The Making of Disney Dreams and Christmas Memories: A December 2008 Trip Report

ClemsonTigger · Jan 6, 2009

...and the trip is still not over....:lol:

HollyBelle · Jan 7, 2009

ClemsonTigger said:
...and the trip is still not over....:lol:

I know, right? It just keeps going... and going... and going :lol:! Seriously though, there are about 5 more posts and hopefully they'll all be up within the next two days.

HollyBelle · Jan 7, 2009

When we arrived at the Animal Kingdom there was only one thing on the agenda that we needed to accomplish… CHARACTERS! Anything else we could fit in was just going to be icing on the cake. I love the characters and for some reason we hadn’t had as many character experiences on this trip as per usual and it was time to change that.

The parade was getting ready to begin when we arrived so we found Stitch a little ways back the pathway from where he and Lilo are usually set up. We were all going to pick our noses for the photo op and then at the last second Stitch backed out… tricking us:

Across the way beside of Pizzafari, Turk was hanging out, not getting any love, so we stopped to take a picture with her. Considering the popularity of the gorilla face on this trip… I couldn’t be left out. So here it is again:

On to Camp Minnie Mickey for some festive Christmas cheer. I really love this place during the holidays… the character trees are so well done and some of them even change a bit from year to year. In my opinion, this is the one area of Animal Kingdom that really exudes the spirit of the season:

First up was Santa Goofy:

When we met Donald Duck I told him that my name was Holly and I’m #1. He certainly didn’t like that very much! And it switched things up a bit because he usually doesn’t want anything to do with Brett… however, it looks like I was the one on the outs this time:

And here we are agreeing to disagree after the CM worked so hard to convince Donald to even be in a picture with me:

Next up was the big cheese. I have to say, of all the characters, we have the most difficulty in coming up with creative ways to take pictures with the Mouse:

And here we have sweet Minnie Mouse:

On our way out we found Kenai, who gave me lots of love:

After we accomplished our goal of meeting everyone in Camp Minnie Mickey, we strolled through Africa (Louie and Baloo weren’t out) and over to Asia, where we were lucky enough to enjoy a walk-on EE ride just before the park closed. As we walked back to the Oasis we discussed the possibility of attending that evenings Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Now let’s be honest… this option was only on the table because all the parks were closing early with no EMH’s and we simply weren’t ready to call it a night, especially on our last night. Brett called his parents and Derek, neither of which wanted to join us for the party, but we decided to go for it anyway. So on the way out of AK we purchased our tickets and became $120 poorer.

sweetpee_1993 · Jan 8, 2009

Wow! I was away a couple days and look at all this wonderful stuff that happened! I love that y'all get creative with the characters. That's really cool and fun for them, I'm sure. Can't wait to "see" what happens at MVMCP!!! :sohappy:

HollyBelle · Jan 9, 2009

sweetpee_1993 said:
Wow! I was away a couple days and look at all this wonderful stuff that happened! I love that y'all get creative with the characters. That's really cool and fun for them, I'm sure. Can't wait to "see" what happens at MVMCP!!! :sohappy:

Why characters happen of course!!

HollyBelle · Jan 9, 2009

In my opinion, one of the best things about the special ticket parties is that Disney really goes all out to immerse guests in the event’s theme; they really do transform the park. In the past we have dressed up for both the Pirate and Princess Party and MNSSHP, so we headed back to OKW to do our best in making ourselves festive for MVMCP. We scrambled around and came up with some red and green (although Brett’s hoodie doesn’t appear to be green in the pictures) and we donned the necklaces Kathy and I wore for the Osborne Lights, but it wasn’t quite enough. Kathy quickly offered up her and Danny’s Christmas hats and I think that did the trick.

A self-portrait taken on the tram to the MK:

Signage for the party:

We headed off to Cosmic Rays so Brett could get a quick bite to eat, seeing as how we wouldn’t be making our dining reservations at The Wave with his family. I was still full from lunch and figured I’d just grab a snack later. We took a ride on the TTA to discuss our plan of attack for the party (which of course included an approach to capturing all the characters in Christmas attire) and thought that since we were already in the area we should start out with “Mickey’s Twas the Night before Christmas Show”. It was packed full so we just hung out a few minutes and were among the first to see Cosmic Christmas Stitch once the party officially began… he was tiny:

After this we saw Alice as we were headed to Toontown. She was alone just outside one of the exits to the Mad Tea Party and she was trying to get in the exit. When she saw us she asked Brett if he’d like to join her, which we were so excited about until her character attendant spoiled the fun and told her she wasn’t allowed, to which she pouted and said “Well he’s just no fun now isn’t he?” Truth be told, we had to agree with her. She was a perfect Alice:

In Toontown we got in Mickey’s line, which actually started at the exit and wound its way backwards into his house, which made for a great photo op in front of his Christmas tree (I was excited because this outfit and location were new for us):

We began making our way to Adventureland, and stopped to meet Belle and the Beast on the way. They were alternating with Snow White and her prince. When we got to our destination, we enjoyed our first cookie break before getting in line to meet Prince Ali and Jasmine. Yay for Prince Ali, we’d never met him before. I was entertained by these two, they were so touchy feely with one another, constantly whispering in each others ears and leaning in close. Unlike most princesses with their prince, they actually acted like they were head over heels in love. Although, she is gorgeous so I'm sure Al didn't mind:

Immediately we got back in the short line because Abu and the Genie were expected to swap out. It was crazy when they came out. The four of them were full of pranks and they went so far as to start throwing pillows at one another. The Genie and Abu were banging each other on the back of the head with the overly large plates decorating the meet and greet area.

Here we have Abu and the Genie playing nice:

Quickly followed by the Genie throwing Abu off his lap:

They played with us for a good 5 minutes. The Genie tried to take Brett’s hat and then Abu decided he’d go for Brett’s wallet. The following picture is of the Genie reprimanding Abu for his stealing ways:

And finally, after all the craziness we got a picture:

Brett’s favorite Disney movie is Aladdin so it was great to get so much time with these characters.

HollyBelle · Jan 9, 2009

Adventureland was practically empty, with the only exception being a couple of country bears who were wandering around. This was great because we got to actually play with them. Liverlips was hilarious. He was actually passed out/sleeping on one of the stone benches and nothing was going to wake him… believe me we tried.

I think these two had a little too much eggnog:

It was about time for the next showing of “Mickey’s Twas the Night before Christmas” so we said goodbye to the bears and made our way back to Tomorrowland. It was our first time seeing the show and I really enjoyed it. We were in the very back so the pictures didn’t really turn out. But here’s one of Mickey with his gigantic book:

We then stopped by the Pavilion Cotillion to check in on Anastasia and Drizella. They’re so much fun, and Brett loves them (especially Drizella), because anytime we meet them they fight over him and become super catty. It's awesome. Unfortunately, we weren’t going to be getting anywhere near them with the dance party taking place. They did stop to sing a pitchy song. It got a bit out of hand; luckily Lady Tremaine sent them away before it turned into an all out brawl, I believe they would have beaten each other with their microphones if given the chance:

We wandered back to Toontown to meet Minnie Mouse and the timing was actually perfect because we had a decent view of Holiday Wishes as we waited in her garden. It’s probably my least favorite of the Wishes versions, but it’s still fun. And when it was over we were at the front of the line:

We were already in Toontown so we decided to visit the fairies since they had a 15 minute wait (probably due to other partygoers being captivated by the recent fireworks). Now, I know it might not be a popular opinion but I don’t really care for Tinkerbell. I mean she tried to kill Wendy multiple times in the Peter Pan movie. Hello… jealous rage much!?! Or maybe my dislike has more to do with the merchandising of her character, and how she is always portrayed as a snooty drama queen that always gets what she wants. Regardless of the reason, she isn’t one of my favorites, but we wanted to meet her anyway… if for no other reason than to check her off the list.

Wow… she’s tiny! Here she is explaining to me that while I do have a short skirt on, it's not quite short enough, nor is it green enough:

They have definitely done a good job with the styling of Tinkerbell and I thought she looked great. Brett’s still perturbed that she can talk. It really bothers him that you can meet her, as she’s supposed to be a tiny ball of light with no voice. But it makes the masses happy so he’s just going to have to deal with it!

We also met Silvermist and Fawn (whom we found out later are the rarest of the fairies). I thought Fawn was gorgeous and funny. Here she is with Brett… he’s such a good sport:

We stopped by the Cosmic Christmas Dance Party and got a glimpse of the characters dancing away. I know the dance parties are insanely popular but I don’t really like them… I much prefer meet and greet lines. Although I’m sure the parties are great for little kids and the characters do get to move around more freely, they just seem chaotic to me. However, they do work fairly well with face characters. I’m still of the opinion that if they didn’t have these dance parties, then Pluto, Goofy, and Chip & Dale would have been doing meet and greets somewhere throughout the night instead. I did get a shot of my favorite pup:

We grabbed some more hot chocolate and cookies and staked out a spot near the Plaza to watch part of the second parade; however, we bailed on it a bit early to walk-on some rides. We hit up rides in Tomorrowland and Frontierland before making our way up Main Street to leave the park.

Here I am with my cookies and hot chocolate. And let me just say… those cookies were really good. They were much better than I expected them to be:

Christmas balloons on Main Street:

And a horribly composed picture of the train station out front:

So there you have it… a character filled MVMCP! I’m really glad we decided to go to the party, and it was well worth the money we spent. Of the three special ticket events this was the one I was least excited to try, but I have to say it really was great and I now believe it can hold its own with the other two.

Coree · Jan 9, 2009

HollyBelle, I used to have the same opinion about Tink, but I think the new movie made a concerted effort to clean up her image and I now like her much more.

The trip report has been fabulous. Next time we go I'm determined to interact with the characters more. Your photos are so much more fun that just the posed character shots!

wvugeoggrad · Jan 9, 2009

Great trip report, makes me feel like I was actually there!!!

over · Jan 9, 2009

i didn't want it to end!!!

WDWFigment · Jan 9, 2009

Excellent report--congratulations on winning the tailgate party (I didn't even know such a thing existed). I love all of the character pictures; but one thing, did you not get your pictures with the Country Bears?! Their personalties are the best!

EDIT: Where was I, you did meet the Country Bears--cool interaction!

Disneyfalcon · Jan 9, 2009

Holly!! I love your trip report!! You have so many pictures to scrapbook!!:lol:
I loved the pictures of OKW, the segway tour, and congrats on winning so much!

wdwmagic · Jan 9, 2009

Great trip report, got to be one of the best we have had. Nice work, and glad you had such a great trip!

HollyBelle · Jan 15, 2009

Coree said:
HollyBelle, I used to have the same opinion about Tink, but I think the new movie made a concerted effort to clean up her image and I now like her much more. The trip report has been fabulous. Next time we go I'm determined to interact with the characters more. Your photos are so much more fun that just the posed character shots!

I'll have to check the movie out sometime. I will say that I enjoyed meeting her more than I thought I would. And I say go for it with the characters. Once you've had the pleasure of meeting a character a couple times it's fun to mix it up and get creative. It makes for great shots for the scrapbook pages

!!

wvugeoggrad said:
Great trip report, makes me feel like I was actually there!!!

Thank you!

over said:
i didn't want it to end!!!

Don't worry... it's not quite over! It's taking me forever, but I'm determined to wrap it up today.

WDWFigment said:
Excellent report--congratulations on winning the tailgate party (I didn't even know such a thing existed). I love all of the character pictures; but one thing, did you not get your pictures with the Country Bears?! Their personalties are the best!

EDIT: Where was I, you did meet the Country Bears--cool interaction!

Thanks! I didn't know the tailgate party existed either. Apparently, it was a dream that they gave out once or twice a month. Talk about being in the right place at the right time. I, too, love the Country Bears!

Disneyfalcon said:
Holly!! I love your trip report!! You have so many pictures to scrapbook!!:lol:
I loved the pictures of OKW, the segway tour, and congrats on winning so much!

Thanks, Tammy. I'm going to try getting to those scrapbook pages once this monster of a report is finished!

wdwmagic said:
Great trip report, got to be one of the best we have had. Nice work, and glad you had such a great trip!

Thank you! That's high praise coming from you! I'm just excited that people have been reading it :sohappy:.

HollyBelle · Jan 15, 2009

Okay… so I didn’t reach my goal of getting the full report up by last Friday. I apologize! The reason I was trying to do so is because we had a short but very eventful 3 night trip planned for Disney’s Marathon Weekend and I wanted to have this report completed before we left… didn’t happen!! We have returned and I finally had a chance to finish the last day.

Day 6: Checkout/Epcot

We all woke up on Friday and made our way to the Polynesian for breakfast at Kona Café. Mmm Tonga Toast… I can never get enough of the strawberry compote! Our breakfast conversations revolved around our favorite moments of the trip and discussions of things we should do next year during our holiday visit.

Kona Café carpet (this is going to make for a great scrapbook page background):

Polynesian tree:

Lobby waterfall:

We enjoyed the Poly for awhile before heading back to OKW to pack up our things and check out of the resort. There’s no need to try describing the general feeling and mood… you’ve all been there. It’s no fun. Danny and Kathy got on the road shortly after check out, but Derek, Brett, and I had other plans. We didn’t have anywhere to be that night so we decided to stay awhile and make a late drive home. Off to Epcot for some last minute fun!

HollyBelle · Jan 15, 2009

In Future World we rode Test Track, Journey Into Imagination (agghhhh), and The Seas before heading off to World Showcase in search of Team Possible. Brett and I had talked so much about our first Team Possible experience that it piqued Derek’s curiosity and he wanted to try it.

When we came across the Team Possible cart between England and France it wasn’t open so we decided to watch Impressions de France and burn a little time outside the Patisserie before checking back. This is only the second or third time I’ve seen Impressions de France; we just seem to skip it on most trips. I think the landscapes and images are beautiful, but my favorite part of the show is actually the musical score.

Impressions de France:

The Patisserie:

And I love this stained glass window outside the perfume shop:

The Team Possible cart still wasn’t open and it was looking like they wouldn’t be testing the experience this day so we made our way to China for an impromptu lunch at the Nine Dragons, one of my favorite World Showcase restaurants. I usually get the Nine Dragons fried rice but decided to mix it up and try the honey sesame chicken this time, which was delicious. Brett and Derek each ordered the Kung Pao chicken, which is too spicy for me but Brett loves it!

Nine Dragons interior tables:

Honey sesame chicken:

Kung Pao chicken:

Us enjoying our last lunch of the trip:

When we walked out of Nine Dragons we saw a family with a Kimmunicator! Score! They must be around here somewhere. We found the cart set up just outside of Norway. They were testing the Mexico and China experiences, so we got to play after all. We got our phone and were sent off on a mission to defeat Drakken and Shego in Mexico.

When we turned in our Kimmunicator, the CM asked us if we’d like to try out one more country and we thought… why not? We’ll probably get around to them all at some point anyway. And we were looking for an excuse to push back our departure time, so it was off to China to teach Lord Monkey Fist a lesson!

The guys’ listening intently as Wade gives them their next clue:

While the experiences in Mexico and China were good, neither Brett nor I thought they could compare to the one in England. But I think this is because England was the first one we tried and we didn’t really have any expectations going in. So my order of preference is England, followed by China, and then Mexico. If you’re considering the experience, I think you’ll have a great time regardless of the mission you are sent on.

When we couldn’t delay the inevitable any longer, we began making our way to the front of the park. While the guys stopped in MouseGear to wrap up a little Christmas shopping for their parents, I spent some time on the ledge outside the store just taking in the Fountain of Nations. I love to sit and watch the fountain… my favorite score they choreograph the water to is “Standing in Motion.” Like the songs for Illuminations and Spectromagic this one really has a pull on me. And it makes for a great run song on the ipod!

Fountain of Nations:

Innoventions signage:

It just so happened that MouseGear didn’t have something Derek was looking for so we had to make one last stop at Downtown Disney before the dreaded drive home. I wandered around the Marketplace a bit taking pictures while the guys picked up what the needed. Brett found a little surprise for me while they were in the Magic of Disney Animation store. It’s one of those new Vinylmation Mickey’s. The design is unknown until you actually open it, and this one just so happened to be inspired by Wishes! It was a fun surprise at the end of a wonderful trip!

HollyBelle · Jan 15, 2009

Reflections:

I absolutely loved Old Key West, and think I prefer it over the newer Saratoga Springs villas. It really has a lot of character and the ambience did allow me to reminisce about our time spent in the actual keys. It’s one of those resorts that really feel like a community once you pull onto the grounds. Of course it helped that our villa was so close to the common area and main pool.

This was our last trip during the Year of A Million Dreams and I must say we fared well! I’m very grateful for the dreams that we were given, especially because I know that not everyone is lucky enough to win something. Much credit should be given to the Dream Squad, because they really did make us feel special. Their ability to keep up such an energy throughout the day is impressive!

The segway tour was probably my favorite experience of the whole trip. I absolutely loved it and can’t wait to try my hand at a segway again. It’s also made us realize that we definitely want to try out one of the other tours offered throughout WDW… maybe we’ll start with the Keys to the Kingdom tour. We’ll just have to wait and see!

I was a little hesitant to spend the money on MVMCP, but I’m so glad we did! I thought the party was excellent and I really enjoyed the festive atmosphere in the Magic Kingdom; the CM’s are wonderful; they made it such a cheerful and exciting event. The characters were obviously our favorite part of the night, but there were so many other great moments, including the shows, fireworks and parade… and of course I can’t forget those cookies! MNSSHP is still my favorite of the parties but I can certainly see us attending MVMCP again in the future.

Most importantly… I want to thank Danny and Kathy for such a wonderful Disney trip. This was our second Christmas trip with them and I truly can’t wait until Christmas 2010!!!

HollyBelle · Jan 15, 2009

Yay... it's finally completed!!!

Disneyfalcon · Jan 15, 2009

And it was awesome!! Thanks for doing it all Holly!! The last day is so sad, I love how ya'll were stalling!!

I bought some of the vinlymation Mickey pins for my kids! They were excited when they found out you didn't know which one you got until you opened the box. I think they're going to want a figurine the next time we go.

ClemsonTigger · Jan 15, 2009

Outstanding Holly, thanks so much for sharing!
Do I remember correctly that you were going to do the 1/2 marathon....?
Is there another report due? :lol:

The Making of Disney Dreams and Christmas Memories: A December 2008 Trip Report

ClemsonTigger

Naturally Grumpy

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member

Coree

Well-Known Member

wvugeoggrad

New Member

over

Member

WDWFigment

Well-Known Member

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member

wdwmagic

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member

HollyBelle

Well-Known Member

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member

ClemsonTigger

Naturally Grumpy