Disney Day 4: Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

Having the opportunity to attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party was one of the key reasons we decided to go to Disney in December!!  It is a special ticketed event and you don’t need park admission for the day.  And while the party starts at seven p.m., your ticket will get you in at around four!  So, with a morning to burn we slept in (much needed) and headed across the street from our hotel for lunch at Downtown Disney and another jaunt in the Lego store.  The Rainforest Cafe is almost as fun as T-Rex with its lively jungle animals!  It was even warm enough for the littles to go for a nice long swim after lunch!!
Disney December 2012 449
Disney December 2012 450
Disney December 2012 451
Disney December 2012 452
Disney December 2012 453
Disney December 2012 454
Disney December 2012 455
Disney December 2012 456
Disney December 2012 457  Disney December 2012 459

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom right around four and decided we’d each get to pick our favorite thing to do again.  The baby chose to visit with Mickey…
Disney December 2012 446
Disney December 2012 463
Disney December 2012 468
Disney December 2012 470

I chose Enchanted Tales with Belle, of course :-)  This time the PCP was Phillipe the horse, the baby was a magic frame and I was Madame Wardrobe.  So much fun and magical even the second time around.

belle2
belle3
belle4
belle1

Honey chose to visit with Ariel, his favorite princess, in the new Ariel’s Grotto.  We lucked o ut and literally walked right up!  It was neat to see her in mermaid form since she’s always in her princess form these days.
Disney December 2012 523
Disney December 2012 524
And John chose to ride Space Mountain a few more times.  While Honey did that with him, the baby and I caught the Totally Tomorrowland Christmas special show that was part of the Christmas party.  It was super cute, had a lot of our favorite characters and it snowed at the end!!
Disney December 2012 539
Disney December 2012 540

Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime parade was really the best parade we’ve seen yet.  I could hardly believe my eyes when Cinderella’s glass coach came out pulled by miniature white ponies.  It was stunning.  And as many of the floats when by, the entire parade route started to smell like Christmas trees, peppermints and the like.  There were loads of rarely seen characters and Santa himself at the very end.  They really thought of everything!

Disney December 2012 498
Disney December 2012 501
Disney December 2012 502  Disney December 2012 507
Disney December 2012 508
Disney December 2012 510
Disney December 2012 515
Disney December 2012 516
Disney December 2012 517
Disney December 2012 519  Disney December 2012 521

After the parade we caught the Celebrate the Season Show in front of the castle.
Disney December 2012 489
Disney December 2012 493  Disney December 2012 497

The party really cleared out after the show and we were able to hit sooo many things in no time at all.  We did Monster Mansion, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean in about thirty minutes! Disney December 2012 477
Disney December 2012 478

And then we headed back over to Storybook Circus where we’d missed Minnie, Daisy and Dumbo the day before.  It was so deserted that we rode Goofy’s Barnstormer without even getting off three times in a row and Dumbo twice.  We had a gorgeous view of the fireworks as we were up in the air on Dumbo when they started.

Disney December 2012 526
Disney December 2012 527
Disney December 2012 528
Disney December 2012 529
Disney December 2012 530
Disney December 2012 531
minnie

Disney December 2012 534  Disney December 2012 537
Disney December 2012 538
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how thrilled the littles (and Honey alike) were to pick up their special Christmas party card for the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game.

Disney December 2012 550

And we wrapped up our night with hot chocolate and cookies (well, the baby chose apple slices) and the awe-inspiring Celebrate the Magic colors on the castle. Everything in the Magic Kingdom was even more magical than ever with the twinkling lights, glittering decorations and holiday music.
Disney December 2012 543
Disney December 2012 546
Disney December 2012 548
Disney December 2012 544
It was a night made for magic!
xoxo

See more Magic Kingdom here, here and here!

PS. We are back and I am trying to catch up so a barrage of Disney posts are about to follow :-)  This blog was started as (and continues to be) a record of our goings, doings and musings and I’m not going to leave out a single detail.