It's 9:15am and we're already off the touring plan!!! Aka: A Very Mickey Christmas!

[cfw213]

Hello all!

We've been back from our trip for a good two months now and I'm missing Disney, so I figured it would be a good time to write my trip report for our December 17-23rd stay at Pop Century! I tend to be wordy when I write so I hope you can stick with me

The tour of this TR says it all - I was a little crazy with the touring plan on this trip! We used Ridemax and for most of the time it was great - I'll note the exception when they occured!

First, I'll introduce the cast!

Me (on the left) & my sister (Jess) on the right. I'm 24, she's 22. This trip was a gift to her for being such a wonderful maid of honor in my October wedding & putting up with all my wedding crap!

Also on the trip was my Momma!

Here she is at Hoop De Doo - the wine in a mason jar was her favorite part of the trip.

Here was our general agenda of the trip -
Saturday, December 17th - Jess flights in from Pittsburgh (where she goes to school), my mom & I flew in from Philadelphia. No park this night, but dinner at 'Ohana.

Sunday, December 18th - Magic Kingdom & Hoop De Doo revue!

Monday, December 19th - Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure

Tuesday, December 20th - Epcot & dinner at Teppan Edo

Wednesday, December 21st - Animal Kingdom, DTD & Wishes dessert party!

Thursday, December 22nd - Hollywood Studios, dinner at 50's Prime Time.

Thursday, December 23rd - Fly home - at least it's time for Christmas!

I have Saturday & Sunday already written..I'll upload them in portions while I continue writing the rest of the days. Hope I can stick with it

I'll keep the links below:

Day 1 - December 17th
Day 1, Part 1 - We're Disney bound!
Day 1, Part 2 - Pineapples, meat & Wishes!
Day 2 - December 18th
Day 2, Part 1 - Our first park day!
Day 2, Part 2 - Magic Kingdom, Continued
Day 2, Part 3 - Dinner with the Angry Can-Can Girl
Day 3 - December 19th
Day 3, Part 1 - Cheating on Mickey
Day 3, Part 2 - Cheating on Mickey, pt 2
Day 3, Part 3 - Cheating on Mickey, pt 3
Day 3, Part 4 - Cheating on Mickey, pt 4
Day 4 - December 20th
Day 4, Part 1 - Future World
Day 4, Part 2 - World Showcase
Day 5 - December 21st
Day 5, Part 1 - Animal Kingdom
Day 5, Part 2 - A relaxing afternoon
Day 5, Part 3 - Wishes dessert party!
Day 6 - December 22nd
Day 6 - Part 1 - Last park day
Days 6 - Part 2 - F! & 50s PTC
Day 6 - Part 3 - Osbourne Lights & heading home!



ETA: I started a PTR for our September trip, check it out here!

 

[mousetravel]

I'm the 1st subber! Yay!

We were there also around the same time as ya'll were. Our dates were Dec 15-21. Can't wait to hear how your trip went!!!

 

[cfw213]

Thank you guys for reading my trip report - if you’re still lurking around - let me know! I’d love to know someone’s actually bothering to read this

Jess stated out really early from Pittsburgh (where she goes to school) - around 5:30 am! I can’t really comment too much on her trip since she was alone - but she arrived in Disney by 10:30am - before my mom & I even left for the airport. She left her luggage for the DME & took the bus to the hotel. Upon arrival, she could check in already... We were a bit worried since the hotel was in my name, not hers. However, she didn’t realize that she wouldn’t get her baggage for a few hours. We were placed in the 80s building in Pop Century - we had to walk through the Rubix cube to get to our room. I had requested to be close to the bus, because I know how huge the value resorts are. They are definitely super close to the 80s building - we would request it again. It’s also close to the Classic Hall, we just didn’t realize it at first!

Hmm, apparently I didn’t take any pictures at the hotel!

Jess explored the hotel and relaxed by the “computer pool” until her bags arrived.

Meanwhile, back in New Jersey...my mom picked me up around 11:30, since I live closer to the airport. She had picked up some bagels which we ate in the car. After saying goodbye to my furbaby:

We were off! Since it was a Saturday, we arrived at the Philadelphia airport in about 20 minutes and we parked in the long-term parking lot, waited in the cold for a bus to the terminal, checked in & boarded shortly. Our flight was due to take off around 1:30, but we sat...and sat...and sat on the runway forever! By the time we landed in Orlando, we were half an hour late - already behind on my strict schedule! We picked up our baggage so we could change before dinner & boarded the Magical Express. We didn’t wait too long, and it was 6:30 by the time we got to our hotel. Since Jess had already checked in we didn’t have to bother with that and we took the very LONG way to our room. We later found the “shortcut” to the dining hall, but not until the next day!

After we checked in, we quickly changed and left for dinner. First we took the bus to the Magic Kingdom (not a long wait), and then boarded a monorail to the Grand Floridian. Side note: We had really good luck with the busses. There was only once or twice we had to wait more than 10 minutes.

We wandered around the Grand Floridian - SUCH a beautiful hotel, I would love to stay there someday! We walked around and took lots of pictures of the beautiful tree and, of course, the gingerbread house!

As gingerbread aficionados, Jess & I thought it was particularly amazing.

Next post: our amazing dinner & a few surprises!

 

[cfw213]

Where we last left off, we were at the GF checking out the tree and the gingerbread house, getting ready for our next stop on our mini hotel tour!
It was really warm out, so we decided to walk to the Polynesian from the GF for our reservation at ‘Ohana! On the way we passed Francks (named after the wedding planner in the Father of the Bride - one on my favorite movies of all time!), and the beautiful wedding pavilion.
Pretty old car outside Francks:

I had just gotten married in October so I was still in wedding planner mode. We also walked past the Aloha BBQ on the beach - sounded like fun! We walked by the beach and the pool at The Poly - such a beautiful hotel & I would love to stay there one day!

We checked in for our 8:15 ADR right on time...they gave us a buzzer & we walked to the bar to try and get a drink. The service at the bar was very slow and our buzzer went off before we could get a drink! We were shown to our seat by the window with some yummy coconut bread & by then we were starving. As we waited for our “brother” to show up, we debated on going to Magic Kingdom for EMH that night, since we had an extra day of park hoppers. When our waiter came, Jess & I shared the Lapu Lapu (at $13 a piece, we only had one!) and Mom ordered a glass of wine. When it arrived, the Lapu was delicious!
Jess enjoying the Lapu Lapu - my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

I definitely could have drank more than one. Soon, the food started to come! We first had yummy BBQ chicken wings (very good) and pork dumplings, which are always a favorite. Soon after, we had some delicious pork lo mein, and then the meat started coming! Everything was very good, but my beef was more rare then I like it, and I didn’t like the spice on the pork. The shrimp & chicken were my favorite. I was SO stuffed, we would definitely go back here.
Yummy, so much meat!

As we were eating, the Electrical Water Pageant passed - that was a cool surprise as I’d never seen that before & we were sitting right up against the window. Unfortunately I didn’t have my nice camera because I didn’t wanna carry a large bag, and my little crappy camera sucks at night!

By now it was 9:30 and we wanted to try to catch Wishes! Jess really wanted to try and get to the Magic Kingdom, but I didn’t think we’d have enough time by the time we got out of there & we would miss it on the way. We were going to see Holiday wishes later in the week but we wanted to see “regular” Wishes too. We were debating between watching them in the restaurant or at the beach of the Poly, which I’d heard had a very good view, but you couldn’t hear the music. We decided that since none of us liked bread pudding & we were already stuffed to death, we would skip dessert & watch them on the beach.

I think the server was shocked when we turned down dessert, and then we had some confusion over how to pay the bill on the dining plan! We got it figured out and hustled down to the beach for the fireworks. Although we couldn’t hear the music, it was nice to get a difference perspective on the fireworks without all the crowds. Afterwards, we grabbed the monorail back to Magic Kingdom, and on a bus to Pop Century. We were back by 11:00pm and hit the hay for an early day at Magic Kingdom!

Next chapter - First Park Day: Magic Kingdom

 

[tazdev3225]

Sounds like a good start.

I did stay at the Grand Floridian many years ago and it is a very nice resort. Spirit of Aloha is fun. Did that a couple of times too.

I have never eaten at Ohana for dinner although I did try breakfast there my last trip. I also saw the Electrical Water Pageant that trip.

Looking forward to more.

 

[cfw213]

Sounds like a good start.

I did stay at the Grand Floridian many years ago and it is a very nice resort. Spirit of Aloha is fun. Did that a couple of times too.

I have never eaten at Ohana for dinner although I did try breakfast there my last trip. I also saw the Electrical Water Pageant that trip.

Looking forward to more.

Thanks for following! Looks like we are both from Philly - I work right near Rittenhouse Square

 

[tazdev3225]

Thanks for following! Looks like we are both from Philly - I work right near Rittenhouse Square

I worked in that area many years ago. I live in NE Philly.

 

[cfw213]

I'm changing up my fonts from this post on out!

Day 2 -Part one. Our first day in the parks! I'm updating again today because I'm gearing up for another busy week. I'm a CPA, so I'm very busy this time of year!
---------------------

Sunday was our Magic Kingdom day - Jess’ favorite day of the trip. We got up at 7:30 and had breakfast downstairs in the hotel cafeteria. Jess & I each had a french toast and mom had an omelet. I also purchase my mug this day for free soda refills! We got to the bus stop around 8:45...our hotel was the furthest away from Magic Kingdom so by the time we got there it was about 9:10 and the park had opened at 8:00. Luckily, this was a really low crowd day!

Entering Magic Kingdom:

One of the many reasons I love Disney!

We took some pictures of the tree and decorations, and of course the castle...

I loved all the decorations, especially this one:

As you can see, it was an absolutely gorgeous day! Chilly enough in the morning to wear a light sweater over short sleeves with shorts and flip flops, but warm in the sun. We also got a locker that day to keep some warmer stuff for later, when we go to Hoop! After all of our photo- ops, we made our way over to Splash Mountain to pick up a fast pass for when it warmed up. After that, it was time for our first ride!

We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with a 5 minute wait, and then walked on to the Jungle Cruise.

We then made our way over to Fantasy Land and waited about 15 minutes for it’s a small world. Fantasyland seemed to be the most crowed with all the kids around! This must be why I don’t have many pictures from the rest of the morning...We picked up a Peter Pan fastpass since I’d never ridden the ride and got a “free” fastpass for Mickey’s Philharmagic - one of my favorites! We then headed over to the Haunted Mansion and waited about 10 minutes - we were all able to squeeze into one Doom Buggy. We walked over to Snow White and the wait was 20 minutes - we decided to skip it and check again later.

By then it was a little warmer, so we rode Splash Mountain!

We got to sit in the back and we didn’t get wet. Splash is such a great ride! We waited 5 minutes for Pirates and then headed over to Peco’s Bill for lunch. We all got burgers with fries, and I got a carrot cake for dessert while Mom & Jess got yogurt. Peco’s Bill was a letdown - I wouldn’t go back. The cake was the best part - the burgers were cold and pretty gross, very disappointing.

After lunch we wandered over to Future World and picked up a fast pass for Buzz - I hadn’t ever gone on this ride! We did the Laugh Floor at this point, with the standgard 10-15 min wait until the next show. We walked all the way over to Fantasyland and used our Philharmagic Fastpass -we did a lot of crossing the park to make good use of our passes and to minimize lines! Then it was BACK to Futureworld to get a fastpass for Space - the line was very long at this point because it had broken down for some time....since we were in Futureworld we used our Buzz fastpasses. We all squeezed in one - Jess & I were shooting and mom steered - Jess kicked my butt! Also at some point during this sequence, we stopped to check out the Fantasyland expansion:

It looks soo cool - we’re hoping it’s open for our fall trip!

After Buzz, we were ready for a break and a snack...we knew what our first snack of the trip would be!

Up next: My first parade, and some more MK highlights!

 

[tazdev3225]

I love the decorations for Christmas. My DH and I said we need to try and go back for them again but probably not til next year.

Sorry you had a bad meal at Pecos Bill. That is one of my favorite food stops. I may have been fortunate because I have always had a good meal there and the fixins bar is fabulous. OK I do love mushrooms on my burger and the cheese for my fries so it helps.

I have never had the Mickey ice cream bar. I have been to WDW at least a dozen times and always seem to forget to try them.

I know what it's like to lose at Buzz my DH always seems to beat me.

 

[cfw213]

After our little snack, it was almost time for the parade! In both of my prior “adult” trips to Disney, I had never sat down to watch a parade. I think I would have a hard time doing this if it were hot, but the weather was so nice to just sit and bask in the sun. We got a pretty decent spot in front of the castle (not in the front row, but behind a nice family), and pretty soon it was started! The music was catchy and it was super cute.

We walked over to the Hall of Presidents (another first for me)...the wait was 15+ minutes until the next show so we went to the Christmas store for some shopping. My mom and I both collect Christimas ornaments. I got a silver Mickey with snowflakes and a bell inside. We got our purchases shipped back to the resort - very convenient. We then checked the line for Winnie the Pooh and Snow White - both were longer than we were willing to wait so we decided to do something that wasn’t on our list - the Tiki Room...and we won’t be going back! I was seriously so bored and couldn’t wait to leave.

Then we did Jess’s favorite - the Swiss Family Treehouse, since it was close by.

I was able to get this beautiful picture from the treehouse!

By then it was time to use our Space Mountain fastpass - always a great ride. After that, it was around 6:00 and we had done all of the rides we wanted to do. We still had 2+ hours until our Hoop De Doo dinner and we weren’t sure if we should go back and relax...we thought we would be rushing around too much by the time we got back to Pop and had to come back to MK to get to Hoop. We decided to just kill some time. MVMCP was starting at 7:00 so we had to leave the park. By then the lights on Main St. were on –

We ended up taking the boat to Wilderness Lodge and had a drink in the bar there - such a beautiful place, we would love to stay there someday! Our waitress was also very nice. We were all hungry but we didn't want to snack and ruin our appetite!

Around 7:45, we took the boat again to Fort Wilderness for Hoop Dee Doo!

Next up: Dinner with the angry can-can girl

 

[cfw213]

Where we last left off we had finished our day at MK and were getting ready to head over to Fort Wilderness for Hoop Dee Doo...

We got to Fort Wilderness around 8:00 for the 8:15 show..I think we were the last people to check in! We checked into Hoop de Doo and they took our picture.

We used 2 meal credits each and were seated I section 1 (only available for the 8:15 show)

We were seated to cornbread, and they brought us salads and drinks - unlimited sangria, wine & soda. The sangria was not as sweet as I would have liked, but Jess liked it, and mom loved the wine in mason jars. But OMG the cornbread was amazing!

Soon they started the show (pretty cheese but funny!) and took breaks when we ate our food - they had ribs, fried chicken and baked beans...everything was SO good.

I dream about that fried chicken. During one of the breaks, one of the performers came up to Jess and I and asked us which one of us was a better dancer. I immediately sold her out and the performer said he would come back for her later! She then proceeded to pout for the next 20 minutes and tell me how much she hated me. I felt pretty bad since she hates to be the center of attention.

Eventually, the performer came back for her and she went backstage and put on a CanCan dress- she also had lines to learn! Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of this because I was taking video, but here she is after!

She played her part wonderfully and was back at the table for our dessert - strawberry shortcake, which was heaven - so good!! The show ended by 10:30, and they had busses waiting at Fort Wilderness to take us back to our hotel, which was very convenient. We were back by 11:00 and hit the hay for a busy day at Universal Studios!

Next post: Cheating on Mickey

 

[cfw213]

Hi all! I don't know if anyone is reading, but I'll carry on

Before I post about our December trip - some exciting news: We extended our September trip!! I had originally booked my sister & I in AsM for Sept 16th - Sept 21...we would arrive Sunday and have M, T, Wed, Thu for park days (1 park per day- no hoppers) and fly home Friday.

I decided that since this was the only vacation this year, we should do right. So I changed our ressie to Sept 15-Sept 22, Saturday to Saturday (still at AsM) with 7 day hoppers & water park and more AND free dining again!!

I am beyond excited so I'll be sharing those plans here as well as I continue this TR, and prepare for my next TR to be bigger & better!

Anywho, on with the update:

We last left off on Monday, our USO/IOA day! If you don't like Harry Potter, I give you permission to skip this post

Monday - December 19th
We woke up bright and early on Monday - we were going to Universal Studios today! We knew we had to be there at opening, because we knew The Wizarding World of HP would be crazy! Mom slept in a little bit this morning – she’s not into HP and didn’t want to get up early when we knew we would probably be at the park until close.

We had previously purchased the two-park, one-day ticket with transfer from Mears.

We woke up around 6:45, got dressed and grabbed some granola bars for breakfast. I filled my mug, and we went outside around 7:15am for the pickup and there were two other couples with us. We left right on time and arrived earlier than I expected. They said it would take 30 minutes it barely took us 15! We had some time to kill before they opened up so we walked through CityWalk – Jess was dying for a coffee from Starbucks, but they didn’t open until 8!

So we walked around CityWalk…I thought it was funny that they had a movie theater in the park…

But as it turns out this would come in handy later…we walked to the entranced of IOA and it looked like they had already starting letting people in! So we grabbed a map (we had only been to USO & IOA once about 10 years prior) and moved as quickly as we could to WWOHP!! Jess & I are HUGE Harry Potter fans and we were so so excited to be there. I think I squealed when I got the first glimpse of the castle!

We cut through Suess landing which I LOVED – I’m a big fan of Dr. Suess!

I couldn’t wait to come back. By the time we made it to the castle we saw a wait time of:

Only 30 minutes! I could definitely deal with that, especially since I knew we would want to carefully check out the theming of the interior of the castle.

Jess at the entrance of Hogwarts:

It’s hard to tell in this picture, but the white part is writing that writes and goes away on its own.

The castle was SO beautiful!

We also got a text from mom around this time (probably about 8:15) that she was on her way. In no time we were packing our things away in the lockers and up in the greenhouse.

Then we were entering the castle! I was so impressed with everything I saw. I took tons of pictures!

By far my favorite part of the castle were the talking pictures. I thought they were amazing!

This picture is super crappy! Stupid camera.

By the time we got inside, the line was only moving slowly because people were holding it up. We let people pass us at some points. When we got to the room where Ron, Harry & Hermione are talking, we didn’t have enough of a wait to watch their whole shtick, BUT we did get to see the snow!

In no time, we were in the great hall boarding our broomsticks! I won’t ruin it for those who haven’t been on it but WOW was it amazing! As we got off, I did feel SLIGHT motion sickness, but I thought it was because we didn’t eat yet and I tend to have a sensitive stomach in the morning.

We had talked to mom, who said she was at the front of the park. We knew she would want to come back later and check it out, so we walked towards the front of the park to meet her and heat over to USO for some more rides, but not before taking a few more shots of the castle!

Up next: Cheating on Mickey, Pt 2

ETA: Sorry for the massive pics. I thought I had founder a quicker way to resize on PB, and now it's past my bedtime and I'm not gonna fix them.

 

[cfw213]

I haven't posted an update in nearly two months

I'm sure there are many, many of you who are upset (ha!), so let's get this TR back on a roll!

Where we last left off, we were at IOA/USO and had just finished up with WWOHP...

Sorry for the lack of pictures from this point on…you’ll find out why in a minute!

Since we were in the front of the park, and there was no wait, we decided to ride The Hulk. As a little history, I had recently developed motion sickness. I say “developed” because I used to LOVE roller coasters of any kind. I grew up about 30 minutes away from 6 Flags, Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ, and we would always get season passes and go several times a season.

That summer, I went for the first time in a while with a friend. I road all the crazy coasters, but it was HOT that day and I drank so much water. I got sick in the car on the way home, but I thought it was due to the heat/water (I normally don’t drink a lot throughout the day). I’d been on the Hulk before and figured I’d be fine. BIG MISTAKE!

We stashed our stuff through a locker and walked on in. When we got to a stop (for about a 5 min wait), I considered not going on since I still had a little motion sickness from FJ. I threw caution to the wind and rode anyway. After we got done I didn’t immediately feel really sick, but still had a queasy feeling.

To add fuel to the flame, Spiderman was right there and there was also no wait. Since I knew that was a popular ride that would get busier during the day, we rode that right after. At the part where there is a ‘sensory drop”, the screen totally cut out and the ride stopped! At that point I will say I was very thankful because I was feeling so ill. They of course offered to let us ride again but I said NO WAY and jumped off!

By now I was really not feeling it, but I thought I could walk it off with a little food and drink. We headed over to USO and walked back to Jaws.

There was a 15 minute wait, but I was grateful to be sitting still.

Thank god, a tame ride! I will say that I am a HUGE wimp and my sister makes fun of me all the time. This ride is kind of cheesy but such a classic – I nearly drew blood from my poor mom and screamed louder than most of the kids! Such a great ride.

Next up was Disaster! By now I was REALLY feeling bad and considered going back to Pop. Of course I really didn’t want to do this, because we only had this one day at USO/IOA and I knew I would go back, rest and then regret it once I felt better. I struggled through Disaster and at one point thought I was going to get sick.

After Disaster, it was decided that I would go see a movie (thank god for that movie theater!) and they would ride some rides that I couldn’t do. I sadly walked to the front and saw Chipwrecked (it was starting as soon as I walked up and was short). It was actually pretty cute! There were only two people with me in the theater (a man with a young daughter), and I actually sat near the back and slept a little bit.

Meanwhile, Jess rode Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket (I was really sad to miss this one!) and they also did the Mummy, watched the Blues Brothers…

And Jess got to meet Shrek & Donkey, who said she was pretty!

They went to grab lunch (I forget what it was called – some type of diner type thing). I forgot to mention earlier that we had done the “meal deal” – for $20 we got lunch and dinner at selected QS locations in the park – I didn’t get the value from it but mom & Jess did.

When the movie was over, I joined them for lunch. After I had a soda and some food (which was probably a big part of the issue in the first place – I barely had breakfast!) I felt 100x better and was so happy I stuck it out and didn’t go home!

We left lunch and walked over to ET, when we heard Spongebob was about to come out! I am such a small child sometimes, so we waited to get a picture with him.

Meanwhile, we made this little guy:

And did some shopping! My mom got Oscar a stuffed Sponebob toy (he has one before and he chewed off all the arms and legs), and bought me a set of PJs that looked like a spongebob outfit - a yellow shirt with a tie and brown/white undies - I love them and wear them alllll the time! In no time, Spongebob was out!

I am not a big fan of characters (again, I know I’m weird), but I made an exception for this guy!

After that we went over to ET (I didn’t note how long the wait was), I want to say 20 minutes or so. Jess loves the part where they say your name at the end! It’s a cute ride, if a little outdated. We went to check on the Simpsons and MIB, but the waits were super long! So we stopped in a special store for Jess...

Next up: More IOA/USO!

 

[cfw213]

Where we last left off we had stopped in a special place just for Jess...the Barney store!

We moved on and checked out Twister! We had to wait a little while to get in, and noted the “water” warning, so picked the 2nd row than the first, not realizing that the splash is coming from the back. I didn’t get it too bad, but Jess got an entire bucket of water dumped on her back!

Next it was time for Shrek! The sign said 20 minutes, but we probably waited about 30 until we got in:

Shrek has big hands!

So we took some pics and hung out. By then we had been out all day and were getting pretty tired! Shrek was really funny – kind of like “It’s Tough To Be A Bug”, but better! After that, we did the thing I had been waiting to do all day – see Grinchmas! I am a HUGEEEE Grinch fan (Literally, I watch it every night during Christmas time). We lined up about 30 minutes before the show- the theater was pretty small. After the previous show ended, we started filing in.

Here's a crappy pic of the stage:

Pretty soon, the show started! It was really good...the dog who played Max stole the show - he was SO cute. After Grinchmas, we really wanted to go on Jurassic Park - it was one of the rides I was looking forward to most. But by that time it was getting really chilly & someone nearby said they got REALLY wet.

So, we decided to head back over to Universal Studios for dinner (with the meal deal, you have to eat both meals in the same park). We went to some italian place - I had pizza and a breadstick with Diet Coke and “patriotic” looking Jello. Jess & Mom had pasta & a breadstick, and they said it was good. Overall, the meal deal would have been worth it had I eaten lunch!

We decided to finish up the last few rides we wanted to do in Universal Studios - first up, The Simpsons!

This was a BAD choice for after dinner. Literally, we were all staring at the ceiling waiting for it to be over. It was a pretty good ride, but not for those with weak stomachs! We then head over to MIB, since we skipped it earlier. The CM said it was a walk on, but also mentioned that it spinned a bunch of times. Still feeling ill, we ALL decided it was best just to skip it and instead headed over to...JAWS! Since the ride is now closed, we were happy to get one more ride in. By now it was dark so the ride was totally different.

Up next...finishing up WWOHP!!

 

[cfw213]

Time to continue the trip report that no one is reading!

This post will finish up USO/IOA!

After the Simpsons, we’d finished up in Universal Studios and it was about 8:00...we were dying to get over to the WWOHP with (hopefully) lower crowds to wander around Hogsmeade.

Since Mom hadn’t been on the ride earlier, we started with a castle tour! It was nice to be able to take our time and walk through to check out all the details.

After that, we wandered through all the Hogsmeade shops! We went to check out Ollivanders, but the line was 45 minutes...we decided we’d rather look in the shops, which weren’t that crowded. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Quiddich balls in one of the shop windows.

At the Hogs Head - very cool. We didn’t try Butterbeer - I didn’t think I would like it and didn’t want to waste the money!

The Monster Book of Monsters. This one moved and snapped like the one from the movie and I think I jumped about 10 feet in the air!

Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans from Honeydukes! Everything was super overpriced so I didn’t buy them, plus I didn’t want to end up eating a booger or grass flavored bean!

After we spent about an hour in Hogsmead we were ready to head out. We had called and scheduled our Mears transfer for 10:15 so we had about an hour to kill until we left...we were walking to the front of the park when a magic show started in a small room, so we sat down. It was only about 20 people and the tricks were really cool!

We walked back to the front of the park, and decided our last ride was the Cat in the Hat...we walked on - it was so cute! But we were glad we didn’t wait the 30+ minutes to ride it earlier.

By now, we were EXHAUSTED! We stopped in a shop on the way out to get our obligatory Christmas ornament...I wanted something HP themed but they didn’t have anything...I ended up with a green sparkle Christmas ball that reminded me of the Grinch.

We walked out to the busses and the Mears tour guide was NUTS. There was blasting music and he kept telling jokes - it was actually really entertaining. We left right on time and he gave us a lot of Disney trivia on the ride back to Pop.

When we got back, we DROPPED- such a long day - and we had to be up for RD at Epcot!

Next: Epcot Future World

 

[IllinoisMommy]

Looks like you guys had a great trip- what fun to go with your Mom and sister. Loved the WWOHP pictures too- we will be headed there in December.

 

[cfw213]

Looks like you guys had a great trip- what fun to go with your Mom and sister. Loved the WWOHP pictures too- we will be headed there in December.

Thanks for reading! WWOHP was great, you'll love it!

 

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On Tuesday we were up early for RD at Epcot! Mom wanted to sleep in this day. She was more interested in doing the counties...she is afraid of heights and HATED Soarin’ and thought Test Track was “ok”. So Jess & I were up by 7:30, got ready and had breakfast in the room and were out by 8:30.

This was when we stared to notice the Christmas crowds! We first headed to Soarin’ where we had to wait in line for a FP. I had bad luck - every line I got in had a problem with the Fastpass. Then I would switch to another kiosk and then that one would get messed up! After that, we walked over to Test Track - already a 45 minute wait! So we did the single rider line and waited about 25 minutes (this was not even 9:30 am...it might have been an EMH hour day though). I was with a family of 5. It was kind of weird to not be riding with someone I knew but I still loved the ride, of course! One of my favorites

Inside Test Track

After that we walked over to Nemo - a 25 minute wait but it’s such a cute ride

Our terrible picture on the clamshells...I'm not sure what was going on with my hair

Adorable Minnie & Mickey topiary, similar to the one in MK:

After that we went on a new ride for us - Journey Into Imagination. I’ve never been on this before but it was really cute and I would definitely ride it again! When we were on the ride I got a call from our wedding photographer (we were still waiting to receive our pictures) and it was funny trying to hear her on the ride & explaining that I was at Disney! I hung up quickly and enjoyed the rest of the ride, then called her back when we got outside.

After Figment, we headed to the front of the park to ride Spaceship Earth - a 45 minute wait! This is the day the touring plan started to fail us! 45 minutes for SSE was not worth it to us, so we skipped it. By then we were eligible for another Fastpass so we picked one up for Test Track for later in the afternoon. At this point we were waiting for Mom to arrive so we headed to Mouse Gear! They have sooo much cute kitchen stuff but I was looking for a long-sleeve fitted tee. I didn’t really find anything I liked so we headed over to the Cool Club! I’m not really into flavored sodas but I did like the watermelon one! We also tried the Beverly - yuck!!

After that we hung out by the fountain for a few minutes and waited for Mom. Once we met up we went over so she could get a Test Track FP for later...then it was off to lunch - I was really excited to fish & chips from London! We waited in the semi-long line while Mom grabbed a table and we used 2 CS credits for two baskets of fish & chips to share with cookies for dessert. I really liked it, but Jess thought it was too greasy. Also, there were way too many CRAZY birds hanging out around us. Yuck, I hate birds and they were pretty aggressive!

After we were all full it was time for another one of my faves - Living with the Land. I was surprised we actually had quite a bit of a wait - about half an hour! But I was grateful for the long ride so I could sit and relax for a little while. It was cute that they had the vegetables, etc decorated for Christmas!

Since we were there, we used our Soarin’ fast pass while mom waited on a bench in the land for us...it actually took us a while to ride and she was waiting for 30+ minutes. We did get a good seat in the front row though. I like Soarin’ but I’m not AS crazy about it as some people are.

After that we headed to the Seas - to check out all the fishies! We saw these really cute dog tags in the shape of Mickey, princesses, etc. My mom & dad were getting a puppy for Christmas so my mom got a sterling silver Mickey head for her new pup. At $10, it wasn’t any more expense than buying one at the pet store - good deal! I plan to get one for my doggie when we go in September.

We wandered around the aquarium for a while and of course had to take this picture. As you can see, I actually DID brush my hair that morning

We then headed into Turtle Talk with Crush - always cute and funny.

After that we headed over to something new (for us) - Captain Eo. Along the way we of course had to stop for the fun jumping fountain! We stood there watching it forever and saw some poor woman get the “jumping” water right in the side of the head. Her kids thought it was hilarious of course. We waited a few minutes for Captain Eo and headed in. I was SO excited for this ride...I am a super big Michael Jackson fan but....wow! Such a disappointment. The graphics, music and acting were all horrendous and I was dozing off. I never liked HISTA either...ready for something new in this spot!

Next up: World Showcase!

 

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Sorry in advance for the lack of pics in this post - I definitely have to be better about photos on our next trip!

After the torture of Captain EO, was over, it was time to hit up the World Showcase! We started at Mexico - Jess got a coffee since she was feeling super tired. Tangent: Jess was actually just getting over mono on this trip. She was diagnosed about a month before and got tired easily and headaches alot. She was a trooper during this trip!

We went inside Mexico and looked around - we skipped the boat ride since there was a 30 minute wait. Mom got a margarita in Mexico but I was feeling too cheap and Jess wasn’t supposed to drink.

Next was...Norway!

We stopped and got a FP for Maelstrom. I went into the bakery and got a sweet pretzel. Mom & I sat outside while Jess ran back to Mexico to get some churros - which took FOR.EV.ER. They were also completely gross - overcooked and barely any sugar, bummer. My pretzel, on the other hand, was quite yummy!

We continued walking, and got to China:

Where mom picked up some eggrolls with a snack credit - she said they were very yummy! We made our way through the rest of the counties, stopping at Karamel Kouche where I got a delicious salted caramel chocolate for later. By the time we got to Italy we were tired! We sat down while Mom got a glass of wine and listen to the Italian “Santa” tell her story - it was really neat!

We walked all the way through France, and pretty soon it was time for our ADR at Teppen Edo in Japan. We checked in and waited a few minutes, then were seated in one of the rooms in the back with a huge family of 12 and a couple. Everyone was REALLY nice and we were so impressed with how well their kids were behaved.

They were on the DxDp so we waited while they had their salad/soups/apps - it was nice to just be sitting down. I got the chicken and shrimp, and mom and Jess both had chicken and steak. We all got rice and veggies - everything was FABULOUS and we will definitely return here.

By then it was about 8:30 and we were so tired! Illuminations was at 9:30 this night, but we still had our Test Track FP that we wanted to use! So we hustled over and got in the FP line - which was so NOT fast. It took about 10 minutes to get to loading, and then the ride kept breaking down! By 9:00 we got on and while we were riding, it broke down in the middle - specifically the part where the truck is about to hit you. There was a family in front of us who were enjoying it but we were all sitting in the back going - huh?! We told them it wasn’t right - the ride was running slow and we missed one of the neatest parts.

When we got back to the “loading” area we told the CM that it didn’t work right, and she let us ride again! I’m pretty sure the people waiting in line were not happy, but the family with us was so happy and thankful that we told them it wasn’t right. They waited in line for over an hour to see it and we were happy they got to see it the right way.

We still had our FP for Maelstrom, but we wanted to see Illuminations! We ended up standing on a raised walkway near Mexico (I’m not sure how else to explain it but it was kind of behind Mexico) - no one was standing here and we actually had a great view! I ate my caramel while we were waiting for Illuminations to start. I’m not sure if they had a special Christmas show but the finale was amazing - more fireworks that I’ve ever seen - it was crazy to look at the sky.

We hightailed it out of there (another reason why we liked where we chose) and hopped right onto a bus for Pop - another successful day in the world!

Up Next: A very full Disney day - Pt. 1

 

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Only two more days left of our trip! If you're reading, please let me know you're out there - I'd love to say hi

Back to the TR-

Wednesday was a very busy day! We woke up around 7:00 am and got dressed and out the door by 7:30am - we arrived at the park close to opening at 8:00am (guess it was an EMH day??) because we wanted to get some things in before our character breakfast! We hustled back to Africa and got a Fastpass for the Safari, then trekked to Asia and waited in the short line for Everest! A great ride as usual and I was happy we got it in before breakfast.

We went back to Africa to check in for our 8:20 ADR - they insisted we wait for Donald but the line was really long and we were all STARVING, so we skipped it. We were showed our table and the buffet and went up to fill our plates! I know I had a Mickey waffle, a muffin and some fruit but I can’t remember what else. I remember really enjoying the food. Pretty soon our first character came to greet us - Daisy!

Soon after, Goofy came over

And last but not least, the main man!

Apparently I decided to not do my hair or makeup this morning!

Breakfast was really yummy and we enjoyed it - I will definitely return! But the bill was almost $100 so I would not have paid OOP if I didn’t have the dining plan.

After breakfast, we used our Kilamanjaro safari fastpasses! It was nice to have a relaxing ride and check out all the animals! It was still fairly early and there were lots of animals out. I elected to not take a lot of pictures because we all know what the animals look like! Here is one from my sister’s album...

After KS, we wandered on over to pick up an Everest FP so we could ride again later, and then hit up ITTBAB. I’m a big scaredy cat about things popping out at me so I’ve never really enjoyed this attraction. Since I kind of knew what was coming I was less of a chicken this time!

Next was my other least favorite Disney attraction....can you guess what it is??