Christmas Dreams at HNY - Day 2

[Ms Poppins]

Hotel New York Monday 2 December - Wednesday 4 December 2013

The Cast
Me - Julie (39)
DH - John (42)
DD - Abbey (16)
DS - Lewis (9)

Pre-trippie
Day 1

Day 2 - Tuesday 3 December

I forgot to mention that our hotel room had been quite hot last night. I'd got up through the night and actually put the air con on Anyway I didn't sleep very well. I'm always the same when we're away, I never sleep

We'd had several discussions about EMH and the 'running order' of things....We normally go for EMH then back to the hotel for breakfast, then back to the parks. Usually that means we're not back to the parks until about 11ish. So, I'd suggested that we don't do EMH this time and have an earlier breakfast so that we'd be in the park the full morning to do all the meets, see the cavalcade etc. Lewis thought I'd lost the plot No EMH is not something he's used to. So, as we'd gone to sleep we discussed this all many times over and eventually said we'd wait and see how we felt in the morning....

I got up around 7am and when Lewis heard me he got up too. He said he really wanted to do EMH so I asked DH and Abbey what they wanted. They both decided to have a lie in (in Disney ) so Abbey set her alarm on her phone and we agreed that we'd meet downstairs in the lobby at 9:15.

Lewis and I were off to the park It was a cold day, scarves and gloves required - but I could see that there was some sun trying to get out from behind the clouds.



It was still dark and the lights in the park were twinkling away



I love the presents under the tree





Main St garlands are gorgeous



Some photos of the festive windows. Love this Woody tree:







Lewis always loves this guy



The hub looking very nice and snowy









I asked Lewis if he wanted to shake things up a bit and go a different route but he wanted to stick with our usual plan

In through the castle we went



Traditional photo with the sword



Then over to Peter Pan. I think we might have been the first on as we were walked through the queue by a CM and shown onto the ride. Peter Pan is the best

 

[Ms Poppins]

Next up was Dumbo



or should I say frozen Dumbo....



No dancing!



Let's just say we had very cold bottoms after this....

Next up was the teacups. We had problems turning the wheel today!





A wee rest on the Carousel was next when Lewis chose a carriage instead of a horse. We'd tried to get on this during the summer but missed it so he was quite pleased with himself.



We left Fantasyland and and stopped to have a peek at the wishing well



The sun was starting to shine



On to Buzz now to warm up a bit



Time was marching on so we made our way back down Main St. Another picture of the tree.....it's a bit like the castle, you just can't walk past it without taking a photo



Back through the Village and into the hotel to warm up. Goofy was at the photo point in the lobby



After this DH and Abbey met us in the lobby and we made our way to our special breakfast

Instead of there being a floor number in the lift, the button says Empire State Club. We arrived on the 6th floor and entered the breakfast room. Our card was taken and we also had to give our name.

The room was lovely, I think it's the same room they use for afternoon snacks if you're a real Empire State Club guest

Breakfast was a buffet, with all items more or less the same as those we normally have. The usual hot items, cold meats, cereal, breads,rolls, yoghurts, fruit juices,hot tea,coffee etc. The only items I noticed that were different were pancakes that were cold and I think some salmon. Other than that it was just the same as downstairs.

The room was quite busy and as we ate we met Minnie





After some time Mickey popped in too



Mickey and Minnie then left together hand in hand

 

[Ms Poppins]

We popped back to the room to pick some stuff up and then we were back on our way to the park.

Sun was really shining now



Our first stop today was to be Jack Skellington in Frontierland. We started on our usual route through Liberty Arcade and when we reached the gap in the street, we noticed that the snow had started to fall on Main St We all dashed out to see it!







Chuffed to bits to have seen the snow we headed off in the direction of Jack. I spotted a CM at the head of the queue, but no Jack so I said to Lewis to start queuing as he must be due soon. Only a couple of others in front of us. DH and Abbey went off to BTM to try and get fastpasses. After a few minutes Jack appeared and the queue behind us started to grow.

Jack was fantastic with Lewis and confused him by asking he liked to eat Spiderpie He spent a good few minutes chatting and Lewis told him he preferred his mum's cheesecake...





DH and Abbey came back to say that BTM was closed just now. The CM had told them it was frozen

A wee photo shot on the way out of Frontierland



Next mission was to try and do Meet Mickey. I've been trying to do this since last year's trip. Summer was too busy so I was going to try for this today.

That castle again getting in front of my camera



We passed through Fantasyland and Lewis said he fancied the Snow White ride which we never bother with. It was closed for refurb so we carried on, enjoying the views. I noticed that Fantasyland was the busiest of all the lands and most people around had small children, buggy's with them. However, Peter Pan only had a 10 minute wait. We didn't stop and headed on. Meet Mickey was not to be just now, it was showing 50m wait and I didn't want to wait that long.

Abbey and Lewis had a trip through Alice's Maze and DH and I sat in the sun and waited for them to reach the top



The Christmas Cavalcade was due to start in about 15 minutes so we headed back through the castle and found a good spot at the hub.

The music started and I started dancing

Goofy's outfit is great

 

[Ms Poppins]

We all thoroughly enjoyed this parade, one of the best feel good ones ever

After this Lewis said he wanted to try BTM We've been trying to get him to like this for years and to his credit he always tries it at least once. This time he thought it was about time he got on with it. He's a bit of a Lone Ranger fan and was wearing his Lone Ranger badge so off we went.

The queue time said a 25 minute wait, but using the left hand lane.....it only took about 15 minutes Lewis enjoyed the ride so much he said he wanted to do it again later. Thank goodness for that Abbey and I needed a toilet stop, so we headed over the ones next to PM and DH and Lewis had a wee shot at the shooting gallery before meeting up with us. And as we were there, we had to do PM didn't we? Again the ghostly heads were working

Abbey wanted to do Indiana Jones next. DH waited with Lewis and I went on with Abbey, a walk on. I screamed my head off and Abbey laughed her head off at me When we came off Lewis had managed to find another hat he wanted. I don't think we've every been to DLP and he's not bought a hat

Here he is



Abbey wanted to do Space Mountain next. On the way we passed Pirates and it only had a 5 min wait so we had to do it....another walk on. And, big news on this was that the pirate was swinging!!! I haven't seen that in many a trip and he certainly wasn't swinging yesterday. Other people in the boat behind us noticed it too with everyone pointing



Space mountain showed 5 min, but again was another walk on. My head didn't rattle on this today, but I'm still not keen Whilst we were on this DH and Lewis did Orbitron



We were feeling hungry now and fancied some lunch. DH loves EOS. He jokes that he only comes with us to DLP so that he can get an EOS So off we went via Main St and the Christmas tree again

 

[Ms Poppins]

Off through Village and into Earl of Sandwich. DH, Lewis and I had the Original and Abbey just had a drink. Very good again in here, although it was very hot upstairs! I'll update the restaurant review thread with prices later.



Whilst in here we spotted Panoramagique. We'd tried to do this in summer but each time we tried it was closed, so we popped over after lunch and it was open this time I flashed my shareholders card and we paid 10.40 adult and 5.10 child. For some reason they only charged Abbey as a child. There was only one other family of 2 on with us.

A beautiful clear day, lovely views











Hotel New York pool





View from the middle of the balloon





Off now and back through the village - another stop for some more photos







Into the park and Duffy was all dressed up in his Christmas jumper...



We browsed the shops in Main St, I was eyeing up some very nice tree decorations.....and we popped into the Cable Car to get some doughnuts for Abbey and Lewis. We got a voucher for a free drink later in the day. Then it was into Videopolis to watch the Jingle Bell Boys;







This was a great wee show, very seasonal and had us singing and clapping along. Also nice to sit down and have a rest. I think it was about 15:30 now.

We left the back entrance of Videopolis to go the back way into Fantasyland, but the gate was closed. So back round the front and we passed Buzz, which was showing 5 min wait. So in we went, it was a walk on



Made our way through the castle again, more shops to look at



And then on to Casey, another walk on



Next up was the teacups - walk on again

 

[Ms Poppins]

And the Carousel





I love Lewis' face here



The parade was due to start in 5 minutes so we dashed round to Bella Note where Lewis and Abbey saved a spot as DH and I went for hot chocolates for us all. We used up the voucher we had earlier too

Then the parade started





















The new Frozen float

 

[Ms Poppins]

The pirates were great - so funny













Minnie blew Lewis a kiss







We got lots of waves and kissed from the characters, it was a great spot

When the parade passed we went backwards into Fantasyland and over to the Meet Mickey to try again. It was showing a 15 minute wait, so we popped in. I remember this from when it was an outdoor stage show way back in 1998. I liked these pictures:









The props were good too



We didn't wait more than 5 minutes before we met Mickey







I would have liked more time to see the props around Mickey, but I know that it was due to close and others were waiting to see him.

 

[Ms Poppins]

After this the kids said they wanted to do BTM again, so we headed in that direction and on the way stopped off at the Aladdin photo point:







BTM showed 10 min wait time - fantastic! Lewis loved it in the dark and said he couldn't wait until tomorrow to go back on again



He doesn't look too happy in this picture be he assured me that he was loving it



I wanted to see Magical Christmas Wishes which was starting at 18:25 so we made for Main St, passing Pirates as we did. 5 min wait and we couldn't walk past, so in we went - another walk on. The pirate was swinging again

We found a spot outside the photography shop in Main St. One good thing about this show is that you can see it from far around and don't need to be close to appreciate it. DH noticed this where we were standing:



The music started and the tree started to twinkle





Lots of colour changing









There was a part where the snow started again, but I don't think the photos have picked it up.



We left the park in search of food and headed to Annette's. We just can't go to DLP and not go to Annette's....it's like there's a law about it

There was no queue and we were seated immediately. DH trying to hide his hat-hair







Had another lovely meal in here - it never disappoints. I think the waiter we had has been here since our very first trip. I remember him from videos (remember them...) we have seen over and over...

When we left Annette's a queue was building and a swarm of people filing into the Village from the parks. Dreams must have just finished, so it was a good job we came a bit earlier.

We had fun in the shops and got some tree decorations and Abbey got a Monsters Uni t-shirt she'd had her eye on.

We went back to the hotel, phoned Mark to see how he was doing and I had a long hot bath to soothe my sore feet. Some more hot chocolate and then to bed with Disney channel again....Hannah Montana from years ago......night night.

Would anyone want to do EMH tomorrow?

 

[ILOVEDLP]

Omg Julie you have done so much in only 2days !!!
You have some great pics, you all look vey happy .
I love Annette's as we'll we been going for 10 years now wow where do the years go?.
Love the pictures in the Empire State we have had that once when the twins where only 2.
I have some happy memories of being there .
Hope your feet are all better now
Rachael xxx

 

[Jonjo]

Thanks for sharing your fantastic photos of your wonderful trip. Can't wait for my trip to HNY in a few weeks.

 

[cherrymarzipan]

Wow, I'm so impressed! Lovely photos of your family, everyone looks so happy, although I tried to concentrate on them and skim through the more Christmassy ones not to spoil my trip!

I shivered at the thought of that icy Dumbo ride too!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ms Poppins]

Omg Julie you have done so much in only 2days !!!
You have some great pics, you all look vey happy .
I love Annette's as we'll we been going for 10 years now wow where do the years go?.
Love the pictures in the Empire State we have had that once when the twins where only 2.
I have some happy memories of being there .
Hope your feet are all better now
Rachael xxx

I can't believe we've been going all these years either - so many lovely memories. Annette's is an absolute must

Thanks for sharing your fantastic photos of your wonderful trip. Can't wait for my trip to HNY in a few weeks.

Thank you - hope you have fun.

Wow, I'm so impressed! Lovely photos of your family, everyone looks so happy, although I tried to concentrate on them and skim through the more Christmassy ones not to spoil my trip!

I shivered at the thought of that icy Dumbo ride too!

Thanks for sharing.

Dumbo was freezing Hope you have a great trip

Off to do day 3 now.

 

[Disneyfanswicklow]

really enjoying following along.....really brilliant photos!

 

[Ms Poppins]

really enjoying following along.....really brilliant photos!

Thank you

 

[kizzabel]

Wow!! You got so much done today!!
Loved Lewis' hat and he has a great royal wave perfect for the carriages on the Carrousel!
Your pics from Paramagique confirmed I won't be doing it. IT.HAS.NO.MIDDLE. Freak out!!
We always say no dancing too!! Love those little traditions!
Another great day. Im saving Day 3 for tomorrow. Thanks for posting your lovely TR. Always look forward to them

 

[Ms Poppins]

Wow!! You got so much done today!!
Loved Lewis' hat and he has a great royal wave perfect for the carriages on the Carrousel!
Your pics from Paramagique confirmed I won't be doing it. IT.HAS.NO.MIDDLE. Freak out!!
We always say no dancing too!! Love those little traditions!
Another great day. Im saving Day 3 for tomorrow. Thanks for posting your lovely TR. Always look forward to them

Panoramagique is actually fine. DH is absolutely terrified of heights but even he agreed this is so smooth and safe. When you go on, go towards the village side and look at the view. you don't need to turn around at all to look at the middle of the balloon. DH stood facing the village the whole time and even commented that we weren't up there for long. I really enjoyed it.