Very Merry D23 Holidaze Dec 2009 TR - 7 magical park days! updt 7/1

[MyMuse]

I headed for the exit and realized that the Castle lights will go on at 6:15pm. How did I not know that?! Karma! It is Cinderella’s Holiday Wish. I got a somewhat decent spot, considering I am late to the game.

waiting for the castle lights to come on...holiday wish!
6:13 PM Dec 8th

The videos!







It was just beautiful! Was it odd that after it was over, I just sat there & gawked? I’m so so so glad I was able to see it.

Some tweets sent out

cinderella's holiday wish for the castle. amazing!
6:26 PM Dec 8th

castle lighting was amazing. just going to sit here & stare (gawk?) for awhile #mkcastleisbeautiful
6:28 PM Dec 8th

 

[MyMuse]

After the area cleared out a bit, I walked down Main Street slowly, taking photos along the way of anything that catches me little eye.

mk christmas tree
6:44 PM Dec 8th

Mickey's Christmas Carol windows!

yes, another pic of letterbox - lol

I will be back for you!

The posters inside the railroad station...

leaving magic kingdom...forgot AGAIN to stop photopass in front of park b4 turnstile. argh.
6:58 PM Dec 8th

I forgot to have a PP again at the front of MK for a nighttime pic. Argh.

Goodbye Magic Kingdom! I'll see you again D23's Magic & Merriment weekend!!
7:04 PM Dec 8th

I called friends Mary & Jennifer; Jennifer, maybe I’ll see tomorrow and Mary was at dinner at Wilderness Lodge. We are to will meet up at Bay Lake later so they can show me their DVC studio.

I told them I will pick them up at Wilderness Lodge. It was crazy that they should do all kinds of routes to get back to their resort when I can easily drive there and pick them up in minutes. I exit out of Magic Kingdom, head to my car (which is not far away) and with my trusty Disney POI, I easily get to Wilderness Lodge.

 

[dawnbu40]

I all the night pictures! The castle is breathtaking in icicle lights! Seeing that made my whole Dec trip in 2008!

Looking forward to resort pics!

 

[KatGarcia]

Nice updates! I need to catch the castle lights, it looks beautiful!

 

[MyMuse]

So, I left Magical Kingdom and arrive at Wilderness Lodge.

I do the show-me-your-license-why–are-you-here-thing at the front gate, park and find Mary & her mom still eating at Whispering Canyon. So, I go and wander around a bit and end up at their counter-service place, Roaring Fork, ordering Wilderness Salad & hot chocolate for $11.91 at 8:12pm.

I just started eating when Mary came to get me, so I packed it all up & headed out to the car. We get to Bay Lake Towers easily and find a parking space.

Bay Lake Towers is adjacent to Contemporary, pretty much the same place actually.

Here’s what a (DVC) studio at Bay Lake looks like:
The Hallway

I want this!

Then Mary’s mom goes, “well, let’s go to see the fireworks”. I thought, ok, well, I can do that; it’s either a short walk or car ride. So, we take an elevator down and then we meet some sort of DVC person and we get escorted to a private elevator back up.

We are going to see Holiday Wishes FROM THE TOP OF BAY LAKE TOWERS!!!!

The restaurant/bar is called “Top of the World” but we never went inside. I was so excited that I stayed outside on the balcony. I think we were on the 16th floor? Wishes starts at 9:30pm.

I think there was us and a handful of other people. The music was piped in and it was just the coolest.

Some tweets:
waiting for holidays wishes from the top of bay lake towers!! woot!
9:02 PM Dec 8th

5 min to holiday wishes from top of bay lake towers!! whoo-hoooo
9:27 PM Dec 8th

electrical light parade just went by
9:29 PM Dec 8th

Pics while waiting...
Big Mickey on side of Contemporary...didn't come out well

Electrical Light Parade

Video!





A big thank you goes out to Mary's mom & Mary!!! I'm so glad i was able to see this, it was spectacular!!!


Up Next: more Bay Lake Towers!

 

[MyMuse]

Afterwards, I toured more of Bay Lake Towers with Mary, took more pics, said goodbye to Mary and headed back to my resort.

Outside their balcony

Nicer pic of Comtemporary wreath (from breezeway btwn Bay Lake & Contemporary)

Pool area

Lobby

From parking space

Ahhh...what a night! what a full day! Another 16-ish hour day?

I think it is around 10:30pm by now. I arrive back at my resort to find my “do not disturb” sign gone, housekeeping came in despite my sign (which annoyed me to no end) and found no one at the front desk. I return to my condo and made numerous calls to “resort hotline” and front desk and nothing. What an ending to the day! Where is everyone!?@#

But I did send out this nice tweet in response to a few I got.

Holiday Wishes from top of Bay Lake Towers was AMAZING!!
11:38 PM Dec 8th

no one at front desk. no one answering "resort hotline". ARGH. just when i started liking the place. sigh.
11:49 PM Dec 8th

After this, I did end up falling asleep at midnight, but woke up at 1am, just to undress and decide to take a shower in the morning.

I'll deal with the rest of this stuff in the morning. There's no sirens going off, no other guests seem to be worried, the waters is still running, so I determined there was no immediate emergency.

 

[MyMuse]

I all the night pictures! The castle is breathtaking in icicle lights! Seeing that made my whole Dec trip in 2008!

Looking forward to resort pics!

Christmas holidays really are spectacular at Disney. I was really happy I was able to see the Castle Lighting. I don't know why I didn't have that in my schedule. *slaps forehead*

Nice updates! I need to catch the castle lights, it looks beautiful!

It was great! Did you watch the video?

 

[MyMuse]

I am putting this TR on hold until I return from the current trip. I hope you enjoyed the updates so far!

I can't believe it has taken me this long; there is one more park day, then I took a break to visit family and then I came back for 2 days of D23's Magic & Merriment party at Epcot & Magic Kingdom.

If you would like you can follow my via Twitter at:
http://twitter.com/MyMuse18​

You do not have to join twitter, if you don't want to, the page is open to the public.

I will not be updating the Facebook page. If you want my link there, just send me a PM and I'll be happy to add you on.

 

[jenseib]

Have fun! My mom and dad were at MK yesterday and siad there was no longer than a 10 minute wait for anything.

 

[MyMuse]

Hi all, I am back home and will be back to updating this TR as soon as I can!

Thanks for hanging in!

After this is over, then I will start the TR for the quick March trip, that I just came back from. I promise it will be done quickly.

 

[jenseib]

 

[If U Had Wings]

All the pictures are just wonderful. What a great place to watch the fireworks from.

 

[wdwfan22]

Wow!! What a great trip report. I read it all today. (Not the PTR stuff though) You take great pictures and I love re-living DW through you. I was there about the same time as you. My sister and I were there from Dec 2 - 8. So I know how rainy the 4th was. We spent the day at AK with very low crowds, had an early dinner at the Boardwalk at Big River Grill (my favorite Beer Cheese soup ever) then the evening at Epcot.

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to your March report.

 

[MyMuse]

All the pictures are just wonderful. What a great place to watch the fireworks from.

It was really cool! I enjoyed it so much and for my friend & mom, all they had to do was go downstairs and to bed. Best way to watch foreworks. I'm hoing to do it agian someday.

Wow!! What a great trip report. I read it all today. (Not the PTR stuff though) You take great pictures and I love re-living DW through you. I was there about the same time as you. My sister and I were there from Dec 2 - 8. So I know how rainy the 4th was. We spent the day at AK with very low crowds, had an early dinner at the Boardwalk at Big River Grill (my favorite Beer Cheese soup ever) then the evening at Epcot.

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to your March report.

Thanks!

I ate at big River last March. I didn't know they had Beer Cheese Soup! (ala LeCellier?). I probably walked past you at Epcot.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the report!


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I will try to update tonight. I woke up today with a horrid sore throat but the doc said it was fine, so I'm hoping it will go away soon.

 

[wdwfan22]

Thanks!

I ate at big River last March. I didn't know they had Beer Cheese Soup! (ala LeCellier?). I probably walked past you at Epcot.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the report!


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I will try to update tonight. I woke up today with a horrid sore throat but the doc said it was fine, so I'm hoping it will go away soon.

I hope you feel better. Those sore throats can be soooo painful!!
I personally like the Beer Cheese soup at Big River Grill much better than Le Cellier. It is smoother and creamier. My sister and I split a salad and each had 2 bowls of soup. They were small!

 

[MyMuse]

Last I saw you, I was heading home from a fun-filled day at the Magic Kingdom and had just touring Bay Lake & saw the fab Wishes from the 16th floor of Bay Lake ie: "Top of the World", a gift from Mary & her mom.


Wednesday, December 9 – Hollywood Studios!

I woke at 6:19am, got ready and made a call to the front desk & still no answer. Frustrating!

Ready at 8am & heading out but got knock on the door, thought it was to help with my concerns of the previous evening but it was just “Owner Services” trying to get me to buy another week. Yeah, not gonna happen buddy. It took 15 minutes to get rid of him and let him know exactly what I thought, plus the Do Not Disturb sign never got replaced all day. Figures. *rolleyes*

I arrived at Hollywood Studios, did Diamond Parking a little after 8:30am. I met up with Mary & her mom and was able to see rope drop. It was the movie director and very cute & funny. I don't think I got whacked with any backpacks this time.

Rope Drop Video!

Mary went off to get us Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania (thanks Mary!) and I went off to Starring Rolls (first time ever!) for breakfast. I got a danish & ice tea for $5.10 at 9:02am. Mary’s mom went somewhere around the hat, looking at pins I think. I think I was their first customer and they definitely did not expect me that early! LOL! But I never seem to catch this place open. I finished in a few minutes and was able to locate Mary’s mom and Mary wasn’t even back yet from getting FPs. Our FPs are for 10:05am and this would be my first time on TSM. I just never bothered before.

After we met back up, we went on the Great Movie Ride. I did ask if we can get the cowboy scene but they said it was happen after 12noon?? So we got the gangster scene (gotta love the Jersey joke in it), then hit Mermaid for the 9:45am show. This show is so cute! I love it! We just walked in, no wait, perfect timing.

did rd at hs, brkfst, now on movie ride!
9:18 AM Dec 9th

no wait at movie ride & able to walk in to little mermaid...love this show!
9:47 AM Dec 9th from

Our FPs for TSM were now good, so off we went. I did like it! It was cute! I got 63,500 points & 73% accuracy. I thought that was pretty good for a first-timer.

I'm not what was happening in this pic, but I thought it was funny

Candyland!!!

My fav spud!

We got another FP for 1:40pm & we got to see the Green Army Men! No Pixar Lamp though.

40 min for toy story....got fp earlier for 10.05....now for 1.40pm
10:15 AM Dec 9th

You can't overly see them, but the triplet girls were adorable!!

 

[dawnbu40]

Great rope drop pics! I really like the one that you can see the Animation Building through the arch

Glad you finally got to try our DHS favorite ride and with 73% accuracy!

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the day!

 

[MyMuse]

I hope you feel better. Those sore throats can be soooo painful!!
I personally like the Beer Cheese soup at Big River Grill much better than Le Cellier. It is smoother and creamier. My sister and I split a salad and each had 2 bowls of soup. They were small!

I basically went home, dropped into bed and slept until this morning, where, thankfully, my body knew when to get up since I never put the alarm on.

I'm going to have to try Big River again for next time. I'll probably have a car then.

Great rope drop pics! I really like the one that you can see the Animation Building through the arch

Glad you finally got to try our DHS favorite ride and with 73% accuracy!

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the day!

That is fav. One day, I'll be able to get a shot without people. Maybe.

I did get to go on TSM a few more times, but I never went to DHS this recent trip. I will make it up to DHS next go around.

I will try to get those updates in ASAP! I have to babysit CJ tonight, so tomorrow I should be able to get at least the rest of the day up.

 

[wdwfan22]

Wow! 73% accuracy is really good. I love HS and it sounds like the crowds were good! HS seems to be the only park I always make rope drop. I made it to MK on my Dec trip, but they were filming the parade that day so they only had a VERY small show, (no train) and one tunnel was open. It was a madhouse. But still fun!!

 

[If U Had Wings]

I just love the army men! I saw the pixar lamp this trip, but it was as I was rushing to get on TSM. By the time I got off the ride it was gone so I didn't get any pictures.