Day 4 was our “rest day.” We had brunch reservations at Ohana at 11:30, which gave us time to sleep in, and we had tickets to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party that evening. Because the Christmas Party is a separate ticketed event, and we did not plan to spend time at any of the parks (other than the Christmas party) that day, we were able to save a little money, and only get 4 days of park tickets instead of 5. This allowed us time to sleep in, take our time getting ready for brunch, and rest for a while before heading to Magic Kingdom for the Christmas Party that afternoon.
*If you missed the first 3 days of our trip, feel free to start at the beginning before coming back to this post! We spent our first day at Animal Kingdom, Day 2 at Hollywood Studios, and Day 3 at Magic Kingdom.
Day 4 – Brunch at Ohana
While we were still in the planning process, before we made our dining reservations, I asked the girls who they most wanted to have a meal with. I knew that we would have extra time this day and that it would be a good time to have a meal at one of the resorts. I gave them the option between:
- 1900 Park Fare at Disney’s Grand Floridian (breakfast with Mary Poppins, Alice, the Mad Hatter, Pooh, and Tigger)
- Trattoria al Forno at Disney’s Boardwalk (breakfast with Rapunzel, Flynn Rider, Ariel, and Price Eric)
- Ohana at Disney’s Polyesian Resort (breakfast with Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto).
I honestly thought they would choose Rapunzel and Ariel, but they were excited about Lilo and Stitch, so we went with Ohana! I don’t think we could have gone wrong with any of them, though.
If you’ve seen Lilo and Stitch, you know that “Ohana” means family, so it seems only fitting that the food is served family style. My favorite thing – the Passion juice (or Stitch juice, as they called it). I need to get my hands on some of that!! They served some sort of Hawaiian coconut bread, fruit, potatoes, ham, sausage, Mickey and Stitch waffles, pineapple chutney, eggs, and biscuits.
The girls enjoyed walking around in a parade, shaking maracas, and meeting the characters
Raley thought it was hilarious how Pluto signed her book.
The Polynesian resort is beautiful! I would love to stay there someday.
I didn’t know until we were there that Pineapple Lanai at the Polynesian Resort is the only place at Disney World to get Dole Whip outside of the parks. So of course I had to snag another Dole Whip float while we were there!
After brunch, we went back to the resort, where the girls rested for a couple hours before heading to the Christmas party. They didn’t actually nap, but they actually sat pretty still and watched some cartoons. This was a much needed rest time for them, and us, because it was going to be a late night!
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom
The Christmas party festivities don’t technically start until 7:00, but they let you into the park at 4:00. The park closes at 6:00 for anyone who was already in the park, and didn’t have a ticket to the Christmas party. One thing that the girls really wanted to do, but we didn’t get a chance to the day before when we were at Magic Kingdom, was meet Cinderella and Elena. So this was our first stop (after doing some quick shopping for a special souvenir from Mimi and Papa.)
The people behind us in line to meet Elena and Cinderella were from Peru and Elena was speaking Spanish to the little girl, which I thought was so cool to see!
We grabbed a bite for dinner at Pinocchio’s Village Haus, which was not as great as one would hope, but it did the trick. We knew we would be snacking the rest of the evening – they have stations set up all around the park where they’re giving out a variety of Christmas cookies and drinks. Our favorite was the ginger molasses cookies and egg nog!
Pinocchio’s Village Haus is right next to It’s a Small World, which none of us have ever ridden. It was a very short wait, so we thought why not? It’s an iconic Disney ride and we knew the girls would enjoy it. I can’t stand the song, but the little people from all different countries and cultures is quite fascinating. All I kept thinking is that it’s actually a very big world, not a small world.
They had been asking to ride the Magic Carpet again and to meet Jasmine, so we made our way to Adventureland. The best thing about the Christmas party is that there is minimal wait on most of the rides. We were able to walk right up to several of them without waiting more than 10 minutes. My parents hopped in line to see Jasmine while David and I took the girls to ride Magic Carpets. We were actually able to ride it twice in under 10 minutes because there was hardly anyone in line! We got off, got right back in line, and got on the next ride. They were pretty excited to get to ride it a total of 4 times on their trip!
By the time that was done, the line for Jasmine hadn’t moved much, and Jasmine and Genie had actually switched out with Aladdin and Abu. We decided to forego meeting them and make our way to the castle to watch the quick Frozen show, where Elsa adorns the castle with snow and ice.
Next, we decided to go into Cosmic Rays where some reindeer and elves were having an epic dance party. They were both dancing their hearts out, but oh my goodness, Audrey was losing her mind! She was tearing up the dance floor and it was cracking us up! They both made friends with a sweet elf, who they danced with for a long time.
Raley had been asking to ride the Astro Orbiter all yesterday and today, so we made it happen. I thought that the Astro Orbiter was just like Dumbo or the Magic Carpets. Little did I know that it goes much much faster! Both girls LOVED it though! With Raley not being a big fan of the other fast rides, I wasn’t sure how she’d like it once it got going, but she had a blast. It’s pretty awesome to be up so high above the Magic Kingdom.
We also got to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride before heading to the castle to watch fireworks at 10:00. Audrey must have worn herself out dancing because she passed out right before the fireworks started and was out for the rest of the night.
Once fireworks were over, my parents took Audrey and found a good spot to watch the parade on Main Street. (We had been told that Main Street is the best spot to watch the parade because it snows.)
Raley had one last request while we were at Magic Kingdom – to ride Peter Pan again. So we took her to ride Peter Pan one more time before the parade started. We rode it with a FastPass the day before so we didn’t get to go inside the building where the standby line goes. It’s really neat in there! It’s set up like the Darlings’ house with the kids’ beds and Nana’s dog house. I’m glad we got to see all that.
We made it through the ride just in time to make it back to Main Street. It was such a neat experience because it wasn’t overly crowded, it was snowing the whole time, and there were cast members dancing in the street waiting for the parade to make it to us.
*There are two parades at the Christmas party. One at 8:30 and one after fireworks at 11:00. We had heard that the 11:00 parade was much less crowded than the 8:30 parade so we decided that if the girls were still going strong, then we would try to wait for the 11:00 parade. I think this worked out great, except for the fact that Audrey didn’t get to watch it. However, if we had tried to make the earlier parade, it would have been much more crowded, and we would have missed the dance party and riding the rides we got to do in Tomorrowland. I hate that she missed it, but I think she had more fun at the dance party than she would have at the parade.
Once the parade was over and it was time to leave, it was 100 times better than it was trying to get out the night before! The crowd was not nearly as bad, and we could walk at a decent pace without worrying about running into someone’s heels with our stroller. We decided to ride the ferry boat back to the ticket and transportation center. It probably would have taken about the same amount of time to get back as if we rode the monorail, but riding on the ferry boat was a nice change of pace.
Audrey woke up briefly when we got back to the car (after a two hour nap in her stroller), but quickly fell back asleep, and I was so relieved. I was afraid that she would think that was just a regular nap then be up and wired at midnight, but her internal clock must have known it was actually bedtime (thank goodness!)
If you’re debating what time of year to go to Disney World, I strongly suggest going at Christmastime. Seeing everything decked out for Christmas, and attending the Christmas party puts you in the holiday spirit. I think the week after Thanksgiving was the perfect time to go too. You’re ready to get into Christmas mode, and statistically, the crowds are down that week. We left the Christmas party tired, but feeling very very fulfilled by the experience. The fact that Disney doesn’t oversell these parties was a huge part of it. Being able to move about freely and ride several rides with minimal wait made the night much more smooth and enjoyable.
In case you missed it:
Day 1 – Animal Kingdom
Day 2 – Hollywood Studios
Day 3 – Magic Kingdom
Tomorrow – Epcot!
You may also enjoy these Disney World tips and tricks!
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