Leshaface
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2008
Saturday, January 2, 2016
The Craziness of the Lights
I had gotten lucky during dinner and scored a FP for TGMR for 5:25 and then we’d head over to the Osborne lights, so we paid the bill and took off.
We scored the last row of the very last vehicle. We’ve been very lucky that day always getting in at the last second! Only grabbed this one picture. Meh, I suck.
After the ride it was time to see what this whole trip was based around… the Lights!
Holy. Calrissian.
Remember, this was the second to last day that the Osborne Lights would be up (found out during that trip that Disney extended the end date!), add to that that this was a Saturday night. This was the busiest I’ve seen any park ever in my entire life, including Disneyland. CM’s were directing traffic going into the Streets of America and getting there took close to 10 minutes and we hadn’t even seen lights yet!
We finally, FINALLY made it to the actual lights!
DS was all about the snoap!
Although it’s blurry, I love his face in this one. He looks like he’s in awe of what he’s seeing
Yep. It was even more gorgeous then the first time I had seen it in 2012.
I want to include this picture to show how the crowds were for us in 2012
As you can see, plenty of room to walk without stepping on anyone, plenty of room to stop and take a picture. It was great!
Fast forward to today and this is what we have
Everyone was taking baby steps, trying not to trample on anyone, folks were attempting to take family pics, but walking while they were doing it. And in past years when we were able to stop and take it all in, we really couldn’t unless we wanted to stop the flow of traffic. I actually found the whole thing to be more stressful than exciting. And I could sense that around me with others as well.
I didn’t take many pictures, I was trying to enjoy this last experience with my family, but I made sure to get that Hidden Mickey and the reindeer with the NYC skyline!
It took 20 MINUTES to baby step it from the beginning of the street to the end! Although I’m super happy that we were able to see it, I was glad to be out of there.
We were all ready to go and check out our place at the Poly so we headed out but stopped for a picture without the hat (And yes, I am the only one who misses the hat! )
DS wanted to walk (who can blame him?! That stroller is awful. Have I mentioned how terrible that stroller is??? ) but he just wasn’t keeping up and there was lots of people leaving, so DH flung him over his shoulder with lots of kicking and squealing from DS. Being the phenomenal mother that I am, I took a picture.
We did let him run around in the bus stop area though. Because we’re tremendous parents Don’t’ worry, we made sure he didn’t run in front of a bus or anything
Fantasmic was going on while we were waiting
Forty minutes later scared1, I took my first picture of the Poly as a staying guest!
And I realized I’ve never been on the ground level of the Poly before! (less blurry pics later, I was rushing.)
This was the plan. I’d go check us in, DH would call about the stroller again and DM would entertain DS.
I wish I could say check in was a breeze, but it wasn’t. There was an issue with the MB’s again While the nice CM was checking us in, the manager came over and gave us 4 leis for the family, which was awesome! I had forgotten that they did that. I took them over to the seating area where DS and DM were. DH was over at Bell Services (he was asking about our luggage and groceries) and walked over to us. He gave us some good and bad news. DH was talking about our situation with our lost stroller to the CM's and they called SW for us and they had already located our stroller! The bad news was it was in route to Old Key West. Bell Services called OKW to confirm this and it was indeed already there. DH asked about the easiest way to get there and without hesitation, one of the CM’s said, I’ll personally take you there to get it. I LOVE DISNEY CM’S!!! So DH went off with the CM while the CM’s I was working with were still in the process of checking us in. In total it was close to 20 minutes and for whatever reason, they ended up changing our room from the Pago Pago building to the Moorea.
The manager was insistent that the CM helping us go with us personally to the room to make sure all our MB’s worked, although I assured him we would be fine. The CM was already around the counter when she told me to follow her. The service was outstanding. We talked about her job and how much she loved working at WDW but loved it even more exploring WDW when she had days off.
She checked all our MB's on the lock and they all worked and she left us to explore our room!
The Craziness of the Lights
I had gotten lucky during dinner and scored a FP for TGMR for 5:25 and then we’d head over to the Osborne lights, so we paid the bill and took off.
We scored the last row of the very last vehicle. We’ve been very lucky that day always getting in at the last second! Only grabbed this one picture. Meh, I suck.
After the ride it was time to see what this whole trip was based around… the Lights!
Holy. Calrissian.
Remember, this was the second to last day that the Osborne Lights would be up (found out during that trip that Disney extended the end date!), add to that that this was a Saturday night. This was the busiest I’ve seen any park ever in my entire life, including Disneyland. CM’s were directing traffic going into the Streets of America and getting there took close to 10 minutes and we hadn’t even seen lights yet!
We finally, FINALLY made it to the actual lights!
DS was all about the snoap!
Although it’s blurry, I love his face in this one. He looks like he’s in awe of what he’s seeing
Yep. It was even more gorgeous then the first time I had seen it in 2012.
I want to include this picture to show how the crowds were for us in 2012
As you can see, plenty of room to walk without stepping on anyone, plenty of room to stop and take a picture. It was great!
Fast forward to today and this is what we have
Everyone was taking baby steps, trying not to trample on anyone, folks were attempting to take family pics, but walking while they were doing it. And in past years when we were able to stop and take it all in, we really couldn’t unless we wanted to stop the flow of traffic. I actually found the whole thing to be more stressful than exciting. And I could sense that around me with others as well.
I didn’t take many pictures, I was trying to enjoy this last experience with my family, but I made sure to get that Hidden Mickey and the reindeer with the NYC skyline!
It took 20 MINUTES to baby step it from the beginning of the street to the end! Although I’m super happy that we were able to see it, I was glad to be out of there.
We were all ready to go and check out our place at the Poly so we headed out but stopped for a picture without the hat (And yes, I am the only one who misses the hat! )
DS wanted to walk (who can blame him?! That stroller is awful. Have I mentioned how terrible that stroller is??? ) but he just wasn’t keeping up and there was lots of people leaving, so DH flung him over his shoulder with lots of kicking and squealing from DS. Being the phenomenal mother that I am, I took a picture.
We did let him run around in the bus stop area though. Because we’re tremendous parents Don’t’ worry, we made sure he didn’t run in front of a bus or anything
Fantasmic was going on while we were waiting
Forty minutes later scared1, I took my first picture of the Poly as a staying guest!
And I realized I’ve never been on the ground level of the Poly before! (less blurry pics later, I was rushing.)
This was the plan. I’d go check us in, DH would call about the stroller again and DM would entertain DS.
I wish I could say check in was a breeze, but it wasn’t. There was an issue with the MB’s again While the nice CM was checking us in, the manager came over and gave us 4 leis for the family, which was awesome! I had forgotten that they did that. I took them over to the seating area where DS and DM were. DH was over at Bell Services (he was asking about our luggage and groceries) and walked over to us. He gave us some good and bad news. DH was talking about our situation with our lost stroller to the CM's and they called SW for us and they had already located our stroller! The bad news was it was in route to Old Key West. Bell Services called OKW to confirm this and it was indeed already there. DH asked about the easiest way to get there and without hesitation, one of the CM’s said, I’ll personally take you there to get it. I LOVE DISNEY CM’S!!! So DH went off with the CM while the CM’s I was working with were still in the process of checking us in. In total it was close to 20 minutes and for whatever reason, they ended up changing our room from the Pago Pago building to the Moorea.
The manager was insistent that the CM helping us go with us personally to the room to make sure all our MB’s worked, although I assured him we would be fine. The CM was already around the counter when she told me to follow her. The service was outstanding. We talked about her job and how much she loved working at WDW but loved it even more exploring WDW when she had days off.
She checked all our MB's on the lock and they all worked and she left us to explore our room!