Disney Christmas Days 5 & 6

On Wednesday the kids and I headed back to the MK to play Sorcerers. We were determined to beat the game on medium! It was a wonderful morning!

It took us three rounds and we got a bit distracted jumping on some rides but we defeated 3 villains and earned the Novice level.

Master Sorcerer Indeed!

We had lunch reservations at the Poly where we were going to meet Mom so around noon we headed out just as the crowds were heading in. It had been a great morning!

Does anyone else have kids that act like complete squirrels the second they get on that monorail? If we get a compartment to ourselves it's like jungle-gym time!

The Poly was gorgeous. But then it always is! Less Christmassy than some of the other Deluxe resorts but then again the theming here doesn't really lend itself to Christmas...

We had an awesome lunch at Kona and our chef was a Paleo eater as well so he knew just what to cook for us!

Polynesian Wreath:

After some chill time back at the resort and a swim in the pool we headed back to the MK for normal fireworks and Wishes.

Another perfect evening! We were so lucky with weather on this trip!

Not too crowded!

We experimented with getting all our FP+ reservations in the evening. It worked really well! In the am everything was a walk-on since we were there for park opening and in the evening we were able to stroll around, ride some less popular attractions with little wait, and stroll right onto the headliners with our FP+ reservations. It'll be interesting to see how this all pans out after the new mine train opens...

We also got a FP+ for Main Street Electrical Parade. BEST DECISION EVER!!!! Our reserved spot was RIGHT in front of the Castle in the central hub in a roped-off area saved just for us. We got there about 20 mins ahead of time and had a perfect spot right on the parade route. Best thing was that as soon as the parade started they took up all the ropes so we had perfect views and then we got to stay right there for the Castle show AND Wishes, so for one FP+ it was like getting 3 things! Mom had a bench to sit on and when everyone came crowding in for Wishes the kids got to stand on the bench so they had perfect views for all 3 things...

What a spot!

This is the best vantage point I have EVER seen the parade from. And we got to see it at Christmas with the dreamlights on the castle.... awesome!

Did I mention it was a perfect spot?

We did make it through the rest of the evening awake and in good spirits but the same cannot be said of the bus ride home...

The next day was Epcot. I love this park. And I LOVE coming in through the International Gateway. Feels like the park is all yours!

Good morning Epcot!

THIS is why you get here for park opening:

We had a great time doing all the headliners in Future World: Mission Space, Test Track, Soarin' you name it. Then we headed to the Norway Pavilion at 10:45 so we would be the first ones in line to meet Anna and Elsa. Yeah..... that didn't pan out. Turns out that people had raced straight there at PARK OPENING and had been sitting for 2 hours waiting for them to show up at 11am. By the time we got there they were taking slots for the 1pm showing. So anyway you slice it Anna and Elsa are a 2 hour wait! I am not a 2 hour wait kind of girl and Thank God, neither are my kids so we ran into the Norway gift shop just hoping to sneak a peek. We were right there when Anna and Elsa came walking right through the shop past where we were standing and said "Good-morning!" to us on the way to their meet and greet area! So we didn't get to take a photo WITH them, but we got to take a photo of them AND get a nice greeting from them, and I'll take that over a 2 hour wait any day! The kids were psyched and we checked A&E off our list.

This is what Epcot felt like pretty much all day. I have never had a more mellow, uncrowded time!

We made our way around just popping into pavilions and checking out exhibits and shops:

And we got to listen to the Christmas Story-tellers in each pavilion! Here's the one in Italy:

Then we headed to France for our Candlelight Processional Lunch. If you get a meal package you get to go straight in to one of the evening shows without a 2+ hour wait. This was soooo worth doing! We had a fabulous meal and later the line for the CP stretched all the way back to Italy! And this was on an uncrowded day!

We went back to the resort for a break and a swim and then headed back into Epcot for the 5:30 CP. It was amazing, inspiring, and so worth the wait!

Our celebrity narrator was Edward James Olmos and he did a great job. If you don't know about the Candlelight Processional it's a narration of the Christmas Story straight out of the Bible, interspersed with the most amazing old-school carols sung by  this massive choir with a live orchestra.
I challenge anyone to go to this and not tear-up!

Afterwards I tried to take a sunset panoramic of my favorite park:

We had dinner in Morocco and then a traditional Scandinavian dessert in Norway. It was the perfect evening. We were headed to take one more ride on Soarin' when we saw that the meet and greet had NO LINES! So we charged in! Mickey was hysterical. He pushed the 3 of us to the side:

And had eyes only for Mom!

She was in heaven! He made such a fuss over her and made her feel so special!

Finally he let the rest of us in for a picture!

Then we got to meet my favorite guy!

Minnie was NONE TOO PLEASED to hear of Mom's special moment with Mickey. She finally forgave us though....

Then it was onto a special viewing area for Illuminations with the Christmas Tag. These two stood in awe for 20 minutes with their arms wrapped around each other. I could barely watch the show, I was having such a great time watching them. It could not have been a more perfect day.