Parks and Pop Century *And* A Park and Pop Century Christmas! *Plus* Downtown Disney

[Lady Lallie]

I just love looking at all of the Holiday pictures from Disney. They are so pretty. I think it's great that they have that tree lot too, it's just a nice touch!

 

[meeko_33785]

Hi Meeko,

Enjoying all the updates! I love all the decorations Disney do, they're all spectacular!
Busch Gardens looks really good, we've never been before. I liked the look of the ice show.

Di x

Thanks Di.

Buzz and I always enjoy Busch Gardens. The ice show was top notch. They use to ice shows all year long but stopped doing them completly at one point. Last year they started up the Christmas ice shows and it has been a fantastic addition for the Holidays. Nice to have ice shows again, if only for Christmastime.

I just love looking at all of the Holiday pictures from Disney. They are so pretty. I think it's great that they have that tree lot too, it's just a nice touch!

Thanks. I'm hoping to come back with plenty of Holiday pictures from our next trip. I've decided to make it a priority this year. Between MK and Grand Floridian alone, I'm sure they'll be lots of oppertunities.

 

[meeko_33785]

The planning us done and the trip is coming soon. If something interesting does happen or change between now and the trip I’ll be sure to update, but otherwise, I think this will be it. Thanks to everyone who has been reading through this period between the August trip report ended and the December trip report begins, especially Dr. Finkelstein and Lady Lallie for all your responses and encouragements. It’s been fun.


The Parks and Pop Century report will continue with more photos once I get back. Hope to see you all then.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Have a wonderful, magic filled trip!

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Meeko,

Have a great trip when it comes! can't wait to hear all about it!

Di x

 

[meeko_33785]

We're back from WDW! It was a nice visit packed with Holiday cheer. I'll be starting the trip report soon, but for now I've added a few pictures from the trip as a preview to Post #1 on the first page of this report. Just scroll past all the preview photos and links from the August trip report and you'll find them. Stay tuned for more.

 

[Lady Lallie]

Welcome Back! I am glad you had a great trip.

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Meeko,

Welcome back! Glad you enjoyed your trip, can't wait to hear all about it!

Di x

 

[meeko_33785]

Welcome Back! I am glad you had a great trip.

Thanks.

Hi Meeko,

Welcome back! Glad you enjoyed your trip, can't wait to hear all about it!

Di x

Thanks. I should start getting the report started soon. I'm trying to get the first installment up tomorrow. We'll have to wait and see if I do, but that's what I'm hoping for.

 

[meeko_33785]

The trip starts off on a slightly stressful note, for me at least. When I had been planning, I had been anticipating that we would be arriving at Magic Kingdom by 10am, but by 9:45, we were just pulling in to Pop Century. The stress appears to be mine alone. Everyone else reminds me that we don’t need to worry about a schedule; we’re on vacation. Easier said than done!

As we head into the lobby, I snap a few quick pics as I walk.

I wasn’t really happy with his pic, so I decided I’d try again latter. It’s hard to get a good shot on the move.


Dad and I head to the desk to check in. Not surprisingly, our rooms aren’t ready. We’ll be in the 70s area in the building with the giant Big Wheel and very close to the bus stop and food court. No adjoining rooms this time, but they will be next to each other. We can live with that for one night.

Once we’re all checked in, we head to the bus stop. It's a cloudy day, but the sun seems to be trying hard to come out.

In a few minutes, not one but two buses to the Magic Kingdom pull up.

We’re whisked by bus to the Magic Kingdom. No music this time. Seems like we usually seem to get buses without music on the way to the park and then get buses with music when we’re leaving the park. I have no idea why. Maybe it’s just coincidence.


As usual, the first stop of the day will be Town Square to see some characters. Before the trip, I had decided to make finding Daisy Duck, Pinocchio and Geppetto a priority since I hadn’t met them in 5 of more years. For some reason, I always seem to skip them. Geppetto was nowhere to be found, but Daisy and Pinocchio were out. I got in line for Daisy while the rest of the family went to check out the Christmas decorations in Town Square.

While I’m waiting, I get a few pictures from the line.

Here’s Daisy! She’s had a bit of a makeover and gotten a new outfit since the last time I saw her six years ago, so it was great to finally get her picture again. She looks great! Pinocchio had a good-sized line and I figured that the rest of the family would enjoy heading off to do some attractions instead of waiting for me to meet another character. Unfortunately, I never saw Pinocchio again today. I guess he and Geppetto will be added to the priority list for the next trip.

A quick look at the tree before heading on. It was hard trying to get any shots of the other decorations around the Square since Chip, Dale and Pluto were appearing in front of the tree and their lines were blocking the views of them. We’ll see them later in the day once the characters leave.

Main Street looked great decorated for Christmas. On the way up the street, we stop at the Tip Board to see the wait times. Buzz and I defiantly wanted to try and get on Big Thunder Mountain since we missed it in August. The wait looked a little long, but we figure that we’ll head over there, grab a FastPass and the four of us can go ride Pirates of the Caribbean, which didn’t appear to have a very long line.



Next chapter: On to Frontierland… and Adventureland… and Tomorrowland

 

[Lady Lallie]

Daisy looks so cute in her outfit.

It does look a gloomy day, I hope the sun breaks out for you.

 

[meeko_33785]

Daisy looks so cute in her outfit.

It does look a gloomy day, I hope the sun breaks out for you.

It was a bit of a cloudy day, but unlike August, it was totally rain-free. There will be a little blue in the sky here and there.

 

[RachelNinja]

I like the picture of the firehouse! I guess I never paid much attention to Main Street before because I didn't know what it looked like at all. I was particularly interested in seeing it after reading Kingdom Keepers because some of the action happens in the upper room, and I couldn't visualize that part of Main Street in my mind. Looking forward to more! Glad you had a great trip

 

[meeko_33785]

I like the picture of the firehouse! I guess I never paid much attention to Main Street before because I didn't know what it looked like at all. I was particularly interested in seeing it after reading Kingdom Keepers because some of the action happens in the upper room, and I couldn't visualize that part of Main Street in my mind. Looking forward to more! Glad you had a great trip

Nice to see you again. Glad that you're enjoying it.

 

[meeko_33785]

On our way to Big Thunder Mountain, we pass through Liberty Square and the rest of Frontierland.

Some Christmas decorations in Frontierland.

The Liberty Square Riverboat coming our way. That’s Frontierland, Liberty Square and Fantasyland all in one picture.


When we got to Big Thunder, we discover that the FastPass window is right in the middle of our lunch ADR for today. That wasn’t going to work, so we passed on it and headed to Adventureland.

On our way to Pirates of the Caribbean, I found Peter Pan out for meet-and-greets with no one in line to see him. It seems like whenever I see Peter by himself he rarely has anyone lined up to see him, but he always has a line to see him if Wendy’s by his side. Not sure if that’s always the case, but that’s what I’ve noticed.

Some of the theming of Caribbean Plaza. It seems like every time we come here we notice something we’ve never noticed before.

On to Pirates of the Caribbean! The line’s not too long and moves quickly.

The ride was fun as usual. This was the second time that Mom, Dad and I had ridden since they added Captain Jack to the ride, so we noticed a lot more details this time around. After the ride, Mom and I were talking about how we noticed the rope made of sheets coming down out of the window above where Captain Jack was hiding behind the dress maker’s dummies. Apparently Dad didn’t understand the scene and thought that Jack was just hanging out with headless women. We love you Dad. As the ride went on, we stopped a couple of times (once near Captain Jack hiding in the barrel, once near the pirate with all the cats), giving us a little more time to check out details. As we were getting out of our boat at the end of the ride, a CM was telling everyone that Pirates of the Caribbean had opened exactly 35 years ago that day. None of us knew that it was the ride’s anniversary! How fitting that it was out first tide of the day.

After Pirates of the Caribbean, we leave Adventureland and head for Tomorrowland for Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.

A quick picture of the Castle on the way. Can’t have too many pictures of it, you know.

Buzz Lightyear had about a 20 minute wait, so we just get in line. Another fun ride, and like Pirates, the ride stopped half-way through. We managed to get some extra points out of the stop, so it was alright.

I can never remember my score, so I managed to get a picture of it at the end of the ride. Not my best, but ok.

Buzz fared much better than I did. Nice job!



Next chapter: Christmas decorations and more

 

[Lady Lallie]

I love your picture of Fantasyland, Frontierland and Liberty Square all in one picture. Very nice.

I love the theming of Liberty Square, I could just wander around there for hours enjoying it.

 

[meeko_33785]

I love your picture of Fantasyland, Frontierland and Liberty Square all in one picture. Very nice.

I love the theming of Liberty Square, I could just wander around there for hours enjoying it.

Thanks. It is such a nice little area.

 

[Dr_Finkelstein]

Hi Meeko,

Enjoying all the updates and the photos! I just love seeing all the decorations! Sounds like a fun trip so far.

Di x

 

[meeko_33785]

Hi Meeko,

Enjoying all the updates and the photos! I just love seeing all the decorations! Sounds like a fun trip so far.

Di x

Hi! I should have plenty more pics of the decorations to come in the next few chapters. I doubt any of them will be up before Christmas though, but hopefully by the end weekend I'll get at least one up.

 

[meeko_33785]

Hey everyone. I just wanted to wish all of you Seasons Greetings and a very merry Christmas. I'll start working on the next installment for the report (which, perhaps ironically, is mostly about Christmas decorations) after the holiday. Hopefully you all won't mind seeing more Christmas pictures after Christmas is over. Until then, I hope that you and all your families has a great holiday.