IT`S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE...COCKTAILS, STEAKS AND CAKES..11 JOLLY HOLIDAY NIGHTS @ RPR-DEC 2019

[schumigirl]

Merry Christmas! to Carole and family and all my fellow thread followers!

Thank you Maria, lovely sentiment........to your family too.......

Merry Christmas, have a wonderful day

 

[Zosha]

Merry Christmas Carol and family, from down under - where Xmas is nearly over! Look forward to reading more!

 

[keishashadow]

It’s a tribute to Carole what a lovely little thread she has created, Happy Holidays all.

 

[Dynamoliz]

Merry Christmas Carole, Tom & Kyle. I hope you have a lovely Christmas season full of family fun.

 

[schumigirl]

Merry Christmas Carol and family, from down under - where Xmas is nearly over! Look forward to reading more!

Thank you Zosha …..we had a lovely time....and hope your Christmas was wonderful too....and I hope you are nowhere near those dreadful and devastating fires over there right now. The pictures being shown are terrifying.....

 

[schumigirl]

It’s a tribute to Carole what a lovely little thread she has created, Happy Holidays all.

Awwww...thank you so much Janet.......

There are some lovely folks post on here.......and yes, hope you had a lovely couple of days too.......

 

[schumigirl]

Merry Christmas Carole, Tom & Kyle. I hope you have a lovely Christmas season full of family fun.

Thank you Dynamoliz….....and best festive wishes back to you and your family too.......

We had a lovely couple of days with friends and immediate family.....it was such a lovely time.......

 

[Tink2Day]

Carole, hope you Tom and Kyle had a wonderful Christmas!
I decided not to take my computer anywhere yesterday and don't have the password for Dis on my phone so that's why I'm late.
Well that and the fact that all of us stayed up til midnight Christmas eve playing games and eating the traditional foods of my State, then getting up
early next morning to get lunch/dinner ready.

 

[schumigirl]

Carole, hope you Tom and Kyle had a wonderful Christmas!
I decided not to take my computer anywhere yesterday and don't have the password for Dis on my phone so that's why I'm late.
Well that and the fact that all of us stayed up til midnight Christmas eve playing games and eating the traditional foods of my State, then getting up
early next morning to get lunch/dinner ready.

We did thank you so much......and sounds like you had a fabulous time too, happy to hear that! I’m curious what your traditional foods are that are enjoyed over the season??

It does sound like a fun time.......we love playing games too and of course food is a big part of the fun too! I love time without computer/iPads and similar.......glad you had such a lovely time though. It’s over so quickly though......

 

[schumigirl]

With our shopping and snoozes out of the way, Kyle indulged in the flourless chocolate cake we had popped in the fridge from Jake`s before we went out......and it was gone before I could take a picture of it.....of course.....he loves that dessert a lot!!!

Once we were all freshened up we headed out to the boat to head to The Studios....and we were lucky, there was a boat just coming in and we were first on......and so looking forward to seeing the Parade and the Castle night show tonight...….

We had a fun Captain heading in to Citywalk tonight...….and although the journey is short the Christmas music and an enthusiastic Capt made it a fun journey......

Of course the décor for the Holidays begins even before you enter the parks and certainly the first photo op for the night of holiday snaps....

We all had hoodies on, or at least carried them as we were worried it would cool down later like it had last year, it had gotten very cool watching the Parade last year, although the forecast did look positive, and right now it was very warm, we were taking no chances.....

Once through the gates, Tom and Kyle went straight on the Minions....I gave it a pass as I think it sucks now, so I went on an early tree hunt. I did plan to do the Christmas Tree scavenge, but not tonight. They came off the ride completely underwhelmed declaring it a one and done which is a shame as we used to love this little ride.

We turned to go to RRR and although we have EP, the line for that was huge tonight......I can`t remember exactly the time but it was too long for us to wait, maybe 40-50 minutes from memory.....we could ride it anytime another day, so we headed back from the entrance and headed to where we wanted to watch the parade from.

We stood where we had stood last couple of visits, to the side of Macy`s and with the Christmas tree in front of us......and we did notice tonight it was busy!!! Although it was a Saturday and we didn't expect anything less, but it was so much busier than the last two years had been at the same time in December.

As we found our spot just 5 minutes before the parade began, we didn't have long to wait for the parade to start. We had a young family beside us, one in a rather large stroller which annoyed the family to our other side.....why I`m not sure as a child was in it......but they felt a little embarrassed I guess and the dad moved the stroller out of the way eventually. As they moved the stroller more folks moved in so they had kind of lost their place and were now behind us.....I told the mother she could put her daughter in front of us if she liked, so she thanked us in very broken English. So, we had a little one for company tonight......

And it started...…..

It was probably a little light for the full effect of the glitz and glamour f the parade, but it is still beautiful to see and the TM in the parade are excellent at interacting with the waiting crowds which is so good to see.....

Gotta love a minion or two...…..and Gru was as usual absolutely fabulous......and this is the one float the little girl in front of us got incredibly excited about seeing...….she was actually squealing...…so funny!!!

I`m a real sucker for fake snow scenes (not overly fond of real snow) but this was beautiful......

A man to the other side of us thought the words were RIP Santa, not Find Santa......lol.....

So pretty now the lights were taking over the darkness as natural daylight slowly dispersed......

There is something slightly disconcerting about seeing a giant gingerbread man floating high above you held by string!!!!

Thankfully it remained warm as we watched the passing floats and was incredibly pleasant tonight.

With Donkey en route, we knew another old favourite Shrek wasn`t far away.......there is such a lovely atmosphere watching the parade. I`m not really a parade fan as such, but this one I love.

And an even larger Donkey which did look a little loose at one point, but they guys holding the ropes did a good job in holding it together....



More coming up.......

 

[schumigirl]

And of course the one person and float everyone is waiting on is heading this way and soon we`d see him and he`d be lighting the tree when he did arrive...…..

As a fan of Christmas Trees I particularly loved this part....and who doesn`t love seeing Father Christmas......no matter your age!!

And the main man himself appears in all his splendour before too long to a huge cheer as he is propelled along the route towards the beautiful tree waiting to be lit for the waiting crowds...

And with a short countdown, he magically lights the tree from above his sleigh........we and everyone around us loved it and as expected he got a massive cheer!

There`s something about the atmosphere, the snow, Father Christmas and all the lights that always makes me quite teary.....and this is where my son always gives me a little hug.....he knows what I`m like for soppiness......and of course him being here adds to that!

And this is where we really felt the crowds...….wow it was busy!!!

The parade is a huge success. It really is something special to see and shouldn`t be missed if you around the hotels or parks......they put so much effort into it and seeing the happy faces of the folks who are holding the balloons is lovely. The whole atmosphere is just festive and fun.

Kyle wanted to do RRR so I said they should go ahead and I`d stay here and grab some pictures and just enjoy the atmosphere for a while....I loved this feeling of Christmas and had plenty of time to do the ride, although, I do like doing RRR in the dark too.....but for now I was happy just wandering around....

The moon was crystal clear tonight, but sadly it doesn't appear as clear in the pictures as it looked in real life......

The little Christmas store was busy, probably busier than I have ever seen it.....I guess the atmosphere had reached a lot of folks too and wanted to purchase a little bit of Christmas.....

We don't really eat Counter Service food in the parks, but we had liked the look of the new updated menu in Monsters Cafe.....it`s never been a place we have enjoyed except for wandering around for picture opportunities but the food has never tempted us at all. And we do prefer table service anyway. It did look like somewhere we may try in the future and Kyle might enjoy the bbq chicken pizza. But not tonight. We didn`t even manage it this trip. Studios have a few places we won`t eat in and this is one of them, the others being Mel`s Diner, Richter Burger and now of course we have knocked Louie`s off our list as our last experience was a pizza that is seriously lacking from previous years quality.

We met up after they came off the ride and slowly wandered towards the exit, stopping of course in the store to look at a few things and get a picture by the stores tree....not the biggest tree, but still a tree......a few minutes before this picture we had bought Kyle a new lanyard as he didn`t have one for some reason......so we got him a Spider-Man one.....it did the trick. We do like lanyards in the parks as they are so convenient.....and we never even notice we are wearing them. I usually put mine on in the morning too going up to the lounge as I can operate the elevator too as the room key scans through the plastic......so, yes, we are definitely lanyard people.

We head out of the park now and walk over to IOA where we plan to do a few rides and see the Castle Christmas light show later...….and it`s still hot!!

 

[J'aime Paris]

Beautiful photos as always!

I did the Christmas tree scavenger hunt, it was so much fun! Which was your favorite tree?

 

[Disney Ron]

Thanks for this great trip report, schumi. You have a lovely family and I really appreciate the pictures of the lobby renovations at RPR since we will be staying there in August. Thanks for making us more excited than we already were.

 

[schumigirl]

Beautiful photos as always!

I did the Christmas tree scavenger hunt, it was so much fun! Which was your favorite tree?

Thanks Lori.......

I liked most of them actually, probably the one in the Universal Islands Trading store, the superhero one and the MiB ones I liked the most.......I hate Hello Kitty so didn‘t like that one lol.......I hate pink! Didn’t like Betty Boop either! Loved the Grinch one too......lol......honestly.....I’m a tree addict!!

What was your favourite and what ornament did you get........I got the two eyed minion.....then a TM at the hotel gave me the one eyed minion.....they sit together on one of our trees.........

 

[schumigirl]

Thanks for this great trip report, schumi. You have a lovely family and I really appreciate the pictures of the lobby renovations at RPR since we will be staying there in August. Thanks for making us more excited than we already were.

Awww thanks so much Ron.......I quite like my family and think they’re amazing!! Guess I’m biased though......

I‘m so glad you liked the pictures and hope you enjoy the rest of the report......and also hope you like the renovations. The refurb seem to split people somehow.......

 

[J'aime Paris]

They were all so pretty, it's tough to choose a favorite!
I liked the Mummy and Grinch ones a lot. I guess my least favorite would be the Jurassic theme tree.

I did the Scavenger hunt twice, so I ended up with both minions.
(A TM saw me admiring a tree, and offered the tree hunt map. I said I'd done it in one day, and she said it was fine to start all over again.)

 

[Tink2Day]

We did thank you so much......and sounds like you had a fabulous time too, happy to hear that! I’m curious what your traditional foods are that are enjoyed over the season??

It does sound like a fun time.......we love playing games too and of course food is a big part of the fun too! I love time without computer/iPads and similar.......glad you had such a lovely time though. It’s over so quickly though......

Thank YOU!
Tamales, Posole with pork and red chile, chile Con Queso, Guacamole (which is pronounced Walk-a-mole in our 50% Hispanic State just as Guadalajara is pronounced Wa-da- la-hara in Spanish. It drives us nuts when pronounced Gwak a mole ) flour tortillas, cheese enchiladas with green Chile and pinto beans. I do the Guacamole with tortilla chips as long as it's not too hot, the rest is just too hot for me. We didn't have them this year but I love either Fry Bread or Sopapillas, our cuisine with the Native American and Hispanic influences is very special. My family background is Irish and here in the US they all came from the South but we are in a SW state, so we have Mexican food for Christmas eve...... Blackeyed Peas for good luck on New Year's Eve.....(don't like those either)

Universal seems much prettier this year with the decorations? Seems that way so far. Is that the same demented looking Gingerbread Man from last year? The parade overall was so pretty.

I just noticed, Kyle was 'sans' glasses in the pictures??

 

[Raeven]

That tree is so cute!

With Donkey en route, we knew another old favourite Shrek wasn`t far away.......there is such a lovely atmosphere watching the parade. I`m not really a parade fan as such, but this one I love.

I love the Shrek section of the parade too, and the snow! I love the pictures from the location you watched from we've only seen it from the Hollywood area.

 

[disneyAndi14]

The parade looks really cheery. Such a Christmas atmosphere.
I love the giant gingerbread man from Shrek!
I think the menu sounds good at Monsters Cafe, we love looking around in there but have never tried any food there. Maybe one day...

 

[Worfiedoodles]

Thank you for all the gorgeous parade photos! I have to ask, what has happened to the Minions ride? It already didn't do a ton, does it not move at all now?

I would so be feeling the Christmas spirit after the parade, I would absolutely want a little souvenir! All of the food places you've mentioned that don't appeal to you, I have the same opinion. Actually, I'm hard pressed to name a counter service place in US I would choose to eat -- but we are definitely trying Confisco at IOA on our upcoming trip!

Maria