Christmas trip 2017, Arrival, Magic Kingdom

For our 2017 Christmas trip to Disney, we were actually there November 25 - December 2.  Crowd levels were nice and low, and everything was completely decorated for Christmas so this seemed like the perfect week.  I do say that with the one exception of our very first day, this arrival Saturday.  I've always heard that Thanksgiving was crazy in the parks, and this Saturday proved that.  It's amazing the difference in crowds between the weekend and the week that followed, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

We arrived at our hotel, Art of Animation by 4:30.  This was our first time staying here, and I'm sure I will write more about it eventually, but for now I will say that the room itself was exactly what we expected and we loved the large characters and decor around the property.  We unloaded the car and unpacked some, and by 5:30 we were at the bus stop heading to Magic Kingdom.

As I stated above, we expected it to be crowded, but I had forgotten what a packed Magic Kingdom looked like.  We've been there during peak summer times, over the holidays, and even New Year's Eve before, but lately we've been there during less crowded times so we were a bit shell shocked walking in the park.  By the time we got to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, it was 6:50.  We had planned ahead and arranged for three fastpasses this evening.  We decided if that was all we accomplished this evening that was fine.  (One of the perks of now being an annual passholder.)  So here's Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, attraction #1.

Since we made it here right at the end of our fastpass time slot, by the time we got off and crossed the crowded park, and stopped in at pin traders to look for the Red Head pirate pin, it was already time for our second fastpass; Big Thunder Mountain, attraction #2.

Unfortunately, we didn't find the red head pin, but Littlecjc did show interest for the first time in some Mickey ears.  To be more specific, some fairy ears.  We said no at this time, but we'll come back to this later.

We took the long route from Frontierland through Adventureland, but everything still seemed busy there, so we opted instead to wait in line at Sleepy Hallow for some chicken waffles.  So good and worth the wait in line.  Our final fastpass was for Peter Pan's Flight, attraction #3.  We quickly got on the app to see if we could pick up any other fastpasses and grabbed some for Mad Tea Party, attraction #4.

We again looked at the app, and picked up fastpasses for Barnstormer, but we had a little time first.  I think Patrick had Gaston's Tavern in mind, but as we passed Eric's castle, Littlecjc decided we needed a picture.

We of course then needed to ride Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid, attraction #5.

I don't remember if Patrick ever made it to Gaston's, it probably had too long of a line for his liking, but we ended up at Storybook Circus to use our final fastpass of the night on Barnstormer, attraction #6.

At this point we had been going back and forth on whether or not we were going to try to watch the fireworks, but with the crazy crowd, we didn't really think it was worth it.  Patrick wanted to try another store in Tomorrowland, still in search of his pirate pin, so we decided to go there instead.  Littlecjc saw her fairy ears again, and we decided it made more sense to buy this at the beginning of our trip instead of the end.

She was so happy!  Unfortunately, Patrick had no luck again with his pin.  He had been looking on the app now and even on our last trip, but even though it shows up as in stock, no one can ever find it in the store.  Thankfully, we had already made the decision to leave instead of watching the fireworks, because as we left Tomorrowland, we were directed toward the front of the park via the terrace and then the back passageway around Main Street as the front of the hub and Main Street were already at capacity.  There were actually people standing inside the tape on this side street as well.  I didn't even know they put tape down there.  When we reached the end of Main Street, it wasn't as bad as I expected, but we decided to take this quick picture and then continued to exit.

We made it to our bus stop just as the fireworks were starting, which provided our entertainment while we waited.  We actually had a good view so it was nice.

When the bus did come Littlecjc quickly grabbed her seat in the very back where she could watch the fireworks until the bus decided to leave.  Aww, sad face that she was missing the end of the fireworks.

We may not have had a crazy first day in the park, but we had a great time and were happy to spend any amount of time in the park.  Before being annual passholders, we never would have gone into the park for just a few hours, so it was a nice change and something I will probably miss if or more likely when we decide to get rid of our passes.