Christmastime Trip – 12/9/17-12/17/17 – Day 3

Monday 12/11/17

We made it to Magic Kingdom by about 8:00 for Kathy and Ben’s first experience without the train station Welcome Show. I do miss the Welcome Show at the front but at the same time I do like strolling and browsing Main Street in a more relaxed manner rather then the mad rush right at open. We rode a Main Street vehicle up to Cinderella Castle, saw the Trolley show, and browsed the Emporium, all before park open! Never would have been able to do that before! Our plan was to attack Fantasyland, the more structured of the mornings. We rope dropped Peter Pan’s Flight, went Under the Sea, flew with Dumbo, spun so fast on the Teacups that we almost couldn’t walk afterward, and rode Winnie the Pooh with our FP, all before 10:00 a.m.! Woo! When we attack, we attack! Haunted Mansion was down so our second FP became a wildcard. So we used it for Jingle Cruise. Oh my gosh that was so much fun! It’s so different from the regular Jungle Cruise including queue music, the Mess Menu (where things were turkey now) and lots and lots of new jokes. I really like how they change it for the holidays. We had an awesome skipper too, which I’m sure helps! From there we enjoyed a delicious lunch of tacos and nachos at Pecos Bills. We used our FP for 7DMT and I was able to land a 4th for Pirates for our return while still in the queue! We browsed the Big Top and then rode Carousel of Progress on the way out for our mid-day break, knowing we would have a later evening with our only chance to see Happily Ever After. After some naps we headed back to MK and saw Muppets in History, the Declaration of Independence. This was also Kathy and Ben’s first, and we all really like what they’ve done! It’s such a fun show! I didn’t know it at the time but I was standing next to a Make a Wish girl and when they shot the ribbons down I gathered all that were close and gave them all to her. The smile on her face was worth every price of every admission! We used our FP for Pirates and I was able to score a 5th for Carpets of Aladdin. We shopped for just for a few minutes in the Pirates store and then it was time to use that FP!
We made our way to the hub to see the Castle lighting. Oh my gosh! That was an awesome production and Cinderella Castle is just gorgeous all lit up! No description could do it justice! The wait after for Happily Ever After got so cold at night though! We actually started sending two people at a time into the Emporium to warm up! And that was with sweatshirts and jackets on! Why does it always have to be so cold for our December trips? If Kathy and Ben had already seen it we probably would have left, but this was their first time and Lauren and I really wanted them to see it. It really was worth it in the end! Such a great show! It being Lauren’s and my second time we were able to catch some things we missed the first time. Thankfully with POFQ so close to MK we were home before 10:00 and enjoying our hot chocolate to round out the night!

Steps: 22,004
Miles: 9.93