On our final full day here at WDW, we spent the morning at DHS, and then hopped on over to AK for the afternoon to watch the Mickey Jingle Jungle Parade.
The morning at DHS was a lot of fun. We did Toy Story Midway Mania
three times. By the end of the 3rd round, my wrist and arm were sore! I'm still a Beaver, but I'm slowly improving. I suppose I should start reading and paying attention to all the hints and guides, but it's a lot more fun just to simply go do this without thinking much.
We also went to the animation studios and did our favorite activity - the animation drawing class. Last time we did this during the early part of our current trip, we drew Tigger. This time, we drew someone that none of us had ever done before - Eeyore!! I thought Tigger was difficult, but Eeyore was equally challenge. My picture turned out quite well for my first ever sketch of Eeyore. I'll snap a picture of it after we get back and let you judge.
We got to AK with plenty of time to spare before the start of the parade, so we went to Camp Minnie-Mickey and got a lot of terrific photos with various characters - Donald, Chip 'n Dale. They were all dressed for the season.
Mickey Jingle Jungle Parade was wonderful. It is basically Mickey Jammin' Jungle Parade, but with all the parade "floats" and characters embelished with the holiday theme.
OK, so now, I will relate my experience with the newly opened store at Downtown Disney - Design a Tee store. To be clear, the store is still having its soft opening, and still trying to work out all the kinks, which is understandable. In any case, this store, right next to the Art of Disney store in Downtown Disney, lets you design your own tee shirt, and then have it ready to be picked up in a couple of hours. The t-shirts, however, aren't that cheap - $24.95 for an adult short-sleeve, and $29.95 for an adult long-sleeve. You go to a terminal, and you pick your design/color/message/etc. It is rather easy to use.
When you are happy with the design, it will then print a receipt that you bring to the casher and pay the t-shirt. Until you do that, you are not obligated to buy the t-shirt that you've designed. So simply designing a t-shirt doesn't cost you anything.
I designed 2 different t-shirts last night. Not only were the t-shirts of different sizes (medium and x-large), the medium was a long-sleeved shirt, while the x-large was a short-sleeved shirt. I paid for them yesterday and picked up the ready shirts just this evening. One nice they they do is that they give you this very nice cloth bag to put each of your t-shirts in. So that was a nice surprise. But there was another unexpected surprise later on...
Now, I'm lucky that my resort is within an easy walking distance to the Marketplace of Downtown Disney. When I got back to our room at Saratoga Springs, I took out the t-shirts and realized that they messed up the sizes. The medium became an extra large, while the extra large became a double-extra large! So I immediately walked back to the store, and showed them the receipt and the t-shirts. The cast member was very apologetic, and redid my order. After that, my t-shirts were put at the front of the line and I was told that they could be picked up on 20 minutes (usually it takes a minimum of 2 hrs). I told them that I'll pick them up tomorrow morning, there's no hurry, and I was about to go out and have dinner.
So anyway, if you do try out the store, make sure you double check the shirts when you pick them up, especially if you have a multiple order. And make sure you keep your receipt in case something went wrong. The store is still a great idea, and being able to personalize a Disney shirts like that is a lot of fun. And so far, everyone working in that store has been very friendly and helpful. Glitches like this is bound to happen, and that's why this is just a soft opening, I suppose.
We have started packing for our trip home tomorrow. Can't believe the one-week trip is about to end. We will check out early tomorrow, and spend the rest of the day at Epcot. We leave for the airport around 3:00 pm. It will be sad, because after visiting WDW 4 times this year, we are not planning on visiting it again until Sept. next year.
Zz.
