Hellur, this is your one and only Nana. I hope you guys are having a magical weekend!
Today, I am supposed to start at Hollywood Studios as usual (it’s been my home park…) However, life is not that easy…
THIS…
It is totally my fault that I DID NOT get my park pass until yesterday, but oh my god. THERE WAS NO PASS for today AT ALL — like at ALL. I realized this situation yesterday at 1:00 p.m. and went to straight panic mode. I kept refreshing the page for 1.5 hours non-stop, then finally got an EPCOT park pass. If I did not get the park pass, I was going to make a sign that said “LOOKING FOR A PARK PASS” and stand at the Hollywood Studio parking lot as an anonymous couple did at MK back in 2022. But lucky ME! I’ll run to EPCOT so I can hop to HS.
Morning from EPCOT
Holiday is around the corner, do you see this line at the parking? I haven’t seen those for a while, and y’all know I work on Saturday. So I am not making this up. It’s the HOLIDAY CROWDS.
Parked in Princess parking. A family who parked next to me said “We got great parking today!” Yeah, this is the princess parking I’m talking about!
Grabbed my phone and keys like I was going to TARGET, walked through security, and tapped in, took a selfie, and exited. I was in EPCOT for maybe 20 seconds.
Walked back to my car and drove to Hollywood Studio.
Good Morning (2nd take) from Hollywood Studios
Hellur from MGM Studio Hollywood Studios. I had to park in North Pole (Cast Member Olaf parking) today…
Really far. I don’t know how far I can go (like Moana). In about 29 days, I’ll run the full marathon at WDW marathon weekend, but I have not trained at all. I do have some park miles on me, but that’s it. A few days ago, I got running shoes for the marathon!
So I started to wear those yesterday. Hopefully, I can finish somehow. (I’ve done 7 full marathons in my life — 6 Honolulu and 1 Tokyo, and finished 6 races at least.)
Walked miles and miles to the security and finally IN!
🚨 This is Duffy Lover public announcement 🚨
From December 25 – December 31, You can meet Santa Duffy during the regular operating hours like last year. See you there!
Walked into Mickey’s of Hollywood, this is my routine. Found this Play in the Park belt bag with the WDW logo and felt some déjà vu.
Oh, wait…. if you fill the two Mickey ears…
It’s WDWNT logo! Now we’re talking! (Figment voice)
Joke aside, more holiday discounts are on the way.
Snowman Loungefly is now $50 and will take an additional discount.
This is my personal opinion. Disney thought, “This will sell well since the ears did really well last year.” But I guess they did not sell well. Who wants to carry a white fluffy backpack to a theme park? It will be totally different color by the end of the day. ( PRO TIP: Put water-resistant spray for easy cleaning.)
Next store, 5&10. As soon as I walked in I saw a man carrying TWO water bottles in his hands… I was like “?!?!?!” walked to the water bottle section and found it!
A Sam Eagle water bottle!
Somehow, Disney has been putting on the “I care about your opinion, your opinion matters” campaign. “We crushed Earffel Tower but here is a water bottle to remember. We will crush MUPPET 3D Vision but here is a water bottle to remember.”
This is savage because we will buy it. Nana’s getting a little bit spicy, so we’ll leave it here.
Hellur, a tiny fake ice skate rink. (I’ll talk about this at the end.)
Another holiday discount is on the Mandalorian role play voice changing mask.
The picture is not great but they will take an additional discount on top of this.
Walked into Galaxy’s Edge. My workaholic droid 8D-J8 is working hard as usual, and most likely, he will work on Christmas morning like I do too.
He might be my soulmate. At least we can be work besties.
Another Holiday Discount From Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities:
Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge Rey Skywalker Light Saber Hilt (NO additional discount will apply)
I got hungry, so went to Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo to get my Endorian Fried Chicken Tip Yip.
I love these chicken tenders. It is not the regular chicken you can get from any other quick service location. Somehow tastes like Japanese Karaage chicken and also comes with RICE. I’m so sold. Easily 7/7.
Quickly ate them then walked to Toy Story Land to take pictures of my ears. I put little Santa hats on my Little Green Men so they can be festive too.
I wanted to take my ears to Buzz but somehow he went on a space mission and was not there today.
Now Mufasa made it to the billboard.
Are you planning to watch the movie? I haven’t even watched Moana 2. (At this point I’ll wait until she makes it to Disney+.)
Walked back to the front where Donald was roaming down as I walked down Sunset Blvd.
Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage got a new banner, but not all of them.
Just Beast, Cogsworth and Lumière.
I assume Belle and Mrs. Potts & Chip will get theirs soon.
At Tower Gift, all the third-party company merchandise is sold out except this cap. Cast Members told me they were sold out.
Finally, some bushes arrived at Lightning McQueen’s racing academy.
Seems like Cruz Ramirez and DJ are still there.
I do not have any comments on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster… So I am not saying anything about today.
Pretty much this was my whole day. Now I am back to EPCOT and writing this awesome Nana’s Disney Princess Diary until I am going to Animal Kingdom. (Efficiency is the key in this company.)
So about the skating rink: I went to SeaWorld yesterday to see the holiday ice skating shows. I’ve said this in my other Princess Diaries, but I love their holiday shows. I am paying for my annual pass just for this. It’s been four years, and I keep going back. But this year, Jason highly recommended “O Wondrous Night,” so I added it to my list.
Nana Recommends These Two Shows at SeaWorld
“O Wonderous Night” A Returning Fan-Favorite! Hear the greatest story never told with over 30 carols, life-size puppets and live animals in this signature show that will charm, entertain and delight people from all walks of life. (from SeaWorld Website)
LORD, everybody was giving a standing ovation in the end, as you can see in the picture. This show was 7-star show!!! A diverse and talented cast and LIVE ANIMALS! I’ve been passing by for the last 3 years and now I regret it. I won’t fool you. This is a great show.
“Winter Wonderland on Ice” Christmas comes to life on a stage of ice, jewels and lights as skaters dazzle and delight in a show-stopping, ice skating extravaganza. A sea of sparkling trees and towering fountains dancing in the background come together to create a don’t-miss experience for the holidays that the entire family will enjoy. (from SeaWorld Websie)
This is the real ice skating show. Skills upon skills. I get it; Jollywood’s skating rink was tiny, so I am sure the skaters couldn’t show off their skills, but then why did Disney choose an ice skating show… Anyway, if you are ever in the town, make a stop at SeaWorld and watch these two holiday shows. You do not need to know the characters name or be Christian to enjoy any of them.
Well, it’s almost time to go to Animal Kingdom…
Thank you for reading Nana’s Princess Diary and see you real soon!
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Oh Nana, you were so right about Jollywood being better than MVMCP this year. I went to both, but I enjoyed Jollywood so much (my first time) on my birthday last month that I went again once this month. But if they bring back the ice skaters next year (who were great, given the small size of the rink), they should definitely make it a bigger fake ice rink. It was lovely, though, and the What’s This nightmare sing-along was nice (I was happy Sally’s ballad was in it, but I can always do without the Santa kidnapper kids and Oogie Boogie Man…I’m in the minority, but I can’t stand those bits of the movie and they’re weird in a show taken out of context). Maybe most of the people seeing the show had at least seen the movie before. I watched it and the big band show with Kermit & Miss Piggy twice. What I wish Disney would do is let Annual Passholders get free tickets to their choice of party night once a year, whether it’s Jollywood or Mickey’s….I wish Animal Kingdom would do a late night party thing, too, just leave out the safari and animal trails, so the animals don’t get too disturbed during it. Universal passholders get to go to a free Halloween Horror Night (IIRC, and maybe the date choices are very limited), so I wish Disney would do something akin to that for at least their top tier passholders. Anyway, I still haven’t seen you or really anyone I would recognize from WDWNT in the parks yet but I’ll be back in January for about five months and hope to eventually get to say hi some time since I’ve been a reader for several years (well, I’ve read since the age of 5 but I mean this website). Happy Holidays from the Colorado Snowbird who now has to go back to that snow for Christmas break with the family.