Trip Report It’s broken. A Loco Christmas TR!

Hello everyone!

We just got back yesterday from our weeklong stay at WDW and as promised, I am here to deliver a full blown loco_driver TR. I have about a million pictures to sort through still, but we have enough to get started. Let’s do this!

When: December 4-11

Who: Me and the wife A, or Mrs. Loco if you will. Pickle the dog would not be making the trip.

Where: Split stay between OKW and Riviera.

With all the formalities out of the way, let’s do it to it!

 

[Laurenciaa]

Still on the first page... don't know how that is possible
Anyway off to a good start! Love havin' day 0 entertainment as it feels like "winning a day" in WDW!

 

[MinnieM123]

Pickle you say?

Pickle is the cutest dog!! I remember seeing pictures of Pickle from one of your previous TRs. By the way, what breed of dog is Pickle?

 

[amjt660]

Still on the first page... don't know how that is possible

Max

 

[Laurenciaa]

Max

DAMN IT I WAS WHEN I STARTED TYPING THE POST...

 

[amjt660]

DAMN IT I WAS WHEN I STARTED TYPING THE POST...

type one word like " Hi" then save the post
Then edit it and put in what you really wanted to say
Then you know you will be on page 1

Max

 

[Seagull59]

Following! Excited to hear your take on the crowds and this time of year. We were there right before Thanksgiving and it was crowded as well. We tried Genie + and feel it was not really worth the stress either. But I did love having at least a few short lines.

 

[Darstarr]

Anyways she was totally right(as usual).

 

[Laurenciaa]

type one word like " Hi" then save the post
Then edit it and put in what you really wanted to say
Then you know you will be on page 1

Max

Devious... but I like it

 

[Loco_driver]

In for a slamming report!

Thanks for following along.

Great start!


Max

Thanks. Looking forward to more shenanigans!

Following along!!

Welcome aboard!

Still on the first page... don't know how that is possible
Anyway off to a good start! Love havin' day 0 entertainment as it feels like "winning a day" in WDW!

Pickle is the cutest dog!! I remember seeing pictures of Pickle from one of your previous TRs. By the way, what breed of dog is Pickle?

Thanks! Pickle is a Jack Russell Terrier. A spoiled rotten one. People are always surprised that such a small dog can hike some of the trails that she does, but she loves it. Usually I’m struggling to keep up with her!

Following! Excited to hear your take on the crowds and this time of year. We were there right before Thanksgiving and it was crowded as well. We tried Genie + and feel it was not really worth the stress either. But I did love having at least a few short lines.

Thanks for following along. Crowds last week I would say were moderate. I’ve definitely been in the parks with worse crowds, but it was way more crowded than our last trip! Also if you plan things right, you can get a lot done in the parks without genie +. I will admit we were probably helped out by a few fortunate breaks that I’ll mention later on on the TR though.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Yahoo! I'm glad I checked one more page instead of taking a nap LOL!
Glad to be tagging along too.
Love just seeing the sites at HS. It's such a great park, and we like the Christmas decorations there best too This gif doesn't mean anything about your TR, but was just too cute!

 

[PacNWTigger]

Jaeger's response to there not being any Pickle on page 1...

He and Kricket chilled out after they realized there was a Pickle sighting, and it was just me being late to the party.

 

[Loco_driver]

View attachment 607420
Jaeger's response to there not being any Pickle on page 1...
View attachment 607422
He and Kricket chilled out after they realized there was a Pickle sighting, and it was just me being late to the party.

Beautiful pups!

 

[Loco_driver]

Yahoo! I'm glad I checked one more page instead of taking a nap LOL!
Glad to be tagging along too.
Love just seeing the sites at HS. It's such a great park, and we like the Christmas decorations there best too This gif doesn't mean anything about your TR, but was just too cute!

Glad to have you along!

 

[Loco_driver]

Ok I finally have a few moments to continue the TR(the nerve of my workplace to actually expect me to work!)!

Day 0 continued.

We found a spot along Hollywood to watch Santa come by.

The cavalcade also included Pluto and creepy reindeer.

The big man himself!

And snow(look closely, it’s there)!

After the parade we stopped for some photopass pics since the photographer was literally standing there waiting for us.

The park was getting uncomfortably crowded at this point, so we headed for the exit, but spotted Mickey and Minnie greeting guests on top of the bathrooms.

Selfie time!

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 0 continued.

We left the park and headed for the skyliner. One noticeable change from our last trip was that they were now seating multiple parties in a cabin. It wasn’t particularly busy at this point but we got shoved in with another party anyways. Whatever.

We took the skyliner over to riviera and relaxed(snoozed) in the lobby for a bit. We ordered some coffee and a cupcake from Le Petite Cafe for a little sugar rush.

We were staying the night at an offsite hotel just down the road from AK. Check in time wasn’t for another few hours. We decided to go get the car and drive to AK, so we could quickly get to the hotel when our room was ready.

The tree at AK is most impressive

There was a PP photographer in front of the entrance with nothing to do.

Again, but “earidescent”

We did eventually enter the park.

We spent a little time walking around the Oasis. We didn’t see much.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 0 continued.

The tree of life just never gets old.

Another 50th statue

The merry menagerie puppets were out and about. These are a really nice addition to AK.

The musicians add a nice energy to the area.

There was a showing of kite tales beginning in about ten minutes. We were curious to see this much maligned show.I didn’t take many pictures since it was my first time seeing it.

We saw the Jungle Book version.

So what did I think?

I’m not really sure what I expected. This feels like such a bizarre thing that’s so different from the super polished “safe” productions that Disney usually puts on, and I really liked it! I thought it was goofy, silly fun. The entire crowd seemed to enjoy it. Would I go out of my way just to see it? Probably not. But I would definitely catch a showing if it were starting soon and I was close by!

After the show we actually did an attraction! Everest only had a 10 minute posted wait(or you could buy an ILL for $6 ). Anyways I’m sure our ride picture is floating around out there somewhere.

After our little adrenaline rush we decided we’d better head for the exit, and more importantly a bed.

There was one of the super zoom pictures near Everest.

We saw Mickey and Minnie on the way out.

 

[Loco_driver]

Day 0 finished.

We continued our journey toward the exit.

This puppeteer was having a good time messing with this guy.

The baby seal was A’s favorite.

The sun was starting to set, and we were quickly losing steam. We headed for the car and made it to our hotel about 5 minutes later. We showered and crashed at about 7:30 that evening, getting ready to really get started the next day.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

AK is our favorite park! (Is that allowed if it's not the MK?) LOL
Love your photos, and pixie dust with the photographers.
It seems like disney is letting more entertainment come back? what with the paper animals and the muscians. I sure hope that's true.
Our favorite tree is the AK Christmas tree, and we always take a picture of eyeore at the bottom of the tree. Looks like you are doing pretty good for being so tired

 

[amjt660]

AK is our favorite park! (Is that allowed if it's not the MK?) LOL

I think it is fine but just don’t let @Tuvalu know

( of course by notifying her of this post I am just…..

Max

 

[Sbk1234]

Very nice trip report so far. Looking forward to more.