Trip Log:

Started off the morning a bit on the sluggish side due to the late night at the Christmas party.  We headed down for breakfast around 9am and were on our way to Downtown Disney around 10ish.  Took the boat down the river and then spent some time roaming the stores of the Marketplace.  Made our way around through Pleasure Island and the West Side ending up at DisneyQuest just after its 11:30am opening.  Spent a couple hours exploring DisneyQuest then took the launch from near House of Blues over to Pleasure Island.  Grabbed a quick burger at McDs then took a bus over to the Swan and a Boat to the Studios.  Roamed down Hollywood Blvd. and out near Toy Story to see if Luxo Jr was performing.  Waited around a good 20 minutes then hiked over to the Muppets area, walked back through the Pixar Studios and headed back to Hollywood Blvd to catch a little of the Block Party Bash.  After the Bash headed for Voyage of the Little Mermaid and then walked through the lobby of One Man’s Dream.  Some of the group stayed there and I headed out to the Lights Motors Action show.  After the show walked to toward the Friendship dock to rejoin my group and we took it to the Yacht and Beach Clubs.  Spent some time in the Beach Club lobby then ate a great dinner at Yachtsman.  After dinner walked through the Yacht Club lobby then took a boat across to do the same at the Boardwalk.  Headed for EPCOT next.  Caught some of the British Invasion in the UK then visited Canada to see the circle vision film.  After the film walked through the gift shops at the entrance to World Showcase and then made a quick trip to the restroom near Innoventions and back.  Found a spot for Illuminations and stayed for the show.  Afterwards joined the masses heading for the busses.  Rode back to the Riverside to call it a night.

Thoughts & Observations:

• We took the morning easy and headed to Downtown Disney. Overall I was surprised by how crowded the Marketplace felt so early in the day. Wonder if this is because of how close to Christmas we were getting or the 20% off coupons that were being printed on most counter service receipts around the parks.
  
  
• Our main purpose for heading over to the Downtown Disney was to stop by DisneyQuest. It had been several years since my last visit and with free tickets from the D23 event I wanted to spend a couple hours playing some games and grabbing some pictures for the website. The current price is $42.60 for an adult one day entrance. Overall not much had changed since my last visit. There were some new games and some things rotated out but no major new experiences. We were there slightly after opening, which was 11:30 and the place was fairly quiet which was great for pictures and playing some of the games.
  
  
• For those that have not visited DisneyQuest is billed as the Ultimate Interactive Experience. It is a building that contains five floors of games and adventures. There is everything from classic arcade games to modern virtual reality environments to explore and experience. The big draws are usually the CyberSpace Mountain where you can design your own coaster then ride it, the Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlasters is fun (its bumper cars that shoot balls at each other), or the Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Buccaneer Gold which introduced the world to the spring action shooter that was later used for Toy Story Midway Mania. Navigating the building is a bit of a challenge with all the different floors and rooms, but if you keep moving you will eventually discover everything.
  
  
• After DisneyQuest we headed to the Studios for a few hours to see a couple things we missed last time around and maybe ride Toy Story.. of course this did not work out as planned thanks to a 150 minute wait for Toy Story, even the Fastpass return was backed up out the door.
  
  
• Also I wanted to try and catch the Luxo Jr. figure that comes out to perform nearby. Unfortunately he did not seem to be working. I stayed around for 20 minutes watching and waiting and no sign of him. I talked to a CM and they seemed a little confused as to what I was asking. I gave up at this point and moved on since I wanted to catch a show.
  
  
• Stopped by Lights, Motors, Action and surprised by the light attendance. They were only running two shows a day and I went to the second one and it was maybe 3/4ths full. Guests kept arriving almost up till the finale. Seems to me its time to tweak the show a bit.. maybe a new spin? Its coming up on five years old now with no real changes. On the other hand the Indy stunt show has been around since the park opening with no really substantial changes.
  
  
• Ate dinner at Yachtsman and had a great meal as usual.. this is still one of my favorite places to dine at Walt Disney World... great food, a relaxed atmosphere, and great service.
  
  
• Not sure if its a cutback or just bad timing but the mens room nearest Yachtsman did not have the cloth towels inside, only paper towels. Hopefully this was just bad timing and not a cut back. I always thought little touches like that put the Yacht Club above many of the other resorts on property in service.
  
  
• We spent the evening at EPCOT after dinner. Stopped by to see the British Invasion and I was a little disappointed in their set. They played many non beatles songs (some of which I really did not care for and found a bit odd).
  
  
• To cap off the evening we watched Illuminations, Reflections of Earth which has the Peace on Earth finale/holiday tag. What better way to end the show than with an ear splitting, ground shaking, finale!! For those that have not seen it I think this is a must see, one of my favorite fireworks shows of all time. I had read some saying this year's finale did not seem as loud as years past.. its hard to tell and compare from memory but I would tend to agree.. it was still shaking but not as deafening as in the past.
  

Pedometer Information for the day:

Enough with the text.. onto the pictures

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