[keljen]

We love Disney at Christmas. Your pictures bring back many happy memories of our Christmas trip

[faerie dust]

great trip report i want to go so bad at Christmas. .. wonderful pictures they are so clear.

[NokeyNose]

great Trip report! Thanks for sharing! I hope you had a wonderful time!

[BDavis932]

Tuesday - December 23rd

We slept in a little later this morning. Most of the group either ate lunch in their hotel room, a few of us at the Artist Palette and the rest of the group at Flame Tree BBQ. We arrived at Animal Kingdom to find most of Animal Kingdom to be PACKED…More packed then I’ve ever seen at WDW. We split up and some of the gang went to EE, Dinosaur, and DinoLand, the rest of us went on the forest trail and then we all met up for Festival of the Lion King. Some of us were able to see Devine (wow!) We had a 5:00 at Boma so around 4:00 we headed to the exit and took the bus to AKL. We had time to explore the holiday decorations at the resort that we fell in love with over the summer. The decorations were gorgeous!! We went to Boma and enjoyed the meal there, the meats were wonderful! Then afterwards, 5 of us went to Cirque Du Soleil. What a GREAT show!!! We bought the cheaper seats and I feel like our seat were the BEST in the place. The night we went was the 10 year anniversary of La Nouba. It was so amazing and now I understand how people have a hard time putting the show into words! You just have to see it to believe it! The rest of the gang went to Disney Quest and shopping in the Marketplace. We strolled around afterwards for a few minutes and then took the bus back to our resorts. We were pooped! What a fun day! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve.....ho ho ho...guess who we bump into on our way to dinner???

[BDavis932]

A little info on the two birds, the blue one with the red eyes, Disney paid $15K each for these. They have one male and one female. They sell the offspring to other zoos around the us/world.

The species of duck (photo #5) is the only species of duck in the world that doesn't lose their feathers. They also completely change colors during mating season. The CM sharing this info with us told us that he cost Disney $10K.

They are completely fencing in/around the forest trail because of snakes, rats, and other varmits that were getting in and trying to eat these little guys!

[BDavis932]

One of the Gingerbread houses from AKL

Photos of Tree at AKL

Cirque and Planet Hollywood

[BDavis932]

Oh I took these photos to document the crowds. These were between 3:00 and 4:00

The parade one...this is as close as we could get...it was shoulders to shoulders over in Africa during the parade!

[Dopey]

Holey moley, that that first picture in the last post is really astounding. I can't believe how busy the place looks. I have never seen that at AK before. Was it like this all day long?

[DisneyTeacher]

Originally Posted by BDavis932

Then afterwards, 5 of us went to Cirque Du Soleil. What a GREAT show!!! We bought the cheaper seats and I feel like our seat were the BEST in the place. The night we went was the 10 year anniversary of La Nouba. It was so amazing and now I understand how people have a hard time putting the show into words! You just have to see it to believe it!

It really is amazing isn't it? We had put off seeing it for years and finally went this past summer. I'm so happy we finally made a point of seeing it and I know we'll see it again.

[BDavis932]

Wednesday 12/24/2008
Christmas Eve
Disney Hollywood Studios

Some of the gang made it in time to score Fast Passes before they ran out for Toy Story Mania, the ones that didn’t got FP’s for RnRc and then we all met up for character drawing at the Animation pavilion. Then we ate pizza, salads, and burgers at Rosie’s All American Café. We then went to see Narnia and ride tower of terror.

Afterwards, we rode the Great Movie Ride and then went back over to the animation building to meet Bolt. Those of us with RnRc FPasses rode it while the rest of the group went to see Beauty and the Beast. We then started heading out for our Christmas Eve dinner reservation at Fort Wilderness and we also wanted to check out the holiday decorations at the Wilderness Lodge on the way. So we took the bus to WL, oooohhhheeddd and aaaahhheedd our way through the lobby were we were excited to meet Minnie!! We also ate yummy sugar cookies and had lemonade and then we went out to the boat launch to catch a boat to Fort Wilderness. We strolled up to Trails End Buffet to check in and then in a golf cart (to our surprise!) come Donald Duck and Scrooge!!! We had a great photo opp with them and then on the front porch outside of Trails End the kids got to go visit with Santa!

Then it was time to eat….and boy did we ever! The food was great and the atmosphere was so cozy for our Christmas Eve dinner. After dinner we shopped in the General Store and then we took a walk through one of the RV loops to look at the holiday decorations that the guests put up. It was really beautiful! After that we took the boat to the Contemporary and caught a bus back to DHS for the Osborne Family Spectacle of lights! They were unbelievable! What a display. If you have never seen them you really should take a trip when they are up. Those of us with Toy Story Mania FP's rode while the others went to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Star Tours. We split up and some of the group went back to the resort and the rest rode Toy Story Mania (again)! It was SO MUCH FUN! The park closed so we headed back to our resorts to dream of sugar plums and all those Christmas goodies!

[BDavis932]

Christmas Eve photos:

[BDavis932]

More photos:

WL Decorations,
Trailblazer with Minnie
Old Discovery Island
Fort Wilderness

[BDavis932]

here's more!

Fort Wilderness RV Loop lights
Osborne Family Lights

[BDavis932]

And more...

[BDavis932]

And just a couple more: