I know, I know, that's the busiest time of year to go, but hear me out! Christmas sucks for us right about now! And we decided that instead of staying home and wallowing in our sorrow, we would go somewhere and try to keep ourselves busy. Christmas 2022 obviously sucked, but we were so numb at that point that it's all a blur. Then 2023 was horrific and felt like the first Christmas without Lily. Needless to say, I didn't feel like decorating nor celebrating, so we didn't do a whole lot that year. Last year, I still couldn't bring myself to decorate, but we tried to attend a few celebrations and ease back into things. My anniversary trip with Brian last year helped get me closer to remembering that I used to love Christmas and all the decorations, but I'm still not sure I would be able to decorate the house this year either, so now I won't have to worry about it too much! The boys don't necessarily want to go anywhere, but they grudgingly agreed to go with us when I promised we would make it as laid back and stress free as possible, which I know means we will miss seeing and doing a lot of things! As you can surmise from my picture, we are staying at Caribbean Beach again. I booked two (hopefully connecting) standard view 5th sleeper rooms. I am going to request to be in Trinidad again this year.
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Trip Report I May Have Done a Thing... (now the actual report)
- Thread starter TheMouseFan
- Start date
I know, I know, that's the busiest time of year to go, but hear me out! Christmas sucks for us right about now! And we decided that instead of staying home and wallowing in our sorrow, we would go somewhere and try to keep ourselves busy. Christmas 2022 obviously sucked, but we were so numb at that point that it's all a blur. Then 2023 was horrific and felt like the first Christmas without Lily. Needless to say, I didn't feel like decorating nor celebrating, so we didn't do a whole lot that year. Last year, I still couldn't bring myself to decorate, but we tried to attend a few celebrations and ease back into things. My anniversary trip with Brian last year helped get me closer to remembering that I used to love Christmas and all the decorations, but I'm still not sure I would be able to decorate the house this year either, so now I won't have to worry about it too much! The boys don't necessarily want to go anywhere, but they grudgingly agreed to go with us when I promised we would make it as laid back and stress free as possible, which I know means we will miss seeing and doing a lot of things! As you can surmise from my picture, we are staying at Caribbean Beach again. I booked two (hopefully connecting) standard view 5th sleeper rooms. I am going to request to be in Trinidad again this year.
We walked right on and were exiting before early entry had even officially begun.
Sorry that some of these are blurry, but I was trying to get them with my phone as we walked.
Sorry that some of these are blurry, but I was trying to get them with my phone as we walked.
We quickly made our way over to Tower of Terror for our "13 minute" wait.
By 8:15 we were on our way back down Sunset and heading toward our next early entry ride.
Next stop was Toy Story Mania!
That 5 minute stand by wait was pretty accurate and was basically just as long as it took us to walk the queue.
Owen won this round. Brian and I both had trouble with our shooters not working on one particular scene and part of the way through the last bonus round, so we both had really bad scores!
The park had officially been open for 5 minutes when we headed to our next attraction. We waited about 10-15 minutes.
Then we stopped for a quick snack. I shared a Coke with Brian, Owen got a churro, and Logan got a Mickey pretzel and cheese. I can't believe I forgot to take pictures before everything was devoured! We saw Pinocchio meeting people while we sat on a bench and ate our snack.
We took a few moments to decide our next move. The timing wasn't right for the Villains show or the new Little Mermaid show, no one had any interest in Slinky or Star Tours, and we had a LL later for Rise, so we decided to head to Batuu and take a ride on the Millenium Falcon.
That 5 minute stand by wait was pretty accurate and was basically just as long as it took us to walk the queue.
Owen won this round. Brian and I both had trouble with our shooters not working on one particular scene and part of the way through the last bonus round, so we both had really bad scores!
The park had officially been open for 5 minutes when we headed to our next attraction. We waited about 10-15 minutes.
Then we stopped for a quick snack. I shared a Coke with Brian, Owen got a churro, and Logan got a Mickey pretzel and cheese. I can't believe I forgot to take pictures before everything was devoured! We saw Pinocchio meeting people while we sat on a bench and ate our snack.
We took a few moments to decide our next move. The timing wasn't right for the Villains show or the new Little Mermaid show, no one had any interest in Slinky or Star Tours, and we had a LL later for Rise, so we decided to head to Batuu and take a ride on the Millenium Falcon.
I didn't take many general photos this trip and instead focused more on the Christmas decorations.
The wait time was definitely not 30 minutes, probably closer to 15-20.
Brian and Owen were pilots and Logan and I were gunners.
It was a successful mission!
Then we had a little bit of time before lunch, so decided to do some browsing/shopping and taking pictures of Christmas decor until time to check in.
Then back to Echo Lake to check in for lunch.
Daisy was out with a PP photographer and a huge line to see her, so I just snuck a few between families!
Donald was just roaming around and was a little harder to catch without someone else's kid in the picture!
We were called in almost immediately for lunch and were placing our order before our actual ADR time.
Owen wanted cornbread, so we started with that, but I forgot to take a picture until we already started.
Logan and Brian ordered the pork chop.
Owen ordered the salmon.
And I had the sampler platter.
It was all delicious and we all got the clean plate stickers even though Owen and I both had a little left on our plates.
We were called in almost immediately for lunch and were placing our order before our actual ADR time.
Owen wanted cornbread, so we started with that, but I forgot to take a picture until we already started.
Logan and Brian ordered the pork chop.
Owen ordered the salmon.
And I had the sampler platter.
It was all delicious and we all got the clean plate stickers even though Owen and I both had a little left on our plates.
Pic of the actual restaurant since I didn't take it on the way in!
We had some time before our LL for Rise, so we decided to wander around Batuu for awhile and got there by way of Toy Story Land thinking there would be more Christmas decorations to see. There weren't! Hamm was there, but there were people standing in front of him and they refused to move.
It was finally time for our LL.
We had some time before our LL for Rise, so we decided to wander around Batuu for awhile and got there by way of Toy Story Land thinking there would be more Christmas decorations to see. There weren't! Hamm was there, but there were people standing in front of him and they refused to move.
It was finally time for our LL.
Thanks! It really was a great morning!
Thanks! I really enjoy finding the small details that most people miss! I still come home with some of the same pics trip after trip, but I at least try to find some different angles or details.
You're welcome! I love them too!
Thank you! And you're welcome! Thanks for reading!
You're welcome! I love the Christmas decorations at DHS!