TR - Get your Disneyfied Christmas B-Day Fix! - Hub, Grub, & Up, Up and Away! - fixed photo links & Final Thoughts

mnmrmustard

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 21, 2007
CLICK HERE FOR CHAPTER LINKS

Chapter 1 – Introductions, a Recap, and the Start of our Adventure!

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Howdy All! It is exactly 3 months since me and mine returned from our most amazing spectacular extra-most-bestest trip to the land that Walt made. If it was that good, why wait this long to do a TR? Well, we came back to the standard work and school backlogs along with the holidays and family in town and charity/club endeavors kept me running around quite a bit.

Beyond that I got overwhelmed by the prospect of trying to organize the pictures! If you’ve followed along on one of my TRs you know that I try to bring humor, tell a good story, and more than anything max out the pic limit on every post! In the past I would take an average of 1,000 pictures per day on my Canon DSLR and try and cull that down to a manageable amount.

However, with this trip we officially crossed over into the full digital age with my DSLR, which I didn’t even take all of the days we were in the park. Plus all 4 of our smart phones being used for both pictures and video! Just getting all of the pics/vids from everyone’s devices to my cloud storage was an undertaking that lasted thru December. After that I had to start arranging the pics by timeline, rename and resize them, and get them uploaded to my web server. I’m honestly still working on trying to get it all done.

But enough excuses – you didn’t come here for excuses! You came here for smiles and laughter and a joyous celebration of the holidays and a late birthday extravaganza! This I shall deliver in spades, I promise!


READY, SET, GO!!!!

So first off, if you have some time on your hands and want to read my PTR you can find it here: How About a Disneyfied Christmas?!

If you’re not up for last year’s news and all that trip planning stuff you’re probably wondering who the heck we are! To this end I’ll give you a sneak peek of our “Seasons Grootings” t-shirts


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From left to right we have:

Mike AKA mnmrmustard – IT Director, Charity-based Beard Club Chapter Captain, Make-a-Wish Volunteer Wish Granter, Disney Addict, and your valiant author
Jinx – my 18yr old Son and college student with a focus on digital graphics and art and an actor in local community theatre
PumpkinGirl – my 21yr old Daughter working full time and taking classes here and there towards an AA degree with an education focus. She likes Anime/Cosplay and epic hair and was our birthday girl on this adventure
Roxy – Office Manager, Loving Wife of 24 years, and supporter of all of my charity and Disney endeavors

We hadn’t been to a Disney park since 2012 and hadn’t been to Disneyland since 2009. Our 2012 trip had been to WDW during the same calendar timeframe just after Thanksgiving to enjoy the holiday experience before the crowds start to really build up. That turned out so well that we knew we wanted to experience DLR the same way.

The catalyst for the trip was our daughter turning 21. Initially there was talk of Las Vegas but her and my wife eventually came to their senses and the discussion turned to Disney. After much planning (well logged in ye ole PTR) we were just about ready. I’ll pick up where the PTR left off with having made my list and checked it about 20 times (Saint Nick would have been proud).

We had a great Thanksgiving with family and food and the dinner purposefully planned to minimize leftovers that would sit in our fridge for the 6 days we would be gone. On Saturday the 25th we packed up everything and drove from our little berg to the Super 8 a couple of miles from the airport. This is a family tradition that gets us packed early and makes it so we don’t have to worry about driving to the airport in the morning – they have a shuttle. Plus we can park our rig there while we’re gone at no charge. And the kids love it because they have an indoor pool with a water slide!

I got a free upgrade to a double queen suite – once we got our stuff up to the room I took the first official picture of the trip


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We had a nice dinner and came back to settle in with the kids making sure to not eat too much so they could hit the pool!

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PumpkinGirl went first.

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Jinx was next

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We got to bed as early as we could as our flight was going to take off at 6:15am, giving us a 4am wake-up – yikes! It was a fitful sleep for all of us and the wake-up call and my alarm came way too fast and yet not fast enough if you know what I mean.

The computers where down for check-out at the hotel but we rolled with it. Their shuttle vehicle was down so they called in a contracted cab service in a really beat-up cab, but we rolled with it. We still made it to the airport on time and ticketing and security was a breeze. Soon we were at our terminal waiting for boarding


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Boarding was uneventful other than a cold wind blowing in the pre-dawn.

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We were boarding a puddle jumper up to Seattle …flying AWAY from Disneyland. This was a known variable as after we purchased our tickets for a direct flight, they discontinued them! Flying north to Seattle and then from there to LAX was the best we could do. I did work it so we got good seats for our hops and the airline gave each of us a $125 flight voucher for a future trip.

We climbed above the clouds and into the Sunday pre-dawn

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We came back down thru the clouds and in a surreal stroke, back into the night

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We were on the ground long enough to get some breakfast and then onto our connecting flight. It was damp as usual for November in Seattle

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Once we were above the clouds we got a proper sunrise

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The hop from Seattle to LAX was nice, we were on a real jet on an exit row so we could stretch out. It was a beautiful day over LA County. There had been a storm system that came thru the day before and cleared out most of the smog

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Before we knew it we were on the ground and disembarking. We rolled thru the terminal and were officially welcomed

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We called the car service while we headed down. Roxy had worked a deal with some credit card points for us to have two private cars take us to our hotel. I took a quick snap with Jinx in the Escalade we ended up in

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Soon enough we had literal signs of Disney!

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A few interchanges later we were back onto Harbor Bldg and in sight of the best mode of transportation in the world!

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We drove past the entrance and on to the corner of Harbor and Katella just past the 7-11 to our destination, the Desert Palms Hotel and Suites

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I had stayed here the previous October for a conference at the Anaheim Convention Center. It has good modern/clean rooms, good staff, a pool, and a decent free breakfast. Check-in was going great until a member of the local homeless population wandered in and started causing the front desk staff some grief. He was drunk and definitely not all there. The staff were being as patient and professional as they could. But it reached a point where I finally stepped in (to Roxy’s slight embarrassment) and just started walking forward talking calmly but very firmly to him. He wasn’t happy about it but had enough wherewithal to size me up and realize he should take his show down the road.

We resumed our check-in and were upgraded to a family suite with a 4th floor park view at a discount – whoohoo!

I hope I have caught your interest with the beginnings of our adventure. I promise you a fun and amazing adventure full of smiles, holiday cheer, and birthday wishes come true with lots of pictures!


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Chapter 2 – A quick room tour and off to California Adventure!
 
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Chapter Links:

DAY 1


Chapter 1 – Introductions, a Recap, and the Start of our Adventure!

Chapter 2 – A quick room tour and off to California Adventure!

Chapter 3 - The Parade Ends, The Train Rolls, and We Hit the Rides!!

Chapter 4 – We Have a Dining Hiccup, We take The Loop, and Experience a Fantasmic! Oops

Chapter 5 - The Pirates Sail On, the Barges Dance Thru, The Dragon Roars, and The Finale Floats By!

Chapter 6 - We Explore some Holiday Haunts and Join Pooh on his Adventure!

Chapter 7 - Country Treats, Mountain Madness, and a Carousel Spin!

Chapter 8 - Our Epic First Day Finally Comes to an End


DAY 2

Chapter 9 – A Possible Surprise and a Disney Trains Detour

Chapter 10 - Does Mikey Take a Magical Ride?

Chapter 11 - We Travel the Park in Style and have a Special Family Meet-up!

Chapter 12 - We Say some Family Farewells and Take a Journey to the Future!

Chapter 13 - Villains, Space Exploits, oh, Dinner! …and An Adventurous End to Day 2!


DAY 3


Chapter 14 - A Fragmented Family Finds Friends and Fun While Ouches are Repaired!

Chapter 15 - Can the Family Reconnect?

Chapter 16 - The Pier Has a Bit of Everything!

Chapter 17 - Under the Sea and on to the Circle!

Chapter 18 - Family Fun with Space Gods!

Chapter 19 - Guardians of the Galaxy Time!

Chapter 20 - A Holiday Cars Land to End the Night

Chapter 21 - Closing up Cali Adventure!


DAY 4


Chapter 22 - Santa Groot and GotG Rope Drop!

Chapter 23 – 2 Baby Groots are Better than One!

Chapter 24 – Haunts, Island Adventure, and 2 Groots Become 4!

Chapter 25 – Good Grub, a Special Portrait, and More Happy Haunts!

Chapter 26 – A Roll around the Park leads to Spins and Songs!

Chapter 27 - Character Meets, Special Salutes, and Madness Ensues!

Chapter 28 - A Walt Disney World Interlude!

Chapter 29 - Main Street, a Climbing Adventure, and Night Falls

Chapter 30 - Spaced out Feats & Super Meets end Day 4!


DAY 5


Chapter 31 - Dapper Day 5 Dawns in Swimsuits!

Chapter 32 - Dapper Dos Drinking from the Tropics to the Theater!

Chapter 33 - More Guardians Than We Bargained For!

Chapter 34 - A GrootFul Good Time

Chapter 35 - The Cove Delivers!

Chapter 36 - Wrapping up our Last Night


DAY 6


Chapter 37 - Hub, Grub, and Up, Up, and Away!


Click here for Final Thoughts

 
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I'm here!!! popcorn:: Great update so for!!! Love your wife's haircut!!! At first I thought you had 3 kids but I only remembered 2 from your PTR... Then I read the caption under the picture that the 3rd "kid" was your wife!!! :thumbsup2
 
Yay! I'm so glad you started! For a minutes I thought you meant you stayed in CA all day but only rode Soarin' and I was like, :eek:. Great pictures so far, and I'm glad your travels went smoothly! Love all your great smiles!
 


I"m here!!

Wonderful, wonderful start! :) I love all the photos you did post and am tickled you got this TR off the ground!
 
Awesome start!!!! I am so excited to see how your trip went! We sure loved ours. Love the new mickey ears santa hat!
 
Chapter 2 – A quick room tour and off to California Adventure!

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We got a luggage cart and rolled on up to our room, number 462. It was at the end of a hall so no noise from people walking past it.
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It was a double queen with a pull-out sofa. Originally Roxy and I were going to share a bed and Jinx and Kyra were going to share the other. But Kyra decided to use the pull-out so each of them got their own bed.

Here’s the view from the door

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The beds
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And they do elephants for their towel animals – Jinx fell in love with it immediately and it stayed on a shelf for the rest of our time there :-]
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The room comes with a fridge, microwave, and coffee maker
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Suitcase benches on either side of the dresser along with a flat screen and a safe
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There is a curtain separator between the bedroom and living space with a table and 4 chairs plus another small dresser and flat screen
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The other side of the room has a chair and the couch with the pull-out along with another table
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Here is the view we had from it – you can see the back of the Cars Land façade and Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout
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The bathroom was reasonably roomy with a great well-lit mirror
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The bathroom was set up as an accessible one. We were concerned that we would be taking this option away from another guest wanting to stay there but the front desk assured us that they had others available for booking that week
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We got settled in, changed clothes and grabbed a quick lunch at the Subway across Harbor and Katella. With bellies full we strolled down the sidewalk on Harbor to the main entrance. The weather was perfect, right around 75 degrees. This would be a continued blessing throughout our time there – 70s during the day and mid-50s at night. Given that we were coming from 40 degree highs and 30 degree lows with rain in Oregon, we were very happy!

Security was a breeze and we were soon standing at the hub – whoohoo!
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PumpkinGirl’s hair was complimented very well by the balloons as we strolled towards CA. A fitting starting picture for our Birthday Girl!
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We got on our phones and made sure our MaxPass was working and rolled thru the turnstiles. Our first stop was at Carthay Circle for a shot at the Christmas tree
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I really wish they had been able to shoot farther back to get a better view of the tree. But the important part is that had our first PhotoPass pic!!!

From there we headed thru the arches of the Festival of the Holidays and started looking at some of the food cart offerings (we would start sampling them later on in our trip). I ducked across the walkway and snapped a quick selfie with this cute little drummer boy

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Since the family had never experienced it, we headed straight on to Cars Land and got PhotoPass pics at Flo’s.
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We headed over to the Cozy Cone to try out some of the interesting popcorn flavors. I liked the dill pickle flavor personally.
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I found a fellow Michael!
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We got fastpasses via MaxPass for Soarin’ and wandered around Cars Land a bit while we waited. PumpkinGirl and I checked out the Horn-O-Plenty
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As time got closer we wandered back up to the hub and Roxy snapped a pic with Walt, Mickey, and Me. I was wearing my “Final Check-Out” shirt I had picked up from the ToT gift shop the previous October when I had gone to the park solo
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The MaxPass bardode reader worked great and we were thur the fastpass queue and on to the final boarding area in no time
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The revamp of Soarin’ was spectacular, we all loved it. The only thing I really missed was the smell of the orange groves from Soarin’ over California. This was our only ride in CA this busy first day. We headed back to the hub and did some quick shopping. I was on the hunt! On the hunt for a specific hat that I had seen on several VLOGs. It doesn’t get any more Christmas than a Santa hat with Mickey ears and lights that actually work!
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We were spending the rest of the day in Disneyland proper. There were reservations to keep, shows to see, and loads of Disney magic to enjoy.

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Click Here for Chapter 3 - The Parade Ends, The Train Rolls, and We Hit the Rides!!
 
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following along!

Yay, Welcome Aboard!

I'm here!!! popcorn:: Great update so for!!! Love your wife's haircut!!! At first I thought you had 3 kids but I only remembered 2 from your PTR... Then I read the caption under the picture that the 3rd "kid" was your wife!!! :thumbsup2

Thank you and I'll let her know about your compliment on her hair and her being my 3rd kid :goodvibes I was hesitant when she talked about cutting it short (she wore it longer for most of our marriage) but she looks really good with it. She is 5yrs younger than me and certainly looks more youthful than my grey-bearded self :thumbsup2

Yay! I'm so glad you started! For a minutes I thought you meant you stayed in CA all day but only rode Soarin' and I was like, :eek:. Great pictures so far, and I'm glad your travels went smoothly! Love all your great smiles!

Thank you, and no - we have a long way to go to finish this day. Soarin' was just scratching the surface of what would end up being a 20hr first day for us!

I"m here!!

Wonderful, wonderful start! :) I love all the photos you did post and am tickled you got this TR off the ground!

Yay, welcome and glad you're on board Liesa! It was a long time coming for sure but I'm ready and enthused to share it all. I gotta check in on your adventures too!

Awesome start!!!! I am so excited to see how your trip went! We sure loved ours. Love the new mickey ears santa hat!

Thank you very much! Getting ready to post the next chapter - whoohoo! Thank you for joining in and I love that hat, it was awesome and between the hat and my gray beard I got lots of compliments wearing it :goodvibes
 
Chapter 3 – The Parade Ends, The Train Rolls, and We Hit the Rides!!


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So I want to start this chapter with an explanation on this first day of ours. Specifically why we woke up at 4am, traveled, checked-in, and ended up staying in the park until nearly midnight. Basically starting our trip with a 20hr first day.

As I was doing my research I wanted to find a timeframe where we could enjoy most of the holiday joy without the grind of heavy crowd days. This is why I chose the week after Thanksgiving. The crowd calendar tells the tail for why we went when we did:

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(courtesy of isitpacked.com)

Every week after this is much worse and thankfully Sunday the 26th (our first day) was not that bad and Dec 1st was our shopping day/travel day back home.

The two downsides of going this week was that #1 – there would be no Candlelight Processional. This wasn’t such a big deal since we had seen the “big show” at EPCOT back in 2012 and we weren’t there for the shows so much as the food and the rides. The second was that Fantasmic! was only running on this first day.

We had seen the Fantasmic! show at DHS twice but had not experienced it at DLR. On our last trip there was construction on the island that had the show shut down and the time before that the show was rained out our whole trip. We wanted to do it right and kill two birds with one stone. We had never actually dined at Blue Bayou but of course had wanted to since our first visit to the parks. Now our kids were grown and would enjoy the higher-end menu.

So we reserved the Fantasmic Dining Package for the first showing of Fantasmic! and with that, went in eyes open that we would be going into the parks sleep deprived and risking early trip burn-out, especially given that this was the only day of the trip that the park was open until midnight. Now you will see why Day 1 will have several chapters to it!

Thank you for following along with this short commercial break, now back to our scheduled program :D

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When we left off it was mid-afternoon on Sunday and we were finishing up a short visit to CA. We would be coming back there for a full day tomorrow. We strolled out the exit and across the entrance plaza and over to the Disneyland gates

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We came in on the tail end of the parade but we aren’t much of a parade family so rather than wrestle with the crowds on Main Street USA we headed thru the tunnel and straight up the stairs to the Main Street Station. On the way up I snapped quick pics of a couple of Toy Story friends

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I am a huge lover of the Disneyland Railroad and trains in general (more to come on that later) so I snapped a quick pic of the model on our way out to the boarding area

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We just missed getting on the train that was in the station so I took the time to jump onto MaxPass and secured FPs for Indiana Jones. And were fist in line at the gate so I got a couple of cool pictures of the Ward Kimball rolling into the station

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Soon enough we were on board and ended up right next to two very nice conductors

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And then I turned my phone over to PumpkinGirl and she took this great pic of Roxy and I

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And then Roxy took a selfie of her and PumpkinGirl (you can also catch a peek of Jinx in Roxy's sunglasses)

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We were just going one stop to New Orleans Square, our family’s favorite land.

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We made a beeline for PoTC and since the parade have everyone distracted it was basically walk-on and we still had some time before our FPs kicked in. This is where we stopped and Roxy took the opportunity to surprise Jinx with a peck on the cheek

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Jinx was not thrilled but took it in stride. We got a chuckle and Roxy wiped the lipstick off

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We waited for the first two rows at Roxy’s request and she snapped a quick pic of us as we floated out

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I had warned them ahead of time that this would mean we would get wet and they had apparently forgotten exactly how wet you could get in the front of a PoTC boat. We came off of the ride laughing and a bit more damp than intended and strolled straight down to Indiana Jones. I snapped a quick pic of the kiddos in the ride queue

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We made sure to “TAKE HEED” as Sala gave us our instructions!

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The ride was cool as usual but my neck had been bugging me for the last few days so I made the decision right then and there that it would be the only time that I rode it.

When we finished we still had some time before check-in for our dinner reservations so we hit The Jungle Cruise.

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We were kind of bummed that they weren’t doing the Jingle Cruise this year, but we had a good CM who told some new bad jokes, making the cruise a great one.

Now it was time for check-in for our reservations. As we strolled back into New Orleans Square sunset has turned to night.

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I check in an ask for a table by the water. They say it could be an additional 20 minutes and we had the time so I said no problem. We cruised around the shops and I took in more of the holiday theming

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PumpkinGirl bought a shirt and we did a lot of browsing. Soon enough it was time to be seated, which was good as we were starting to crash after being on our feet for 12hrs straight.

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Click Here for Chapter 4 – We Have a Dining Hiccup, We take The Loop, and Experience a Fantasmic! Oops
 
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I was really bummed we missed you this day. We were doing the RBT premium seating and I kept my eyes out for you and your family but never say you. Other than our failed attempt at a get together on Wednesday it was only time I knew for sure we would be in the same area.

Keep it going, it is like I am watching someone else take my vacation..... Super fun!
 
That's a long day! I hope Fantasmic lived up to your expectations! I haven't been brave enough to attempt it with small kids yet (especially since they're used to going to bed at 6-7 pm CA time...). I'd like to see the new version though!
 


AWww, I love this one!


Wow! So festive and beautiful!


Nice photo of those two! :D

The ride was cool as usual but my neck had been bugging me for the last few days so I made the decision right then and there that it would be the only time that I rode it.

I say on RnRC a lot. Once and done for me.


Just absolutely gorgeous!
 
Hey Everyone! Sorry for the delay in replying, I caught a bad head cold and was doing good to just get thru the days. It caused me to miss most of last week of work and Friday I had to play catch-up. But I'm feeling better, the weekend is here, and I'm ready to get this TR rolling again!

I was really bummed we missed you this day. We were doing the RBT premium seating and I kept my eyes out for you and your family but never say you. Other than our failed attempt at a get together on Wednesday it was only time I knew for sure we would be in the same area.

Keep it going, it is like I am watching someone else take my vacation..... Super fun!

I hear you my friend, I was hoping we could have gotten together at some point! My following TR post will explain why you didn't see us - part of a logistical snafu on my part. Glad you are at least being able to relive your trip by following along with ours!

20 hour day??? Yikes!!! :faint: Looks like you're all holding up well so far!!!

Yes, it was a long one for sure - but sooo worth it!

That's a long day! I hope Fantasmic lived up to your expectations! I haven't been brave enough to attempt it with small kids yet (especially since they're used to going to bed at 6-7 pm CA time...). I'd like to see the new version though!

Yes indeed it was a long one. You'll see my thoughts on Fantasmic! immediately following this post. I would say that you are making the right choice in waiting until the kiddos are a bit older. For now enjoy getting the short lines on rides while the show is going on or let those kiddos get their regular bedtime.

AWww, I love this one!

Thank you, it was one of my favorites with Roxy of the trip

Wow! So festive and beautiful!

I think they did a great job of bringing Christmas while still reflecting the feel of New Orleans with these decorations :-]

Nice photo of those two! :D

Yes, they were having a great time and were all smiles about getting to ride IJ again after so long!

I say on RnRC a lot. Once and done for me.

I can take RnRC pretty well as it isn't as jerky, but I hear ya - for me it is Star Tours that I'm always one and done.

Just absolutely gorgeous!

Yes, more stunning theming - I took more pictures of holiday theme in New Orleans Square than any other land.

Catching up!! I :love: this hat so much!

Hello! Yes, it is by far my favorite Disney hat - it makes me want to only take Christmas Holiday trips so I can wear it again!
 
Chapter 4 – We Have a Dining Hiccup, We take The Loop, and Experience a Fantasmic! Oops

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When we left off I had gotten the call that our table was ready and came back to the entrance.

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As I had said this was our first time actually dining at Blue Bayou. I had first "floated by" it in 1976 and Roxy had in around 1984. The kiddos first floated by it in 2005. So from 12 to 42 years in the making for the family! We had waited extra time to get a waterside table and were very excited.

Unfortunately the table we were brought to was all the way to the right as you are looking at the bayou. It was right next to the bussing area for the dishes so all we could hear was plate noise. It was also squeezed into the space so waiters/waitresses were brushing by very close. The chairs weren't even the same as the rest of the ones in the restaurant :-[

I'm usually a very "go with the flow" kind of person, but this time I wasn't up for taking this as our long-awaited Bayou experience. I asked the waiter to direct me to the Maître D' and had a conversation with her. She was understanding and it happened that a table right at the center of the rail was being cleared. We were discreetly relocated to it and settled in for a great dining experience with an unbeatable view.

I'll say up front that I tried to get pictures of the boats and the bayou and shack. But without a flash I messed with exposures but couldn't really get a picture that did it justice. We had a couple of boats yell out to throw them rolls before we had some at our table, then more that called out after we ate them all :D

I did get a good picture of Roxy

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And Jinx got a picture of PumpkinGirl

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I didn't get pictures of the apps or entrees, I always forget that kind of stuff. I had the Louisiana Spiced Shrimp and the Blue Bayou Bouillabaisse. Roxy had the house salad and the Surf and Turf. PumpkinGirl had the New Orleans Gumbo and the Pan-seared Bone-in Pork Loin. And Jinx had the house salad and the Surf and Turf.

We did do pictures of dessert though!

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And you thought we forgot to get a picture of Jinx ;-] This was of course the Sorcerer Mickey "Fantasmic!" Dessert

Roxy and PumpkinGirl both had the Vanilla Bean Crème Brulee

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And I had the 8-Layer Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

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We all loved the food and the service was amazing. It was certainly great to finally sit and enjoy the atmosphere of this classic locale. We received our Fantasmic! cushions and I asked our waiter how far in advance of our showing we should be there. He thought 30 minutes should be fine given that we had reserved seating.

We headed out with full tummies and I caught the Mark Twain doing its last loop before the show

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We decided to take the train on a full loop to kill some time to get us close to that 30 minute timeframe. I wasn't able to get a shot of BTMRR but I was able to catch a couple of shots of the Christmas makeover of IASW!

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I had one turn out as we traveled thru Tomorrowland

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After that it was diorama time!

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Soon enough we were pulling into Main Street Station and I got a nice pic of the classic garland

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We got off the train about 40 minutes prior to the show and found out that although our waiter was fantastic with our meal, he was not "Fantasmic" with knowing how early to get down to the reserved area. We were there more than 30 minutes before the show and it was PACKED! :O It didn't help that some people had decided to set out blankets - taking up easily four times the amount of space that they should have.

I ended up scouting out the area and finding two separate single spots with decent views and sending the kids to those and Roxy and I sat at the back of the rope with one of the light poles obstructing our view. I must say I was also let down by the CMs running entry into the area. The Fantasmic! Experience at DHS is stadium style, but the CMs still work hard to motivate the crowd and get them to maximize the space. There was one half-hearted attempt done for this show and they were ignored by the park guests and gave up. And they were letting people in from other areas which made it worse.

Okay, rant over everyone. I settled down and Roxy and I took comfort in that the kids had a good view. The format of the show has similar elements to the one at DHS but having the Columbia involved and a Pirate theme instead of a Pocahontas theme as a background element. We really enjoyed the pirate stuff, although I am a huge fan of Peter Pan so I did feel a small pang from missing out on that theme.

All four of us took pictures/video of the show, so without further ado, here we go with some highlights of our show!

Mickey took the stage and the water elements kicked in

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The circle of life was completed

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And we had a visit from a certain light-eyed snake

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We took a visit under the sea

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Then we took a trip on the high seas with an intro from my favorite pirate, Barbossa!

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Then the ship came into view, it was epic!

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There was a grand swordfight in the riggings

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Roxy caught some video of it

Pirate Fight in the Riggings

While it passed the Caribbean village burned in the background as shadowy pirates fought on!

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The spectacle was amazing, it was by far my favorite part of the show - more to come in the next post!


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Click here for Chapter 5 - The Pirates Sail On, the Barges Dance Thru, The Dragon Roars, and The Finale Floats By!
 
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Chapter 5 - The Pirates Sail On, the Barges Dance Thru, The Dragon Roars, and The Final Floats By!

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Just jumping in where I left off with the Pirate spectacle during Fantasmic! After the duel the ship sailed on its way

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Then we were treated to the barges decked out for their respective Prince/Princesses. First we caught Rapunzel and Flynn

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Then it was Belle and the Beast

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And one shot of Ariel and Eric

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After they floated on it was time for Maleficent to make her presence known, with the Magic Mirror setting the stage

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We weren’t able to get a clear shot of her, but we got some good ones of the Dragon transformation and spectacle!

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Mickey came out in the nick of time to thwart the beast!

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With the dragon vanquished our favorite Disney characters came floating into view on the Mark Twain

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Roxy even got a little bit of video on it

The Mark Twain Makes its Entrance

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We all waived at each other and they sailed away, giving the island stage back over to Mickey, who of course closed the show with style!

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My thoughts on the show were that it was a cool spectacle, especially the Pirate/Columbia portion. But I doubt we would go thru the trouble of fighting for a piece of ground to sit on to get a decent view of it again. Maybe a seated dessert viewing if they offer them in the future. After the show wrapped up we gathered back together and stayed for the beginning of Believe in Holiday Magic show from that same spot in front of the island. We watched a few minutes of it and were satisfied and headed off other adventures!


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Click here for Chapter 6 - We Explore some Holiday Haunts and Join Pooh on his Adventure!
 
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