We Need a Little Christmas- TCD's Express Christmas TR

[c_line 1]

I think this would be the equivalent up here.  Not my favourite, but I do like them.  =)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

When I filled out the lengthy survey they sent after our stay I noted how people were using the pool but not staying at FW and how that had a negative impact on my otherwise enjoyable vacation. In reality we didn't even get a chance to use the pool this trip. But I figured it wouldn't hurt to complain about it for others. I also suggested they put in a lazy river on the grass area near the pool. I'm sure that idea was filed in the round file too.

 

A lazy river?

 

That would be awesome!

 

I am all caught up as well.  I am very curious about what the unwanted souvenir is, but don't want to rush this TR.  Unless you get back for NYE, this has to hold me until I get there.

 

I'll try to go back for NYE, just so we can keep this TR going for you!

 

Anybody have a link to the thread about the ecv being towed I want to read it.

 

Here you go: http://www.fortfiends.net/forum/topic/11612-who-here-works/?p=320257

 

Caught up as well.

 

Oh and I like Good and Plenty.  It's one of my favorite candies.

 

Suspicious.

 

I don't even know what Good and Plenty is.

 

Very suspicious.

 

It was a staple of movie theater candy counters in the 70's.  

 

 

Hmmm.

 

You seem to know a lot about this Good and Plenty.

 

You aren't working with them, are you?

 

 

Good & Plenty, Good & Plenty, Good & Plenty!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExSlyoVTX3I

 

Very good.

 

This stuff has been around forever.

 

But the name is false advertising.

 

It's not all that good.

 

I think OK and Plenty would be a more accurate name.

 

I think this would be the equivalent up here.  Not my favourite, but I do like them.  =)

 

What is it with you people and your weird candy?

 

I know that you have something called Smarties that is not what we know as Smarties.

 

Isn't what we have good enough for you?

 

TCD

[c_line 1]

 

 

What is it with you people and your weird candy?

 

I know that you have something called Smarties that is not what we know as Smarties.

 

Isn't what we have good enough for you?

 

TCD

Ohhh nooo.  I just googled Smarties US and it's completely wrong.  What you call Smarties?  They're actually Rockets.  What is wrong with you people?       ;D

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Here we go.

 

We left off after our ride on Toy Story.

 

Let me stop and say right here, that just being able to do that on a semi-busy day makes the Magicbands and FP+ pretty awesome.  Without those, there is no way that we could walk in to Hollywood Studios at 2:30 pm and have any chance of riding Toy Story without a long, long wait.

 

We had some time to kill before our paper TOT FP's were good, so we popped in to the animation class.  The girls were hoping to get to draw something from Frozen, but instead we got Phineas and Ferb.  Which was cool, because we've never drawn them before.

 

Here's my drawing in progress:

 

 

Before you laugh, this is the instructor's:

 

 

Here's the finished drawings.

 

Mine:

 

 

Twin #1's:

 

 

Twin #2's:

 

 

We've all done better.

 

But, it was fun.

 

We took a few minutes to look around the displays that they have back near the exit of the animation walk-through.  For some reason, they are now using what used to be the exit as the entrance.  I don't know how long that has been going on.

 

We had avoided this area on our last few visits, as we didn't want to see any spoilers for the new movie Frozen.  There's a lot of new stuff on display back here.

 

For example, there are posters for two new Pixar movies coming out in 2015.

 

I had never heard of this one, Inside Out:

 

 

From what the girls told me, the plot of this movies sounds a lot like the old Cranium Command attraction that they used to have in the Wonders of Life pavilion at Epcot.  Those characters on the poster reside in the head of some person.  The girls said Amy Poehler provides one of the voices.  So, this should be funny.

 

Here's another Pixar film that I haven't heard anything about-  The Good Dinosaur:

 

 

According to the posters, the Inside Out movie comes out in summer 2015, and the Good Dinosaur comes out in fall 2015.  That doesn't sound right.  And what about 2014?  Nothing?

 

The bulletin boards in the fake animator's office are full of Frozen stuff- there are a lot of interesting details down there:

 

 

There are many displays on the walls around this area that show the preliminary animation work from Frozen.  I always enjoy looking at these- it's interesting to see how the characters evolve and change through the process:

 

 

A nice poster on the wall:

 

 

By the way, if you haven't seen Frozen, you ought to.  It's a very good movie.

 

Here we are heading out of the animation courtyard- look how everyone is just in shorts and t-shirts- it was quite warm this afternoon:

 

 

We still had a little time to kill- so the girls said let's get some ice cream from the Dinosaur.  We headed over there, but the line was long.  They also have soft-serve at a stand near Indiana Jones, which is close, so we went there.  We sat down on a wall near the Dinosaur to eat it.  As we sat, these little kids were running around, blowing off steam.  At one point, they lay down on the pavement, and looked up at the clouds.  We saw a CM approach, assuming that she was going to yell at the kids to get up, but to our surprise she lay down next to them! Cute:

 

 

Then we bolted to TOT. For some reason, I was instructed to pose like a squirrel for the photo.  I didn't do a very good job:

 

 

Then we walked over to RNR to use our FP+:

 

 

 

Then it was dinner time.

 

Even though the Dockside Diner didn't have the meatball cone Twin #2 wanted, we still went there.  Those hot dogs in the pretzel roll are hard to beat.  If you want to go here, don't expect many choices on the menu.  Here's the line-up:

 

 

 

That's an expensive hot dog.  Also, the pork shank here is more than what Gaston charges.  Why?  Well, all the meals here are served with chips.  So, they add and extra $2 for a little bag of chips.  Rip-off.  But not if you know the TCD trick.  Just ask for the hot dog without chips.  They'll sell it to you that way, and knock $2 off the price.  The posted price was $8.29, but we paid $6.29:

 

 

Here's the pretzel dog, photographed in as inoffensive way as I know how:

 

 

In case I didn't make myself clear- those things are good!  One of my favorite quick serve meals in all of WDW.  Definitely in the top five.

 

So, things were going great.

 

We still had FP+'s for the 6:30 Fantasmic show, and then paper FP's to ride RNR again.  Then we would finish up with the Osborne lights before bouncing to the MK.  Great plan.

 

But then I felt a drop.

 

And then it started to rain.

 

Hard.

 

We checked the weather.

 

It wasn't supposed to last long.

 

But, it was going to last long enough that we would be sitting in the Fantasmic theater in the rain.

 

Not going to happen.

 

Been there and done that.  No fun.  Even with ponchos.  And, if there was any lightning, they would cancel the show.

 

So, we scrubbed the plans.

 

We would head back to the Fort.  Let the storm pass, and then move on to MK.

 

So no Osborne lights this trip.

 

Here we are heading out, and look at all the people heading in:

 

 

I'll bet some of you wanted to see some Osborne lights photos.

 

If you did, then all is not lost.

 

I have a surprise.

 

One of the reasons we gave up on our Hollywood Studios plans so easily is that we had already seen the Osborne lights this season.

 

I don't think I've mentioned that, have I?

 

Well buckle your seatbelts, and drink some of the Jungle Cruise hippie juice, we're about to have a flash-back.  And there's a little more Christmas to be seen.

 

TCD

[DaveInTN 3,247]

 

Let me stop and say right here, that just being able to do that on a semi-busy day makes the Magicbands and FP+ pretty awesome.  Without those, there is no way that we could walk in to Hollywood Studios at 2:30 pm and have any chance of riding Toy Story without a long, long wait.

 

 

Andrew, please don't stray from the official anti-Magicband talking points.  Next thing I know, you'll be telling us you got something to drink from the MSB Star.....oh wait.  Nevermind.  You already did that too.   :banghead:

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I thought your Phineas and Ferb drawings were good!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Ohhh nooo.  I just googled Smarties US and it's completely wrong.  What you call Smarties?  They're actually Rockets.  What is wrong with you people?       ;D

 

I have to concede that what you call Smarties are superior to what we call Smarties.  But, that doesn't make it right.

 

All kidding aside, one thing we used to like to do in Epcot is buy candy in the different pavilions.  They sell Smarties and your other strange offerings in the Canada gift shop.  Eh.

 

Andrew, please don't stray from the official anti-Magicband talking points.  Next thing I know, you'll be telling us you got something to drink from the MSB Star.....oh wait.  Nevermind.  You already did that too.   :banghead:

 

You are right.

 

My apologies.

 

I got sucked in by the hype.

 

Seriously, though, the current testing situation is awesome for resort guests.  Especially passholders.  Currently, you can reserve three FP+'s, then when you get to the park, pull the old school paper FP's with your KTTW cards and passes.  Plus old KTTW cards work for this trick.  I found some I had from 2009, and they worked.  So, that means unlimited FP's all day long.  Well, at least until the paper ones are out for the day, or when they finally get around to stopping the paper FP's for all the parks.

 

I thought your Phineas and Ferb drawings were good!

 

Thanks, Gwen, that is nice of you to say.

 

But, we have all definitely done better.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

OK, so follow me here . . .

 

I am now flashing back to Monday, November 25.

 

That's Monday of Thanksgiving week.

 

The TCD gang usually spends a good chunk of Thanksgiving week at the Fort.

 

But, this year was different.

 

The twins were supposed to be in class that week, so I didn't make reservations.

 

Then, they both ended up coming home from college earlier than expected.

 

But, we ended up with a lot of stuff to do, so it wasn't possible to squeeze in a camping trip.

 

But a day trip was doable.

 

So, we decided on Monday.

 

The original plan was to leave at zero dark thirty and make it to a park for rope drop.

 

But, when Sunday night rolled around, we nixed that idea.

 

The girls would sleep, and we would head over around noon-ish, and plan to stay late.

 

So, here we are waiting to go in and eat lunch at Be Our Guest, it's around 2:16 pm:

 

 

You can see the big drop on the Mine Train ride very clearly now:

 

 

I wonder if there's going to be a lot of noise and screaming? You can hear the screams from the Expedition Everest drop all over the Asia area of Animal Kingdom.  I wonder if the noise from the Mine Train will interfere with the atmosphere of New Fantasyland?

 

Even though Thanksgiving was only three days away, we all had the Turkey sandwich:

 

 

We also shared a couple of the new grey stuff cupcakes.  Very good!:

 

 

Last year at this time, the Beast's castle had just opened, and they did not decorate for Christmas.

 

But this year they did.

 

Here's a look at things:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I liked those decorations.

 

The Wonderful World of Phil Holmes gift shop was also decorated:

 

 

As was Gaston's Tavern:

 

 

We were playing with the MDE app during lunch, and saw that there were Space Mountain FP's available for a time that would be good for us later in the evening, so we headed there after lunch.

 

We picked up our FP's, and then took a ride on the peoplemover.  We got stopped right before we were going to board, and had to wait a few minutes. That gave me a chance to snap a photo of this phone directory:

 

 

Here, let me zoom on that- now you have all the numbers you need if you need to call someone in Tommorowland:

 

 

Something was wrong with the peoplemover, as we stopped for a while inside of Space Mountain, and the lights came on.  Sadly, we weren't where we could see the SM tracks, just this stuff:

 

 

 

 

So, we had SM Fastpasses for later.

 

Now we wanted to get some Big Thunder FP's.

 

So we headed that way.

 

On the way, we stopped at one of the FP+ kiosks.   I had already made my tentative December reservations at this point, and had ordered and received my MagicBands.  On the MDE App, I couldn't make any FP+ reservations until after the date of arrival for that reservation.  But, we held one of the MagicBands up to the kiosk, and it let us make some FP+ reservations!  This might be a strategy for someone to use for an off-site visit.  Make a resort reservation for a date a few weeks later than your real dates, get your MB's and use them in the park.  Anyway, we got to make 3 FP+ reservations.  I can't remember what we reserved, but I do know that we used one of the slots to get a reserved spot for the Main Street Electric Parade.  We have never had a reserved spot for a parade, and wanted to see what that was all about.

 

On the way past the castle, we saw a baby bunny out on the grass:

 

 

Who doesn't like baby bunnies?

 

We stopped by the Jingle Cruise, because we had not ridden that yet, but it was very busy at around 3 pm, when we stopped by:

 

 

The Big Thunder FP's were for a time that wouldn't work for us, so we passed.

 

We needed to get back to the Little Mermaid ride to use the FP's we had for it.

 

I suggested the train.

 

We had to wait a bit, so I got some photos of the props on display in the conductor's office:

 

 

 

 

Remember, this was the Monday of Thanksgiving week.  There was a good line for Splash:

 

 

And the Barnstormer line was long too:

 

 

Wait, we were supposed to get off at the Fantasyland station.

 

But, we stayed on.

 

It was nice to be sitting and riding, so we took an extra lap around the park.

 

The MK entry area wasn't very busy:

 

 

Here's something funny.

 

When we passed the part of the train ride where they have fake deer, there were a couple of real deer standing there with the fake ones:

 

 

I circled the real deer with my purple crayon here:

 

 

I think most guests didn't know the difference.

 

These are fake deer and elk:

 

 

We did exit the train this time around, and headed toward the awesome new Little Mermaid ride.

 

Walking by this side of the Mine Train, we noticed that there are some new buzzards installed looking over the tracks:

 

 

 

This was our first time seeing Prince Eric's Pickle Emporium open:

 

 

For some odd reason, guests were not lining up to buy the pickles.

 

Strange.

 

Next up, we see the fish girl, and then we bounce to the Osborne Lights- which is why we are having this flashback in the first place.

 

Anyone lost or confused?

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I'm confused!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm confused!

 

Shoot.

 

I knew this would happen.

 

I took a break from posting photos from our December trip so I could share a few photos of things that I took pictures of on a November day trip.  I will just have one more update full of November photos, which will include Osborne Lights photos, then we will flash forward and rejoin the trip report already in progress.

 

Got it?

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Carry on, TCD.  We'll figure it out.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Did you read that those aren't new buzzards? They installed ones from the old Snow White ride. (Not certain those are the ones you saw, but they're there somewhere.)

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

BTW, those buzzards look like vultures.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Carry on, TCD.  We'll figure it out.

 

I was trying to figure out a way to explain this with a purple crayon drawing, but I couldn't.

 

It will be OK.

 

Did you read that those aren't new buzzards? They installed ones from the old Snow White ride. (Not certain those are the ones you saw, but they're there somewhere.)

 

Seriously?  I don't remember them from the old ride.  Where were they?

 

BTW, those buzzards look like vultures.

 

I use buzzard and vulture interchangeably.  I don't know the difference.  If there is one.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Buzzard:  http://www.ask.com/wiki/Common_Buzzard?o=2801&qsrc=999&ad=doubleDown&an=apn&ap=ask.com

 

Vulture:  http://www.ask.com/wiki/Vulture?o=2801&qsrc=999&ad=doubleDown&an=apn&ap=ask.com

 

Both yuk.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Buzzard:  http://www.ask.com/wiki/Common_Buzzard?o=2801&qsrc=999&ad=doubleDown&an=apn&ap=ask.com

 

Vulture:  http://www.ask.com/wiki/Vulture?o=2801&qsrc=999&ad=doubleDown&an=apn&ap=ask.com

 

Both yuk.

 

Thanks, but I'm not interested.

 

As you say, both yuk.

 

What more do I need to know?

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

What more do I need to know?

 

 

Nothing.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I have a question!  Is there mustard inside the pretzel roll hot dog?  Or do you have to make the difficult choice of putting the mustard on the outside of the bun thus risking stained clothes, or dipping in mustard after each bite, which ties up two hands while eating, or necessitates a counter?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Nothing.

 

Thank you.  I agree.

 

I have a question!  Is there mustard inside the pretzel roll hot dog?  Or do you have to make the difficult choice of putting the mustard on the outside of the bun thus risking stained clothes, or dipping in mustard after each bite, which ties up two hands while eating, or necessitates a counter?

 

The pretzel dog is served with a lot of mustard pre-squeezed in to the roll.  You can ask for it to be served on the side. If you do, they give you a little plastic cup with the mustard.  There are tables right there for you to sit at and dip your dog, if you need to.  The mustard is kind of spicy.  I love it.  The twins like it in small quantities, so they get their mustard on the side, and they dip.  I guess if you're on the move, you can drizzle on the outside.  I recommend taking it the way it comes. The mustard is a little spicy, but you'll live.  You should eat it the way God intended for pretzel dogs to be eaten.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Alright, so we are still looking at photos from the TCD gang Monday of Thanksgiving week day trip.  They will be finished in this update.  Then we will head back to the December trip.

 

We left off with us heading to ride Ariel.

 

The stand-by wait time is posted as 110 minutes:

 

 

110 minutes?

 

No wonder she's smirking:

 

 

props to the Beast's castle for the photobomb in that last photo!

 

As we headed in via the FP line, I looked over to the standby line- that is not a 110 minute line.  More wait time exaggeration:

 

 

The TCD twins have watched the special Christmas castle lighting ceremony a few times, but I've never seen it.

 

Today, we agreed we would stay at the MK to watch them light up the Dreamlights, then would bounce to DHS to see the Osborne Lights, and then get back here for the MSEP reserved seats we had acquired.

 

The lighting ceremony is cute.

 

Here is how things look before:

 

 

And after:

 

 

 

Then we hopped.

 

Just this past week, they have started running a bus right from the MK bus stop to DHS.  But, the deal used to be you had to go to the Transportation and Ticket Center to catch the bus.  We've done that before, and it's not so easy.  So, tonight we tried using Wilderness Lodge as our way to get to DHS.  We headed out at 6:27 pm:

 

 

And it wasn't until 7:32 pm that we made it here:

 

 

Not so great.

 

But, it could have been worse.

 

As you can see from the tip board, there would be no attraction riding for us tonight here at DHS.  We tried to see if our MB's would work here.  They worked, but there were no FP+'s available for anything.  But, our MK FP+'s showed, so that was cool.

 

Anyway, we came here for two things, and we could still do them despite the crowds.

 

The first was to get Twin #2 her meatballs in a cone from the Dockside Diner.

 

Whoops, they closed at 6.

 

I told her we would get back here soon.  I wanted to get a pretzel dog anyway.  As we now know, we did make it back, but the meatball cones are gone.

 

Since we couldn't eat at Dockside Diner, we went to Fairfax Fair, and had the mac and cheese dogs.  With Truffle Oil, thank you very much:

 

 

FYI the TCD chip trick works here too.

 

And we got 20% off merchandise coupons printed on our receipts.

 

Then it was time for the Osborne Lights.

 

I forgot about the stupid crowd control they do on busy nights, though.

 

They weren't letting people in by the book store- they were making you walk around the back of the street, and all the way down toward the other end, and only allowing guests to enter that way. That's a lot of extra walking.

 

But not if you know the TCD Sci-Fi Trick.

 

Pay attention.  You walk in the Sci Fi restaurant.  Walk past the hostess stand, and look for a door on the left.  That door takes you in to the book store.  You can walk through the book store, and exit out to the Streets of American right there.  No walking around.  My Christmas gift to you.  See? Aren't you glad that you read the text, and not just look at the blurry photos?

 

So, here we are with our first look at the lights:

 

 

Down the side street:

 

 

 

The canopy:

 

 

A classic TCD selfie:

 

 

A kind person saw the old guy trying to take a selfie, and offered to take a group shot:

 

 

The TCD twins:

 

 

Do you know about the Osborne Lights Cat?

 

The story goes something like this:  back when Mr. Osborne used to put up the display back in Arkansas, he one time included a light-up cat, which was really a forgotten/misplaced Halloween decoration.  It became a tradition to include the cat each year, and Disney has continued that tradition.  The cat is hidden in a new place each year.  For many years, we could never find that Darned Cat.  But we found in last year, and now that we know what it looks like, it's easier to find.  Here he is in this year's hiding place:

 

 

The Holy Family is in a less prominent place than it used to be, but at least Jesus is still here.  Can't say that about a lot of other places:

 

 

I love this part of the display with the big globe and all the angels:

 

 

That's all I have of the lights.

 

From here, we headed back to the MK.

 

And here we are after cashing in those SM FP's:

 

 

We hadn't seen the holiday additions to the Magic, the Memories and You projection show, so we headed to the hub to take a look.

 

The dreamlights work in pink too:

 

 

They had some Frozen scenes in the show.  We tried not to pay attention, as the movie had not yet come out, and we didn't want to see any spoilers:

 

 

Now that we've seen the movie, we need to go back.

 

I love the part where Walt appears and speaks:

 

 

Here's some of the holiday scenes- I think these are the same as last year:

 

 

 

After the castle show, it was time for us to check in to the parade viewing area.  The FP+ reserved parade seating is right here at the hub, right across the street from the castle.  Pretty nice.  They had a large area roped off, and CM's were at the entrance to it to scan MB's:

 

 

Naturally, other guests tried to sneak in here.  But there were CM's everywhere throwing them out.  That was pretty awesome.  Way better than the cramped and crowded viewing area for Illuminations.

 

And, the view of the castle from here is pretty sweet:

 

 

Having the castle in the background made for some interesting parade photos:

 

 

I think these photos of Pete and Elliot came out pretty good:

 

 

 

After the parade, we could have stayed and used some more of our FP's, but we decided that we had better hit the road.

 

So we did.

 

That was it for that day trip.

 

Next up, we will continue on with the December trip.

 

Remember, we left off being rained out of Fantasmic and The Osborne Lights, and heading back to the Fort early.

 

TCD

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

BTW, those buzzards look like vultures.

I will have to agree with you. I believe that their actual name is turkey vulture. But in some parts of the country they are known as buzzards.

However there is also a bird named the common buzzard but it looks more like a hawk to me.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Here's where I saw it.... http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2013/12/imagineers-add-a-piece-of-snow-whites-scary-adventures-to-seven-dwarfs-mine-train-at-magic-kingdom-park

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Buzzard:  http://www.ask.com/wiki/Common_Buzzard?o=2801&qsrc=999&ad=doubleDown&an=apn&ap=ask.com

 

Vulture:  http://www.ask.com/wiki/Vulture?o=2801&qsrc=999&ad=doubleDown&an=apn&ap=ask.com

 

Both yuk.

I've got to quit working while I'm trying to comment on fortfiend. Work can wait. Fiends can't.

I get so behind when I take a phone call while trying to comment. Lol

[Memphis 105]

Wow I can't believe you held out on us on a TR.  You know when your famous like TCD your life is not your own anymore.  Makes me wonder what other cool stuff your not telling. 

[Beckers 1,136]

I don't even know what Good and Plenty is.

They are gross. My parents love them.