It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! Dec 15-22 Trip.

[pattyw]

Great TR!! and CoP is one of our family's favorites as well!!

 

[rdkeim]

Enjoying your trip report! Sounds like you were having a wonderful time showing your GF the wonders of Disney. CoP is one of my favs too! I'm partial to rides/attractions that are Walt originals.

 

[ruckelc]

We arrived at the Studios after the sun had set and were excited to see the park in its holiday finest. Although Hollywood Blvd. isn't dressed up much for Christmas, we spent quite a while just strolling down the street and enjoying the nighttime atmosphere. I think it's safe to say that I love all of the parks at night but at DHS the ambiance of the park after dark really outweighs the daytime.

This is on my regular rotation of Disney podcasts so this was really exciting for me.

Moving slowly and stopping for lots of pictures, the three of us moved towards the Osborne Lights but before arriving we had to make two essential stops. The first of these detours was to ride Star Tours 2.0. I love Star Wars on close to the level that I do Disney so I was very much looking forward to riding the updated version of the ride and I'm glad to say that it did not disappoint. Kelly and I looked forward to the prospect of the random sequence and I really loved that they had the submarine section from Episode 1 as a scene but I grew up with the new trilogy so I may be alone on that one. After arriving back on Earth, the two of us walked outside to what was probably one of Kelly's favorite parts of DHS.

Kelly and my family are all huge fans of the Muppets, so much so that Kelly and I went to the midnight premiere of the movie when it was released in theaters. It goes without saying that we really love this area of the park and Muppetvision. Kelly had been looking forward to seeing this part of DHS since she'd seen some photos of it on the Disney Tourist Blog and when we finally arrived she began the task of documenting the awesomeness of the entire area. After reigning her in, we walked into the very empty queue for Muppetvision where we were lucky enough to see the whole preshow. Muppetvision is on my must-do list in the Studios because I'm always noticing something new when I view it and everything about the building makes me laugh. Luckily Kelly liked it also because, like I would have with CoP, if she didn't, I may have had to disown her. When we exited the theater I made everyone stop because I needed to change my camera lens with another that could handle the darkness better and we walked towards the lights.

To say that the Osborne Lights are overwhelmingly amazing is an understatement. Pictures fail to do it any sort of justice and, like the Christmas tag to Illuminations, it's worth booking a trip just to see them. It snows, there are lights synced to music, Santa is there, and it exudes Christmas cheer and happiness. For a while after our arrival we just stood at the mouth of the tunnel of lights and gazed in wonder at the insane amount of lights that decorated the Streets of America. Eventually we resumed walking and began to examine the many details that filled every storefront and alleyway. Unfortunately we couldn't spot the infamous cat while we were there but we were lucky and spotted something almost as amazing.

This guy! We found Santa Goofy over near the breezeway to the Backlot Tour area and although he had a pretty long line, we knew that meeting him would be worth it.

After meeting Santa we continued to soak up the Christmas atmosphere of the Osborne Lights and taking photographs.

Eventually my mom caught up with Kelly and I to tell us that she would be going back to the Polynesian, so we walked towards the entrance with her and then took a left at Sunset Blvd. Kelly and I were hoping to find Tower of Terror with low waits but unfortunately the posted time was around 30 minutes. Tower of Terror is a great ride that I think gets even better at night so we decided to brave the wait. The line wasn't too bad but in the pre-show room I noticed something that disappointed me. Quite a few of the people in the room with us were just facing towards the exit door, waiting to run out into the next section of the line. They were completely missing all of the awesome theming and the film which is part of what makes the ride so great. To me it seems like the ride would be incomplete without really enjoying this part but I realize that everyone is different but in this case it's borderline sacrilegious. Despite her fear/love of heights, Kelly enjoyed the ride. Apparently she was unaware of the random drop sequence so when it didn't drop in the typical manner that other rides like this do, she got kind of freaked out. By kind of freaked out I mean came off of the ride with tears in her eyes but I'm happy to report that this did not occur on any of the other trips to the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

After disembarking we went around to ride again but the line had grown so we decided to return to the Polynesian and enjoy our walk out of the Studios. When we arrived at the bus directory was when we saw it. The line for the misfortunate people staying at the Art of Animation filled their whole queue and stretched past 5 other bus stops. Worried about our own predicament, we ran to the shared bus for the monorail resorts and found it to be full but nowhere near as bad. Disney transportation felt the need to make it much worse though because they sent only 3 buses in the hour that we stood there. This seems a little ridiculous because these buses are shared by all of the guests who stay in the Contemporary, the Polynesian, and the Grand Floridian. Kelly and I made the best of our time in line and eventually we got to be one of the lucky few who could board the crowded buses. The ride back to the Polynesian was a blur of crying children and headlights but I remember being incredibly happy when they finally arrived at our stop. I also remember thinking that this would be a perfect time to go explore and photograph the resort but the prospect of sleeping quickly won out and I returned to the room with Kelly. An early morning at the Studios meant another 6:30 alarm but that's what a Disney vacation is all about!