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By now, you know that we are Disney-obsessed! Believe it or not, this was our first time back since the 50th Anniversary Celebration, which began on October 1st, 2021.
Disney in December
That’s because as much as we love Disney, we dislike heavy crowds, so we decided to wait out the excitement and enjoy it in January when Mark runs his first Disney Marathon. Well, then life kept kicking us around, sadness leaked in, and a bit of a rut took over, so as any great husband does – he got on the My Disney Experience App and started making reservations!
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As another surprise, we also stayed at Art of Animation Resort for the first time, and you can read about the resort here! For this quick December escape, we made park reservations for Epcot and Hollywood Studios – both of which you can take the Disney Skyliner to Art of Animation and Pop Century. We love Pop Century, and you can read about that here!
Epcot Festival of the Holidays
We drove after work on a Thursday and checked in to the resort, then headed to another first for us – the Epcot Festival of the Holidays. We will be the first to admit that it’s not our personal favorite Epcot Festival; maybe it’s because we just haven’t been in the holiday spirit, or perhaps because it’s too many sweets and cinnamon for us as people, LOL, but it did warm our hearts just a bit. We hope to go back and give it another chance in the future.
We, of course, had a blast eating and drinking around the World Showcase (favorites were Tuscany Holiday Kitchen and Le Marche De Noel Holiday Kitchen), attending the Candlelight Processional, checking out the new Ratatouille area, watching the excellent new light shows on Spaceship Earth, and my favorite of the night – Epcot’s new night show – Harmonious.
Fireworks from the Skyliner
Full disclosure – we only watched the first few minutes from the bridge area in France, then we booked it to the Skyliner before the crowds all headed there too, and OH MY GOSH, it was epic to watch the finale of Harmonious from the air! The Skyliner whizzes right by Epcot, and it was awesome!
We also spent time locating and photographing the 50th Anniversary golden character statues at both parks. We must return to Epcot for Figment because we missed him – oh darn! Otherwise, we got the rest at Epcot and Hollywood Studios the following day!
Hollywood Studios
Mark’s favorite park is Hollywood Studios – hello Galaxy’s Edge – so we spent Friday sipping Hollywood’s finest cocktails, being heckled by Storm Troopers, and talking with Chewbacca! Chewy loved Mark’s shirt, of course, and there’s nothing cuter than a 40-year-old kid meeting one of his idols. LOL. Smiles all around.
My favorite thing of the day was checking out Walt Disney Presents – 100 Years of Disney on Display Gallery, followed by Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream. This 15-minute documentary showcases the life of Walt Disney, narrated by the man himself! It was truly magical and inspiring and something we cherished seeing.
It was a short and sweet visit, but it was the jolt of love and laughter we needed. Come on, January, we can’t wait to go back for Mark’s first-ever full Marathon! Even though December crowds can be overwhelming, we always pack our patience and try not to plan too much so we can enjoy Disney’s magic during the holidays!
p.s. All of the custom Minnie Ears and Disney shirts you see in our photos were either purchased on Amazon, Etsy, Hot Topic, Target, or at the official Disney stores! Find ALL of our affiliate links on our SHOP!
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