*COMPLETE* We Can't Be Stuck on the Stairs Again - 2013 Christmas Vaction

[amberg93]

I've actually never been to CHH. It's on the list though for our upcoming trip.

I love the HM so I agree with that choice Though I do like the interactive queue a lot so I don't mind going through it, I can understand why people would rather have the option to opt out of it too.

Yeah, Splash can be well... wet. But that's okay and your picture looks great so that's something else awesome.

Excellent pictures! I love the Once Upon a Christmastime Parade!

 

[1Grumpy9]

As the parade finished and the crowd moved towards the exit, we moved towards the castle for the last Celebrate the Season show of the night.

















I loved that the Nutcracker was so predominant in the show. It is my favorite ballet.











Then the castle was lit up...I love the castle all lit up for Christmas and it makes for some beautiful pictures:



There is just one...I must have taken over 100 of the castle all lit up. More will come later.

After the show, we got more Photopass pictures done.





There was a huge Christmas ball to the left of the Hub and we got our picture taken there.



We then moved over to another PP photographer and the group in front of us did a kick line, we told the PP photographer that we weren’t going to do something that weird, but we wanted to do something fun.



We decided that it was time to head out of the park and we walked our way down Main Street.



We wanted a picture with the “snow” falling, and us trying to catch a snowflake, but the PP photographer said it wouldn’t come out right. So we opted just for the picture with the snow falling around us.



We saw the huge Christmas tree and we were hoping that there was a photopass photographer there...We lucked out and there was one.



We got back to spot 21 for our bus and we got back to our room around 12:30am and crashed.

It was a great way to end our first full day at Disney at Christmas...Stay tuned for our next adventure...Switching resorts and relaxing at Fort Wilderness.

 

[amberg93]

Seems like a great end to the day. You guys really hit all the big things. I realize how much of a fail my own MVMCP was after reading this

But you also got a lot of great Photopass pictures so that's awesome and they turned out so great. You look like you had a lot of fun!

Can't wait to hear about Fort Wilderness.

 

[1Grumpy9]

Seems like a great end to the day. You guys really hit all the big things. I realize how much of a fail my own MVMCP was after reading this

But you also got a lot of great Photopass pictures so that's awesome and they turned out so great. You look like you had a lot of fun!

Can't wait to hear about Fort Wilderness.

After being at both MVMCP and MNSSHP, I truthfully prefer MNSSHP as I think I got more out of the Halloween party. I love Christmas, but I didn't feel like I got my money's worth out of it. Maybe it is just me. I feel like I failed at seeing everything and getting to more cookie stations during the night. We only hit 2 of them. We didn't even get any of the special merchandise. They sold out of the pins before that night so there was no need looking for that.

We figured on getting a lot of photopass pictures because of the price. We wanted to make the most of it (since we bought PP+ before MM came on board). We tried to hit all the rides that had the pictures.

Fort Wilderness was very relaxing and I would love to go back (only a different time of year...LOL).

 

[1Grumpy9]

Sleeping In and On The Move (Warning...Not many pictures from the first part of the day)

We decided since we would be on the run the rest of the trip, we would sleep in as long as possible before checking out at AS Sports. We checked out and we took our carry-on bags to concierge to be delivered to FW. Since we didn’t know what campsite we would be at, we just told them the campground. We then walked through the gift shop to see what they had and we noticed something (and this will be a theme throughout our trip) that there was no 2013 merchandise. It was all 2014. We did however love the new 2014 bag that is out. We walked outside to soak in the warm Florida air and waited for the first bus to come by. It was a MK bus, so we decided that would be our way to get to FW. It was a short ride to MK, and it was uneventful as we had no where to go today (other than FW). When we pulled into the bus depot, the driver was telling everyone what stop the bus would be at to go back to AS Sports. When we got off, we told him that we didn't need which spot as we were moving on to FW. We walked towards the boats and found the one going to the campground. The boat was there shortly after us arriving and we were the only ones on the boat (as it was around 11:30am) so we picked the front of the boat for our trip. Our skipper had us laughing the whole way along with telling us about FW since this was our first time staying there. We got off the boat and I just started to relax and that is when I realized that this was a good idea being here for Christmas. We walked towards the FW buses to get us to the Settlement Depot. The bus was there waiting for us, so we hopped on and took the ride.

Mom had texted me and said that they were just getting off of I-4 at the exit and should be there shortly. We got off the bus and walked to the Settlement Depot and we found a rocking chair to sit on. We no sooner sat down and I saw mom and dad pulling in. We joined them in the truck and the CM helped us find where we were going and gave us all “I’m Celebrating” buttons and a “Happy Birthday” button for my mom (which it was labled on the reservation it was her birthday, but it really was mine (on Dec. 14th). She showed us on the map how to get to our loop (1900) and told us which spot we were in (1932). I was directing dad on where to go and we found out spot with no problems...Dad then got worried about how to get the camper in the spot (it is 37 1/2 ft long).

We got to our spot and I hopped out of the truck to help dad. There was a nice family on a golf cart that was there too that the husband helped dad get the camper in the spot. He was telling me how where to stand to help dad and he was telling dad which way to maneuver the camper and we got it into position in 3 swings. We thanked the gentleman and he was on his way. Once dad shut off the truck we starting to set up everything.

We had some Christmas decorations to put up, so we started doing that while dad was getting the harder things set-up (sewer line, water line and leveling of the camper). Once everything was hooked up, we sat outside and relaxed. We were telling mom and dad about what the skipper had told us (about FW and HDDR) and dad asked if we could still get a reservation (friends had been telling him about HDDR). Stephanie and I decided to take the truck up to the Settlement Depot and see if we could get a reservation. There was a long line at concierge so we had to wait about 15 mins before we were at the front of the line. We ask if there was any available reservations for tonight and the CM said what time did we want (4:30, 6:15, or 8:00pm). Since it was almost 2:30 when we were making the decision, we decided on the 6:15 show. We got our reservation and headed back to the camper. We relaxed some more and then got ready for HDDR.

On our way to go to HDDR we saw some of the decorations that people put out for Christmas...and I can say our inflatable Mickey and wreath were an understatement to most...





We made our way to the bus stop and there was a bus coming within 5 minutes and we made our way to Pioneer Hall. After getting off at the bus stop we had some time to kill, so we went over to the Settlement Trading Post to look around and we found some cute things that we would be back later in the week to get. After looking around, we made our way over to Pioneer Hall and we checked in. They sent us over for our picture (since I had PP+, we were automatically going to get the picture).



I will hold off for the next post for HDDR...

 

[1Grumpy9]

Since we still had about a half hour before they would let us in, we found a bench to sit and wait and people watch. The sleigh rides were going as we were waiting, so I took a quick picture of one going by.



It was around 6:10 that they rang the triangle for us to enter and enjoy. We walked in and the CM showed us to our table (Table 98). We were right at the back of the hall in a longer bar type table for 4. Our server came by to get our drink order. Stephanie and I both ordered a root beer to start, mom ordered the raspberry lemonade and dad ordered a Yuengling (see where we are from is about 30 mins from the original Yuengling plant in Pottsville, PA so dad wanted to try the “Florida” version). Our drinks came and then our salad and corn bread came to our table. I asked dad if he could tell the difference between the PA and FL version of Yuengling and he said, “YES!!” Now when we first heard about the menu for HDDR, what we heard was Cornbread..blah…blah…blah..blah…Strawberry Shortcake. We weren’t paying attention after the words Corn bread was said until it got to Strawberry Shortcake. The show started and we thoroughly enjoyed the show and the meal.











I am not a big baked beans fan, so I didn’t have any of those, but everything else was amazing. Stephanie and I flagged down our server and we wanted to try the Sangria, so she brought us each one. They also brought us our picture from outside to keep so we put it in a bag so it wouldn’t get anything on it.



Then it came to the part of the show where the troupe comes out into the audience to see who is celebrating anything. Well, I was up against a poll hoping they didn’t see my Birthday button, but the one CM found me and was asking about my birthday. I told her it wasn’t today that it was last week. She looks at me with a straight face and says, “do you think half of these people are telling the truth about their celebration…they are lying.” So everyone says happy birthday and then it was time for the second favorite part of the meal…Strawberry Shortcake.









Our server brought me out one of my own as a birthday surprise. So I shared it with Stephanie. Mom and dad had their own also.

It was audience participation time again...Luckily I didn't get picked for this but there was a good group that got picked to go up on stage...including this gentleman:





As the last part of the show started where the washboards were handed out, dad was given a washboard to play. Of course I had to take a picture of it…LOL!!!



Another funny part of the night was before we left, the one waiter (not the one we had) decided that mom needed to wear all of the straw papers on her head...Once again, I had to take a picture...Any way to embarrass my parents.



There are some great waiters and waitresses at HDDR...There was one that every time I was taking a picture and he was walking by, he made a face to get in the shot or photobomb.

Since it was the Christmas holiday, the troupe sang Christmas carols at the end of the show.



The show was over and we made our way out of the hall…stuffed!!! We made our way back to the camper and got to relax a little bit more before going to sleep. We all decided that we would do HDDR again. The food was good and the show was amazing.

 

[1Grumpy9]

First Round of EPCOT (for some reason I don't have many pictures from this morning)

Today was our first of 2 days at EPCOT. We got up and had breakfast at the camper before heading out to the bus stop. We get to the Outpost and we got our bus to EPCOT. The plan for today was to split from mom and dad and we just wonder around EPCOT. Mom and dad had reservations for Rose and Crown at 12:45 as part of the Candlelight Processional dinner package. Our first stop was to purchase tickets. We got in line and we bought our tickets. I ended up with Goofy on my card (which doesn’t bother me at all). We then headed towards the entrance. We got some PP pictures out in front.





Our first stop was going to be Spaceship Earth, but the wait time was 45 mins long and for that ride it is too long to wait. So we moved on to another favorite of mine, Journey into Imagination. There was no line (as usual), so we walked in. As we were getting ready to sit down, a CM points at Stephanie’s shirt and says, “Hershey Bears…OMG, I have been to their games.” As we walked on to the ride, she was talking to us. After the ride it was close to mom and dad’s reservation time, so we said we would meet up with them after lunch. We went over to Sunshine Seasons for lunch. We decided to split the pork chop and mashed potatoes. I was watching the line for Soarin’ and the wait time was between 60 and 70 mins. We decided to not wait that long. Our next thought was going to be Living With the Land, but that wait time was almost 30 mins. So we left The Land Pavilion and moved over to the Seas. The wait time for The Seas with Nemo was only 20 mins (which was just the walk through the que line). We eventually found Nemo and brought him back to Marlin and Dory. We also looked around the aquariums and then decided to look at the shop to see if there was anything we might like…No nothing. Our next adventure was going into the Character Spot. The line was only 5 mins, so it was a go for us to head on in. We visited with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy and we headed out the door. We did the pictures together, so we decided we would be back to get individual pictures.

Our first meeting was with the big cheese himself...



Then it was on to Goofy...



Lastly it was Minnie...She was just too cute... (although I felt like a giant next to her...as you will see with our later pictures...Minnie was even shorter...I think she had to shrink even more to get into her house)...



We then decided to head into World Showcase. There was a PP photographer right at the entrance to WS, so we stopped for a few pictures.



We decided to go the opposite way of our normal route...



We made our way into Mexico and the line for the Gran Fiesta Tour was only 5 mins, so we got in line and soon we were headed into a tour of Mexico. After Donald was found we made our way out of the cool, Mexican pavilion towards Norway and Germany. Since we didn’t get to go on Malestrom in February we decided to take the shot at going on. The posted wait time was 20 mins…not bad considering the wait time for Ana and Elsa was 3 hrs at this point and time. We fought off the Vikings and Trolls through Norway and we then strolled through China’s gift shop and then made our way towards Germany where we were meeting up with mom and dad. While waiting for them, we got our favorite snack...Chocolate and caramel covered Pineapple and we sat down to eat it.



I love sitting in the Germany pavilion...reminds me of being in Germany and how much I miss it and want to go back.








After we finished our wonderful snacks we met up with my parents and walked towards the American Garden Theatre. They were getting in line for the 4pm show and we were continuing around the world. We decided to stop at the American Adventure since neither of us had done the show. I am so glad we did. We caught the Voices of Liberty and they were amazing.





After going through American History it was time to pick-a-pearl. We walked over towards Japan. Waved to mom and dad in line and made a bee line for Mitsukoshi. We paid for our pearl, and looked at both of the tanks. It was hard to look as it was very crowded of people watching. We both eyed up our oyster and waited for our numbers to be called. We both picked a 7 1/4 pearl and picked this cage afterwards:



I will leave you at our purchase and in suspense on where we go next (or what we eat next)...

 

[1Grumpy9]

I left you off at we had just picked up our pearls in Japan. When we were picking out our cages for our pearls, we saw an amazing setting for 2 pearls. We decided that we would do that again on Christmas Eve when we were coming back for CP. We said one last good bye to mom and dad and we continued around WS.

We were getting a little hungry, so we stopped at France for a snack and dessert. We split the ham and cheese croissant and I got the Neapolitan. We then went to get ice cream. I got the Mango sorbet and I forget what Stephanie got. We both LOVED it and we cannot wait to go back.





We also stopped for some PP pictures.





I also snapped a picture along the way...




We finished our way around the world and we went to see what the wait time was for Spaceship Earth. But first we stopped for a fun PP picture with the tree.




I love the way Spaceship Earth is lit up at night...





Luckily it was only 5 mins, so we hopped in line and made our way through Spaceship Earth.

I'll stop here...as a fun part of the day was about to happen...

 

[1Grumpy9]

EPCOT Round 1 Part 3

We arrived back from the past, I still hadn’t heard from mom and dad saying they were done, so we went back over to the Character Spot. As we were getting ready to head in, our CM from Imagination was there helping out. We stood there talking to her and reminiscing about hockey and we both realized that we were probably in the same places hanging out after the hockey games. We finally went into the Character Spot (there was only 1 other family in front of us) and we got our individual pictures with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy.

Up first was the big cheese himself...Stephanie went first...



When she was completed, I went up to meet Mickey...



Once we were done chatting with Mickey, we moved over to Goofy. The family in front of us was quite a large group and they had a lot of pictures taken with the characters, so while we were waiting for Goofy we were bopping to the music...Well, Stephanie didn't notice that the family was done and Goofy decided to join in on the dance party...





When the dance party was done, Stephanie got her picture with Goofy...



It was then my turn. Goofy made a big deal about my birthday button...





Once we were done Goofing around, we moved on to Minnie...Minnie needs to start eating her wheaties or something...I mentioned that earlier in the day I thought we looked like giants next to Minnie, well...this was even worse...





I have a cousin that is only 5' tall and when we were completed with the pictures, I texted her and told her we found the perfect job for her...jokingly of course.

We finished up with part of the fab 5, I noticed mom had texted me saying that they were done with Candlelight Processional and were sitting by the boat launch that goes to Morocco with a spot for Illuminations. We arrived to them having a good spot on the wall. We took a seat and waited. Now, it was getting a little chilly (we didn't bring sweatshirts that day, so now that the sun had set it was cooling down. Stephanie wanted to go back to Mexico to get a blanket for a friend. Mom wanted to go with her, so I stayed back with dad to save our spot. When they came back I noticed mom was carrying a bag also. She bought a blanket too. This was bringing back flashbacks for me as when we were in High School and performed at EPCOT, it got chilly, so most of the parents that were along on the trip bought the old style blankets that were in Mexico. I had to chuckle. They also had cups in their hands...Mom bought dad and I some Joffery's coffee. They had a special of peppermint mocha. All I can say was it was AMAZING. Not exactly AMAZING enough for the price...but it was AMAZING!! We laid out our blanket and waited.

Illuminations started so I tried to get some decent pictures...





















It was a good spot for watching as we only had a couple of spots that were blocked. Illuminations finished we gathered up our blankets and we and we made our way out of the park to the bus stop.



We finally made it back to the camper around 11pm and we were tired, so it was off to dreamland...Tomorrow was another big day to have a WILD experience...Where do we go...

 

[KelleyK75]

Just found your TR and joining in.

First, I LOVE that you were listening to Bryan White! I have been a fan since he first started out (Eugene You Genuis!), and used to go to shows all of the time! Recently I haven't been to any concerts at all, but I still keep up with him and what's going on.

I love that you are sharing your Christmas time experiences. I hope to one day make it there for Christmas! And I haven't ever been to Fort Wilderness, so that's fun to see, too.

It looks like you are having a lot of fun so far!

 

[amberg93]

How kind of the guy to help you out like that. I can't even imagine how stressful it must be for anyone to back into a space with a camper. I have enough problems with a van

HDDR looks so fun! Sometime I need to get there, but I'm just always too worried about the price *sigh*

Epcot mornings are the best, although yours seems super busy. Oh well, better to just hang out in Epcot. Besides, Nemo is a nice way to start the day

As for Stephanie's ice cream in France, it looks identical to mine from October, so I'd guess that it was the mint chocolate. And I'd guess it was delicious too

Once again, you took awesome advantage of the PP photographers and got so many great pictures! It makes me happy we went ahead and bought MM for our trip next week.

 

[1Grumpy9]

How kind of the guy to help you out like that. I can't even imagine how stressful it must be for anyone to back into a space with a camper. I have enough problems with a van

HDDR looks so fun! Sometime I need to get there, but I'm just always too worried about the price *sigh*

Epcot mornings are the best, although yours seems super busy. Oh well, better to just hang out in Epcot. Besides, Nemo is a nice way to start the day

As for Stephanie's ice cream in France, it looks identical to mine from October, so I'd guess that it was the mint chocolate. And I'd guess it was delicious too

Once again, you took awesome advantage of the PP photographers and got so many great pictures! It makes me happy we went ahead and bought MM for our trip next week.

Normally, dad doesn't have too much of a problem backing the camper in, but the help certainly was welcomed.

We were worried about the price, but we just chalked it up to it was Christmas. I can say it is worth the price...the food was amazing and the entertainment was awesome too. We don't do a lot of the sit down meals when we are at WDW, so this trip was a treat to do some of them. Most of our meals are at CS, that is just our style.

PP we took complete advantage of almost every photographer available. Once we were home and I started editing, I ended up with over 1000 pictures. I took full advantage to the editing online and almost every option was done with the pictures. We figured since we paid so much for it, we might as well get our monies worth.

 

[1Grumpy9]

Once again we got up around 8:30 and got our showers and had breakfast at the camper. This is the first trip to WDW that we weren’t at rope drops every day, but FW kind of makes you slow down and relax a little. We arrive at the bus station and only had to wait about 5 mins for the bus to arrive and we were off to explore the wilderness. The original plan for this day was to drive over to AK and then at 4:30 leave and head to downtown Orlando for a Solarbears game play the Greenville Roadwarriors. . That plan changed two days before our trip as a player on Greenville (who I REALLY wanted to see) got “loaned” to the Bakersfield team. So we decided to take Disney buses as we didn’t need to leave to head to downtown. We arrive and the crowd was really manageable. We went straight for the KS. The wait time was listed as 30 mins, but it really wasn’t only about 15 mins. There were a group of teenage boys in front of us that were keeping us entertained as they were as annoyed with some people as we were. They were very respectful boys, but funny at the same time. We rounded the last corner and the CM asked us how many in our party and we said 4. We were put in the 2nd row of the car and we were off to the Savanah. We got to see lots of animals on this safari, so it was good to get pictures. This was the first time mom and dad had been on KS since their first trip to AK about 2000.













This was my favorite part of the safari…the Giraffes. They were out and active.





We got really close to the one…

He was showing us his funny side





After some fun with the giraffe, it was time to move on to other animals (and more giraffes).

















Apparently the Lion didn’t want his picture taken either this day…





I will stop there…there are more animals to see on the safari and other things to explore…Like a Yeti…

 

[1Grumpy9]

After seeing Pride Rock, we moved on to other animals…





After we came back from our safari we wondered over to conquer Everest and maybe find the Yeti.



We did stop for a picture and Tink decided she needed a resting place…I guess our hands were the best place…





We then made our way over towards Everest and we got a picture before



The wait time was 25 mins, so we knew it was only going to get worse during the day, so we got in line. We were put in about the middle of the car and we were off.

This was my parents first time on Everest…how did they like it…I think the picture says it all.



Everest was fun and after we got off, we had to make a stop because dad wasn’t feeling the greatest. Mom decided that they were just going to head back to the camper and relax until dad felt better. Stephanie and I wanted to go find a dinosaur and bring him back with us so we hopped in line for Dinosaur. The wait time was posted at 30 mins. That isn’t a bad wait time, so we hopped in line. We made it through the first room and then into the prep room where we were told which dino we were going to rescue and how to get there. Once we got our safety speech we were moved into the hallway where it got really tight with all the people. Once we got moving, we were doing fine until, we were stuck again on the steps heading down towards our time rover (2nd time stuck on stairs). I looked at Stephanie and said, “well, I guess this is going to be the theme of our trip…LOL.” Once we found the dino we brought him back safe and sound and we were deciding on what we wanted to do next.



I am holding on to my button because we were bouncing around so much that I was afraid it was going to come off.
I got a text from mom that dad was feeling better and they were still in Dinoland, so we met up with them and told them we were headed to Nemo. They decided to slowly walk out of the park and head back to the camper. We caught the Nemo show and it was pretty full so we were sitting up near the top of the theatre, which was fine. I didn’t get any pictures from the show as this time I just wanted to enjoy it instead of looking at it through a camera lens. After the show, we made our way towards Discovery Island. We had some 100 Acre friends to find. We made our way to one of our favorite character spots as there is usually not a long line because it is hidden pretty well. We head down to see Pooh and Tigger. We did the same thing with these two as we did at EPCOT the day before, we did us two together and then later on we did individuals. Both of them were dressed up in the holiday gear (which was absolutely adorable). Up first was Pooh.



He made the motion about my birthday button and gave us a big hug. Once we were done with Pooh we moved over to Tigger. We had to wait for the family in front of us and I guess we both had our arms crossed in front of us, so once Tigger noticed we had our arms that way, he needed to do the same thing. So we got our picture like that…



Then he gave us a big hug and squeezed us tight.





After leaving our friends at the 100 acre woods we went over to Festival of the Lion King. This is one of my favorite shows, so we got in line and waited for the theatre to empty out from the previous show. We got in and were sitting in the Lion section. This show has to be one of, if not the best show on property
.






















As always the show was amazing…we made our way out of the theatre and we made our way out to the parade route. I will stop here as I have some great pictures from the Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade.

 

[LindseyLou2222]

Great pics! I can't wait to try the HDDR one of these trips! It looks like so much fun.

 

[1Grumpy9]

Great pics! I can't wait to try the HDDR one of these trips! It looks like so much fun.

HDDR was definitely spur of the moment and we were lucky to get the reservation. It was expensive, but I would do it again...It is just something you would have to plan to spend a little bit more money on, but it was worth the money.

One tip...don't eat lunch that day!!! You will have enough food during that dinner that you won't want to eat anything prior that day. If our loop wasn't so far away from HDDR, we probably would have just walked back to the camper to walk off what we had just ate!!

 

[1Grumpy9]

We noticed that right at the corner at Pizzafarri there was an open spot that we could stand. This is now my new favorite place to watch and photograph the parade as it is a clear shot at the characters and floats.


































We followed the end of the parade out and we made our way back over to the 100 acre woods and we needed another visit with our friends. The first stop was to find a Christmas hat for Stephanie. We found the cutest one and she bought it to wear for her pictures with our friends in the 100 acre woods. There were about 5 families in front of us and when we got up to the front it was time for Pooh and Tigger to have his honey break, so we waited for them to come back. There were big hugs during this visit…

Up first Pooh…





Then Tigger…





We said our goodbyes to our friends and started working out way out of the park…but first we had to do some shopping (I mean we are girls that like to shop…LOL). After finding things, nothing jumped out at us and we didn’t buy anything. We made our way out of the park and back to the camper. On our way out, we got some more PP pictures…

We found our wild side…



…and an alien…



This has to be my favorite picture from the trip…



Of course we couldn’t get a picture in front of the Christmas tree without Stitch showing up…



I got a message from my cousin that she and her husband were not coming up from Sarasota and we were kind of on our own for dinner. We decided to go to DTD for the evening. We decided to drive down there (BIG MISTAKE). It took about an hour to find a spot for the truck. DTD was so busy that you could barely walk around. Stephanie wanted to see if she could find her step dad a shirt from the Harley store, then we were going to go into the World of Disney, but it was so crowded we could barely get in the door. Then it was time for our favorite snack at DTD…Ghirardelli. We ordered milkshakes and started walking back to the truck (it was past La Nouba). We made got back to the truck and went to the camper.

 

[1Grumpy9]

A Hollywood Kind of Day with lots of pixie dust sprinkled in

Today was a different kind of day…Stephanie and I went to HS while mom and dad just hung around the camper and explored FW and WL. After our normal quick breakfast of English muffins and coffee, we headed to get the bus. We got on the bus to HS and in no time we were at the front gate ready to explore Hollywood. HS was busy this day so we just walked down Hollywood BLVD to this frightening sight.





This was our first ride of the day and it was a 40 min wait, but we knew it was only going to get worse so we got in line.



We survived the Hollywood hotel and ToT. We walked over towards RnRC and the posted time was 90 mins. Since HS still had the legacy FP we got a FP for later in the afternoon (1:30pm). We then went over to Star Tours. I have not rode this ride (I am not a huge SW fan), we got in line and it was only 25 mins to wait. I thought it was a fun ride…a little short for the wait. I don’t know if I would do it again (not being a fan and all). After Star Tours we decided to go see Muppets. We both love Muppets 3D, so it is a must for us. The theatre was pretty full when we were in there, but we still got a decent seat. Once we left there, I needed a drink, so we found a soda card back by Studio Catering and I went to buy lemonade. The CM asked me if I would like an ice cream. I told him no thank you (I wanted to have something a little more substantial for lunch than ice cream), he then said, well then the drink is on us for your birthday. This was my first in-park pixie dust moment of the trip. While we were in the area, we also needed a bathroom break. We took turns that way our bags weren’t on the floor of the bathroom and someone could be with them all the time. We made our way over towards the GMR. The line was a little bit longer than what we normally see for that ride, but we decided why not. We then got in line for the GMR and since we were a group of two we were moved to the front of the weaving line (although we might have been better staying in the regular line). We traveled through old Hollywood and we battled off the gangsters and we followed the yellow brick road.



















After going through movie history, you can’t go to DHS without going through One Man’s Dream. We had a little time before the movie started, so we looked more closely at the models of the different parks around the world (Tokyo and Shanghai). I love all parts of this attraction, especially the movie. I cry every time and this time was no exception. It was close to our FP time for RnRC, so we headed over towards there. We walked into the studio and we were on our way to a wonderful concert.



We decided it was time for some lunch. We noticed that Min and Bill’s was open. Sounds like a perfect opportunity to have a hot dog in a pretzel roll. Most of the time on this trip, we shared lunches, but not on this one. We both ordered the same thing…hot dog in a pretzel roll. This came with chips. We both noticed the frozen lemonade you could get with a shot of alcohol. If was a beautiful day out (hot for December), so we decided on adding the shot of cherry vodka into it. Stephanie ordered hers and was waiting while I was ordering my food. We both noticed the specialty milkshake that they were offering was mint chocolate. Another guest had ordered it and it was pink (kind of unusual), but we thought we might pick one up later in the day. As I am waiting for my food, the CM that took my order got my drink for me. Then another CM brought another drink out to my tray. The cashier said not to worry about it that it was a mistake and take both (I considered that another Pixie-Dust moment). We found a table and started eating. They are soooo good. The only complaint I have is that I am not a HUGE fan of Dijon mustard and all of my mustard was at the bottom of the roll, so it was a little too much for me. We were sitting there enjoying our meal when the cashier CM came over with two little soufflé cups towards us. He had heard us talk about the milk shakes and he made us two little cups to try them before we bought them. We thanked him for them and we tried it. They were as good as they sounded. Unfortunately, we didn't get back over there to get a full sized one. Here is where this day turned a little weird for us. We were finishing up our meals and sitting enjoying the day when this lady sat at the table across from us with 3 young kids. She had to run to the rest room and didn't want to carry her bag and leave her food. She asked if we would watch her bag. We said it wouldn't be a problem. She started to leave and the two girls didn't want to go with her. She then looks at us and asked if we could watch them until she returned. She said that we looked like normal ladies and wouldn't do anything (apparently our normal isn't the same as other people’s normal). She was a school psychologist and could tell we were normal. We sat there with the two girls, who were shy at first but then we got them to talk about their trip and what they had done during the day. Their mom returned from the rest room and she was grateful that someone could watch the girls since they didn't want to go with her. After our babysitting duties were over, we wanted to see when the next Beauty and the Beast show would be. As we made our way onto Hollywood Blvd, some of the streetmosphere people were out, so we stopped to watch them for a little bit. We finally made our way over to the theater and had to wait about 5 mins for the next show. We walked in got a seat on the left side 3rd row.





















I need to stop here as I am almost at my photo limit…

 

[1Grumpy9]

Where did I leave you off yet…oh that’s right…The party was just starting in the Beasts castle…





































It was close to 4pm and we knew we didn’t want to leave that area because we wanted to get into the first show of Fantasmic! We also decided that we needed ice cream. We stopped to get a drink and I wanted a soda since I had much soda all week. I decided on a Fanta Orange. I figured I would take it in to Fantasmic, so I ordered the large. As I was pulling out my money the CM said to me it was on the house because it was my birthday. I thanked her and then Stephanie went to order her drink. She started pulling out her money and the CM said, that because she was with me, hers was free also. We thanked her again and we went towards Hollywood Scoops. There was a little bit of a line, so we waited and we both got a bowl of ice cream (we really should have split instead of each getting one because they were huge).
After we were finished we waited for them to open up to go into Fantasmic! I noticed that they were letting guests in and we decided to go in and see if we could find a decent seat. We walked over past center and noticed a row that had the end open about 5 or 6 rows from the top.

Let’s stop here as there are lots of pictures from Fantasmic to come!!

 

[1Grumpy9]

We sat down and were chatting with each other. There was a family behind us from Michigan and we started talking to them. We chatted about our Glow With The Show ears and other things. The show started and we had really good seats.

















The only bad part is when the princesses came around to us; the lights on their floats were usually off.









Then the evil queen showed up to spoil the party…







Maleficent showed up too…




Mickey saved the day by stopping the dragon and the fire it started…















After the show, we decided to wait for most of the crowd to dissipate, and that is when things went horribly wrong. We felt a couple of drops of rain hit us, but then it stopped. The family behind us brought umbrellas, but they put them back away because it had stopped. When the crowd finally was mostly out of the theatre, we were getting ready to leave when the downpour hit. We walked out with our new friends under their umbrellas (well, my camera and Glow with the Show ears were under, I was not). By the time we got out of the theatre it had stopped raining, I was soaked. My shirt and shoes were drenched. I wanted to stay for the Osborne Lights, but I cannot stand walking with wet socks and shoes on. Stephanie went with our new friends to see the lights and I went to find a dry shirt. I stopped at the store on Hollywood Blvd to pick up a shirt. I had seen a shirt earlier that looked like a ugly Christmas sweater with mickey on it. I finally found my size and paid for it. The CM was nice enough to cut the tags off of it for me and offered me the changing room to put it on. I told her thank you, but I was going over to the ladies room to get some papertowels to dry off a little more. I made it to the ladies room, changed shirts (put my wet shirt in my bag along with my ears) and started out towards the buses. Since everyone was leaving at that time, the buses were packed, so I waited it out on the bench for a little bit. I got this picture of the tree before I left…



Stephanie was on her way out from the Osborne Lights and we took the bus back to the camper together. We got back to the camper, changed and went right to bed…I did hang up my wet shirt and put my sneakers out to dry…did that happen…