Mouse Ears

While shopping for shirts, Jim decided to visit La Chapeau for a hat. When the girls and I arrived, he discovered the new Mouse Ears. With the new Mouse Ears, you pick a beanie, two ears and then add jewels, patches or your name. Well we all decided to make our own Ears - Nicole made two pairs! My ears glow in the dark!

The nice thing about this souvenir is that you can easily spot your child in a crowd because the combinations are endless! The price is about the same for traditional ears.

Of course, I became a fanatic for having the string not showing but this did not stop Jim from hiding his!

My Wish!

I got my wish by being in Magic Kingdom for New Years Eve. By 10:00 pm Main Street was closed except for you to leave! They were even escorting guests out of the park through cast member only areas!

We watched the fireworks in Frontierland which was empty! I made my annual midnight call to my mom which she always takes! We then proceeded out the front.

We needed to make two stops so I took Nicole and Jim took Jess. Once we exited the park, the front gate was PACKED! I was glad I only had Nicole. We new the monorail was not going to be an option so we had planned on walking back to the Polynesian.

However, as we made our way to the paths, the boat launch was working so we got on line. Jim and Jess were ahead on line but of course my morals got in the way and we did not cut the line. Two boats later we were headed to the Polynesian and in bed by 1:00 am!

Cinderella's Royal Table

Because we knew the park would be at capacity, my idea to eat at the California Grill in the Contemporary was shifted to New Years Day. We ate with Cinderella and her friends! It was a fun meal with wands, swords and magical deserts!

Magic Kingdom - New Years Eve

One of the reasons we picked this week to go on vacation in Disney World was because I have always wanted to be in the Magic Kingdom on New Years Eve. I got my wish along with 74, 996 other guests (okay maybe not their wish but they were there!).

We started the day eating at Crystal Palace. Nicole even got an autograph book for autographs! We went on our favorites only once for most especially considering Space Mountain broke down! It was a magical day!

Best Friend

One of my favorite memories was having my picture taken with Jess and Towmater! I love Towmater because he is what a friend should be. I hope I am that kind of friend to my friends and eventually my daughters when they are older!

Disney's Hollywood Studios

We love this park because of the rides-Rockin' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror and of course, Toy Storymania! We fell in love with Toy Story in Disneyland and could not wait to ride it here. Of course, with the larger crowds, we needed to wait 15 minutes for a FastPass and by 10:00 am all of the FastPasses were gone so only one trip for us!

We skipped Tower of Terror much to the delight of Jessica and myself and could only ride Rockin once which was not going over well in our house! We usually ride this at least three times a visit! Except for the main rides, other lines were quick!

We did get to enjoy the Osbourne Family Lights and had dinner at the famed Brown Derby!

A Star is Born

Jim has always wanted to be in the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular at Disney's Hollywood Studios. However, Nicole never lets him volunteer. She would throw a crying fit if he raised his hand and would force it down. However, this year she let him go! So Jim is in the stripped turban on the far right hand side of the picture in Cairo. The above shot is the souvenir for being in the show. We did ask Nicole why she would not let him go and she said she was afraid he would not comeback! Very sweet but she has seen the show at least 10 times and know they come back!

Hook and Loop

Jess and Nicole got to be a part of a show which taught about the wonders of velcro aka hook and loop. They were contestants in building a block tower cover with hooks and loops.

Jim was a part of the show too. He had to diaper babies and carry them on his apron! Very funny!

Nicole's Take on EPCOT

Do you think she could sell this as stock material? Not bad for a little point and shoot picture!

EPCOT

We spent almost two full days in EPCOT. The bonus at EPCOT during the holiday season is that they tell stories in all the countries about how they celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa or New Years Day. We enjoyed listening to all the stories. We also got to eat in two favorite countries - Canada and Japan. Jess of course stayed true to her French and had French ice cream every chance she could.

With the additional crowds, FastPasses were gone for Soarin, Test Track and Mission Space by 2:00 pm. The queue for the ride in Mexico featuring the Three Callberos was all through out the attraction. Spaceship Earth which was update posted a 30 minute wait time. We all enjoyed the new features in Spaceship Earth but a lot of the original still remains.

One highlight in EPCOT was seeing my friend Laura who now works for Disney. She invited us to a taping of a video in America. My friends Gary and Pam were there too, and we even got to be in the video! Okay, we held a sound screen so that when Angela Bassett recorded the video you could not here the air conditioner! We did get to meet her and her husband, Courtney Vance. She was very sweet. We then got to listen to them read the Candlelight Processional. I was not sure I was going to enjoy the show again because I had experienced it last year. However, the show takes on a different feel depending on who is reading it. I think I enjoyed it more. Jim really loved it and would gladly go again!

I think EPCOT was my favorite park during the holidays!

Hello Polynesian!

We were very lucky to spend the week between Christmas and New Years at Walt Disney World. This was my reward for working with the www.disneyworldmoms.com for the year. We stayed at the Polynesian which was a new experience for us. We loved being on the monorail and our room was near the main building and pool though we only swam New Years Day.

We took Magical Express, another first, and arrive around noon to our hotel. We were greeted with leis as is the tradition in the Hawaiian islands.

We quickly unpacked and headed to EPCOT for the start of our vacation. We even got stuck on the monorail for about fifteen minutes and overlooked Spaceship Earth with its winding line another first!