Jingle Bells....AKL....Disney for 10 Whole Days! ** Updated June 2015: Videos Added**

[DisneyKid4Life]

I still say that it doesn't get much better than waking up and seeing a Giraffe outside your window.

Ahhh I was an Epcot too that morning too. And it looks like my Soarin' FP window (also paper ticket ) covered the last 30 minutes of your return time.

Congratulations on successfully completing the Beverly experience. It's getting harder and harder to pull that off.

I love Soarin' SO MUCH!! Hey at least you did it! You faced your fear and that's all that matters.

Are you being serious about DH's reaction on Nemo? Because if you are, THAT'S AWESOME!!

Thank you Jenn for that lovely parting image, lol.

 

[thornton0511]

I still say that it doesn't get much better than waking up and seeing a Giraffe outside your window.

Ahhh I was an Epcot too that morning too. And it looks like my Soarin' FP window (also paper ticket ) covered the last 30 minutes of your return time.

Congratulations on successfully completing the Beverly experience. It's getting harder and harder to pull that off.

I love Soarin' SO MUCH!! Hey at least you did it! You faced your fear and that's all that matters.

Are you being serious about DH's reaction on Nemo? Because if you are, THAT'S AWESOME!!

Thank you Jenn for that lovely parting image, lol.

Yes the view was great especially when you did not have to pay extra for it
That is crazy with our FP times being so close together!! I am sure at some point we were in the same place
Beverly.....bahahaha I was really shocked that my family did not remember it from the last time I tricked them into that...lol wait two years and do it again!
Thank you Rob I was very proud of myself for conquering both EE and Soarin this year. I still have yet to ride rockin roller coaster and I have not been on ToT since I was a teen so...maybe next time
LOL yeah DH gets emotional a bit and I usually make fun of him too with the Nemo ride....BTW I never put that info in my TR!
Ahhhh stinky manatees....you are welcome

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I read your trip report during work today. You definitely made my day better

Loved reading all your adventures and look forward to reading more!

 

[thornton0511]

I read your trip report during work today. You definitely made my day better

Loved reading all your adventures and look forward to reading more!

Awww! Thank you Glad to have you follow along! The more the merrier for sure!!! And by the way I love your avatar....your kitten is so sweet! Gasp! I just noticed your TR's in your siggie and I have been a lurker in your DL reports lol! Loved your reports BTW

 

[thornton0511]

A Split Lunch
It was now just about noon and we had just left the living seas pavilion. It was lunch time and we had split reservations today. The in laws were having a lunch date at San Angel Inn at 12:45pm and my family and I had and ADR at Via Napoli for 12:40pm. We parted ways and headed to our designated countries. I told the in laws to take some pics of their experience and this is what I got….

Well at least we got a dessert pic with it. Lol it was a good try!

Meanwhile we headed toward Italy, but first we stopped by the African outpost place and bought my Mickey Crocs. In my size too…woohoo! They will make an appearance later I assure you. Then we reached Italy ….

To have lunch here! Oh my goodness I had been waiting so long to try this place. I kept hearing about how wonderful and authentic the food is. Italian is my FAVORITE!!! I love everything Italian….the food, the music, the language, I could go on and on but let's just get back on topic. Via Napoli!

I loved the details in here!

We were soon seated at a table in the middle of the restaurant. The kids immediately began to color….yes even my 12yr old. Never too old especially in Disney!

So excited to be here right now!!!!

I then took to taking pictures of my surroundings.

Our waitress came and took our order and then we requested bread and oil.

Since we were on the DDP apparently Sydney got to choose and appetizer too. This is not usually the case with the regular dining plan with kids but I guess some restaurants are different than others. She went with the fresh fruit…yummy!

For DD entrée she went with the spaghetti and meatballs.

DS went with Piatta all Parmigiana with Chicken

DH had the Individual Pepperoni

And I went for the Individual Quattro Formaggi that I was dying to try!
And that's when, like any good family, we split up all of the food! And it was incredible! The biggest hit was the "white pizza". Oh my it was so freakin good….I wish I had some right now. Then it was time for dessert.

DD went with the vanilla Italian sundae

Both DS and DH went with the Zeppoles

And I the Tiramisu

And then we split everything up again! Except for Sydney's gelato lol!
This was another hit for our family and it's definitely on the return to list! Just when we were paying out we got a text from the in laws that they were also wrapping up lunch and we planned to meet them in Mexico.
Continued Next Post….
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[DisneyKid4Life]

Haha, my guess is your FIL spent too much time chatting with other diners to take any more photos than that.

Yay, you got your Crocs. I probably would have completely forgot about it.

I am not a sit down meal table service type when in Disney at all. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever had a TS meal there. BUT Via Napoli just might be the exception that I'm dying to try. I've had "Disney Pizza" that some people rave about (Pizzafari, Pizza Planet) once, and honestly was like, WHAT??!! It's fine, but to me certainly not rave worthy. But I haven't heard a single negative thing about Via Napoli, so this is definitely a must do some day.

 

[thornton0511]

Haha, my guess is your FIL spent too much time chatting with other diners to take any more photos than that.

Yay, you got your Crocs. I probably would have completely forgot about it.

I am not a sit down meal table service type when in Disney at all. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever had a TS meal there. BUT Via Napoli just might be the exception that I'm dying to try. I've had "Disney Pizza" that some people rave about (Pizzafari, Pizza Planet) once, and honestly was like, WHAT??!! It's fine, but to me certainly not rave worthy. But I haven't heard a single negative thing about Via Napoli, so this is definitely a must do some day.

Oh my goodness Rob you MUST try Via Napoli for sure! It's nothing like Disney quick service pizza. We love TS restaurants. For us dining is part of the experience! And yes I did finally get my shoes. I am not necessarily a crocs person...this is now the only pair I own. I just liked them because they had Mickey on them and they were fashioned likes TOMS which I have a slight obsession with....LOVE TOMS!!! You are probably right about DFIL.....chatty McChatterson lol!

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Awww! Thank you Glad to have you follow along! The more the merrier for sure!!! And by the way I love your avatar....your kitten is so sweet! Gasp! I just noticed your TR's in your siggie and I have been a lurker in your DL reports lol! Loved your reports BTW

Well I'm glad you outed yourself hahaha, much more fun to comment than to be a lurker

I just posted a few pictures of the 'kitten'/now a grown grumpy cat in my PTR.

I love Via Nap soooo much. I have the lasagna (I think that is what it is) and its amazing!

 

[thornton0511]

Well I'm glad you outed yourself hahaha, much more fun to comment than to be a lurker

I just posted a few pictures of the 'kitten'/now a grown grumpy cat in my PTR.

I love Via Nap soooo much. I have the lasagna (I think that is what it is) and its amazing!

I will have to hop on over back to your PTR to see the new current photos! Awww grumpy cats rock!! Glad that you also love Via Napoli! Most reviews I see either love it or think its just meh.....I will have to try the lasagna sometime when whenever we go back that sounds yummy!

 

[thornton0511]

An "Easy Like Sunday Morning" Stroll though World Showcase…except its Monday PART 1

So when I last left off we had just finished a very good Italian lunch and were now headed back to meet the in laws in the Mexican Pavilion. It was around 2:00pm when we arrived.

When in Mexico one must always make time for the Gran Fiesta Tour, or as many here on the disboards and my children call it, Mexican Small World. But before boarding we had to get those epic pictures with the sombreros which makes me wonder…..does anyone ever actually purchase these?

Within no time we had boarded our little boat and voyaged though Mexico City, and other destinations, with Donald and friends. My in laws actually quite enjoyed this ride. Since they are missionaries and travel to South America several times a year they seemed quite impressed with the authenticity of the ride with the culture.

After touring Mexico we headed to the next country…..Norway. Eeekk!!! Which as we all know cannot be passed without riding the greatest adventure that World Showcase has to offer….and it's freakin awesome! MAELSTROM!!!!

It was now 2:20pm and there was quite a wait for this ride. Did that sway us from riding it? Nope.

We patiently waited in line and within no time we had made it to the inside queue (if you can call it that lol) and I noticed that there was a group behind us that seemed to be holding on to another adult woman who appeared to be blind. For some reason there was a bit of chaos with people passing or something and people kept knocking into this poor woman. I got really defensive thinking how scary this situation must be for this person to not be able to see anything and being in a large loud room and just having people continuously knocking into you. There is no way she could know when it was coming and it just kept happening. The people helping to guide her were doing the best they could I believe but it did not help the situation much. So the four adults in our family kind of made a wall around her to keep her safe as we proceeded though the rest of the line. It just made me so sad and I just wanted to protect her. Soon the chaos kind of died down a bit and everything was okay again. Thank goodness! Then we got to the front of the line where you find this lovely picture…

I know a lot of people post about this picture and it's true, this kid is way too happy for what he is doing. Norway serial killers in the making….good grief. Funny though that I cannot imagine this ride without first seeing this picture. Thanks for keeping it creepy kid!
It was now 2:37 and we had been in line for almost 20 minutes and were the next group to board a boat when we heard all the Norway CM's suddenly all scream at the top of their lungs. I did not know what was going on (probably because I could not stop making eye contact with creepy fish gutting kid) but I saw a lady boarding the boat and she looked really embarrassed. Then I got the story from my DH who apparently was paying attention. The lady was boarding the boat and her flip flop fell off into the water between the docking platform and the boat and I guess she just instinctually reached her hand and arm in between the two to try to retrieve her shoe. At the same time the CM's noticed what she was doing and yelled for her to get her hand out and then the boat actually rocked into place or something and the lady's arm almost got crushed between the space. It all happened so quickly and thankfully she only lost her flip flop instead of her arm. The CM's had just about had a heart attack though. Pretty crazy! So anyways we took our Norwegian voyage and somehow managed to once again survive and not fall over the waterfall. That's always a sigh of relief! We then did the duck and roll past the film they try to get you to stay and watch, and took some more epic WS pics with the Viking hats and the huge wooden troll guy.

We told my in laws to give us a mean Viking face….lol.

On our way out I noticed this guy was apparently doing some meet and greets of his own and clearly it was a big deal in Norway. Maybe not as big as the line to meet the Frozen characters but still…..

And then there is…..my child.

After our adventures in Norway we headed to China where we caught some of the Jeweled Dragon Acrobats….I thought it was okay. I never did get to see the show they had awhile back with the kids but I had heard it was pretty amazing. Oh well. I also managed to sneak away from the family while they were watching the show to buy a string puppet for DS. He had his eye on a red dinosaur earlier so I purchased that to give to him later.

We then made our way into Germany where we had dinner a few nights ago. It's so neat to see how different places look in the daytime compared to night. Both awesome of course!

We stopped for a moment to watch the miniature trains go around their cute whittle town.

Awwwwww.

And then we let the kids feed some Disney ducks leftover bread from Via Napoli. Yes I know that's a big no no. But it's not like we were feeding them cannolis or caramel popcorn. And DH was really wanting to let the kids do this and I have learned that you pick your battles people. And telling him that he could not feed the ducks because it’s a Disney rule was not an argument worth having lol.
After our rebellious duck feeding it was now nearing 3:30pm and we had made our way back to Italy. This was the first year EVER that we had taken our time wandering around WS and it was so much fun! When we go in May by the time we get to Italy it is so hot and humid that we just fly though the rest of the countries to get out of the heat and into a change of clothes. Yuck. The December weather was amazing! When we got to Italy I guess I got sidetracked with something or another and separated from my family. Soon enough I found them, but what had so much of their attention?

Wait and see…….
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[thornton0511]

An "Easy Like Sunday Morning" Stroll though World Showcase…except its Monday PART 2


Something had caught the attention of my family, and everyone else too apparently. It was a show with a guy and a whistle. He was instructing this kid to do things with only communicating with the whistle. It was quite funny.

After watching for a few minutes we decided to move on, but not before taking a picture in a very romantic country with a very iconic ball in the background….

I love Epcot! Did you know that?

And I love my DH too!!!

After making our children a little uncomfortable in Italy we headed toward the American Adventure Pavilion. It was now getting close to 3:40pm.

The kids wanted to throw some money into the fountain and make a wish.

Sydney was thinking really hard about her wish.

Then I turned to hear some singing from the building. Doh! Voices of Liberty! I have wanted to hear these guys sing before but, like I said earlier, at this point in WS we are usually high tailing it out. I was not going to miss it this year! I literally just left my family and wandered into the building telling no one of where I was off to. If I had been five this would have been a serious issue, but I assumed that eventually my family would find me, and even though I act like I'm five in Disney I am not actually five sooo…..

Voices of Liberty! WOW…AMAZING!! And it was holiday version too…..so lucky! My family did find me and they were not upset at all that I had wandered off. DH noticed I was gone and heard the singing. He put two and two together…lol. After the show we continued with our World Showcase quest.
I have to be honest at this point is was getting bit late in the afternoon and we did have some pretty big plans for the evening so we kind of rushed though the next two countries. Sigh. You seriously could spend an entire day, at least, exploring WS.

Oh look its Japan….

And then we sped though Morocco…..

So pretty though. Sigh. Maybe next time we go counter clockwise instead.

Then came France.
And we had fully intended on walking right across that bridge when……

We saw this. Who can pass a few minutes of this up?

Okay now we needed to go.

We reached the UK by 4:15pm.

We stopped only for a minute for the children to play with the phone booths.

Cory did not seem to understand the concept of putting money into a phone to make it work…lol. Makes me feel old.

And when I say the children wanted to play in the phone booths yes I was including DFIL of course.

At this point I don't even think I took the time to get one single picture in Canada. Sorry Rob. This was strange for me because I am kind of mildly obsessed with Canada. I spent a lot of my childhood reading Anne of Green Gables and watching Avonlea on the Disney channel. Anyways we were making our way back to the front of the park but we had one more place to stop before we could leave. Disney Visa Meet and Greet. Gotta get our family 5x7 and say hi to Mickey….duh!

While we waited for our picture I had a photo shoot with Spaceship Earth because…well….it's awesome! Except for some reason I only have one picture...weird. Well here ya go anyways...

It was now nearing 5pm and we were on our way back to our home for the week to freshen up and maybe rest…..ha ha who am I kidding there was no resting on this trip!



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[thornton0511]

The One in Which I Have a Temper Tantrum over being Responsible


At promptly 5:25pm we saw this. Ah it felt good to be back home. Even though I love my Epcot I was tired and wanting to freshen up from our day of exploring.
When we eventually got to our room…….curse you kudu trail…….we found that mousekeeping had been there. YAY!!! Since we were staying on rented DVC points we do not get mousekeeping or fresh towels and such every day. The schedule of when they do come and what they provide on certain days was somewhat confusing to me for some reason and I was not really sure what we were gonna get when. So today was a nice surprise!

And they did this cute little number to our toothbrushes. Now if they could only do our personal laundry too….
Laundry. Ugh. Today was Monday which meant we were about halfway through our ten day vacation. Which meant we really needed to do some laundry. I hate doing this on vacation! Bleh. And I was so incredibly tired at this point and we had a long night ahead of us (I'll get to that) but sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Well, with the help of DH of course. You didn't think I was going to slay that dragon alone did you? So the two of us loaded stupid dirty clothes in stupid suitcases and left the children (with the grandparents right next door)alone to watch Stacey and rest. And headed back down stupid kudu trail to find the stupid laundry room. Yes I was acting like a toddler…..deal with it.
One cool thing about DVC is that you get to use a private laundry room (with access only with your room key) and it's free. Well you still have to buy your own soap and stuff, but the machines are free. And since all of the DVC rooms are on the 5th floor that meant no elevator or stairs to deal with. Yay! We found the laundry room and saw that no one else was inside doing laundry. Score.
It was now 6pm and we were doing laundry. I would like to take you on a tour of the room.

Here's a fuzzy one which shows where you can purchase soap and make change, and also a special shopping cart buggy thing for you to haul your laundry in….or I am hoping that is what it's for..
(I was so almost playing with the idea of asking DH to push me up and down the 5th floor hallway in this buggy to pass the time, but then we might have lost our free laundry room privileges so….squash that idea)

Here we have the lovely front loading washers for all of your dirty laundry needs. And feel free to use them all at once….it will not cost you more…

And here are the two dryers. See that front loader there on the right. Yeah that one. I had words with that one….

Yeah you see that sign on the wall that says how long it takes? Lies. All lies. The wash took about 30 minutes but the dryer…oh my gosh the dryer took forever. I literally got to the point where I was watching the clothes spin around in the front loader yelling "why won't you dry my clothes?!" I think at some point we just gave up and took our damp clothes back to the room to hang up and possibly try again later. Sigh.
Now for the evening our plans were to head to the MK for EMH until 1am! There were only two nights this week when MK was not closing early for MVMCP and this was one of those nights….and it was EMH, and open until 1am. We are crazy like that lol. There was another surprise but I will get to that in a bit. We hopped on a bus and arrived at the park at 7:25pm.

This was Main Street…..bahahahaaha you just have to laugh. Yes we are crazy mad.

But on a positive note I got to see this little guy again and he was all lit up for the evening. We had a little bit of time to kill before I let everyone know what surprise I had up my sleeve so we opted for Sydney's favorite ride in all the land….the peoplemover.

When doing an evening EMH at MK last year my DH had this idea to help keep us noticeable with our kids and each other in the night crowds. We attached glow stick bracelets to our shoes. That way we stood out and the kids and us would not lose sight of each other. It worked great and so we decided to keep with that tradition again this year…..

With our glowstick bracelets attached to our shoe strings we circled around Tomorrowland by way of the Peoplemover. We were off by 7:45pm.
Now the family knew that I had planned for us to watch wishes tonight but that did not start until 9pm. I had something special planned for 8pm though. Can you guess what is is……
Oh yeah I am definitely leaving you hanging there….oh the suspense!
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[DisneyKid4Life]

Hmmmm, I also wonder if anyone actually buys the sombreros. Perhaps no one does because they've already been worn by so many people. "Um... I'd like to get one, but do you have any in the back room?"

It's strange that I had no problem riding Mexican Small World, but regular Small World terrifies me.

Awww that's just so sweet of you all protecting that woman in the line. And my goodness, to follow that up with the lady flip flop drama. That is for sure an epic Maelstrom.

Oh God Voices of Liberty. I save my full opinions for later, but suffice it to say... lots of this ---->

That B&W photo of your kids and the phonebooth. I see performers in their future. And DFIL was not about to be outdone.

Awwww that's ok Jenn. You can see the real Canada any-time! PEI will still be there. I hear Anne is waiting.

Oooooh I am definitely anxious to hear what you had planned for EMH. Especially since I WAS THERE TOO!!!!

 

[thornton0511]

Hmmmm, I also wonder if anyone actually buys the sombreros. Perhaps no one does because they've already been worn by so many people. "Um... I'd like to get one, but do you have any in the back room?"
I guess I really never thought of that.....
It's strange that I had no problem riding Mexican Small World, but regular Small World terrifies me.
Ha! Poor Rob.....I admit IASW is pretty creepy. I heard the dolls on the outside clock at Disneyland still march around at night without the music so all you hear is the mechanics of the the whole thing....they never rest....
Awww that's just so sweet of you all protecting that woman in the line. And my goodness, to follow that up with the lady flip flop drama. That is for sure an epic Maelstrom.
Never a dull moment for a Thornton Disney Vacation

Oh God Voices of Liberty. I save my full opinions for later, but suffice it to say... lots of this ---->
I was so glad to finally get to hear them sing. Oooh cannot wait to hear about yours

That B&W photo of your kids and the phonebooth. I see performers in their future. And DFIL was not about to be outdone.
Ha! I was a Theatre Major in College so maybe that is where they get if from....no telling they are silly, and yes DFIL....he is something else
Awwww that's ok Jenn. You can see the real Canada any-time! PEI will still be there. I hear Anne is waiting.
LOL you crack me up Rob!

Oooooh I am definitely anxious to hear what you had planned for EMH. Especially since I WAS THERE TOO!!!!

Gasp! In the same park again?! The crowds were a bit much but it was fun!

 

[emmysmommy]

Jenn I feel like a stalker! We were in Epcot on the 9th too, AND ate lunch at Via Napoli! (2pm ADR so it was after you left I'm sure) but we were still hanging out in Italy for a period of time after. AND we were at MK for EMH that night. Wow, you could be in some of my trip photos.

I ended up seeing Geir Ness in Norway when I finally purchased the Laila fragrance set. He was a very charming gentleman. He must have been there for a few days since I didn't make it to Norway until a couple days later. Anyway, it reminded me when I saw your TR post.

Getting caught up with some of your other posts from your fabulous TR.... I'm so excited to go back to AKL in April. We are staying DVC at Jambo so I'm excited to read about your experience. You just never get tired of those views!

I myself would never judge a carrot cake cookie for breakfast as I've done that a time or two. I say that it is an excellent way to start your day.

I can't possibly remember everything that I wanted to say now but I want you to know that I am LOVING reading your TR!!

 

[thornton0511]

Jenn I feel like a stalker! We were in Epcot on the 9th too, AND ate lunch at Via Napoli! (2pm ADR so it was after you left I'm sure) but we were still hanging out in Italy for a period of time after. AND we were at MK for EMH that night. Wow, you could be in some of my trip photos.

I ended up seeing Geir Ness in Norway when I finally purchased the Laila fragrance set. He was a very charming gentleman. He must have been there for a few days since I didn't make it to Norway until a couple days later. Anyway, it reminded me when I saw your TR post.

Getting caught up with some of your other posts from your fabulous TR.... I'm so excited to go back to AKL in April. We are staying DVC at Jambo so I'm excited to read about your experience. You just never get tired of those views!

I myself would never judge a carrot cake cookie for breakfast as I've done that a time or two. I say that it is an excellent way to start your day.

I can't possibly remember everything that I wanted to say now but I want you to know that I am LOVING reading your TR!!

Oh my goodness that is so crazy that we basically had the same plans this day lol! We must be such good planners Brenda I know I keep checking my photos and video to see if I can catch a glimpse of any of you guys since I know what you all look like now!

I think I remember seeing you post something about the Norwegian fragrance designer on one of your TR's. After we got home from our trip and I started going though my pictures and found this one I had such a laugh because I took the photo before reading you TR. Too funny!

GAHH....so jealous that you will be in AKL in April! How exciting for you!! We really did love the resort. The ONLY drawback was that in my planning I really did not account for it being such a distance from everything else. But that's my bad. Life lessons right? It is awfully beautiful though! And yes our view was awesome and unexpected! I just think if they are going to put you on the kudu trail it should come with a segway lol!

Oh my goodness carrot cake in the morning was so delicious! Unfortunately I am not really a breakfast eater in the morning and it made me feel a bit sluggish and yucky a bit later. But man it was yummy!!

Thank you so much Brenda! I too am really enjoying following along on your adventures as well!!

 

[thornton0511]

And All Our Wishes Did Come True

So when I left off we had just rode the peoplemover and I was leading the family to our 8:00 surprise that just happened to be in Tomorrowland. I lead them to here

Where we had reservations for this

Wishes Dessert Party….oh my goodness! AHSDKFJDKLFJSDFKS!!!! Since we had opted to not to a MVMCP I absolutely had to do this. I wanted my in laws first and probably only time to see Wishes to be as magical as possible and with only two nights this whole week with regular Wishes scheduled this would be a prime time to do this and not have to battle the crowds. I had subscribed and stalked the dissboard thread with up to date info on when December was going to be released. Thank goodness we have people on here who take the time to check basically all day long for these things and share the info with others as soon as they get it. Isn't the dis fabulous?! As soon as it was reported that December was open I was online with Disney like a chicken on a june bug! This was the last thing that I had to schedule for our trip and I had such a sense of relief and accomplishment when the reservation was made….and I was able to keep it a secret the whole time! I never can do this, ever. I just get too excited and want to share. But I kept quiet this time and succeeded! Yay me!!
So anyways as we stood in line obviously I had to explain exactly what it was we were doing. When they got the explanation they were very happy and excited. Which made me even happier and excited! While we were in line to check in several people kept walking up to the podium trying to see if they could get in and not really understanding why they had no openings for the event. It kind of makes me sad but then again the same resources are out there and available to everyone who wants to put the time and effort into planning their vacation. Anyways we got checked in and our wristbands put on. Then we found our table…

Eeekk! It's our name on a table…how exciting!!!

And this was our view from our table! I pretty much called as soon as the ADR window had opened up for our month and I had heard that the sooner you get your ressie made the better your seat/table will be. Not sure if that is true or not but we had a pretty dang good seat so……
The second most awesome part about this is the food. And how its endless lol! Here is my best quick job at getting pics of what was offered.

We took our selection of goodies back to our table and enjoyed while watching the electrical parade go by in the distance.

And since they pump the music through the speakers we also got the constant Do do da do do do do do the whole time lol. Cory took a weird angled picture for us. I guess he was trying to get the castle in the picture too?

Within no time at all it was time for Magic Memories and You to begin with its Holiday Overlay that I was super stoked to see. Especially the candy cane and gingerbread house part!

And then Tinkerbell flew right over our heads and we knew it was time for Wishes to begin.

And it was incredible! I love Disney so much you guys! Am I the only one who can't get through this on you tube without crying? Cause I do…everytime. So you can just imagine what I am like when I see it in real life. Gets me everytime. This was such a great way to view the fireworks and I was so glad that I was able to make this happen for our trip. Definitely a memory we will all cherish forever. I am going to end this post just like this….Disney is Magic!!!!

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[scottny]

Nice pics of Osborne Lights.
We stay in grandstand all the time. Easy walk to the main building.
Oh no. Not the walkway. It was closed while we were there. We took the boat to DTD each time. Oh that isn’t the main walkway you took. The main one which is closed brings you to the bus stops by the Christmas Shop. Sounds like you took the golf course.
Love the balloon. It does go high. Highly recommend it right around 9pm so you can see the fireworks.
YUM! Love WPE.
Bummer about the Crocs.
Living with the Land is so fun. Have you ever done the tour? It is great and cheap.
Oh my! You never rode Soarin’? Glad you finally got on it. Front row is the best but hey any row will do. LOL
It always nice to split up a little when you are with others.
Woohoo! You got your Crocs.
WOW! Excitement on Maelstrom. Poor lady. People can be so rude.
Those guys on the chairs scare me every time.
The dessert party looks good. Glad you got good seats.
All caught up again.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Well done Jenn keeping the Dessert Party a secret. That has to be tough to do. So glad it all paid off. One of these days I'm going to do this, and I think during a party season whether it be Christmas or Halloween would be the best time.

And yup, I was right there in the middle of Main Street at that exact time.

 

[we3travellers]

Hi Jenn. I have been lurking for a while and thought I would hop on to say hi from Toronto! I am loving your TR so much that I have begun reading your PTR. Backwards, I know, but I find your planning skills awesome and wanted to go back and read how it all happened. Don't think I could have handled your whole departure/storm/flights thing as well as you did. We stayed at AKL on our first trip to WDW in 2010 and I'm afraid it spoiled us. Next trip was 2012 and budget dictated a mod, so we chose CSR. Very nice, but DH will only return if we go deluxe. We'd love to try WL next time and I will definitely look into renting points. DH and even DS are not the Disney lovers I am, so we have to chose different vacation destinations each year. I don't think I'll get back until 2015. But like you, I love the planning and the more I read, the more I learn, right? Oh, and my DS's name is Philip, so I feel a kinship!