Walt Disney World: Hollywood Studios - Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights

Date of Visit: January 4, 2016

The last few years we have enjoyed visited Walt Disney World during the holiday season. This year we only got the chance to visit for a few hours in December to renew our annual passes before our Disney cruise and only went into Epcot. We knew this was the last year of the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, so we wanted to make sure we saw them while they were still up during this trip.

Mik really enjoys rolling through the streets and seeing the lights (including the ones on his wheels). They are especially fun to watch when they "dance" with the music. Definitely going to miss seeing them every year, but we are now thinking of having our annual visit as an extended family trip like this trip and probably won't be coming for the holiday season every year anymore.

I enjoyed getting The Spectacle drink with a lightbulb ice cube. Also, the "That's A Wrap" shirts are cool, especially since we hadn't done a matching cousins photo in a long time (and we now get the PhotoPass photos free with our annual passes!).

Destination Info:
Disney's Hollywood Studios -Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Walt Disney World: Animal Kingdon - Kilimanjaro Safaris

Date of Visit: January 4, 2015

Somehow we haven't done the Kilimanjaro Safaris with Mik since 2007 and he doesn't really remember going on it. Thus, while he didn't want to do any of the other Fastpass+ we had that day, he did end up having Mom bring him over to meet up with us and do the Kilimanjaro Safaris.


About where the Fastpass+ line joins the regular line for boarding, they send you over to the loading area for the wheelchair vehicle. The wheelchair vehicle has a spot in the front with two half rows next to the wheelchair, which worked out just right for our group of 5 (and a half).

Overall Mik enjoyed the ride as the tie downs kept his chair very stable and he enjoyed seeing the animals.  His only problem was that it seemed almost all the wildlife was on the left and the wheelchair spot is on the right, so he had trouble seeing over the people sitting on his left and seeing the animals. Now that we know, we would probably just not have anyone in our group sit in the first row because then he would be able to fully enjoy the safari.

Destination Info:
Disney's Animal Kingdom - Kilimanjaro Safaris
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Walt Disney World: Epcot - Living with the Land

Date of Visit: January 3, 2016

Our plan for the day had been to start with Soarin', but even getting to the park right after it opened still meant an almost 3 hour line. We decided we much prefer to do the little to no line wait for Nemo and Living with the Land before World Showcase opened. Apparently, everyone was already at Soarin' because it was a rainy day and mostly the crowd level was low and for once we actually didn't have to wait in line to use the elevator in the Future World building.

I don't know if it's normal or just because the ride was pretty much walk on at the time, but we were directed to the Fastpass line to go on the ride.

Mik really loves the Living with the Land ride. For one, it is the one nice boat ride at Walt Disney World since the wheelchair part of the boat is level with the loading area rather than you going in to boat and then roll down to the lower area like on the ride in Mexico and 'it's a small world.' Also, the experience is a little bit different every visit because what they're growing and researching changes every so often. This time of year with the holiday decorations up it was even more interesting because there were things like the rosemary decorated like a Christmas tree.

Destination Info:
Epcot - Living with the Land
Lake Buena Vista, FL

Disney’s Magical Express

Date of Visit: January 2, 2016

In the many visits we’ve made to Disney World over the years, only one other time have we flown to Orlando as it’s never made sense to fly. This trip it did, though, with only Mom coming instead of Dad and finding a good deal on flights (and other family driving so we still had access to a car during trip).

I was a little wary if it was going to be an easy process because I submitted the online form, but never got any confirmation or luggage tags. However, with MagicBands it was very easy to just tap and have our resort reservation pull up and be checked in for transportation. Since we didn’t check bags anyways, it really didn’t end up making a difference that the online form ended up not working.

Once checked in we were directed to the wheelchair line to wait for a bus. The wait for a bus seemed long (30 to 45 minutes), but all buses appear to have a lift so it was just the normal wait for the next bus going to our resort (Animal Kingdom Lodge).

Mik actually likes the buses from the airport to resort as they are the nice motor coaches and they play an entertaining information video and cartoons. Also, every since I got the yellow tie down straps he’s been more comfortable on all shuttles and buses, although the buses between the parks he still doesn’t really like because they only do a hook on one side in the front.

Overall Disney’s Magical Express almost makes flying to visit Disney World not too bad an option. However, between having to get to the airport two hours before a flight to give enough time for security, the flight time, waiting so long for bus, and then another 45 minutes to get to resort once on the bus, it doesn’t really save time over driving along with it very rarely being cheaper to fly. Definitely good if it’s just Mik and I, but anymore than that it just makes more sense to drive.

Destination Info:
Disney's Magical Express
Orlando Airport to Walt Disney World, FL

National Christmas Tree 2015

Date of Visit: December 18, 2015

We kept putting off the National Tree because it just didn't rank high on Mik's priority list with the state trees being so boring last year. Honestly, if we hadn't ended up nearby for an appointment today, I probably wouldn't have convinced him to give it a chance this year.

Mik was glad we ended up visiting the trees this year, though, because they were back to normal with different schools or groups from each state or territory decorating the ornaments. He enjoyed checking out the different ornaments on the trees, which mostly honored the state's National Parks with the 100th anniversary of National Parks coming up in 2016.

Mik was most excited to get his picture with the Arizona tree this year.

The National Tree on the other hand was not as good in his opinion this year. He still likes the trains around it, but he preferred the red decorations last year to the gold this year.

Mik also pointed out that the walkway they put on the grass to visit the trees is nice.

Destination Info:
National Christmas Tree
President's Park (south of White House)
Washington, D.C.

Disney's Dream: Vanellope’s Sweets and Treats

Date of Visit: December 9-10, 2015

Having found memories of the Sorcerer at Disney’s Soda Fountain, doing the Family Challenge at Vanellope’s was a must for us. It’s also a decent deal for trying out some flavors instead of each getting our own, especially since we didn’t realize it came with 8 toppings.

The flavors we selected were King Candy Ice Cream, Butterscotch Waffle Crunch Ice Cream, Tiramisu Gelato, Key Lime Pie Gelato, Red Velvet & Cookies Gelato, Candy Cane Gelato, White Chocolate and Rhubarb Gelato, and Candy Explosion Gelato. Mik’s favorite was the Red Velvet & Cookies Gelato.

We also couldn’t resist trying some of the other treats. Mik enjoyed the Red Velvet Cupcake.

I tried the peanut butter blondie, but found it had too much chocolate and other stuff. The peanut butter Mickey cookie was very good, though.

The stuff at Vanellope’s is an extra thing to purchase, which is somewhat unnecessary with plenty of included good stuff on the ship, but they’re mostly very reasonably priced for what you get ($19.95 for the Family Challenge and $2.50 each for the other treats we got).

Disney’s Dream 4-Night Bahamian Cruise: Castaway Cay Holiday Decorations

Date of Visit: December 9, 2015

Mostly we’re not interested in Castaway Cay and Mik doesn’t even get off the ship, but this time we did get off to walk around a little to take photos of the holiday decorations.

The decorations are mostly between the ship and the first Tram station. There’s also some cool wreaths on the road past the tram station, but they’re hard to see from the walkway and I guess more meant to see from the tram.

The main thing to see is the Christmas tree right when you get off the ship. You can do photo ops with the Mickey sleigh and/or sand snowmen in the background, but we decided to do it from the other side sort of with the ship in the background because of where the sun was in the morning.

Of course, a picture with Mount Rustmore was a must!