Trip Report Livin' La Vida Local

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.

For those of you that have been following my adventures for awhile now, welcome back! For those of you that are just joining my adventures, I'll do some quick introductions before we jump on in!

I'm Brittany and this is my prince, Dylan. We are from Pennsylvania and got engaged at MK a little over a year ago. We took a page from Walt's book shortly thereafter and chased our dreams, leading us to central Florida. I teach 1st grade and Dylan works at the Magnolia/Palm (Disney) golf courses located across from the Poly and Grand Floridian. After living in FL for a full year now, we are 100% certain that we won't be moving back to PA. We are Floridians through and through and can't imagine living our crazy life together anywhere else.

You'll see lots of faces in my report (including some of yours!), but this is the one you'll see most often. This is my very best Disney friend, Brooke (@wishes2013)! We met through this site and were brought together when we realized that we would both be teaching 1st grade at the same school. I'm not exaggerating when I say that you can either find us at school or Disney... we're together more often than we're not.

You can find the ongoing trip report that chronicles our first year living in FL and being passholders here. This report will serve as more of a "highlight reel," rather than detailing every moment of every trip we take to the parks. But fear not, there will still be lots of report to read! If you're looking for your Disney fix or a way to chase those Disney blues away, you can most certainly find it here.

To all who come to this happy place, welcome!

 

[blreinsel]

Sunday, November 18 - HBD MICKEY!

I woke up bright and early and arrived at MK before park opening. I was there so early that not only did I park on the heroes side of the parking lot, I parked in Aladdin. It wasn’t nearly as busy at the TTC as I thought it would be, and I made it into the park just a little after 8am!

I went straight to Town Square and got in line to meet Mickey. There were only a handful of people in front of me, and I’m glad I got in line when I did because it got crazy not long after! The CM’s finally let us inside the building and into the queue at about 8:45am.

When the clock struck 9, we all sang happy birthday to Mickey and then they started letting people in to see the birthday boy!

I waited maybe 10 minutes once the line started moving and then I was here.

We did a birthday dance and talked about all the best ways to celebrate his special day!

The most important order of business out of the way, I was off to enjoy the rest of my morning in MK! I had FP’s for Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain, but that was the extent of my rides for the day. It was BUSY.

The regular Space Mountain exit is back open and looks great! Sorry for the blurry pictures.

One of the CM’s had left a little artwork behind.

I headed back to Main Street and caught Move It Shake It. I stopped to watch in case they did anything special for Mickey’s birthday, but it was the same aside from the guy with the mic telling him happy birthday. I actually really enjoyed watching though! Mickey was full of energy this morning.

I was done with the crowds at that point so decided to head out. I was disappointed that all of the merch was already sold out, but other than that I had a great time celebrating the mouse that started it all!

 

[blreinsel]

Friday, November 23

Dylan and I decided to pop into Epcot to grab our Passholder magnets (one for the fridge, one for my car ) and try some Festival of the Holidays goodness! I was highly disappointed with this festival last year, but I’m happy to report that so far, this year is a major in my book!

I love this display so much.

And these guys, too!

We used our FP for Spaceship Earth before heading for WS. We started at the Shanghai booth where we tried the Mongolian Beef Bao Bun (amazing) and the Celebration Barbecue Pork (good).

We continued on to Bavaria where we had the Potato Dumpling with Mushroom (delicious) and the Cheese Fondue in a Bread Bowl (fantastic). The fondue reminded us of the plastic cheese that comes with Mickey pretzels, but it was soooo good. The veggies and potatoes for dipping were really good with the cheese! Also, the fondue portion size was HUGE.

Next up was Gourmet Hot Chocolate from America, which I didn’t take a picture of. It was disgusting. We both took about 4 sips before throwing it away. Don’t waste your money.

I decided to wash the taste out of my mouth with some ice cream in honor of @Longers We stopped at Fife and Drum Tavern to pick up a Holiday Apple Pie Sundae. Guys... I will easily eat 65 of these things by the time the festival ends. IT WAS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER EATEN. The portion size is huge and it wasn’t terribly priced either. I can’t recommend this one enough.

After I finished my cup of heaven, we used our FP for Frozen.

We headed out for the night after that! It was a beautiful evening in Epcot!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Love your local princess shirts! Too cute!

 

[Longers]

Friday, November 23

Dylan and I decided to pop into Epcot to grab our Passholder magnets (one for the fridge, one for my car ) and try some Festival of the Holidays goodness! I was highly disappointed with this festival last year, but I’m happy to report that so far, this year is a major in my book!

I love this display so much.
View attachment 330871

And these guys, too!
View attachment 330872

We used our FP for Spaceship Earth before heading for WS. We started at the Shanghai booth where we tried the Mongolian Beef Bao Bun (amazing) and the Celebration Barbecue Pork (good).
View attachment 330874

We continued on to Bavaria where we had the Potato Dumpling with Mushroom (delicious) and the Cheese Fondue in a Bread Bowl (fantastic). The fondue reminded us of the plastic cheese that comes with Mickey pretzels, but it was soooo good. The veggies and potatoes for dipping were really good with the cheese! Also, the fondue portion size was HUGE.
View attachment 330875

Next up was Gourmet Hot Chocolate from America, which I didn’t take a picture of. It was disgusting. We both took about 4 sips before throwing it away. Don’t waste your money.

I decided to wash the taste out of my mouth with some ice cream in honor of @Longers We stopped at Fife and Drum Tavern to pick up a Holiday Apple Pie Sundae. Guys... I will easily eat 65 of these things by the time the festival ends. IT WAS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER EATEN. The portion size is huge and it wasn’t terribly priced either. I can’t recommend this one enough.
View attachment 330876

After I finished my cup of heaven, we used our FP for Frozen.
View attachment 330877

We headed out for the night after that! It was a beautiful evening in Epcot!

OMG that’s one ice cream that was on my list before I went

BUT ....

The list got lost, I forgot and I came home without having one and realised only last weekend.
This has made me even more disappointed as that looks delicious!

Thanks for thinking of me though.

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, November 24

@wishes2013 cousin was marching down Main Street with his high school band so we were off to cheer them on and capture some pictures for them!

On my way, I noticed that they had officially shut down the HS entrance off of World Drive to accommodated Galaxy’s Edge. It looks so sad. Only CM’s are permitted in this way now.

We had a few fastpasses in the morning and then went to claim spots for the parade. We had a perfect spot under the Christmas tree looking right down the middle of Main Street, but then we were informed that it was reserved viewing. We moved over in front of the Confectionery, but the CM ended up letting Brooke go back under the tree just until the band passed by. The bands come through awhile before FoF actually starts, so we had some time to burn in between.

Empty Main Street calls for pictures!

It had been awhile since I’d seen FoF!

After the Tangled float started to approach, the parade came to a halt. None of the floats were moving and then we noticed performers exiting down by Casey’s. A little while later, the parade resumed and we discovered that there was something wrong with the Little Mermaid float. It had to be pulled the rest of the way through the route!

It was amazing to watch the performers on the Princess and Tangled floats as all of this was happening. They likely had no idea what was going on, but they didn’t miss a beat. They continued as if nothing was wrong and it really makes you appreciate the work that character CM’s do!

The parade continued on, but all of the street performers were gone. Only characters on the floats remained. We couldn’t figure out why they took everybody off since it was just the Little Mermaid float that malfunctioned.

After the parade, we headed to Friar’s Nook for what we had been waiting for since spring... THE RETURN OF MAC AND CHEESE. We were both so sad when they replaced the mac and cheese with totchos back in the spring so were overjoyed when we heard it was back! You can now order just mac and cheese, just totchos, or a combination of the two. We both tried the bacon mac and cheese totchos and it was INCREDIBLE. The portion size is surprisingly big.

We rode a few more things after lunch before heading out.. I had an ADR to get ready for.

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, November 25 cont.

Dylan’s birthday was the following day, but we decided to celebrate a day early! We had reservations at one of our favorites, Grand Floridian Cafe.

We had a few minutes to wait after we checked in so we walked outside to enjoy the beautiful evening.

We also stopped for a picture in front of the tree. I think this is my favorite tree on property.

Soon we received the text that our table was ready and we headed on back! Dinner with a view.

We started with some bread and I wasn’t a fan. They used to have really good rolls but this stuff... not so much. Good thing I had a pina colava to wash it down.

We both ordered the New York Strip Steak and it was amazing as always. I love their housemade steak sauce, too!

We decided to forgo dessert in favor of a drink at Mizner’s. I used to think that this bar was so stuffy and meh but we love hanging out here now! The usual bartender (I forget her name) is a riot and we love going in when she’s working! I had the Grand Cocktail.

We sat and enjoyed our drinks before heading home for the night!

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, December 1

I’ve always been a fan of Garden Grill, but lately I’ve developed more of an obsession with it. We were headed to Epcot tonight to see Candlelight Processional so actually tried to get a last minute dining package at GG.. no luck, but we decided to keep our ressie anyway!

I didn’t take pictures of the main dishes, but we were served pasta salad in place of the regular salad due to the whole romaine debacle. It was tasty!

And who can pass up a picture of the main event? Our waiter also offered us cookies, which one of my friends was all about. I stuck to the good stuff.

And now for some sweet boys!

I carried on with Mickey a bit about how I was really only visiting him because I was here for Uncle Jesse. He was a good sport about my teasing.

Who’s a good boy!?

Dale finally made it around at the very end of our meal and we gave him a hard time for skipping us earlier. We told him that he was worth the wait.

I’m fairly certain that there was also some sort of discussion about who is the better hugger: him or Chip. They battled it out and we decided it was a tie.

We finished up and settled our bill before heading off toward WS.

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, December 1 cont.

It was maybe around 6:30 or so and we planned to get in the standby line for the 8:15 Candlelight showing. When we got to the line, the CM warned that it was highly unlikely that we would get into the 8:15 show even if we got in line right then. We decided that we didn’t have any interest in waiting that long and still not being guaranteed a seat, so we continued on and stood at the back of the theater to watch the 6:45 show instead. It wasn’t a great view, but it did the job.

Not only were we there to see Uncle Jesse, but we were also there to see Guy Behind the Magic sing in the choir! We actually saw him when the choir was filtering into the theater. He gave us a wave and thanked us for coming. You are so very welcome.

We stood by a family who had a kid (teen) singing in the choir, so that was neat. They were a lot of fun and we carried on throughout the show! At one point, some important looking Disney people walked up into the risers but we couldn’t figure out what they were doing. The family told us that it’s common for kids to pass out during the show, and after texting with their director who was backstage, they learned that’s exactly what had happened. Yikes.

My pictures are bad, but I’ll share them anyway. If there aren’t pictures, did it really happen?

Guy Behind the Magic is right in between the two Voices of Liberty singers in red.

HAVE. MERCY.

At the end, John Stamos was talking about his Christmas wishes and got really choked up. We were all hyped up because we thought he was building up to saying “have mercy,” but he didn’t say it. We couldn’t even be mad when he started getting emotional lol.

This was my first time seeing the show and I loved it! I really wish I could have had a seat and been able to see without moving around people the whole time, but that’ll have to wait for another year I guess. There is so much talent on one stage and it’s truly beautiful to watch and hear!

We left after the show ended and finished the loop around WS. We passed by the dining package standby line.. it kept going and going and going. It stretched all the way into Morocco! If I paid that much money for a meal that guaranteed me a seat, I would be super annoyed that I still had to wait that long in line. Disney really should control when people get in line to eliminate the obnoxious lines somewhat.

Anyway, we continued on and headed out for the night!

 

[LisaBelle]

I am finally caught up with your TR. School is still keeping me crazy busy plus we hosted Thanksgiving AND Christmas Eve so I've barely had a minute to breathe. Luckily I have one more week of Christmas break so I can read TRs until my eyes cross, lol!
Loved reading about MVMCP and the Candlelight Processional looks amazing.

 

[Songbird76]

How does one get a gig singing in the choir for that? I'd love that! It was always my dream to sing for Disney, but that's probably not going to happen with me living halfway across the world now.

 

[MerMom1981]

UNCLE JESSE!
Candlelight Processional is on my wish list for sure! Add John Stamos, and I might pass out like a kid in the choir.

Looks like a fun night!

 

[blreinsel]

I am finally caught up with your TR. School is still keeping me crazy busy plus we hosted Thanksgiving AND Christmas Eve so I've barely had a minute to breathe. Luckily I have one more week of Christmas break so I can read TRs until my eyes cross, lol!
Loved reading about MVMCP and the Candlelight Processional looks amazing.

I've been catching up on everybody's reports too! Teaching in December is no joke.. happy to see that you survived as well.

How does one get a gig singing in the choir for that? I'd love that! It was always my dream to sing for Disney, but that's probably not going to happen with me living halfway across the world now.

I know that the choir in the middle (green robes) is comprised of CM's who have to audition for the choir and the ones on the outside (gold robes) are high school choirs. I'm assuming it's through the fine arts program that Disney does, but I'm not sure.

UNCLE JESSE!
Candlelight Processional is on my wish list for sure! Add John Stamos, and I might pass out like a kid in the choir.

Looks like a fun night!

It was amazing and seeing Uncle Jesse was just the icing on the cake! I was in full on fan girl mode, so passing out like one of the kids wouldn't have been totally surprising lol.

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, December 1 cont.

I forgot that we did a couple of meet and greets before dinner at Garden Grill! We popped into the character spot first since it had a short wait. Goofy was a lot of fun and had a dance off with us, but it was clear that Mickey and Minnie were reaching the end of their shifts. We enjoyed ourselves regardless!

We decided to check out the new Ralph and Vanellope meet and greet next. We probably waited around 20 minutes and were one of the last parties to meet them before Ralph went in for a break. We were convinced that we would be the cut off and only get to meet Vanellope, so we were downright giddy when it was our turn lol. Side note... I hate when Disney does these meet and greets with multiple characters but you aren't guaranteed to meet both. If you get in line and they're both meeting guests, you should be guaranteed that you'll get to meet them both. Cut off the line when it's time for them to take a break so nobody gets hurt feelings. End rant.

Anyway, Vanellope was a doll and had lots of energy! We expected Ralph's hands to be harder, but they're actually hollow!

 

[blreinsel]

Thursday, December 6

Dylan and I popped into Hollywood Studios just long enough to eat some pizza, watch the ToT projection show, and see my main man Equity Ben.

I love the Studios tree so much. All of their Christmas decorations, really.

A few months ago Guy Behind the Magic (CM that works in Toy Story Land and is good friends with Ben) gave me the advice to sit in the front of the theater where Ben spends a good chunk of time throughout the show. Ever since that day, I'm unable to sit anywhere else for the show. GAME. CHANGER. Also, the holiday version of this show is my favorite. It brings me to tears every time, but I also get tears from laughing so hard at Ben dancing to Olaf singing That Time of Year.

We went to the last show of the day so the theater wasn't overly full. Not long into the show, Ben noticed that I was recording him and started putting on a real show for me, as he often does for guests. I made heart hands at him and then he kept doing it back to me at random points for the rest of the show. During Love Is An Open Door, he "proposed" to me at the end like Hans and kept mouthing "I love you" at me. At one point, he looked at Dylan and said "better watch your girl" and then told me that I don't need him. During In Summer, he and Aria were holding up their imaginary drinks and he looked at me and asked if I wanted some of this cocktail. I, of course, said yes and he walked to the edge of the stage so I could toast with him. I will NEVER get over it... he is my favorite Disney human.

One of these days I'm going to catch him as Dewey Cheatem at MK and actually get to have a face to face interaction. But until then, here is this incredible video that I will cherish forever.

 

[Rista1313]

Thursday, December 6

Dylan and I popped into Hollywood Studios just long enough to eat some pizza, watch the ToT projection show, and see my main man Equity Ben.

I love the Studios tree so much. All of their Christmas decorations, really.
View attachment 338183

A few months ago Guy Behind the Magic (CM that works in Toy Story Land and is good friends with Ben) gave me the advice to sit in the front of the theater where Ben spends a good chunk of time throughout the show. Ever since that day, I'm unable to sit anywhere else for the show. GAME. CHANGER. Also, the holiday version of this show is my favorite. It brings me to tears every time, but I also get tears from laughing so hard at Ben dancing to Olaf singing That Time of Year.

We went to the last show of the day so the theater wasn't overly full. Not long into the show, Ben noticed that I was recording him and started putting on a real show for me, as he often does for guests. I made heart hands at him and then he kept doing it back to me at random points for the rest of the show. During Love Is An Open Door, he "proposed" to me at the end like Hans and kept mouthing "I love you" at me. At one point, he looked at Dylan and said "better watch your girl" and then told me that I don't need him. During In Summer, he and Aria were holding up their imaginary drinks and he looked at me and asked if I wanted some of this cocktail. I, of course, said yes and he walked to the edge of the stage so I could toast with him. I will NEVER get over it... he is my favorite Disney human.
View attachment 338184

View attachment 338185

One of these days I'm going to catch him as Dewey Cheatem at MK and actually get to have a face to face interaction. But until then, here is this incredible video that I will cherish forever.

I follow him on instagram, we saw him at Hoop Dee Doo last May.... he often rants about giving out his schedule on instagram.... and I keep wondering who is stalking him! Is it YOU?

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, December 8

Dylan and I were headed back to Studios, this time with a little more time to explore! We stopped for a picture with the tree before it got dark. They actually do a little tree lighting ceremony, which I didn't realize before this night. It's basically just them counting down and then turning on the lights, but it's something.

We watched the projections again and FINALLY got to try the hot chocolate flight.

First of all, can we acknowledge how adorable the baby mugs are? I briefly considered washing them off in the bathroom and bringing them home, but I didn't have a bag with me. The Cherry Bourbon (far left) wasn't great. I drank most of it, but Dylan only had a sip before declaring it "nasty." A little too strong for our liking. The one with vanilla vodka (middle) was amazing, probably both of our favorites. The one with Bailey's and cinnamon (right) was really good, too. I would definitely get this flight again and it wasn't terribly priced for the size.

We had a FP for Tower of Terror, so headed over there next. I believe that we also did RnRC in the single rider line.

I wanted to see the Christmas decorations in Toy Story Land, so we decided to wander over there even though the park was now officially closed (at 8pm ). I didn't realize that there was an After Hours event tonight until the CM at the entrance of TSL asked to see our wristbands. I apologized and told her we had just walked over to see the decorations, and much to my delight she told us to go ahead!

Woody looks adorable in his scarf!

Could Rex be any cuter?

I NEED these for my tree. I saw them a few weeks later on the tree in the Christmas Tree Trail, so I know they're out there. GIVE THEM TO ME DISNEY.

The cutest Christmas cookie you ever did see! I didn't even notice at the time, but there's a green army man holding him up from behind.

Buzz got left out of the Christmas attire, but he still looks great!

We finished our loop around Toy Story Land and then headed out for the night!

 

[blreinsel]

I follow him on instagram, we saw him at Hoop Dee Doo last May.... he often rants about giving out his schedule on instagram.... and I keep wondering who is stalking him! Is it YOU?

Lol, nope not me! I would never ask and run the risk of getting blocked! I do plan my days at HS around when he's performing, but I can't make those plans until he posts the day of.

 

[Tuvalu]

Check the date on your recent post

 

[blreinsel]

Saturday, December 15

My best friend flew in from PA this morning, so we headed straight to AK from the airport! We had FP for Primeval Whirl, Everest, and the Safari and also watched FotLK!

I was so excited when we came around the bend and saw baby Augustus playing in the water! It was feeding time so there were CM's tossing lettuce into the water for them, causing them to be really active!

I was not, however, happy to see these awful fences surrounding the elephant stomping grounds. There's a long stretch of road where the ground is higher than the truck seats and you literally can't see anything over the fences. Hopefully these are temporary. Fortunately, we still got to see Stella so all was right in the world.

These two were causing some trouble by standing in the road and refusing to move.

We got an up close view of the ostriches to finish out our journey.

We decided to head to MK after using our last FP, but stopped for a picture on our way out. There is soooooo much detail on the AK tree!

I didn't take many pictures at MK, but I know that we got mac and cheese from Friar's Nook. I also tried the Peppermint Sundae from Storybook Treats... it was incredible.

The park was pretty busy and we weren't having much luck with fast passes. We did some shopping at the Emporium and "bought each other a sweatshirt for Christmas." They're SUPER comfortable and the temperatures were dropping, so we were happy with our purchases!

We managed to get a FP for Space Mountain, and then rode the PeopleMover and carousel, both of which had relatively short waits. I think we also watched Philharmagic at some point.

We got one more FP for Little Mermaid so headed there next!

It was getting close to time for fireworks, so we grabbed some popcorn and claimed our spots. The hub ended up reaching capacity, so I'm glad we got there when we did! There was a mother/daughter duo standing behind us, so we enjoyed chatting with them while we waited for the show to start!

 

[blreinsel]

Check the date on your recent post

Apparently I can see into the future. All good now!