We're back. I am happy to report we saw everything we wanted to that we missed on our first trip. The castle lighting was really nice, although we both found it odd that it just kind of ended suddenly. Everyone liked the mini show presented on the side of IASW (thanks for the tip, Bret). Ice skating on Olaf's rink was fun.
They did not have skates smaller than size 10, so Connor who wears size 7 could not go. That meant my husband could not go either. Xander did go but gave up quickly. I had been skating a while when a cast member approached me and asked where my helmet was. Good question. I looked around and noticed EVERYONE had one on. Why didn't they give me one? They did give one to my son, but I just assumed kids had to wear them and never realized I had to. Although I did not need mine (as I never fell), there was a fully grown lady who needed hers. I guess it is good everyone wears them. Most people could not ice skate very well. This lady was skating in the middle with a little girl who could not skate very well. When the little girl fell, she brought the adult down with her. The adult hit her head very hard. Luckily, she had the helmet on. At first, I thought she was crying, but I realized she was laughing. I was relieved.
Viva Navidad and the parade associated were a lot of fun. I wish we had more time to spend back there. Our trip was short, so we did not even have time to sample any food. The music was lively and played non stop. Character lines were a little unorganized. The cast member informed us the long line was for the three Caballeros. After standing in it a while, we were informed they were not coming out until later. We did make it back to see them though. I saw statues of the Three Kings but was hoping to see more. If it was back there, we just ran out of time to explore.
Service at Ariel's Grotto was very slow. My husband was irritated that we arrived only four minutes prior to our reservation (so not overly early) but kept seeing many people who arrived after us being seated. If we had been seated earlier though, I would have missed my conservation with Terry Crews' wife, who also arrived quite a bit after us but were seated first. No one complained about that though. Everyone was excited to see him. The lobby was buzzing. His whole family was very nice. The food was good, and our server was very nice.
My youngest forced me to wait in a 60 minute line to ride TSMM and a 40 minute line to ride the Jingle Cruise. On the bright side, I did finally get to see the decorations on the second floor (since we skipped the line by utilizing the Holiday Tour last time). The decorations were understated though and not worth the added wait in my opinion.
The parks were busier than I expected but were mostly manageable. We opted to skip seeing Mickey this time, because the line was longer than I have ever seen it (way past the garden). The last time it was in the garden, we waited well over the 30 minute posted time, so I am guessing they always advertise it as 30 minutes when the line gets long. It was a great time to go, and the weather was fantastic.
I was disappointed that Finding Nemo was down when we checked on 01/04/14 and 01/05/14. We were hoping to ride it before the scheduled rehab on 01/06/14, but they obviously started the rehab early. We also stupidly forgot to bring our Disney Chase card. My husband never carries his, because he prefers to use a different card (and likes a thin wallet). I leave my wallet at home on vacation and just have him carry my DL and one CC on case we separate. I cannot believe I did not think to grab the Disney one. We learned the hard way that the special picture line will not let you get a picture unless you have the actual card on you (even if you offer to pull up the account information online). We messed up.
Seriously, I hope I am imagining that because a sequel at this point would be ridiculous. Who would even be in it? And who would these characters be? The great grandchildren of George Bailey? That is a situation where they need to leave well enough alone.
). We had a lot of fun. It was busier than last year as we had to go later in December this time, and the FP enforcement meant we cut our days short rather than go back for nighttime rides, but it was still manageable. I don't think it would feel like Christmas if we didn't do Disney, so I am already starting to plan for Xmas 2014 - year 5!
I think I actually saw this one before I saw the original.
I can't thank you enough Sherry E for creating these Holiday threads that allowed us to greatly improve our visits. It is sad to see 2013 come to an end, but I am excited to plan for 2014. I created an InstaFlip for my IASW 2013 pics , I hope it plays well on this forum. 
-I'm just a dork, ha ha. Actually, I felt sure that I had viewed everything thru Friday, so I started with 1/4, but apparently I was wrong. Glad to be corrected, otherwise I would have missed out!
