Lace up your sneakers for Christmas week til New Years if you think you can keep up!!

[Purpleblanket]

Wonderful trip report and I love your pictures. Can't wait to read more.

Lucy

Hi Lucy,

Thanks for popping in! It makes it more fun when some other dissers are following!

Debbie

 

[Cinderella Girl]

Hi Debbie,

Love your trip report! My mom, dad and I were in DW from 12/26 - 1/2, so I know how cold it was and how crazy the crowds were! However we also had a blast and I did alot of advance planning too! My parents really enjoyed relaxing and letting me do all the work! Looking forward to the rest of your report!
Molly

 

[Purpleblanket]

Day 3 - Part 2 - Afternoon at Disney Hollywood Studios


so when we arrive back at hotel Jamie is still in bed. (Remember he was sick?,
so it was good he took this time to sleep)

Chloe announced that she was feeling great and had a great morning. She
Slept in, had shower, went for breakfast, went for a walk/jog, read by the pool and was totally enjoying her holiday!!

We told Jamie we planned to leave for DHS in about 1 hour (1PM) and asked what he wanted to do.
He still needed to shower etc... and was feeling a bit tired still so he said he would meet up with us later.

We really wanted room service to be able to get in and clean the room and make beds etc... so we sent him to lie down outside by the pool and he would get some fresh air. The room steward was right outside and we asked her to completely change the bedding on his bed as he'd been sick since yesterday)
(Anything to keep this sickness from spreading.. and since I'm the only one who hasn't been sick yet... I was getting pretty anal about hand washing and
spraying lysol spray on everything! The last thing I needed was for me to get !!!

So about 1 pm me, Rene and Chloé headed to DHS. Jamie would text us when he left so we could meet up with him.

We arrived at DHS about 1:30 pm and it was CROWDED!!!

The Christmas tree at DHS:

I think Chloe now realized the importance of getting to the park early at this point.
But, since we chose AK for our early morning, we didn't have much choice.
and DHS had extra hours later in the night tonight and didn't close til 1 am so we figured we'd just try to get as much done as we could.

There were no fastpasses left at all for TOT or RnRC so we just decided to do whatever had a short standby time.

First up was the Beauty and Beast Show as they were just starting to walk in.
Waiting for the show to start:

After Beauty and the Beast Show Chloe found this guy:

Chloe babysits sometimes for a couple little boys back home and was so excited to get Handy Manny's signature for them!

Then Rene found this:

The turkey leg was so good! He said if that's all he ate for the rest of the trip that he'd be good to go!

More of DHS to be continued:

 

[Eight]

I am so impressed at the amount of stuff you were able to get in at the Magic Kingdom your second day! I don't think I managed to do that much, and I'm sure it wasn't nearly as crowded when I went. I guess that's the perks of EMH, yeah? I've never tried doing one, as I can never make it to rope drop on a normal day.

Looking forward to hearing more about DHS.

 

[Purpleblanket]

Hi Debbie,

Love your trip report! My mom, dad and I were in DW from 12/26 - 1/2, so I know how cold it was and how crazy the crowds were! However we also had a blast and I did alot of advance planning too! My parents really enjoyed relaxing and letting me do all the work! Looking forward to the rest of your report!
Molly

Hi Molly

Thanks for dropping by! Yes... you were there the same time as us! Thanks goodness it got warmer by the end of the week! Did you do any of the early hours? Did you stay right on disney property?
Where did you go for NYE? We were in Epcot and had such a fun time!
But you'll have to keep following along to find out what all we did in Epcot on NYE!

You live just 8 hours south of us!! I understand we'll be getting all spring waters this spring and we are bracing ourselves for flooding!

Are you working on a trip report? I'd love to hear how your time was at the same time as ours!!

Stay warm!

Debbie

 

[Purpleblanket]

I am so impressed at the amount of stuff you were able to get in at the Magic Kingdom your second day! I don't think I managed to do that much, and I'm sure it wasn't nearly as crowded when I went. I guess that's the perks of EMH, yeah? I've never tried doing one, as I can never make it to rope drop on a normal day.

Looking forward to hearing more about DHS.

Welcome Eight!!

Yep, those EM hours were so worth it!!
And it was fun to watch the opening show at MK too!

Debbie

 

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Hi Deb! I just got all caught up on your TR!!! We were there is the beginning of December and it was so cold when we were there! Geese I planned the trip in December to escape the cold North winter!

Anyway looks like you all had a great time! Poor Jaime! Hope he was feeling better quickly!

We are heading back to Disney the end of August and are staying at POP! We can't wait.

 

[Purpleblanket]

Hi Deb! I just got all caught up on your TR!!! We were there is the beginning of December and it was so cold when we were there! Geese I planned the trip in December to escape the cold North winter!

Anyway looks like you all had a great time! Poor Jaime! Hope he was feeling better quickly!

We are heading back to Disney the end of August and are staying at POP! We can't wait.

Hi DevonsDisneyMom!!

Glad you joined me! Ya... we thought we would escape the cold too!! NOT!

It was still warmer than at home though.

Lucky you.... going back at the end of August! You'll love POP! Make sure you
take the time to roam around the resort and take photos!! We requested a room near transportation. We didn't face the pools but it was so nice to be near the busses first thing in the morning... especially when you forgot something like your camera or coffee mug and had to run back to your room before the bus came!

Debbie

 

[Purpleblanket]

Good Morning!!!
Well, I left off as DH and DD were enjoying a smoked turkey leg in DHS.

We had just seen the beauty and the beast show. We wondered over to the Great Movie Ride and got in line for that.
During the wait Jamie texted to tell us he was on his way and we would meet up with him when we finished up on the GMR.

After doing the GMR we found Jamie waiting for us on a bench in Pixar Place. He was feeling much better and good to go! Now lets just hope I don't get sick!!
and we saw that the Voyage of The Little Mermaid was going to start soon so we went over and saw that:

To be con't.....

 

[Purpleblanket]

After VOTLM we stopped in at Journey into Narnia.
To be honest, if I was to go again, we would skip this attraction.
Just not really memorable at all.

Then on to Walt Disney one Man's Dream.

But sorry, I have to stop again! DS just called and needs me to go pick him up from work! Normally he walks but it's so cold out and I feel sorry for him.
so off I go!!

I'll be back soon!

Debbie

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Found you!! I'm subbing now, and I've read everything so far!

We've avoided Christmastime in the past because we thought we'd never get anything done, but it looks like you're getting lots accompished! Maybe we should take a December trip!
I cannot believe the bad luck you were having with the luggage and the sickness! I can't wait to read about the rest of the trip!

 

[Purpleblanket]

Found you!! I'm subbing now, and I've read everything so far!

We've avoided Christmastime in the past because we thought we'd never get anything done, but it looks like you're getting lots accompished! Maybe we should take a December trip!
I cannot believe the bad luck you were having with the luggage and the sickness! I can't wait to read about the rest of the trip!

Hi Fantasy, I'm glad you found me!
We loved being there at Christmastime because of all the decorations and all the extra hours. We had a great time.
Well at least the sickness and the luggage mess are behind us now!!

But DH should feel very fortunate that I didn't kill him then and there!!
At least I can talk about it now! Still not laughing about it though!

Debbie

 

[Purpleblanket]

So carrying on at DHS!!!

We just finished up at Journey Into Narnia.
Jamie is feeling better and met up with us.

We are now going to head over to Prime Time Diner for our 5 pm ADR!
We had heard such good things about this restaurant and we're all up for an interactive dinner so we were looking forward to it.

We love the decor of this retro restaurant. We had a drink in the bar which is called the tune in lounge before we were called over for our table.

We had a great table in the middle of the restaurant with a little tv in the corner playing old tv shows from the 50's and 60's.

Our server put the dishes and napkins in front of Chloe and told her to "set the table"!
She told us the rules: No Elbows on the table and No Tatalling!

We had a great time as every time she came by... she caught one of us with our elbows on the table and when one of us would complain that the other one was doing it she reminded us of the no tattling rule!!

I had the pot roast, Chloe had onion rings and Rene had tuna casserole.
Jamie still wasn't up for eating and just had some gingerale.
At one point I needed to go to the washroom and was walking towards the back when another server yells at me: "HEY, WHERE YOU GOING?"
I answered back that I was looking for the bathroom and he again yelled back
"WEll, IT'S NOT THERE, SO KEEP LOOKING!!"
Everyone is looking, but we got a big kick out of this!
It was a pretty fun dinner !!!

Pics of the tune in lounge:

At our table:

Our server asked to use our camera! We said sure... go ahead:

We shared the smores for dessert! They were delicious!!

We really recommend this restaurant if you're not shy about "playing along"
with the servers and if I ever wanted to work as a server, this would be a great place to work since you can just be yourself with the guest!!

After dinner... it was time to head over to line up for FANTASMIC!!!
But not without some Grief from DD first!!!
Again, she doesn't know what it is and is annoyed at me and my plan!
I told her to "smell the roses" and do her "people watching" while in line!!

So stay tuned for Fantasmic!!

 

[Fantasyland Mom]

Sounds like you had a great server at 50s Prime Time! They're pretty good about knowing whether or not you really want to play along--our server knew to back off when he realized Juju didn't understand what was going on and was getting apprehensive (she was 3 at the time and in a bad mood), but he still joked with us in a nice way.
Glad everyone was starting to feel better! Can't wait to read about your DD's reaction to Fantasmic! There is certainly lots of time for people-watching in that huge line!

 

[Purpleblanket]

Ooops!
I missed updating Walt Disney - One Man's Dream!!
So I'll just insert those photos here.

It was pretty interesting checking out all the displays in here but we didn't stay for any of the shows at the end of the display.
We actually rushed our daughter through this a bit since we had our ADR at prime time coming up and in hind sight.. this would have been a good place to linger a bit longer (but not for little kids!)

[/IMG]

So after WD - one man's dream that was when we headed over to Prime Time Diner.... And then we'll be back in the right order of the evening!!

 

[7165red]

I am really enjoying your TR and the photos. I feel so sorry for your son. I took a trip to CA and got sick as soon as we arrived, I felt terrible, we had so many plans. How could this happen, well it does.

 

[Purpleblanket]

I am really enjoying your TR and the photos. I feel so sorry for your son. I took a trip to CA and got sick as soon as we arrived, I felt terrible, we had so many plans. How could this happen, well it does.

Welcome 7165red!! Glad to have you along.
The one thing I'm learning is that it seems everyone at some point has their own horror stories when travelling. And when we had the luggage problem my DS at home texted me a quote "LIFE IS WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE..... IT'S HOW WE DEAL WITH IT THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE"

Yep, sometimes even the bestlaid plans go awry on us!

Debbie

 

[Purpleblanket]

After we finished up at the Prime Time Diner, we had about a half hour to kill before getting in line for Fantasmic... so we just roamed around a bit and took in the sights and headed over to Hollywood Blvd to get in line. The line was already really long, so we just stayed put in line at that point.
DD wasn't too happy to get in line but eventually, she was having a good time as she started up conversations with some other young people in line.
Chloe is a first year high school band teacher and she met a group of young people in high school that were at Disney to play in the candlelight processional at Epcot... so she had a good time talking with this group.

Eventually, the line got moving and we got great seats right in the center for the show.

Chloe being a pest while we waited for Fantasmic to start:

Fantasmic:

Fantasmic was Fantastic!!! Chloe and Jamie were both happy I "made" them get in line an hour ahead for a show they knew nothing about!!

When are they just going to learn to "Trust Me!" ?

After Fantasmic, it took a while to get out of there, and we had another ADR
at Sci Fi diner to just go for a drink/snack at 9:30 pm.
By the time we got out of the bottleneck at Fantasmic, it was about 9pm and we just slowly made our way over to The Sci Fi diner enjoying sights along the way.

 

[Purpleblanket]

Well I should really try to finish up our Day 3 with the evening in DHS!

We left off where we just finished Fantasmic and had a great time.
We were then off to our ADR at Sci Fi diner for just a snack and a drink.

It was more about experiencing the ambiance than about eating!

Waiting outside the sci-fi diner:

This was a really fun place to stop as well. Our server was really funny.
DD ordered an alcoholic beverage but left her ID at the hotel room.
There was no way she was getting any booze without her id. She is 23 and was glad it was today she forgot and not on NYE!!!

It was really cool to sit in the cars and it was just like being at the drive in movie theatre!! Our last theatre in our city closed about 3 years ago and we really miss it. We loved getting the kids in their jammies and heading out to the drive-in with popcorn and candy and enjoy the movies!!

The Sci Fi diner showed horror movies

We ordered a couple of appetizers and by this time Jamie was feeling much better so he ate as well. I ordered an alcoholic milk shake that came with
lit up icecubes!! Sorry I didn't take any photos of the drinks... what was I thinking?

After we finished up at the Sci Fi diner, we headed out to find that the Osborne Lights were just starting up!
We love TSO and it was a treat to watch the lights dance!!

So now.. it's just after 10 pm and the EMH's have started again. The park is open til 1 am for Dis Resort people!!
So... it's time to just bite the bullet and see what the wait time is for TOT!!!

The standby time said about 45 minutes so we just got in line and sucked it up because we were doing this ride before we left the park!

Sorry but I have to break up the post here due to too many photos!

 

[Purpleblanket]

Actually, we found that most of the stand by wait times were always shorter than posted and we probably waited about a half hour which we felt was good since there were no FP's available earlier and when we came to the park it was over 2 hours wait.

[/IMG]

On this photo we knew there was definitely something spooky about TOT because we found a doppleganger of our son Ben in the photo with us. We could have sworn we left him at home.
Me and Chloe and Jamie are in the back row on the right hand side and right in front of us there is a young man with black framed glasses that looks identical to Ben!! Spooky!!

So after TOT we headed right over to RocknRollerCoaster ! The wait time posted was about 30 minutes!
Now... I've done my homework and I've read about everything and my plan was just to suck it up and ride everything!!!
BUT..... Somewhere, somehow..... I missed the fact that RRC goes upside down!!
Chloe and Jamie rode in the seat in front and I rode behind with some young man that I made a comment to that he would protect me! Well, he wasn't fun and I guess he wasn't impressed that he was riding with an "old bag"!

We get into the seats and I asked him if he'd ridden this ride before and he told me this was his 5th time!! OH, NO.... I just knew I was in trouble then because when a 20 something yr old guy is riding for his 5th time.. it must be fast and it must be good!! FOR HIM!!!!

Then the loud speaker says to place your head back in the chair "JUST BECAUSE!!!" (That was not a good sign for me!! )

Holy Cr..... (parden my language!!!) I had no idea how fast this ride went and when the first turn came all I could remember from everything I read was not to close your eyes or you'd mess up your equilibrium and to focus on something stationary so here I am focussing on the back of the chair in front of me with my eyes wide open!!! The picture they took of me on the ride was pretty funny!!
Let's just say, I didn't enjoy this ride, but I'm glad I can say I did it!!

Chloe and Jamie had a good laugh and told me that if I'd done more research that I would have known that the ride went upside down!
Aw... Good memories!

So with the 2 thrill rides out of the way... just one more ride to hit tonight.
Toy Story Mania!
These EMH's are working great for us!
Chloe and Jamie getting their 3d glasses for TSM

All I will say about TSM is that it was a lot of fun and it was very colorful and I loved all the lifesize toys. But I'm not going to talk about my scores!!

After TSM, we were really tired. We'd had a big day especially DH and I doing Animal Kingdom for the early hours. So it was time to call it a night.

Walking out of DHS

By this time it's about 12;30 am. The park is open til 1 am but we are beat.
Time to head to the busses and get ready for DAY4!!

Recap of Day 3:
Morning in Animal Kingdom for Rene and Me!! (until about 11 am or so)

Day 3 afternnoon and evening in DHS:
Beauty and Beast Show
Ate Turkey Legs
Met Handy Manny
Great Movie Ride
Jamie met up with us
Voyage of the Little Mermaid
Journey into Narnia
Walt Disney - One Man's Dream
Dinner at 50's Prime Time Cafe
8 pm Fantasmic show
Drink/snack at Sci-Fi diner
Watched the Osborne Christmas Lights
Tower of Terror
RocknRoller Coaster
Toy Story Mania

I guess we did get a lot done after all. We were a little worried about this day since we weren't getting to the park til after 1 pm. I really would have liked to have done the Back Lot tour and the Muppet Vision 3d and The Indiana Jones show but maybe that will all be an excuse to just have to go back!
In all, we loved DHS but we found it a hard park to tour. There are some spots still that I don't understand where they are!

Next up: Day 4 SLEEP IN DAY!!! (IF YOU CALL 8:30 AM SLEEPING IN!!)
AND SHOPPING AT DTD! AND THEN BACK TO MAGIC KINGDOM! (Jamie needs to catch up