If You’re Screaming that Means You’re Still Alive!” Updated x4 3/12!-The End!

[scottny]

Great updates and pics.

Nice Olaf pic.

 

[missangelalexis]

OMG So somehow I missed commenting on your last set of updates haha

How cool that you got to draw Olaf!! Yours came out great!

Love the Chrismas mug!

Such cute pics with Belle and Alice! Minus the creepy iphone moment, how does that even happen!

YAY for a dismeet with Rob

Just followed you on IG, I can't wait to hear about the race!!

 

[JessM]

Belle's detached floating hand is just freaky!!! Good luck with the half.

Thank you! And yes the floating hand is super eerie!

Wow - your running outfits are super cute - great idea to do that. I am so impressed that you are running two races. Granted, I only run when chased so I am impressed with anyone that enjoys/is good at running.

That picture of Belle is definitely creepy - it's like your iphone stitched together 2 pictures and the cutoff point was right where her hand was for the first pic

That's great that Rob noticed you and called out to you and you had a nice spur of the moment DISmeet!

Thank you! I loved how they came out! And spoiler alert, they held up great!

I'm one of those weirdos who actually likes to run

Super eerie! I've never seen my phone do that!

I'm so happy he saw me! It was a wonderful first DISmeet!

Ugh, never fun when you go too long without eating and start to feel sick! Glad you had your ADR to rely on! All your character pics are so cute!!

The Candleight Processional looks so nice! It must have been so cool having Sigourney Weaver as the narrator!

Ah love all your pics of the lights! One day I will be there to see them myself! When I went last January I JUST missed them.

Ahh its the worst, and it always seems to happen to me once a trip, I just get too distracted! The characters made it all better, they were all wonderful!

Its a fabulous show! I highly recommend it, its so festive and magical!

You have to go at Christmas sometime! It's SO magical!

Good luck with your race!!!

Great updates!

I love your photos of the YC Christmas decorations -- they put them up shortly after we left, so we missed out. The village is so cool --- we are slowly building one, but we just don't have room!!

SAI lunch looks good -- I love avocado, so those tacos look pretty perfect.

Fun DIS meet!!

And that Belle photo is crazy!!!

Aww that's a bummer, they were fabulous over at the YC! I can understand, villages take up so much space. I have all of my houses crammed onto a sofa table.

Me too, its my absolute favorite and yes those tacos were perfect!

That photo is super creepy, I need to stop looking at it, its weirding me out but I can't help it

 

[JessM]

YOU ARE IN DISNEY RIGHT NOW. WHAT WHAT. That's awesome. I've been stalking all the merchandise from the Expo and I want everything. It's almost motivating me to start running...almost.

Haha we also were the first ones in the Animation building over Thanksgiving. Hehe whoops.

Ahh your Olaf looks amazing! I really really hope I can draw him at some point. He's one of my favorite characters ever.

I got that mug with hot chocolate, it's so adorable.

We have a Cinderella Castle for our Christmas village, but that's it since they are pretty pricey.

I really wish I could have seen the Beach Club gingerbread carousel! Your pictures are great!

Oh my gosh...what happened in that photo?! Regardless, I'm really loving the signed Vinylmation. It looks so cool.

AHH ROB IN THE NO DANCING SHIRT! So awesome that you guys got to meet!

You totally should start running! RunDisney events were my motivation and it totally exceeded my expectations! Everything at the expo was so cute, I almost went broke

We will start a trend, everyone will start running there instead of TSM

Thank you! He was super fun to draw, and so doable. He's the only one I have hung up in my office.

I used it all the time at home, definitely worth the purchase!

Oooh I'm so jealous of your village Castle! That must look so cool!

Thank you! The carousel might have been my favorite of all the deluxe resorts we toured, it was so cool that it worked!

I love my vinylmation, he's on my desk at work, I love being able to see all the signatures all the time.

So happy I ran into him!

I'm sorry that I'm soooooo late to the party! But I just read through your whole TR!! - and I LOVED every bit of it! Seeing all of your pics of WDW at Christmastime, gahhh! Totally awesome and making me super excited for our next trip! It sounds like you and your parents had such a magical time.

And yay for being in Disney RIGHT NOW!! I hope your race went well! I can't wait to hear about it! And I can't wait to hear when you are going back... if you decide to do the Wine & Dine half marathon, that's when we'll be there!

Welcome! And thank you so much I've really enjoyed writing it!

WDW at Christmas is the absolute best! You guys will have an amazing time!

Eventually I will get to my trip report from this past trip! I had such a wonderful time and it was SO magical and fun! I want to do Wine and Dine SO bad! Registration opens soon so I need to decide asap.

Great updates and pics.

Nice Olaf pic.

Thank you!

I loved drawing Olaf so much fun!

OMG So somehow I missed commenting on your last set of updates haha

How cool that you got to draw Olaf!! Yours came out great!

Love the Chrismas mug!

Such cute pics with Belle and Alice! Minus the creepy iphone moment, how does that even happen!

YAY for a dismeet with Rob

Just followed you on IG, I can't wait to hear about the race!!

Thank you! I loved drawing Olaf, I've got him hung up in my office!

So cute and so worth the money, I used it so much in December!

Belle and Alice were both so adorable, I'm so glad I got to meet them!

So fun to meet Rob, I felt like I met a celebrity or something haha.

I can't wait to share about the race! It was so magical, I loved every second of it!

 

[JessM]

I'm Home!

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates. I've been home since last Tuesday (really early Wednesday) and I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to update!

My Mom and I had a magical trip and I can't wait to share it with all of you. The Glass Slipper Challenge exceeded my expectations and I had the most magical and fabulous two races EVER!

For now here's a picture at the finish line with all my bling!

​

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

YAY and CONGRATULATIONS!!!! WOW look at all that shiny bling. Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

wow - that is a lot of bling ... you are like the Micheal Phelps of Disney races - I see a Subway add in your future

Congrats - well done!

 

[emmysmommy]

Welcome back!! What a great photo of you and your medals. You are one of few people on the DisBoards who have accomplished such a challenge AND looked so adorable while doing it. Glad to hear you had a great trip!

 

[scottny]

Congrats! on the races.

 

[JessM]

YAY and CONGRATULATIONS!!!! WOW look at all that shiny bling. Can't wait to hear all about it!

Thanks Rob! Hopefully it will be soon before I forget everything

wow - that is a lot of bling ... you are like the Micheal Phelps of Disney races - I see a Subway add in your future

Congrats - well done!

Haha thank you! And I wish! But I agree all that bling makes you feel like a superstar

Welcome back!! What a great photo of you and your medals. You are one of few people on the DisBoards who have accomplished such a challenge AND looked so adorable while doing it. Glad to hear you had a great trip!

Aww thank you Brenda! I was actually shocked how not disheveled I looked at the end of it

Congrats! on the races.

Thank you!

 

[JessM]

Wish Upon a Star

After a quick break at POP we grabbed a bus to the MK!
I’m sorry I don’t have a ton of pictures of all of this but we had the most magical entrance!

As we were walking thru Town Square we noticed they had set up the Christmas Tree finally. A few CMs had guests gathered around to do the Tree Lighting Ceremony. They had one of those big light switches out like they do at the Osborne Lights for a lucky guest to flip!

We watched from the sidelines until the light got flipped because I wanted to catch the castle lighting but it was very cool!

We hurried down Main St to catch the castle lighting, we made it just in time!

The Fairy Godmother was out with Cinderella to turn the Castle lights on. It’s a short little ceremony and I honestly don’t remember all the details but it was great!

When they finally turn the lights on they “swirl” on up the castle. I tried to capture it on video but it didn’t come out very good : (

But it was so cool to see I loved it! I don’t know if I would go out of my way to see the ceremony but if you are in the area I highly recommend stopping to watch!

After the ceremony I wanted to ride Splash before it got too chilly so we headed over there. It was down… again! So we grabbed some FPs and hoped it would open up later. We also grabbed some FPs for BTMRR (I had old room keys my Dad and I were using for thrill rides, I’m a terrible person I know! And we were using our tickets for rides the 3 of us all wanted to do)
We decided we might as well have dinner while we were waiting so we ate at Pecos Bills. I had the pulled pork again, it was ok nothing special.

After dinner we rode BTMRR with our FPs, it was a fabulous ride per usual.
When we came out Splash Mountain had just re-opened!

Now we had the dessert party coming up soon but I really wanted to ride. I didn’t really think about not being able to get over there with the parade going so my Dad and I headed up the FP line to his objection.

I knew Splash was going to be closed in February and I just really wanted to get on it.

Some blurry ride photos

I really hate the drop part of Splash mountain but I LOVE the animatronics and the music, its fabulous!

It’s always so quiet and peaceful back here at night.

We had a fantastic ride on Splash but I could tell my Dad was stressing that we weren’t already over to the dessert party. They refill everything so you don’t need to be there right on time.

Anyways, we set off to get to the dessert party, I’m not sure why but my Dad led us over to liberty square where the bridge was already closed, so we walked all the way around to get to Tomorrowland and the Dessert Party. He was rushing over there and ended up with a pretty sore knee at the end of our journey.

I felt REALLY bad because I was the one that wanted to ride Splash, but at the same time we didn’t need to rush over, we got to the dessert party at 8:10, the parade was just starting to go by the hub so we definitely could have slowed down and not worried about it so much. But ANYWAYS

Pretty Castle

We filled up on more desserts and soon enough it was CTM time!
I took a few pictures but they were terrible so yeah…

Moving right along!

It was then time for Wishes!

Tinkerbelle!

After Wishes finished up my Dad decided to go home and take it easy so that hopefully his knee would feel better the next day. My Mom and I decided to stay in the MK for some EMH!

First we headed over and took a spin on the people mover.

Next we headed over to Storybook Circus.

I have a confession to make…

I had never ridden Dumbo before.

Crazy I know

But it seemed like the perfect night to put an end to that since I don’t think we could get my Dad on Dumbo.

There was no wait we just had to wait for the cycle ahead of us to finish.

Dumbo selfie!

I have to say it was a fun little ride and the new lighting and water are gorgeous at night!

Next we headed over and stopped to go Under the Sea with Ariel!
My Mom’s favorite Disney movie is the Little Mermaid so of course we had to stop, and it was a walk on!

I didn’t take any more pictures. I think I was in total take it all in mode!
After swimming under the sea we headed over to Gaston’s Travern! I really wanted to try Lefou’s brew!

I love hanging out with just my Mom because when I was deciding if I wanted to souvenir cup she was like “its only an extra 5 bucks and you get a cup!” My Dad totally would have said the opposite, “you don’t need that 5 dollar cup” haha.

Not gonna lie we were a little afraid to give my Dad the receipts from our last trip… oops.

Verdict on Lefou’s Brew?

I liked it, my Mom didn’t. It was a little sweet but it was pretty tasty. Loved that it was frozen!

It was nearing time for the second parade so we walked over to Liberty Square to enjoy our Lefou’s brew with a parade view!
I didn’t take any more parade pictures, but I will tell you it was fabulous as always!

Since we were right next to the HM when the parade finished we headed over there next, I think now it was officially EMH if I remember correctly!

I think the stretching room is my favorite part.

It just give me chills “Welcome foolish mortals to the Haunted Mansion”
Ahhh I just love it!

I’ve been eying the HM merchandise but I haven’t bought anything yet. I am pretty pumped the attraction seems to have been revived a bit, its such a fabulous attraction its nice to see it getting some love!

I need to get a phone case with her on it *love*

After the HM we walked over and rode BTMRR again, of course. My Mom’s absolute favorite.

I would have stayed longer but my Mom was pooped and ready to head back. She was staying in my room even though she was on my Dad’s reservation so she couldn’t get into the room without me so I headed out too.

One more castle picture.

Normally I want to cry when I leave the MK for the last time in a trip but I knew I’d be back soon so it made it MUCH easier!

Bye perfect Main Street!

The train station, holds such a special place in my heart. It’s just beautiful sitting there in Town Square, just perfect!

Once again to my Mom’s dismay we saw the day change on the bus.
We headed to bed after packing our stuff up, we only had one more day in Disney!​

 

[JessM]

Having a Wild Last Day!
Tuesday December 10th, 2013

We woke up bright and early the next morning. We got everything all packed up and headed over to the food court for some breakfast.

Before taking off I bought a few things at Everything POP and admired the beautiful tree in the lobby one more time.

We were off to one of my favorite parks, the Animal Kingdom!

We parked in the parking lot, taking no note as to where we parked (I’ll revisit this later) and quickly headed towards the entrance.

While thank you I plan on it : )

I honestly don’t know if we were there before the park opened or not. We were close if we didn’t make it quite in time.

We headed over to Africa to do the safari first thing!

We didn’t wait long, just a slow shuffle through the queue.

The Disney details

We were off on our safari before we knew it!

Feel free to skip over the animal pics

Rhino and a tourist

Bongos

Just look at those lazy hippos

The giraffes are my favorite!

Posin’

The Rhinos are just beautiful

We got to the lions and this is where I got super excited.

See the lion up in the rocks?! I have never seen them up in there before!

Male lion!

This I thought was awesome, look at that Lioness up there on the very top! How did she even get up there?!? Plus I didn’t realize there were more than 2 lions.

The zebras, demoted back to the grass lands because they can’t be nice to each other.

The new deer? Antelope? I forget which in the old zebra area.

Overall we had a great safari, we saw almost every animal except for the female elephants which I thought was really weird because you always see a bunch of them out normally. They must have not been out yet or their area goes back there farther than I think and you just couldn’t see them.
Next up was the Pangani Trail.

I absolutely love the AK walking trails, they are normally pretty peaceful and beautiful. Its so nice to view animals at your own pace.

This baby Okapi was the cutest

Beautiful fish

I actually like to grab one of the bird spotting guides and take my time in the bird area trying to find all of them. I think the different kinds of birds are too cool.

Keep Scrolling!​

 

[JessM]

The One with the Trip Report Title Reveal

There was actually one lone little meerkat out.

The gorillas : )

They are such beautiful creatures. I just love watching them.

We didn’t see any hippos but *spoiler alert* our Feb trip totally made up for the that! Overall we had a great little walk!

But it was time to move on to something more thrilling.

A couple pictures walking over…

Our destination was looming in the distance and I could tell my Mom was already starting to get nervous.

Everest was looking lovely this morning. I was so excited to ride, Everest is just fabulous! My Mom not so much. She tolerates it but its little too intense for her liking.

The one good thing about my Mom is that she tends to forget how much she hates things haha. So she agreed to ride with us.

Once we walked thru the queue is was basically a walk on. I also think my Dad and I grabbed FPs for later. We also had FP+s to use too.

We got up to the front of the line and they put my Mom and I in the front row! I was pumped. My Mom not so much. My Dad wanted to switch and go in the front but there was no way I was turning a front row seat down and my Mom wanted to ride with me so in we got.

I just love this view!

I think what my Mom hates most about Everest is that tall fast lift hill. She started freaking out immediately. What goes up must come down!

I thought she was going to hyperventilate when we were waiting here. She was just waiting for her second least favorite part… going backwards.

I was of course laughing at her and being no help, pointing out that Epcot is way over there!

Soon enough we were sent down the mountain. I must say I really love this ride in the front! It was awesome!

My Mom however, disagreed…

Haha I love this ride photo.

Once we got off my Dad was like “there was an awful lot of screaming going on in that front seat.” To which my Mom replied “Well at least if you are screaming you know you are still alive!”

I burst out laughing, she said it so seriously. Like screaming is the only thing that keeps were from thinking she’s dead on a ride.

I had too much fun riding in the front seat on that ride with my terrified mother, it was great!

After though my Mom felt like she needed a little bit of a break so we headed over to Dinoland

My Dad and I actually enjoy Primeval Hurl so we headed there next and my Mom went to sit down and calm her nerves.

I know this area is tacky but I do kind of like it

I love all the cheesy signs, they crack me up

We survived the ride with only a few bruises and headed over towards Dinosaur

As I think I’ve mentioned before I have a love hate relationship for this ride.

It definitely freaks me out a bit but I love the ride vehicle technology and the background story.

T-Rex butt

How cool would it be if the Dino Institute actually exists and you could time travel?

I also love the preshow to this ride. Its almost a bummer when there’s no line and they will send you in when the show is half over.

Bahahaha to the faces captured here.

After the screaming episode on Everest my Dad tried to pretend we weren’t with him…

Our ride photo.

Next up I wanted to meet a couple Disney dogs who were set to appear in just a few minutes so I hoped in line while my parents got some ice cream… too much screaming this morning apparently.

Stay Tuned!​

 

[I_Luv_Stitch]

Woooo, well done on completing both your races, loving the bling
Love the story behind your TR title, it's good logic your mum has there!

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm so glad to hear your recent trip was wonderful, you look great with all your medals! Congrats!

I don't blame you for wanting to get on Splash!

You got a great pic of Tink flying!

Never ridden Dumbo?! AHH, well glad you finally took a spin on it!

Sounds like you and your mom had a great evening together!

love the TR title reveal!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

I actually would recommend seeing the Castle lighting at least once. I love how the sections light up individually and then BAM, gorgeousness. I only wish I had never seen the Castle already lit before having seen the ceremony because, WOW, THAT would really be something.

What... Splash was Down???? I don't believe it!!!

Ahhh, there's something even more special about your CTM and Wishes photos because I was watching the very same thing at the very same time!!

Don't feel bad at all. I took a ridiculously small amont of photos that night. Just like you, I was just "in the moment" all night finishing off what was arguably my favourite Disney day EVER.
And if it's any consolation (and I'm certain it is) I was there until the very end. Ahh I can't wait to get to this day in my TR.

Is it wrong that I want a giraffe??? But I do.

AHHHHH FRONT ROW EVEREST!!!!!! It's the only coaster worth waiting for the front in my opinion (other than Sheikra at Busch Gardens). Just

Haha, first kudos for getting your TR title from the very last day!! And also, truer words have not been spoken.

Yup, Dinoland is totally tacky, but also totally on purpose so that makes it all ok.

 

[JessM]

Woooo, well done on completing both your races, loving the bling
Love the story behind your TR title, it's good logic your mum has there!

Thank you! I'm not gonna lie I'm totally in love with the bling. I'm having the worst time deciding how to display them!

Haha my Mom is too funny when it comes to thrill rides, she's so much fun to ride with!

I'm so glad to hear your recent trip was wonderful, you look great with all your medals! Congrats!

I don't blame you for wanting to get on Splash!

You got a great pic of Tink flying!

Never ridden Dumbo?! AHH, well glad you finally took a spin on it!

Sounds like you and your mom had a great evening together!

love the TR title reveal!

Thank you! I can't wait to start that trip report!

Poor Splash is always down but it's SO fantastic.

Thank you! I've been trying to get that shot for YEARS.

I know right? My parents never wanted to wait for it when I was little, deprived childhood really

It was nice to get a taste of what our girls trip would be like!

Haha my Mom is too funny on thrill rides, I love it.

I actually would recommend seeing the Castle lighting at least once. I love how the sections light up individually and then BAM, gorgeousness. I only wish I had never seen the Castle already lit before having seen the ceremony because, WOW, THAT would really be something.

What... Splash was Down???? I don't believe it!!!

Ahhh, there's something even more special about your CTM and Wishes photos because I was watching the very same thing at the very same time!!

Don't feel bad at all. I took a ridiculously small amont of photos that night. Just like you, I was just "in the moment" all night finishing off what was arguably my favourite Disney day EVER.
And if it's any consolation (and I'm certain it is) I was there until the very end. Ahh I can't wait to get to this day in my TR.

Is it wrong that I want a giraffe??? But I do.

AHHHHH FRONT ROW EVEREST!!!!!! It's the only coaster worth waiting for the front in my opinion (other than Sheikra at Busch Gardens). Just

Haha, first kudos for getting your TR title from the very last day!! And also, truer words have not been spoken.

Yup, Dinoland is totally tacky, but also totally on purpose so that makes it all ok.

You have a point there, if you had never seen the castle lit that ceremony would be even more amazing! I'm really glad we stopped to watch, it was awesome!

Haha poor Splash, always struggling.

I can't believe I didn't run into you at some point that night! And Rob watching Wishes, no way

Favorite Disney Day ever?? I can't wait to hear all about it!

Ahh the Giraffes are so awesome, I kinda want one too.

It was awesome! Almost like a completely different ride, I loved it!

The moment that came out of her mouth I was like trip report title done

Super tacky but I love it anyways!

 

[JessM]

Lazy Tigers and a Show!

Goofy and Pluto appeared 5 mins after I got inline and the line grew like crazy once people saw them.

Good tip: Always show up at least 5 mins before the next character set to cut down on your wait time.

Soon enough it was our turn to meet them!

They looked so cute in their Christmas stuff.

It was a bit of a struggle but Goofy managed to sign my vinylmation.

They were both super energetic and really happy to see us. Goofy is my Mom’s favorite so it was great to meet them!

After my Dad and I rode Everest twice with our FPs, the ride was fabulous both times! I would have happily ridden more because there wasn't a line but my Dad was starting to look a little green so we moved on!

Next up was the Marajarah Jungle Trek!

The Kimono Dragon was actually out and about and moving! I’ll admit that he is very cool but I would not want to cross him in the wild.

My Dad and I looked in the bat area while my Mom ran through the chicken way. These bats were climbing all over the place! Pretty impressive since they were upside down.

I really love all the details on this trail. It’s so beautiful and quiet back in there most of the time.

We got to the tiger area and once again they were sleeping. I’ve never seen the tigers at Disney do anything but sleep.

I’m not completely convinced they are even real, they are always in the same spot haha.

They do look pretty cute and snuggly though.

The Flags <3>3>3

We continued onto the bird section and spent quite a bit of time in here. For it being the afternoon there was lots of activity going on in here.

After emerging from the Marajarah Jungle Trek we decided to head over towards Camp Mickey Minnie to see the next Lion King show! We wanted to make sure we checked it out before it moved over to Africa!

We were seated in the Lion Section!

The show was fabulous per usual, the dancers, the singers and the tumble monkeys are just phenomenal.

After the Lion King let out we had a FP to go meet Mickey and Minnie in their adorable Christmas outfits so we headed over there next!

There was an adorable little girl behind us in line that was super chatty. She was chatting up the little girl infront of her about what characters they had seen, autographs they had gotten and who they wanted to see next. It was so adorable, some future character hunters in the making!

Soon enough we were let into the room to meet the mice themselves.
There was a super funny and awesome gentleman from Japan ahead of us. He had Mickey and Minnie pose so many different ways, got character selfies, it was so funny and cute to watch. He was so excited.

He kept apologizing for taking so long but we were just like you came a LONG way, take all the time you want!

When it was finally our turn, Minnie and Mickey were so worth the wait. They both LOVED my vinylmation and Minnie was so excited to see my mickey Christmas earrings.

Group picture!

I apparently bend down with some characters too haha.

Overall this was a great meet and greet but I’m definitely glad we used a FP+ on this because it is a slow moving line. Dinosaur was a walk on so we used our other FPs on Everest and the Safari, it worked out great!
Next up we had FPs to do the Safari again so we headed over that way. I don’t think I had ever done an afternoon Safari before so I was excited.

We boarded our vehicle in no time and we were off to Harambe wildlife reserve.

I don’t have many notes on this safari because I got distracted soon after departing, more on that in the next update!

I did take a few pictures, crocs.

I love the giraffes

The Elephants were back out!

Rhinos!

Overall it was a great Safari and we saw a ton of animals. Not quite as many as the morning but it was still a great ride!​

 

[JessM]

Officially Stuck in Disney!

So we got off the Safari and I pulled my parents off to the side over near those Gorilla viewing areas to tell them the news…

My Mom and I’s plane out of Orlando was delayed 3 hours, we’d never made our connection in Baltimore…

We definitely didn’t want to spend the night in Baltimore so I called Southwest to see what they could do. We ended up getting re-booked for a 7am flight out of MCO. We’d make it back to Maine around 11:30 so I could at least work half a day (I live and work 5 mins from the airport).

So that taken care of we had to decide where to stay for the night. I voted on going back to POP and just getting one room for the night but my Dad didn’t want to sleep in a full bed with my Mom, which is funny because they just upgraded to a queen at home like 2 years ago. In retrospect my Mom and I should have just shared.

But my parents had stayed off site for one night in April at the Buena Vista Suites so my Dad booked a room over there so we’d have some extra room and queen beds. I was bummed because if we had stayed on site I could have bussed back to the hotel alone but I wasn’t footing the room so my vote didn’t really matter haha.

After finished up our logistics we talked about what to do next. After the safari we were planning on heading to the airport but since we no longer needed to do that we had some extra time available.

I wanted to stick around for Mickey’s Jingle Jungle parade since we’d never seen either version. My Mom agreed so we staked out a spot near the exit across from the big gift shop.

Soon enough the parade began!

This picture makes me giggle.

These all came out really dark but I did the best I could!

I really enjoyed all the floats/puppets?!

I really loved how many families got to ride in the parade, that was very cool

My favorite munks!

So adorable with their little backpacks

Minnie’s car was fabulous look at those eyelashes

The “Goofy” family

All the parade dancers were great, they had so much energy!

Donald’s truck was awesome

I loved Pluto’s Christmas bone hat!

Overall I really enjoyed the parade. I’m sad to hear the Jammin Jungle version may be going away for good. I’m really glad we stayed to watch it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it!

One last tree picture and we were off to find the car to go check into the new hotel!

We wandered the parking lot for a good ten minutes looking for our car. We hadn’t take the car much that week so none of us really knew what it looked like and apparently no one paid attention to where we parked that morning.
My Dad is normally all over those types of things so my Mom and I just follow blindly haha.

Eventually we found the car and we loaded up to head over to the hotel!​

 

[JessM]

Solo night in Hollywood

We headed over and checked into the hotel without incident. I did not like being outside the Disney bubble though, I don’t know if offsite could be for me.

We checked in and got everything laid out for our early wake up call before heading out again.

My Dad wanted to go see the Candlelight Processional again and I really wanted to go see the Osborne lights again.

We decided to go park in the overflow lot at the Boardwalk so that we could each go our separate ways but have a convenient place to meet afterwards.
I grabbed a Friendship boat and booked it over to DHS! I was hoping to catch the 6pm drawing class but I didn’t get to DHS until 6:15 so I headed over to the Animation building to catch the 6:30pm class.

I don’t know if it was just the particular night but the class was maybe a quarter full. They run them until half an hour before park closing (I think) so it may be worth it to head over there later in the evening if it’s busy mid morning.

I had the same animator as when I drew Elsa so I was nervous who he was going to pick!

He ended up choosing Mike from Monster’s Inc which worked for me! He was super easy and other than his lip I’m happy with how he came out!

After the class I was tempted to go back around again but I was hungry and wanted to get some food before all the counter service places shut down for the night!

I headed over towards the eatery by the Indiana Jones show because there was literally no one over there. I ordered some buffalo chicken nuggets and scarfed them down.

These were surprisingly delicious. I love all things buffalo but it’s not available many places in Disney so I felt like I was having a withdrawal being there all week with no buffalo chicken tenders, wraps, pizza, quesedillas or wings so I was so happy to eat these!

I know, I know first world problems.

After dinner I started to head towards the lights but I was distracted by the non-existent wait at Star Tours. My mom isn’t a huge fan so we had skipped this on our DHS days but I like the ride so I decided to check it out.

The ride was pretty much a walk on. I saw pretty much because some poor guy lost his phone in our ship so we spent some time looking for it before departing.

I don’t remember much about the sequence but it was fun as always!
Next up was my beautiful Osborne lights!

I stopped for a picture of the fabulous muppet fountain before heading over.
Ready for more Osborne Lights pictures?

I had a solid half an hour before park closing so I just wandered slowly and took it all in.

I was so happy to get one more night to enjoy these beauties.

About 5 mins before park closing I tore myself away from the beauty of the lights and hurried to get in line for one last ride of the trip.

Any guesses?

Yes TSM!

I couldn’t leave without riding one more time. Even getting in line 2 mins before park close I waited around 40mins. I was surprised they were letting fps in until 20mins past park close.

Can I just get some of these for my future child’s playroom someday?
Eventually it was my turn to ride.

The wait wasn’t bad but there was a very annoying family in front of us. You know the type that the Mom barks orders at the Dad the whole time and doesn’t help with the restless children at ALL. I was happy to get away from them.

It was a great ride and I achieved a new high score!

And Best in Vehicle!

I stopped for a snack at sweet spells before heading out.

My Mom texted me when I was on TSM asking where I was. I told her I had waited for TSM and she said she knew it haha.

I’m definitely predictable.

I tried to soak up every last bit of ambiance before heading out.

Bye DHS!

The line for the Friendship boats was super long with no boat in sight so I decided to walk back to the Boardwalk since my folks had already left Epcot and were waiting for me.

I found them being entertained by a juggler so I didn’t feel so bad about making them wait.

We jumped in the car and headed out after that, it was going to be an early morning!

Travel Day
Wednesday December 11th 2014


We got up and got going with plenty of time the next morning. My Dad hates using GPS and I thought he knew how to get back to the airport so I wasn’t paying attention on the way to the airport.

We ended up getting quite lost and got to the airport super late. I felt bad my mom and I basically jumped out of the car and ran in without thanking my Dad for the ride.. oops.

We made it with a few minutes to spare but it was nerve wracking!
Soon enough we were back home in Maine.

There was even a fresh coat of snow to welcome us home.​