Now I know how those frozen Mickey ice cream bars feel… A December 2010 TR!

Boomdog15 · Mar 29, 2011

Excellent report and great pictures!

gsrey12 · Mar 29, 2011

Great Trip Report, can't wait to read more. :sohappy:Reading this is getting me excited for our December trip!

JoeSpence · Mar 30, 2011

Here's a question, After staying at resort hotels, did you feel you lost out on any of the "Disney experience" staying in your own camper?

MEyeSeeKayEY · Mar 30, 2011

JoeSpence said:
Here's a question, After staying at resort hotels, did you feel you lost out on any of the "Disney experience" staying in your own camper?

Not at all! The only time we are ever in the room or camper is to sleep and we never spent much time at the resort pools because we are always in the parks. The campground is SO much cheaper and Fort Wilderness has a magic all it's own. I definitely recommend it!

cathyy · Mar 30, 2011

Great trip report!!!!
We are planning a trip in 2012 the first week of December. I was hoping to to do the Christmas Party too. What are your thoughts on it?

MEyeSeeKayEY · Mar 30, 2011

cathyy said:
Great trip report!!!!
We are planning a trip in 2012 the first week of December. I was hoping to to do the Christmas Party too. What are your thoughts on it?

We really enjoyed it! It was still very crowded in the Magic Kingdom and I'm not sure they were checking who had the Christmas Party wristbands and who didn't... I really don't know how they can possibly control this unless they close the park at say 7:00 and reopen at 8:00. We rode several attractions after the party had started and never got checked once for wristbands... :shrug:
Overall, it was a good time, although I don't know if it is something we would have to do each time we visit WDW during the Christmas season. You get a Christmas Parade, Christmas Wishes, cookies and hot chocolate and a few extra shows and meet and greets. Not sure it's worth the money, but definitely something I recommend doing once! Hope that helps.

cathyy · Mar 30, 2011

Thanks! I think it is something we will give a shot. It seems like a lot of fun. This will be my families only 2nd time, and have never been there at Christmastime. We are really looking forward to it!

Thanks again for your help!

MEyeSeeKayEY · Mar 30, 2011

cathyy said:
Thanks! I think it is something we will give a shot. It seems like a lot of fun. This will be my families only 2nd time, and have never been there at Christmastime. We are really looking forward to it!
Thanks again for your help!

You will LOVE it! Hopefully it won't be as cold when you go...

silver1113 · Mar 30, 2011

Wonderful Trip report. The pictures are great.

MEyeSeeKayEY · Mar 30, 2011

Wednesday December 8, 2010

The alarm went off on my phone at 8:00am and I jumped out of bed because today we were spending the entire day in one of my favorite parks! We had been to this park several times already during our trip, but today the plan was to open and close this park! Which park could I be talking about?? None other than the Magic Kingdom!

It was a beautiful day at the Magic Kingdom! There wasn't a cloud in the sky! Other than the fact that it was like 45 degrees, it was a picture perfect day! I mean, just look at the sky in my pictures… it was unreal!
Upon entering the Magic Kingdom, we headed down Main Street and toward the castle. There was a show going on at the castle, so we watched it for a while and took some photos. Here are a few of my favorites…

After the castle show was over, it was time to ride some attractions! Which way should we go first? We decided to head to Tomorrowland.

The first attraction we did was Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. We had never done this attraction before, so this was a brand new experience for us. It was a cute show, but not one I would have to do on each and every to the Magic Kingdom. Next up was another spin on Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin! This is always a favorite among our group and I once again dominated the competition! After Buzz, we headed toward another all time favorite of ours that we never miss when we are in the Magic Kingdom! Can you guess which attraction I'm talking about? Stay tuned to find out…

MEyeSeeKayEY · Mar 30, 2011

Wednesday December 8 continued…

Have you figured it out yet? Yep, you guess it! Stitch's Great Escape! LOL, yeah right! We hate that attraction! I wish Disney would shut it down and put something worth while in it's place. Anyway, on to the real attraction I was talking about. This attraction was Walt's baby and he debuted it in the 1964 World's Fair in New York. Although it has changed throughout the years, we love it! Of course I'm talking about…

"There's a great, big, beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day…"
Don't act like you don't know it…

There is just something about this show that keeps us coming back each and every time. I don't know what it is. Maybe the fact that Walt Disney himself had a hand in creating this attraction and it and it's general concept is still alive today.
After COP, we headed over to one of my personal favorite attractions of all time at WDW! I can remember absolutely loving this attraction as a kid and begging my parents to let me ride it over and over again! I was particularly excited about riding it on this trip because it had recently been refurbished and I couldn't wait to check out all the new details and experience the updated trip through space. I just gave it away, as if there was any doubt what attraction I was talking about…

Space Mountain!

I tried to get some pictures from inside, but it was just too dark for any of them to come out good. I'll try again on my next visit though, don't worry. Next up was yet another favorite that I could ride over and over again all day. This attraction is slow, calm and relaxing, but we love it just as much as the thrill rides. It had recently been renamed and we couldn't wait to hop on and take a tour through Tomorrowland on the…

TTA - Peoplemover!

After our trip around Tomorrowland on the TTA, we were all getting a bit hungry. We walked for a short distance until we came across Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café. Perfect! We stuffed our faces and it was wonderful. Now, I know some of you are probably disappointed with my complete lack of food pictures! I am disappointed in myself, but in my defense, we were not on the dining plan this trip, so most of our meals were counter service… I know, I know, that's no excuse, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Next time, I promise, there will be many food pics!
Anyway, we continued our trek around the Magic Kingdom and into the next land that we came to which was, of course, Fantasyland. We got to see the new queue for the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which was really nice. So much better than before!

We also got to see the construction walls that were up for the new Fantasyland expansion. I can't wait for this to open in a couple of years! It is going to add so much to this area of the Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, we didn't get the chance to ride Dumbo; so I didn't get a look over the walls, so you'll have to settle for this shot...

We continued through Fantasyland, riding some of the classics along the way.

After we left Fantasyland, we entered Liberty Square. I really enjoy Liberty Square, even though I know some people find this part of the park boring. I love all the history here and I love the Hall of Presidents.

After the Hall of Presidents, I could have stayed in Liberty Square a little while longer just to soak up all the little intimate details, but everyone else in my group was ready to keep moving. As we made our way toward Frontierland, cast members were roping off for the parade which was going to start in like 15-20 minutes. Ah, just enough time to see a quick show. Here is a shot as we made our way into Frontierland…

Can you guess what show we were going to try and see before the parade started? I'll give you a hint. We were all beary excited about seeing this particular show…

MEyeSeeKayEY · Mar 31, 2011

silver1113 said:
Wonderful Trip report. The pictures are great.

I appreciate it and thanks for stopping by!

Sarabell · Mar 31, 2011

Great report! I'll be waiting for further posts and yes, I'm kind of upset you didn't take any food pictures. Even if it's only counter service, it's always nice to see what people ate while at the parks (plus the disney cups and napkins make it exciting)

erstwo · Mar 31, 2011

I'm still here reading! :wave:

And loving it. And scanning each picture carefully to see if I see myself! Ha!

Really enjoying it and loving the pictures!

MEyeSeeKayEY · Mar 31, 2011

Sarabell said:
Great report! I'll be waiting for further posts and yes, I'm kind of upset you didn't take any food pictures. Even if it's only counter service, it's always nice to see what people ate while at the parks (plus the disney cups and napkins make it exciting)

erstwo said:
I'm still here reading! :wave:

And loving it. And scanning each picture carefully to see if I see myself! Ha!

Really enjoying it and loving the pictures!

Sarabell - Thanks and Food pics next time, I promise!

erstwo - I'll try to post more "crowd" shots. Haha. Thanks!

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 1, 2011

Wednesday December 8 continued…

Did you do your best Sherlock Holmes and crack the code for which show we were going to hit up before the parade started? Well, we bearly made it in the doors as the show was about to start… Now, if that doesn't give it away, nothing will. Of course we were going to see the…

Country Bear Jamboree!

After Big Al and the rest of the crew entertained us, we stepped outside just in time for the parade to start! We love Disney parades! So much fun and so much energy! I usually don't like parades, but I make an exception when I'm in WDW. We knew the parade was almost over when we saw the star. This guy…

Jiminy Cricket!

After the parade was over and the crowd started to thin out, there was only one attraction that was on our minds. This attraction had been closed on our last trip to Walt Disney World in January of 2008, so we were really looking forward to getting on it again (especially before they put those lap bars in)… Which attraction am I talking about? It's gotta be one of these two…

Help me out, Brer Rabbit. Which one should we ride first?

We didn't really need Brer Rabbit's help for this decision, because we had already made up our minds during the parade which attraction would be next. That attraction was...

Splash Mountain!

Splash Mountain was awesome! Even better than I had remembered it. I got a few good shots and a really good video of the ride that you can see on my youtube page. Before we got into the Splash queue, Brittany and I had been watching the logs as they came down the hill; so we knew not to sit in the front… Scott wasn't so fortunate. He sat in the front and got soaked! He stood up from the time we got to the bottom of the hill, basically until we got off the ride. They kept coming over the loud speaker saying, "Please remain seated at all times." It was hilarious! I told him he wouldn't be able to do that next time he was in WDW because lap bars were to be installed not long after our trip. So, I guess you could say he enjoyed his "last stand" on Splash Mountain… As we got off the ride and made our way to our next attraction, we made fun of Scott for being soaked. He has a history of being the one to get soaked at WDW. Last time it was Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom. Haha. Anyway, after we had all laughed until we hurt, we were ready to go fast so that we could dry off. Where would we find an attraction that would go fast enough to dry us off?? Oh yeah, right next door at…

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!

Wow! That definitely is the wildest ride in the west! After Big Thunder Mountain, we decided to head toward the next land in the Magic Kingdom. That's right, next up was Adventureland and one of my all time favorite attractions in Walt Disney World. I'll give you two guesses, but I bet you'll only need one to figure out which attraction I'm talking about...

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 1, 2011

Wednesday December 8 continued…

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me… Of course I am talking about the classic Disney attraction, Pirates of the Caribbean! This has always been one of my very favorite attractions at Walt Disney World. There is just something about it that makes me love it! A trip to the Magic Kingdom is not complete without a trip on PotC!

I absolutely love this attraction! I don't even mind the few new additions from the movies. It gives it a little bit of an updated flavor to go along with the classic attraction. Be sure to check out my Pirates of the Caribbean video on my youtube page…
All this talk about Pirates makes me want to pop in my PotC DVDs and watch them all. I can't wait for the fourth installment this May!
Anyway, after we left Pirates, we walked a little until we came upon another type of boat ride…

The Jungle Cruise!

A lot of people don't really care for the Jungle Cruise, but I enjoy it. I love all the boat ride attractions at Walt Disney World. They are very soothing and relaxing to me. I enjoy seeing all the scenes on the Jungle Cruise and I even like the corny jokes that the captain tells. The only thing about the Jungle Cruise that I did not like was the wait time we had! It was, BY FAR, the longest of our entire trip! That is ridiculous! The standby said 20 minutes, but it was more like 45 to 50! I won't make the mistake of waiting that long again. I'll either grab Fast Passes or come back at another time. Anyway, after our cruise, it was starting to get dark and we were getting hungry! I said, "I know a good place to grab a bite." So, I led my group over to Pecos Bill's Tall Tale Inn and Café! It was delicious! Once again, I have to apologize for the lack of food pictures… but like I said before, my next trip report will have lots of food pics to make up for it.
After we stuffed our bellies, it was time to do some more attractions. First up was yet another one of my all time favorites at Disney. I know I say that a lot and you are probably thinking, "Which attraction ISN''T this guy's favorite?" Haha. Well, I do like them all and I guess that is why I love Walt Disney World so much! Anyway, on to the attraction! We headed back into Liberty Square to check out 999 happy haunts at…

The Haunted Mansion!

What a great ride! Definitely a Disney classic and even though it's not scary at all, I love riding this attraction, especially at night! I do have a word of warning for anyone who is brave enough to go into the Haunted Mansion… watch out for hitchhiking ghosts!
After we escaped with our lives from the HM, we headed back into Fantasyland to hit a couple more attractions before we called it a night. First up was a ride that is not my favorite. I actually think it is very annoying and the only reason I rode this particular attraction was because everyone else in my group wanted to ride it. So, not wanting to be a party pooper, I reluctantly entered the new queue for…

It's A Small World

Ok, it wasn't that bad… but I can't ride it more than once per trip. That song would drive me insane! Haha. After Small World, we continued through Fantasyland and came across an attraction that I had always wanted to do, but had never gotten the chance. Oh, and what a surprise, the wait time was 0 minutes! We jumped right in line and were basically the only people in the queue/waiting area for…

Mickey's Philhar Magic!

Wow! I was blown away by this attraction! Like I said, I had never seen this before and I was really impressed! I have a new favorite 3D show at Walt Disney World and it is Mickey's Philhar Magic!
After the show, we leisurely made our way back around the castle and got a good spot to watch Wishes! Be sure to check out my Wishes video on my youtube page as well. Wishes was great as usual! It never disappoints. Sadly, we made our way back down Main Street and toward the exit… Our full day at the Magic Kingdom had come to an end. My, does time fly when you are in the most magical place on earth! We headed back to Fort Wilderness with mixed emotions… We were sad because our day at the MK was over, but we were excited about the adventure that the next day would bring. I had waited all week to go to this park and tomorrow, I was going to finally get there! Stay tuned to find out what park we were going to next (if you have been following this trip report, you already know the only park we haven't been to yet)...

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 1, 2011

Thursday December 9, 2010

If you didn't already know, did you go back through the trip report and figure out which park we were going to today? Well, I'll give you a hint… In this park, you can go back in time, into the future, under the sea and around the world, all in day's time! You know by now that I'm talking about…

EPCOT!

I love EPCOT! Some people may find this park boring or too educational, but I don't. I love everything about it! I think everyone should know where we have come from and where we are going. I probably took hundreds of pictures as we made our way into the entrance to EPCOT…

Our first attraction of the day is the first one we came to. A lot of people skip this attraction first thing in the morning because they run off into the park to get in line or get Fast Passes for some of the bigger name headliners, but not us. We strolled right up to a practically empty…

Spaceship Earth

I love Spaceship Earth! Whenever I ride it, I just get lost in the story that is being told and I forget all about the real world for a little bit. What a perfect way to start another day at Walt Disney World! After our journey through SSE was over, Brittany and I posed for a picture…

Next, we had a decision to make… Which way to go? We ending up going toward the Land first.

We really enjoy this area of EPCOT because it contains one of our very favorite attractions in all of Disney World. Can you guess which one I'm taking about? Yep, that's right…

Soarin'!

I absolutely love this attraction. From Puddy doing the preshow to flying over Disneyland, it is an awesome experience! I wanted to get video of Soarin, but Brittany wouldn't let me get my camera out because they said no filming or flash photography… so I didn't. Look for it next time though!

Soarin' is so great, I could ride it over and over again! As soon as we got off, we got Fast Passes for later, but now we were ready for our next attraction. Where would we go from here? Stay tuned to find out…

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 1, 2011

Thursday December 9 continued…

We left the Soarin' with Fast Passes in hand and headed right next door to board our next attraction…

Living with the Land!

We always really enjoy this attraction. It is just a relaxing little boat ride, but there is so much to see and so much information to take in! I always like to see the new and different ways Disney is using technology to help save our planet. Here are a few shots from Living with the Land…

Such a cool attraction that I think a lot of people overlook. If you skip Living with the Land, you are missing out and only hurting yourself! As we exited our boat, we made our way up the escalator in the Land pavilion. As we headed toward the Circle of Life show, I looked up and saw this…

We had just left the Land and were heading toward our next attraction, when we came upon a glorious sight… a Disney snack cart! Scott and I got our traditional Mickey ice cream sandwiches while Brittany, Brooke and Pam got pretzels. We ate as we walked and before long we arrived at our next destination…

We decided to go to the left and check out an old classic that Disney had brought back from the 80's to honor the recently deceased King of Pop, Michael Jackson. I am talking about, of course…

Captain EO!

The show was ok. You can tell it was dated, but it was fairly entertaining. I'm not sure it's something I'll do on future trips though… too many other good things to do at EPCOT. While we were in the area, we decided to head over to see what Figment was up to in Journey into Imagination!

Journey into Imagination with Figment is a fun show, but again, not something I have to do every time I'm at EPCOT. I checked the time and just as I thought, it was time to use our Fast Passes for Soarin'! We ran back to the Land to take another flight! Man, this attraction never gets old!
By this time, we were ready for some thrills, so we headed toward the other side of Future World. I got this shot of one of the fountains as we walked…

Where were heading? Which attraction would we ride first? Stayed tuned to find out…

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 2, 2011

Thursday December 9 continued…

We were walking from one side of Future World to the other and we didn't get far before I saw this…

Club Cool!

I made everybody go in so we could all try the sodas from around the world! I insisted that everyone try the Beverly first, since it was so delicious! I let everyone try it and I watched their faces go from happy to disgusted within seconds! Haha. It was priceless. I kick myself for not getting video of those reactions! I was a good sport though, I tried it too. That stuff is nasty!

After tasting the Beverly, we tried most of the other drinks and they weren't too bad. After a few minutes, everyone was ready to keep moving, so we left Club Cool and continued toward the other side of Future World. Here are some shots I took as we walked…

We finally reached the other side of the park and two of our favorite attractions at EPCOT. I bet you can get which two attractions I am taking about. They are pretty much next door to each other. The only question was which one would we ride first!?! Well, we decided to take a "spin" on this little beauty first…

Mission: Space!

We decided to "man up" and be on the Orange Team, which is the more intense version. That was a bad decision. Nobody got sick, but we all were feeling a little less than stellar after we exited our space shuttles. It was a rough trip, but it was still a lot of fun. Now we can look back and laugh! After we got our barings, we decided to head toward the next attraction. This is yet another favorite of ours, not just in EPCOT, but in all of Walt Disney World. We stumbled along until we got to the entrance to the attraction. This attraction is none other than…

Test Track!

I love Test Track! It is so fun! I also got a really good video that you can check out on my youtube page. Here is a free tip for you for this ride or any attraction that has a single riders line. USE IT. There is normally little to no wait at all. So what if you don't get to ride with you friend or family member?!? How much talking do you get to do on an attraction anyway? Of course this does not apply to families with smaller children, but for a family with teenagers or for a group of young adults to adults, single rider is the only way to do it! Here is another hint for ya - If you get in the single riders line in pairs, half of the time they still seat you together! Enough about that...
I was really, really wanting to get to World Showcase, but as it got later in the day, I realized it wasn't going to happen on this day... We had already planned on going back to another park on this night for two events; but I was going to make a point to get back to EPCOT tomorrow for World Showcase!
On the way toward the exit, everyone wanted to make a quick stop at one of the best merchandise stores in WDW...

Mouse Gear!

We looked around for a little while, but we had to get going if we were going to make it to the other park in time for the show we wanted to see... On the way our of Mouse Gear, I spotted this retro EPCOT Center shirt that, looking back, I wish I would have gotten.

If they still have it in September when we go back, I'm going to get it.
Anyway, we proceeded toward the exit and headed over to Disney's Hollywood Studios! I gave you the park; can you guess the two events we wanted to catch that night at DHS?

Now I know how those frozen Mickey ice cream bars feel… A December 2010 TR!

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