Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party Review

This time last week Todd and I were at New Fantasyland, excitedly awaiting our reservation for that evening at the Be Our Guest Restaurant.
Right inside the entrance at Be Our Guest restaurant.

     But more on that later. The next evening, we went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom. And I must say, in all honesty, it was one of the most fun trips we've ever had. Just before the party starts, there is a castle lighting ceremony where Cinderella's Fairy Godmother waves her magic wand to cover castle in the icicle lights. While the castle's holiday decor is beautiful on it's own, the extra touch really makes it a celebration.
 
The castle in all it's festive glory.



     Next it was time for some cocoa and cookies! There were six locations all around the park giving out as much cookies, cocoa, apple slices and apple juice as you could carry. The cookies were a choice of snickerdoodles or chocolate, I opted for the former to offset the sugary cocoa. While the lines were long, it was never a long wait because every place was well staffed and stocked. Todd opted for four chocolate chip cookies, which were devoured in a matter of seconds. Tip: eat an early lunch and then an early dinner right before the event. Your stomach will handle the intense amount of sugar better. We learned this the hard way.

Mmmm.



       For the rest of the night, we actually opted to skip most of the rides in the park and simply enjoy the atmosphere. "A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas" was an awesome musical show, featuring Buzz Lightyear battling the Evil Emperor Zurg to his own version of "Jingle Bells" and Mike Wazowski telling jokes while singing along to "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer". The hostess, Haley Comet, could have toned down her super high pitched sing-song voice a bit, but she carried the show well nonetheless.

The stage in Tomorrowland set up for A Totally Tomorrowland Christmas.
     
      The best event of the night was undoubtedly the Holiday Wishes: Celebrate the Spirit of the Season Fireworks Spectacular. Now, I love fireworks in general (who doesn't?), and I try to catch Wishes at least once every time we visit. This show, however, blew every other firework display I ever seen out of the water. The Fourth of July should be very, very envious. The fireworks were orchestrated along with classic Christmas tunes, such as "I'll be home for Christmas" and "Trepak (Cossack Dance)" from the Nutcracker Suite, they even shot fireworks diagonally to form a Christmas tree shape during "O' Christmas Tree". At the beginning of the spectacular, Tinkerbell flies over the audience, and in the finale the fireworks are so bright the sky appears to switch back to daylight. This alone was worth the price of admission.

We didn't get pictures of the fireworks, but we did get this shot down Main Street right before.
     In addition the main events, there so many little details throughout the night that made it so special. For instance, dancing in Cosmic Rays turned "Club Tinsel" with Santa Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale was a blast! You haven't danced to the Cupid Shuffle until you've done it at Disney.

The DJ and crowd at Club Tinsel.
     One of my favorite things throughout the evening was sitting outside with our Christmas treats and keeping an eye out for rare characters. There are a ton to see!

Lady Tremaine, Drusilla and Anastasia.

Scrooge McDuck.

Alice in her winter gear.
     In conclusion, to anyone debating whether or not MVMCP is worth the extra cost, the answer is absolutely yes. Todd and I had such a great time we bought two more tickets and went back the next night. Tip: They will let you into the park 3 hours before the event starts. I highly recommend doing this if you can't make it to the Magic Kingdom on another day or any earlier the day of. Like I wrote earlier, during the event, you'll want to take in the atmosphere. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is an event that you and yours will remember forever.

Until next time!
- Chelsea

Monday, November 12, 2012

A bit about us.

I mentioned in the first blog that Todd and I were definite Disney enthusiasts, but I thought a passion like ours deserved an entire blog post.

D23 bracelet that Todd got me and my engagement ring.


Once upon a time, one and a half years ago, both Todd and I joined a Disney themed dating site. He sent me a message approximately twenty four hours later, and that's all she wrote! Fast forward to now, and we've already been on seven vacations to Walt Disney World. We even had our first official date at the Raglan Road Irish Pub. Todd is a member of D23, I haven't joined yet, but soon. Naturally, we're both Passholders, and we go to see every movie the day it comes out. I contemplated a Disney tattoo for a time, but decided against it. Todd can recite any fact about any of the parks, the company or Walt at the drop of a hat. I hope I reach that level one day, but I'm getting there.
Our first trip to Epcot.

I could gush on and on, but I think I'll stop there for today. In other news, two days until we preview New Fantasyland and three days until we go to Very Merry! I will hopefully post a sort of tutorial of what we pack for our trip, and definitely will have lots of posts when we return.

See ya real soon.

Saturday, November 3, 2012

A Very Disney Halloween

I love Halloween. After Christmas, it may be my favorite holiday. This year, Todd and I were supposed to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, but we couldn't get the time off from work. Instead of admitting defeat, we turned on Nightmare Before Christmas and carved ourselves some Disney jack o' lanterns!
My Toy Story pumpkin...ooOOooooh.

Todd's Incredibles pumpkin!
We didn't get a chance to dress up this year, but there is always next year. 'Til next time!

Jumping right in: Disney love!

As the lovely Julie Andrews famously sang, let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start. For this blog, let me just say I was greatly inspired by the disney tourist blog and all of their wonderful adventures. My future husband (!) Todd and I are a very similar Disney loving couple, so I thought there was no better place to share and chronicle our trips to the most magical place on earth! To get our feet wet, let's start off with a photo from our most recent trip. 
At the Caribbean Beach Resort before heading to Downtown Disney.

In two weeks, we will be heading to the Coronado Springs Resort to go to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas and (drum roll, please) a preview of new Fantasyland. I will definitely post lots of pictures and details. Stay tuned!