New Best Hangout Spot at MK

I took a magical Christmas-time trip to Magic Kingdom with my family this past weekend (can't remember the last time we all went together!) since my parents are visiting from NY for the 2nd Christmas in a row.  It was VERY crowded, and we decided, after a few FastPass rides, to relax with a WDW railroad trip around the Kingdom!  We were upset to find out that it actually isn't running due to the new Tron ride they're building--the construction is on or close to part of the tracks.  So not only was it not running that day--it won't be running for quite some time!

While this was initially a let-down, it ended up being a nice break from the crowds!  The conductors were still working at their station, delivering the sad news to visitors but welcoming us to have a seat, take a break, take pictures... They even gave us each a sheet of Mickey's 90th Birthday stickers!  We took a couple goofy photos (pun not intended!) and I tried taking a family selfie (direct-sunlight fail), and we just put our bags down and relaxed.

It looks out onto the entrance so you can see all the people excited as they come in!  I don't know if they would let people have a full-blown picnic on the seats, but I'd recommend trying it!  At least a little snack break!  The sky might even smile at you!

It's a great place for railroad fanatics too because, in the station, there are some display cases of train models and other train paraphernalia.  The top floor has a great view of Main Street, USA:

You can see the castle, the Christmas tree, and some Christmas decorations!  I bet it looks great at night, too.  On the inside they have old nickelodeons that actually work (and are free!) with black and white shorts and cartoons.

I got excited and thought this was Oswald out of the corner of my eye.  Looks more like Felix.  Oddly, they don't even show the cat that was in the bag!

A nickelodeon!

Just gorgeous!

So on super crowded days, or if your feet are aching, remember the stationary WDW railroad where they let you stay a while and take it all in!

Tony's Town Square is Perfect for Lady & The Tramp Lovers

Since this was Jim's first Disney trip, I wanted to fit in some extra special things.  He and I love Lady and the Tramp and watched the movie again before our trip.  We planned a dinner at Tony's Town Square at Magic Kingdom for our third night in Disney.

I'd never been there before, and I didn't quite know where it was!  Turns out I'd never even noticed it on all my trips to the Magic Kingdom!  It's right next to the bake shop (I probably never noticed because I'd always rushed there!), before all the little shops on Main Street, to the right as you enter.  (To the left of that building where you can meet Tinkerbell & Mickey.)  

The theme was absolutely everywhere.  Their reservation desk was adorable:

Their menus had Tony on them:

Even the bathrooms were adorable…

And we sat right next to the fountain!

The food was fantastic!!  I had the shrimp scampi (one of my favorite dishes anywhere we go) and Jim had the seasonal ravioli (this season was chicken marsala).  I also had Ariel's Punch (pink lemonade with Sprite, I think) which came in a cute plastic, lidded cup with a green, glowing Ariel clipped to the straw!  I kept it, obviously, and use it now as a flashlight for the interior of my purse :)

They brought us delicious focaccia bread and olive oil.  When our food arrived, all we did was shake our heads and smile after our first forkfuls.  It was beyond words.  

The only thing that made this not a perfect experience was the "celebration" aspect.  I had called over a month prior to our visit to add an anniversary celebration to our dinner.  I asked if they did anything special, and the woman on the phone said yes but she wasn't sure exactly what.  When we sat down, there was a ticket at our table that had "CELEBRATION" in all caps printed on the bottom.  I hadn't told Jim about my plans, and when our check arrived without any special recognition, I was sorely disappointed.  When Jim excused himself to use the men's room, I flagged down our waiter and asked him about it, saying it was supposed to be a surprise, and he said "We don't really do anything special for anniversaries.  A birthday, yes, we would sing and bring you ice cream.  I wished you a happy anniversary when I seated you.  But other than that…  You have to let them know beforehand."  I told him that I did let them know beforehand, and he said, "You need to remind them when you check in.  Maybe next year we can set the table for you with a tablecloth and wine."

Yeah.  Maybe next year.

So I guess if you are planning a celebration, let them know when you arrive.

Other than that, it is a great place to stop in for a delicious meal and great theming!  We didn't get any dessert (we were saving room for a Dole Whip anyway), but I did take a picture of this adorable plate one of the desserts came on (they were on display at the entrance--I wasn't hovering over someone else's table!):

And before we left, we made sure to look for Lady and the Tramp on a date in the back of the restaurant:

Happy Birthday, Donald!

Donald Duck turns 80 today, and he's looking divine!!  Here is a small collection of Donald memorabilia I wrangled up when I found out!  The gold one is from a charm bracelet I had as a kid (I have more pictures of it in an earlier post) that I got in the parks!  The other is a more recent one… And the rubbery one is from a line that was at Toys R Us a couple years ago (that I don't think lasted).  The vinyl is from a parks collection that came with Pluto in a sorcerer hat :)  Super pumped for my trip in August!!

Rapunzel's New Home

So... there is a new tower in New Fantasyland.  How did I not even know this was in the works??  I just saw pictures today from the Disney Parks Blog, and so can you.

It's not a new meet & greet area or anything.  Just a lovely little piece of magical architecture.  The rest area by Peter Pan's Flight is also decorated with Tangled-inspired bunting and lights!  Beautiful!  I can't wait to see it in person (but I'll have to... siiigh).

A New Mermaid Joins the Magic Kingdom...

Pretty soon the Starbucks Siren will be joining Disney World.  Already part of Disney's California Adventure, Starbucks will be replacing Main Street Bakery in the Magic Kingdom.  I hear they will be required to wear the same or similar outfits as the current bakery cast members, and that more locations will be opening in the other Disney parks and in Downtown Disney.

I am pretty upset that the Main Street Bakery is being replaced :( I also am upset that the Starbucks mermaid won't be wearing mouse ears on her head in their insignia.  But the cups look pretty cute:

I got that picture from pulpconnection.com.  Everyone's talking about it!  And now so are you!

Boo to You!!

oh. my. goodness.  My dad & I just got back from Disney World last night.  We had the BEST time.  I have SO MUCH TO TELL YOU!

I went through such a FUNK this morning!!  As we all know, Disney is the Happiest Place on Earth, so it was a little sad coming home.  But home is where the heart is, so of course it wasn't THAT bad :)  I will be writing a post on how to help yourself through the Post-Disney Blues, or as I will further refer to them, the PDB's.  But first (and one of the steps to curing the PDB's), pictures from my trip!

We stayed at All-Star Music, in the Broadway section.  We found these adorable washcloth ghosts hanging in our window:

I just love Disney.  Don't you?  We went to MNSSHP our second day, so I will start with those photos:

These were all over the place, but that didn't make them any less special!  How CUTE!

Here's my dad & me in our costumes: Dr. Doofenshmirtz and The Little Mermaid :D  And Mickey, of course!

The Haunted Mansion was beautifully spooky!!  We made sure to stop by before it got too crowded, which was before the official Halloween party started (MNSSHP starts at 7 but you can go in at 4).  It was awesome, as usual.  We got stuck looking dead-on at Madame Leota's floating head and had that announcement about the ride beginning again in a few moments.  That happened a few times at the party, but it was okay!!  I got a good picture of Jack Sparrow while we heard "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me" for about 25 minutes on repeat at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean:

This means free candy!!  You don't even have to say "trick or treat!"  Except sometimes it's raisins...

The lighting was so pretty!  Here's Frontierland:

We saw an almost-private screening of Country Bear Jamboree (there were maybe 5 other people there).  We heard about the re"fur"bishment this attraction had in early October and were fretting it might not be open when we were there.  However, it was open, and the bears looked so clean and shiny!  They even finally referenced how Big Al was interrupting the finale with his own song.  Here's the curtain closing on him, haha.

There were a lot of awesome costumes!!  I saw a few guys dressed as Prince Phillip and the Disney fox version of Robin Hood (my favorite Disney movie from my childhood :)), a family of Disney gift cards (so clever!), a few Barbie and Kens from Toy Story 3...  Here's a family dressed as a Toy Story group:

And Kiss:

Here's some pics of the rides:

It's a Small World:

The castle was beautiful, as always:

We saw the Happy Hallo-Wishes fireworks show:

A big tree was in our way (because it was crowded in the prime viewing areas) but we could still see the ghosts and pumpkins projected on the castle!  The colors were nice and our "ghost host" was great :)

Then there was Mickey's Boo-to-You! Parade which began with the Headless Horseman trotting down the route!

 

 The gang were in their Halloween get-ups!

I didn't get a good picture of Eeyore, but he was dressed as a cute clown :) Christopher Robin actually looked just like the character from the books, and he's a face character!  Oh, they're all so cute...

I've never seen Kanga, Roo, and Rabbit!  How awesome!

There was a great Haunted Mansion part to the parade:

We didn't know who this guy and the dog were!  I googled it today and found out it's the "Caretaker and Dog" from the scene in the Haunted Mansion.  I don't remember this scene.  I thought it was from The Great Mouse Detective!  Haha.  Oh well.  It was still so cute to see a real dog in the parade!

 

Then there were the hitchhiking ghosts:

 

And the Country Bear Jamboree:

And, of course, Clara Cluck.  What??  She came down the parade route in her own barn float, clucking away to "Boo to You" hahaha.  What was that about?  Needless to say, we loved it.  I think this was my favorite part of the parade.

Here's another nod to Robin Hood--the Sheriff of Nottingham:

Here's Maleficent:

Goofy came to end the parade with his big candy concoction:

We saw the sign on our way out:

Then there were the treats!!

Aaah!  They had these adorable mouse ears.  When you lift the flap on top, Chip and Dale are under it :)

We saw these cute lanterns and popcorn souvenir buckets all over the park--they were aDORable!  

They had Madame Leota lollipops:

And Haunted Mansion ghost ones:

Their candy apples are just the cutest!  Too bad candy apples are so messy!!

Then there were the cupcakes, of course.  YUM!

I love the chocolate mouse ears on the ghost cupcakes!!  I want the mold!!  I finally bought a pumpkin-topped cupcake on our last night in Disney:

Cute AND delicious!!  Then there were the real pumpkins:

And the not-real pumpkins:

 

 

Mickey and Minnie in their farmer's clothes at The Land in Epcot, with some familiar pumpkin faces...

Duffy was in his pumpkin costume, also at Epcot, wearing my tiny Duffy on his head:

And of course there were pumpkin scarecrows at Main Street, USA:

Here's some decorations at the entrance to Magic Kingdom:

And the exit!  Oh, it was such a magical time.  See ya real soon!  (So much more to come!!)