So, our arrival day should have us rested and relaxed. An easy afternoon flight, a leisure check-in hopefully to a refurbed room, collecting buttons, and wandering of the resort.
Bags unpacked, counter service dinner at Everything Pop, maybe some arcade games and off for souvenir shopping and room snackies at
Walmart. Maybe I should look into a Pop fridge swap. Am I too late for November?

Adding that to my list.
The next morning is our first park day. Each vacation weve gone to the same park first. I wasnt trying to start a tradition or anything, its just what I automatically defaulted to each time it was time to start planning. Of course, Im talking about
..
Day One
MAGIC KINGDOM
Park Hours: 9am 7pm
This is a pretty big day for us, so Im breaking it down into two updates. This is the day weve bought tickets for Mickeys Very Merry Christmas Party!

I found a whole plethora of information for the party, so Ill cover that in my next update.
If you read my last TR, you just might remember that my family are not really morning people. Weve never been to a single rope drop or seen an opening show. We much prefer to sleep in and take our time easing into our days.

We also dont really care for breakfast first thing in the morning, so the perfect time for us for breakfast ADRs is 10:00am.
When my ADR booking window was approaching, I asked the kids what one single meal they wanted to have for this trip. Unanimously it was Ohana.
Weve been to Ohana every trip. Its definitely our families favorite. Yummy juice, beautiful surroundings, fabulous memories and great food. The look of joy on Arianas face as shes marching with maracas in the parade with Lilo and Stitch to the tune of one of her favorite Disney songs is absolutely priceless. Alex has always thought Stitch is pretty cool and he loves the Poly.
Demetri loves to pretend to be a puppy when its Plutos turn to visit and Pluto never fails to have fun with him.
So, on our first MK day, we have a 10:00am Ohana breakfast scheduled. Woo-hoo! After breakfast well check out all the Polynesian has to offer for Christmas decorations and do some more wandering. I also want to familiarize myself with where Captain Cooks is for something later in the trip.

Then its off to the monorail and over to Magic Kingdom.
Our theme for our last trip was the stop and smell the roses if you will kind of mentality. It was all about relaxation and just doing what we wanted to do, whenever. We just ignored the Times Guide, started in Fantasyland and headed towards Tomorrowland going in a circle around the park. In doing this, a lot of things wed wanted to do in Adventureland and Frontierland had finished for the day by the time we made it around. Our second MK day was washed out so there are a lot of firsts for us still to do.
So this year, after we pick up Arianas Guest Assistance Card and stroll down Main Street, my objective is to again start in Fantasyland (Arianas favorite place on the planet Earth) and then head towards Liberty Square circling the park. Demetris favorite ride is Splash Mountain so hell have no objections to getting there much sooner than last year Im sure.
My hodge podge of notes for Magic Kingdom. In no particular order, things weve never done before:
- Have a Dole Whip - still never had one!
- Find the wishing well on the path to the right of the castle.
- Look for Tinkerbell in the keyhole in the sewing drawer next to the door at the front of Tinks shop.
- Go to Tom Sawyer Island never been!
- Find Cinderellas horse on the Carousel. Second horse in with a gold ribbon on its tail.
- Meet Tiana and Naveen, Ariel and Eric, Woody and Jessie.
- Dance at Club 626.
- See Captain Jacks Pirate Tutorial on their new stage.
- Take pictures on the bench w/Goofy in front of City Hall and w/Roy & Minnie in the courtyard.
- Find and listen to the wall mounted telephone next to the cash register in the General Store.
- Ride Jungle Cruise at night!
- Take pictures of Walts two windows and the Disney family coat of arms.
- Ride the Liberty Square Riverboat.
Something else weve never taken advantage of is
PhotoPass. Id like to change that this year, so I found maps of the PhotoPass locations in the parks:
- Main Entrance/Train Station
- Town Square
- Main Street USA
- Castle Hub
- Adventureland (between Swiss Family Treehouse and Jungle Cruise)
- Frontierland (by the Country Bear Jamboree)
- Ariels Grotto (closed)
- Mickeys Toontown Fair (will be closed before I get there)
- Tomorrowland (by the Carousel of Progress)
I really, really, really want the fun PhotoPass pictures. The ones were Baby Simba appears in your arms, or Tink in your hand, or Stitch coming out of the ground, or holding the balloons, and so on. Especially Ariana holding Baby Simba. If youve read my TR, you know the significance of Ariana and Baby Simba.

She wont understand why well want her to hold her arms a certain way and it might be a challenge getting the right shot
.but that one I HAVE to have.
Our lunch will be a late one since we had the mid morning breakfast. Itll be counter service and another first Im hoping to try is upstairs at the Columbia Harbour House. Id really wanted to try it last trip and George almost went for it, but hes a creature of habit sometimes and wanted to go with what he knew he liked at Cosmic Rays.
I also want to make sure to get Kathryn a lanyard and starter pins for pin trading. I think shed have a blast trading for pins and probably will get a competition of some sort going with Alex to see who gets the better ones. Alex usually picks a theme for pins and runs with it, so itll be fun to see what they do.
In amidst all that is the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade, a refurbed Space Mountain to ride and another thing we havent seen yet, the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party. Not to mention, all the MK Christmas decorations to see, but Ill cover that in my
MVMCP update.
Whew! Im tired already and this portion of our day ends at 7pm!
So, what do you think? Any suggestions, hints, tips?