Well...Trip 3 of 3 in the books

A few Beach Club pictures:

Our room at BCV

BCV little tree

The Breezeway

The gingerbread carousel

Actually it was about 11pm. I just got lucky.

I took quite a few WA shots. I went fish-eye crazy this trip. Thanks.

Day two was MK day. I planned to get there for rope drop but blew that off and slept in. Got to the park at about 9. We had breakfast in Starbucks where they have no butter, no jam or jelly and no ketchup. I was surprised they had milk and sugar for the coffee. Not my favorite place, but I had bigger fish to fry than breakfast. I had to manage time and guide my wife skillfully and sneakily to our rendezvous point with the Pixies from GOL who were doing our vow renewal in the Rose Garden.

My wife was floored. Surprised and delighted. Tears of Joy. I had sent the vows in advance and they were funny and personalized. Then we were sprinkled with pixie dust and it was over. It went very, very well.

I understand that this is strictly not allowed on WDW property. I don't know if Disney looks other way, or if GOL has an understanding with them, but it was done in plain sight.

Anyway, in September I had arranged the Intimate Dining Experience at the GF to celebrate our anniversary, and I was not satisfied with it. It rained that night and it was very disappointing. I couldn't let it go and I arranged the vow renewal to kind of make up for it. And it worked!

We wondered around the park a bit on a high. Renewed.

I was totally looking forward to Jingle Cruise. It was pretty underwhelming. It really needed more of everything. It was a few lights and some different lame jokes. I thought it needed some holiday music too. It definitely could have been done better. However, I'm happy for any holiday make-overs and I hope the trend continues.

thanks Kristen, I have a few more coming.

We took a boat to the Poly for lunch at Kona Cafe. I've eaten there a couple of times and I really like it. One odd thing about Kona; even if there are a hundred empty tables, they give you a beeper and make you wait. It may be 60 seconds to wait, but you get a beeper. It just seems ridiculous. The food is very tasty though.

They had some adorable Polynesian themed Christmas songs playing at the Poly. Very cute.

We checked out the decorations and then strolled over to the GF. The luau cove was open and a CM said we could go in, so we went in and were messing around on the stage for a few minutes. The walk to GF is really scenic and pleasant. At the end you wind up at the wedding pavilion.

Like I said, fisheye crazy.

It seemed fitting that we visit the wedding pavilion on the day we renewed our marriage vows. But, we were at the GF obviously, to check out the Christmas decorations.

We took the boat back to MK as we had MVMCP that night.

The show on the castle stage. The name escapes me at the moment. It was a pretty good show.

The ubiquitous castle...

snow on Main Street

Chip and Dale frolicking

Some fireworks. I love me some fireworks.

And the parade!

We didn't want to waste time doing a sit down dinner during MVMCP, too many things to see and do, so we ate at Pecos Bills. I had a hockey puck burger which was fine. Later on we had cookies and hot chocolate that they were giving out at Tomorrowland Terrace.

The place was pretty crowded. I know it was sold out. After the fireworks it emptied considerably as many parents took their rugrats back to the hotel. I can't tell you how many melt-downs I saw and how many kids just acting out. I know I would never have gotten away with those tantrums- I would have been given something to really cry about, like the back of a hand across the mouth.

And it made me think of how kids are treated nowadays. If you spank your kid it's child abuse now. When I was a kid, a rap in the mouth was called disciplining your child. Now you see these parents kneeling down and getting eye-level with their kids and explaining to them what they are doing wrong and why...it's pretty funny. The little snot-nose doesn't understand a word they said, and doesn't care. They are kids! I was raised with the threat of violence always a deterrent. And it worked! And I think I've grown up pretty well adjusted. Aside from this facial tic, recurring nightmares, and a few felony assault charges, I'm pretty much a model citizen.

Well that was day one. Or was it day two. Let's call it day one and a half. Vows in MK, Poly, GF and MVMCP- a pretty full day.

I'll work on this trip report some more to help me forget my post-Xmas blues.

The next day was scheduled for DHS. Depending on the weather, we would either relax at the pool or sleep in the morning before heeding to the park. Well, it was too chilly to swim for my taste (even though there were people in the pool- probably from Minnesota or somewhere like that) so we slept in. I grabbed bagels and coffee from the market place and we had a little breakfast in the room. We took our time and got to DHS via boat at about 11 am.

We got TSM fast passes and then putzed around for a while. At 12 we had lunch at The Lounge at the Brown Derby. I had been anticipating having the sliders and a couple of cold ones and that is exactly what I had. We sat outside in the shade and imbibed and people watched and we had a good view of the Mulch Sweat and Shears show. Nice. I have no pictures of my lunch (I was too busy enjoying it), but it was very good and the Lounge is my new favorite place to eat in DHS.

Then we did some attractions and enjoyed some Citizens of Hollywood.

Lol Mine wasn't quite that good. The animator drew that one and gave it to me.

Well this trip was all about the Christmas decorations and Osbourne Lights was what we were at DHS for. But wouldn't you know it, at right about show time, the skies opened up and it poured. But it was OK because Mrs. Colonel had insisted against my objections (lazy me) that we take the panchos. Mrs Colonel is oh so wise and has a keen weather eye does she.

So the rain cleared out many people which is good. But it also affects the lights, some of which were not working, which is bad. But they still looked nice and went great with the music.

I recall back in the olden days that they gave out 3D glasses at the Osbourne Lights and some of the show was in 3D. Does anyone else remember that, or did I dream it?

I kind of remember maybe in the late 90's getting 3D glasses and there were all these 3D angel lights fluttering overhead.

Then again I have experimented with LSD, so who knows.

If you go when it opens, it's mobbed. If you go 15 minutes before the park closes, it's not crowded at all. And you can stay for about an hour after the park closes.

just a few more of the same

"New to the 1998 display is a 3-d effect provided through the use of special '3d glasses'. Some of the lights used cast a small 'Angel' picture when viewed through the glasses, although if viewed without the glasses they appear as perfectly normal fairy lights. (It is possible to catch the effect on video by carefully holding one lens of the glasses across the front of the camcorder lens, but it's quite difficult to capture the effect to it's full. "

So I wasn't imagining it...

Thank you MM

Thanks Ken

So that was the end of DHS. On the way out of the park I shared a Truffle Oil Mac & Cheese Hot Dog with the Mrs. and picked up a carrot cake cookie for the road. The line for the boat was long but boats were coming fast. We got on the third boat. While we waited we struck up a conversation with some lovely people from Chicago. In fact, we met quite a few very nice people on this trip. Chicagoans, Minnesotans, New Jerseyans even some fellow Staten Islanders. So many lovely people, some couples, some families some CMs, but the one guy who gave me lip on this trip was Duffy. But I'll get to him later.

Even though it was early, We were too tired for Jelly Rolls. But not too tired for ice cream. So we stopped at Beaches & Cream (even though I didn't have an ADR) for a hot fudge sundae. There were kids in the pool and it was in the forties. Awesome.

After thought- Isn't Goofy Santa suposed to be at DHS when the Osbourne lights are up. I didn't see him. Maybe I just missed him.

The Colonels with their Disney sippy cups and playing with the camera timer