Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party: Thursday Dec 11th
Another day of school, followed by a great afternoon and a long evening, worth it though!
We caught the small inter-park boat from the campground to the Contemporary and spent a while looking around (and getting a cool family picture with the Mickey sculpture) before getting the monorail to Magic Kingdom.
It wasn't our intention to go into the Disney Parks at all but Mickey's Christmas Party sounded fun and had lots of special, festive parades and shows so temptation got the better of us.
Our tickets were valid from 4pm until midnight, needless to say, we were there right when we were allowed in, a special band gave us access to stay through the evening and it wasn't at all crowded, virtually no lines. It wasn't a particularly warm afternoon/evening and there were intermittant showers so presumably that kept some people away, we managed to avoid getting too wet though and had a thoroughly enjoyable time.
Having spent a couple of days here in the spring, we knew exactly which rides we wanted to go on and which ones we were happy to miss. Nathan did really well, even going on rides which he hated in April and then discovered that he actually loved and wanted to go on again (Thunder Mountain!).
We managed quite a few rides: Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Pooh, Peter Pan, Snow White, carousel, Philarmagic 4D, Space Mountain, Car Track, Transit Authority, Buzz Lightyear, Stitch....
We had a couple of photos with characters, loved the one with Goofy. He lined us all up in height order and demanded that Dave and I be in the picture too - the kids listened to him!
As we were in the park when it got dark, we were able to watch Cinderella turning the lights on the castle - it looked amazing. Disney do a brilliant job of adding those special touches of magic.
We saw the Tomorrowland Christmas Show with Mike, Buzz and Stitch, partied with Mickey and Minnie while enjoying complementary hot chocolate and cookies (kind of OD'ed on those - Jake does love a freebie, especially when it's food!), ooh'ed and ahh'ed at the fireworks and of course, loved watching the Christmas Parade.
It all got rather late for poor Nathan who fell asleep before the end of the parade. We'd had the foresight to buy a cheap stroller before going into Seaworld and it more than paid for itself when he fell asleep, bless him.
Dave and the kids went off in search of one more ride while I wheeled Nate around the shops where I could keep him warm. Of course, the downside of wandering around the shops is the temptation to spend money, sigh....
We had a wonderful time and would recommend it. It did mean an extremely late night, we didn't get back to the campsite (via boat and bus) until almost 1am. Caitlin was so excited that it was already tomorrow and she hadn't been to bed on Thursday night at ALL! We paid for the late night the next day but it was still worth it!
We caught the small inter-park boat from the campground to the Contemporary and spent a while looking around (and getting a cool family picture with the Mickey sculpture) before getting the monorail to Magic Kingdom.
It wasn't our intention to go into the Disney Parks at all but Mickey's Christmas Party sounded fun and had lots of special, festive parades and shows so temptation got the better of us.
Our tickets were valid from 4pm until midnight, needless to say, we were there right when we were allowed in, a special band gave us access to stay through the evening and it wasn't at all crowded, virtually no lines. It wasn't a particularly warm afternoon/evening and there were intermittant showers so presumably that kept some people away, we managed to avoid getting too wet though and had a thoroughly enjoyable time.
Having spent a couple of days here in the spring, we knew exactly which rides we wanted to go on and which ones we were happy to miss. Nathan did really well, even going on rides which he hated in April and then discovered that he actually loved and wanted to go on again (Thunder Mountain!).
We managed quite a few rides: Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Pooh, Peter Pan, Snow White, carousel, Philarmagic 4D, Space Mountain, Car Track, Transit Authority, Buzz Lightyear, Stitch....
We had a couple of photos with characters, loved the one with Goofy. He lined us all up in height order and demanded that Dave and I be in the picture too - the kids listened to him!
As we were in the park when it got dark, we were able to watch Cinderella turning the lights on the castle - it looked amazing. Disney do a brilliant job of adding those special touches of magic.
We saw the Tomorrowland Christmas Show with Mike, Buzz and Stitch, partied with Mickey and Minnie while enjoying complementary hot chocolate and cookies (kind of OD'ed on those - Jake does love a freebie, especially when it's food!), ooh'ed and ahh'ed at the fireworks and of course, loved watching the Christmas Parade.
It all got rather late for poor Nathan who fell asleep before the end of the parade. We'd had the foresight to buy a cheap stroller before going into Seaworld and it more than paid for itself when he fell asleep, bless him.
Dave and the kids went off in search of one more ride while I wheeled Nate around the shops where I could keep him warm. Of course, the downside of wandering around the shops is the temptation to spend money, sigh....
We had a wonderful time and would recommend it. It did mean an extremely late night, we didn't get back to the campsite (via boat and bus) until almost 1am. Caitlin was so excited that it was already tomorrow and she hadn't been to bed on Thursday night at ALL! We paid for the late night the next day but it was still worth it!
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