Part 14- Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
Sorry for the almost month-long delay in my final wedding day post (BOOOOOO!), but I had to have emergency surgery a few weeks ago and have been playing catch-up at work ever since. I'm totally ok now, and fear not, because I do plan to still cover my "at-home" wedding celebration, honeymoon trip report, and portrait sessions, so there's still plenty more to come!
When we last left off, we were heading out to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party with the gang. Since we had not pre-purchased tickets and wanted to avoid any long lines at the Magic Kingdom entrance, we actually ended up driving to the Polynesian, parking there, and purchasing our tickets to the party at the concierge desk. And while we were there, we had to get some adult beverages at Trader Sam's to-go and brought them on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom with us. LoL.
With my bestie at the Poly <3
A short monorail ride later and we were all walking into the Magic Kingdom to meet up with Eve and Phil, who had scoped out a spot for us near the castle to watch the stage show. As we were walking down Main Street, it was furiously snoaping (fake snowing) and I was LOVING every second of it. I was just so blissfully happy to be in the Magic Kingdom with my husband and best friends on my wedding night. It was just a surreal feeling. Plus Meghan had not been to the Magic Kingdom for quite a few years so she was loving every second of it and was SO excited when she saw the castle from the distance.
Once we beat the crowds of Main Street, we headed over to where Eve and Phil were saving spots by the castle. We had a pretty decent view and the show was super cute (apart from that weird cell phone Christmas song).
Waiting for the castle show to start
By the time the show was over, we were all STARVING since we hadn't eaten since the wedding. I was craving some corn dog nuggets and everyone else seemed down, so we headed to Casey's for some grub. I think I inhaled my corn dog nuggets and fries in like 10 minutes flat I was so hungry (I would later regret this). Everyone else was pleased with their hot dogs and we then decided our next plan of action.
This was such a weird night for me because at a typical Halloween or Christmas party, I'd be running around like a madman to meet every character, plus find awesome spots for both the parade and fireworks. But this one was such a last-minute decision and being with a big group of people (some who don't care about characters and/or hadn't been to Disney in a long time) left me dumbfounded on what to do next. Since it was Meghan's birthday and she never gets to come to Disney, I asked her what ride she would want to ride the most and she said Space Mountain, so that's where we headed!
Group shot #1! And LOL at half of us being covered by the Baymax Magic Shot
Meghan is hands-down one of the most FUN and funny people to go to theme parks with...especially riding anything faster than a snail's pace. Haha. So riding in front of her on Space Mountain was just filled with her screaming so hard that she was cracking up and me laughing so hard that I was crying. I love her so much. And we had so much fun that we rode it twice in a row (perks of going to a not-sold-out MVMCP).
I knew that character meets were not a top-priority for anyone in our party aside from me, so I didn't want to waste anyone's party time by standing in a long character line (especially since I've met most of the characters from the Christmas parties before), but the one character I HAD to get and is exclusive to the Christmas party was Jack Skellington dressed as Sandy Claws. I've been DYING to meet him as Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorites! Thankfully, everyone was cool with that and the normally 1-2 hour line for him was only 45 minutes tonight. Since I didn't want Meghan to miss out on any rides either, I also asked George and Phil if they would mind waiting in line for Jack while the ladies went to ride Thunder Mountain real quick, which they agreed to. Yay for awesome hubbies <3 So me, Meghan, Eve, and Irene hoofed it over to Thunder Mountain, had a super fun and really chilly ride, and then ran back over to the Jack meeting spot with just about 5-10 minutes left before our meet with him!
One of my favorite meets ever! He even asked us if it was "til death do us part!"
After meeting Jack Skellington, it was almost time for Holiday Wishes...one of my FAVORITE fireworks shows (after Hallow-Wishes), so we went to the Hub to find a spot. We really lucked out with finding a good spot only 10 minutes before the fireworks. This party was definitely a low-capacity party compared to any others I've ever been to in the past.
Waiting for fireworks with my favorite people <3
As you all know, I was super disappointed that I couldn't have a Dessert Party for our wedding night, but I did get to see fireworks on my wedding night afterall, so this was an awesome alternative. We were also wearing our "Just Married" buttons, and the cast member that had taken our group picture right before the fireworks started tapped George and I on the shoulder once Wishes started, and then took some pictures of just the two of us, so we ended up getting fireworks portraits afterall
After Holiday Wishes was over, we headed to new Fantasyland and rode the Littler Mermaid Ride. We also stopped by Gaston's Tavern as Eve and Phil wanted one of the specialty cupcakes. It was at this point that the extreme exhaustion had finally started to hit me (plus scarfing down those corn dog nuggets so fast) and I started to feel really sick to my stomach. I ran over to the bathroom next door and just kind of sat there for a few minutes in the stall while my anxiety got the best of me. I didn't really start to feel any better, but I also didnt think I was going to puke anymore, so I met back up with the group and we decided to go watch the Christmas parade from Frontierland, since its less crowded there.
We got a spot maybe 15-20 minutes before the parade started and I just felt awful the whole time. I was beyond exhausted by this point, but I didn't want to ruin anyone else's night, so I just tried to keep it cool. We watched the parade, which I love so much, but doesn't hold a candle to the Halloween parade. Once that was over, we walked over to Mine Train to see what the wait was, but it was still 45 minutes, so we decided to skip it and then everyone else got tired too and wanted to call it a night. I was SO relieved. We made a quick stop to the Emporium for some souvenirs, and then we were heading out.
I was a little sad, because I already had to say bye to Eve and Phil, since we were leaving for our honeymoon 2 days later. I was so sad that I only got to spend a few hours with them, but so grateful that they made the trip out for our special day! I also had to say bye to Meghan, who was driving home the next morning. While I at least got to spend a few days with her, its always really sad saying bye to your best friend. Plus, we had no plans of when we would see each other next, so this goodbye was extra hard.
After we dropped Meghan off at her hotel, it was finally just George and I again and we went back to the Boardwalk for our first night as a married couple. The first thing I did was spend 30 minutes ripping out all my extensions and taking all the makeup off my face. I looked like the crypt keeper when that was all done. Haha. Then I changed into my pajamas, took one last mosey around our super amazing hotel room, and passed the heck out. I was BEYOND tired, but went to bed so happy because December 1, 2016 truly was our best day ever and I couldn't have been happier.