In my last blog post I hinted that I had a fun story to tell about the week between the Jingle Run and the Reindeer Run. I know you’ve been checking back daily waiting for me to tell it, so here we go.
I finished the Jingle Run and headed straight for a family reunion at Disney with my big sister J-Dawg, her husband Sir, and their two daughters, Monster and Marina. (Little bit of back story: Sir is a high school teacher and one of his favorite students needed a ride home. He ended up driving her to the ghetto 30 minutes away because she was living there with someone else’s Grandma. Sir was like- oh hell no, you’re a good kid and you’re not going to stay here anymore. J-Dawg and Sir adopted her, and Marina has been their kid ever since. Marina is 20 years older than her little sister Monster.) I met up with everybody at Animal Kingdom and we went to watch the Finding Nemo stage show.
In December 2011 I renewed my Disney pass and told J-Dawg that if she wanted to go to Disney with me, she had to plan a trip before my pass expired in December 2012. The last time we had a family vacation to Disney was four or five years ago and everybody had fun, so we wanted to do it again eventually. We all love Christmas time at the park, so the vacation was planned for a week before my pass expired. Some people plan their pass schedule around Food and Wine Fest, I plan around Christmas.
Animal Kingdom is my least favorite of the Disney Parks. There’s just not a lot to do and it is very spread out. (In case you’re wondering Magic Kingdom is my favorite, Epcot and Hollywood Studios tie for second and Animal Kingdom comes in fourth. Not third, fourth.) The best things at Animal Kingdom are the Rainforest Café (which I totally went to for lunch as soon as I got there to reward myself with a Long Island Iced Tea and nachos for running.), Kilimanjaro Safari (20 minute ride though “Africa” to see lots of animals include giraffes, rhinos, zebras, and lots of birds), Expedition Everest (a rollercoaster featuring a yeti), It’s Tough to be a Bug (a 3-D show featuring the cast of A Bug’s Life) and, of course, Finding Nemo (a musical version of the movie with puppeteers).
After Finding Nemo, we wanted to ride Expedition Everest. When we got to that part of the park, I noticed that the ride was on the track, but was not moving. We decided to give it a few minutes, so we got snacks and drinks, and went back. It still wasn’t moving. We decided to head to Hollywood Studios.
I was the only one in the group who had been Toy Story, so I insisted that we head there immediately. Although the queue is not interactive, there is a lot to look at. The ride is carnival game themed, but instead of throwing darts at balloon, you wear 3-D glass and use a gun with a pullback string to shoot darts at balloons, throw baseballs at plates, toss rings at the Toy Story aliens, etc. Everybody (including Monster) loved the ride. I got the highest score in the car, a first for me! (For the record, that says 189,400.)
After Toy Story we went to the new Pirates of the Caribbean Attraction that was next door. It was not officially open yet, they were still testing it. The attraction took place in a large room with a pirate ship and movie screen behind the ship. Captain Jack Sparrow showed up on the ship's sail and narrated the adventure. The show featured the monsters from each movie and then showed Captain Jack defeating them. I remember seeing the Kraken, mermaids, and zombie pirates. I can't remember if there was a fourth monster in the show.
After the POTC show, we walked around and shopped for a while, then decided we were hungry. We ended up at the hotdog stand across from the Beauty and the Beast stage show. I ordered the truffle mac and cheese hotdog. Truffle mac and cheese: good. Hotdog: it's a hotdog. The bun. The bun. What can I say about the bun besides that it was stale? Nope, that's it, it was stale. And not good. Not good and stale. Disney please work on this! This is not the only example I have of your bread being substandard.
After dinner Sir stayed at the table with Monster and J-Dawg, Marina and I rode the Rock 'n' Rollercoaster Starring Aerosmith. We've all been on it before and everyone enjoyed it again this time. After the rollercoaster, we headed to the Tower of Terror. We were the last people to ride that night, and asked for the front row.
J-Dawg was a little concerned that they were going to forget about us and that we would be trapped until morning. Luckily, she was wrong. (And we had people on the outside who could look for us if the cast members forgot about us.)
I'd never seen the ride locked up before; it's pretty creepy.
The park closed at 8, but the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights stayed open until 9. Thanks to the cast member who told us! Pictures do not do this justice. The lights are on for 10 minutes or so, then they go on and off in sync with Trans-Siberian Orchestra music. There is always a cat hidden in the lights some where and dozens of hidden Mickeys. I like trying to spot them. (All those little blurs in the Kermit picture are "snowflakes". Disney does not slack when it comes to Christmas magic!)
After a great first day in the parks, it was time to go back to the hotel/condo. I love staying in condo/timeshares. Good to know, because I learned this myself on this trip. There is so much more room than in a traditional hotel room. It's nice to have multiple bathrooms and bedrooms and chairs! Oh my! Marina and Monster were in the bedroom with twin beds, I was on the pull out couch and J-Dawg and Sir were in the master bedroom. We stayed up for a while watching Disney movies (naturally) and then tucked in to get up for Epcot in the morning.
After Toy Story we went to the new Pirates of the Caribbean Attraction that was next door. It was not officially open yet, they were still testing it. The attraction took place in a large room with a pirate ship and movie screen behind the ship. Captain Jack Sparrow showed up on the ship's sail and narrated the adventure. The show featured the monsters from each movie and then showed Captain Jack defeating them. I remember seeing the Kraken, mermaids, and zombie pirates. I can't remember if there was a fourth monster in the show.
Pirate Ship
Pirate Ship with Captain Jack Sparrow on the sail
Kraken monster on the screen behind the pirate ship
Background decoration
After the POTC show, we walked around and shopped for a while, then decided we were hungry. We ended up at the hotdog stand across from the Beauty and the Beast stage show. I ordered the truffle mac and cheese hotdog. Truffle mac and cheese: good. Hotdog: it's a hotdog. The bun. The bun. What can I say about the bun besides that it was stale? Nope, that's it, it was stale. And not good. Not good and stale. Disney please work on this! This is not the only example I have of your bread being substandard.
After dinner Sir stayed at the table with Monster and J-Dawg, Marina and I rode the Rock 'n' Rollercoaster Starring Aerosmith. We've all been on it before and everyone enjoyed it again this time. After the rollercoaster, we headed to the Tower of Terror. We were the last people to ride that night, and asked for the front row.
J-Dawg was a little concerned that they were going to forget about us and that we would be trapped until morning. Luckily, she was wrong. (And we had people on the outside who could look for us if the cast members forgot about us.)
I'd never seen the ride locked up before; it's pretty creepy.
The park closed at 8, but the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights stayed open until 9. Thanks to the cast member who told us! Pictures do not do this justice. The lights are on for 10 minutes or so, then they go on and off in sync with Trans-Siberian Orchestra music. There is always a cat hidden in the lights some where and dozens of hidden Mickeys. I like trying to spot them. (All those little blurs in the Kermit picture are "snowflakes". Disney does not slack when it comes to Christmas magic!)
After a great first day in the parks, it was time to go back to the hotel/condo. I love staying in condo/timeshares. Good to know, because I learned this myself on this trip. There is so much more room than in a traditional hotel room. It's nice to have multiple bathrooms and bedrooms and chairs! Oh my! Marina and Monster were in the bedroom with twin beds, I was on the pull out couch and J-Dawg and Sir were in the master bedroom. We stayed up for a while watching Disney movies (naturally) and then tucked in to get up for Epcot in the morning.
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