Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

Chadd and I took Claire up to Disney this weekend for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Pary on Friday night. Before we left, she tried on her Ears that she got in February, and they fit perfectly! The Christmas party starts at 7 pm, and you can enter the park as early as 4 pm. We arrived at about 5 o'clock, just in time for the day parade to be coming down Main Street! Oops! It was crazy madness! I was just coming up on dinnertime for Miss Claire Bear, so we moseyed on over to Peco's Bill's Cafe to have some dinner. As a side note, the Chicken Wrap there is one of the best things I've ever eaten at Disney "fast food". Stephanie and Evan joined us for the Christmas Party festivites, and they had never been on the Jungle Cruise so we went there next since it closed at 7 pm. It was already dark outside of course, so that was pretty cool, I don't ever remember going on the Jungle Cruise in the dark. At 7 pm they lit up the Castle for the Party.... it was unbelievable! There were so many lights!! 7 pm is Claire's bedtime and we weren't sure how long she would last, so we headed to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin next because we wanted her to see that. She seemed to enjoy it. She was doing the eye rubbing/finger sucking routine when we were done though, so next we took a leisurely ride on the TTA. By the time we got off, she was asleep! We then strolled over to Frontierland to catch the Christmas Parade, and then off to Fantasyland. We decided to go in Mickey's Philharmagic, and Chadd plucked Claire from her stroller and held her thinking that she would sleep through the whole thing, until........ well first there were some loud noises, so she jumped a few times and opened her eyes. The Philharmagic is a 3-D show and at one point the seats spit water at you. Well, Miss Claire did NOT like that. She jumped, then settled back down, but was eyeing everything very suspiciously and would not go back to sleep. Then, WHOOSH! More Water! Claire let out a bit of a cry to let Donald Duck know that she was not happy, and then she was awake. We finished the show 15 minutes before the fireworks, so we decided to stay in Fantasyland and watch the fireworks from there (which is my favorite place to watch them from anyway!) Claire was still awake and giggling, and when the fireworks started she was laying down in her stroller. The first few went off and she just looked around, then the first big firework BOOM! Claire said "Ahhhhhhhh!", I immediately picked her up and she stopped crying. She barely flinched the whole rest of the show with all the other booms, I guess just the first one scared her. She seemed to like the fireworks, but was most interested in the monkey statue that was behind her on top of the train car. After the fireworks it was close to 10 pm so we decided it was time to hit the road. Of course it was snowing on Main Street, a MVMCP tradition! Claire was awake the whole time to the car, we strapped her in her carseat, the car started moving and she was o-u-t. Once back at the hotel, we transferred her seamlessly to her Marriott crib.

Today, we got up, and went to breakfast, then we went to EPCOT. We got in the entrance, got in line for Spaceship Earth, and Claire fell asleep in my arms for her morning nap. She slept the whole ride on Chadd's lap, then slept in her stroller while we walked to the complete opposite end of the Park to make a reservation in Italy for lunch, then back to the front of the park to go to The Seas. She woke up just before we got to The Seas, so we parked ourselves on a bench and she had her morning snack. When she was done we went through The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and looked at all the fishies in the aquarium. After The Seas, we went to Imagination. I was really excited because I've always loved Imageworks at Imagination, but I guess I haven't paid too much attention in the past few years because it has changed, and it's not so good anymore. I was really looking forward to taking Claire in the rainbow tunnel, only to find out it isn't there anymore! Now it really is just a big marketing room for Kodak. Someone I'm sure is going to tell me that the rainbow tunnel has been gone for x number of years, but I thought it was still there! I was very disappointed. Next we walked through the countries of the World Showcase on our way to Italy for lunch. It was of course, very yummy! I had spaghetti (surprise) with little mini veal meatballs. The meatballs were all spicy and good. After lunch it was time to leave so we could be back at the hotel for 4 pm so Chadd could watch the Gator game. Plus, Claire and I were POOPED! So, we had a good time, and YAY! MEMORIES!