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

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 3, 2011

Sorry for the lack of updates this weekend. I'll try to get at least one up tonight...

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 3, 2011

Thursday December 9 continued...

We had just left EPCOT and were heading to Disney's Hollywood Studios for two specific reasons, which I'll get to in a minute... I was still bummed that I had been at Disney World for almost an entire week and hadn't stepped foot in World Showcase yet! That is unacceptable. That is the only negative of going to WDW with a group; you kind of have to go along with whatever to keep the peace... Ok, off to Hollywood Studios...
In no time flat, we were entering the Studios! Here is a shot of Brittany and Brooke on the way in...

Have I mentioned how I love Hollywood Studios?!? Haha. But really, I do love it. Not just the attractions, but everything - especially all the little details. I mean, check out this display window...

Now back to the reason we have left EPCOT prematurely. Have you figured it out yet? If you said Fantasmic and the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, you were right!
As we headed toward the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater for Fantasmic, which was going to start at 6:30, we stopped for a quick picture in front of my favorite attraction in WDW...

After our picture, we turned around and saw this billboard for Fantasmic and it got us really excited for the show!

DHS was unbelievably crowed, just like it is every night Fantasmic is showing... Here is a shot looking back down the street...

Pretty soon, we were at the entrance to the amphitheater and it was about 5:30, so we headed on it to make sure we got a decent seat...

Once we got inside, Brooke, Pam and I went to get seats while Scott and Brittany went to grab some snacks! It wasn't long before they returned with chicken nuggets, fries, carmel popcorn and drinks! We snacked until the show was about to start. Then it was show time! Here is the view from our seats...

Fantasmic is a great show, but if you've seen it and you go to Walt Disney World often, I would recommend skipping it every other trip or so. Hollywood Studios triples in attendance on days it is showing, so it's not worth it EVERY trip.
After the show was over, we were waiting to file out with the rest of the crowd when I got this cool shot of the back of the Tower of Terror...

Like a herd of cattle, we made our way out of the amphitheater and toward the Osborne Lights. We had heard so much about this and had seen so many great pictures online, we couldn't wait to see them in person! Well, they did not disappoint! We stayed and watched them and listened to Christmas music for probably about an hour. Here are a couple of shots from the Osborne Lights...

Wow! The Osborne Lights were amazing!
This long day had come to an end and we were beat. We headed out of Hollywood Studios and caught a bus back to Fort Wilderness. Tomorrow was going to be our last full day at Disney and we were depressed... We did, however, have a full day planned that included attempting the impossible - park hopping to all four Disney parks in one day! Did we succeed? You'll have to stay tuned to find out...

oommggitskait · Apr 4, 2011

Loving all the pictures in your TR! I cannot believe you haven't made it to the world showcase yet. The suspense! hahaha
Can't wait to keep reading

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 4, 2011

oommggitskait said:
Loving all the pictures in your TR! I cannot believe you haven't made it to the world showcase yet. The suspense! hahaha
Can't wait to keep reading

I know! It should be a crime to be at WDW for that long and not have been to World Showcase! I was going crazy!
Thanks for reading. Hopefully I'll have another update tonight...

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 5, 2011

Friday December 10, 2010

We got up and out of the bed early this morning because we had a busy day planned. On the other hand, we were a little sad because today was our last day at Walt Disney World...
The plan for the day was to go to all four parks and hit our most favorite attractions. Do you think we were able to do it?? Well, here we go...
The weather was supposed to be the warmest of the week today! Of course, on our LAST day! Oh well, we were going to make the best of it! In no time, we were off to the bus stop and heading to our first park of the day. Can anyone guess which park we were heading to first? If you said Animal Kingdom, you were right!

I love Animal Kingdom in the morning! I don't know what it is, there is just something about it... Anyway, we were here for one reason and one reason alone. EXPEDITION EVEREST.
As were entered Asia and headed toward EE, Animal Kingdom's unmatched theming was evident all around us...

Finally, Everest was in sight! Before we knew it, we had sped through the stand by queue (which was basically empty), boarded our train and were headed up the mountain to face the Yeti one more time!

We rode Expedition Everest again since the line was so short and then we headed toward the park exit. We were just about to go to the next park on our list, but out of nowhere, a bus to a certain Disney resort pulled up... We had always wanted to check out this resort, so we jumped on the bus and rode over to...

Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge!

This place was awesome! I can't wait to stay here one day!
Here are a few shots from the Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House and Kidani Village...

The Jambo House lobby

Jambo House

Kidani Village Lobby

Kidani Village

My pictures do not do the Animal Kingdom Lodge justice! The place is beautiful!
Ok, enough with the resorts! It was time to hit our next park! Which one was next on our list? Stay tuned to find out...

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 7, 2011

Working on a new update now. Check back late tonight or early tomorrow morning...

steph88 · Apr 7, 2011

Love the TR! You take beautiful pictures! And I feel your pain about the cold weather: I went in early April a few years ago and one day it was in the 70s and the next day it was 45!

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 7, 2011

steph88 said:
Love the TR! You take beautiful pictures! And I feel your pain about the cold weather: I went in early April a few years ago and one day it was in the 70s and the next day it was 45!

Thank you!!
Whoa! That's a big drop! It was consistently cold our entire trip (and windy). Our first day and last day were our best - weather wise. I'm looking forward to our warm weather September trip this year!

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 8, 2011

Friday December 10 continued…

We loved the Animal Kingdom lodge, but we were ready to go to our next park. I was so excited to get back to this park because this was our last day at Disney and I always try to make a point of going to this park on my last day, if possible. Of course, the park I'm taking about is none other than the granddaddy of them all…

The Magic Kingdom!

I could have stayed here all day, but we had a specific plan of hitting all of our most favorite attractions in WDW in one day, so we forged on. We decided to take a bit of a different route toward the castle today. We were going to cut through the Emporium and do a little shopping if something caught our eye. On the way into the Emporium, I spotted these two hanging out on a bench…

Roy and Minnie!

We headed into the Emporium and it was ridiculously crowded, so we looked around for just a minute and then headed out the door and on to Main Street.

That's when we spotted the Main Street Bakery and immediately crossed the street! Once we got across, we stopped to listen to these guys for a few minutes…

The Dapper Dans!

They were great, as usual, but we had sweets on the brain so we headed into the Main Street Bakery. This place smells so good and there are goodies everywhere! If I stayed in there very long, I would eat everything in sight! We picked up a few things including some Mickey shaped rice krispy treats! I snapped this shot before we left…

We stepped back out on Main Street and headed toward Tomorrowland for the main attraction we were in the Magic Kingdom on this particular day for. As we came closer to the castle, before we headed right for Tomorrowland, I snapped this shot…

Although I love the classic Disney décor, the Christmas decorations all over WDW were wonderful and tastefully done. We finally made our way deep into Tomorrowland and to the main attraction that we wanted to ride in the Magic Kingdom…

Space Mountain!

As we got closer to the entrance to the queue, we saw a terrible sight! Space Mountain was temporarily closed! What the?! This was throwing a major wrench in our plans! The cast member standing at the entrance could not give us a time frame for when it would be back up and running… Oh, well, no time to pout about it because we had other things on our list! We headed back toward the main hub and went directly across to Adventurland because there was one place I had heard so much about on these message boards that I just had to go check it out for myself! Can you guess what I'm talking about? Think about it as we cross the (now old) Adventureland bridge…

Did you figure it out yet? There was only one place in Adventureland I wanted to go to satisfy my need for something sweet, fruity, cold and wet… Of course, I am talking about…

Aloha Isle!

The reason I wanted to go to Aloha Isle so badly was because of the famous Dole Whips I had heard so much about! I rushed up to the window to place my order, but I had no idea how much there was to choose from! I just told the lady I wanted a "Dole Whip" and she gave me an ice cream float with pineapple juice. What did I think of it, you ask?

It was glorious! So good! I recommend getting one next time you are in Adventureland. I bet they are especially delicious on a hot day! I can't wait to go back and try another item from the menu!
After my Dole Whip fix, we decided we were not quite ready to leave the Magic Kingdom yet. It occurred to us that we hadn't even walked through the castle on this trip! What a crime that was! We had to do that before we left, so we headed back toward the castle via the little pathway from just outside of Adventureland to Fantasyland. Stay tuned to find out what happened next that derailed our plans yet again...

erstwo · Apr 9, 2011

Still reading and really enjoying your report!

We *probably* passed by each other at the MK on your last day. We were there as well, but were in different areas of the park (up to this point in your TR) We left MK at about 3:45 that day. Of course you must have left early too, as you haven't been to Epcot (in your trip report) yet!

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 11, 2011

erstwo said:
Still reading and really enjoying your report!

We *probably* passed by each other at the MK on your last day. We were there as well, but were in different areas of the park (up to this point in your TR) We left MK at about 3:45 that day. Of course you must have left early too, as you haven't been to Epcot (in your trip report) yet!

Thanks for hanging in there with me and my lack of updates! I went to Boston this weekend for the Red Sox - Yankees series, so that's why I haven't updated. I'll try to get at least one update up tonight...

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 11, 2011

Friday December 10 continued...

After I got my delicious Dole Whip, we were getting ready to head toward the back of the castle because we hadn't walked through it yet on our trip. Nothing could go wrong here, right? Wrong! The castle walk through area was closed due to the show going on at the front of the castle! Yes, we could have waited until the show was over and then walk through the castle, but as I've said, we were on a mission! It wasn't the end of the world, but after Space Mountain being closed earlier in the day, it was rather discouraging. Here are a few of the shots I snapped as we exited Adventureland...

Captain Jack Sparrow?

And a few shots from our trip AROUND the castle...

I absolutely LOVE all the detail in Cinderella Castle!

We wished we had gotten the opportunity to walk through the castle, but walking around it was good enough. Now, it was almost time to head to our next park, our third of the day, so we headed back toward Main Street USA...

JohnnyDollaz89 · Apr 12, 2011

Great TR so far man! im going in July 2011 and thinking about making a Pre-Trip Report but dont really wanna mess it up since i would be the first one i have ever made up haha!

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 12, 2011

Friday December 10 continued...

We made it around the main hub to the front of the castle and started to head down Main Street for this last time on this trip... Such a sad time... I looked around and snapped some final shots of the most magical place on earth for the last time on this trip...

I love all of these sights... They make me realize that I am in Walt Disney World and these images stayed etched in my mind in between trips. We were about to exit the Magic Kingdom when I turned around and took one last look up Main Street USA toward Cinderella Castle...

As we passed through the exit tunnel, I looked up and saw this sad sight...

Not soon enough...

Ok, deep breath, we had left the Magic Kingdom. We wouldn't be back to this wonderful place until our next trip. Our sadness was short lived though as we started thinking about the next park on our list. The only dilemma we had was how to get to this particular park. Well, we headed straight toward...

And we were on our way. Can you guess where we were headed? Stay tuned to find out...

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 12, 2011

Friday December 10 continued...

We took the Monorail over to the Transportation and Ticket Center and we went down to the bus stop and hopped a bus over to our next park...

Disney's Hollywood Studios!

We weren't even going to try to ride Toy Story Midway Mania, so we went toward the back of the park to our favorite part of DHS. We were really only here for two reasons: The Rock'n' Roller Coaster and the Tower of Terror! Here of some final shots of these two favorites...

The alley in the Rock'n' Roller Coaster queue is second to none. After our limo ride, we headed over to the Tower of Terror...

And since the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is my favorite attraction at Disney World, here is a little photo tribute of the queue...

Ahhh, how I LOVE this attraction!
After our last ride on the Tower for this trip, we headed out to do and see a few more things at Hollywood Studios before departing for our last park of the day...

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 12, 2011

Friday December 10 continued...

We walked around for a little longer at Hollywood Studios, but we didn't ride anything else. Brittany wanted to get a funnel cake, so we got one outside of the Indiana Jones stunt show and sat down at a little table to enjoy our snack. After the delicious funnel cake, we went off to take a few more pictures before leaving DHS for the last time on this trip. First, we went to pay tribute to the man that started it all...

After checking out Walt, we headed over to the park's icon for some shots...

After our last few pictures at Hollywood Studios, we decided to head toward the exit so we could maximize our time at EPCOT to finish out the day. I was sad to leave DHS, but excited to get back to EPOCT since our time there was cut short the day before. We took the short bus ride from DHS and within minutes were were walking into EPCOT!

We weren't in EPCOT for 5 minutes before I turned around and saw this making it's way around the concrete track...

The Tronorail!

EPCOT was decorated for Christmas just like the other parks with topiaries everywhere - including this guy...

Stitch! Even though I hate his ride, I still like him as a character. As we got a little deeper into the park we decided to head toward the Seas with Nemo and Friends since we hadn't made it there the day before.

What would we do next? Stay tuned to find out...

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 15, 2011

Friday December 10 continued...

Since we were at the Seas with Nemo and Friends, we decided we should at least ride the Nemo attraction before we ventured off into the rest of the park. So, we headed inside...

I personally enjoy this ride, as I do all the dark rides, but especially this one because of how Disney incorporates the characters from Finding Nemo in with the real fish in the tanks. There is so much more to see in the Seas, but we had already been to Sea World earlier in the week and plus I was ITCHING to finally get to World Showcase! So, we left the Seas and headed toward the countries! On the way, we saw these guys...

I love the Disney topiaries, especially the ones at Christmas!
As we neared World Showcase Lagoon, I looked behind me and saw the EPCOT Christmas tree with Spaceship Earth in the background...

We finally reached the lagoon and we just stood there at the railing and took in the beautiful view of World Showcase at night, which I believe is one of the most beautiful sights in all of Walt Disney World.
Overall, I was not pleased with my night shots from World Showcase and I vow to get better pictures on my next trip. Here is a four part "slide show" of our view looking out at World Showcase...

Wow! What a view! My excitement was at an all time high as I could not wait to explore World Showcase! I swear on my next trip it not take me until the last day to make it here. In fact, I plan on going to WS several times on my next trip!
Ok, enough talk, let's go check out some countries! The only question was Mexico or Canada? Which way did we go? Stay tuned to find out...

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 16, 2011

December 10 continued...

After a brief deliberation, we decided to head toward the Canada pavilion! Finally, we were off to see World Showcase! On our way, we passed this...

All of the countries in World Showcase take on a different light at night and the way they are all lit up is just beautiful. Some of my favorite times and memories at Walt Disney World are from World Showcase at night.
Like I said, we headed to Canada first...
Oh, Canada! One of my favorite pavilions in all of World Showcase! I look forward to spending more time here on my next trip and finally giving Le Cellier a try!
Back to this trip... We explored Canada for a while and I took several pictures. Like I said earlier, I was so disappointed in my night pictures - especially the ones I took in World Showcase. I’m so upset I didn’t get to WS during daylight to take some shots and I vow to make several trips and take many more pictures to make up for it on my next trip!
Here are a couple of my better shots from the Canada pavilion and a hilarious shirt we saw in the gift shop...

We headed out of Canada and toward the next country, which is yet another one of my favorite pavilions in World Showcase - The United Kingdom! I love the UK pavilion because of my love for all things England (especially England soccer). It is also incredibly well themed and I love going in all of the shops. Not to mention, it’s beautiful lit up at night...

After exploring the United Kingdom, we crossed the small bridge into the France pavilion. Just like the others, it looked awesome all lit up. We looked around for a bit and then just stood back and took in all of the sights of France...

After exiting France, the next pavilion we came to was Morocco. I have to admit that I have never really spent a lot of time here. One of my goals for my next trip is to really take some time to check out this pavilion and see what I’ve been missing.

After a quick stop in Morocco, we headed into the next country... Japan. Before we went deeper into the Japanese pavilion itself, I glanced back across World Showcase Lagoon and got this great shot Spaceship Earth...

MEyeSeeKayEY · Apr 16, 2011

December 10 continued...

After a couple of pictures of Spaceship Earth from World Showcase, it was time to explore the Japan pavilion. Although not my favorite pavilion, Japan, like the all the countries, really looks cool at night...

As we left Japan, we noticed the stage for the for the Candlelight Processional. The seats were already filling up and there was a long line of people forming to see the performance and that night’s celebrity narrator, Whoopi Goldberg! Here is a shot of the stage area that I got as we headed to the next country...

We checked out the Candlelight Processional stage for just a minute before we headed to the American Pavilion.

I really wanted to do the American Adventure on this trip, but I was afraid there weren’t going to be any more shows that day... I was really bummed until I saw a sign that said the last show of the day was starting in 10 minutes! We rushed into the show just in time!

The American Adventure is such a wonderful show! Every time I leave that show, I feel more patriotic than I was before! When we came out of the show, the Candlelight Processional was in full swing, so we stopped and listened to Whoppi Goldberg for a little bit before we decided to keep moving... The next country we came to was Italy. Again, a beautiful pavilion and one I would like to spend more time in on my next trip to Disney.
After leaving Italy, we came to probably my favorite themed country in World Showcase... Germany! The detail in this pavilion is second to none. I would really like to spend some time here on my next trip as well. Here are a few shots from Germany... (Again, sorry about the pic quality)

I really love the architecture in the Germany pavilion. I’m definitely going to take a boat load of pics in Germany next time! Reluctantly, we left Germany and headed toward the next country. Where did we go next? Stay tuned to find out (or just grab an EPOCT map of World Showcase)...

fractal · Apr 18, 2011

Love your TR! It's really getting me excited for my trip in August.

Thanks for the time & effort!

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

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