Happy Merry Hallo-mas!!!!!!

We set or trip up for Halloween because we thought it'd be fun to do the MNSSHP on actual Halloween and because we'd never been to Disney on my birthday before and this year it fell on a convenient Monday. We enjoy the Halloween decor and love the party, so we are fans of Disney in the fall. It didn't occur to us until well after booking that we might get to see a bit a Christmas on the same four and a half day trip, but we did!

These guys greet you as soon as you enter the park.

And if you're lucky, you catch a #WonderFALL song and dance number!

We Stiteses love the jack-o-lanterns on Main Street.

And the view up Main Street towards the castle is always a winner.

 So what changed between Monday night and Thursday morning? Plenty!

 The Christmas Spirit hits you as soon as you arrive outside the main gate!

I was speaking to another guest on our way in and she told me most of the Christmas stuff was up the day before (Wednesday), but not the big tree in Town Square. She was hoping it was installed Wednesday night. She was not disappointed!

The Pumpkin People left to make room for Toy Soldiers.

And the Mickey #WonderFALL wreathes were replaced with Christmas Mickey wreathes!

And there are also more traditional, less Mickey-fied wreathes.

Even at the Cinderella Castle!

And the Christmas decor overflowed into Tomorrowland!

I'm usually one to not want my Christmas season rushed. I'm usually in the "let's get Thanksgiving behind us first" camp. But I have to admit, this little burst of Yuletide has kick started my Christmas Spirit. I'm ready to dive right in!

Merry Christmas!

17 Days: Wordless Wednesday, Inside Wilderness Lodge

21 Days: Hurricane Matthew Visits

I want to talk about Disney, but this stupid storm is too HERE to focus on much else. His center has passed us by, but let me tell you, Matthew has a windy backside!  It's blowing to bat the band outside right this minute, so it;s difficult to concentrate on witty blog posts. Instead, here are some on the scene photos from earlier today.

Yes, we had to take a walk and look around. That water behind John is normally a salt marsh with about a 5 foot wide canal

New construxtion on the left and a town park on the right, both covered by the ICW now. Not the crab trap bouy floating around to the right of the port-apotty

This is Yacht Drive, the street that runs parallel to the Intracoastal. It's largely under water.

I've never, in 23 years here, seen the ICW so high

Boats on lifts are pretty much in the water now

And here we see Mother Ocean coming through the beach access. We tried to save the street sign, no telling if it stayed where we stashed it.

Here's looking forward to a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow!

24 Days: Wordless Wednesday, Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover

31 Days: Wordless Wednesday, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Photos Courtesy of the Lovely and Talented Lisa P. Stites

43 Days: Carousel of Progress

The Carousel of Progress at the New York World's Fair in 1964

This is maybe the most "Disney" attraction in Florida. It's one that you'd never see the likes of in Universal or Sea World or Busch Gardens, and that fans of those parks would never in a million years WANT there. The technology is fairly outdated, there's not thrill aspect or tie-in to a franchise, there's a song you'll not get out of your head unless it's replaced by "It's A Small World" later in the day, it breaks down with some frequency, the "modern" family segment is from the 1980s, but I love it.

First off, it's a tangible piece of Walt in a park he never lived to see or even supervise much of the construction of. The Carousel of Progress wasn't built for Walt Disney World, or even Disneyland, it was built for the 1964 World's Fair. The attraction we can ride today is the same one that was built in New York, disassembled and taken to Disneyland and then disassembled again and installed in its Tomorrowland home in Florida. For a guy who loves him some Walt and who hasn't been able to swing a visit to California (yet), it's pretty special to sit in an attraction the The Man himself had a real hand in creating.

But I also have a ore personal reason to find Carousel of Progress special. My parents actually rode it while on a date in high school at the New York World's Fair. They rode the train from Philadelphia to New York City and spent the day at the World's Fair as young teens. And today, I and an my family can experience one of the attractions they saw then in much the same form (with a few small updates). That is a piece of real Magic.

The Carousel of Progress has received a new paint job and is in the process of getting some new signage to match. Here's a link to some recent photos. I like that this classic piece of Disney History is being treated well but not really changed. The fact that Disney spent a few bucks to gussy her up tells me the Carousel won't be going anywhere anytime soon, and that makes me happy.

45 Days: Wordless Wednesday, Disney Transportation

53 Days: MNSSHP PhotoPass Magic Shots

We've decided to purchase the Memory maker package from Disney's PhotoPass service this trip in hopes of getting photos of all three of us at once. One bonus to that I hadn't even counted on was PhotoPass shots during the Halloween party. And a bonus of THAT I hadn't counted on is these super cool Magic Shots available exclusively during the MNSSHP.

We are all fans of the Headless Horseman, so you can bet we're excited to have a photo with him! You can follow the link above to see more examples, including two video Magic Shots. Thanks to my new podcast friends, I have a better idea how this whole PhotoPass thing works and how to make sure we find all the Magic Shots we can (you need to ask the photographers).

If we play our cards right, I'll have Wordless Wednesday material for months to come :-)

57 Days: First Night of MNSSHP 2016

The boy will be taller than his momma in this year's photos :-)

Tonight is the first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party of the year and to celebrate, I'm sharing two Disney Blog posts that have me excited to attend the last one of 2016.

The first is all about special treats available exclusively at MNSSHP. Who doesn't like treats? The cupcakes look delicious and while the lovely and talented Miss Lisa poo poos worms in her slushy, I'm looking at giving it a try!

The second post previews a few of  the Disney PhotoPass Magic Shots exclusive to MNSSHP. When we decided to purchase Memory Maker for this trip, we weren't even thinking about the Halloween party, but you better bet we'll have a photo made with the Headless Horseman! And those video things? How cool are they?

Is it Halloween yet?

63 Days: I'm On A Mission

An article I shared last year on Facebook popped up in my memories thing today and now I'm on a mission. World of Walt had an article last year about a new (then) "rest area" in the New Fantasyland section of the Magic Kingdom. It occupies the circus tent location of what used to be a Fantasyland FastPass distribution kiosk and features some chairs, stools and sofas along with some outlets for phone charging in a nice shady spot off the beaten path.

Wat's so exciting about some furniture and electrical outlets in an unused faux circus tent you ask? Well, you clearly haven't seen THIS SOFA!!!

LOOK AT IT!!!!!

See it? SEE IT???!!!??? That red and white and pink and for some reason also yellow thing with only one arm? My life won't be complete until I have my photo taken lounging on that glorious thing. It's calling out to me, I tell ya. I can see me now, my head on one end, my feet dangling where no arm is......it will be perfect.

Surely there will be PhotoPass photographer stationed by such beauty, but it was made for Instagram :-)

66 Days: Wordless Wednesday, Asheville Vacation Photos