Trip Report The Holiday Humdinger *COMPLETED*

I can't believe the Summer of @Tuvalu is over! Is there going to be a holiday humdinger trip report?!!

I couldn’t disappoint a very expectant mama-to-be, now could I? Especially one who was kind enough to provide the title for this trip report!

So here you go, @krisri18......and anyone else who’d like to follow along on yet another Tuvalu WDW adventure, HOLIDAY STYLE.

I plan on posting live updates and will write an expanded report (“Part Tu” @Tony the Tigger ) once I return home. After all, what else will I have to do in December?

Who: Tuvalu and Woody

When: November 27 - December 3, 2018
Where: I shouldn’t even have to tell you. My go-to.

So be on the lookout for us, @DisneyShe, @slipperalwaysfits @mcstensrud. We’ve packed our sweaters and jeans for the chilly weekdays (highs only near 60, lows in the 40s ~ WTH??) and our shorts and tees for the unseasonably warm weekend (highs in the 80s). Yeah, that 30 degree temperature swing isn’t going to help the colds Woody and I are starting with.....

But we’re going to DISNEY WORLD!!!!

 

[93boomer]

We strolled through the park so that Em could view/photograph the holiday decorations.

View attachment 341259

View attachment 341264

View attachment 341261

View attachment 341260

View attachment 341266

View attachment 341265

View attachment 341262

And....
This would be my “artsy” contribution.

View attachment 341263
(Don’t ask me how...)

We were detained by some serious soldiers.

View attachment 341267

View attachment 341268

Love that picture of you and Woody!!

 

[Tuvalu]

eh hem.... I think you mean Blackie!

Tomato, tomahto....

Well, you (along with others whose TRs I’ve read in just the past few days) have solidified our decision to NOT book an ADR at O’hana later this year.

Likely a good choice.

Maybe we've always lucked out, but we've had great dining experiences at Ohana the last 3 times we went. They're even great with my allergy, which I appreciate. Fingers crossed for next time @NessNewt !

Glad to know you’ve been pleased!

Oh that is the cutest cupcake! I haven’t seen it before.

I think it’s a dessert on the children’s menu.

 

[fractal]

Em wanted to photograph the Christmas stuff before leaving Toy Story Land.

View attachment 340983

This cracked us up.
View attachment 340982

Em: “I want these!”
View attachment 340984

Woody: “Let me take your picture instead.”
View attachment 340985

Reindeer Rex!
View attachment 340986

Em is certain she made a macaroni ornament in elementary school. (Who hasn’t? )
View attachment 340987

Count me in as a former macaroni artists!

Enjoying Em's photos!

 

[Jock Reasoning]

Friday, con’t

But the “fun” didn’t stop. Standing in the aisle was mom, dad and 4-year-old Elliott who has likely never been told No. Ever. Elliott was not restrained by either of his parents and kept bumping into us, stepping on our feet and at one point sat down on Woody’s feet and proceeded to hit him in the leg ~ all the while whining at a volume passengers in the back of the bus could hear.

We said nothing, but at one point I glanced at mom who then loudly remarked, “Well if he had a seat he wouldn’t be bothering you.”

Honey, something tells me Elliott would still be bothering people even if he had a seat.

Thankfully WL was the first stop. As I stood up to leave, mom again insinuated that Elliott’s behavior was our fault: “I was taught that a man should always give up his seat.”

I looked her firmly in the eyes and said, “Well if he wasn’t a grandfather suffering with chronic back pain he WOULD have.”

There might have been steam coming from my ears when I rejoined Woody and Em.

I find that people are the best and worst part of every Disney vacation.

 

[Songbird76]

That would be my reaction if I rode it. I don’t like inversions.



Why, why, why would someone do that? There’s a difference between walking barefoot in your own yard and barefoot at Disney.

It just doesn't seem SAFE at Disney. Well...I can't stand to go barefoot anywhere. I step out of the shower into my slippers so my feet don't have to touch the floor. But at Disney, where there are thousands of people walking and anyone of them could step on your bare feet with who knows what kind of shoes? Not to mention the temperature of the walkways, no matter what season. It's probably going to be burn your feet hot, or your feet will freeze.

 

[krisri18]

It just doesn't seem SAFE at Disney. Well...I can't stand to go barefoot anywhere. I step out of the shower into my slippers so my feet don't have to touch the floor. But at Disney, where there are thousands of people walking and anyone of them could step on your bare feet with who knows what kind of shoes? Not to mention the temperature of the walkways, no matter what season. It's probably going to be burn your feet hot, or your feet will freeze.

My first thought was GERMS!

 

[MinnieM123]

Count me in as a former macaroni artists!

Ha! Me, too!!! I had nuns for grade school teachers. I remember one art project they gave us was to glue a holy prayer card in the middle of a piece of colored, construction paper. Then we'd use macaroni shells and glue in a circle around the holy card.

After that, we'd paint the shells in a complimentary color, to the color on the construction paper. Then the nun punched a hole in the top of the paper and put a string through it, so that we could hang up our macaroni masterpieces on the wall.

 

[Tuvalu]

I find that people are the best and worst part of every Disney vacation.

No argument here!

It just doesn't seem SAFE at Disney.

My first thought was GERMS!

Yup,

Ha! Me, too!!! I had nuns for grade school teachers. I remember one art project they gave us was to glue a holy prayer card in the middle of a piece of colored, construction paper. Then we'd use macaroni shells and glue in a circle around the holy card.

After that, we'd paint the shells in a complimentary color, to the color on the construction paper. Then the nun punched a hole in the top of the paper and put a string through it, so that we could hang up our macaroni masterpieces on the wall.

“Macaroni Minnie”

 

[Tuvalu]

Em is off for MLK day and we decided to hit the outlet mall.

We were surprised to see that the holiday decorations had not been taken down.

Then we noticed this sign:

Elf City Productions? That sounds fake, doesn’t it?

Turns out no, not fake. We had stumbled upon a live movie set for Noelle, a Disney release starring Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader. We watched as a couple of short clips were filmed.

Not every day you see someone carrying reindeer!

Em guesses that the “blue” reindeer will be CGI.

Someone asked a crew member if Anna or Bill was here. It was a definite no for Bill, but “Anna may be around somewhere.”

Em (who is a big Anna Kendrick fan) and I then had an unsuccessful recon mission to find her.

 

[DisneyGigi]

Em is off for MLK day and we decided to hit the outlet mall.

We were surprised to see that the holiday decorations had not been taken down.
View attachment 342614

Then we noticed this sign:
View attachment 342600

Elf City Productions? That sounds fake, doesn’t it?

Turns out no, not fake. We had stumbled upon a live movie set for Noelle, a Disney release starring Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader. We watched as a couple of short clips were filmed.

View attachment 342602

Not every day you see someone carrying reindeer!

View attachment 342613

View attachment 342615

Em guesses that the “blue” reindeer will be CGI.

Someone asked a crew member if Anna or Bill was here. It was a definite no for Bill, but “Anna may be around somewhere.”

Em (who is a big Anna Kendrick fan) and I then had an unsuccessful recon mission to find her.

Oh man, my son would have flipped, he has had a crush on her since his teen years and Twilight.

 

[Tuvalu]

Monday, December 3

We all woke up a little sad this morning because it was our last day. There was also rain in the forecast but we were determined not to let it put a damper on things.

Before going to get breakfast I stepped outside and enjoyed a few minutes of quiet solitude.

Loved this light pole!

Woody and I picked up muffins which we ate in the room. Then we gathered our stuff and checked in for our flight home and stowed our carry-ons.

We were at the bus stop by 8:20 am.

 

[93boomer]

Em is off for MLK day and we decided to hit the outlet mall.

We were surprised to see that the holiday decorations had not been taken down.
View attachment 342614

Then we noticed this sign:
View attachment 342600

Elf City Productions? That sounds fake, doesn’t it?

Turns out no, not fake. We had stumbled upon a live movie set for Noelle, a Disney release starring Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader. We watched as a couple of short clips were filmed.

View attachment 342602

Not every day you see someone carrying reindeer!

View attachment 342613

View attachment 342615

Em guesses that the “blue” reindeer will be CGI.

Someone asked a crew member if Anna or Bill was here. It was a definite no for Bill, but “Anna may be around somewhere.”

Em (who is a big Anna Kendrick fan) and I then had an unsuccessful recon mission to find her.

So cool to see reindeer!

 

[Tuvalu]

The MK bus arrived immediately and we climbed aboard. It’s only a five minute ride to the park so we figured we would have plenty of time to wander Main Street before opening.

We did not factor in a 20 minute wait to get through security.

Once inside, our “wander” became more of a “purposeful walk.” I was curious as to the identity of this new Citizen of Main Street (talking to the fire chief) but did not stop to inquire. Anyone know?

The park officially opened when we reached the hub.

Due to the unpredictability of the weather, I altered our touring plan for the morning. We had afternoon fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain and Jingle Cruise, both of which could be impacted by rain. Rope dropping them seemed safer.

BTMRR was my #1 priority. Y’all may recall a little friendly competition between me and @Longers ~ how many rides each of us could accumulate in one year. Now from the start @Longers was at a huge disadvantage, as she lives in the U.K. and only went to WDW twice last year. Still she managed an impressive “Lucky 13”! I had six trips in 2018 and had attained 17 rides by the end of summer. Going into this trip I did not know @Longers final tally, but honestly it did not matter as I was not in it to “win” but to create a memory for myself. I figured 20 rides in one year would be easy to remember so I set that as my goal.

On the night of MVMCP I got in rides #18 and #19.

For my final ride of the year I was sprinkled with pixie dust ~ got assigned the last row without asking for the back.

I thought of @Longers that entire wild ride, wishing she was beside me. (Someday.....)

Em marked the end of the momentous ride with her hands.

I don’t know how many times I’ll ride BTMRR in 2019 and I don’t plan on keeping track. But I won’t forget my 20 “virtual” rides with my sweet U.K. friend.

 

[Tuvalu]

We entered the short standby line for Jingle Cruise and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Without moving a single step forward!
There seemed to be an issue with the boats....in that there weren’t any. We’d already waited longer than I wanted, but now there was a long line of people behind us and there was no way out. When two boats finally arrived and the line moved forward, we were able to exit via an empty queue. It seemed silly to wait when we still had a FP for later.

Pirates standby was posted at 5 minutes so we ducked in.

We might have changed course had we known what was in store.

See the family behind us? Specifically the dad cradling the little boy?

This hyper-concerned father narrated the ENTIRE ride:
“Don’t worry, this isn’t real.”
“Those people are fake.”
“They are pretend.”
“See, they are mechanical.”
“They move like that because they are machines.”
On and on and on! I suppose he was “explaining” everything to assuage any “fears” the little boy might have. The little boy never said a word, though to be fair his dad NEVER. STOPPED. TALKING.

Woody, Em and I were ready to mutiny.....and throw dad overboard.

Instead, they took out their aggression in the gift store.

Where we went next was just beyond the Liberty Belle.

 

[krause]

This hyper-concerned father narrated the ENTIRE ride:
“Don’t worry, this isn’t real.”
“Those people are fake.”
“They are pretend.”
“See, they are mechanical.”
“They move like that because they are machines.”
On and on and on! I suppose he was “explaining” everything to assuage any “fears” the little boy might have. The little boy never said a word, though to be fair his dad NEVER. STOPPED. TALKING.

Bru. Tal. I can see prepping the kid in line that everything is just pretend, but unless the kid is freaking out on the ride just let them experience it! Of course I have a 3 year old whose favourite part of Beauty and the Beast is the wolves so maybe my parenting style of “just let them watch it and see what happens” isn’t best either

 

[MinnieM123]

See the family behind us? Specifically the dad cradling the little boy?

This hyper-concerned father narrated the ENTIRE ride:
“Don’t worry, this isn’t real.”
“Those people are fake.”
“They are pretend.”
“See, they are mechanical.”
“They move like that because they are machines.”
On and on and on! I suppose he was “explaining” everything to assuage any “fears” the little boy might have. The little boy never said a word, though to be fair his dad NEVER. STOPPED. TALKING.

Dang. Too bad they were on the updated version of Pirates. I would have loved to hear how the father would have explained (in the original version), "We wants the redhead!" to the little kid!

 

[Songbird76]

Em is off for MLK day and we decided to hit the outlet mall.

We were surprised to see that the holiday decorations had not been taken down.
View attachment 342614

Then we noticed this sign:
View attachment 342600

Elf City Productions? That sounds fake, doesn’t it?

Turns out no, not fake. We had stumbled upon a live movie set for Noelle, a Disney release starring Anna Kendrick and Bill Hader. We watched as a couple of short clips were filmed.

View attachment 342602

Not every day you see someone carrying reindeer!

View attachment 342613

View attachment 342615

Em guesses that the “blue” reindeer will be CGI.

Someone asked a crew member if Anna or Bill was here. It was a definite no for Bill, but “Anna may be around somewhere.”

Em (who is a big Anna Kendrick fan) and I then had an unsuccessful recon mission to find her.

I LOVE Anna Kendrick!! I'm so sad you didn't find her! But, wow what a long filming process. There are youtube clips posted back in Nov. 2017!

 

[Spash007]

This hyper-concerned father narrated the ENTIRE ride:
“Don’t worry, this isn’t real.”
“Those people are fake.”
“They are pretend.”
“See, they are mechanical.”
“They move like that because they are machines.”
On and on and on! I suppose he was “explaining” everything to assuage any “fears” the little boy might have. The little boy never said a word, though to be fair his dad NEVER. STOPPED. TALKING.

A couple thoughts here - I'll tell C about it not being real, IF she gets worried and starts fussing. We normally just go more so the route of it's not real while the line, and in the ride trying a 'shh, its ok". But if she is going to get that worried, usually we know ahead of time and just skip the ride. If it becomes consistent (aka more than 2 times), I'll just distract her with my phone. And in any case, I lean close to her to make sure no one else can hear (granted I've been told I'm a loud talker so maybe I think I'm being quiet and I'm really not lol).

 

[Tuvalu]

Bru. Tal. I can see prepping the kid in line that everything is just pretend, but unless the kid is freaking out on the ride just let them experience it! Of course I have a 3 year old whose favourite part of Beauty and the Beast is the wolves so maybe my parenting style of “just let them watch it and see what happens” isn’t best either

Agree 100%

Dang. Too bad they were on the updated version of Pirates. I would have loved to hear how the father would have explained (in the original version), "We wants the redhead!" to the little kid!

I LOVE Anna Kendrick!! I'm so sad you didn't find her! But, wow what a long filming process. There are youtube clips posted back in Nov. 2017!

It was supposed to be a theatrical release in November of 2018. The new date is November 2019, and it may only be on Disney’s new streaming service and not in theaters.

A couple thoughts here - I'll tell C about it not being real, IF she gets worried and starts fussing. We normally just go more so the route of it's not real while the line, and in the ride trying a 'shh, its ok". But if she is going to get that worried, usually we know ahead of time and just skip the ride. If it becomes consistent (aka more than 2 times), I'll just distract her with my phone. And in any case, I lean close to her to make sure no one else can hear (granted I've been told I'm a loud talker so maybe I think I'm being quiet and I'm really not lol).

I have learned over the years that with kids, less is more. Using lots of words to “explain” or “reason” with a child is typically unsuccessful because 1. Kids have short attention spans and 2. Kids don’t have the adult capacity to think critically/reason.

As much as many parents would like to believe, kids are NOT “little adults.” There are things they cannot understand due to their developing brains. Kids take their cues from their parents. If a parent prefaces something by saying, “Now this might be scary” the child will immediately begin to worry that it WILL be scary, and the more words the parent uses to reassure, the more anxious the child becomes.

Letting the child experience an attraction on their own, without any qualifiers, helps the child come to their own conclusion. Should something scare the child mid-ride, that’s the time for a loving hug and reassurance that “it’s not real.”

Parents know their child best and if they think the child will be traumatized then absolutely SKIP the ride. And for attractions where the child seems reluctant (but the parent knows the child will actually enjoy) a positive enthusiasm of “This is going to be such fun!” and pointing out interesting things in the queue (to distract the child from protesting) works wonders.

 

[fractal]

The MK bus arrived immediately and we climbed aboard. It’s only a five minute ride to the park so we figured we would have plenty of time to wander Main Street before opening.

We did not factor in a 20 minute wait to get through security.

View attachment 342637

Once inside, our “wander” became more of a “purposeful walk.” I was curious as to the identity of this new Citizen of Main Street (talking to the fire chief) but did not stop to inquire. Anyone know?

View attachment 342638

The park officially opened when we reached the hub.

View attachment 342639

Due to the unpredictability of the weather, I altered our touring plan for the morning. We had afternoon fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain and Jingle Cruise, both of which could be impacted by rain. Rope dropping them seemed safer.

BTMRR was my #1 priority. Y’all may recall a little friendly competition between me and @Longers ~ how many rides each of us could accumulate in one year. Now from the start @Longers was at a huge disadvantage, as she lives in the U.K. and only went to WDW twice last year. Still she managed an impressive “Lucky 13”! I had six trips in 2018 and had attained 17 rides by the end of summer. Going into this trip I did not know @Longers final tally, but honestly it did not matter as I was not in it to “win” but to create a memory for myself. I figured 20 rides in one year would be easy to remember so I set that as my goal.

On the night of MVMCP I got in rides #18 and #19.

For my final ride of the year I was sprinkled with pixie dust ~ got assigned the last row without asking for the back.

View attachment 342640

I thought of @Longers that entire wild ride, wishing she was beside me. (Someday.....)

Em marked the end of the momentous ride with her hands.
View attachment 342641

I don’t know how many times I’ll ride BTMRR in 2019 and I don’t plan on keeping track. But I won’t forget my 20 “virtual” rides with my sweet U.K. friend.

Lol! Love it!