Update on Christmas

Remember how I was worrying about our Christmas plans back in March? We quickly dismissed the cruise idea for the same reason I mentioned there - we'd been to all of those places.

So what did we choose instead?

The happiest place on earth!



We walked. We rode. We stood in line. We ate giant turkey legs. And we discovered a few secrets for mastering Disney (at the holidays and any other time!)

1. 2 words: Fast. Pass. The longest line all day at Magic Kingdom was Space Mountain, followed closely by Peter Pan. It was the only ride at 1am that still had a line! At Epcot, it was definitely Soarin'. So get to the parks early and fast pass it up. You can punch your FP every 2 hours.

2. Don't buy tickets ahead of time! The day we went to Epcot, we ended up getting 3/4 tickets for free because other people had extras. 2 of the tickets were from a cast member who had 4 free passes, and the other one was from a stranger who had a no-show with their group. That's almost $300 in free passes to Disney! SCORE!

3. Take your time! You are there to enjoy the parks, not race around like crazy people through them!

4. While everyone is else is watching fireworks, go get in line for a ride or two! And, stick around until the minute the park closes! The later it gets, the less people there are.

5. Try to watch the latest parade! The parades at Disney are top notch, but they run at least twice a day. We watched the 11pm (!!!) Electrical parade, and there were seriously 1/10 of the crowds as there were at 3:30pm.

6. Bring snacks & water bottles inside the park with you, but also splurge on park snacks! The turkey legs were so freaking delicious - I had one at Epcot and Magic Kingdom. I couldn't resist! My sister & I shared an ice cream bar, and I really wanted a pickle but I didn't know if I could eat a whole one. I wouldn't make a very good Pea.

7. I mentioned this once, but stay until the park closes! We decided that we were way better suited for the late night than the early morning, although I heard from a few mom's on the monorail that 8am-10am was pretty tame, too. But I might choose shoving bamboo shoots up my fingernails over being in Magic Kingdom at 2pm again. And, on Tuesday night MK was open until 1am! 1am!!!! It was so awesome!

8. Take pictures! My sister made some snide comment about my picure taking at Epcot so I stopped, and I wish I hadn't let her ruin my fun that day!

9. Wear comfy shoes. The most comfortable ones you own. You will walk, more than you've ever walked before.

10. Have fun! Don't be a Grinch - roll with the punches and remember that you are in the happiest place on earth :)