Castle Dream Lights

The Imagineers have gone a little projector crazy to present this beautiful show. Somehow they magically transform the castle

Prince Charming's Regal Carousel

Me on Cinderella's Horse

Donald

Winnie the Pooh and Friends

During special parties, Disney likes to group characters together. Normally, they are in pairs or by themselves, but here we have a few from Winnie the Pooh. Elsewhere in the park were the Seven Dwarves and Cinderella's Royal Family.

Captain Jack Sparrow

He's a weirdo in real life, too.

Woody and Jesse's Dance Party

There are a couple dance parties during the Christmas party, but I wasn't interested in showing off my moves.

Phineas and Ferb!

These two are my new favorite Disney characters. I watched their show every morning in our hotel before we left for the park. Meeting them is the first thing we did at the party.nThey draw a big crowd, but we got there early and didn't have to wait in line.

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party

We bought these awesome sweaters just for the party

We liked Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party so much that we decided we would try out the Christmas Party. These parties are a ticketed event and only a certain amount of tickets are available. The park closes at 7 PM to all non-ticket holders and stays open until midnight. There are fewer guests, more character meet and greets (most characters are in special outfits and hard to find characters are present), free cookies and hot chocolate, a special parade and fireworks show, and dance parties.

Weather and outfit change

the rain and cold weather moved in

We had to go to out hotel room to put on pants and sweaters. When we returned we were decked out and ready for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

Enchanted Tiki Room

Since our last visit, the Tiki Room was remodeled due to a fire. They added a little outdoor pre-show and got rid of the annoying bird voiced by Gilbert Gottfried.

Big Thunder Mountain

Where's Gabe?

Sword in the Stone

Attempt one. It didn't budge.

Liberty Tree Tavern

Vegetarian burger and sweet potato fries

My pizza

Bacon Cheeseburger

This was a new restaurant for us. It's at the Magic Kingdom at Liberty Square. They have American Fare in an 18th-century setting. The service was terrible, and mom's vegetarian burger was fried (my mom considers anything fried that isn't shrimp or fries disgusting). Dad says his burger was good and my pizza was fine. We probably would have had better luck if we stuck with their specialties: roast turkey and pot roast.

Tom Sawyer Island

Waiting for the motorized raft to take us to the island

crazy, wet, wobbly bridge

Stables

Great view of Big Thunder Mountain

Sam, is that you?

This was our first time on Tom Sawyer Island and it is really fun. There are caves and mines, and a fort to explore. Even though, we went in the afternoon, I was still able to find two paintbrushes hidden by castmembers every morning. My prize was a FastPass to Splash Mountain.