The Trip Full of Thanksgiving and Christmas 11/19-11/28 - Page 15 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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We soon got I the Fastpass line for Seven Dwarves Mine Train. Now keep in mind, I do not like roller coasters. At all. But because it was smooth and short I was able to tolerate it. And go ahead and laugh at my face. It is exactly how I was feeling.
After we got off, I spotted my friend coming out of Seven Dwarves Mine Train! I chatted with her and her daughters while Tim hit it off with her husband very well. But I forgot to get a picture! We both were having magical trips. We had a lot in common and a good friendship had been formed. We will see each other again I am sure.
The boys then had a Fastpass for Splash Mountain. Meanwhile, I went to visit Ariel. I hadn't seen her before, so this was fun. We talked about the fact that it was Thanksgiving but I promised her I would not eat any fish today.
I then walked over to the Splash Mountain gift shop and talked to one of the Cadt members while waiting for the boys. She told me that they did offer a 99 cent Thanksgiving dinner in the cafeteria today. I made sure to thank as many cast members as possible for working on this day, as many of them would much rather be with their family I am sure.
The family behind mine cracked me up in this picture.
From there we took the train to the Fantasyland Station.
It was pretty crowded so we couldn't sit together. I sat with Oreston and Tim sat with Caden.
At this point we were thirsty and Preston was warm. He wanted a frozen lemonade. We stopped in Tomorrowland and took care of that, then got on the Peoplemover for a break.
The crowds were starting to pick up now.
When we got off of that we headed to our Fastpass spot for the Festival of Fantasy parade. It was funny because my son was wearing a shirt for Olivet Nazarene University, which is where we went to school and it is a school nearby. As we were walking a lady pointed at him asking if he went there, and he said no, but his parents did and we live near it. It turns out she lived in a neighboring town. It really is a small world!
It was kind of nice to be somewhat in the shade.
We have not been able to see this parade yet, so I was really looking forward to it. I love these decorations.
A Cast Member came over and Tim was chatting with him. Before I knew it, they were singing Laughing Place together. It was cute.
Soon the parade began.
My favorite!
I do love Peter Pan and Hook!
Smee came over and high fived us! He seemed really happy that we knew who he was.
Tick Tock Croc
Then my favorite part of the parade.
That was amazing!
The Seven Dwarves came by, and while this is not the best picture, Bashful and I had a good interaction. I told him that I was Bashful too, so I loved him. He really liked that.
Can you guess who came to visit us next? Not a good picture, but Tim got a video of it. I told Alice my favorite tea was Insanity. She liked that!
Caden got waved at by Pluto.
Soon Mickey and Minnie came, and the coolest thing happened. Mickey pointed clearly at Preston's shirt, signaled that it was his shirt he was paying attention to, and made a heart with his hands. Clearly Mickey's "friend" is an Olivet person. That was awesome! Who knew a small town University could get so much love today of all days. I blew Minnie a kiss and she caught it and blew one back. I loved it!!! We loved that parade! I am not a parade person, but I am so glad we saw this. It is worth a Fastpass for sure!
Afterward we noticed the wait time for Tinkerbell was 15 minutes so we went right in there. It was probably closer to 25 but that was okay. I had mentioned to Tim that I had really been wanting to meet her, so I was really excited. As you will see in a moment, it really brought out my inner child.
As we went up to her, I told her I had found a couple of her lost boys, and they insisted on growing up. She told them that growing up was highly over rated.
We then had a discussion of Wendy and she talked about how jealous she was of her.
It was my job to keep her away from Peter.
But this is the photo that captures it all.
We all had a great time in there.
After that we stopped at Main Street Confectionary and cashed in all of our snack credits, as we had a ton. We then headed back to the resort for a break.
Meanwhile we began to look at the repacking situation and realized we were in trouble. We were going to need another suitcase. Uh oh.
Also I was working out another meet with a Disney friend that was alone on Thanksgiving and looking for some quick service places that served Thanksgiving dinner. Funny thing, our resort was! So we worked out a time for that.
Meanwhile we rested for a bit before continuing our Thanksgiving day.
Next update: It is a Ghost town!
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Last edited by dutchdisneyfamily; 12-27-2015 at 07:04 PM..
Glad you all finally got to see and enjoy the Indiana Jones show, especially nice that the CM sneaked you back in. The Merry and Bright dessert party seems so special. Neat that it got you in the Christmas spirit. I just knew lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern would make a perfect Thanksgiving meal. You got some great photos of the Festival of Fantasy parade. The FP+ spot has a really good view.
Been a great last couple of days with nice meals at Sci-Fi, LTTand BOG among others! Lots of fun in the parks with great attractions and character meets and not with big crowds! Glad you got to enjoy the Osbourne Lights to the ultimate and see the GF decked out in all its' glory for Christmas and the gingerbread house!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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Glad you all finally got to see and enjoy the Indiana Jones show, especially nice that the CM sneaked you back in. The Merry and Bright dessert party seems so special. Neat that it got you in the Christmas spirit. I just knew lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern would make a perfect Thanksgiving meal. You got some great photos of the Festival of Fantasy parade. The FP+ spot has a really good view.
I was really glad lunch at LTT worked out. It was a bit iffy for awhile.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Catching up on this!
Been a great last couple of days with nice meals at Sci-Fi, LTTand BOG among others! Lots of fun in the parks with great attractions and character meets and not with big crowds! Glad you got to enjoy the Osbourne Lights to the ultimate and see the GF decked out in all its' glory for Christmas and the gingerbread house!
I've only ever had lunch at LTT, but now I must try the dinner. I'm glad you were able to finally meet up with your friend! Isn't the Festival of Fantasy parade amazing? I'm not usually a parade person either, but this one really captures my attention. Your face on Mine Train made me smile, I'm glad you gave it a chance!
I've only ever had lunch at LTT, but now I must try the dinner. I'm glad you were able to finally meet up with your friend! Isn't the Festival of Fantasy parade amazing? I'm not usually a parade person either, but this one really captures my attention. Your face on Mine Train made me smile, I'm glad you gave it a chance!
It really was amazing. Tim and Preston had learned some things about it on the Keys to the Kingdom tour, so they were filling in those tidbits too. I knew you would like my face lol!
Around 6:00 we headed for dinner. Pepper Market was offering a feast. Turkey and ham, potatoes, stuffing, all the fixings, and bread pudding or pumpkin pie for dessert. There were lots of options. We met up with our new friend Mark, and found out that he was originally from a town not far from us. He was not able to go home for Thanksgiving, so he was looking for some Disney friends to hang out with. We had extra QS credits so we used one on him. He was truly thankful!
My boys hit it off with him immediately and we had a fun time. Well remember that Fastpass I got from my friend earlier? It was for five people. And funny thing, we were all heading to Epcot tonight. So we invited him along to go on Test Track. He was so happy!
So where am I? I chickened out. Literally. I took the chicken exit.
After that excitement we said our goodbyes as he had done two other parks already that day and it was time to go home. We wandered the world showcase.
We ended up in China first.
The beauty of this area fascinates me.
We were able to get right in with a handful of other people to watch the movie.
When I say a handful of people, I wasn't kidding. There were hardly any people in The World Showcase.
Epcot had extra Magic Hours tonight. We watched Illuminations from China, which isn't the best view, but we had the Illuminations Sparkling Dessert party booked for the next night, so I didn't get pictures or worry too much about it. I kicked myself later for that, but you will just have to wait to find out why.
After that we headed in to our favorite store to trade in QS credits for some snacks.
Oh how I love the World Showcase after dark!
We scoped out Italy for awhile. I mentioned how excited I was to see some story tellers that would be starting the next day.
After that, we headed to the American Pavillion, to see the American Adventure. We had never managed to see it, and it seemed fitting on Thanksgiving to see it.
We were pretty tired.
So after watching that show, we decided enough was enough. The park was almost ready to close, and we would be back here tomorrow.
Firsts today: American Adventure, the Festival of Fantasy Parade, being in Magic Kingdom on a holiday, Seven Dwarves Mine Train, meeting Ariel and Meeting Tinkerbell.
Who would have thought the crowds at Epcot would have been so light on Thanksgiving? It was so nice!
How great to get to share Thanksgiving dinner with a new friend! I'm shocked that Epcot was so empty and agree that World Showcase at night is just wonderful!
How great to get to share Thanksgiving dinner with a new friend! I'm shocked that Epcot was so empty and agree that World Showcase at night is just wonderful!
It just seemed the perfect thing to do. He said multiple times he loved being adopted by us that evening. I couldn't believe how empty Epcot was either! But I treasured it!
The next morning we ate some of or snack for breakfast. We were getting sugared out. You know it is bad when the kids are begging you not to make them eat caramel apples for breakfast.
We then hopped a bus that was headed to Hollywood Studios, but with the intention of getting off at the front bus stop. There were some other people on the bus with the same intention. However the bus driver apparently decided he was full and started to head to Hollywood Studios! Tim called to him, and he turned around and dropped us off. Whew! We had a suitcase to buy!
I took a picture of Pepper Market, as I hadn't gotten one before.
And we bought our suitcase.
After packing up some things in our newly aquired purchase, we headed to Epcot. We were thirsty, so we had to make a stop.
Caden and Preston knew perfectly well that the Beverley was nasty, but they are gluttons for punishment I guess. Preston said he didn't mind it, but you can see Caden did not.
I tried a few and liked most of them.
It was soon time for lunch at Via Napoli. I had a Candlight Processional package booked. I was very excited after hearing mostly good reviews. I checked us in and noticed that the waiting room was full and cramped and hot! We tried to stay out of the way, but it wasn't easy. We waiting about 15 minutes, and then we were seated out on the patio area that had a plastic cover separating us from the outside. Okay, fine. Not the best atmosphere, but so be it. Our server came and explained we would be getting an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. Tim and Caden ordered the Frito Misto to share. I ordered the aranchini, and Preston ordered a tortellini broth soup. I loved my aranchini, Caden liked the calamari, Tim thought it was just okay, and Preston liked his soup.
Our appetizers took awhile to come out to us, and when they were done our plates were cleared but it took quite a long time for our pizzas to come. Tim ordered the four cheese, Caden ordered the pepperoni, Preston ordered the mushroom, and I ordered the one that has ham and artichokes and mushrooms, but asked them to leave off the eggplant.
Tim and Caden just thought their pizza was okay. Tim was really not impressed with Via Napoli at all. Preston and I really like our pizza. I don't know if it was just the Italian culture or if it was busy, but the service was slow and we hardly saw her. No refills on drinks, she didn't drop off the food, nothing. She took our order and brought our check. So that part I wasn't impressed with considering we were going on almost two hours here and we hadn't had dessert.
Tim and I ordered pistachio gelato, Caden ordered the Ugly but Good sundae, and Preston ordered the zeppole.
Dessert was good. If I return there again I will plan on a long meal. While I enjoyed my meal more than Tim did, I am not in a rush to return. But, we were full, we got our tickets for the Candlelight Processional, and I hoped we could see some story tellers now.
Real time update, I booked my trip with my dad this morning. I got on the phone as soon as the lines opened and managed to grab one of the very few discounted rooms available. The best part is, I have arranged with my brother that he is going to fly down and surprise us there! So we are booked!
Such a bummer about Via Napoli. I typically love it but our last trip was less impressed as well I also don't think it's necessarily a three-course meal type place so I don't think that helped your cause.
Such a bummer about Via Napoli. I typically love it but our last trip was less impressed as well I also don't think it's necessarily a three-course meal type place so I don't think that helped your cause.
Very nice to get in a second Thanksgiving feast and not even have to leave your resort! World Showcase is one of my favorite spots at night. Love the cute Mickey suitcase you all purchased. Sorry the service at Via Napoli was so slow.
Very nice to get in a second Thanksgiving feast and not even have to leave your resort! World Showcase is one of my favorite spots at night. Love the cute Mickey suitcase you all purchased. Sorry the service at Via Napoli was so slow.
I love that suitcase! I will be bringing it back with me in June. I wouldn't have minded the slow service if I hadn't wanted to go see the story tellers so badly.
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The Merry and Bright dessert party seems so special. Neat that it got you in the Christmas spirit. 
I just knew lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern would make a perfect Thanksgiving meal. 
You got some great photos of the Festival of Fantasy parade. The FP+ spot has a really good view. 
Glad you got to enjoy the Osbourne Lights to the ultimate and see the GF decked out in all its' glory for Christmas and the gingerbread house! 
I also don't think it's necessarily a three-course meal type place so I don't think that helped your cause.
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