From freezing to sweating, on a daily basis! A December Walt Disney World report

[OnSpaceshipEarth]

Prince Pluto, are you a fan of The Haunted Mansion?

 

[SmallWorld71]

Great updates!
Looking forward to seeing your Tom Sawyer Island pics. After many trips to MK, I still haven't been there. The kids and I have vowed to check it out one of these days!

 

[PrincePluto]

Prince Pluto, are you a fan of The Haunted Mansion?

Yes, isn't everybody?

 

[PrincePluto]

I took a leisurely stroll over to the landing for Tom Sawyer's Rafts, and only had a minute or so to absorb the nicely-themed queue before a raft arrived, disembarked its passengers and loaded the passengers from the queue:

We then were on our way!

I wonder if there are truly enough flotation cushions for everyone on the raft:

"WELCUM" to the island:

A map of the island(s). It's actually two islands, connected by a suspension bridge. The other island holds Fort Langhorn. I seem to recall it used to be called Fort Sam Clemens, but my memory might be incorrect.

I took several pictures of this bird perched on the top of the suspension bridge, but I was not happy with most of them, as the bridge would shake when anybody started to cross, making it difficult to hold the camera steady:

In one of the towers of the fort:

Walking back across the bridge, I think I got a slightly better shot of the bird on top of it:

BTMRR as seen from Tom Sawyer's Island:

I then took the raft back to the "mainland" and headed over to the Frontierland Railroad Station.

 

[PrincePluto]

I decided to take yet another form of Disney transportation (my fourth of the day, after the General Joe Potter, Liberty Belle and Tom Sawyer raft), so I headed over to the Frontierland Station and caught the train to Main Street U.S.A. I don't know which engine was pulling the train I was on; I guess it's enough to say it was either the Walter, the Roy or the Roger E. Broggie.

When we got to Main Street, I saw that there was a parade going on, so I went to the balcony of the station overlooking the Plaza, and took some pictures.

 

[Lorettainny]

Great report.

 

[scottny]

Great updates and pics.

 

[PrincePluto]

I recently got my Photopass disc back, so I decided to post the pictures from the first day, at Animal Kingdom:

Pocahantas character meet:

Baloo and King Louie:

Baloo was feeling affectionate:

Chip and Dale:

Posing in front of Tree of Life

Ride photo from "Dinosaur!"

 

[PrincePluto]

Since I was close to the Firehouse, and there was no line, I decided to pick up some Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom cards. Here is the Puumba card I got:

I then decided to take a monorail trip, and look at the monorail resorts' holiday decorations.

First, I went to the Contemporary Resort. As most of you probably already know, this gingerbread tree is based on the Mary Blair mural in the Grand Canyon Concourse:

"Gingerbread Tree Ingredients
15 hidden Mickey's
136 pounds of Honey
211 pounds of Flour
101 Eggs
27 pounds of Spice
15 pounds Sugar Syrup
98 pounds of Icing
151 pounds of Chocolate
Over 2,000 Gingerbread Shingles

This Holiday Display is inspired by the Mary Blair
mural found inside the Grand Canyon Concourse of Disney's Contemporary Resort"

I also snapped a couple of quick photos of the Game Station, the Contemporary Resort's video arcade:

As I was about to board the monorail to continue to the Polynesian, I decided to snap a shot of the Mary Blair mural:

I arrived at the Polynesian and started snapping away. Unfortunately, in the middle of taking pictures at the Polynesian, my battery low signal lit up.

I skipped going to the Grand Floridian, as my camera battery was low, and headed back to the Magic Kingdom.

Coming up, the remainder of my Magic Kingdom day. As evidenced in the previous paragraph, it will be long on words, and short on pictures.

Next: The End of My Magic Kingdom Day

 

[PrincePluto]

I took the monorail back around to the Magic Kingdom entrance, re-entered the park, and started my first Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom adventure. I had initialized my card at the Fire Station before my Monorail Resorts foray, and according to my map I needed to go to Adventureland, to the area by the stroller parking for Pirates of the Caribbean. I went there, and after a little learning curve, I managed to fight the villains and save Merlin. I then decided to do another adventure, and this time it was in Main Street. I knew I had 15 minutes to get over there, so I decided to build up my strength, and had an Orange Swirl at the Sunshine Tree Terrace.

I then proceeded over to Main Street USA for my second Sorcerers adventure. I also watched the Celebrate Today! Parade while I was doing so.

After my Main Street adventure against Cruella DeVil was over, I stopped at Casey's and had some corn dog bites. I then decided to do a third adventure, over at Frontierland. When I was done with that, I went to Country Bear Jamboree twice. I know all the words to this show by heart, because my parents bought us (me and my brothers) the Country Bear Jamboree 33 1/3 LP record.

I then did a fourth and final adventure in Fantasyland.

I then saw that it was getting close to sunset, so I scoped out a bench in the area between the castle plaza and Liberty Square, with a good vantage point near the castle. I watched "Celebrate a dream come true" then the Cinderella Castle lighting ceremony.

I then headed out of the park.

I stopped off at Chik-Fil-A for a breaded chicken sandwich and fries, and back to my resort to eat, watch TV and go to bed.

Next: Last Park Day: EPCOT - Part 1

 

[PrincePluto]

As usual, I got up early to make rope drop at Epcot, got ready, had breakfast and made it to the park well before rope drop. I got a parking space within 1 row of the handicapped spaces, so I didn't need to use the tram, which was a plus. As I walked past the monorail station, I saw that the green monorail was in the station.

I got a mocha at Geoffrey's Coffee, as it was cold out, and still had time to make it to the front of a turnstile line.

I took a picture of the park family of the day:

I headed towards The Land to go on Soarin', but took my time, or maybe there were just more people who were hurrying, but I grabbed a Fastpass before I went on for 10:00. I went on Soarin' and had to wait for the second boarding, and ended up in the third row. I then went on Living With the Land.

NEXT: Living With The Land, Continued

 

[PrincePluto]

Some more photos of my trip through Living With The Land:

The aquaculture tunnel:

In the freshwater shrimp tank, in addition to the usual "hidden mickey" formed from wire mesh, there is a Christmas tree in the tank:

Re-entering the greenhouse:

Blue agave (an ingredient in tequila):

The most iconic image from the greenhouse in Living With the Land: The Nine-Pound Lemon:

An eggplant "tree"

Nutrient Film Technique-grown lettuce planted in the shape of a Mickey head:

Rosemary "Christmas Tree"

After getting off Living With The Land, it was time for my 10:00 Fastpass for Soarin' to come due (for those of you who already read my previous entry with the words "I got a fastpass for 1:30", my memory was incorrect. Luckily I had the following photo of Captain Patrick taken just before I got on the 10:00 boarding of Soarin', to correct my memory... )

Captain Patrick giving the pre-boarding spiel:

I ended up in row 3 again. Oh well... Still a fun ride, like always. When I got off, I decided to get another Fastpass for it, and that was the one that was for 1:30 PM.


After this, I decided to head over to Norway for a Frozen character interaction. I knew from word of mouth that the sooner I got over there, the less long the lines would be.

I stopped off in front of Spaceship Earth to have my picture taken by the Photopass photographer (photopass photos to come later...)

Next: Roasting in order to experience Frozen

 

[PrincePluto]

I decided to get on line for the character greet with the princesses from the new movie, "Frozen"; the same idea must have occurred to half of the rest of the people in the park, because by the time I got to the Norway pavilion, at 11:15 AM, there were enough people ahead of me that I had to wait approximately 90 minutes to meet with Anna and Elsa. Even though it was December, it was quite warm by that time of the day, and the sun was blazing, and if you are familiar with the Norwegian pavilion courtyard, you know that there is not a whole lot of shade to be found. To make the wait a little more bearable, however, one of the cast members who was watching the queue, would have a Disney trivia contest every 45 minutes or so, where he would ask two questions, and if you won you got a couple of Disney stickers. I tried my hand at answering a question, "What were the names of the three Aristokittens?" I got Marie and Berlioz, but forgot the third, Toulouse, so I didn't win.

Across the plaza people were checking in for their character brunch with the princesses at Akershus.

Back to the Frozen queue:

I finally got my "audience" with Anna and Elsa, and I did not feel at all rushed. The photopass took both photopass pictures and pictures with my camera and cell phone. I asked Elsa, if she could use her frost powers to make it a little cooler, but she said she was not allowed to.

Next to the photo greet area, there was, of course, a dump shop with Frozen dolls and merchandise.

I then decided to go on Maelstrom. There was, as is whenever I have been there, no wait to get on the ride. I wonder if there is ever enough of a wait for Maelstrom to make getting a Fastpass worthwhile.

Next: Shopping at the Puffin's Roost

 

[Disneylover99]

Wow, a one and a half hour wait for Anna and Elsa is not bad at all.
I waited 10 minutes in December and decided to give up. I just couldn't bare the 2 hour wait.

 

[PrincePluto]

Wow, a one and a half hour wait for Anna and Elsa is not bad at all.
I waited 10 minutes in December and decided to give up. I just couldn't bare the 2 hour wait.

I was in the park on 12/16 and heard of people getting there at 3 PM and waiting 3 or more hours! That's why I aimed as close to World Showcase opening time of 11 AM as possible. Unfortunately, I chose to have a couple of pictures taken near Spaceship Earth that caused me to be 15 minutes late, thus the wait... Oh well.

 

[scottny]

Nice pp pics.
I love Living with the land. Such a fun, relaxing ride.
The lines were insane for Anna & Elsa when we were there too.
I go to maelstrom when it is 20 minutes or more. There is a need for FP+. LOL

 

[PrincePluto]

This post is going to be picture-heavy and word-light, as I feel the pictures speak for themselves:

It seems the majority of the clothing in the shop was the Helly Hansen brand, which I had never heard of but is apparently a famous Norwegian brand.

Vikingfjord vodka:

A troll statue that kids of all ages loved to pose in front of:

Norwegian foods

After this, I decided to head over to the China pavilion.

Next: China, Ancient Warriors, lunch, and a character meeting

 

[PrincePluto]

From Norway, I proceeded clockwise around the lake to China. First, I went into the Ancient Tomb Warriors display.

Then I waited and saw the China 360 degree film.

After that I browsed through the gift shop:

After that, I stopped at the counter service restaurant in China to have lunch.
I did not make a note of what I had, but I think it was something with chicken in it.

My Fastpass window for Soarin' was now due, but I knew I would not make it over there as I planned to do a character greet with Mulan in about 15 minutes. I tried giving my Fastpass away, and a few people initially expressed interest, but declined when they found I only had one. I ended up taking it home with me and it is sitting on my dresser.

I then got on line for the Mulan character greet. There was not a Photopass photographer, so the next person on line was nice enough to take the following pictures with my camera.

I then walked over by Germany and took the Friendship boat across to Future World.

NEXT: Finishing up my last park day

 

[PrincePluto]

After meeting with Mulan, I walked clockwise around the World Showcase Lagoon, and took a Friendship to the Future World side, and took a couple of pictures of the Epcot Christmas tree:

Then, I realized I needed to purchase Christmas gifts for my family members. Since my older brother plays bagpipes in a pipe and drum band, I knew exactly what to get him; it was off to Canada, to get him a CD from Off Kilter!

First, I decided to see O Canada! As usual, I enjoyed it very much.

I then purchased the Off Kilter CD for my brother, and I saw that the Holiday Voyageurs were performing, so I watched their show.

After this, I headed towards the exit. I stopped at Fountainview Cafe to get a venti raspberry iced mocha, then I went to MouseGear, where after much consideration, I bought earrings for my nieces, pendants for my sisters-in-law, and t-shirts for my nephews and my other brother (the one I had not given a CD to). I then bid farewell to Epcot (hopefully not for the last time).

I then drove back to my resort (stopping at Burger King on 192 to pick up dinner) then packed, watched some TV, and went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up extra early, showered and ate breakfast, and packed my car, then drove to the airport. I dropped off the car, did the electronic kiosk for Jet Blue Airways, and that put me in the shorter line to check my bag.

Then, when I got to the security line, I was offered the chance to get on a shorter line. I accepted, little knowing what I was getting into. I had been "randomly" chosen for extra inspection. I got to be politely interrogated and manhandled by TSA personnel. I was asked why I was sweating (I was wearing a T-shirt under a long-sleeve pullover shirt, in the expectation of cold weather when the plane landed in New Jersey) and had my hands sprayed to check for explosive residue, and my carry-on luggage was unpacked and repacked. Once that ordeal was over, I was glad to hike over to the gate.

My flight took off on time, and before too long I was landing at Newark Airport, getting picked up by my Dad.

I hope those of you who have stayed with me to the end of this trip report have enjoyed it!

Thanks.

Wait! Don't go yet! I have some more Photopass pictures to post.

 

[PrincePluto]

Character greet with Princess Aurora in the France pavilion:

Bell character greet:

Character greet with Aladdin and Jasmine in Morocco:

Character greet with Snow White in Germany: