Trip Report **Completed** The Wine and Dine Half Marathon and we are never changing hotels again!

Hello everyone! I have been (sadly) back for over a week now so I suppose its time to start my TR. I have been in a moderate Disney depression since I have been back, so hopefully this cheers me up. Its probably the freezing cold weather here in Buffalo, but I am longing for Disney and sunny weather (I know its only like 55 there right now, but its 25 here :)). I suppose this is the true sign of a Disney addict! Anyway, on with the TR!

Who?:

From left to right:
My Dad (Jeff), Me (Megan), Mickey :p, My sister Betta (her name is Elizabeth, we call her Betta), my nephew Max, my Mom (Mary) my sister Jill and Betta's friend Deanna
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Deanna came with my sister to help with Max :) She has been to Disney before, but not for several years. This is Max's first trip! The rest of us have been to Disney (several times...;))

When?
My Mom and I: November 3 - 12
My Dad and Jill: Nov 5 -12
Betta, Deanna and Max Nov 7 - 12

Where?
We moved hotels 3 times, I will introduce them as we go :)

Why?
Jill and I really wanted to run the Wine and Dine Half Marathon so we planned a trip around it! Plus, Betta wanted to bring Max to Disney the first time!

The Title?
Well, its pretty obvious! We ran the Wine and Dine Half Marathon :) Also, we were not keen on moving hotels during the trip. It is incredibly disruptive and takes up a decent amount of free time. I will comment more as we go.

T-5 days
As my Mom and I were driving to help my sister and Max pack for the trip we were getting a little bit Disney crazy and really did not want to stay at All Star Sports. We have nothing against people who like the values (or can only afford them), but we really don't enjoy them. When I was a kid we only stayed at values and we loved them, but we definitely have gotten spoiled lately. Knowing we booked All Stars to save us money I did not think a hotel move would be possible. However, the huge AP discount was still a thing so we started looking into other hotels. While at my sister's house I kept trying to change the hotel, but it was not working. Eventually I gave up and finally called Disney. I had the sweetest CM ever on the phone and we chatted for quite a bit about all sorts of things. In the end I decided on moving to the Wilderness Lodge because we love it so much! The CM also added a bit of magic and upgraded us to Concierge level for free. :):p:joyfull::inlove: Woohoo!!! The only downside is this would mean we would have to pick up our luggage in the airport for Magical Express. Annoying, but no big deal overall :)

November 3, 2016
We got up around 5 am and got ready to go to the airport. It was a gross and rainy day in Buffalo so we were happy to be heading to sunny Florida! While my Mom and I were finishing up last minute things and taking pictures my Dad started grabbing our suitcases and bringing them to the car. Only, we weren't done with them yet so he had to bring them back in. Because it was rainy he really looked the part of a grumpy airport worker :joyfull:
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We had a quick ride to the airport and we got there by 6 am. We had the same Southwest worker check us in that we had in October. Thats when you know you travel too much? haha
We both had TSA pre-check and for once I did not set off the metal detector! We were through security by 6:08 am. You have got to love TSA pre-check :)
For breakfast we had some bagels and water
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Petey and Drake were ready :)
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Since we had a crazy amount of time to kill we sat down at our gate and I already started working on my notes haha
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Then we took some selfies...
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Finally it was time to get on the plane. We ended up in row 4! I love sitting in the front, takes less time to get off the plane!
Magic Bands ready :)
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Purple Magic Bands for the win! The woman sitting next to me also had a purple Magic Band :)
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Next up: Arriving in MCO!
 
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DimpledDevil18

Well-Known Member
The race sounded like a lot of fun, despite you being sick the night before. I'd love to participate in one, but I am definitely not a runner. I have horrible endurance and sports induced asthma, so running was never my forte. I remember dreading having to run the mile in gym class while I was in school.

I can't wait to keep reading!
 

MerMom1981

Well-Known Member
Finally caught up!

I'm so impressed you ran a half marathon after being up sick the night before! I personally don't run unless I'm being chased, so my hat's off to you and your mom and sister!

I am equal parts jealous and happy that you met up with two WDW Magic friends! I can't even imagine how fun that would be!

Also, sorry to hear about you loss.
I lost a great-aunt in November and a cousin in December. My TR has been at a stand-still.

On a happier note, congratulations to Jill! I do remember her boyfriend from a previous report, but that doesn't make me creepy, right?
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I am so far behind in my TR reading! So sorry you were sick the night before the 1/2. I don't know how you managed to run a race after being sick overnight. I loved reading about your meet up with @Longers and @prfctlyximprct. Still sad I wasn't there as well, but thanks to all 3 trip reports I was able to live vicariously through you all! I am hopeful that we will all be able to meet up someday in the future :).

I'm not kidding, I kept thinking about the medal and that legit motivated me to get up and run. I love those medals ;)
I hope one day we can all meet up ! I would love that :)

I would love that to happen! Fingers crossed.

Me too!!!!! It would be fantastic :)
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The race sounded like a lot of fun, despite you being sick the night before. I'd love to participate in one, but I am definitely not a runner. I have horrible endurance and sports induced asthma, so running was never my forte. I remember dreading having to run the mile in gym class while I was in school.

I can't wait to keep reading!

I have exercise induced asthma too and it used to be really bad when I ran, but now I just take my time and I do ok :) Thanks for following! If you ever get up to it even the 5ks are fun at Disney :)

Finally caught up!

I'm so impressed you ran a half marathon after being up sick the night before! I personally don't run unless I'm being chased, so my hat's off to you and your mom and sister!

I am equal parts jealous and happy that you met up with two WDW Magic friends! I can't even imagine how fun that would be!

Also, sorry to hear about you loss.
I lost a great-aunt in November and a cousin in December. My TR has been at a stand-still.

On a happier note, congratulations to Jill! I do remember her boyfriend from a previous report, but that doesn't make me creepy, right?

Haha! I really enjoy running...I know I'm sick :) It was so neat to meet Tracey and Nicole! I hope to continue to meet people. I feel like I know everyone from reading about them, so its nice to actually meet them :) Sorry to hear about your losses as well :(. Its hard to lose people, but I think sometimes Disney makes me feel better about it, I hope thats true for you too. I don't think it makes you creepy at all that you remember him :)
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 continued:
After HM we were getting pretty close to our brunch reservation time so we booked it through MK (through parade traffic) to get to the monorail. My Dad was an expert stroller steering and we worked our way through the crowds quickly WITHOUT running into anyone :) See, it can be done people! No need to run into someone ;)
Soon enough we were on the monorail
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And then we made our way to our final destination
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Max woke up just in time for us to be seated :)
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We were all excited to eat here since we love 1900 Park Fare. It is definitely our favorite breakfast buffet. Deanna was happy because they made her gluten free waffles and she said she was on a "waffle high" the rest of the day :happy:
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Marry Poppins came first
Max was not top sure about her :)
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Here is my plate of food :) One of them anyway. Have to get those gummy bears in there !
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I don't usually eat Mickey waffles, but I did have one and it was delightful!
Pooh came up next
Max was interested, but was as far back in his seat as possible haha
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Next up: 1900 Park Fare continued
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 continued
Pooh continued :)
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Tigger was around at this point too, but skipped our table so the Mad Hatter was next. He flew in and out, barely stopping for pictures!
Max was not keen on him anyway :)
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Next up was Alice. Max loveeeeddddd Alice!!!!
Like he kept starting at her and trying to hug her :)
It was so cute!!!
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Last up was Tigger. We waited quite a bit of time for him, but he was worth the wait!
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Max looks drunk in this picture :rolleyes:
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I'm so disappointed in how these pictures turned out so blurry. My camera really needs patience when it takes pictures, but its so hard with Max moving and the characters in a hurry. In any case I'm looking for a new camera so any suggestions would be appreciated! Preferably one that I can also use for my youtube videos.
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On the way out we ran into Winnie the Pooh once more!
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We love 1900 Park Fare...as I have said like 1000 times! I would highly recommend it (at least for breakfast, have never had dinner there). After our lovely brunch we checked out the gingerbread progress.
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They were giving out free samples so I indulged in some gingerbread and it was delicious! Wish I had some right now :)
Next up : pool time
 

MegRuss626

Well-Known Member
Day 6 continued
Pooh continued :)
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Tigger was around at this point too, but skipped our table so the Mad Hatter was next. He flew in and out, barely stopping for pictures!
Max was not keen on him anyway :)
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Next up was Alice. Max loveeeeddddd Alice!!!!
Like he kept starting at her and trying to hug her :)
It was so cute!!!
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Last up was Tigger. We waited quite a bit of time for him, but he was worth the wait!
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Max looks drunk in this picture :rolleyes:
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I'm so disappointed in how these pictures turned out so blurry. My camera really needs patience when it takes pictures, but its so hard with Max moving and the characters in a hurry. In any case I'm looking for a new camera so any suggestions would be appreciated! Preferably one that I can also use for my youtube videos.
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On the way out we ran into Winnie the Pooh once more!
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We love 1900 Park Fare...as I have said like 1000 times! I would highly recommend it (at least for breakfast, have never had dinner there). After our lovely brunch we checked out the gingerbread progress.
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They were giving out free samples so I indulged in some gingerbread and it was delicious! Wish I had some right now :)
Next up : pool time

I highly recommend 1900 for dinner! We had Thanksgiving dinner there in 2015 and loved it so much we went there again this past September!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 continued
On a side note, don't worry everyone. You can stop listen to me complaining about my photos because I finally bit the bullet and got a new camera (@samantha788 inspired me!).
Anyway, after brunch Betta and Deanna went for a run (they have a race next weekend) so we took Max to the pool
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It was a good excuse for me to check out the kids area :)
The lifeguard kept thinking Max was so cute, and since he was the only kid in there she payed with him a little!
The water was cold so guess who got voted to go in with him...me! The joys of being the youngest :p
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Max takes swimming lessons, but he isn't too keen on pools. He did, however, love this play area. At least until the water dumped and Jill and I would scream (because it was so cold!) so he would cry. :joyfull:
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Water spots were getting all over my camera :) Good thing its waterproof!
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We then moved over to the actual pool!
It should come as no surprise that I went down the slide!
I'm pretty sure I was waving at Max :rolleyes:
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Yay sunshine and pool time!
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Next up: pool continued
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 continued
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Soon enough others joined me in the water :)
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Max kept a safe distance and stayed on the edge :)
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Then he thought he was try sitting on the lower edge :)
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Then when mama came back he tried going in! He hated it though!
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My Mom of course had to go down the slide as well!
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I then pretended to walk the balance beam (aka the pool step) like 10 times and made my Mom film it every time :)
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The just some random pictures...haha.
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We really enjoyed our pool time, but had an important date to get to so we headed back to the room! Only, our room was being cleaned so we waited on some benches outside our room and played the chess and other games they have out for people. This was really neat! I never saw the games out before and it was pretty nice to sit and relax in the gardens and play some games :)

Next up: Christmas Party!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 continued
It just occurred to me that I never took a picture of our window decorations I put up :( It was cute, I used my Christmas tsum tsums and some Mickey confetti that I made. Oh well!
Back in the room we got ready for the Christmas party. I know some of you like seeing the braids Jill does for me so here is an extra cool one ! She used our glitter eye shadow in my hair as well :)
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We actually left at a different time than Betta and Deanna, but we all ended up on the same bus :)
We did get hard tickets for the party, but I am not really sure why because the tickets were linked to our MBs anyway and they were giving Betta a hard time about using Jills hard ticket (but really how were we supposed to know, they aren't labeled!). Jill has DVC (kind of...long story) so her band makes the turnstiles turn red, green and pink :)
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We got to the party around 4:30 pm and got some pictures first
We were going to wear shorts under our skirts, but I am glad we went with leggings because it did get colder
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I think its so cool how they made the flowers look like an ornament :) I'm easily amused I think :p
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Next up: more pictures....haha
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 continued
Jill and I split up from the group at this point because we had our own plans, but first we stopped for a picture :)
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I love this one!
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Apparently my Mom and Dad stopped with Max for some photos too! So cute :)
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Jill and I had plans to meet Sandy Claws so we looked up where he usually meets and hopped over to Pete's Silly Side Show. I did say that I wonder if he got moved because my Mom and I met the 7 Dwarfs there for the Halloween party so while I was in the bathroom Jill asked a CM who confirmed he moved over to where Tiana meets. We ran over there and hopped in his line that had already started to form. I looked at my clock at the time was 4:50 pm. We had high hopes he would come out early since he sometimes does but a CM came by and said he would definitely not be out until 6:30 pm. She also came by and checked our wrist bands and had to tell some people they could not wait because they were not party guests :(. Jill and I decided we would still wait because there was a place to sit and we really didn't mind sitting there and listening to Christmas music!
While we were in line my parents, Betta, Deanna and Max went on Pirates
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The CM who was in charge of organizing things for Sandy Claws made it very clear that only one person in your party had to wait in line, so that was cool! Jill went into the Christmas shop and got us some cool necklaces!
My Mom took this picture when she and my Dad came to check on us!
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I would also assume she took this random picture of people waiting in line :)
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We told my Mom and Dad they could come meet us in line since they said it was OK and they said they would wander around a bit and probably come back. I ran to get Jill and I a snack while we waited...
The CM working the one stand was so sweet and said she loved my outfit. I ordered 2 pretzels and 2 cheese cups and she said it was on Mickey because he liked my Christmas spirit :joyfull::jawdrop::inlove:. I was so surprised and thanked her like 10 times! I then brought the snacks back to Jill and even thought it was only like 5:30 my parents decided to join us in line :)
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Don't know what my Dad's pinky finger is all about haha
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Then we waited....
we amused ourselves by chatting with people around us and playing heads up and around 6:15 they had us stand up and get ready for Sandy Claws!

Next up: Christmas Party continued!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 continued
Meanwhile, Betta, Max and Deanna did their own thing!
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I think they ate somewhere but I am not sure. Max fell sound asleep pretty early in the night so they walked around and took turns riding things while the rest of us waited in line :)
It was getting closer and closer to when Jack was going to come out and we could see the castle lighting through the trees!
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Then the main man came out and everyone in line was so excited!
We did not have to wait long to see him since we were so close to the front of the line. Just before we met him the party officially started!
Hello Sandy Claws!
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He spent a ton of time with us. He asked us to help finish his 12 days of Christmas song and we came up with 4 creepy crawlers and 5 dead bats which delighted him
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He then kept telling my Dad he loved his shirt! Truth be told my Dad never even saw Nightmare Before Christmas until after we got back :p
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Jill is obsessed with Jack Skellington and so she asked for a selfie with him
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In the end we said thank you to Jack and I said "thanks Jack, er I mean Sandy Claws" and the CM said don't worry he's still Jack! :joyfull:
I mean, this was a huge highlight for me of all my Disney trips combined. He was so cool to meet and his mannerisms were spot on with the movie. I know some people may say we are crazy for waiting 2 hours for him, but we enjoyed each others company while we waited and since they let us sit down it was much better than when my Mom and I met the Dwarfs :)
I was also glad that we didn't miss anything of the actual party since it started right before we met him!
We needed to eat dinner at this point so ended up at Casey's again for some corn dog nuggets, hot dogs and fries. I think my parents thought I was crazy because I sprinted across the tables, but since it was crowded I saw and empty one and grabbed it :joyfull:
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After our yummy meal we looked around at the Christmas stuff and went on a mission to find the rest of our party :)

Next up: Christmas party continued
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 continued
Main Street is so pretty for Christmas!
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Some dark castle pictures
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We headed to Tomorrowland to find Betta, Max and Deanna
We then grabbed some treats of cookies and hot chocolate. It would be after the party that I would find out that the treats changed this year and every place has different kinds! Oh well!
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The people mover had a short wait so we headed over there!
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It was cool to see all the characters meeting in that area from above...like Nick and Judy from Zootopia :)
After the peoplemover it was getting close to parade time and I knew we wouldn't be seeing the later parade so we headed over there and found a spot. We actually ended up sitting along one of the side walkways just outside of Main Street. It ended up working out perfectly because it wasn't crowded and they let us stand on the concrete walls so we had a great view.
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My Mom and Dad joked that Deanna was their favorite daughter ;)
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Next up: the parade!
 

Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 continued:
The spot was great for our eyes, but not great for pictures. Never fear, I am still going to make you look at all these pictures
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And the star of the show....Santa Claus!
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Everyone really enjoyed the parade! After this we split up again and Betta, my Dad, Deanna and Max headed back to the hotel while Jill and my mom and I stayed. We considered meeting Scrooge McDuck, but his line was too long so we opted to ride Dumbo instead
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Ah ! I will finish the Christmas party today, but need a short break because we are heading of to see Moana!

Next up: Xmas party continued
 
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Doc Disney

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 6 continued
PS Moana was great! Go see it :)
Dumbo!
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Then we went on the Barnstormer which Jill has never been on before :)
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Next up was Buzz! Crazy how much you can get done during a party! There was barely any wait for anything
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Jill and I decided to go on Space Mountain next. It was getting close to fireworks time but the wait was 5 minutes so we figured we could swing it! My Mom opted to stay off this time
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After SM we found a Photopass guy :)
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Finally it was time for Holiday Wishes! We stood a little bit down Main Street and we were able to get this picture right before it started
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Next up: Christmas party continued
 

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