Merry Christmas!!
I hope everyone had a magical week this week full of family and laughter and love. My parents came down to visit me!
They got here on the 22nd and are leaving today. I have been pretty homesick for a while now so having my parents here put me in a fantastic mood.
They stayed in Old Key West, our home resort, and we decorated the hotel room. We put up a tree and my blow up santa clause and some lights.
Decorating definitely put me in the Christmas spirit.
On Saturday we went up to a town a little north of here called Winter Park. It is one of those cute towns where you can walk around the downtown area and go in local shops. We had lunch there and checked it out.
On Sunday Kellie came up to see my parents. My parents took us to the car wash to clean our cars, they needed it badly. We then went into Celebration for lunch and to walk around a little. They were having some kind of christmas fair on the street and we caught them laying fake snow. It was a funny sight to see.
Back in Orlando, after Kellie left us, we went resort hopping to check out the christmas decorations. Grand Floridian was gorgeous. They have a life sized gingerbread house that they sell gingerbread out of and a huge christmas tree.
It was beautiful and felt so fancy and christmassy. We listed to the band play and my parents danced along. I think Grand Floridian is my second favorite resort, after Old Key West.
We went back to the hotel room for dinner. We had a roast, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. The most perfectly delicious christmas dinner. And, I was able to take leftovers to work on Monday! Yum!
I worked on Sunday night until 3:45 in the morning. Not fun... especially since we were planning on going into Magic Kingdom on Monday.
My parents ended up going into the park early and letting me sleep. I met them at about 11:30. The park was crazy crowded. They had already started the process of closing because we were getting close to capacity. But we took our patience pills and decided to not go on any rides. The park was finally fully decorated for Christmas.
We ate at Be Our Guest restaurant for lunch. That is the new one in New Fantasyland. They are a quick service restaurant by day and a table service restaurant by night. Eating there for dinner is still impossible, they are booked through mid 2013 already, but we only waited about 30 minutes for lunch.
It was delicious!! I had the french onion soup and the turkey sandwich. The whole restaurant is presented wonderfully. It really feels magical in there. There are three separate dining rooms, the ballroom, the west wing, and just a room with paintings of scenes from the movie. We ate in the West Wing.
After lunch we went to The Country Bear Jamboree, my dad's favorite attraction. They just recently refurbished it so it looks a lot better.
After that I had to go to work so I left my parents.
Work was awesome, I got to glow walk with Ben. This means we walk around the land selling all of our glow items. There were so many people that we were constantly bombarded by guest. But we managed to beat the record for glow sold so that was exciting!
Working until 2:45 was rough though after not getting much sleep for two days. But when I got back to the hotel room I found that Santa had already come! It was magical.
Balloons are my favorite!!
I got up at 8:30 on Christmas morning, sleep was clearly not my priority this week.
We followed our usual Christmas morning tradition of eating cinnamon buns as we opened gifts. That really made it feel like Christmas. We usually eat brunch too but instead we decided to go into the park and have pizza in Via Napoli in Italy. The pizza there is amazing and we wanted to take my dad there to try it.
It was worth it, he loved it.
We got into the park by 10:30 and went straight to Test Track to get fast passes. They just redid that too so we wanted to go on it and we knew that the lines would be crazy long. And they were. Fast passes were necessary for doing anything.
After lunch we strolled through the countries. Just like on Monday we weren't planning on doing many rides so we just shopped or watched shows. We listened to the Voices of Liberty sing in the American Adventure. Although we have been to these parks a gazillion times everyone was singing or performing or doing Christmas themed things. So it felt like a whole new experience.
There was a show at the fountain in future world called Joyful! A Gospel Celebration of the Season. It was a fantastic gospel group singing Christmas songs. It was wonderful, one of my favorite parts of the day.
We used our fast passes right after watching the gospel show. It was a good thing we had them because the wait was 150 minutes. People are nuts, I would never wait that long.
The new ride was ok. The track was the same, they just changed the story and what was going on around you. It was a little too plain for me. And they moved the camera, which doesn't make much sense since it used to be right when you thought you would hit the wall. The new concept is good, and it reminds me of Tron, but I think that it could be improved.
We ate in Japan for dinner. My mom got the dinner and a show package for the Candlelight Processional. It guaranteed you seats for the show which was definitely worth it because it was very crowded.
When we got in line for the show it stretched all the way down into Morocco. If you know the layout of EPCOT you know that that is a very long way. We did not think we would be close to getting seats at all but we should have never doubted. We had great seats.
The Candlelight Processional was my favorite part of the day. It is a retelling of the Christmas story with a 50 piece orchestra and a massive choir. It is narrated by a different celebrity narrator. Our narrator was Gary Sinise, which was awesome!
Hearing the Christmas music was magical and really made me feel like it was Christmas. I had thought that it was going to be weird to not be at home for Christmas. To have to celebrate it out of a hotel room and amongst thousands of other people at Disney World. But it was actually wonderful. My parents and I worked really hard to make it similar to home and I think that the new things that we did made it even more special. And it was amazing to experience Disney at Christmas.
I now only have 6 days left before my program is over. I am just now starting to love work so I am sad that I am leaving. But I am going to make the most of my last few shifts. I get to work on New Year's Eve! Party at Disney!! Woo!
Merry Christmas everyone! And Happy New Year!!
They got here on the 22nd and are leaving today. I have been pretty homesick for a while now so having my parents here put me in a fantastic mood.
They stayed in Old Key West, our home resort, and we decorated the hotel room. We put up a tree and my blow up santa clause and some lights.
Decorating definitely put me in the Christmas spirit.
On Saturday we went up to a town a little north of here called Winter Park. It is one of those cute towns where you can walk around the downtown area and go in local shops. We had lunch there and checked it out.
On Sunday Kellie came up to see my parents. My parents took us to the car wash to clean our cars, they needed it badly. We then went into Celebration for lunch and to walk around a little. They were having some kind of christmas fair on the street and we caught them laying fake snow. It was a funny sight to see.
Back in Orlando, after Kellie left us, we went resort hopping to check out the christmas decorations. Grand Floridian was gorgeous. They have a life sized gingerbread house that they sell gingerbread out of and a huge christmas tree.
It was beautiful and felt so fancy and christmassy. We listed to the band play and my parents danced along. I think Grand Floridian is my second favorite resort, after Old Key West.
We went back to the hotel room for dinner. We had a roast, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. The most perfectly delicious christmas dinner. And, I was able to take leftovers to work on Monday! Yum!
I worked on Sunday night until 3:45 in the morning. Not fun... especially since we were planning on going into Magic Kingdom on Monday.
My parents ended up going into the park early and letting me sleep. I met them at about 11:30. The park was crazy crowded. They had already started the process of closing because we were getting close to capacity. But we took our patience pills and decided to not go on any rides. The park was finally fully decorated for Christmas.
We ate at Be Our Guest restaurant for lunch. That is the new one in New Fantasyland. They are a quick service restaurant by day and a table service restaurant by night. Eating there for dinner is still impossible, they are booked through mid 2013 already, but we only waited about 30 minutes for lunch.
It was delicious!! I had the french onion soup and the turkey sandwich. The whole restaurant is presented wonderfully. It really feels magical in there. There are three separate dining rooms, the ballroom, the west wing, and just a room with paintings of scenes from the movie. We ate in the West Wing.
After lunch we went to The Country Bear Jamboree, my dad's favorite attraction. They just recently refurbished it so it looks a lot better.
After that I had to go to work so I left my parents.
Work was awesome, I got to glow walk with Ben. This means we walk around the land selling all of our glow items. There were so many people that we were constantly bombarded by guest. But we managed to beat the record for glow sold so that was exciting!
Working until 2:45 was rough though after not getting much sleep for two days. But when I got back to the hotel room I found that Santa had already come! It was magical.
Balloons are my favorite!!
I got up at 8:30 on Christmas morning, sleep was clearly not my priority this week.
We followed our usual Christmas morning tradition of eating cinnamon buns as we opened gifts. That really made it feel like Christmas. We usually eat brunch too but instead we decided to go into the park and have pizza in Via Napoli in Italy. The pizza there is amazing and we wanted to take my dad there to try it.
It was worth it, he loved it.
We got into the park by 10:30 and went straight to Test Track to get fast passes. They just redid that too so we wanted to go on it and we knew that the lines would be crazy long. And they were. Fast passes were necessary for doing anything.
After lunch we strolled through the countries. Just like on Monday we weren't planning on doing many rides so we just shopped or watched shows. We listened to the Voices of Liberty sing in the American Adventure. Although we have been to these parks a gazillion times everyone was singing or performing or doing Christmas themed things. So it felt like a whole new experience.
There was a show at the fountain in future world called Joyful! A Gospel Celebration of the Season. It was a fantastic gospel group singing Christmas songs. It was wonderful, one of my favorite parts of the day.
We used our fast passes right after watching the gospel show. It was a good thing we had them because the wait was 150 minutes. People are nuts, I would never wait that long.
The new ride was ok. The track was the same, they just changed the story and what was going on around you. It was a little too plain for me. And they moved the camera, which doesn't make much sense since it used to be right when you thought you would hit the wall. The new concept is good, and it reminds me of Tron, but I think that it could be improved.
We ate in Japan for dinner. My mom got the dinner and a show package for the Candlelight Processional. It guaranteed you seats for the show which was definitely worth it because it was very crowded.
When we got in line for the show it stretched all the way down into Morocco. If you know the layout of EPCOT you know that that is a very long way. We did not think we would be close to getting seats at all but we should have never doubted. We had great seats.
The Candlelight Processional was my favorite part of the day. It is a retelling of the Christmas story with a 50 piece orchestra and a massive choir. It is narrated by a different celebrity narrator. Our narrator was Gary Sinise, which was awesome!
Hearing the Christmas music was magical and really made me feel like it was Christmas. I had thought that it was going to be weird to not be at home for Christmas. To have to celebrate it out of a hotel room and amongst thousands of other people at Disney World. But it was actually wonderful. My parents and I worked really hard to make it similar to home and I think that the new things that we did made it even more special. And it was amazing to experience Disney at Christmas.
I don't think I would recommend going actually on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Especially if it is the first or one of the few times you have been there. It was ok for us because we have been there so often that going on rides wasn't our priority. We were content just soaking in the atmosphere and enjoying the spontaneous entertainment that pops up.
But, I would recommend going during the Christmas season because Disney knows how to celebrate in style. We didn't even do everything. In Hollywood Studios they have the Osbourne Spectacle of Dancing Lights. They cover every surface in lights and set it to music. I haven't seen it but I hear it is spectacular.
Just goes to show that you can work at Disney, get in for free, and still not do everything.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was perfect.
I now only have 6 days left before my program is over. I am just now starting to love work so I am sad that I am leaving. But I am going to make the most of my last few shifts. I get to work on New Year's Eve! Party at Disney!! Woo!
Merry Christmas everyone! And Happy New Year!!
