We headed over to Downtown Disney this morning, to check out Car Masters Weekend; even getting there before 11am the parking was crazy – the new parking garages remain a long time in the future and leave chaos meanwhile!
But once we were parked, the cars were fun to see – both favorites from the Cars movies, and real life American classics – and a few quite modern cars, too!
One of our favorite extra cost Disney tours is Wild Africa Trek at Animal Kingdom. We’ve done this tour a few times already (2011, 2012, 2013) but with Margaret’s Mum unable to climb rope ladders and bridges, we didn’t think it was suitable.
But Disney being Disney, of course there’s a solution – the “alternate” Wild Africa Trek which replaces the early rope bridge part of the tour with extra time parkside. I expected this to be a little less fun, but it turned out that today was the best yet; mostly because the animals really stepped up their game – pure luck – but if you take a photo like this, how can the day go wrong:
SONY DSC
That picture was near the end of our tour, but we had an amazing time earlier with birds, Giraffe and of course the delicious lunch:
This evening we headed to Disney to join one of their Disney Holiday D-Light tours; we were surprised by how many people were on the tour (close to 40!) but otherwise very much enjoyed the evening …
We met the tour at Epcot, but were then coached over to Disney Wilderness Lodge for an early dinner. Logistically this works (the tour ends at Epcot, and it’s best to have dinner before it gets dark, when it’s better to see lighting), but it’s a little strange. After dinner we visited a backstage area where we learned about the icicle lighting nets on Cinderella’s Castle; sadly that was the only backstage info we learned (and there wasn’t much else to see, since everything is out on display now!)
Then we coached over to nearby Magic Kingdom, where we we got to see the castle lighting for real, catching the turn-on event. This was however a very crowded and chaotic part of the evening, since it clashed with Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party and MANY park guests.
Next stop was Disney Hollywood Studios to see the Osborne Family lights. The excitement here was entering the park through a back way, coming out close to the lights …
Meeting the group
Coach transport
Wilderness Lodge
Early dinner
Welcome
Back stage tour of lighting
Back stage tour of lighting
Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom lights
Magic Kingdom tree
Cinderella’s Castle
Osborne Lights
Osborne Lights
Osborne Lights
Osborne Lights
We also saw a spectacular moving lights sequence, reminiscent of the Fremont Street Experience!
On again by coach, and back to Epcot. Again too, entering from a closed-to-public area that brought us close to the American Pavilion, in perfect time to enjoy our reserved seats at the Candlelight Processional (with Sigourney Weaver narrating)
Candlelight Processional at Epcot
Candlelight Processional at Epcot
Sigourney Weaver narrates
Candlelight Processional at Epcot
Candlelight Processional at Epcot
Candlelight Processional at Epcot
Candlelight Processional at Epcot
Candlelight Processional at Epcot
The end of Epcot always brings fireworks, which we’ve seen many times – but tonight there was extra, with a crazy multitude of additional fireworks following the standard evening show. I presume it’s special for Christmas, but whatever the reason, we loved it!
M&I / GBMINI 