Fest 1 of 4 done! A week of food, wine and walking. Day 4

[BriarRose0708]

Happy 2024, Intercot! Now that the Holidays are finally done, I can get back to finishing up this TR before I leave for my next trip in a month!

Day 4 found me "sleeping in" until 7:30 a.m. after a later night in EPCOT. I took my time getting ready and went down to Boma for breakfast at 8:30. I really enjoyed the breakfast buffet here, everything was so delicious and fresh. I had fantastic service and left very full and happy. I would have to give the overall edge to dinner here, though, if I were to compare the two. I think with breakfast you can have only so many options and with dinner the selection is much larger, and I usually get more for my money at dinner than breakfast anyway. But breakfast was great and I would certainly come back for it. I needed to walk it off, and since I was in no rush to get anywhere I walked around the resort to the observation areas and chatted with the friendly and very knowledgable cast members about the animals and their care. I went back to my room to spend some luxuriating time on my balcony with coffee and watched a parade of animals as they were relocated from the savannas to the corrals.

Around 11ish I hopped on a bus to Magic Kingdom and walked over to the Contemporary to begin my Monorail crawl. The lounges weren't open until 4, and I had hoped to get a snack and bevvy before going into MVMCP but I'll have to save that for another time. I checked out the holiday decor and displays at each resort though, and got to talk with the head pastry chef of the Contemporary about the display. I picked up some treats at each - Liner Cookie at Contempo, peppermint mocha latte at Kona coffee bar at the Poly, a gingerbread person and a brownie cake pop from the gingerbread house at Grand Floridian. The holidays are so beautiful at these resorts, I was a bit underwhelmed at the Poly but I liked that it didn't feel overdone. I finished up my resort tour much earlier than I expected and decided to scan into the MK at 12ish and stay for the duration of the night through the Party. Crowds were low today so I just meandered around, soaking it in, ate lunch, got a couple rides in, and did some attractions I hadn't done since pre-COVID like Enchanted Tales with Belle and the Festival of Fantasy parade. The only wait time that wasn't much lower than posted was Pooh Bear, everything else was a walk on with posted 20-30 minute waits.

I was already in the park at 4, so I picked up my Party wristband and sweet Nutcracker ornament at Philharmagic and then went to Tomorrowland for my TRON VQ return time and Lightning Lane reservation. Once again, there was no wait and I didn't even take my belongings out of my locker since I just walked right back around to the entrance to enter the VQ after my LL time. I scanned in at 4:26 p.m. and by 5 p.m. I had ridden twice. I hopped on the PeopleMover at dusk and got stuck for about 20 minutes, at least I was sitting down relaxing and not in line. After that I caught the 6:15 p.m. castle lighting show, which was very cute, and then got in line to meet Stitch at 6:30 p.m.

The Party started at 7, and the Stitch line moved pretty quickly at 6:59. I was through in 15 minutes but anyone who got in line at 6:45 had an hour wait. From the Tiki Room, I worked my way around the park clockwise, stopping at the cookie and cocoa stations, meeting characters, and getting rides on Space and Tomorrowland Speedway for the holiday decorations and overlays. I saved the cookies to bring home since they are individually wrapped and brought a plastic container to keep them in so they didn't get crushed in my park bag. Husband and I tasted them the next week and here are our cookie rankings in descending order:
4. Red Velvet
3. Chocolate Chip
2. Iced Gingerbread
1. Snickerdoodle

I made my way to Townsquare Theater after the first parade was finishing up and got in line to meet Mickey. It took about 20 minutes and when I was done the lines for Mick and Jack were both at an hour! I browsed the Confectionary for anything I wanted to snack on during the fireworks but didn't find anything that was calling for me. I got a spot halfway up Main Street to watch the fireworks show, which was very good. I never saw Holiday Wishes so I had nothing to compare this one to. I LOVED that Tink flies in this show though, she doesn't at Not So Scary. After fireworks I walked up to the castle hub for the next stage show. This show is fantastic! I loved every second. Great songs, musical arrangements, LOTS of characters, too. I think this show is the best of the entertainment at this Party. After the show I headed back down Main to the train station, where there was lots of room to grab a spot in the front for the second parade. It was a bit of a wait because at 11 it steps off in Frontierland and takes about 30 minutes to get to the end of the route. But, once it was over I could just turn around and walk out without fighting the crowds and the AKL bus stop was right in front. I was back at the resort by 12:30 at the latest and fell asleep right away.

Thoughts about VMCP. It was ok and I am glad I finally got to experience it, but unless I am going with a group of folx who want to go next time I will likely not be back for a while. There were pros - amazing holiday theming, characters out in specialty clothes (shoutout to Belle in her Christmas dress!), I like the cookies more than the candy at MNSSHP, and the stage show. Other than that, I found the fireworks and the parade to be a little "meh" but the snoap on Main Street was very magical and special. If that stage show wasn't so dang good, I would have said I'd never go back unless something changed because on a non-party night guests can see the castle lighting show, all the same holiday decor after the sun goes down, and Happily Ever After is no better than the Minnie's Christmastime show. The party merch was also a let down. I was looking for a mug or tumbler (my souvenirs of choice) that was obscenely Christmas and there was nothing for beverage lovers. For the price of the party ticket, I am not convinced it's worth it for me compared to the Halloween party.

[faline]

Glad you got to experience the Christmas party even though you've found it didn't really live up to your expectations.