill like running through hula hoops, tossing a ball into buckets, etc...Even grumpy X was having a great time watching. I suggested going ahead and scanning in for our AS2 Fast Pass before it was finished and he said no!



When they were almost finished up, I finally dragged him away and we got ready to Swirl!!





You get a great view of Slinky while you wait!



We loved Mater's Junkyard Jamboree in California Adventure, so we were also big fans of Alien Swirling Saucers.



There was so much laughing while we were riding, it was a blast.

After we finished our Swirl, we left Toy Story Land behind...we knew we'd be back the next day with our VIP guide, and again on our last park night several days later.

We were getting hungry and it was almost lunchtime!!

That's a wrap on today's update!! Next time will be our lunch at Mama Melrose and finishing up the DHS portion of our New Year's Eve.

Have the best Tuesday ever!!

I agree with your review of Toy Story Land! I love it!! IDK what people were expecting or what they see that is disappointing. There can always be more, but what we got is pretty great.

You also got some fantastic pics! Glad you had a nice first experience

 

[petals]

I didn't even pay attention on our last night there if it looked any different! I was really ready for Christmas to be over by the time we left the parks and went home...at the Poly they FINALLY stopped playing the loop of like six Polynesian sounding holiday songs a day or two before we left.

I was surprised that the Christmas stuff was still up. I always thought that in WDW Christmas ended on the 6th of January and on the 7th everything Christmas was gone where Paris would always still have their decorations up until the 13th and beyond because they were slow taking them down but they were still playing Christmas music in the AoA the day we left

 

[missangelalexis]

oOoOo another trip, how exciting!!

Well I for one am happy to hear your enthusiasm for TSL!! I am so pumped to see it and don't understand why people have been so critical of it!

 

[AliceNDinah]

Just love your review so far---it all looks amazing! Can't wait to head back someday and see Toy Story Land. Keep up the great writing, just love your style and sense of humor!

 

[Lesley Wake]

I did almost buy the Chip and Dale nutcrackers when we were in the Christmas store at DHS, holy cow those are cute!!

I know! Sooo cute! I just don't have room for them right now!

Who are those people?? Toy Story Land is AMAAAAZING!! It's supposed to be designed by Andy with his toys in the backyard, I think it fits that theme perfectly. The details are out. of. this. world. I've also seen complaints that Slinky Dog Dash is open and you can see it from all over. Why is anyone complaining about that? In my opinion, it's part of the charm and excitement of the entire area.

I think the land is very cute, with lots of details. It just could be so much more... If they hadn't cut the budget so much, Slinky Dog Dash could have been longer and even more worth it. They could have had a Pizza Planet or Al's Toy Barn, or something. And when it's hot, not a whole lot of shade! I think I've heard they have an expansion pad set up for it right now, so maybe they'll add another ride, which will continue to make it better (though that will require Disney actually wanting to put more money into the parks, not cut things)!

Though I will say, it's leaps and bounds better than the Disneyland Paris one, which is just a carbon copy of the versions in Shanghai and Hong Kong.