[mickeysgirlz]

Trip dates: December 20-25th

Cast:
Me
DD9
DD4

[mickeysgirlz]

Saturday December 20, 2008

We were up and out of the house early, we were going to Disney!

First we had a pit stop in Port St. Lucie for a Brownie Event (I am DD9s troop leader!) After that was all said and done, we were back on the road by 1pm and on our way . . . the excitement was building . . . and I hear "Are we there yet?" like 50x!!

We pull through the gate around 2:30pm . . . Wow, Coronado Springs looked beautiful all decked out for the holidays! Check in was quick, and we were assigned room 2333. We decide to go and unpack and set up the room then head over to MK to get a jump start on the holiday season.

[mickeysgirlz]

This is the BEAUTIFUL tree in the lobby of CSR!

[Princessbaby]

That's a beautiful tree!!

[mickeysgirlz]

We unpacked and decorated the room. Grab our jackets and were out the door.

There were TONS of people at the TTC so we decided to upgrade our tickets at the MK gates. (I have seasonal passes I needed annuals) During the upgrade I was told they were running a promotion and I get one free day at the water park of my choice, but it has to be used BEFORE March 31st . . . not a bad deal.

It was time . . . time to enter through the gates . . . and WOW it was beautiful!

The tree had been moved from it's spot by the castle, and was now at the end of Main Street. It was AMAZING!!! All the decorations on Main Street were.

[cinderbella]

Originally Posted by mickeysgirlz

we were back on the road by 1pm ....We pull through the gate around 2:30pm . . .

I hate you.

j/k I loves you! But I am jealous of your commute!

[mickeysgirlz]

LOOK at how AWESOME this is! Poinsettia's FILLED the Mickey Head!



The WDW Tree! It was beautiful!



Main Street was crowded but the ENERGY was indescribable!

[mickeysgirlz]

Originally Posted by cinderbella

I hate you.

j/k I loves you! But I am jealous of your commute!

Yes the commute does ROCK!!

I swear it's one of the reasons I stay in FL! Right now I'm in NJ and the pull of family and friends is so strong . . . but I'd miss my Disney!

[mickeysgirlz]

We were hungry, so we walked up to Crystal Palace to see if we could get a seat. No luck . . . not until after 7pm. So we talked and decided we would go to Pinocchio's to eat.

My DDs love this place. They like to sit at a table and wave to all the "It's a small World" boats. Surprisingly it was not crowded!

For the first time we got Figaro Fries and YUMMY!! They were GREAT!! All trip DD9 wanted to go back for more! (We never made it back, but we know for next time!)

[mickeysgirlz]

While we ate, my DDs decided they want to ride on the "people mover" (TTA) they like to do this ride first for some reason. But the crowds weren't like we anticipated, (a lot less) so on the way down to the TTA, we rode the teacups and the speedway. We fastpassed Buzz and hopped on the TTA . . . I read the holiday schedule, while the DDs enjoyed the ride.

We then went over to COP, this is another favorite of DD9s and me. DD4 loves the dog!

Once we came out of there I realized we could catch the 6:15 show of "Twas a Night Before Xmas!" Awesome!

We walked over to the theater and were seated. We waited about 10 minutes for the show to start. DD9 noticed the hidden Mickey's in the snowflakes above our heads!!

On the "People Mover!"



Can you see the Mickey Heads?

[mickeysgirlz]

The show was ADORABLE! (I really hope they find a place for it next year!) I thought it was soooooo funny that Mickey and Minnie were "in bed" together!

But . . . right as Santa Goofy bursts through the chimney, the curtains dropped and the lights came up. HUH? An announcement was made that "The show has been canceled due to inclement weather! WHAT??

The skies were clear, the night was beautiful?

Oh well . . . we'd have to catch it again. (We did too!)

(Rowdy, maybe you can clarify what happened?)

[mickeysgirlz]

(Not sure what happened to this picture!)
Mickey is reading "Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not EVEN Mickey Mouse!"

Mickey and Minnie enter the "dream"


Rockin' 'round the Christmas Tree


Toyland, Toyland



Goofy Baby . . . hurry down the chimney tonight!

[mickeysgirlz]

We then decided to walk to the castle and get a good spot for the fireworks at 9pm.

As we walked past Laugh Floor and over the bridge I see this:

It stopped me in my TRACKS . . . and I BURST into tears! It was BEAUTIFUL, BREATH TAKING . . . and just AMAZING!!

DD9 says "Jeez Mom it's just the castle, you've seen it a million times!?"

I just it, and each night I saw it I thought it was more beautiful then the next. I think for me it just amazes me how Disney creates that magic they do. The castle looked like it was covered in ice. AWESOME!

[mickeysgirlz]

After I pulled myself together!!

We grabbed some hot coco and popcorn and planted ourselves right smack in front of the castle. (well across the street, but in front) and there we stayed for over 2 hours!!

We watched the holiday show . . . ADORABLE!

We watched Spectro Magic . . . AWESOME!

We watched Holiday Wishes . . . LOVED THESE, the best ever!

Heart, smiles and package shaped fireworks . . . very cool!

Sadly my camera battery died!! I did take photos two nights later when we caught them again.

We had a FABULOUS first night!

Here are a few more of the BEAUTIFUL castle, it kept changing colors!










This one has a shot of the Holiday Show, which was very cute too!

[mickeysgirlz]

RUMOR ALERT!!

While we were in this spot for two hours, we started talking to a couple next to us. They were there visiting on comp tickets a CM friend had given them. This is what they told me!

His friend had just been hired to help with the Audio Animatronic for the NEWEST Disney park coming in 5 years . . . a VILLAIN THEMED PARK. (to keep up with the Harry Potter one going up over at Universal)

Could it be true? What do you think?

The second one he told me was that to enjoy COP, because the whole building was going to be taken to the Smithsonian in DC. This one made us sad! (we did notice there was construction going on around this part of the park?) We COP!

Once holiday wishes was over, I turned around to see a sea of people . . . WOW!!! I told my DDs, stand here and let the crowd leave us. It wasn't too long before we could move. The temperature had dropped a lot, and most people were heading for Main Street. We took this opportunity to go on a few more rides . . . we left around 11pm, since we wanted to hit EMH at Epcot the next morning.

It was a truly MAGICAL first day!
And now I know, nothing beats Disney at Christmas Time!