Day 1 – Wednesday, 5 Dec 2007 * Day 2 – Thursday, 6 Dec 2007 * Day 3 – Friday, 7 Dec 2007
Day 4 – Saturday, 8 Dec 2007 * Day 5 – Sunday, 9 Dec 2007 * Day 6 – Monday, 10 Dec 2007
Day 7 – Tuesday, 11 Dec 2007 * Day 8 – Wednesday, 12 Dec 2007 * Day 9 – Thursday, 13 Dec 2007
Day 10 – Friday, 14 Dec 2007 * Day 11 – Saturday, 15 Dec 2007 * Day 12 – Sunday, 16 Dec 2007 and WrapUp
Walt Disney World - December 2007: Part 1 * Walt Disney World - December 2007: Part 2
Well, we got our WDW Travel Co documents from Liz at Dream Come True Vacations over the weekend and our Mousefest swag in the mail yesterday... and my countdown timer says it's just under three weeks... so on with the pre-trip report!
Who: DH (late 30's - multiple trips) & me (mid-30's - multiple trips)
When Wed 12/5 thru Sun 12/16
Where: Pop Century
We’ll start our vacation on by staying overnight at the LaQuinta in Indianapolis – their Stay, Park & Fly program doesn’t cost too much more than the long-term parking at the airport would, & this way we don’t have to get up at o’dark-thirty, drive an hour and a half to catch our 7am flight Wednesday morning!
We should arrive in
Hopefully we’ll be able to get into our room at Pop Century early – we requested a quiet room in the 70’s section, as we had good luck with that area the last time we stayed here. We also requested a fridge, so we can go grocery shopping for breakfast & snack stuff for the next week & a half. Once we’re squared away in the room, we’ll head over to “the other park” for dinner and the Blue Man Group show at 8 pm. Will head back to the hotel & hopefully get a good night’s sleep.
Thursday 12/6 – the Mousefest Adventure begins! This is our second Mousefest & third holiday season in the World, so we know more or less what to expect. We’ll need to drop the car off at the
Friday 12/7 – More Mousefest, starting with an informal breakfast meet in Pop Century around 8:30. Then to Animal Kingdom with the Safari and Everest meets. We may join the Magic in Pixels Photo Safari, or head over to the Studios for lunch before the Star Tours meet. Definitely looking forward to the PodFest and may make it to the MuppetMeets and/or Hidden Mickeys of Sunset Blvd. Will probably head over to Port Orleans Riverside for dinner before joining the folks at Window to the Magic for their Yehaa Bob meet. I doubt we’ll make it to the Epcot EMH that night, especially since we’ll have had 2 late nights previously. If it’s not too chilly, we’ll probably take the boat back from the resort to DTD to get back to Pop Century, unless someone has a better suggestion.
Saturday 12/8 – Still More Mousefest! Epcot in the morning and the “Stroll in Card’s Footsteps” meet with David Koenig, then over to the MegaMouseMeet, catching a quick lunch along the way. Will head back to Epcot after the MMM, hopefully for the Hidden Mickeys of World Showcase, and then another quick meal before Turtle Talk with Ricky Inside the Magic Meet. Since we booked our trip thru Dream Come True Vacations, we’re also attending their VIP Illuminations Dessert Party – yum! We may try to hit
Sunday 12/9 – Return of the Mousefest! Not sure how we’ll start the day, but I do want to make it to the WDW Radio Disney Scene Investigation in Frontierland. The TriviaFest is a possibility, then touring the park until the Window to the Magic Country Bears Meet. I’m not sure we’ll make it back to Pop Century in time for the Hustle-Tini meet, but would like to try. We’ll probably eat at the food court, before leaving for
Monday 12/10 – Winding down a bit, with either morning EMH at Animal Kingdom or one more possible MouseFest meet at the Great Movie Ride. I think we’ll spend the afternoon at Epcot visiting the storytellers – one of my favorite features of World Showcase during the holidays. I also want to hear the Voices of Liberty holiday show. We may make it to MK for Spectromagic – or finally crash after 4 very full days!
Tuesday 12/11 – our official Day Off. We have a character breakfast at the Beach Club Buffet at 10:30 – will probably catch the bus to the Studios, then walk or take the boat to the Y&BC. After breakfast, we’ll tour the Epcot resorts, then head back to Pop to do laundry. If the weather’s nice, we may head out to a water park, otherwise we’ll visit DisneyQuest. I’d like to go to Trail’s End for dinner – we’ll see. This may be another
Wednesday 12/12 –Back to the parks! Epcot to finish up the Holiday Storytellers .. and am crossing my fingers that we can snag a walk-up at LeCellier, but am not counting on it. After all, there's plenty of other choices! We’ll head over to Animal Kingdom in time for the Jingle Jungle parade, try to catch a show of Flights of Wonder and/or Festival of the Lion King, as it’s this park’s evening EMH. May head over to DisneyQuest or
Thursday 12/13 –Magic Kingdom Morning EMH til early/mid afternoon, then over to Epcot in time for our Garden Grill dinner reservation (5:30), then the 8:15 Candlelight Processional. We may head over to POR to see Yehaa Bob again or make an early night of it.
Friday 12/14 – The Studios are our main destination today, with an 11:30 lunch reservation at Sci-Fi Dine In & plans to see the Hollywood Holly-Day Parade, as well as Fantasmic! if we haven’t seen it yet. May head over to Epcot evening EMH.
Saturday 12/15 – This is the day to wrap up anything we haven’t seen/done yet, such as the daytime parades – this is probably our best chance to catch both Spectromagic & Wishes. We may wrap things up with yet another trip to
Sunday 12/16 – Won’t have much time in the parks, as our Disney Magical Express pickup will probably be around noon for our 2:30 flight. However, we’ll finish our trip as we started it, in the
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“I gotta go where it’s warm!” We’re leaving
We’ve found that staying the night in Indianapolis at a local LaQuinta hotel makes a lot of sense – the cost of the hotel isn’t too much more than parking would be, and we at least have the opportunity for a good night’s sleep. We arrived in Indy about 5:45 Tuesday night, stopping for an early dinner on the way down. We went to bed early – tho I’d apparently OD’d on caffeine & excitement, as I had a tough time getting & staying asleep. We’d planned on watching the Heroes finale on the internet, but the wi-fi at the hotel didn’t apparently reach all the way to our room. We mentioned it to the clerk when we checked out & she was kind enough to give us a discount on our stay – how nice!
We got up around 4:15, got ready & had breakfast at the hotel before getting on the airport shuttle at 5. Somewhat surprisingly, there was no wait at check-in and a fairly short line at security, so we were at our gate by 5:30 for a 7 am flight.
We did board on time, but since the snow was coming down kind of hard, we had to wait for the deicing equipment to come around – delayed us by about 45 min. L We landed around 9:55 and won the luggage claim lottery – my suitcase came out first and the others followed soon after. The good luck continued at the car rental counter, which had no line… we were out of the airport in record time… less than 45 min after landing!
We planned to do some shopping before checking in – the new location of MouseSurplus was just too far away ( nearly an hour one way, according to Google Maps), so we hit a couple of the Disney outlet stores instead. Is it just me, or are the deals not quite so good as they used to be? We got some lunch at one of the outlet malls – either Prime on North I Drive or Orlando Outlets at exit 68 off I-4.
We arrived at Pop Century about quarter after one, checked in and our room was ready: 0435 –Building 10 – one of the 70’s building. We were the second room from the end of the building on the fourth floor, just about the quietest spot you could ask for! We unpacked & rested a bit, then looked around Everything Pop before heading out to the grocery store – we decided the cost of renting a fridge was offset by having breakfast in the room most days.
I got a bit turned around giving directions, and we ended up cruising thru downtown Celebration (where there are no major grocery stores that we could find!) before Scott headed to the store that was right where he knew it would be. Guess we’d burned up our travel karma earlier. We got back to the room about 3:15 – I napped for about an hour before we headed over to the Universal area about quarter after five.
The parking attendant was kind enough to let us know if we waited about 20 min, we could park for free – so we browsed a couple of the tourist-trap souvenir shops on I Drive before returning to Universal just after 6. We parked on the top level on one of the garages, then made our way to City Walk … very different park layout than what we’re used to – tho the slidewalks would come in handy leaving Epcot or MK at the end of a long day!
We wanted to see if we could get a meal at Margaritaville before the 8 pm Blue Man Group show – the dining room had about a 45 min wait; but we got right into the bar. Our server was prompt and attentive – I got a pretty decent chicken sandwich and Scott had a burger. We got over to the Aquos Theater about 20 min before the show and Scott bought a souvenir drum head before heading into the theater. We had front row center seats – in the “splash zone” Some of our seatmates looked rather alarmed while donning the complimentary plastic film ponchos – but it wasn’t quite as messy as I’d thought it might be. That said, Scott did get winged by the flying Jello, and we both got a bit of the banana puree on us as well… and there’s a couple of pink spots on Scott’s sneakers that may or may not come out! The show is more similar to the Vegas show than the touring How to be a Megastar version – we’ve enjoyed all three immensely. We got the drumhead “autographed” with blue thumbprints from each of the performers – when we bought the drumhead, the cashier included a couple of protective clear stickers, as the blue paint takes a VERY long time to dry!
I’d definitely recommend the Blue Man Group show to anyone with any interest in their music and/or avant-garde types of entertainment. No, we haven’t been to Cirque de Soleil yet – Scott’s not convinced he’d like it enough for the price of tickets, I think.
We got back to our room about 10:45 and were off to bed soon after.
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The day started off a bit chilly – 53 degrees & sunny, with a forecast high of 73. I wore a t-shirt under a long sleeve t-shirt, with a fleece vest on top, removing layers as the day continued. We got a wakeup call from Stitch & Mickey about 7:25 and were leaving the room about 8:30 – we ate breakfast in the room most days to save time & money.
We took the rental car to the
We wandered over to Tomorrowland to help Buzz save the universe – Scott made Cosmic Commander level! He refuses to tell me what the high-score secret target is…. Just after 10, we joined Mike Wazowski for a few some giggle at the Laugh Floor – this was our first experience with this attraction, and it was pretty good, tho a bit slapsticky – I wonder how much the show changes each time.
We went back down
I had forgotten to get our MVMCP tickets on our way out the door this morning, so we made a quick trip back to the room – round trip of about an hour, using the busses. While we eventually got a bit tired of the same “returning to Pop Century” music loop – as it was the same for every park – we enjoyed it the first couple times, at least when we could hear it above the general hub-bub. As for the “going to the park” recordings – it was kind of hit or miss whether they were played/you could hear them – although the departure & arrival spiels seemed louder & were always played, I think.
Upon re-entry, we headed back over to the
Around 2:30, we checked out Toontown and looked through Mickey’s house. I was curious to see if the White House turkeys were in residence (not yet), and was pleased to see that the Mojave Oil cans were back in his garage - a nice call-back to the tanker truck in Catastrophe Canyon, they were missing last December.
We just caught the train & rode it around to Frontierland. At 3 that afternoon, BTMRR had a 50 min standby wait, so we got FP’s and checked out the Country Bear Jamboree, which only had an 8 min wait. After CBJ, we headed to Adventureland just in time for a Pirate Tutorial - Mac mistook me for the governor’s daughter J We then joined a 20-min line for Pirates at about 3:45, taking the left side queue. Our Big Thunder FastPasses were ready at 4:10, so we headed back that direction and enjoyed the wildest ride in the wilderness from the middle of the runaway train.
We picked up our MVMCP wristbands on the way to our early dinner ADR at Tony’s. We’d never eaten here before, and I’d seen some mixed, but generally positive reviews. We got seated fairly quickly, We placed our order – chicken ceasar salad for me and spaghetti & meatballs for Scott. We’d barely had a chance to try the complimentary bread & pesto (Scott preferred the butter) before our meals were served. While Scott quite enjoyed his meal – I had a few bites & found it a little bland; also the ceasar salad didn’t taste much different from the counter service version. I think we’d go to Tony’s again, but maybe for lunch, and I’d order something different. Scott took a couple of photos around the restaurant before we left at 5:30 to catch the Castle lighting ceremony.
The skit was cute - the Fab 4 came out in front of the Castle, commenting on all the other decorations around the park & how the Castle needed to be decorated as well. They made suggestions – wrapping it up like a big present, draping greenery around it, until they decided to ask Cinderella (after all, it is her castle!) what she thought. She said she loved the way her glass slippers glisten in the light, and wouldn’t it be lovely to see the Castle draped in shimmering, ice-like lights. The Fairy Godmother came out on the balcony and with a wave of her wand, made Cinderella’s dream come true. I was impressed that the lights followed the wand – bottom left, around to the right, then up to the top! They do look absolutely spectacular in person… at least at night. The wiring isn’t quite as attractive during the day, although it looks as though it was painted to try and match whatever the background color is… not quite as obtrusive as I’d feared it would be.
We meandered over to Frontierland in hopes of getting on BTMRR in time for the fireworks. Wishes (the normal version) started as we were about halfway over there, but we did get to see about the last 5 minutes from the ride itself – very cool!
Pirates was a walk-on around 6:15 – I got tagged with a flik card (the red cards on a lanyard they use to track the queue time). We had a boat to ourselves, and got stopped in the first main scene (3 pirate skeletons) because someone ahead of us would not turn off their external video lighting. Harumph.
We had scoped out the MVMCP map earlier in the evening to figure out which merchandise location would be the least busy – we’ve made the mistake of getting caught in the Emporium pandemonium before! The gift shop at the exit of Pirates was also listed as a merchandise location & since it was nearly seven o’clock, we hung around the general area (trying not to make too much of a pest of ourselves!) as we waited for them to bring out the goodies. We were able to purchase all the merch we were interested in – sweatshirts, one of the ornaments, the hat and the gingerbread man plush with much less craziness than previous years. We had the stuff sent back to the room – I’d debated whether to keep the sweatshirt out to put on later, but it didn’t get too terribly chilly after all.
We walked back thru Adventureland and saw Aladdin & Jasmine out for a meet & greet… with noone else about! We got some PhotoPass photos and chatted a bit before moving on. Since we had pre-purchased the PhotoPass CD – we made sure to hit up nearly every photographer we saw during our trip – we ended up with about 175 photos in total!
We headed over to Tomorrowland to get in line for the first showing of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas – a must-see during the MVMCP, in my opinion. They let us in about 20 min before the show and we got seats in the dead center, about 8 rows back. The articulated characters (eyes & mouth moving) were in the show – Mickey, Minnie, Chip & Dale and Goofy.. not Pluto. The show was as much fun as I remembered it – a great kickoff to the evening!
After the show, we got some cocoa & cookies, rode the TTA again (lovely view of the park at night) and visited with Stitch at his Cosmic Christmas Connection dance party in Tomorrowland. We discussed whether to try to make the Mousefest fireworks meet at the rose garden, but decided not to. Turns out Kipp and Paul & Patrick of Window to the Magic were there, but I heard the view of the fireworks wasn’t too great. We watched them from the Noodle Station, pulling up some chairs to the edge that overlooks the water. We had a pretty good view, tho there was some obstructions.
We did join some Passporters in Frontierland for the parade meet – including a fellow Hoosier (
We took some photos on
Attraction count (includes fireworks, shows & parade): 21! I think we visited all our favorites (a couple of which more than once) during this first day!
Unfortunately, my pedometer finally pooped out early in the trip, so I don’t have any mileage reports.
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Despite our late night at the MVMCP, we still managed to get up about 6:30 and were heading to the food court about 7:35 to make the DCTV Pop Breakfast meet DreamComeTrue Joe and KippWade were there already, and Joe’s family joined us a bit later. Scott had Mickey waffles (I think) and I had a breakfast sandwich.
Kipp offered us a ride over to Animal Kingdom; we arrived about 8:50 at the turnstiles. We saw the opening ceremony “Let The Adventure Begin!” at the Tree of Life before joining the throng heading to
We then went back over to
The temps were already in the 70’s, so Scott and I decided to head back to the room to get rid of some extra layers of clothing & rest Scott’s foot a bit – he’d mildly sprained his ankle the previous weekend & wanted to put it up. We left AK about 11 – the bus stopped by
Around 12:30 we were waiting for a Studios bus - met Tony of the Above the Firehouse podcast while in line J and by 12:45 were at the gates. Scott and I joined a 20 min line at the Great Movie Ride – didn’t get the left-hand seat, so missed the in-jokes on the computer monitors in the Aliens section. Our guide had a lovely British accent.. J
We headed over to the Star Tours area around 1:30 for the 2:00 meet and watched part of the
After Podfest, the 3 of us went to Fred Block’s MuppetMeets, which was fun… I was hoping he’d take us thre the (disused) queue area so more folks could see all the great movie parody signs! Fred timed things so the group would see the entire preshow – we ended up closer to the front of the theater than usual – better view of Sweetums & the orchestra, but the 3-D effects seem more impressive from the back of the theater.
Our last meet at the Studios was Steve Barrett’s Hidden Mickeys of Sunset Blvd. Another large group gathering – this time with a PhotoPass person! Steve had some good info to share – but with such a large group, it’s difficult to hear. He said maybe next year he’d do reservations – maybe appointing a couple of “deputies” and splitting the groups up might help, as well.
We said goodbye to Kipp and headed back to the front of the park around 6 – Scott re-wrapped his ankle and we browsed the shops a bit before catching the Port Orleans Riverside bus about quarter after. We arrived around 6:40 & scouted the place out before the other folks arrived. Paul, Tairy, Patrick and Tony arrived around 7 and we saved about a dozen spots total for the meet – Kipp joined us soon after & we all got something to eat. I ordered a muffeleta – which would have been better warm, IMHO and Scott had pizza.
Yehaa Bob Jackson arrived around 7:45 and got set up for his set around 8. By then several other Mousefesters – including Gary, Wayne, Kathy & Jerm ( I apologize to those whose names I’ve forgotten!) had joined us & the fun was about to begin! We had a great time that evening… I don’t think Bob had quite intended to play as late as he did but with such a fun-loving, sing-along crowd, I don’t think he could resist! He threw in some Christmas carols – including an interactive “12 Days of Christmas” – he picked different members of the audience to be each of the gifts – Tairy was the Partridge, while Kipp, Wayne & Jerm were 3 of the 5 golden rings and I think the rest of us were corralled into either drumming or piping! The ladies of the group formed a kickline for “
I can highly recommend making the trip over to Port Orleans Riverside to catch one of Yehaa Bob’s shows – he usually performs Thurs – Sun, IIRC – but you might want to call over and ask, just in case.
Bob wrapped up his last set a little after midnight, and Scott and I thankfully accepted a ride back to Pop from Kipp (his room was just down the hall & around the corner from ours!). Needless to say, we didn’t stay up too much later after getting “home”.
Attraction count: 6. Obviously, Mousefest events took precedence over attractions (tho we did pick meets where we went on a ride!) , but we still had a great day at the parks!
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Warmer in the morning than it had been – 66 with a forecast high in the 80’s. We really got lucky with the weather this visit! Decided to sleep in a bit as the first meet we wanted to attend wasn’t til 10. Turns out we were running later than we should have – by 9:10 the Pop Century bus stops were PACKED. We never would have made it to Epcot in time if it hadn’t been for 2 fellow Passporters – Jean & Carol. They asked us if we wanted to share a cab, so we tracked one down and piled in.
In the process, we learned some… interesting things… about taking cabs at WDW. Someone more charitable than I am might say that our driver just wasn’t as familiar with the property as he should have been; more than likely, he was planning on taking the long way around so as to run up the cab fare. I can’t remember if it were Jean or Carol who used her “teacher voice” to make sure he was taking the correct/shortest route, but thank you! He still “missed” the bus/taxi turnoff & ran us thru the parking lot instead for another buck on the fare. Needless to say, he didn’t get much of a tip – I think the fare was $13.75 and he got $14 even. Scott (who was in the front seat) said he heard the driver mutter several things in another language – I doubt they were complimentary!
Anyways, we made it thru the turnstiles with about 15 min to spare before David Koenig’s “A Stroll in Card’s Footsteps” meet… walking by the tantalizingly open door in front of Spaceship Earth! They were doing soft openings throughout Mousefest & it was simply the luck of the draw whether they’d be letting people in or not at any given time. David took us around Future World and gave us plenty of info & insights about what the park was like 25 years ago…. very enjoyable! We ended the tour in front of the lagoon, with some words about World Showcase – since he only had an hour, we didn’t tour over there.
Our next stop was the MegaMouseMeet – since we’d registered, we qualified for early entry at noon. We headed to the International Gateway, only to see a boat departing. However, we did meet up with Patrick of Window to the Magic and walked over with him. We arrived about 20 min early & stopped at the Swan’s quick service restaurant (Picabu) for snacks… we’d forgotten that munchies were provided as a part of the early entry – oh well!
We spent about 3.5 hours at the MegaMouseMeet in total – whew! I was glad there was more seating available – and the higher ceiling seemed to keep it from getting too warm/stuffy. We spent some time talking to Ricky of Inside the Magic/Orlando Attractions, Paul & Patrick of Window to the Magic, Mike D of Mousestation, the Dream Come True Vacation team and lots of other folks. We also collected quite a bit of swag – thanks to Intercot and Owner’s Locker for the t-shirts! We took a lunch break about 2:45 – stopped by the DCTV table to see if we could get them anything - they were very appreciative! Made another trip to Picabu – Scott got a burger and I got a HUGE turkey sandwich – kind of pricey ($8) but since I ended up saving half of it for a later meal (and it was quite yummy), it was worth it.
After the MegaMouseMeet –we caught the bus from the Swan & Dolphin over to the Animal Kingdom (first park bus to arrive) and then back to Pop. On the way, another guest asked us about the stuff we were carrying (MMM bags) & we told her all about Mousefest –we may have made another convert! J
We got back to the room about 4:30 to drop stuff off & regroup a bit before heading back over to Epcot for our evening activities. Got to the park about 5:15 and saw that Spaceship Earth was open again! We got in line – it was actually winding thru the queue area – and enjoyed the ride. There was a lot to take in – many new elements in the first part of the show – basically enhancements to the existing sets. The theme changed slightly from communication to technology in general. I enjoyed Dame Judi Dench’s narration, but the script felt a little… dumbed down, maybe… a lighter tone, compared to the Cronkite/Irons script. There were a couple of blank areas between the scenes that were curtained off - you could tell they’re not quite ready for a full opening. The second half of the show definitely needs some work.
SPOILER
I assume that the touch screens at the end with the interactive story will eventually have your faces superimposed over the characters, as there’s a section at the beginning where you are instructed to look at a mirror & wait for a flash.
END SPOILER
I was disappointed that all the cool fiber optics/neon/lighting effects were gone – or at least covered up. I guess they want to make sure your attention is focused on the screen, since they spent all that money to upgrade the vehicles. J
Project Tomorrow – the post-show area – was partially open, with two games running at the time we visited. We played the driving game – not too challenging, but fun. I can see this area getting really crowded – it looked as if one section was a theater, so that might take care of some of the crowd.
We had a quick dinner at the Electric Umbrella about 5L39 – I had a kid’s meal, as I knew we’d be having lots of desserts later at the VIP Illuminations party. The mac & cheese is really good – I may order this more often! We then headed over to the Seas with Nemo & Friends for the Inside the Magic Meet – Ricky ended up being a bit late to his own meet! This was our first experience with the new theater area for Turtle Talk; I like the new setup – a separate gathering area with displays & interactive quizzes – much better than the makeshift queue line out in the middle of the exhibit! The seats are still bench-style, as opposed to the theater-style seating at DCA, tho. Ricky did some recording for the podcast while we were waiting – Scott got some airtime, if I recall correctly. I don’t know if anyone from our group actually got to talk to Crush, as we only took up about half the theater. After the show, we regrouped & made our way over to Spaceship Earth, in hopes that it would be open – no such luck. We did take a couple of group photos & Ricky did a bit more recording before we left around 7:45.
Our next planned activity was the Dream Come True Vacations VIP Illuminations & Dessert Party – a perk offered to those who booked their Mousefest trip with their agency. I think this was something kind of new this year – a couple of other groups had “exclusive” meets like this as well – don’t know if it was something Disney offered the travel agencies (for a price, I’m sure!) or if the TA’s pursued this on their own.
Since the party wasn’t til 9 – we took our time going around the lagoon via
We noticed that nearly every pavilion had a PhotoPass photographer – made for some good photo ops that we took good advantage of! We arrived at the Morocco pavilion about 8:30 – the area for our party was next to the shop on the lagoon, but wasn’t quite ready yet, so we found some spots to sit and chatted with Kipp, Patrick and some other folks while we waited.
The dessert party was superb – there was a buffet line and tall tables (no seats) with candles on them, so you could mostly see what you were eating. J DreamComeTrue Joe posted the menu ahead of time on the ITM forums and everything lived up to the descriptions:
* Chocolate and Pistachio Cannoli
* Fresh Fruit Tartlet, Vanilla Cream Filled Pastry Horns
* Chocolate Éclairs, Raspberry and Cream Roulade
* Oreo Cookie Cheesecake, Chocolate Pecan Pies
* Chocolate Fondue Station
-- Caramel & Dark Chocolate Fondue
-- Chocolate Cake, Pound Cake, Pretzels, Strawberries,
-- Pineapple, Honeydew, Cantaloupe and Marshmallows
The staff (provided by Disney) was attentive without being intrusive, and we had about a half-hour to enjoy our goodies before Illuminations started. We had at least as good a spot as we did the previous year (Rose & Crown patio) , with probably a better view of the globe. However, we were downwind during the
Once again, Kipp came to our rescue with an offer of a ride back to the resort (by this time, we were offering him gas money), so we slowly made our way back to the front of the park after another wonderful, and tiring day! Scott and I got back to the room about 11 and were in bed soon after.
Attraction count: 3, including Illuminations (but not the cab ride!). Again, the meets took precedence over attractions - we’ll have time to spend on rides after Mousefest.
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Another lovely day, weather wise – started in the mid 60’s with a high in the low 80’s forecast. Slept in a bit again – getting up around 8 – seeing as there was a very long line at the bus stop, Scott saved me a place in line while I picked up our MVMCP merchandise from the gift shop & ran that back to the room. Got on the second bus for the
Arrived about ten til 10 – we didn’t have a Mousefest meet till 11, so we headed to the Harmony Barber Shop. We had about a 20 min wait before Scott was in the chair. Michael was his barber & Scott told him how he wanted it cut, then said “have fun with the decorations”.
They chatted during the cut – Scott told Michael where we were from & that there was snow on the ground when we left. I was sitting over on the side & couldn’t see the back of Scott’s head – just the colors of gel he was applying. The next family in line had a good view – a mom & her daughter – they were giggling and mom told the daughter “Don’t say anything… it’s a surprise!” And a surprise it was – “a touch of spring” with 3 pretty pink flowers on the back of his head, pink gel and a good handful of pixie dust on top! Needless to say, Scott got a lot of attention and smiles from CM’s and other guests that day … J
We arrived about 10-15 min early at the meeting spot for Lou Mongello & Jeff Pepper’s Disney Scene Investigation: Frontierland meet - we got some popcorn & chatted with Kipp, who was also attending the meet. They had a pretty big group, but Lou did a good job keeping people together & speaking loudly enough for most everyone to hear. Unfortunately, we weren’t always able to find a shady spot to stop & talk – it got kind of hot in the direct sun! Lou & Jeff covered a lot of good info & in-jokes – some of which I already knew, but a lot of new info as well. It’s so easy to overlook the details as we rush from one attraction to the next!
They wrapped up around 11:45 by Pecos Bill, so the 3 of us had lunch there – I tried the veggie burger & fries – it was OK. After lunch, we visited it’s a small world - talked about how the updates make it look a lot more like the
About 2:00, we took a ride on the TTA, then saved the galaxy with Buzz. Crossed over the hub to see the Enchanted Tiki Room – missing the original all the while. About a quarter after 3, we took a ride on Pirates, which went 101 for about 5 minutes just as we were getting ready to board! At least that gave me a chance to get a good look at the boarding area – we were on the right side & I’m still not sure just how far away that ship is behind the loading area … it’s too dim to tell how much of the effect is forced perspective.
We got to Grizzly Hall for the WTTM Country Bear Jamboree meet about 10 min early – heard part of The Banjo Brothers & Bob set – wonder why they don’t wear mics like some of the other streetmosphere folk do? This time it was Paul who was late to his own meet … and a bit damp, thanks to the HillBilly Hill Climb meet preceding! Patrick had put together a trivia card for everyone to fill out during the show – we handed them in & he was going to grade them & announce the winner on a subsequent WTTM show. I thought I did pretty well, but there were one or two questions with (IMHO) more than one possible answer!
Kipp had other plans for the evening – so we said our TTFN’s and Scott and I caught a bus back to Pop for the MouseStation Hustle-Tini meet. Oh my - the hustle itself was barely controlled chaos … the CM’s took a few moments ahead of time to provide some one-on-one training – which in my case quickly flew out the window once the music started! Thankfully – Scott and I were in the middle of the pack & mostly escaped the videotaping, I think. We did have a good time & Mike D said afterwards that we were probably the biggest group *ever* to do the Hustle – it’s usually just the CM’s and maybe 1-2 guests.
Classic Concoctions wasn’t open – so Mike had to work some of his connections (he’s a former Pop CM) to wrangle us up some drinks – non-alcoholic as well as the “leaded” version. It took longer than we anticipated .. I was getting rather hungry – Scott & I finally put in an order for a pizza to take back to the room once we were done. Mike & Mark recorded some podcast segments while we waited – about seven the CM’s came over with glasses (plastic cups) and glow cubes for everyone. The drink was pretty good – tho not recommended on an empty stomach! In appreciation for everyone sticking around (I think), Mike & Mark were kind enough to pick up the tab for everyone… thanks, guys! J
The pizza was ready about 7:20, so we said our goodbyes to the MouseStation group & headed back to the room for dinner – we ate & then rested for about an hour before going back out, this time for the PassPorter Adventurer’s Club meet. We arrived just as the Holiday Radio Show was starting, so we got to see that and the Balderdash Cup Awards. We then hung out in the salon for awhile with other PassPorter folks – Scott said I’m on Jennifer’s blog from that night … I haven’t had a chance to check yet. We were pretty pooped – so said our goodbyes about 10:45 and were back at the room about 11:30.
Attraction count: 8 (counting the barber shop) – we fit in several rides during our mid-day break.
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While our planned “day of rest” was supposed to be tomorrow/Tuesday.. we decided to take it easy this day as well – so we didn’t request a wake up call & slept in til about 9:20.
We got to the bus stops about 10:20 – it was standing room only on the Epcot bus – arrived at the park about 10:50. If I recall correctly, this was the morning that Scott overheard a plainclothes security person alert the uniformed guard at the security check about someone who had a knife in their back pocket … !!!
We picked up FP’s for Soarin (2:45p) on our way over to Journey Into Your Imagination. We also stopped by Figment’s new meet & greet area & got photos with him, as well as my first autograph (actually, stamp) on my Disney Denim shirt. Since they don’t seem to be selling park-related iron-on patches anymore .. at least not new ones … I decided to get character signatures on my denim shirt with the eventual plan of embroidering over them.
Around 11:30, we explored the Epcot Retrospective exhibit in Innoventions – while I’m very thankful Disney did put this together, I would have liked to see something larger & with more details. We stopped in Club Cool for some freebie refreshments & noticed they have more international Coke souvenirs for sale… good news for us, as we also collect Coca Cola memorabilia. We headed over to World Showcase to see some of the Holiday Storytellers. We just missed Nowell in
We were about ready for lunch –so I walked over to
Continued around the lagoon – I got a pistachio gelato for dessert in Italy & Scott got a pretzel from
My notes kind of peter out at this point for the day – we went back to Pop about 4 – I think we ate dinner there, but don’t recall what. We went over to the
[found some notes I’d jotted down on the back of my MCMVP receipt]
Jungle Cruise was a walk on – we had “Nectarine Nate” as our skipper – good speil! Next was PotC, also a walk-on. Continued into Frontierland and rode BTMRR two times with minimal wait – whee! We then headed over to
About 8:45 we headed to Fantasyland to find the rest of the guests J Peter Pan was still a fairly short wait – 10 min or so. Dumbo was a longer wait – I was hoping to get on board before Wishes finished – but we just missed the finale… and due to the canopy over the line, we hardly got to see any fireworks at all. L About 20 after 9, we stopped in at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café for a snack break & to listen to Mr. Ray himself. After about a 20 min rest, we headed to the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway where after only a 15 min or so wait – we were cruising the interstellar highways. I have to admit I like the
A little after 10, we rode around Tomorrowland thanks to the TTA, then checked out
Attraction count (including storytellers): 10 (maybe more if I can remember what we did at MK that night)
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Forecast: 65 & sunny – high of 82.
Our official day of rest – we had a 10:30 breakfast ADR at Yacht & Beach Club, with plans to visit
We were up about 8 & out to the Pop bus stop by 8:45, with our DCTV duffel bag of swim stuff – not nearly as busy as previous days. We decided to get to Y&BC via Downtown Disney; upon reflection, choosing a park may have been a better idea. We got over to DTD fairly quickly – 15 min or so but then waited almost 40 min for a bus to the resort to show up! I was thankful we’d built in that extra time, as there was another group waiting for a Y&BC bus as well – their ADR was for 9:30 & the dad (middle-aged in a bright purple polo shirt) was getting more & more irritated & eventually irate – Scott & I joked he was going to turn the color of his shirt before too much longer.
We finally got to the resort just before 10, so we had a bit of time to look around before getting seated at the Cape May Café. The gingerbread carousel was just lovely – and we eventually located all 8 Hidden Mickeys. We were seated at 10:25 – the food was very, very good – lots of choices, even near the end of the seating time. The décor is also very nice – turn of the century beach house – very light & airy. We visited with Goofy, Minnie & Chip – I got all 3 of them to autograph my shirt with the plan to embroider over the signatures.
We waddled out of the Café about 11:15 and spent the next 20 min or so looking around a little bit more. About 11:30 we caught the boat to the Boardwalk and explored their lobby and Christmas decorations for about a half-hour before going out to the bus stop to catch a bus to
Got to
We spent about 3 hours at
We got back to our room about quarter after 4 – gathered clothes & headed out to the laundry. I hung out by the 80’s pool & read the new Kevin Yee book: Mousetrap: Memoirs of a Disneyland Cast Member 1987-2002, while Scott roamed the resort & took a bunch of photos. We were back in the room with our clean clothes by about 6 and heading out to DTD by 6:30.
Had dinner at Earl of Sandwich – it was busy as usual; but they do a pretty good job dealing with the crowds. I had the All-American (turkey) sandwich & Scott had the Cannonballs (meatball) sandwich – yum! We spent about 2 hours shopping – mostly at the World of Disney, but also the Christmas shop – I wanted to get Corbin (our new nephew) a personalized & dated ornament – but couldn’t find anything I liked. WoD was packed & I can only handle so much shopping & crowds – was thankful to have a very savvy cashier who helped us maximize our discounts & got us the deal on the snowman throw as well. We were waiting for the bus by about 9:40 – thank goodness for the Resort Delivery option ! We got back to the room about 10 after 10 & wound down a bit before going to sleep.
Attraction count: 8, counting multiple rides on a given slide and 2 trips up the “ski lift”.
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My notes get a bit skimpier from here on out – plus coming back to read them 2 months later = not quite as detailed
Weather: 65 degrees in AM pt cloudy – high of 82
Plans for the day - Studios in the morning, over to AK in time for the parade, then DTD/PI for the evening.
7:30 wakeup call – breakfast in room & out to bus for Studios around 8:30.
8:45 – arrived at Studios – made it onto
9:20 – the Starring Rolls bakery was calling our name, so we shared a cinnamon roll – yummy!
9:35 – Star Tours walk on – didn’t note where we sat.
Did some window shopping til about 10:25, when we took what’s left of the Animation Tour. Spent a little time in the area at the end, but didn’t wait to do the character drawing.
11:15 – One Man’s Dream – great place to soak in the Disney history. According to a tour we took at
Did a little more browsing & actual shopping before leaving the Studios about 10 til 12. Back to Pop Century for lunch – turns out this was the day I had the chicken soup and Scott had a meatball sub - neither of us were too impressed with those meals.
I napped & Scott watched TV til about 2:30, when we caught a bus over to Animal Kingdom, for the Jingle Jungle Parade. Got to the park around 3 & had some PhotoPass pix taken in front of the Tree of Life. Staked out a spot on the parade route on the bridge to
I wanted to get more signatures on my denim shirt – so we visited
About 5:30 we wandered thru DinoLand & took a Primeval Whirl – is it just me, or does it spin around more than it used to? We were pleasantly surprised with a very short wait at Expedition Everest – we posed for the ride photo looking absolutely terrified – it came out well & we bought a copy. I went on for a second time & scored the back row – yay!
We started to make our way to the front of the park, stopping for some more PhotoPass opportunities, as we wanted to get our money’s worth out of the CD preorder. We were at the bus stop about 6:50 and back to the room about 7:05 – just long enough to drop some stuff off, then back out to the busses for DTD.
Had a late dinner at Earl of Sandwich – yes, two nights in a row… it’s that good! Stopped by the Lego Store on the way over to PI – arrived there about 8:30. While we waited for the 9:05 Comedy Warehouse, Scott was terribly disappointed to discover that 8 Trax no longer offers the Leisure Suit cocktail. We got good seats for the show (tables up front) and had a fun time – we both got something to drink, but I don’t remember what.
Next up – the Adventurer’s Club for the rest of the evening – we caught the second Holiday Show, got up close & personal with Hathaway in the Mask Room ;) and attended Samantha’s Cabaret for the first time. I think I like the Balderdash Cup & Radio/Holiday show a little better. We decided to call it a night around 11:30 and by midnight were back in our room, ready for bed.
Attraction count (including PI shows and meet & greets): 12. Despite yesterday’s day of rest, we were starting to slow down a bit – not necessarily a bad thing.
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Weather: 67 degrees in AM – mostly sunny & humid, high 82
Plans: Epcot for most of the day –
Slept in a bit (for us) – wakeup call 8:20 – breakfast in room & out to bus stop around 9:20 –all the bus stops were pretty busy. We talked about renting a car next year – between our “exciting” cab ride & catching a couple rides with KippWade – it may be worth the money! We were on a SRO bus to Epcot around 9:45 – arrived by 10.
We wanted to ride Test Track together & get the ride photo, so did the 20 min standby wait, then Scott tried the Green Team version of Mission Space, while I went
Got lunch at the Electric Umbrella around 11:45 – Scott had a cheeseburger & I tried the the veggie wrap - kind of bland. I didn’t have a whole lot of luck with counter service meals this trip, for some reason. We spent about a half-hour doing the Fantastic Plastics activity in Innoventions & got our free robots! Scott chose red & green parts for Christmas & I went with blue & grey for winter.
Made a stop by Club Cool around 1, then on to World Showcase. Koda & Kenai were doing photo ops in
We scored seats in the shade for the 2:00 Off Kilter show – they put on a great performance (as always) – then we backtracked a bit for the 2:30 Papa Noel Holiday Storyteller. Back to Future World for Soarin’ – Concourse 1, 3rd row right side.
Before heading back to World Showcase, we visited with Figment again – I hope the rumours of an Imagination Pavilion refurb are true … as the attendance levels for this attraction just aren’t what they ought to be.
We headed over to the other side of World Showcase to catch the 3:50 Monkey King storyteller in
We didn’t have time to do much else before our 5:30 ADR at Garden Grill (Candlelight Processional Dinner Package), so we headed back that direction and checked in about a quarter after 5. I think this is the only character dinner we’ve ever done – we usually do character breakfasts instead. We enjoy both the meals and the ambiance here – tho we may have to try Liberty Tree Tavern someday, as well. We got seated about 5:40 and had a very nice meal… if you go away hungry from this place, it’s your own darned fault! I collected a couple more signatures for my shirt as well – Pluto and Dale, if I remember correctly.
Our CP tickets were for the 8:15 show, so we had a chance to stop and catch the storyteller in
By the time we got to the American Gardens Theater – the lines were already quite long for the Candlelight Processional – the dinner package line was all the way past the
Since we didn’t really take any rest breaks during the day, we decided to call it an evening after the show. We slowly made our way back to the front of the park and were out to the bus stop about 9:45 & back to the room a little after 10.
Attraction Count: 15 – including meet & greet and storytellers
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Weather: 66 degrees in AM – partly cloudy & humid, high of 80.
Original Plans: Studios with an 11:30 ADR at Sci Fi & maybe wait around for parade. Possibly over to Epcot to finish up Storytellers, or stick around for Fantasmic.
We decided to chuck our original plans for the day, getting up early (7:45) and catching a but to the
We hadn’t visited Stitch yet this trip, so watched him make his Great Escape. Am still a little disappointed with this attraction – tho it appeals to us a bit more than Alien Encounter ever did. We then took a trip back in time thru the Carousel of Progress about 10. While I do think the last scene needs some updating – I hope they keep this attraction around for a good long time.
We decided to head over to the Studios early for our ADR & thought it might be a good time of day to try for the front of the monorail – success! We rode the Express monorail with Mike from
We caught part of a Mulch, Sweat & Shears appearance – a 4 piece band who did some great rocked-up Christmas music! We decided to catch the 1:20 showing of Lights, Motors, Action! and while we waited, we wandered through the outdoor portion of the Muppets queue to get photos of the movie parody posters and the Muppet Labs signs. This is a neat Hidden Treasure area of the park & I recommend taking a peek when you’re in the area.
We arrived at the LMA grandstand about 20 min early and got seats high in the middle left section – my knees weren’t real happy about all the stairs, but at least they had about 30 lbs less to life compared to last year! Lights Motors Action is an entertaining show – but probably only worth visiting every second or third WDW visit for us. Since we hadn’t seen either Fantasmic or the Osbourne Lights yet this trip, we decided to stick around the park for the rest of the day – taking it easy & resting whenever possible.
Caught part of Mulch, Sweat & Shears’ set again after LMA - checked the schedule & made note of their last show of the day so we could see the whole thing! About 2:30 we rode Star Tours, then went over to the ABC Commissary - got something to drink & took a rest break for about 40 min. A little before 3:30 – we headed over to where MS & S were supposed to perform, but they either were no-shows or performed that set somewhere else in the park. We stopped by the Writer’s Stop – I got a chocolate muffin & Scott had a rice krispie treat & noshed while watching the TV. We noticed that Mike & Sully were out for their photo op, so stopped in to say hi, then about a quarter after 4 went to see our Muppet pals.
We stopped by the Studios Backlot tour – one group was just leaving & Scott suggested we wait for the next one in hopes of getting picked to be in the Harbor Attack demo. Sure enough, after a couple of minutes – a CM came out & asked for volunteers. Scott jumped at the chance & ended up as captain of the PT boat. Needless to say, he hammed it up nicely and had a good time. This and the Animation Tour have both changed a lot (mostly for the worse) since our first WDW visit in 1996.
We made it over to the Streets of America with time to spare before the lighting ceremony. Scott’s glad they changed the music selections to reflect more traditional Christmas tunes – I still like the Trans Siberian Orchestra stuff! After getting our fill of the lights (and the attendant crowds) – we browsed thru the shops while waiting to get into the second showing of Fantasmic. We joined the line about 7:10 for the 8 pm showing…. were seated about 7:20 – halfway up in the middle section.
After the show – we followed the herd out to the bus stops. They had 2 busses waiting for Pop & I got one of the last seats on the second bus. Yeah – I think renting a car will be worth it next time! We got back to the resort about 9:15 - we had some packages to pick up & since I was still a bit wound up, decided to start packing up some stuff in preparation for leaving Sunday.
Attraction count: 13 – includes meet & greet, streetmosphere, the Lights & Fantasmic.
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Weather: 70 degrees in morning – humid with high of 82 – rainshowers possible
Original Plans: Studios morning EMH, MK afternoon/evening – Spectromagic & Wishes, possibly PI that night.
Once again, our original plans went out the window; as we’d spent the entire previous day at the Studios, we decided to visit Animal Kingdom in the morning instead, before it got too hot. Wakeup call at 7, breakfast in room & bus stop by 8 – at park by 8:30. Saw the opening ceremonies & headed over to the Safari for our first ride of the day. Was a bit disappointed, as neither the giraffes or lions were out.
Walked over to the Theater of the Wild for the 10a showing of Finding Nemo: The Musical. This has become one of my favorite live performances in the park – neck and neck with Festival of the Lion King & possibly winning out because it’s still new. We attended the 10:30 showing of Flights of Wonder - Joy from the Comedy Warehouse was Guano Jane. J We browsed around the stores a bit before leaving Animal Kingdom around noon. I finally found the Christmas ornament I wanted to get for my nephew… which I still haven’t actually given to him :eek:. It got misplaced over the holidays, but I think I know where it is…
We took lunch from the Pop food court back to our room –I had the Asian Chicken salad which was actually pretty good! After lunch – we packed up most of our stuff (thank goodness for the duffle bag from Dream Come True Vacations! ) and rested/napped a bit before leaving for the
Got to the park about 4 – got some PhotoPass pix in front of the floral Mickey. The photographer had us close our eyes and kiss while he counted … and kept counting.. J We got FP’s for the Jungle Cruise & joined the Pirates queue for a tour of the
The
The ride stopped twice briefly – once while we were in the library and the second time in the graveyard, near the horn players. I enjoyed the chance to look around & see everything spiffed up & sounding so much better since the refurb!
We had dinner at Pinocchio Village Haus – very busy! I got a panini which was pretty good & Scott had pizza. After the meal, we walked into Philharmagic, then around 7:20, staked out a spot for Spectromagic. We’ve had pretty good luck with the corner of
After the parade, we headed over to
I’d been wanting to ride the monorail thru Epcot at night during this trip & I figured this was going to be the last chance I’d have. This wasn’t really a very good idea at all -- as folks were still pouring out of MK after the parade & fireworks at 9:30 … we were both tired & getting cranky. My stubborn streak kicked in & by golly - we made it over to Epcot, via a very full ferry to the TTC & a mostly empty monorail to Epcot (which had closed at 9) but the hurt feelings weren’t worth it. Not the best way to end the day.
Attraction count: 10
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I didn’t bother taking notes this day – tho I remember a bit of what we did.
The day did not start out well – thunderstorms & the wind woke me up around 3 am & when we turned on the TV – saw tornado warnings to the northeast of us. Our Disney Magical Express pickup time was 12:15, but since we still had 1 more day of admission, we decided to try to squeeze in a bit more magic.
We were able to check our baggage at the resort & left our carryons with bell services. I think we got to MK about 9:30 – fortunately, the bad weather had all bown over - and am pretty sure we rode Buzz & the Peoplemover in Tomorrowland, did something in Fantasyland (Pooh?) and made one more trip thru the
We were hoping Casey’s would be open so we could finish the trip the way we started – with a hot dog, but they weren’t open til noon. L I think we grabbed something quick from Pop’s food court before DME picked us up.
Overall, we had a pretty great trip - the weather was generally quite cooperative – no major rainstorms & warmer than I’d expected. Our second Mousefest was a blast – we really enjoyed spending time with KippWade, Paul Barrie, Patrick Hurd and DreamComeTrue Joe, among other folks. Mousefest 2008 is already on the “upcoming vacations” schedule!
The new-to-us & refurbed attractions -- Spaceship Earth,
It was fun to get to go to a water park again & we’ll definitely make time to go back & see Yehaa Bob at Port Orleans Riverside! We’ll probably also rent a car for our next trip, which will make it easier to visit other resorts for meals or general sightseeing. We still need to work on pacing ourselves a bit better – those last couple days I was really starting to drag -- I’m not getting any younger in body, despite being young at heart!