And now for a change of plans-A Dec '18 Solo TR - COMPLETED 9/19

Day 5, December 4
Pre-trip plans

10:30 – Tower of Terror
11:00 – Slinky Dog Dash
11:45 – Indiana Jones Stunt Show
-Other rides/shows in DHS
1:00 – Break and pool at Boardwalk Resort
Afternoon: storytellers, food booths at Epcot
9:30 – Illuminations

-Jellyrolls at resort

Part 1: Houston, we have a problem!

I woke up this morning and knew there was a problem! Scratchy throat, congested. Uh oh! I hoped it would clear up and was maybe just overnight, but nope – my cold had started!

This morning I headed down to DHS. This would be my only time at DHS during the daylight on this trip!

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I observed the progress on skyliner/bus loop. I’m very happy I could take the friendship boats and not have to walk through all that!

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Decorations. Still cute, not as bright as nighttime, but this time I could see more details. Like the poodles – I thought they were white the night before and turns out they are actually pink!

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I did a loop around Echo Lake.

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And then into Toy Story Land.

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I planned to get food at Woody’s, but it was right in that transition point between breakfast and lunch, so mobile ordering wasn’t working.

So first, I took some more stalker photos of the Toy Story characters! I noticed at the Disneyland Paris special events they had places next to the characters where you could just take a photo of them alone. Every couple of people, the handler and photographer would hold the next group of people for a couple seconds so people could snap pics without strangers in them! I would definitely take those opportunities, because I like getting photos of the characters but don’t care about waiting in a long line for the whole interaction.

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Ran into some soldiers, decked out in holiday cheer!

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Also some more photos of the decorations.

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By that time Woody’s Lunchbox mobile ordering was back up, so I got the cranberry apple tart, which was yummy! Perfect amount of sweetness and pie-ness for me!

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Then, it was another meetup with Zach (@AMusicLifeForMe)! We had FPs for Slinky Dog Dash. As we scanned into the FP line I realized I knew the CM working the front of the line. So she told us after riding to come back to the front and she would let us in again! Very nice! (Unfortunately my friend will no longer be working at SDD the next time I visit so I can't use that connection...but she will be in a galaxy far far away, so maybe a better opportunity will arise?!?)

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I like the Slinky animal world. And honestly, they should sell some of these characters in the gift shops/carts! I would probably buy the cat!

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But 2 fun rides on the coaster. Apparently this really is my Slinky Dog Dash face!

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I originally had FPs for some other rides, including Tower of Terror and the Indiana Jones show, but I could already tell I wasn’t feeling the best. I knew there was a lot I still wanted to see/do in Epcot (more Holiday storytellers and kitchens), so I decided not to “waste” time in a park I didn’t care as much about, so I said goodbye to DHS for the rest of my trip!

Coming up - Epcot explorations
 
I woke up this morning and knew there was a problem! Scratchy throat, congested.
Uh, oh.
Really like those!
Every couple of people, the handler and photographer would hold the next group of people for a couple seconds so people could snap pics without strangers in them!
Good intel. Thanks! :)
I realized I knew the CM working the front of the line. So she told us after riding to come back to the front and she would let us in again! Very nice!
Score! I need to get to know all the popular ride CMs. :rolleyes:
 


Did a quick catch-up and of course I come in at you spending the morning at my lovely little home down here. TSL, what a gem. I hope they keep Bo Peep around for Christmastime so she can get a Christmas look.
 
I woke up this morning and knew there was a problem! Scratchy throat, congested. Uh oh! I hoped it would clear up and was maybe just overnight, but nope – my cold had started!

This doesn't sound good. Do you think the rain had something to do with the cold coming on?


I like this picture and your shirt is super cute.


I like this one too.


The effect in this one is really cool.


This is really cool too.

Ran into some soldiers, decked out in holiday cheer!

How fun! I hope we get to see this.

By that time Woody’s Lunchbox mobile ordering was back up, so I got the cranberry apple tart, which was yummy! Perfect amount of sweetness and pie-ness for me!

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I want to try the food here too.

Then, it was another meetup with Zach (@AMusicLifeForMe)! We had FPs for Slinky Dog Dash. As we scanned into the FP line I realized I knew the CM working the front of the line. So she told us after riding to come back to the front and she would let us in again! Very nice!

You lucked out, 2 rides back to back!

(Unfortunately my friend will no longer be working at SDD the next time I visit so I can't use that connection...but she will be in a galaxy far far away, so maybe a better opportunity will arise?!?)

I see what you did there. Good luck!

I originally had FPs for some other rides, including Tower of Terror and the Indiana Jones show, but I could already tell I wasn’t feeling the best. I knew there was a lot I still wanted to see/do in Epcot (more Holiday storytellers and kitchens), so I decided not to “waste” time in a park I didn’t care as much about, so I said goodbye to DHS for the rest of my trip!

This sounds like a really good call. I hope it worked out for you.
 



So my question is: Was this just for decoration? If so, what a waste! I think I'd have wanted to carve it up and eat it!

As Movie Magic started, the skies opened up and it was insane! Like, it rained so hard I felt like I was inhaling water despite just standing there! I didn’t take any photos because my focus was on keeping my poncho closed over my backpack (it was also windy)! Needless to say, I got soaking wet!

EEK!! That sounds wet!

I was already wet, why not enjoy the hot tub a bit! So I quickly went down and was able to relax a bit.

Perfect plan!

I noticed at the Disneyland Paris special events they had places next to the characters where you could just take a photo of them alone. Every couple of people, the handler and photographer would hold the next group of people for a couple seconds so people could snap pics without strangers in them! I would definitely take those opportunities, because I like getting photos of the characters but don’t care about waiting in a long line for the whole interaction.

I love this! When I walk by a character, I have often wanted a quick snap, but have always felt weird or stalkerish if there were kids in it. I'm glad they are realizing that there are a lot of folks like us who really don't need a photo WITH them, and don't want to stand in line, but do want a quick picture of just them.


So cute!! I made a few of those with my own kids. LOL!
 
DHS has the cutest holiday decorations! I love those pink poodles.
I did love the "vintage" feel! It really felt more like old Hollywood!
Really like those!
Thanks! I basically just turned the photopass videos into gifs!
Good intel. Thanks!
Only in Paris though. And I think mostly during special events. People at DLP are crazy character hunters - like they keep track and I know some people have seen over 2050 individual characters - that means if they've met Mickey in lots of different outfits, it still only counts as 1!
Score! I need to get to know all the popular ride CMs. :rolleyes:
Yup! It's partially thanks to the Dis too!
Did a quick catch-up and of course I come in at you spending the morning at my lovely little home down here. TSL, what a gem. I hope they keep Bo Peep around for Christmastime so she can get a Christmas look.
That would be very cool to have Bo Peep in Christmas outfits!
I'm caught up again!! I love your Christmas Story/Toy Story shirt!!
Thanks! I had fun on Etsy!
This doesn't sound good. Do you think the rain had something to do with the cold coming on?
I don't know, maybe? But I was starting to feel exhausted easily the previous days, so it probably was just from travelling.
I like this picture and your shirt is super cute.

I like this one too.

The effect in this one is really cool.

This is really cool too.
Thanks! I basically just take the videos and use giphy to turn them into gifs!
How fun! I hope we get to see this.
Definitely! I think they pull up the kids too to play games.
I want to try the food here too.
It seems like very good snack-type food.
I see what you did there. Good luck!
Yup! Between the two of them, we should have both rides covered...
This sounds like a really good call. I hope it worked out for you.
It sort of did. I at least got to see the important ones!
So my question is: Was this just for decoration? If so, what a waste! I think I'd have wanted to carve it up and eat it!
It was just decoration! Haha - I could imagine you grabbing a knife and going to town on it!
EEK!! That sounds wet!
It was! But it was nice how empty the park was and made for fun fireworks viewing.
I love this! When I walk by a character, I have often wanted a quick snap, but have always felt weird or stalkerish if there were kids in it. I'm glad they are realizing that there are a lot of folks like us who really don't need a photo WITH them, and don't want to stand in line, but do want a quick picture of just them.
I know - I wish they did that here too!
I love how they decorated toy story land. Love the macaroni ornament!

Sorry that you got sick.
Yeah, the decorations were pretty cute!
Great pics of the decorations in the day time!

The Toy Story characters look cute in their Christmas outfits!

Awesome getting 2 rides on SDD!
Hopefully I can spend more time and enjoy daytime decorations more this year!
 
Day 5, Part 2 – Knowing my limits in Epcot

As we left off, I left DHS early. I caught the boat and headed towards Epcot. I was already starting to feel a bit exhausted, but thought I’d be able to push through it. I actually got off the boat at Beach/Yacht club spot since it would be faster to walk to Epcot from there vs going to Boardwalk and IG (the boat was pretty crowded and I could see plenty of people waiting to board at each spot, so knew there would be delays).

Once I entered, had to stop for a photopass!

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I got into Epcot just in time for Pere Noel’s performance. I hadn’t seen the entire one yet, so this way I got to see the end (without it being rained out).

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I then headed past Canada and got to see the end of the Canada Voyegeurs. I had hoped to see their whole performance, but unfortunately wasn’t able to this trip.

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I stopped at the Yukon Kitchen food booth and got the Seared Salmon with Crown Maple Whisky Glaze, Parsnip Silk, Apple Chutney, and Hazelnut Croquet (minus the Hazelnut part). It was ok, but I thought the maple flavor was a bit overpowering.

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Then I picked up an order of Turkey Poutine from Refreshment Port (sweet potato fries, turkey gravy, cranberry relish, crispy onions). It was large! And interesting! I think it would have been better shared between people! It was decent, but not amazing - I think I prefer regular poutine!

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My next plan was to watch Joyful, the gospel singers.

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But I quickly recognized my energy was fading fast and I needed to take a break. The plan had been to see Joyful, then head towards Norway and see Ingrid. But I realized I needed to choose, so chose Ingrid. And I was soo happy I did! I loved that performance, such a cheeky barn Santa! This is the one performer I HAVE to see this December!

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(Oh, on the way to Norway I passed the Mexico dancers, and then when I left Norway I happened to see the Lion Dancer leaving his performance.)

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I then headed back out and over to the Boardwalk. Where I took a nice, long nap.

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If it had been anyplace else, I would have liked to just stay in bed all evening, but I didn’t want to sacrifice more park time. So, I pulled myself up and back out to Epcot.

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I hoped to catch the last Canada show, but unfortunately that didn’t happen (I could hear them finishing up as I enter the IG).

I made a stop at the L’Chaim booth and got some Matza Ball Soup. The broth felt good on my scratchy throat!

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I also went to Sapphire Holiday Kitchen (Morocco) and got the “Sfenji” – warm beignets with cream, cinnamon sugar, toasted almonds, and chocolate sauce, which were ok. But some parts of the beignets just felt soaked with oil.

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And a stop for a nice photopass with a lantern

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I wanted into the Japan store to see what was available, but didn’t end up buying anything.

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I then headed through the Germany store, again skipping buying anything. I guess being sick helps save money, since I'm just too exhausted to think!

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I didn’t do the Chip'n'Dale Wreath hunt, but did find this one in the German store. Considering how out of the way this guy was, I’d imagine the scavenger hunt could be pretty hard!

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I loved the caramel nutcracker (though I’m sure it was just glass/plastic).

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I went to the Bavaria Holiday Kitchen and hoped to get the potato dumpling with mushroom sauce, but they had run out of the sauce, so I skipped it. I did catch part of the band, though it didn’t quite feel on-theme – a bit too rock and not enough holiday!

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I headed down to China and a stop at Shanghai Holiday Kitchen, where I got the Mongolian Beef Bao Bun and a Fortune Cookie. I know the reviews were mixed, but I really liked this (I’m a big bao person anyways).

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I ended up sitting in one of the stroller areas (there were no benches available and I just needed a place to rest). I really was exhausted, even though I had only been back in the park for about 1-1.5 hrs. Originally I had hoped to stick around Epcot to watch Illuminations again, hoping the Holiday tag would be better. But I just didn’t know if I wanted to stick around for a couple more hours. (I don’t remember if I had anymore FPs or if I just cancelled them all.)

So, I ended up opening the fortune cookie that came with my bao… "Follow your instincts". I decided to take that to heart and called it a night.

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On my way out I stopped in the Canada store. I wish I had gotten my brother a present then (he is hard to shop for, but his birthday is a week before Christmas, so it’s doubly hard). But I think I was feeling foggy-headed, so I didn’t buy anything.

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I also wandered thru the UK pavilion, loved the soccer tree - excuse me – football tree.

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Then I went back to the resort and packed up everything again, as I was switching resorts again the next day!

How did I do on the pre-trip plans?

10:30 – Tower of Terror – nope
11:00 – Slinky Dog Dash - Yup x2
11:45 – Indiana Jones Stunt Show – nope
-Other rides/shows in DHS – nope

1:00 – Break and pool at Boardwalk Resort – sort of, but not when planned
Afternoon: storytellers, food booths at Epcot – a bit, but not as many as I wanted

8:30 – Illuminations – nope
-Jellyrolls at resort - zzzzz

This was actually my last time at Epcot and DHS on this trip. Some things I had wanted to do that I didn’t accomplish:

Epcot Storytellers/performances: Joyful, Gospel celebration of the season; Mexico dancers; China Lion Dancers; China Jeweled Acrobats, Meeting Santa in America; Seeing Voices of Liberty again; Holiday Voyageurs in Canada. Riding Living with the Land at night, Seeing Illuminations properly.

Food I missed: Spiced Rum Punch Slush (France), Slow-roasted turkey (America), Hand-carved ham (America), Gourmet hot cocoa (America), Potato dumpling (Germany), Croissant Doughnut (Taste Track), Four cheese pasta (Italy), Cinnamon apple fritters (Italy), Gingerbread Ice Cream (L’Artisans des Glaces), Holiday Apple Pie Sundae (Fife & Drum Tavern), Pumpkin Spice Funnel Cake (American Adventure)

DHS: Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones Stunt Show, specialty snacks

Hopefully I’ll get to see some of this in the days before NYE this year. If not – another Christmas trip may be in order! Well, who am I kidding - of course I'm going to visit again at Christmas. Just have to decide what year to do it!


Coming up - A festive tour
 
Cute shot of you. :)
"I caught a fish, this big!"
Interesting. I'm not familiar with Belsnickel, but think he's similar to Knecht Ruprecht. (Also German)
I haven't done a Reveillon in years. My folks are too old now to do Midnight Mass and then a big meal and then open presents.
But I remember that fondly.
I thought the maple flavor was a bit overpowering.
:rolleyes: We do that.
Then I picked up an order of Turkey Poutine
Meh. I prefer the classic.
I think I prefer regular poutine!
Yes!
I then headed back out and over to the Boardwalk. Where I took a nice, long nap.
Nap? You can do this?
Or just because you weren't feeling well?
I made a stop at the L’Chaim booth and got some Matza Ball Soup. The broth felt good on my scratchy throat!
I bet! :hug:
But some parts of the beignets just felt soaked with oil.
ew
Like this one of you. :)
A Schwibbogen! Love those.
Originally, they were just simple arches with candles. They were lit by the wives of husbands coming home from the mines. The arch symbolizes the tunnel entrance. The candles, light, of course.
I loved the caramel nutcracker (though I’m sure it was just glass/plastic).
You sure? Give it a lick and see.


;)
On my way out I stopped in the Canada store. I wish I had gotten my brother a present then (he is hard to shop for, but his birthday is a week before Christmas, so it’s doubly hard). But I think I was feeling foggy-headed, so I didn’t buy anything.
We have such a poor selection in there. It could be so much better.
 

I like this picture!

I stopped at the Yukon Kitchen food booth and got the Seared Salmon with Crown Maple Whisky Glaze, Parsnip Silk, Apple Chutney, and Hazelnut Croquet (minus the Hazelnut part). It was ok, but I thought the maple flavor was a bit overpowering.

This sounds like it should be very good.

It was decent, but not amazing - I think I prefer regular poutine!

This doesn't look very appetizing to me.

But I realized I needed to choose, so chose Ingrid. And I was soo happy I did! I loved that performance, such a cheeky barn Santa! This is the one performer I HAVE to see this December!

As per your suggestion, this is the top of my list!

I then headed back out and over to the Boardwalk. Where I took a nice, long nap.

I love naps!

If it had been anyplace else, I would have liked to just stay in bed all evening, but I didn’t want to sacrifice more park time.

I feel the same way. I have to see and do as much as I can while I'm there. Of course you can never do everything you want to do.

I also went to Sapphire Holiday Kitchen (Morocco) and got the “Sfenji” – warm beignets with cream, cinnamon sugar, toasted almonds, and chocolate sauce, which were ok. But some parts of the beignets just felt soaked with oil.

Sorry it was to oily cause it sounds like it should be really good.


Love the lantern pictures.

So, I ended up opening the fortune cookie that came with my bao… "Follow your instincts". I decided to take that to heart and called it a night.

Very good advice.

On my way out I stopped in the Canada store.

I like the rustic feel of these decorations.

Food I missed: Spiced Rum Punch Slush (France), Slow-roasted turkey (America), Hand-carved ham (America), Gourmet hot cocoa (America), Potato dumpling (Germany), Croissant Doughnut (Taste Track), Four cheese pasta (Italy), Cinnamon apple fritters (Italy), Gingerbread Ice Cream (L’Artisans des Glaces), Holiday Apple Pie Sundae (Fife & Drum Tavern), Pumpkin Spice Funnel Cake (American Adventure)

Reading this just made my mouth water.
 
I agree that Sigrid and Julenissen are the best. I wish it wasn't as well known how great they are because when I saw them I only ended up seeing them once because the crowds that formed during their performances were insane. La Befana is also fabulous but her story is a bit on the more somber side. You really got a lot done on this day though and omg so much food. Time for post-work chicken nuggets for me lol
 
I hate when the scratchy throat starts, sorry you got sick on your trip. We did the Chip and Dale scavenger hunt, some of them were definitely tricky but we did end up finding all of them. We got some greeting cards for completing it.
 

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