More Adventures in WDW: June, November and December Trip Reports

The Boardwalk is one of my favorite resorts so I absolutely love your pictures! :thumbsup2 I'm glad you enjoyed Big River Grill. I never seem to hear positive reviews so it was nice to hear something good about it :)

Thanks Dawn. We really did enjoy Big River. I didn't realize it usually gets negative reviews. The only negative I can think of for the restaurant was that the theming is not as impressive as a lot of the others on property. And anyone who gives it a bad review obviously never tried the Chocolate Confussion. :cloud9:


Great pictures. I just love the boardwalk area, especially at Christmas time.

I had no idea some of the Mutoscopes actually worked. I'll have check those out next time!

I can't wait to hear about your resort-only stay. That is super intriguing to me, though I'm not sure I could be so close to the parks and not go!

Yes, some of the Mutoscopes do still work. Just don't try putting a penny in the slots. If they work, you don't need to put a penny in. If they don't work, the penny won't do anything. I've wasted a few pennies learning that. :laughing:

I keep wondering if it will be hard to go four days at Disney and pass on the theme parks. Animal Kingdom Lodge has so much to see and do though, so I'm not too worried.


Loving the pictures. It's nice to see a few holiday pictures in July!

Thanks. That's true. I think when I sit down to write my next chapter, I might just turn on some Christmas music. Maybe that will get me more into the mood to write this report. :santa:


Hi there, I'm back from my self-imposed DIS hiatus and trying to catch up on TRs.

I'm sad I never will get to meet Flynn but as I still haven't seen Tangled not completely sad yet. :laughing: I am sad about Prince Naveen though, he was a great character to interact with, I hope he keeps showing in the afternoon and doesn't go away like Flynn.

Boardwalk is such a beautiful resort, I really want to stay there again.

Hey LL! Great to see you back.

You still haven't seen Tangled. :eek: You have been busy, haven't you. I'm going to miss Flynn, but I think I'd miss Naveen even more if they pulled him. I'm hearing now that Naveen is starting his appearences with Tiana after the parade, so hopefully he won't be joining Flynn as a "Special Events Only" character anytime soon.
 
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After leaving the Belle Vue Room, we followed the Boardwalk towards the Beach Club, enjoying the views along the way. Near the end of the Boardwalk, I found a pressed penny machine with some Boardwalk designs and decided to get one as a souvenir. There seemed to be something wrong with the machine because it took me three tries to get the one I wanted even though I selected the same one every time. This seemed to be a recurring theme for the trip because something similar happened to Buzz at EPCOT. We’ve never had problems with these machines before, so I’m not sure why we were this time around. :confused3


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A glimpse of (I believe) the Beach Club Villas.


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Inside the lobby, we checked out the gingerbread Christmas carousel. It’s always fun to see all the details on it, including its numerous hidden Mickeys.


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This one has everything- including the Kitchen Sink (from Beaches and Cream, of course).


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Tinker Bell keeps watch from the top of the carousel.


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A few smaller displays were placed around the carousel.


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One of the Beach Club’s very beachy Christmas trees.


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A closer look at some of the ornaments.


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For me, no trip to the Beach Club would be complete without a visit to another of my favorite spots in the EPCOT resort area- the Solarium just off the main lobby. It’s such a well themed and cozy area to look around and get away from it all for a little bit.


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Of course, the Solarium was decorated for Christmas as well. Here’s a closer look at one of its decorations.


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Next, we headed next door to the Yacht Club to see their giant Christmas village display.


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A few sections of the village even had a Disney theme.


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What else would you use to decorate the trees at the Yacht Club with besides yachts?


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Speaking of yachts, look who joined Mickey in his inside the gift shop. It’s Duffy the Disney Bear. Since we hadn’t been to EPCOT yet and hadn’t experienced Duffy-mania in full, this was Mom and Dad’s first introduction to Duffy and we had to try and explain who he was. And for those of you following my quest to find a Tangled pin on this trip, neither the Yacht or Beach Club gift shops had any. That brings us up to five resorts completely out of Tangled pin only a few weeks after the film had premiered.


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The giant globe was fun to check out. I know I’ve seen it in a bunch of promotional pictures for the Yacht Club, but we’d never really spent much time actually looking at it.


It was getting late and we wanted to try to get to Downtown Disney so we could see some of the decorations in the daylight, so we headed out to the bus stop and hopped on this first bus headed that way.



Next chapter: A blast from the past, a brand new restaurant and lots more Holiday fun
 
You know what? That penny machine was still have problems in January if I am thinking of the same one you are. I think I wanted the one with both Mickey & Minnie on it and I kept getting one I didn't pick! I stopped after three times, good for you for making it work for you. I thought I was just doing something wrong! :rotfl2:
 
Nice update! Those resorts are so beautiful! Staying there again is definitely on my must do list!

The picture of Mickey and Duffy is adorable! I love him in the sailor suit :)
 

Loving the resort pictures. I can't wait to stay at the Yacht Club in Aug.
 
You know what? That penny machine was still have problems in January if I am thinking of the same one you are. I think I wanted the one with both Mickey & Minnie on it and I kept getting one I didn't pick! I stopped after three times, good for you for making it work for you. I thought I was just doing something wrong! :rotfl2:

I must have been the same one. I was trying for the Mickey and Minnie one too, and it just kept spitting out different ones. It did work out in the end since I finally did get the one I wanted and tradded Buzz one of the other pennies that had Goofy (one of his favorites) on it for one of his from the malfunctioning machine in EPCOT.


Nice update! Those resorts are so beautiful! Staying there again is definitely on my must do list!

The picture of Mickey and Duffy is adorable! I love him in the sailor suit :)

Someday I'd love to stay at one of the EPCOT resorts again. Boardwalk is at the top of my list, but I wouldn't mind another trip to the Beach Club either- maybe in the summer since the only time we've ever stayed there was for Christmas and it was too cold to go to Stormalong Bay.

I thought the Duffy was a cute touch too. And there will be a lot more Duffy to come later in the report when we get to EPCOT.


Loving the resort pictures. I can't wait to stay at the Yacht Club in Aug.

The Yacht Club in August sounds great. Glad that you're enjoying the pictures.
 
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Within half an hour, we had traveled by bus from the Yacht Club to Downtown Disney Marketplace.


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The first priority of this visit was to see some of the Christmas decorations around the Marketplace and get some pictures of them before it got dark, so we started with the Christmas Tree outside Once Upon A Toy.


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Next we headed on towards the snowpeople inflatables that we had seen the night before by the pin shop. While we were there, they turned on the snow machine for the evening.


We headed over to see the decorations around where Santa Claus was appearing, but as nice as the decorations were, we all got a little distracted by some of the shops. Mom and Dad ended up doing a little Christmas shopping at Basin while I did some exploring in World of Disney.


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I don’t normally get a ton of photos in the Pirates room, so here’s something different for the trip report.


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Of course, one place in the World of Disney that I always have to get pictures in is the Bird Room. Here are a few more entries in what’s becoming a continuing series in my trip reports- Obscure Characters in World of Disney Ceiling Murals. Remember the vultures from The Jungle Book and the Owl from Sleeping Beauty?


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Panchito, one-third of the Three Caballeros.


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Once we were all back together, we headed on towards the West Side. Along the way, we checked out a few of the Lego sculptures outside the Lego Store.


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Woody, in Lego form.


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As we walked through Pleasure Island, I tried to get a few pictures of some of the buildings that were rumored to be getting torn down. Since this photo was taken, the Rock ‘n Roll Beach Club has been demolished.


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I thought that we might have lost the Adventurers Club by now as well, but last I heard it was still up.


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I’m not too sure how much longer we’ll be seeing this sign. Back in December, Disney was hyping that the area would be revitalized and renamed “Hyperion Warf”, but I saw recently on the Disney Parks Blog that Disney is reevaluating their plans that will delay construction. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what finally happens.


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Over at the West Side, we did a little bit more browsing through some of the shops. Even though I’m not into Vinylmation, I think my new favorite store over there is D-Street. The theming and decorations are just so fun, that I spend more time looking up at them than down at the merchandise. Buzz, Mom and I also checked out the Pop Gallery art store which we had never seen before since it’s kind of in a corner between the AMC Theater and old Virgin Megastore than we don’t seem to go in very much. It was interesting, but nor exactly my cup of tea. Dad, our family’s amateur magician, made his usual trip to the Magic Masters store and ended up buying a new trick. We ended our time in the stores of the West Side with a look around the stores at Bongos and House of Blues.


At this time, some of the entertainment at West Side and Pleasure Island was about to start, so we found a place to sit at Pleasure Island across from the old BET Club and waited for it. We were really hoping to see Nova Era, a band that our family always enjoyed back when they used to play at the Italy pavilion in EPCOT years ago. Buzz and I had seen them at Downtown Disney on our last few visits, but Mom and Dad hadn’t seen then in years. When we saw online that they were scheduled to be performing somewhere at Downtown Disney that evening, we knew that we wanted to try and find them.


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While hanging out at Pleasure Island, we watched one of the Living Statues they had outside entertaining guests. Anyone else remember when they used to have these sorts of entertainers over in World Showcase years ago as well? After a while, a Flamenco guitarist came out and we enjoyed a bit of his performance before continuing our search for Nova Era.


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Over at West Side, we spotted a stage and thought that this might be where Nova Era would be performing, but it turned out to be a quartet of Dickens Carolers singing Christmas songs. It wasn’t what we were looking for, but it was still perfect for the evening. They did a lot of our favorite songs and were even taking requests. After a while, we decided to move on in hopes that we still might see Nova Era.


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On our way back to Pleasure Island, we heard a familiar sound. On the stage where the Flamenco guitarist was earlier was Nova Era, at last! If you’ve never seen this group before, they play classical music (Vivaldi, Mozart, etc.) but with a bit of a modern twist along with some original material. Normally they are dressed in more old fashion costumes (like they were when Buzz and I saw them back in November), so it was a little disappointing since I knew Mom and Dad loved their costumes. Still, being able to hear them live for the first time in at least a decade was still a real treat for them and a highlight of the evening. Eventually, we headed back to the Marketplace to get some dinner.


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We decided to get something to eat at Pollo Campero, the new counter service Latin chicken restaurant that had just opened in the former McDonalds location near the Lego store. Buzz and I got the Create Your Own Meal with 3 Chicken Strips, tortillas and a side of sweet plantains. It was pretty tasty, and for $7, not a bad deal as far as Disney goes. To drink, we went horchatas. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s sort of a sweet and creamy rice drink served cold. It’s a great drink by itself, but it also nicely accompanies some of the more spicy and salsa-topped foods here. I can’t really remember what Mom and Dad got here since it has been seven months since the trip and didn’t think to make any notes (I really thought that this report would be long finished by now). At any rate, we really enjoyed Pollo Campero, and I can definitely see us coming here again.


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After dinner, we checked out a few more of the stores in the Marketplace to round out the evening. TrenD is becoming another must-visit for us.


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I love how Edna Mode is included in a little corner of the shop. She seems perfect for a more fashionable Disney boutique. Plus, she isn’t used nearly as much as she could be in the parks, so it’s nice to see her at all!


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Another Villains-themed window had been added to the store since we saw the Cruella one the month before. Looks like even Ursula can’t resist those bags that I’m always seeing in so many of the female DISers’ trip reports.


Once Upon A Toy. Buzz tried his hand at the newly-released Epic Mickey (did I ever mention that he was a Mickey and an Oswald fan long before the game ever came out?) while the rest of us checked out some of the many Disney Parks exclusive toys including more Duffy Bears and his many outfits.


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It was nice to see Tiana included with the other Princesses in the displays in Once Upon A Toy. I enjoyed The Princess and the Frog, and it’s nice to see it continue to have presence in the parks. And speaking of Princesses, this was where I finally found a Rapunzel pin on a small rack with what little Tangled merchandise that was still left. It was the last pin they has left too.


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Since it was Christmastime, the Disney Days of Christmas shop was a must. Since it was Christmastime, it was also almost uncomfortably crowded.


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After visiting a few more shops we had missed earlier (Art of Disney, Pooh Corner, etc.), our last for the evening was Mickey’s Pantry since Mom and Dad wanted to see the new Spice and Tea exchange area ot it. I never noticed the window displays outside the store before, so it was cool to check them out.


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By now, we were ready to head back to Riverside. It was a bit too cold to take the boat back (glad we got to do that the night before when it was warmer), so we hopped on the bus. Once we got back to the resort, we relaxed and got some rest for the next day.



Next chapter: A morning in Future World and the first character encounters of the trip!
 
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Sounds like a great night! I didn't realize there were so many live performers at DTD. The extra magic is a nice touch!

I'm glad you enjoyed Pollo Campero. In May we popped in there to use the restroom and the salsa bar smelled wonderful. We are thinking of trying to grab a meal there next month.

As always, love your pics :thumbsup2
 
Wow, lots of performers at DTD. I never have seen anyone but then again I don't go over to that side too often either. Maybe I need to start!

I always love the pictures you get in the shops of the obscure characters. I really need to learn to pay more attention when I'm in there because I always forget to look for them.
 
Wow I've never seen/heard of those performers in DTD, cool!

You got great shots of the window displays! :thumbsup2
 
Wonderful evening at DTD. I have never been further than the marketplace and hope to do more exploring this time around.
 
Sounds like a great night! I didn't realize there were so many live performers at DTD. The extra magic is a nice touch!

I'm glad you enjoyed Pollo Campero. In May we popped in there to use the restroom and the salsa bar smelled wonderful. We are thinking of trying to grab a meal there next month.

As always, love your pics :thumbsup2

It seems like every time we go to Downtown Disney there is more entertainment there than the time before. It was nice to take the time and enjoy some of the performences.

Pollo Campero was really great; I definitely recommend it. And I can't believe that I forgot to mention the salsa bar in the trip report!


Wow, lots of performers at DTD. I never have seen anyone but then again I don't go over to that side too often either. Maybe I need to start!

I always love the pictures you get in the shops of the obscure characters. I really need to learn to pay more attention when I'm in there because I always forget to look for them.

I think it would worth for you to a make trip over there, especially in the evenings for the entertainment.


Wow I've never seen/heard of those performers in DTD, cool!

You got great shots of the window displays! :thumbsup2

I guess all the entertainment at Downtown Disney is another of those best-kept secrets.

Glad you like the pictures. :)



Wonderful evening at DTD. I have never been further than the marketplace and hope to do more exploring this time around.

I think Marketplace is still my favorite part of Downtown Disney, but there's a lot of great things beyond it too.
 
After two days and not making it to a theme park yet, it was finally time for our one and only park visit of the trip. After a quick breakfast in the room and getting ready for the day, we were off to the bus stop and on our way to EPCOT.


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We made it to EPCOT around 30 minutes before park opening, so after getting through bag check and redeeming our tickets, we got in line at the turnstiles. There, we were greeted by what I can only assume are supposed to be Christmas Trees of the future. They were all around the entrance and in the planters in front of Spaceship Earth. I think they were new for this year since I don’t remember them from past Christmas trips, and I can’t say I really liked them. They just don’t seem very festive, I guess.


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After the turnstiles opened, I got the obligatory of Spaceship Earth in the morning.


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On the way in, I stopped to meet my first character of the trip. I was hoping to find Stitch since I know he usually appears at the entrance and I hadn’t gotten his picture on my last few trips, but he wasn’t out so I decided to meet Daisy Duck instead. After getting a few photos, I asked her to say “hi” to Donald for me before we joined the crowd preparing for the post-rope drop rush to Soarin’. After a brief appearance by Mickey and friends and a countdown, we were on our way to The Land. I’m still not too impressed by EPCOT’s rope drop ceremony. Out of all the parks’ morning ceremonies, I find it the least interesting.


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Even with seemingly everyone in the park descending on Soarin’, the wait didn’t look too bad, so we went ahead and got into the standby line. The wait ended being around 20-30 minutes at the most. As usual, the ride was great- one of our family’s favorites. It’s amazing how you can ride it so often and still notice new things in the film. This time around was my first time noticing all of the different characters marching in the parade along Main Street in the Disneyland segment at the end.


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A view of The Land after we got off Soarin’. It looks a lot more serene when there isn’t a river of people filling the walkway and stairs.


While Soarin’ was a must-do for us, we didn’t really have any other plans for Future World, so after a little discussion, we decided to head over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends and spend some time there until World Showcase opened.


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Before making it to The Seas, I made a quick stop over by the Character Spot at Innoventions. On my last two trips here, I’ve had some good luck finding some unusual characters hanging around just outside of it (Snow White’s Prince last Christmas and Marie the trip before that), so I was curious if my luck would continue.


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Who should I find in the hallway adjacent to the exit of the Character Connection but the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland- and with barely any line. I’d never met her before, so it was great to finally take her photo and get her autograph. I think this is quickly becoming one of my new favorite meet-and-greet locations. You never know who will pop up there!


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Next, we headed on to The Seas with Nemo and Friends.


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The ride ended up being practically a walk-on, which was nice. It’s a cute little ride, but it does have a few “wow” moments, especially the EAC and the finale.


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After the ride, we did a little exploring around the pavilion starting with a performance of Turtle Talk with Crush. Even though we didn’t have any kids with us, we still enjoyed the show. Crush was entertaining and his interactions with both the kids and grown-ups were fantastic. After the show, we spent some time at the aquariums. While we were there, they were doing a dolphin training session - something that we had never seen before at The Seas- from the windows on the second level. In all, we spent about an hour in The Seas, and I’m sure that we could have stayed longer just looking around at the exhibits. However, we wanted to get to World Showcase so we would have plenty of time to enjoy all the Christmas storytellers and entertainment in all of the counties.


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Along the path from Future World to World Showcase, we enjoyed all the Christmas decorations and displays. Since it was so gray and rainy last Christmas, it was fantastic to see these trees with that beautiful blue sky in the background.


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The topiaries that are usually in front of the entrance were moved closer to World Showcase this year.


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The giant Christmas Tree in its usual spot.


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Next chapter: Storytellers and more in World Showcase.
 
Those Christmas Trees or bushes or whatever they are do look quite strange.

I haven't been on Nemo & Friends on my last few trips and my husband and I were just talking about how in January we want to spend some time in that area. He hasn't even seen the manatees and we have both not seen Turtle Talk with Crush. An are we really want to explore more for sure. :thumbsup2
 
How cool that you saw the Queen! I didn't realize they had any characters other the the Fab5 there. That's a great tip :thumbsup2
 
Does the character spot open at the same time as the park opens? I might give it a look this time around
 
I have to agree with you regarding the rope drop "ceremony" at Epcot. Its quite boring compared to the other parks!
 
Those Christmas Trees or bushes or whatever they are do look quite strange.

I haven't been on Nemo & Friends on my last few trips and my husband and I were just talking about how in January we want to spend some time in that area. He hasn't even seen the manatees and we have both not seen Turtle Talk with Crush. An are we really want to explore more for sure. :thumbsup2

I'm glad that we're not the only one who thought the "Christmas trees" looked a little off. I miss when they used to have the Christmas trees made of pointsettias there. Those were very festive-looking.


How cool that you saw the Queen! I didn't realize they had any characters other the the Fab5 there. That's a great tip :thumbsup2

Usually the characters in the main area are just the Fab 5, but they will put other characters out randomly in the hallway right by the exit or just outside near the back of Club Cool. You don't even have to go through the line at the Character Spot to see the random characters either, which is nice. Here's a few more characters that I spotted there last year just to give more of an idea where they show up and who has appeared:

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Does the character spot open at the same time as the park opens? I might give it a look this time around

I believe it does open with the park, but I think it's usually just the Fab 5. When I've been there, if a random character shows up, it does so about30 minutes to an hour later.


I have to agree with you regarding the rope drop "ceremony" at Epcot. Its quite boring compared to the other parks!

It really is. Especially since we had seen the opening at Animal Kingdom for the first time a month earlier, it seemed a bit anticlimactic. And there's really no comparing it at all to the extravaganza that Magic Kingdom does.
 
Ahh, the Christmas pictures are making me really want to go again during the holidays! I've been debating lately whether or not I should keep the Dec. reservation we have or change it for another time. Those pictures are not helping at all!

That's cool you saw the Queen of Hearts at the character spot. I remember one time, a couple years ago, we met Snow White there.
 
Ahh, the Christmas pictures are making me really want to go again during the holidays! I've been debating lately whether or not I should keep the Dec. reservation we have or change it for another time. Those pictures are not helping at all!

That's cool you saw the Queen of Hearts at the character spot. I remember one time, a couple years ago, we met Snow White there.

Sorry to be so un-helpful. Christmas at Disney is wonderful though. What other time are you thinking about changing it to?
 

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