It’s March! What?! I’m excited for springtime colors and (hopefully) pretty weather, but I’ll miss boots, hoodies, and chili! Today marks March 1st along with the end of February, so I wanted to share a few of my February Favorites with y’all…
Disneyland: I haven’t really talked about it much here, but Louis and I went to Disneyland again from February 6-10, and it was so fun! We spent 3.5 days at the park enjoying rides, sharing ice cream, and meeting characters. I also got my first two pairs of Mickey ears! Spending all summer there made it feel like “home,” so we were happy to visit again. Now we have equal love for the Disney Resorts on both coasts! Guess we need to go to some international parks now? 😉 I need to post some trip recaps soon!
The Monuments Men: We were so excited for The Monuments Men to come out this February, but it didn’t get very good reviews (scoring only 34% on Rotten Tomatoes). Thankfully, we decided to risk it anyway, and I’m so happy we did! It was funny, emotional, and (loosely) based on a great, true story. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re a fan of Clooney, Damon, Murray & Goodman! My only criticism would have been more Bill Murray screen time because his character was pretty hilarious (as always)!
Revlon Matte Balm in Sultry & Standout: I’ve already blogged my love for Revlon’s new(ish) Matte Balms, but I seriously loved wearing them this month. I even went against my better judgement and wore Standout to substitute for Middle Schoolers. Sultry has been my go-to everyday lip product because it packs just enough of a punch to be dramatic without making me look stupid. So..yay for that.
Nalgene: This one’s kind of silly, but I’ve been using my favorite Nalgene a lot more lately. I’ve always been a big water drinker, but this post, on Sweat Stretch Eat encouraged me to drink even more and keep track of how much I drink to ensure I get enough each day. Since my Nalgene is 32 oz, it’s easy to keep track of exactly how much I’ve consumed. Plus, since it has a screw on lid, it’s easy to carry around with me. And that bright orange? Love. I snagged mine at Target for under $10, and they have tons of great colors if you’re interested!
Chevron Ombré Tile: I snagged this Chevron Ombré Tile at Target on the clearance rack at the beginning of February to add to our bedroom for $9! It’s still listed at $19.99 on their website, and I could only find a tiny white-on-white ding on mine, so I was psyched! It matches our bedroom wall perfectly, and Lou said it’s his new favorite thing in our room, so I’d say that’s a success. It’s much more vibrant in person, but you know I had to add that Instagram filter.
Downton Abbey: Another season of Downton Abbey has come and gone (everyone in the UK is like…uh, ya, we know.) much too quickly. I look forward to this show every week, and my favorite thing may just be the costuming…or the accents. I’ve started saying the words blueberry, strawberry, and spoon with a British accent for some insane reason (I’m not making this up unfortunately), and I can only assume it’s due to this show. My one, very serious, qualm is how short the seasons are! I’m sure it costs about $1.7 million (uhh..or pounds?) to produce each historically accurate (maybe?) episode, but come on. We need at LEAST 12 episodes a season. Please producers, listen up. Give us more Downton.
Super Nintendo: Yes, you read that correctly. My hubbs is a computer genius (not exaggerating), and he bought this mega-cheap computer (I think it was like $25?) called a Raspberry Pi (it’s the cute little rainbow box below) several months ago (could I have had any more parenthesis in this sentence? So sorry.). He’s used it for various projects here and there, but this month he made the incredible decision to turn it into a video game console. We can now download and play virtually any video game from the original Nintendo up to a Playstation 1. I’m not much into current video games, but Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 were my jam back in the day. He can also download old school arcade games. We bought a USB Super Nintendo controller off Amazon, and I’m pretty sure we’ve played almost every day since he set it up. Our current fave is Diddy’s Kong Quest, since we beat Donkey Kong Country. Of course, Mario has to sneak in every once in awhile, too. I really can’t get enough of it. Talk about cheap entertainment.
Hope y’all’s Februarys were amazing, and you’re ready to jump into spring!
I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day! Ours was fun, relaxed, and right up our alley! Here’s what we did….
I always make Louis’s lunch before work, so on Valentine’s Day I included a few little notes throughout his lunchbox. At first I was worried the celery stalk note might be a bit much, but I just went for it. 😉
Louis had told me he’d be working until 4:00, so I was still in my robe shocked when I heard a knock at the door at noon…Louis was home! He took a half day and surprised me with the tallest, prettiest bouquet of flowers I’ve ever seen! It has to be at least three feet tall! I was so shocked and happy we got to spend most of the day together!
After I quickly got ready, we headed out for lunch at our favorite chicken place…Cane’s! We had a quick, yummy lunch and decided to head to the movies.
We played FIVE games of air hockey, and Louis beat me…EVERY GAME. What kind of husband doesn’t let his wife win even on Valentine’s Day? Just kidding….he tried to let me win multiple times, I’m just THAT bad. I’ll get him next time. 😉
After our air hockey marathon, Louis played a couple games of Galaga and (of course) got the new high score of 143770! I have a feeling this will be a mandatory check-up each time we return to the theater to ensure he still reigns supreme.
We couldn’t admire his record breaking score for too long…we had a movie to get to! That’s right, on the most romantic day of the year, we went to see Lego Movie! If our love for Disney wasn’t a giveaway, we’re kind of childlike… 🙂 It was really funny and cute!
After the movie, we headed to La Cantera to stroll around and pick up my MacBook Pro from being repaired. It was a beautiful day, and the perfect one to enjoy both Ray Bans and Red Lips! (Revlon Matte Balm in Standout by the way…review coming soon!)
We saw this weird, cool, gigantic yellow rose sculpture , so, naturally, I wanted a picture in front of it…
When we got home, I took a ridiculous amount of pictures of my beautiful bouquet…our entire apartment smells like roses! I told Louis not to get me any flowers for Valentine’s Day because Disneyland (trip report to come soon!) was our Valentine’s/Anniversary celebration/gift to each other, but I’m happy he decided to get some for me anyway 🙂
Thanks Louis! I love you!
We also exchanged cards, and I loved my 3D chocolate card from Louis! It looked good enough to eat, and the message inside was even sweeter than chocolate 🙂 We cooked dinner together that night and enjoyed an evening at home.
Yes, it was a casual, relaxing Valentine’s Day that didn’t involve an $85 Prix Fixe menu at crowded restaurant with food we wouldn’t enjoy, which was perfect because it was us. Fried chicken, air hockey, a kid’s movie, and time with the most handsome, fun, guy I know. I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it any other way!
It felt like our trip flew by, but you sure can’t tell from these ridiculously long blog posts! Sorry for so many recaps, but I want to try to remember every detail. 🙂 December 7th was our next to last day in the parks, and we had a full day planned! Our first stop was Animal Kingdom bright and early to get in a few expeditions to Everest…
We somehow narrowly escaped the yeti, YETI again. Hahaha. We also went to see the Finding Nemo musical for the first time. It was cute and funny. Finally, we grabbed lunch at Flame Tree BBQ again because it’s our absolute fave. Yum-o.
Next, we made our way over to the Magic Kingdom with a quick bus swap at Port Orleans. We’ve vowed to stay there on our next trip…it’s so pretty!
We arrived at Magic Kingdom to see the filming of the Christmas Day Parade on ABC. YES, SPOILER ALERT: THE PARADE IS NOT LIVE. Neil Patrick Harris was hosting, so it was cool to see him. Also, there was a fun spoof of Darth Vader showing up in Santa’s place. You’re so crazy, Disney. Apparently the parade filming lasted allllll day. We only caught about 30 minutes on Main Street, but, according to some of our friends, they saw us for a moment on TV! We didn’t watch the parade, but that sure would be neat if we had a cameo!
The park was pretty crazy that day, so we enjoyed strolling around the park, and stopping into Gaston’s Tavern again for a snack for Louis.
I seriously love all of the Beauty and the Beast areas in New Fantasyland. The detail is amazing, and it’s cool seeing one of my favorite movies brought to life.
Louis was sweet enough to let me ride Peter Pan’s flight despite it being pretty slow moving and mega boring. I can’t help it; I love it!
Who doesn’t appreciate this aerial view of London!?
After getting off of our flying boat, we wandered over to Haunted Mansion. We never get tired of this classic favorite. 🙂
Keeping with our theme of experiencing new things this trip, we decided to see the Hall of Presidents next. It was so awesome! I’m sure some people would consider it boring, but we loved it! They had a small museum before the show with different presidential momentos. My favorite was a pair of boots worn by George W. Bush at his inauguration…God Bless Texas! The show was also really neat. They had audio animatronic versions of EVERY United States President. Each one was introduced, and a few even gave speeches. Louis and I love America because it’s awesome, so we definitely enjoyed the show.
Right after the show, we had to hurry over to Be Our Guest for our dinner reservations. I didn’t think we’d get to eat there at all our trip, so considering we had our Fastpass+ lunch invitation AND the dinner reservation I snagged, I was so happy!
We arrived for our reservations and got our pager to wait until the Beast was ready for us.
We were happy to wait and enjoy views of Beast’s castle on the entrance bridge.
When our pager finally went off, we headed up to the castle and were escorted in by one of Beast’s servants.
It was crazy how much the restaurant had changed since lunch. All of the soda machines were hidden, the lights were dimmed, and instrumental versions of Beauty & the Beast songs were piped in.
We were seated in the ballroom with an excellent view of the Christmas tree and snow falling outside the windows.
I’m sorry if you’re sick of seeing pictures of these chandeliers, but they’re just so stunning! They’re even more impressive in person!
The mercury glass candle holders also added to a romantic dinner ambience. The theming went all the way down to the napkins, which were folded to look like roses.
Louis added a paper stem and leaf to mine to make it look even more realistic. 🙂
SHOCKER: Another chandelier picture…
This was our view for our delicious meal.
Louis made sure to create a mustache out of his straw wrapper because…how else would one act in a castle?
First, they brought out some DELICIOUS mini baguettes with sea salt butter. Oh my gosh yum. I could have just eaten 6 of those for dinner. They were so fresh and flaky and goodness gracious. I wish I had one right now. We both decided to order the Grilled Strip Steak with Garlic-Herb Butter and Pommes Frites for our entree, so I had to quit stuffing myself with bread to save room.
It was soooo good. We typically don’t splurge on sit down meals at Disney World, so this was a welcome change from our typical fare of chicken nuggets and fries. You may have noticed our “Happy Anniversary” buttons by this point…time for full disclosure: We’re frauds. Our anniversary isn’t actually until March. However, I had heard that the only way to try “the grey stuff” was to be celebrating a special occasion. For that reason, we pushed our 2nd anniversary up by a few months. Sorry, we’re not sorry. The grey stuff was TOTALLY worth the small fib. We each got our own plate, and it was the delicious just as the song said. According to The Disney Food Blog, the grey stuff is “a cookies and cream panna cotta that’s been whipped into a creamy dessert.” Whatever it is, it’s scrumptious. We both just about licked our plates clean.
Oh what’s that? You thought that was our only dessert? Nope. We’re oinkers and didn’t know when we’d get a chance to eat at Be Our Guest again, so we splurged and got a Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcake to split.
Yes, that is Louis with both his plate of grey stuff AND our cupcake. Whatever. We were on vacation. And that cupcake was delightful.
After stuffing our faces, we explored the West Wing. It was dark and spooky, so it was hard for me to get any good pictures…sorry!
This portrait of the Beast changes every 20 minutes from the Prince to the Beast. Scary magic.
The enchanted rose was, of course, in the West Wing, too! The petals were slowly falling, but we knew better than to try and touch it…didn’t want to Beast kicking us out of the castle, you know.
Once we finished exploring, we headed to the study to meet Beast and thank him for the delicious dinner. He was such a gracious host. Sucks that he’s a Beast instead of a human again though. Didn’t want to ask him about it because I figured it was a touchy subject…
It was an awesome experience, and I definitely recommend it to anyone able to get a reservation there! Great food, awesome ambience, and so fun and unique!
We left the castle in the mood to hang out with more royalty, so we headed over to Princess Fairytale Hall.
We were happy to meet Cinderella and Aurora who were both happy to see us.
By then it was time for us to get a spot for Celebrate the Magic and Wishes. Celebrate the Magic is where they project awesome images and videos on Cinderella Castle set to music…I tried to snap pictures of several of the scenes:
Wreck It Ralph
The Lion King
“Let It Go” from Frozen
Elsa singing “Let it Go” from Frozen…such an amazing song!
Stained glass? I’m sorry, I honestly can’t remember…oops. 🙂
Castle covered with poinsettias
Cinderella Castle wrapped up like a present! Best gift ever!
Gingerbread House Castle
As you can see the show has tons of amazing elements, and it’s mind-blowing how they’re able to transform the castle! I’m excited to see what other special effects they add in the future. After Wishes, we stuck around for the Electric Parade, which is an old favorite.
We spent the rest of the evening enjoying a few more rides and strolling around the park. It was another full, fun day with great rides, amazing shows, and delicious food. The next day was our last full day in the parks, so we headed home to get some rest!
On December 5th, we woke up bright and early again and enjoyed another Pop Waffle and bacon. We were excited to head to Magic Kingdom for the first time since our arrival! We hopped on the first bus that arrived, but about halfway to the park we started to slow down. Our bus broke down! It’s the first time that’s ever happened to us, but I made sure to capture Louis’s reaction on camera.
We only had to wait about 10 minutes before another bus pulled up finish our trip! We arrived and headed straight in to the Magic Kingdom! After being at Disneyland all summer, Cinderella Castle looked EXTRA grand and beautiful! For comparison, Sleeping Beauty Castle is 75 feet tall, and Cinderella Castle is 189 feet tall…
..obviously at over 100 feet taller, Disney World’s is a little more impressive! Both have a unique charm and appeal, though. 🙂
We stopped for a quick picture in front of the castle. The pole Louis is by below is where we stood to call our families after Louis proposed on Main Street 3 years ago! One thing that was a bit of a let down was that the ABC Christmas Day Parade was being filmed that week, so all of the Main Street Garland and giant Christmas tree were taken down for filming. Main Street and Magic Kingdom are beautiful either way, but those decorations are just another special thing about going during Christmas.
We headed straight for Big Thunder Mountain because it’s one of the attractions we’ve been able to experience the least on previous trips due to refurbishments taking place. It was even more fun than we remembered, and we went on the ride it SEVERAL times during our trip!
Be Our Guest is a restaurant that is part of New Fantasyland, and it is based on Beast’s castle in Beauty and the Beast. They offer quick service lunch and table service dinner. By some miracle (okay, lots of time on Disney forums looking for canceled reservations), I was able to snag us a dinner reservation during our trip about a month before we left! I was hoping to try their lunch menu as well because they offer totally different foods and the experience is different. However, there are no lunch reservations and wait times can get up to 2-3 hours! Just to eat! We had written off enjoying lunch there, but on our 2nd day of the trip, I received an email asking if we’d like to try Be Our Guest’s new Fastpass+ system! We got to pick a time slot for lunch, show up during that window, and wait about 5 minutes before being welcomed in to the restaurant! I felt a little bad for the hundreds of people waiting to get in, but I’m so happy we were offered the opportunity. We couldn’t pass it up! I think Louis laughed at me for calling this an “opportunity.” It’s funny that I get so wrapped up in the Disney bubble, that I feel honored they “invited” me to spend more money at one of their restaurants! Haha! Regardless, after riding a few rides that morning, we strolled over to Be Our Guest and signed in with our confirmation number.
These giant statues and beautiful mural are the entrance to the castle at the end of a long bridge over a babbling brook. When you walk in for lunch you go down a hallway where suits of army are moving and talking just like during Belle’s castle tour during the movie!
I HAD to sit in the Beast’s wingback chair in his study! Glad he didn’t get mad at me like he did Maurice.
After ordering (Carved Turkey Sandwich for me, Croque Monsieur for Louis), we wandered out of the study into the ballroom where my jaw dropped.
I can’t lie…I definitely teared up a little! The scene was so picturesque and just like the movie! The imagineers did such a great job on this project! The chandeliers were so beautiful…the center one was over 12 feet tall!
There were so many details including these themed ornaments on the Christmas tree!
The frosted windows behind us looked out into the mountains and had snow falling behind them! So picturesque. Perhaps the best part of all was the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack was playing the entire time! Another neat thing was that we simply got our drinks and found our table and moments later our food was delivered to us on a covered cart by one of Beast’s “servants.” We were able to select any table, and they were able to find us thanks to our Magic Bands! The tables must have some sort of technology on them that allows them to sense our bands…very cool!
We chose to sit in the ballroom, but the Rose Gallery was another option. This room had portraits of Belle and Beast’s memories together, as well as a giant spinning music box Maurice gifted them.
You could also sit in the West Wing, but didn’t explore that room until we returned for our dinner reservations! The food was delicious, the atmosphere was (LOUD, but) amazing, and the surroundings were beautiful! Definitely a MUST DO for anyone visiting the Magic Kingdom!
We were even able to finally get an acceptable Christmas card photo! ^^^
This mosaic looks identical to the movie! Beauty & the Beast is my favorite Disney movie and one of my favorite movies PERIOD, so I was giddy pretty much the entire time!
Here is the view from the outside walking back up the bridge…you can see Beast’s castle in the distance! The entire landscaping and presentation around the castle were so beautiful, too. They created basically an entire forest and village around the entrance…so spectacular. After lunch, we stuck with the Beauty and the Beast theme and headed to Enchanted Tales with Belle. Side note: EVERY time I say that out loud it comes out “Enchanted tales with ‘bayle.'” And Louis laughs so hard at me. Every. Time.
The coolest part of this new attraction was the amazing technology! The idea is that you enter Maurice’s cottage and Beast has gifted him a magic portal he can use to visit Belle in the castle whenever he wants. The portal is this mirror that somehow transforms into a screen that somehow transforms into a door?! It’s impossible to describe, but it was incredible to see! The new animatronics in this attraction are incredible too! They were so smooth and realistic, I almost though they were real! Who am I kidding? They ARE real. Lumiere welcomed us into the library where we had story time with Belle. It was definitely geared more towards children, but it was still really neat.
We always love Philharmagic, so we swung by there right after Tales with Belle. It rarely ever has any wait time, which is crazy because we love it!
Louis is determined to pull the sword out one day, so we make sure to visit and try each trip.
The front of the castle is beautiful, but I also love all of the windows and detail on the back!
Oh..uh…I also love the side apparently. 🙂 Is there really a bad angle for this castle? I think not.
We hadn’t enjoyed any Mickey ice cream that trip, so Louis got a traditional Mickey bar and I got a Mickey ice cream sandwich and we munched on them during the afternoon parade in front of the castle. Are we cute or what? 😉
For the first time this year, they added some holiday decorations to The Jungle Cruise and made it The JINGLE Cruise! The changes were cute, and we enjoyed our riverboat cruise through the jungle!
We tried to make a point this trip to ride some attractions that we always deem a waste of time or skip over because they don’t seem interesting. One on our list this trip was Stitch’s Great Escape. Louis had never been on this ride, so we figured we’d give it a shot! We both sort of liked it, but I’m glad Louis got to try it!
Another of our favorite attractions is The PeopleMover. This ride is so relaxing, and it’s nice to sit and enjoy the breeze while you get glimpses of the park and Tomorrowland.
After riding several things in Tomorrowland, we realized it was time to get our wristbands for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. We’ve been to Disney World during Christmas before, but we’ve never splurged to attend the Christmas party. Yes, even as expensive as Disney is, there is an ADDITIONAL ticket you have to purchase to attend this Christmas party. If you’re at Disney the week of Christmas, some of the perks of the party are shown for free (Holiday Wishes, Christmas parade), but there are a few that are unique to the party. We try to make each trip special in its own way, so one of our “firsts” of this trip was attending the party!
The day of the party, you show your ticket for a wristband to wear around the park that night. That way it’s easier for castmembers to identify which guests should no longer be in the park. We lined up on the bridge by the rose garden to get our wristbands, and I think it was one of the longest lines we waited in our entire trip! At least the view was pretty…
After we got our bands we waited around awkwardly until we could find someone to take our picture headed for more rides! Another “first” for this trip was riding Disney World’s Dumbo together! It was fun to ride it at night because the lights were beautiful!
We then wandered back over to New Fantasyland to explore Gaston’s Tavern, ride the Little Mermaid ride, and meet Princess Ariel.
“I use antlers in all of my deeeeecorating!”
By the time we finished chatting with Ariel, the Christmas Party was in full swing! The crowds were cleared out significantly thanks to the $60+ tickets wristbands and castmembers, so we were able to enjoy everything! One perk was “free” snacks wherever there was a giant candy cane. They had snickerdoodles, apple juice, hot chocolate, and apple slices, and we made sure to enjoy them all.
Our first cup of apple juice (it was a little too warm for hot chocolate…though I did try some and it was delish!) with our snickerdoodles in the background! Louis was more excited, than he looks I promise.
We wandered around enjoying the extra decorations and rode a couple of rides before we found a spot for the Christmas parade and fireworks. I didn’t get any good pictures of the parade, but here’s a great shot of the castle for you to enjoy. 🙂
I also took a short video of some of the Holiday Wishes fireworks. No one does fireworks like Disney, that’s for sure!
We waited for too long for a picture with the 7 dwarfs because they’re rarely all together out of the mines, but it turned out a little blurry. 🙁 I am so excited because Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is a new ride opening in 2014, and I can’t wait to try it! We could see a lot of the progress while we were at the park, and it looks super fun.
The rest of our evening was spent enjoying snacks, admiring the decor, loving the Christmas music, and riding some of our favorite attractions. I’d definitely encourage anyone who has considered attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party to go for it! The next time we’re there during the holidays, we’ll definitely be going!We spent the ENTIRE day in Magic Kingdom and never ran out of things to experience together! I don’t know if I can pick a favorite park, but I think the Magic Kingdom is definitely the most magical because of the ambience and nostalgia I always feel there. We were sad to leave that night, but we knew we’d be returning later in our trip!
Our first morning at Disney started bright and early when we headed to Animal Kingdom for rope drop. We rushed straight to Expedition Everest and rode it multiple times before there was any line! After we got our Everest fill, we headed over to Dinosaur and went on a prehistoric adventure back in tiiiiiiime. Eventually we made our way over to the Africa section of the park and enjoyed Kilimanjaro Safari.
My goal this trip was to get a suitable picture for our 2013 Christmas card, so I couldn’t pass up a picture with Mickey and Minnie in holiday attire! (Side note: Please excuse my bizarre hair waves, untied shoelace, and the weird haze from a fingerprint on my camera lens. Needless to say, this was not our Christmas card photo.)
Already in picture taking mode, we snapped a few (of SEVERAL) shots in front of the Tree of Life.
We were getting hungry for lunch, so we headed to our FAVORITE quick service location in all of Walt Disney World: Flame Tree BBQ. Yum. I could eat their shredded BBQ pork sandwich everyday. The view’s not too bad either. 🙂
After some Expedition Everest selfies we posed for a few more Tree of Life pictures sans Ray Bans..
If you remember from my last post, each park has its own themed 65-foot tree. Animal Kingdom’s had (SHOCKER) animal ornaments all over it. I snapped the shot below on our way out of the park for the day.
We left Animal Kingdom and arrived at Hollywood Studios, where I got a picture of their Christmas tree. Theirs has traditional holiday ornaments but a distinct film reel base.
We were excited to arrive because Hollywood Studios is one of our favorite Disney parks! It has several of our favorite rides that we were ready to enjoy!
We hit up Tower of Terror and Rockin’ Rollercoaster right away because those are two of our favorite (and some of the only) thill rides at Disney World! Also, we had used our Magic Bands to book some Fastpass+ passes for some attractions, so we were excited to use those.
We made sure to ride one of my favorite classics, The Great Movie Ride. I know it’s a little outdated, but I still love “being in the movies!” The Animation Academy is nearby, so we walked over there to get a picture with Wreck it Ralph and Vanellope Von Schweetz. Right before we took this picture, Ralph stepped on my foot, and was trying to apologize (which is difficult given the fact that he can’t talk or move his fingers). I told him it was okay since it’s his job to wreck everything, and he seemed to not feel as guilty.
Eventually we made our way over to The Backlot Tour. We wanted to make sure to ride it because there are rumors it will be torn down soon to make way for a Cars Land expansion similar to the one in Disney’s California Adventure. This ride is always a fun one, and one of the best parts is the exhibit at the end where they have movie props from over the years. I was SO excited this time because they had the traveling clothes and marionettes used by JULIE ANDREWS from THE SOUND OF MUSIC on display! I’m such a huge fan of Julie Andrews, so to see the actual props was very exciting for me! I’m sure Louis thought I was being ridiculous 😉 I mean…I only stared at them for 15-20 minutes…it could have been a lot worse. When we left the Backlot Tour we ran into the one and only Goofy! He decided to dress up like Santa for Christmas, and we couldn’t resist taking a picture with him. Well…I’m sure Louis could have resisted, but I couldn’t 🙂
We were able to use our Fastpass+ passes to bypass the 2-3 hour wait for Toy Story and get on Louis’s favorite ride. My score wasn’t too great, but Louis’s was super high as always! Once it finally got dark, we worked our way over to The Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights! No, not THAT Osbourne family. The father of THIS Osbourne family doesn’t need subtitles when he talks set up a Christmas light display for his daughter several years ago at their home, and it just kept growing. Eventually it go so large that families were trying to sue them for the congestion on their street and the (obviously) bright lights. Finally, Disney stepped in and the entire display was moved to Hollywood Studios and has grown even more over the years! There are millions of lights that are synced up to Christmas songs, and it miraculously “snows” in Florida! It’s definitely a beautiful sight to see!We had a great time enjoying the lights, but it was PACKED, so we didn’t linger over there too long. The rest of our time at Hollywood Studios included more of our favorite rides before we closed down the park. The bus lines were crazy again, so we hopped on another Art of Animation bus. While there we grabbed a snack in their amazing food court to enjoy on our way back to the hotel. I got a chocolate chip cookie and 1 liter of bottled water (even in December the Florida sun can drain you!), and Louis got a beautiful vanilla cupcake!
It was another successful, exhausting day in the parks. I know the clock in the picture above only says 8:30, but when you wake up at 6:00 AM (5:00 AM Texas-time), and spend all day power-walking 10-20 miles to get to all your favorite attractions in the Florida sun you get drained fast! And this was only our first full day! We still had lots of fun to come 🙂
