Where has all of the magic gone? Our November 2015 Trip

[disneylove69]

On board

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Fun report! Love your kiddo's reactions to the Tremaine family.

 

[disneyguy4life]

Great TR so far. I can't wait to hear more. I wanted to stay at Port Orleans FQ on our last trip. But we ended up staying at Riverside. Have you stayed there? If so, how do they compare?

 

[BridgetR3]

On board

Thanks for joining along!

Fun report! Love your kiddo's reactions to the Tremaine family.

Yep they were quite fun to mess with!! I seriously considered booking a 1900 Park Fare for our next trip just to have the fun interaction again.

Great TR so far. I can't wait to hear more. I wanted to stay at Port Orleans FQ on our last trip. But we ended up staying at Riverside. Have you stayed there? If so, how do they compare?

Thanks for coming along! I have never stayed at Riverside although we did visit that resort on this trip and I almost got run over by a horse!! Anyways.....I know that Riverside is HUGE compared to the small size of French Quarter. I loved the look of the mansions at Riverside.

 

[BridgetR3]

After dinner we headed back to Magic Kingdom for a few rides and our final fast pass.

Gorgeous blurry train station picture.....

We headed up to the top floor of the train station and the Anna and Elsa show was going on so we took a minute to watch it.....not that you could see ANYTHING from here but still.....

We eventually made our way into the train station and in line for the next train.
I don't ever remember riding the train after dark before so this was a neat experience.

A photo of the monorail station as we passed....

We got off in Frontierland and went to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. It had a 20 minute wait but we decided that we had nothing better to do so we waited in line. However, I'm terrible at dark photos as you can already see, so we have no Pirates photos.

After riding Pirates we decided to head over to see the second Anna and Elsa castle lighting show. Along the way, I found this fountain....

I took this picture looking back at Main Street and the next one looking forward at the castle.

I just love the castle with the lights on it!! And because I photograph it A LOT, here are a few of my pictures....

We headed towards the Fastpass viewing spot for the evening. On this night, we chose the spot in front of Casey's. We actually had fastpasses for Wishes for two nights so we watched it from both spots.

We've seen the Electrical parade a kabillion times.....okay maybe not a kabillion but enough so it's not a big deal for me to line up to see it. With that in mind, we just hung out by the back fence in the fastpass viewing area and watched the parade from there.

Here's some pics of what we saw.....

As you can see, there are heads in my photos but honestly there would be people in front of me from just about anywhere so I'm good with staying in the FP area.

After the parade passed, the castle lit back up and of course, I had to take a picture!

Soon we were watching Celebrate the Magic!

I had never tried to photograph it before but these two did come out.

My thoughts on the fastpass viewing area - I LOVE it.....not because it's a great spot to see the fireworks although it is pretty good but because you don't have to smash in like sardines. No one is going to have a kid on their shoulders right in front of you and MOST times, you can even stay seated throughout the ENTIRE show!!

I know that many people have varying feelings about the quality of the views from this spot but we don't watch wishes any other way.

After Wishes we never head out in the rush to the buses because you will wait forever in a line so we always go ride, go shopping or go to Monster's Inc to wait for the crowds to dissipate.

Since we were on the left side of the castle we headed through Liberty Square and ended up at It's a Small World.

After IASW, we headed over to Mickey's Philharmagic which DS2 HATES because he says, "They are all being mean to Donald." rofl......

Oh you want a picture as proof??? Here ya go!

High quality right there!

Another high quality photo!!

After those two, we left the park to head "home".

Yuck, another blurry pic!

We were back at our resort fairly early since Wishes was at 9.

So we decided to have snacks.....

Day 2 coming up! WE head to Hollywood Studios for the reason for our trip - Osborne Lights!

 

[ariane37]

Going back a-ways but those pirate treasure hunt stations look so cool! That's one thing my boys have never done. I keep trying to get them to do it, they do enjoy Agent P so I think at least younger DS10 would like this......going to have to try harder next trip lol!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I just love the Castle Lights. One of my favourite parts about WDW at Christmas.

 

[BridgetR3]

Going back a-ways but those pirate treasure hunt stations look so cool! That's one thing my boys have never done. I keep trying to get them to do it, they do enjoy Agent P so I think at least younger DS10 would like this......going to have to try harder next trip lol!

We love Agent P as well! These are quicker in my opinion than the Agent P missions and there is not as much dialogue with them. I think they would definitely enjoy them!

I just love the Castle Lights. One of my favourite parts about WDW at Christmas.

Yes, I LOVE the castle lights and the Osborne Lights..........I could photograph those two FOREVER!! Oh and Spaceship Earth.....that's another one that i take pics of EVERY.single.time! lol.....

 

[Amy&Dan]

Loving your report! And we are very big fans of the Wishes Fastpass as well. Not sure we will ever see them any other way either!

 

[BridgetR3]

Loving your report! And we are very big fans of the Wishes Fastpass as well. Not sure we will ever see them any other way either!

Thank you for reading along!! I totally agree that I don't think we could ever go back to the sardine way.

 

[condorthb]

Bumptastic

 

[Gisele]

OK now...... like maaannn.... where is page three?

The rotisserie chicken meal looks simply delicious! Totally yummy looking........

 

[heaven2dc]

Love your TR! and also love the castle pics <3 I love Cinderella Castle during the Christmas holidays! I've never seen Celebrate the Magic yet (our last trip was in 2010) - sad to see Osbourne Lights go away. We won't be back probably until 2017 but enjoyed seeing them the last 2 visits.

 

[disneyguy4life]

I agree. I don't think that spot is all that bad. You don't have to squeeze in next to a guy that has severe B.O. or like you said a kid on the shoulders. Its worth the slightly less full view.

 

[BridgetR3]

OK now...... like maaannn.... where is page three?

The rotisserie chicken meal looks simply delicious! Totally yummy looking........

lol....I got a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas so it is now taking up some of my DIS time! I'll get back to it, I promise!

Love your TR! and also love the castle pics <3 I love Cinderella Castle during the Christmas holidays! I've never seen Celebrate the Magic yet (our last trip was in 2010) - sad to see Osbourne Lights go away. We won't be back probably until 2017 but enjoyed seeing them the last 2 visits.

Everything about the Christmas season is magical except the crowds!

I agree. I don't think that spot is all that bad. You don't have to squeeze in next to a guy that has severe B.O. or like you said a kid on the shoulders. Its worth the slightly less full view.

Yes, I agree! It's our favorite!

 

[BridgetR3]

So our next day was a visit to Hollywood Studios. Our plan was to see all that we wanted to see at HS in the morning, visit the Epcot resorts in the afternoon and return for dinner at Sci Fi with an evening dedicated to the Osborne Lights. The saying that fits here is "The best laid plans of mice and men....." Can you finish that saying? Oh yeah, that was our day!

We planned to be at the park for rope drop so we got up fairly early and headed out.

Being in building 4 at POFQ we were super close to the bus stop. Everyone was so excited to be waking up at Disney that we were out of our room in no time and down to the bus stop. As we walked up to the bus stop, I handed DS2 his magic band and went to put mine on only to find that my magic band was not in my bag. Uh - oh!! So I took off back to the room in a panic that we would miss the bus because of me. After running all the way back to the elevators, into our room, grabbing my band and running down two flights of stairs, I got back to the bus stop only to hear that NO HS buses had passed so I was relieved that I hadn't caused us to be late.

We waited about 10-15 more minutes before a bus would ever come. It was our only morning that we had to wait a long time on a bus. They mentioned something about buses being backed up due to flooding but we never saw anything that would have caused the delay. I sincerely hoped that this was not a signal of how our day would go....

Hello, blurry tree photo.....and we are here!

Luckily we were not dropped off too far from the entrance so with a quick walk we were through bag check and the turnstiles to see this site.....

I love Disney's blue skies! We began our walk toward the hat....errr, the Chinese theater. That's so hard to get used to!

Holy smokes, the people......All week, DH and I would look at each other and ask, "Surely these people will go home soon right?"

WIth a little bit of time before our first fastpass, we decided to check the wait time for Great Movie Ride. It was 30 minutes and although that was long, DH decided that we should "just wait". I wasn't totally convinced but decided not to be demanding so we hopped in line. This "30 minutes" line looked like a WHOLE lot more with it snaking all along the ropes along the outside of the ride and even doubling back towards Little Mermaid. After waiting about 10 minutes, we had not moved very far at all and were still in the first section of rope in the queue. We decided to bail line hoping it would be a lower wait later in the day. Oh please let me be right about this one.

Instead we headed to Watto's Grotto to check out the Star Wars items! Oh but not very far into our journey someone needed the bathroom and so we decided to check to see if there was any info on when this beauty would open....

We so hoped it would open during our trip but no one was willing to actually give a date.

Folks, just in case you need some advice - This is NOT how you spend rope drop at ANY park!!!! But my people, ya'll, sometimes they don't like to be pushed around so this is how our day went.

Here's some pics from our leisurely stroll towards Watto's Grotto.

Yes, folks, it is already 9:45 a.m. and we have accomplished ONE potty break!!! Also, please note the posted wait time of 115 minutes at 9:45 a.m. This day is NOT going as planned.

We found our way to Watto's Grotto and I snapped this show before heading in.

Inside they were playing with a remote control BB8 that DS2 "ABSOLUTELY NEEDED" for Christmas. Sadly he would not get it but he ended up being okay with that. The BB8 was amazingly cool but I felt it was overpriced for a kid's toy.

The store seemed too large for the amount of merchandise in it but the decor and props were neat.

We found some high heels that my boys decided I needed. The heels were light sabers.

At this point we headed out for our first FP of the day. So far, we've been in the park a little over 2 hours and we have shopped in one store and had one potty break. That is an awful record!

Along the way, I had to stop and take a pic of this sign. I always LOVE this door!

Next time - Some more of our day and the story behind why this report was almost called "OMG that kid just STOLE my money!!"

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I got back to the bus stop only to hear that NO HS buses had passed so I was relieved that I hadn't caused us to be late.

That must have been stressful! I'm glad you didn't miss the bus.

The store seemed too large for the amount of merchandise in it but the decor and props were neat.

I thought the same thing. Perhaps the open area was so large as they were expecting massive crowds? I have always found the Star Tours gift shop is always too small and crowded and we are always having to fight our way out of there.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

ugh, I always hate those points when you feel like you are not being efficient and wasting time ... but wow! 30 min (or more) wait for Great Movie Ride that early?

Watto's Grotto seemed pretty cool

Those heels sound pretty neat, but probably fairly limited events where one would wear those

 

[BridgetR3]

That must have been stressful! I'm glad you didn't miss the bus.



I thought the same thing. Perhaps the open area was so large as they were expecting massive crowds? I have always found the Star Tours gift shop is always too small and crowded and we are always having to fight our way out of there.

I'm thankful that I didn't miss the bus as well! That would have been an awful start to the morning.

Yes, I do feel that the Star Tours dump shop is WAY too small! I don't ride that one so I always sit right on the bench as you enter the shop after the ride and people watch. It stays packed!!

ugh, I always hate those points when you feel like you are not being efficient and wasting time ... but wow! 30 min (or more) wait for Great Movie Ride that early?

Yes, we were so NOT efficient that morning. We probably earned an F in touring. As for wait times, yeah, the middle to end of Thanksgiving week is no joke. It was ROUGH!!!

Watto's Grotto seemed pretty cool

Those heels sound pretty neat, but probably fairly limited events where one would wear those

I found my picture of the heels!! Here they are -

I'm going to go add it into the trip report. I really should have purchased them to go watch Star Wars!

 

[halfpintpeggy]

Thanks for sharing your experience! But yikes! those crowds...