Magic Kingdom & Epcot - New Year's Eve Style!

Dec 31st:

What a LONG day for us.  We got up early to get into the park early again and then we were off.  We started at Magic Kingdom and did some of the things on the list (that I previously listed in the other post) and we actually took the train around the park and then took the monorail over to Epcot so that we could finish out our day over there.

We had purchased a "park-hopper" which means you can go between parks at any point and time so we were glad that we at least got one use out of it.

We also did some more of the things at Epcot that we had wanted to and missed the first time.  BUT when it came time for New Years Eve celebration - things got crazy!  We 're talking about 5pm at night.  They did a pre-celebration at 6pm for those with young kids so we took advantage of that.  We knew she wouldn't make it to midnight (let alone, ourselves make it that far).

Around 5pm or so, people started getting hats and horns and boy did you know it!  It was loud and annoying!!!  Imagine spending New Year's Eve with about 1 million people.  That's what it seemed like and between all the parks I'm sure that's probably what it was.  They had sides of the path you had to walk on to keep crowd control.  So if you were on the "wrong-side" trying to get into the flow of things, you about got knocked down.

Then we were trying to find a "good-spot" to watch some fireworks and that was really hard to come by.  I think people picked out their spots about 3:30pm or so.  So we squeezed in an area that really didn't give us a good view unfortunately. 

It was still pretty neat to see and if I can find a video from Chris's camera I'll have to post that but I don't have one from my camera. 

We left and went back to the hotel after the firework show.  Even when we were leaving (probably around 7:30-8:00pm or so) there were mobs of people still coming into the park. 

At about midnight I heard (wish I saw) the longest firework display ever.  Chris and I were still up and couldn't believe how long it went on for.  You constantly felt like "that had to be the finale" but then it just kept going!  Maybe one year, when she's older and we make a trip back, we can stay and see it - but I guess for now - you could probably You-tube it if you really wanted to see it.

Here's our pictures from the day:

Animal Kingdom

Dec 30th:

Definitely a colder day!  So cold that even the animals in Animal Kingdom were hard to come by.

Here are the things we did today:

It's Tough to be a Bug (Discovery Island)
Pangani Forest Exploration Trail (Africa)
Wildlife Express Train (Rafiki's Planet Watch)
Habitat Habit! (Rafiki's Planet Watch) - No animals were out!~
Conservation Station (Rafiki's Planet Watch)
Affection Station (Rafiki's Planet Watch)
Flights of Wonder (Asia)
Maharajah Jungle Trek (Asia)
Expedition Everest (Asia) - Chris did by himself
The Boneyard (DinoLand USA)
Finding Nemo - The Musical (DinoLand USA)
Primeval Whirl (DinoLand USA) - did 2ce.

Chris did do the Everest Rollercoaster himself (even though he wasn't feeling that great) and came back (while Makenna & I were in The Boneyard) and said it definitely was not a coaster for myself or Makenna to try.

The thing I enjoyed the most was the Flights of Wonder - it's where you sit down and watch a live show (with a pretty funny comedy act) and you learn about birds and see birds who are well trained do some pretty neat things. 

The rest of the day was okay but since it was so cold out, there really were no animals to look at beyond some of the usual.

But here are some pictures from the day and a cute video of Makenna while we were waiting for the Flights of Wonder to start:

 This has to be my favorite picture - even though you can tell she wasn't too happy at the moment

 I liked this one too - Chris always has a way of making her smile again

 This ugly thing is an African Bullfrog

 A "lovely" Warthog

 Makenna was able to brush a goat

 

Hollywood Studios

Dec 29th:

Another fun-filled day - and it was warmer to begin the day so that was nice.  This time we brought layers to put on us as it got colder.

So today we did the following:

The Great Movie Ride (Hollywood Boulevard)
Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (Echo Lake)
Star Tours (Echo Lake) went on 3 times
Muppet Vision 3D (Streets of America)
Toy Story Midway Mania (Pixar Place)
Walt Disney:  One man's Dream (Mickey Avenue)
Voyage of the Little Mermaid (Animation Courtyard)
The Magic of Disney Animation (Animation Courtyard)
Disney Junior - Live on Stage (Animation Courtyard)
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (Sunset Boulevard)

We only went here one day - and probably could've come back to do a few more things but we knew we wanted to really do things at Magic Kingdom & Epcot again.

Let me start off by saying even though I state above that we rode the Star Tours ride 3x - that did not include me...even once.  After yesterday's Mission Space fiasco, Chris felt he should try it out first and then let me know how it was.  Well, he and Makenna loved the ride but felt that I might get a bit sick from it so I was sorry to miss out and I may have done perfectly fine but really, who wants to feel like death the rest of the day?

I was talking to some Disney workers while I was waiting for them and even they said I might get a bit woozy on the ride but that it was nothing like Mission Space.

The Muppet Vision 3D was fun - it reminded me of the Muppet Show on TV.  Toy Story Midway Mania was a lot of fun, (and I felt a bit woozy on that).  You sit in a moving ride of sorts and it takes you around where you shoot at different things like you're in an arcade, but moving.

The Twilight Tower of Terror - HORRIBLE!  Why Chris convinced me to go on that is beyond me.  It's like being in a roller coaster that just drops and you get that horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach.  I would've rather tried Star Tours than do this. 

Chris loved it and Makenna cried and was made at her dad for letting her go on it.  I was nervous that it would make her scared of the dark and of elevators.  You go up to a top floor of a "hotel" and get in an elevator (sitting in, strapped, to a seat) and then drop - in the dark.  Then it takes you back up so far and drops you again, and then again.  I was screaming for it to be over. 

I guess Chris felt it wasn't a twist and turn ride just a drop so I should do okay.  NOT.

What was really neat and beautiful was at night - they had a Christmas Light show and every inch of the buildings were lit (you can see a video below) - There were a couple of streets that were lit up so the pictures and video don't do it justice but it was really pretty and neat!  They even had fake snow blowing (which I didn't need as I knew all the snow that awaited us back at home).

It was still a fun day and here are some pictures and videos:

 

 

click this link to see the video of the Christmas lights:

 http://youtu.be/wyBFAlqjEuM

 

If you listen closely at one point you hear Makenna say - "Daddy, I love you."  This simple phrase, she found out, would get her picked up by her loving father so she didn't have to walk.  Although, she also found out, that if you over-use it for this purpose, it doesn't always work.  But I give her credit for playing on his heart strings.