I am not usually this Disney-crazy, but
this year I have managed to go to
Disneyland in California for
and finally Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.
This one started really early as we were there
this first week of November. (I can't believe that month
has already come and gone!!!)
I went the night
before and trust me, if you can't get a ticket
to the Christmas Party, there was still plenty
of Christmas festivities going on.
The Christmas party is a separate ticket
item but starting the 18th, all of the
Christmas festivities go on every night.
Of course, our favorite,
Disney's Frozen, is everywhere and
Elsa kicks everything off by lighting
up the Cinderella Castle and turning
it into an ice covered marvel.
The castle is where the action is
during Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!
There were five stage shows almost right
in a row followed by the spectacular
Christmas fireworks show while the
castle is changing colors and having
pictures projected onto it. You could
just park there in front of the castle
for half of the evening.
We can't forget
Olaf and Anna and Christoff.
She and Anna are there for the
fabulous day time Christmas Parade too.
They pull out all of the stops for
parades and shows for
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.
This reticulated dragon represents
Malificent and it breathes fire during
the parade - definitely a show stopper!
But I have to admit that night time is
where all of the Disney Magic takes place
for the Christmas Party. The night time parade
was out of this world!
Look at Cinderella's carriage all lit up
pulled by six white horses and they are
real horses! Just spectacular.
There are dance parties going on and
all of the workers are dressed in fun holiday
outfits handing out cookies and hot cocoa.
But what brought tears to my eyes was the snow on
Main Street.
After the fireworks end for the
last probably couple of hours,
it is snowing on Main Street, even
though the day time temperatures
were in the 80s!
My oldest daughter went with us
and she hadn't been to the magical
restaurant
Be Our Guest so of course I
wanted to make sure she went
there.
To our dismay Disney World has a new
Fast Pass Plus system where you have
to reserve your fast passes online and
those who are staying in their hotels
get to reserve theirs two months in
advance. I hadn't heard of their new
system and we weren't staying in a Disney
hotel, so of course a lot of the good
fast passes were gone (to their preferred
guests) so when we arrived to stand in
line for Be Our Guest we were told
that the restaurant was full and that all
fast passes had been given out. When I
was last there, a little over a year ago you
just had to wait in line for about 30 minutes
to be seated.
There stood the Beast's Castle
tempting us and we couldn't get in!!
We were told to come back between 2:00
and 2:30 to see if there was any availability.
We were so frustrated with all of the new
fast passes that seemed to create extremely
long lines everywhere and were leaving
the park when I saw people being let
in the line. We quickly headed over
and were able to get into
BE OUR GUEST!
As you enter, enchanted coats
of armor entertain you while
you wait in line.
The food is really good and
reasonably priced. We had
the roast pork and French onion
soup.
There are three seating areas and
she chose the ballroom that had the
Christmas tree up in it and it always
magically has snow falling outside the
windows.
She was thrilled that we made it in,
so I suggest that you go back about
2:05 - when they let us commoners
have a chance to feast with the beast -
it is purely magical.
I have never had the opportunity to
see Gaston do his thing but he was
outside the castle being his cocky, chauvinistic,
hysterical self! That was fun!!
The other hot new attraction is
the 7 Dwarves Mine Train roller coaster.
Forget even thinking about getting a
fast pass for that one and the lines were
usually an hour and a half but we raced
over after the night time fireworks and
even though the sign said a 30 minute wait
we were on in 20 minutes. Talk about
a smooth ride! This roller coaster is
the Cadillac of roller coasters! So glad
we got to try it out. They also have three
fun interactive entertainments as you go
through the line that make the line fun.
I was surprised at the crowds so early in
November but it was their first week of
the Christmas celebration. I certainly hope
that Disney doesn't bring their Fast Pass Plus
system to Disneyland. It is fraught with problems
and I have read all kinds of complaints about it
online as it created waits of 60 minutes at rides
like Haunted Mansion and Pirates all day long which
I have never experienced. It also locks you into
one park and we had the Rockin' Roller Coaster
shut down so there was nothing we could do but
leave and were locked into those Fast Passes
so we couldn't get new ones
in another park until the time of our last
Fast Pass Plus was up so that wasted
two of our three allotted Fast Passes. We
were not feeling the magic!!
Our trip consisted of Universal and
first, and then Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party,
and after our time in Orlando
we took off on a cruise on the Allure of the Seas
and after our time in Orlando
we took off on a cruise on the Allure of the Seas
that Christine
from Christine's Home and Travel Adventures
introduced me to and ever since reading
her adventure I have wanted to go
on that ship. My friend and I had daughters
who each went on it for their honeymoons
so we decided we should get to try it too.
from Christine's Home and Travel Adventures
introduced me to and ever since reading
her adventure I have wanted to go
on that ship. My friend and I had daughters
who each went on it for their honeymoons
so we decided we should get to try it too.
This was our view out of the back of
the ship. The lady who helped us on
Royal Caribbean suggested that we
stay in the inside balconies at the
very back where we could see
the Aqua Theater and the ocean. We
were four rooms from the back on
the left side. It was a fabulous room.
What a wonderful way to celebrate being
empty nesters and to mentally prepare
for Christmas!!
