The reason I wanted to come back to Disney again during 2013 was to experience Chirstmas at Disney: specifically Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom and the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Hollywood Studios. We got to see/do both. Main Street was beautiful all lit up. It gets dark by 6 p.m., so this was the view as we watched the Castle Lights get turned on by the Fairy Godmother at 6:15 p.m.
Expect to see the castle in my Christmas card!
Starbucks opened up in the Magic Kingdom and in EPCOT this summer, so of course, I needed a cappucino to sip on during the castle lighting! And, yes, the next day in EPCOT we had breakfast there. It's a Shields family favorite anywhere we go! The boy was excited that Disney Starbucks sells Mickey cupcakes for breakfast! (Ok, I was, too!)
On MVMCP nights, the Magic Kingdom closes to regular guests at 7 p.m. and is open only for party guests until midnight. However, party guests can use their party tickest to get into the park as early as 4 p.m. We were through the gates at 4:01 and enjoyed more than 7 hours of theme park fun (and rain) using our party ticket. Unfortunately, it did rain throughout our trip -- including on our party night. Luckily it wasn't cold to go along with that rain but several of the outdoor special events that were supposed to happen during the party were cancelled for performer's safety.
Between 4 and 7 we got some rides under our belt using our FastPass+ Magic Bands. First up was Will's first ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I was excited that all three of us could squish into a single car so I could see this excited face up close! He loved it and we went on it three more times throughout the evening; including once during the fireworks show!
After Big Thunder and Splash Mountain (where we got WAY more wet than we were hoping!), we used our Enchanted Tales with Belle FP+. I knew that every participant would get a picture with Belle, so I wanted Will to have a role. He was less sure. I still volunteered him, but he didn't really warm up until the photo at the end. He was being shy until the PhotoPass photographer said, "Cheese!" and then he lit it up - much to the delight of the crowd! I am still sifting through the PhotoPass pictures of the trip, so once I get my CD with the Disney photographers' pictures, I may have to swap out some of mine for theirs. The wardrobe and Lumiere both talked!
I was very excited to see the Christmas parade and had a plan that we would watch the less busy second showing at 10:30 pm. However, as the time for the first parade rolled around at 8:30, I thought that the rain could definitely result in a rain out of the rest of the night, so we grabbed a spot in Frontierland (not the Main Street see the fake snow spot I wanted) just as the first parade started. The view was horrible, but we managed to get Will up to the rope so he could see. Jason and I didn't see much at all since there were people with kids on their shoulders in front of us. But, I was right, and the second parade did get cancelled. I'll just have to watch it on YouTube, I guess.
One cool result of the rain: ride lines and character greetings later in the night were short. We got our photo with the Seven Dwarves and it only took 10 minutes from start to finish. Most blogs say you need to plan on 90 minutes to 2 hours to do that since Halloween and Christmas are the only time they appear. Will also got to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride 4 times in a row. One parent would ride with Will twice while the other was on Space Mountain and then we switched.
The party was fun, but I have a lot of "what if" questions in my mind with regard to the rain. The good part was that we focused more on rides, so we didn't need to go back to the Magic Kingdom at all on Saturday and got to sneak in a few hours at Animal Kingdom. Oh, and I got my first taste of the Tea Cups. Never again!
On MVMCP nights, the Magic Kingdom closes to regular guests at 7 p.m. and is open only for party guests until midnight. However, party guests can use their party tickest to get into the park as early as 4 p.m. We were through the gates at 4:01 and enjoyed more than 7 hours of theme park fun (and rain) using our party ticket. Unfortunately, it did rain throughout our trip -- including on our party night. Luckily it wasn't cold to go along with that rain but several of the outdoor special events that were supposed to happen during the party were cancelled for performer's safety.
After Big Thunder and Splash Mountain (where we got WAY more wet than we were hoping!), we used our Enchanted Tales with Belle FP+. I knew that every participant would get a picture with Belle, so I wanted Will to have a role. He was less sure. I still volunteered him, but he didn't really warm up until the photo at the end. He was being shy until the PhotoPass photographer said, "Cheese!" and then he lit it up - much to the delight of the crowd! I am still sifting through the PhotoPass pictures of the trip, so once I get my CD with the Disney photographers' pictures, I may have to swap out some of mine for theirs. The wardrobe and Lumiere both talked!
I was very excited to see the Christmas parade and had a plan that we would watch the less busy second showing at 10:30 pm. However, as the time for the first parade rolled around at 8:30, I thought that the rain could definitely result in a rain out of the rest of the night, so we grabbed a spot in Frontierland (not the Main Street see the fake snow spot I wanted) just as the first parade started. The view was horrible, but we managed to get Will up to the rope so he could see. Jason and I didn't see much at all since there were people with kids on their shoulders in front of us. But, I was right, and the second parade did get cancelled. I'll just have to watch it on YouTube, I guess.
One cool result of the rain: ride lines and character greetings later in the night were short. We got our photo with the Seven Dwarves and it only took 10 minutes from start to finish. Most blogs say you need to plan on 90 minutes to 2 hours to do that since Halloween and Christmas are the only time they appear. Will also got to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride 4 times in a row. One parent would ride with Will twice while the other was on Space Mountain and then we switched.
The party was fun, but I have a lot of "what if" questions in my mind with regard to the rain. The good part was that we focused more on rides, so we didn't need to go back to the Magic Kingdom at all on Saturday and got to sneak in a few hours at Animal Kingdom. Oh, and I got my first taste of the Tea Cups. Never again!
